These are my personal, perhaps idiosyncratic, takes on 271 films noir. Don’t expect lengthy plot outlines or arcane trivia. I focus on each film as the story on the screen, which is all that really matters. The articles are short and I hope to the point. – Tony D’Ambra
280 Snap Film Noir Reviews here.
Warning: I try to avoid them but some reviews may contain spoilers
- 13 East Street (UK 1952)
- 36 Quai des Orfèvres (France 2004): Brilliant Neo-Noir
- 711 Ocean Drive (1950)
- 99 River Street (1953)
- Ace In The Hole (1952): The Media Circus
- Act of Violence (1948): “No law says you got to be happy”
- The Amazing Mr. X (1948)
- Angel Face(1952): Gothic Noir
- The Air I Breathe (2007): Noir Liberation
- Alias Nick Beal (1949): The Devil wears Armani
- Allotment Wives (1945): The main squeeze is a dame!
- Apology for Murder (1945)
- Armored Car Robbery (1950): Solid B-Noir
- The Asphalt Jungle (1950): When The City Sleep
- The Bigamist (1953): Shades of grey
- The Big Clock (1948): “the wrong people always have money”
- The Big Combo (1955): Quintessential Noir
- The Big Heat (1953): Film Noir As Social Criticism
- The Big Knife (1955): Bore me deadly
- The Big Night (1951)
- The Big Heat (1953) Revisited
- The Big Sleep (1946): Love’s Vengeance Lost
- The Big Steal (1949): “Oh Mexico”
- La Bionda (The Blonde – Italy 1992)
- Black Angel (1946)
- The Black Cat (1934): Erotic nightmare
- Blind Alley (1939)
- The Blue Gardenia (1953)
- Blues in the Night (1941): Noir Counterpoint
- Blood on the Moon (1948): Quintessential Noir Western
- The Blue Dahlia (1946): Fade To Gray
- Bob le flambuer (France 1956)
- Body and Soul (1947): “Everybody dies”
- Bodyguard (1948): “I keep meat warm”
- Boomerang (1947): Not Noir
- Border Incident (1949)
- Born to Kill (1947): “a violent, ironic and macabre paroxysm”
- The Breaking Point (1950)
- The Bribe (1949): Too late the fireworks
- Brick (2005) – Disappointing
- Brighton Rock (1947 UK)
- The Brothers Rico (1957): The life-style of the Mob executive
- The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Germany 1919)
- Caged (1950): “the plot of our life sweats in the dark like a face”
- Call Northside 777 (1948): “It’s a good world outside”
- Cat People (1942): Another sound – the panther – it screams like a woman
- Caught (1949)
- Christ in Concrete (1949): Simply a masterpiece
- Christmas Holiday (1944): Never mind the melodrama
- Clash By Night (1952): Love… because we’re bored
- The Clay Pigeon (1949): Snappy B Thriller
- A Colt is My Passport (Koruto wa ore no pasupoto – Japan 1967)
- Conflict (1945)
- Crack-Up (1946)
- The Crimson Kimono (1959): Little Tokyo Rift
- Crime Wave (1954): On The Streets of LA
- Criss-Cross(1949)
- The Crooked Way (1949): John Alton’s L.A.
- Crossfire(1947)
- Cry Danger (1951): About as noir as white coffee
- A Cry in the Night (1956): The art of the interlude…
- Dark City (1998) The Director’s Cut: Zapped by the biochemist
- The Dark Corner (1946)
- The Dark Knight (2008): Still a comic
- The Dark Mirror (1946 ): On the other side
- Dark Passage (1947): Not so dark
- Dark Waters (1944)
- Dead Reckoning (1947): “Sorry gorgeous I didn’t see what you looked like…”
- Deception (1946): Expressionist Noir Melodrama
- Deadline at Dawn (1946): Screwball noir
- Decoy (1946): B- Psuedo-Noir
- Desert Fury (1947): Technicolor Noir
- Desperate (1947)
- Destination Murder (1950): The Alter-Ego and the Pianola
- Detective Story (1951): “I built my whole life on hating my father”
- Detour (1945): Serious Not
- The Devil Thumbs A Ride (1947): A Dark Little Gem
- D.O.A (1950)
- Double Indemnity (1944): Proto-Noir
- Double Jeopardy (1955): Pulp Heaven
- Drunken Angel (aka Yoidore tenshi) (1948 Japan)
- Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud – France 1958)
- Endless Desire (1958 Japan)
- The Enforcer (1945)
- Escape (1948 UK)
- The Face Behind the Mask (1941): Iconic proto-noir
- Fallen Angel (1945)
- The Fallen Sparrow (1943)
- Fear in the Night (1947): Wake in fright
- The File On Thelma Jordan (1950): You always intend when you have to…
- Five Star Final (1931): Down with the bosses!
