(Photo by Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection. The Lost Weekend.)
100 Best Film Noir Movies Ranked by Tomatometer
The latest: The Lost Weekendcelebrates its 80th anniversary! Billy Wilder’s landmark film won 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Ray Milland won Best Actor. The film is notable for being one of cinema’s earliest and rawest looks at alcoholism.
If you’ve got a bottle of whiskey, a ceiling fan lazily revolving above you, and a good eye for trouble (especially when it comes sauntering through your office door), then have we got a swell guide for you: the 100 best film noirs of all time! To put together this rogues gallery, we kept it lean and hard-boiled: American-made movies from the 1940s and 1950s, with each rated after at least 10 reviews. And to get the know-all on noir, we’ve invited film writer and Noirvember creator Marya E. Gates to share an introduction.
Film noir now has many interpretations. Initially coined by Italian-born French film critic Nino Frank, he used the term to describe a wave of American films made in the 1940s with dark themes and highly stylized cinematography. Although some of these films began appearing during the war years, mainly adaptations of crime novels from the 1920s and 1930s from writers like Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler. But it was in the post-World War II years that these films thrived, tapping into a malaise that began during the Great Depression and lingered as an even greater world weariness crept into a society that had witnessed the worst of humanity. Many of the filmmakers who shaped this movement in the Hollywood studio system of the ’40s were European émigrés like Fritz Lang (Scarlet Street), Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity), Edgar G. Ulmer (Detour), Robert Siodmak (The Killers), Michael Curtiz (Mildred Pierce), and Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past). These filmmakers brought with them aesthetics more aligned with continental film techniques including German expressionism, as well as a more psychological approach to storytelling that was expressed in both the script-writing and visual composition of their films. Whether film noir is a genre, an era, a tone, or a movement is hotly debated. My favorite definition comes from the czar of Noir himself, Eddie Muller (host of TCM’s weekly program Noir Alley, and the Film Noir Foundation president) who refers to noir as “suffering with style.” In these films, characters go through the ringer. A hapless man falls victim to a cunning femme fatale. A police detective becomes disillusioned by the corruption all around him. An ex-con finds himself drawn into that one last job. For the sake of this list, we’ve highlighted the top-reviewed films from the classic film noir era, roughly defined as starting in 1940 and ending in 1959. On this list you’ll find some of the most definitively noir films of the era. They’ve not only stood the test of time, but influenced the art of cinema as a whole. Among the Certified Fresh films on this list are some of my all-time favorites, like Otto Preminger’s Laura. This 1944 adaptation of the novel by Vera Caspary features an iconic and alluring performance by Gene Tierney as the title character, a Manhattan advertising exec whose mysterious murder brings together cynical detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews), playboy Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), and caustic newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) with tragic results. It also became a major inspiration for David Lynch and Mark Frost’s landmark television series Twin Peaks. What are some other films on this list that I recommend seeking out whether you are a film noir newbie or a seasoned fan? Alexander Mackendrick’s Sweet Smell of Success, starring Burt Lancaster as a powerful newspaper columnist and Tony Curtis as an unscrupulous press agent, is as insightful about the decay of American media as it ever was. Nicholas Ray’s In A Lonely Place, starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, may not be the most faithful adaptation ever made (and you should absolutely read the book by Dorothy B. Hughes), but Ray’s poison pen letter to the Hollywood machine and toxic masculinity still stings today. True crime-inspired The Hitch-Hiker also takes a stark look at masculine violence, and includes some knockout location work in Lone Pine, California from actress-turned-director Ida Lupino. For femme fatales, few are more depraved than Peggy Cummins as the heat-packing Annie Laurie Starr in Joseph H. Lewis’s Gun Crazy. Unless, of course, it’s Tierney again in the Technicolor noir Leave Her To Heaven from director John M. Stahl.
