![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/filmnoir-genre.jpg\")
<\/a>By Geoffrey Huchel<\/strong><\/p>\nHollywood\u2019s stylish crime drama known as film noir has always been a style of filmmaking that has intrigued me, with its low-key lighting, story structure, element of crime, and a cast of mysterious and interesting characters, all tied together to tell an intricate story. The film noir period was very prominent from the early 1940s to the late 1950s; however, the genre is still as popular in movies of today, although it is now known by the updated term neo-noir. Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures that prominently uses elements of film noir. The genre has specific stylized characteristics including an oppressive atmosphere of menace, pessimism, anxiety, suspicion that anything can go wrong, futility, fatalism and defeat and entrapment.<\/p>\n
Characters depicted in film noir generally have something to hide or have a shady past. They\u2019ll take extreme measures to ensure their secret or their duplicity is kept under wraps, going as far as murder and blackmail. Typical characters in film noir include a private investigator, a plainclothes policeman, the femme fatale, the anti-hero, the girl-next-door, the chanteuse, the corrupt politician and the mafia. <\/p>\n
I put together a collection of some of the most popular noir and neo-noir films throughout film history. Narrowing down the list was an extremely difficult task, but I did my best to include the ones I felt made an impact on the genre.<\/p>\n
THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) Running Time 1 hr 41 min<\/strong><\/em> HIGH SIERRA (1941) Running time 1 hr 40 min<\/strong><\/em> DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) Running Time: 1 hr 47 min<\/strong><\/em> THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944) running Time 1 hr 47 min<\/strong><\/em> MILDRED PIERCE (1945) Running Time 1 hr 51 min<\/strong><\/em> THE BIG SLEEP (1946) Running Time 1 hr 54 min<\/strong><\/em> THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946) running Time 1 hr 53 min<\/strong><\/em> DARK PASSAGE (1947) Running Time 1 hr 46 min<\/strong><\/em> WHITE HEAT (1949) running Time 1 hr 54 min<\/strong><\/em> SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) Running Time 1 hr 50 min<\/strong><\/em> THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995) Running Time 1 hr 46 min<\/strong><\/em> L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) Running Time 2 hr 18 min<\/strong><\/em> SEVEN (1995) Running Time 2 hr 7 min<\/strong><\/em> FARGO (1996) Running Time 1 hr 38 min<\/strong><\/em> MEMENTO (2000) Running Time 1 hr 53 min<\/strong><\/em> MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001) Running Time 2 hr 27 min<\/strong><\/em> SIN CITY (2005) Running time 2 hr 4 min<\/strong><\/em> KISS KISS BANG BANG (2005) Running Time 1 hr 43 min<\/strong><\/em> GONE BABY GONE (2007) Running Time 1 hr 54 min<\/strong><\/em> NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) Running Time 2hr 2 min<\/strong><\/em> [si-contact-form form=’2′]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [AdSense-A] By Geoffrey Huchel Hollywood\u2019s stylish crime drama known as film noir has always been a style of filmmaking that has intrigued me, with its low-key lighting, story structure, element of crime, and a cast of mysterious and interesting characters, all tied together to tell an intricate story. The film noir period was very prominent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17984],"tags":[19425],"class_list":["post-77398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment-news","tag-mystery-and-murder-a-look-at-film-noir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77398"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDirected by: John Huston
\nStarring: Humphrey Bogart
\nPlot: A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Raoul Walsh
\nStarring: Humphrey Bogart
\nIda Lupino
\nPlot: After being released from prison, notorious thief Roy Earle is hired by his old boss to help a group of inexperienced criminals plan and carry out the robbery of a California resort.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Billy Wilder
\nStarring: Fred MacMurray
\nBarabara Stanwyck
\nPlot: An insurance representative lets himself be talked into a murder\/insurance fraud scheme that arouses the suspicion of an insurance investigator.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Fritz Lang
\nStarring: Edward G. Robinson
\nJoan Bennett
\nPlot: When a conservative middle-aged professor engages in a minor dalliance with a femme fatale, he is plunged into a nightmarish quicksand of blackmail and murder.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Michael Curtiz
\nStarring: Joan Crawford
\nJack Carson
\nEve Arden
\nPlot: A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Howard Hawks
\nStarring: Humphrey Bogart
\nLauren Bacall
\nPlot: Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he\u2019s seen murder, blackmail and what might be love.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Tay Garnett
\nStarring: Lana Turner
\nJohn Garfield
\nHume Cronyn
\nPlot: A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Delmer Daves
\nStarring: Humphrey Bogart
\nLauren Bacall
\nAgnes Moorehead
\nPlot: A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Raoul Walsh
\nStarring: James Cagney
\nVirginia Mayo
\nPlot; A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang on a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Billy Wilder
\nStarring: William Holden
\nGloria Swanson
\nPlot: A screenwriter is hired to rework a faded silent film star\u2019s script, only to find himself developing a dangerous relationship.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Bryan Singer
\nStarring: Kevin Spacey
\nGabriel Byrne
\nBenicio Del Toro
\nPlot: A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which began when five criminals met at a seemingly random police lineup.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Curtis Hanson
\nStarring: Kevin Spacey
\nRussell Crowe
\nKim Basinger
\nPlot: As corruption grows in 1950s LA, three policeman-one straight-laced, one brutal and one sleazy, investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: David Fincher
\nStarring: Morgan Freeman
\nBrad Pitt
\nKevin Spacey
\nGwyneth Paltrow
\nPlot: Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
\nStarring: William H. Macy
\nFrances McDormand
\nSteve Buscemi
\nPlot: Jerry Lundegaard\u2019s inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen\u2019s bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Christopher Nolan
\nStarring: Guy Pierce
\nCarrie-Ann Moss
\nPlot: A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife\u2019s murderer.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: David Lynch
\nStarring: Naomi Watts
\nLaura Harring
\nJustin Theroux
\nPlot: After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino
\nStarring: Mickey Rourke
\nClive Owen
\nBruce Willis
\nJessica Alba
\nPlot: A film that explores the dark and miserable town, Basin City, and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in violent corruption.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Shane Block
\nStarring: Robert Downey, JR.
\nVal Kilmer
\nMichelle Monaghan
\nPlot: A murder mystery brings together a private eye, a struggling actress, and a thief masquerading as an actor.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Ben Affleck
\nStarring: Casey Affleck
\nMorgan Freeman
\nEd Harris
\nMichelle Monaghan
\nPlot: Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl\u2019s kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.<\/p>\n
\nDirected by: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
\nStarring: Tommy Lee Jones
\nJavier Bardem
\nJosh Brolin
\nWoody Harrelson
\nPlot: Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.<\/p>\n