- Follow Me Quietly (1949): The Aesthetics of the B-Noir
- Force of Evil (1948)
- Full Confession (1939): Interesting Early Noir
- Fury (1936): On The Threshold of Noir
- Gambling House (1950): Obscure Gem
- The Garment Jungle (1957): Gia Scala’s Picture
- The Ghost Ship (1943): Noir at Sea
- Gilda (1946): Lovely Rita…
- The Glass Wall (1953)
- The Glass Key (1942)
- The Glass Web (1953) “:(“
- The Good Die Young (UK 1954): British Noir
- The Great Flamarion (1945): Love is a Gun
- The Green Cockatoo (UK 1937 65min): The Seeds of British Noir
- Gun Crazy (1950): Not so Bonnie and Clyde
- The Harder They Fall (1956): For a few lousy bucks
- He Ran All the Way (1951): “To be left alone”
- High and Low (aka Tengoku to jigoku – Japan 1963): Kurosawa’s Heaven and Hell
- High Wall (1946)
- Highway 301(1950)
- The Hitch-Hiker (1953): Desert Noir
- He Walked by Night (1948)
- Hollow Triumph (1948): Baroque Noir
- Hollywood Story (1951)
- Hôtel du Nord (France 1938): Arletty as femme noir
- The House Across the Lake (aka Heat Wave) (1954 – UK)
- The House on 92nd Street (1945): Real Drama with a Solemn Purpose
- Human Desire (1954): The beast within
- I Can Get it For You Wholesale (1951)
- I Love Trouble (1948): Hot-jive noir
- Impact (1949): Noir Mash-Up
- In A Lonely Place (1950): The “Creative” Outsider
- In A Lonely Place (1950): A Psychic Prison
- In the Valley of Elah (2007): Responsibility and Chaos
- I Wake Up Screaming (1941): Bizarre Transference
- I Walk Alone (1948)
- I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951)
- Jigsaw (1949): “like the last act of Hamlet”
- Johnny Eager (1941): “Just another hood I guess”
- Journey Into Fear (1943): Oriental Intrigue
- Key Largo (1948): Almost Noir
- The Killer That Stalked New York (1950)
- The Killers (1946): Fata Morgana
- The Killers (1946) Revisited: Noir As Tragedy
- Tarkovsky’s Ubiytsy (‘The Killers’ USSR – 1956): A wounded God bereft of hope
- The Killing (1956) – Great But Not Noir
- Kiss Me Deadly (1955): Hollywood Dada
- Kiss Me Deadly (1955) – Is Mike Hammer Really Such a Bad Guy?
- Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)
- Kiss of Death (1947): More Than Udo
- Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
- Knock on Any Door (1949)
- The Lady From Shanghai (1947): “Then the beasts took to eating each other”
- LA Confidential (1997)
- A Lady Without Passport (1950)
- La Nuit de Carrefour (1932 – France): Moody and surreal!
- Laura (1944)
- The Leopard Man (1943): Dated and Over-rated
- The Locket (1946): Freudian Melodrama
- The Long Night (1947)
- The Lost Weekend (1945): “I can’t take quiet desperation”
- Lucky Nick Cain (1950)
- Lured (1947)
- Macao (1952): “You’re up early for a loser”
- Macao, L’enfer Du Jeu (1939): Only the Innocent Survive
- The Maltese Falcon (1941): Love in Noir
- Manèges (aka The Wanton 1950 – France)
- Man Hunt (1941): The Thriller As Propaganda
- The Man Who Cheated Himself (1949): True Noir
- Michael Clayton (2007): Noir elements
- Mildred Pierce (1945): “alligators have the right idea… they eat their young”
- Moontide (1944)
- Murder, My Sweet (1944): A face like a Sunday school picnic
- My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
- Mystery Street (1950)
- Naked Alibi (1954): “bizarre images, strange juxtapositions, and erotic plays”
- The Naked Kiss (1964): Pulp Noir
- The Naked City (1948): “There are 8 million stories… “
- The Narrow Margin (1952): B plus
- Night And the City (1950): A Near Perfect Noir
- Night Editor (1946)
- The Night of the Hunter (1955): Not Noir
- Nightfall (1957): Final curtain call for classic noir
- Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948)
- Nightmare Alley (1947): Geeks and Freaks
- Nobody Lives Forever (1946): Dark Romance
- No Man of Her Own (1950): Sudser or Noir?
