Your favourite Noir films?
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Aloysius_von_der_Trenck — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 02:25 PM)
I really will have to do a top 120 french noir list.
I would like to see it, but alas, you won't be able to 'publish' it here (unless you do it very soon), since the IMDb Lusitania will be torpedoed and sunk in only ten days
PS. I'm glad you recovered from your illness. -
mgtbltp — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 03:29 PM)
Well here is a list I found of the relatively unknown
French Film Noir
1947: Les gosses mènent l'enquête (Maurice Labro)
1950: Le roi du bla bla bla (Maurice Labro)
1951: Le bagnard (Willy Rozier)
1955: Interdit de séjour (Maurice de Canonge, based on André Héléna's novel)
1955: Le Couteau sous la gorge (Jacques Séverac)
1955: Sophie et le crime (Pierre Gaspard-Huit)
1959: La nuit des espions (Robert Hossein, based on Frédéric Dard's novel)
1960: Le pain des Jules (Jacques Séverac, based on Ange Bastiani's novel)
1960: Le Saint mène la danse (Jacques Nahum)
1960: Préméditation (André Berthomieu, based on Frédéric Dard's novel)
1961: Les bras de la nuit (Jacques Guymont, based on Frédéric Dard's novel)
1961: Espions à l'affût (Max Pécas)
1961: Dans la gueule du loup (1961, based on James Hadley Chase's novel)
1961: Callaghan remet ça (Willy Rozier)
1962: Maléfices (Henri Decoin)
1962: Jusqu'à plus soif (Maurice Labro, based on Jean Amila's novel)
1962: Dossier 1413 (Alfred Rode)
1962: Portrait-robot (Paul Paviot)
1963: Méfiez-vous, mesdames (André Hunebelle, based on Ange Bastiani's novel)
1963: Le captif (Maurice Labro)
1963: Des frissons partout (Raoul André)
1963: Les femmes d'abord (Raoul André)
1964: Les durs à cuire ou Comment supprimer son prochain sans perdre l'appétit (Jacques Pinoteau)
1965: Espions à l'affût (Max Pécas)
1965: La tête du client (Jacques Poitrenaud)
1965: Corrida pour un espion (Maurice Labro)
1965: Les chiens dans la nuit (Willy Rozier)
1966: Brigade antigangs (Bernard Borderie, based on Auguste Le Breton's novel)
1966: L'homme de Mykonos (René Gainville)
1967: La peur et l'amour (Max Pécas)
1967: Les racines du mal (Maurice Cam, based on Louis C. Thomas' novel)
1968: La main noire (Max Pécas)
1968: Le démoniaque (René Gainville)
1970: L'ardoise (Claude Bernard-Aubert, based on Pierre Lesou's novel)
1972: Un cave (Gilles Grangier)
1972: Les intrus (Sergio Gobbi)
1974: la main à couper (Etienne Périer, based on Pierre Salva's novel)
1977: Le coeur froid (Henri Helman, based on Georges-Jean Arnaud's novel)
1989: Le crime d'Antoine (Marc Rivière, based on Dominique Roulet's novel)
1993: Coma (Denys Granier-Deferre, based on Frédéric Dard's novel)
1996: Sortez des rangs (Jean-Denis Robert) -
CanterburyTale — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 03:43 PM)
Aloysius,I adore Touchez Pas Au Grisbi! What a superb film.Jean Gabin is one of my favourite actors of any nationality (Le Jour Se Leve; Quai Des Brumes; Pepe Le Moko), and Jacques Becker's direction is phenomenal (I also love his prison drama Le Trou). Again, I was uncertain as to whether Touchezwould be considered "Noir", but it certainly is a fantastic film, so it gets my vote!
"Barney SloaneThat's my new nameMy old one's a little more Italian." -
CanterburyTale — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 03:52 PM)
Thanks very much for the recommendation, Tim.I have not come across Gas-Oil before, but from the synopsis and stars, it looks right up my street.Much obliged.
"Barney SloaneThat's my new nameMy old one's a little more Italian." -
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Aloysius_von_der_Trenck — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 06:02 PM)
Aloysius, I adore Touchez Pas Au Grisbi!
Again, I was uncertain as to whether Touchezwould be considered "Noir",
Canterbury,
Film Noir is an American invention for American films but using a French word
Some people consider it a "Noir" or "gangster Noir" film
https://whatisfilmnoir.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/touchez-pas-au-grisbi/
while others would classify it as a "crime" film.
There 's no objective, scientific definition for "Noir" and anyway I don't believe in "genres" (we recently had a discussion about that when someone affirmed or suggested that 'The Naked Jungle' (1954 again) is a Sci-Fi film). Also, I don't like pigeonholings of any kind. I use genres, but in a very flexible way. In France, the genre of 'Touchez' can be film dramatique, film policier, film d'action, Thriller, etc
Many centuries ago, Byzantine theologians and philosophers wasted their time for many years trying to determine the gender of angels
and didn't find the answer, of course, among other reasons because they weren't able to catch a single one, dead or alive. Talking about "Noir": Some people consider that Barack Obama is the first "black" president of the United States, but other people object and say that he is a "mulatto", given that his father was a"black-black" Kenyan, while his mother was a "white-white" American.