If you’re a fan of the decidedly not-so-noir To Have and Have Not, then check out a much more faithful adaptation of the Hemingway novel: Curtiz’s The Breaking Point, starring John Garfield as a charter boat captain in way over his head. Richard Fleischer’s train-set The Narrow Margin features the best performance from genre mainstay Marie Windsor. Roy Ward Baker’s Don’t Bother To Knock will have you re-examining everything you think you know about Marilyn Monroe as a dramatic actress. Dick Powell’s take on Philip Marlowe in Edward Dmytryk’s Murder, My Sweet gives Bogie in The Big Sleep a run for his money. Fred Zinnemann’s Act of Violence features a truly terrifying performance from star Robert Ryan and captures the lost beauty of L.A.’s Bunker Hill like no other. And Phil Karlson’s low-budget wonder Kansas City Confidential, starring John Payne and Coleen Gray, served as a major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s debut Reservoir Dogs. You can trace the impact of the films on this list throughout the history of cinema, whether it is in the noir movements in countries like Japan and France (Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog and Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows were produced in this period), Nordic noir (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), the neo-noir films of early Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver), Christopher Nolan (Memento), and Michael Mann (Thief), the erotic thrillers of the 1980s and 1990s (Body Heat, Bound), and up to Best Picture Oscar-nominated films like Guillermo del Toro‘s re-imagining of Nightmare Alley. The cinematic light from these dark films continues to pulsate in the very heart of this thing we call the movies.
Critics Consensus: Alfred Hitchcock's earliest classic -- and his own personal favorite -- deals its flesh-crawling thrills as deftly as its finely shaded characters.
Synopsis: Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) visits his relatives in Santa Rosa. He is a very charming man, but his niece slowly [More]
Critics Consensus: Suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most influential noirs -- as well as a showcase for Humphrey Bogart at his finest.
Synopsis: In this noir classic, detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) gets more than he bargained for when he takes a case [More]
Critics Consensus: Sweet Smell of Success boasts a top-notch cast, sharp direction, atmospheric cinematography, and an appropriately jazzy score, making it one of the best noir crime thrillers ever made.
Synopsis: New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but [More]
Critics Consensus: An intriguing, wonderfully subversive blend of art and commerce, Kiss Me Deadly is an influential noir classic.
Synopsis: One evening, private detective Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) picks up a strange woman, Christina (Cloris Leachman), who's standing on the [More]
Critics Consensus: A dark, tautly constructed adaptation of James M. Cain's novel -- penned by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler -- Double Indemnity continues to set the standard for the best in Hollywood film noir.
Synopsis: In this classic film noir, insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) gets roped into a murderous scheme when he falls [More]
Critics Consensus: Broderick Crawford is spellbinding as politician Willie Stark in director Robert Rossen's adaptation of the Robert Penn Warren novel about the corrosive effects of power on the human soul.
Synopsis: Drama about the rise and fall of a corrupt southern governor who promises his way to power. Broderick Crawford portrays [More]
Critics Consensus: An expertly crafted noir with more on its mind than stylishly staged violence, The Killing establishes Stanley Kubrick as a filmmaker of uncommon vision and control.
Synopsis: Career criminal Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) recruits a sharpshooter (Timothy Carey), a crooked police officer (Ted de Corsia), a bartender [More]
Critics Consensus: Sublime direction from Hitchcock, and terrific central performances from Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant make this a bona-fide classic worthy of a re-visit.
Synopsis: In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of [More]
Critics Consensus: Led by extraordinary performances from Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, In a Lonely Place is a gripping noir of uncommon depth and maturity.
Synopsis: Hollywood screenwriter Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart) and his neighbor Laurel (Gloria Grahame) are just getting to know each other romantically [More]
Critics Consensus: Cruel, dark, but undeniably effective, Diabolique is a suspense thriller as effective as Hitchcock's best work and with a brilliant twist ending.
Synopsis: In this classic of French suspense, the cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle (Paul Meurisse), becomes [More]
Critics Consensus: A perfect match of screenplay, director, and leading man, The Big Sleep stands as a towering achievement in film noir whose grim vitality remains undimmed.
Synopsis: Private investigator Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is hired by General Sternwood to help resolve the gambling debts of his wild [More]
Critics Consensus: Presented with stark power by director Fritz Lang, The Big Heat is a delightfully grim noir that peers into the heart of darkness without blinking.
Synopsis: A police officer seems to have committed suicide, but Detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) thinks there's more to the story. [More]
Critics Consensus: Raoul Walsh's crime drama goes further into the psychology of a gangster than most fear to tread and James Cagney's portrayal of the tragic anti-hero is constantly volatile.
Synopsis: Gang leader Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) lives for his mother, planning heists between horrible headaches. During a train robbery that [More]
Critics Consensus: Simply and sturdily constructed, The Hitch-Hiker consistently derives genuine terror from a chillingly plausible scenario.
Synopsis: Ray (Edmond O'Brien) and Gilbert's (Frank Lovejoy) fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker (William Talman) they pick [More]
Critics Consensus: Powerfully acted and satisfyingly dark, Pickup on South Street is a Cold War noir that moves confidently to the rhythm of city street life.
