Have you ever seen any real film noirs? By which I mean, stuff produced before 1957?
I haven't, actually.
Some stuff I recommend (if you are interested in it):
The Maltese Falcon - Classic Dashiell Hammett adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart in the role that made him a full-fledged star. He plays sleazy private eye Sam Spade who gets dragged into the conflict of a group of shady characters searching for the titular bird.
Touch of Evil - One of Orson Welles' best movies, and the only one aside from Citizen Kane that is regularly discussed as an unabashed masterpiece. A mexican detective on the way to his honeymoon gets stuck in a border town and has to deal with a corrupt police force, led by Welles himself.
Out of the Past - Robert Mitchum in one of his greatest roles ever, as a guy trying to escape a femme fatale. He changes his identity but just as he's about to settle down, someone discovers his prior identity as a private eye and jeopardizes everything he's managed to accomplish since leaving his old life.
Gilda - A rather confusing story about an ex-con who gets hired at a nightclub somewhere in South America, only to fall in love with the boss's wife (and an old flame of his), Gilda, played by the lovely Rita Hayworth.
Double Indemnity - Another femme fatale story, and probaby the definitive film noir. An insurance agent is (willingly) dragged into a scam a woman has hatched to have her husband killed off so she can get the insurance money.
Sunset Boulevard - A noirish look at Hollywood, as an aspiring screenwriter accidentally wanders into the life of an aging silent screen star and gets caught up in her madness.
The Postman Always Rings Twice - Basically the same story as Double Indemnity except the insurance agent is now a drifter and the whole thing plays out at a little rest stop/restaurant in the middle of nowhere.
Leave Her to Heaven - A rare color noir about a man who falls in love with a woman who will stop at nothing to get him to marry her. A clear precursor to stuff like Fatal Attraction.
The Killers - A Robert Siodmak film based on an Ernest Hemingway short story. When a boxer is killed by a group of hitmen, an investigator must piece together the story of the dead man's life to see what led to his death.
D.O.A. - An insurance agent is given a slow-acting poison for which there is no cure. In the little time left, he must investigate his own murder and find out who killed him.
Sorry, Wrong Number - Pieced together through a series of flashbacks told through phone conversations, the story of an unraveling marriage is told, ending in a murder contract. But who contracted the hit? And who is the target?
Criss Cross - A security guard gets lured into being the inside man at a bank heist by his ex-wife and her new boyfriend. A series of double and triple crosses inevitably follow. Who'll be left alive by the final reel?
Night and the City - A con man tries to go legitimate by entering the wrestling business, but in his quest for riches, steps on the toes of just about every punk and crime boss in post-war London.
Thieves' Highway - More of a tract an the plight of the working man than a film noir, it deals with a man whose father, a trucker, is permanently disabled in an accident. The man (played by Richard Conte), goes after the employer who's indirectly responsible due to his negligent (and downright illegal) business practices.
Rififi - One of the classic examples of french film noir (though directed by an American who was blacklisted back in the States), and considered to be one of the best heist movies of all time. Stuff like the vastly inferior (but still entertaining) The Score and Ocean's Eleven owes a massive debt to this movie. Renowned for its famous thirty-minute long heist, conducted in absolute silence and without a soundtrack, yet still riveting to this day.
Detour - Sometimes fate lays a finger on you, or me, or anyone, for no apparent reason. A traveling musician finds this out when the person he hitches a ride with accidentally dies, and all evidence seems to point to him as the culprit. His attempts to erase the evidence just dig him in deeper into a hole, until there's no escape.
Scarlet Street - An older man, an artist by trade, falls in love with a scarlet woman, who uses him for his skills until he's no longer useful, then discards him. His revenge brings ruin upon both of them.
Key Largo - Another classic Bogey movie, this time pairing him with Lauren Bacall opposite Edward G. Robinson. Ostensibly based on an Ernest Hemingway storyline, though the movie bares little resemblance to the original story.
The Big Sleep - Bogey & Bacall's first pairing, and one of Solo's favorite movies (tho I'm not really a fan). Based on a Raymond Chandler novel, Bogey plays Phillip Marlowe, a private eye hired by a wealthy old industrialist to find a missing man, only to find that the man's disappearance is inextricably linked to the old man's femme fatale daughters.
Laura - One of the most famous film noirs, directed by Otto Preminger, in which a private eye falls in love with a dead woman after looking at her portrait.
Whirlpool - An interesting, if somewhat ridiculous noir, involving a hypnotist who makes a woman commit petty crimes, escalating more and more until things end up in murder.
The Dark Corner - An innocent (?) man is being pursued by someone he doesn't recognize, for reasons he can't understand. Another film about the vicissitudes of fate.
This Gun For Hire - The story of a hitman with a conscience who's being hunted down by someone who ordered a murder contract and wants to get rid of anything that might lead back to him. Probably one of the main inspirations for Melville's Le Samourai.
The Big Clock - Directed by John Farrow, apparently a journeyman director, and starring Ray Milland as a reporter assigned to investigate a murder, only to find that all the clues seem to point to himself as the culprit. With time running out, he has to find out who's setting him up, and why.
Nightmare Alley - One of my favorites, starring Tyrone Power as a carny who's out to make a name for himself and drag himself out of the gutter of the carnival circuit and into respectability, no matter the cost.
I made this thread a while back, but nobody gave a crap about it but me:
http://www.evilbore.com/forum/index.php?topic=7314.0