This is subjective. I consider that
Touchez pas au grisbi
(in French you don't capitalise so much) is "Noir enough"
Other people won't agree with this, so I say: well, fine, let's agree to disagree
Same thing for the very notion of Classic Film: is it because of its age or its quality or what? Is a 1984 film a classic film? where is the dividing line? 1980? 1975? 1970? 1945?
(Excuse me for the digression). -
CanterburyTale — 9 years ago(February 09, 2017 03:12 AM)
Thank you,Aloysius. As you say, genre definitions can often be very subjective.I am aware of all the staples of Film Noir: The narrative, the doom laden plot line, the moral ambiguity, the femme fatale, and of course, the dark,shadowy cinematography. I am also aware that not all Noir Films are about crime, or vice versa (even though most Crime films of the 40's and 50's seem to be labelled Noir in TV listings today). As to whether Noir is a style or a genre Well, that debate can rage on without any comment from me.It is rather like "What was the first Rock and Roll record?", everyone (interested) has an opinion, but ultimately the questions are simply exercises in chasing one's own tail.
"Barney SloaneThat's my new nameMy old one's a little more Italian." -
Aloysius_von_der_Trenck — 9 years ago(February 09, 2017 04:13 AM)
You're welcome, Canterbury. Thank you, I entirely agree with what you say. In fact I have discussed so often the "what-is-and-what-is-not-Noir" issue, even at La Sorbonne, where I studied (History, not Cinema); even with 'Cahiers du cinéma' old friends and acquaintances of mine; even at La Cinémathèque française when it was at Chaillot (Paris), and so long ago, that, frankly, it bores me. And in my opinion, it's a totally sterile debate as well. Like the gender of the angels
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Aloysius_von_der_Trenck — 9 years ago(February 09, 2017 04:14 AM)
You're welcome, Canterbury. Thank you, I entirely agree with what you say. In fact I have discussed so often the "what-is-and-what-is-not-Noir" issue, even at La Sorbonne, where I studied (History, not Cinema); even with 'Cahiers du cinéma' old friends and acquaintances of mine; even at La Cinémathèque française when it was at Chaillot (Paris), and so long ago, that, frankly, it bores me. And in my opinion, it's a totally sterile debate as well. Like the gender of the angels
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Spikeopath — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 01:41 PM)
I have 13 10/10s - these are through the IMDb noir filter though. I'm going to do a proper top 50 one of these days
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang 1932
Night and the City 1950
The Lost Weekend 1945
White Heat 1949
Angels with Dirty Faces 1938
The Maltese Falcon 1941
Strangers on a Train 1951
Gaslight 1944
The Big Sleep 1946
The Night of the Hunter 1955
Riot in Cell Block 11 1954
Sunset Boulevard 1950
The Third Man 1949
The
SpikeopathHospital Number
217 -
CanterburyTale — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 04:02 PM)
Spike, Night And The City is absolutely sublime! Seeing your mention of I Am A Fugitive has reminded me of two others, both from 1947,Alberto Cavalcanti's
They Made Me A Fugitve
, and Carol Reed's
Odd Man Out
. Both wonderfully dark films with superb performances, particularly James Mason as the wounded IRA foot soldier in OMO.
"Barney SloaneThat's my new nameMy old one's a little more Italian." -
Spikeopath — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 04:20 PM)
Absolutely! Both 9/10 films for me.
Odd Man Out (1947)
just gets better with each viewing, it's the gift that keeps on giving.
They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
is still surprisingly something of an under seen gem,
Howard
brings his
"A"
game,
Heller's
photography has noirville written all over it, whilst there's some dark humour in it as well (gotta love the funeral parlour setting!). Due a rewatch for me
The
SpikeopathHospital Number
217 -
glen_esq — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 01:58 PM)
I have posters (reproductions sadly) of these five hanging in our TV room, I reckon that makes them favourites.
Kiss Me Deadly
This Gun For Hire
Gun Crazy
Nightmare Alley
Brighton Rock (almost a noir, imdb lists it as a noir)
Kiss Me Deadly is one of the crazier films to come out of the 50s. -
FilioScotia — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 02:47 PM)
I'm restricting my list of "noir" films to those made after WWII, when so many European and American films reflected the "social darkness" the world was facing in those years.
I put
White Heat (1949)
with James Cagney as the psychopathic Cody Jarrett at the top of my list. No other film of that period comes close to capturing the totally amoral mindset of the criminally inclined in an era when social and moral standards almost disappeared.
I'm really unsure whether
Night of the Hunter
(1954) falls into the "noir" category or not, but it seems to fit the prevailing "noir" template of those times. Imagine Cody Jarrett as a psychopath southern preacher.
I don't know if
The Naked City
(1948) fits into the "noir" template or not, but it is a wonderful exploration of urban police work in the early post-war era.
Most of my friends who have inferiority complexes are absolutely right.