Home Best Movies 50 Best Film Noir Movies Of All Time (2019) Famous Classics

50 Best Film Noir Movies Of All Time (2019) Famous Classics

By
Donnie Keith

What are the best Film-Noirs? It is hard to describe film-noir in words. It is neither accepted as a genre nor as a sub-genre of any other genre. In fact film noir is regarded more of a film making style instead of a genre by most critics. This film making style is inspired from the German expressionism of 1940s that was suppressed in Germany due to the fear of Nazi army. Many popular directors of German origins entered Hollywood and introduced us to this beautiful and ever classic genre. Directors such as Fritz Lang, Michael Curtiz and Robert Siodmak are regarded as the pioneers of film noir.

As described by many critics it is very debatable to express film noir’s subjects. One can not identify a film-noir just from few elements. As every film set in west can not be called as western film similarly every film with elements similar to popular film noir still can not be regarded as film-noir. Though there are few elements that are commonly seen in a film-noir. Most film-noirs have a femme fatale character whose main motive is to kill the protagonist. Also the hero of film-noir is a hard edged man who has troubled past and is often portrayed as a tough guy. Gun fighting and chasing sequences with high background music are common traits of a film noir. But interestingly there are few other classic film-noir that do not have any of the above mentioned elements.

Most critics agree the fact that film-noirs were part of only one particular era that started in the 1930s and ended by the end of 1950s. This is often said because film-noir are credited to only very few directors and no other directors had tried to copy them after that. Even though you might find noir movies or neo noir movies in modern cinema but film noir are often credited to the old black and white era.

Here we have selected 50 best film noir that you can watch:

50. Fury

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Fritz Lang
Cast – Sylvia Sidney, Bruce Cabot, Spencer Tracy
IMDB Rating – 7.9
Rotten Tomatoes – 100
Release Date – 29 May 1936
Box Office – $1.3 million
Genre – Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Awards – None
Plot –

49. The Woman in the Window

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Fritz Lang
Cast – Edward G. Robinson, Raymond Massey, Dan Duryea, Joan Bennett
IMDB Rating – 7.7
Rotten Tomatoes – 91%
Release Date – 3 November 1944
Box Office – $1 Million
Genre – Crime, Drama
Awards – None
Plot –

48. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Fritz Lang
Cast – Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Oscar Beregi Sr., Gustav Diessl, Otto Wernicke
IMDB Rating – 7.9
Rotten Tomatoes – 89%
Release Date – 21 April 1933
Box Office – $1 Million
Genre – Crime
Awards – None
Plot –

47. Pick up the South Street

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Samuel Fuller
Cast – Richard Widmark, Thelma Ritter, Jean Peters
IMDB Rating – 7.8
Rotten Tomatoes – 91%
Release Date – 17 June 1953
Box Office – $1,900,000
Genre – Crime, Film-Noir
Awards – None
Plot –

46. Kiss Me Deadly

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Robert Aldrich
Cast – Paul Stewart, Ralph Meeker, Juano Hernandez, Albert Dekker
IMDB Rating – 7.6
Rotten Tomatoes – 96%
Release Date – 23 April 1955
Box Office – $726,000
Genre – Crime, Film-Noir
Awards – None
Plot –

45. Scarlet Street

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Fritz Lang
Cast – Dan Duryea, Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett
IMDB Rating – 7.9
Rotten Tomatoes – 100
Release Date – 28 December 1945
Box Office – $2,948,386
Genre – Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
Awards – None
Plot –

44. The Roaring Twenties

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Raoul Walsh
Cast – Priscilla Lane, James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Gladys George
IMDB Rating – 7.9
Rotten Tomatoes – 100%
Release Date – 23 October 1939
Box Office – $1 Million
Genre – Action, Crime
Awards – None
Plot –

43. Detour

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Edgar G. Ulmer
Cast – Ann Savage, Tom Neal
IMDB Rating – 7.4
Rotten Tomatoes – 100
Release Date – 15 November 1945
Box Office – $1,000,000
Genre – Crime, Drama
Awards – None
Plot –

42. The Strangers

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Orson Welles
Cast – Loretta Young, Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson
IMDB Rating – 7.4
Rotten Tomatoes – 96%
Release Date – 25 August 1946
Box Office – $3.22 million
Genre – Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Awards – None
Plot –

41. The Public Enemy

Film-Noir Movies
Director – Michael Mann
Cast – Christian Bale, Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Stephen Dorff, Stephen Lang, Billy Crudup
IMDB Rating – 7
Rotten Tomatoes – 68%
Release Date – 7 August 2009
Box Office – $214.1 million
Genre – Crime, Drama
Awards – None
Plot –

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