The Best of Film Noir

13 November 2008

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Film noir is one of the long standing film genres that started way back in the silent era of film that has developed over the years to include some trademark aspects that make them easy to identify, flawed protagonists, hard-bitten dialogue, high contrast cinematography, and street scenes filmed at night.

These movies often focus on the stylish Hollywood crime dramas that tend to be driven by morals as well as being motivated by sex and have come to contain what is now known as the femme fatale.

So here at FemaleFirst we looked back over the years to uncover some of the best film noir movies that have graced the big screen and introduce so of you to this great genre of film.

Double Indemnity

Released in 1944 and starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson Billy Wilder's classic noir, a familiar brew of lust, larceny, and lethal intentions.

Framed in flashback, the story is told by the dying Walter Neff (MacMurray), beginning with his first meeting with the seductive Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck) during a routine renewal of her husband's car insurance. After some flirtation she arranges a meeting without her husband, where she asks about an accident policy to be bought without her husband's knowledge.

Although repulsed by the implications of her suggestions, his obsession with Phyllis leads Neff to contemplate the possibility of finding a way to kill her husband while making his death look like an accident. After she comes to his apartment, the insurance salesman finally agrees to become involved in the murder, and the two of them begin methodically working out the details.

After they dispose of Dietrichson, Neff learns more than he wanted about Phyllis' unsavory past, but realizes he's now too involved to extricate himself. He's also concerned about his a boss, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), an omniscient insurance investigator who has taken over the case.

The film received seven Academy Award nominations including Best Actress for Barbarb Stanwyck, Best Picture and Best Director.

The Maltese Falcon

It's the first entry for legendary actor Humphrey Bogart in John Huston's 1941 picture The Maltese Falcon, a film in which he received true super stardom and was a last-minute substitution for George Raft.

Hard-drinking private eye Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) sleuths the backyard of San Francisco in search of an elusive black bird statuette while evading the setups of three disparate miscreants: the duplicitous Brigid, the perfumed Mr. Cairo, and the scheming Fat Man.

The Maltese Falcon was released to both critical and commercial acclaim and it's reputation as a classic of this genre has grown ever since. It went on to be nominated for three Oscars including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Sydney Greenstreet and Best Adapted Screenplay from John Huston.

In 1989, The Maltese Falcon was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Sunset Boulevard

Released in 1950 and directed by Billy Wilder Sunset Boulevard is often regarded as the best Hollywood movie about Hollywood. Narrated in flashbacks by the now-deceased scribe, the film unwinds the series of events that left him lying face down in a pool. Unable to sell his most recent chef-d'oeuvre, and in hock up to his eyeballs, Joe stashes his car in the driveway of what appears to be an abandoned mansion on Sunset Boulevard while trying to elude some persistent repo men.

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