Synopsis: In New York City, an insolent pickpocket, Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark), inadvertently sets off a chain of events when he [More]
Critics Consensus: Rita Hayworth carries Gilda on the sheer strength of her screen presence, rendering the film's somewhat middling story almost irrelevant.
Synopsis: Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is a small-time American gambler, newly arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When he is caught cheating [More]
Critics Consensus: Tied together by a powerhouse performance from Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce blends noir and social drama to soapily intoxicating effect.
Synopsis: When Mildred Pierce's wealthy husband leaves her for another woman, Mildred decides to raise her two daughters on her own. [More]
Critics Consensus: Playing against type with Nightmare Alley, Tyrone Power and Edmund Goulding deliver some of their best work in a carnival-set noir unafraid to showcase true despair.
Synopsis: Roustabout Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power) joins a traveling carny and unsuccessfully schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle [More]
Critics Consensus:Spellbound's exploration of the subconscious could have benefitted from more analysis, but Alfred Hitchcock's psychedelic flourishes elevate this heady thriller along with Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck's star power.
Synopsis: When Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck) arrives at a Vermont mental hospital to replace the outgoing hospital director, Dr. Constance [More]
Critics Consensus: Energetic and inventive, The Lady from Shanghai overcomes its script deficiencies with some of Orson Welles' brilliantly conceived set pieces.
Synopsis: A seaman becomes involved in a complex murder plot when he is hired to work on a yacht. He soon [More]
Critics Consensus:Leave Her to Heaven suffers from a surfeit of unlikable characters, but the solid cast -- led by an outstanding Gene Tierney -- makes it hard to turn away.
Synopsis: While on a train, writer Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) strikes up a relationship with the gorgeous Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney). [More]
Synopsis: A wounded fugitive's dark odyssey through the streets of Belfast. Following a "fundraising" robbery which goes horribly wrong, the badly [More]
Synopsis: When Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens), a tough private investigator, realizes that he's being followed, he confronts his assailant, a shifty [More]
Synopsis: Anna Holm (Joan Crawford) is a terribly disfigured Swedish woman and small-time criminal in Stockholm. Her terrible luck and resulting [More]
Critics Consensus: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall are at the mercy of Edward G. Robinson's menacing gangster -- and so is the audience in this enthralling chamber piece.
Synopsis: This classic film noir by John Huston stars Humphrey Bogart as World War II vet Frank McCloud. Visiting Key Largo [More]
Critics Consensus: The sins of World War II reemerge in an idyllic American setting in this diabolically effective noir, buoyed by Orson Welles' virtuosic direction and performance.
Synopsis: Immediately following World War II, ex-Nazi Franz Kindler (Orson Welles) is living under a false identity as a teacher in [More]
Critics Consensus: Not even notorious studio meddling can diminish the craft and tantalizing suspense of Suspicion, a sly showcase for Joan Fontaine's nervy prowess and Alfred Hitchcock's flair for disquiet.
Synopsis: Charming scoundrel Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) woos wealthy but plain Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine), who runs away with him despite [More]
Critics Consensus: With Howard Hawks directing and Bogey and Bacall in front of the cameras, To Have and Have Not benefits from several levels of fine-tuned chemistry -- all of which ignite on screen.
Synopsis: In Vichy France, fishing boat captain Harry (Humphrey Bogart) avoids getting involved in politics, refusing to smuggle French Resistance fighters [More]
Synopsis: In 1940s Brighton, England, the vicious criminal Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) is the leader of his small-time gang. After Brown [More]
Synopsis: After young Mary Gibson (Kim Hunter) discovers that her older sister Jacqueline (Jean Brooks) has disappeared, she leaves her boarding [More]
Synopsis: Released from solitary confinement, prisoner Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) learns that his supportive wife, Ruth (Ann Blyth), is refusing surgery [More]
Synopsis: Brothers Joe (George Raft) and Paul Fabrini (Humphrey Bogart), who are delivery-truck drivers, push themselves hard trying to run their [More]
Synopsis: Stark, claustrophobic thriller about an anti-Semitic soldier who kills a Jewish war veteran, evading detection because of his loyal friends' [More]
Synopsis: Three escaped felons (Humphrey Bogart, Dewey Martin, Robert Middleton) randomly target a suburban house to hide out in until midnight, [More]
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