Film Noir

"The Third Man"--I suggest renting it immediately!

"The Postman Always Rights Twice" (the original Lana Turner)
"Double Indemnity"
"Touch of Evil"
"Chinatown"
"Body Heat"

I would suggest :

The Maltese Falcon
The Big Sleep
D.O.A. The original with Edmond O'Brien

"Double Indemnity" just ran on TCM. Beautiful. Film noir is a magnificent medium but I caught The Marx Bros. just the other day in one of their ridiculous farces, "Duck Soup" I think it was, and was absolutely struck dumb by the beauty of the black & white and grey tones.

Here is a great article which discusses the entire concept of Film Noir. At the end of the article, there is a long list of films that belong in this genre.

http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html

Enjoy!

Always a good link, Phoenix, but what are some of your personal favorites? One can find reviews in Ebert's Great Movies on his site for a good portion of the list that appear in his Great Movies list as well as in his archives.

"Gilda" and "Out of the Past" are also two favorites of mine -- can never get that vision of Rita Hayworth's "Put the Blame on Mame" number in that red dress that photographed as dark grey.

Some of my favs are;
CRACK-UP, (1946)
LAURA, (1944)
OUT OF THE PAST (1947)
THE DARK CORNER (1946)

LW- When I looked at the list, I realized that "film noir" is MY genre. I don't really go for a lot of films, but there are so many of my favorites on that list.

The Maltese Falcon
Sorry, Wrong Number
The Third Man
Strangers on a Train
Vertigo
The Manchurian Candidate (the original, with Frank Sinatra)
House of Games
Fargo
Memento
Black Widow
D.O.A.
Chinatown
Double Indemnity.

Those are the ones on my "A" list. There are many others that I have really enjoyed!!!

Would "Rear Window" qualify?

Thank you guys SO much.

Good call, eoe. Marx Brothers rule. Slomichizza, I'll lend you my Marx Bros. movies if you want.
A lot of Hitchcock stuff is noir, like Vertigo and Rear Window - those are great movies.
If you're referring to the stereotypical film noir with the detective and the dramatic narrative and the twisty plotline, I'm interested in finding some too - I'm not well acquainted with those.

"House of Games" definetely, Phoenix. Although the femme fetale is a late bloomer -- love the ending with the cigarette lighter.

I would classify "Vertigo" myself as film noir and "Rear Window" may have enough of the elements (it certainly has the atmoshpere) to be classified as film noir. Film noir isn't technically a genre anymore but the way a film is framed with atmospheric touches, almost always contains some form of femme fetale and a detective. The femme fetale in "Fargo" may be the only one on the right side of the law. Considering the brothers, "The Man Who Wasn't There" is excellent film noir.

Thanks Francisco but The Marx Bros. are not favorites of mine at all, except Groucho's character names. Rufus T. Firefly. What a hoot. But I was flipping thru the channels and stopped dead in my tracks. The film had obviously been restored and lovingly, I'd say, because the blacks and whites were so crisp and sharp and the grey tones were creamy and smooth. Like butter. Just beautiful. I watched a bit of it just to admire the picture itself.

Lightwizard, I know we have clashed before over film critique...but Gilda is one of my favourites, Rita looked ravishing...and that's from another woman!

Tell me, have you sullied your eyeballs on Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason yet, I rented the DVD the other night thinking it would be the perfect chick flick on a night in with my girlfriends - it was terrible, I cringed the whole way through...what did you think?

Also, don't forget David Lynch's movies, most all of which qualify as film noir. My fave, "Blue Velvet."

Not rushing out to see nor rent "Bridgett Jones: Edge of Reason" as I wasn't enraptured by the first one.

Good point Infra. Lynch was surely into noir.

"Blue Velvet" is classic noir and "Muholland Drive" is noir from a parallel universe.

Then there is sci-fi noir like "Blade Runner" and "Dark City."