- Nora Prentiss (1947): Turbo-charged Noir Melodrama
- No Way Out (1950): ”Is it a question… or an answer?”
- Obsession (1948 UK)
- Odds Against Tomorrow (1959): A Work of Art
- Of Missing Persons (1956 Argentina)
- On Dangerous Ground (1951): “You get so you don’t trust anybody”
- Out of the Fog (1941): “throw away the books”
- Out Of The Past (1947) – Tourneur’s Mise En Scene
- Out Of The Past (1947) – Tourneur’s Mise En Scene Revisited
- Panic In the Streets (1950): Neo-Realist Noir
- Party Girl (1958)
- Pépé le Moko (1937)
- Phantom Lady (1944)
- The Phenix City Story (1955)
- Pickup On South Street (1953)
- Pickup (1951): Trash Noir
- Port of New York (1949): Cut-out Cops
- Le quai des brumes (Port of Shadows – France 1938): Poetic Realism
- Possessed (1947): Melodramatic Soap
- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
- Private Hell 36 (1954)
- The Prowler (1951): The Dark Side of the American Dream
- Pursued (1947)
- Pushover (1954)
- Railroaded (1947)
- Raw Deal (1948)
- The Reckless Moment (1949): “we want to liquidate our stock… ”
- Red Hollywood (1947)
- The Red House (1947)
- Ride the Pink Horse (1947): A heart full of soul
- Rififi (France 1955): America’s Loss France’s Gain
- Roadblock(1951)
- Rogue Cop (1954)
- Road House (1948): Noirish Melodrama
- Ruthless (1948): “Not a man, a way of life”
- Salón México (Mexico 1949): Noir South of the Border
- San Quentin (1946): B-noir filler
- Scandal Sheet (1952)
- Scarlet Street (1946): Unrelenting Noir
- The Second Woman (1950)
- Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
- The Set-Up (1949)
- The Seventh Victim (1943): “And all my pleasures are like yesterdays”
- Shock (1946): The Killer Shrink from Frisco!
- Shoot to Kill (1947): Visual Poetry
- Side Street (1950)
- Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1957): On The Waterfront Not
- The Sleeping City (1950)
- The Sniper (1952): Off Target
- So Dark the Night (1946): The Split Personality
- Somewhere in the Night (1946)
- The Sound of Fury (1950)
- Split Second (1953): No cops required
- Strange Impersonation (1946): Dirty science
- The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
- Stranger on The Third Floor (1940): The Noir Dream-Scape
- The Stranger (1946): Jungian Noir
- Strangers in the Night (1944)
- Strange Illusion (1945)
- Stray Dog (Japan 1949): Kurosawa 5-star Noir
- Sunset Boulevard (1950): “I’m ready for my closeup”
- Suspense (1946)
- Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
- The Story of Temple Drake (1933): The good bad-girl
- Tension (1950): A house in the suburbs? “Are you kidding?”
- They Drive by Night (1938 UK)
- They Live by Night (1948): Great but is it noir?
- They Made Me a Criminal (1939)
- They Made Me a Killer (1946): “You asked for it sister”
- They Won’t Believe Me (1947): Guilt by Intention
- Thieves’ Highway (1949)
- The Thin Man (1934): James Wong Howe’s Noir Counterpoint
- The Third Man (1949): Sublime
- This Gun For Hire (1942)
- T-Men (1947): Electric Noir
- Tomorrow is Another Day
- Too Late For Tears (1949): Kiss of the Viper Woman
- Touch of Evil (1958) – Some Kind of a Movie
- Tread Softly Stranger (UK 1958)
- The Unsuspected (1947)
- Underworld USA (1961): “We got a right to climb out of the sewer and live… ”
- Une Si Jolie Petite Plage (France 1949): Iron in the soul
- Union Station (1950): On Ice in the Train Shed
- Voici le temps des assassin (1956 France)
- Vertigo (1958): Red for Noir
- Walk Softly, Stranger (1950): Romantic Noir
- The Web (1947)
- The Well (1951)
- When Strangers Marry (1944): Into the seething labyrinth
- Where Danger Lives (1950): It’s a long road…
- Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
- White Heat (1949): Fission Noir
- Whirlpool (1949)
- The Window (1949): The City as a Prison
- Witness to Murder (1954)
- The Woman in the Window (1944): Over-rated
- The Woman On the Beach (1947)
- The Woman on Pier 13 (1949): Better Wed than Red
- Woman on the Run (1950): Intelligent B Thriller
- A Woman’s Secret (1949)
- World For Ransom (1954)
- You Only Live Once (1937)
- Young Man with a Horn (1950)
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