Which is your favorite(1) FILM NOIR and why?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by pig whisperer, Sep 2, 2005.

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  1. fr in sc

    fr in sc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hanahan, SC
    Did she look incredible in that movie or what? I remember when Against All Odds came out 2 years later I kept thinking she was much too skinny....and that lucky bastid Steve Martin got to adjust her breasts....twice!
     
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  2. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    I've always liked the 1949 movie Tokyo Joe starring Humphrey Bogart and Alexander Knox. Not too many film noirs were set in Japan, after all, which lends it a unique mood and tone.
     
    Klen7000 likes this.
  3. j.barleycorn

    j.barleycorn Forum Resident

    Location:
    MN, USA
    Mine was/is The Big Sleep. And for many reasons. Even tho I had seen some noir before there was something that set this apart. I was 18 and just starting college. It wasn't for a film class either but it was at school . It was 73 and it was film stock.

    Somehow after the lights went down and it started it became a seminal film viewing experience. Every element from the story, the direction,acting, cinematography and atmosphere was in mind that night suis generis. From then on I absorbed film and by extension noir in a whole new light.
     
  4. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    Great movie. I also like the remake starring Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. While the basic premise of the remake is the same as the original, it goes in its own way.
     
  5. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Elevate me!
     
  6. DVEric

    DVEric Satirical Intellectual

    Location:
    New England
    A Film Noir masterpiece . . .
    [​IMG]
     
  7. But I just had to look - not having read the book.
     
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  8. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Just watched that a few nights ago, recorded from TCM. There were some incredible sound effects, when Marlow was going through the house and found the body, it sounded like something from 2001 (the movie).

    I didn't like Marlowe's voice though.
     
    MDW likes this.
  9. SurrealCereal

    SurrealCereal Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    I haven't seen much classic noir, so my answer is subject to change. Sunset Boulevard is my favorite that I'm 100% sure qualifies as noir. Vertigo is my favorite if I'm including films that I'm not sure count. If we're including neo-noir (I get the feeling we're not), then my answer is Taxi Driver.
     
  10. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Noir is kind of like love: in the eyes and heart of the beholder. Although most color films don't really work as 'dark cinema'--and many that are dark (most of all once color became the norm) are more in the action genre than melodrama, which is noir's reason for being. If any color film qualified, VERTIGO would be my first choice. It's always been somewhat controversial since it wasn't the box office smash expected, and because the director himself put the blame for its commercial failure (IMO) in the wrong places (or people). For its many flaws, it's among my top five Hitch films.

    TAXI DRIVER, also flawed, is my #2 color noir, and its only flaw to me was its overreliance on a certain wet, tawdry, cynical view of New York City, even if we're seeing it through the eyes of a nervous psychotic. That the great Bernard Herrrmann composed both scores is very telling, isn't it? He was the best of his time for brooding thrillers, as original, inventive and meticulous as Hitchcock (and Scorsese, in those infrequent projects when he was really inspired).

    SUNSET BOULEVARD? Not really, but it does have certain elements, doesn't it? It's more Hollywood cynical than Noir despair and doomed, but if you take out the day scenes, well....:)
     
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  11. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    It's a fascinating experiment and Noir curio, but imagine what it might have been with Bogart and a stronger cast.

    You're right about the sound work on this film, and the reason a viewer notices becomes obvious all too soon.

    :ed:
     
  12. Scooterpiety

    Scooterpiety Ars Gratia Artis

    Location:
    Oregon
    "Lady In The Lake"
    I'm a fan of Robert Montgomery, I find the "I am camera" thing very interesting, and Audrey Totter is extremely HOT in this film.
     
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  13. Scooterpiety

    Scooterpiety Ars Gratia Artis

    Location:
    Oregon
    I have never understood the appeal of Barbara Stanwyck. I've never found her attractive and I fail to see anything remarkable about her acting.
     
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  14. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    Glad to see this thread pop up again. Has anyone mentioned Chinatown? A great modern noir, and one of my favorite films of any genre.
     
  15. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

    Phantom Lady - Love Ella Raines in this.
     
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  16. samthesham

    samthesham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moorhead MN
    Body Heat both versions
     
  17. HenryFly

    HenryFly Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    The original D.O.A. because of the pacing and editing mostly. It has the ultimate in telegraphed endings, but gets there elegantly without outstaying it's welcome by 1 second. The plot is laughable, but that's Hollywood noir for you.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2018
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  18. tone ded freb

    tone ded freb Senior Member

    Location:
    Arizona Snowbowl
    If I had to pick just one, it's The Maltese Falcon because, well, Bogart, also a great supporting cast, it's among the earliest, and how incredibly tight it is, I can't think of a scene I would cut. But Double Indemnity is right up there for me. I love the premise, insurance salesman Walter Neff, bleeding out in his darkened office in the dead of night, recounting his offenses into his company dictaphone; I love the femme fatale, Barbara Stanwyck; and I love the dialogue between them. Any night I don't have to go to work the next day, I could start watching this at midnight and stay spellbound through the end, even today. For me these edge out The Big Sleep and Out of the Past by just a bit.
     
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  19. HenryFly

    HenryFly Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    You're right about VERTIGO and it only dawned on me earlier this morning that it could be included in the genre. I'd be interested in knowing where you see the main overlap with classic noir. I'm certain Hitchcock's 'The Wrong Man' is noir pure, so I'd go for that one in this thread.
     
  20. vintageaudio

    vintageaudio Member

    Location:
    Washington State
    The Maltese Falcon. :-popcorn:
     
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  21. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    Taxi Driver is just about my favorite film ever, so if that’s a noir, that’s my pick.
     
  22. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    As far as older movies, I’ll go along with that. :righton:
     
  23. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Chinatown - not a classic noir, I know, but the style and overall feeling borrow heavily from the classics. The thick atmosphere of political intrigue, family secrets and a dark, enigmatic past of the protagonist make for a very entertaining film by a highly talented crew.
     
  24. Claus LH

    Claus LH Forum Resident

    Many great ones mentioned; here's one of mine:
    "Touch of Evil". Orson Welles sleazy, corrupt and dirty-looking, and some truly off-the-wall casting (Heston as a Mexican....).
    There is no light at the end of the tunnel in that film :sigh:
     
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  25. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    [​IMG]
    For me, the only ones that come close to this are "Out Of The Past" and "The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers" . But this one is special because it has scenes in it that rival Hitchcock and Welles for creativity and sheer "wow". Plus Charles McGraw at his gravel growl best. A must see.
     
    Jazzmonkie likes this.
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