What is film noir? What is Film Noir？
Defining a genre of film is by no means an easy task, after all, many genres are originally a few film critics' heads to come up with a name, film noir may contain suspense, detective, crime and other themes, perhaps the detective is exhausted after the prisoner, perhaps the criminal is running for his life in order to get rid of the crime, some people say that film noir wants to show the depression of the city and the degeneration of human nature, and some people say that the symbol of film noir is the light and shadow of snake and scorpion beauty and expressionism.
Even, narrowly speaking, film noir must be confined to black and white films, presumably believing that color weakens the gloomy temperament that is unique to film noir.
I'm not a film researcher, so I don't pay much attention to this, after all, in my opinion, the concept of "film noir" has been blurred since birth, but this does not prevent us from appreciating the unique temperament of this type of film.
The twenty films noir I want to recommend in this issue more or less meet the general definition of "film noir", and the age is basically before the 70s, twenty can only be regarded as appetizers, and many well-known film noirs have not been included, and I will continue to add them later.
1. "M is the Murderer"
Year: 1931
Average review score: 8.2
Many people regard this film as a representative work of film noir, which describes a pursuit of the girl killer, and the gangster let his men mark an M mark on the suspect's back.
In addition to the film's expressionist lens, what is even more valuable is the speculative nature of the last trial, if a person who cannot control his own evil is to be sentenced to death, then what punishment should be imposed on those who have self-control but still burn and loot?
2. The Maltese Eagle
Year: 1941
Average review score: 8.1
A detective is accidentally caught up in a vicious vortex about the priceless "Maltese Eagle", and the seemingly absolutely calm and rational every move of the male protagonist hides his long-suppressed true emotions.
A man with a gun may not be killing people, but just to deter, and likewise a man full of lies may not be bad at heart, he just wants to use lies to get out of lies.
3. "Hot Hand Destroys Flowers"
Year: 1943
Average review score: 7.3
It is said that this is a movie that Hitchcock liked very much, but the actual look and feel is not so good, the film mainly describes an uncle from the city, who is admired by the heroine, but slowly discovers that he is actually a notorious criminal.
The plot is actually still a bit interesting, but unfortunately, the heroine's turn in attitude towards her uncle is really too abrupt, and she still loves to die and live, and immediately began to betray her uncle's trust, and the misuse of female character portrayal is Hitchcock's old fault.
4. Double Indemnity
Year: 1944
Average review score: 8.5
A very neat movie, the story of a salesman who knows a lot about insurance matters conspires with a beautiful woman to kill her husband and defraud her of high compensation, but the double sum insured naturally means a double risk, the murder train has started, even if it is not fast, jumping down may be crushed to pieces.
So the male protagonist sniffed the aroma of honeysuckle and walked to the grave step by step like walking on thin ice.
5. "The Stranger"
Year: 1946
Average review score: 7.4
The plot of the film is not complicated, even the kind that can guess the end after watching the beginning, but with the blessing of the director and lead actor of Orson Welles, the film's image style is full of his personal characteristics and charm, the smooth operation of the mirror, the large shadow left by the black and white interlacing of light, almost overshadows the suspense of the plot itself.
Anyway, it's good to look good.
6. "Beauty Plan"
Average review score: 6.8
As Hitchcock's work, although there is a suspenseful crime gimmick, it is actually more of a love story between Gary Grant and Bergman, after Bergman was sent to carry out the undercover plan of the beauty plan, and the male protagonist's inability to get entangled in the resentment and the male protagonist's jealousy of appointing her seduction villain are all jumping into the picture.
Unfortunately, because love occupies more space in the film, the thrilling and tense component of the plot is weakened a lot, and the characters are slightly flattened and not interesting.
7. Beyond the Whirlpool
Year: 1947
Average review score: 7.8
The male protagonist who is the boss of the gas station is found by the enemies of the past, so many troubles left by the crazy love of the past come to the surface, and a conspiracy and trap specifically aimed at him are slowly being laid.
Because the male protagonist looks too clever, so the ending still gave me a great shock, but think about it carefully, using this method to bury a bad relationship is probably the best way the male protagonist can think of.
8. Miss Shanghai
Average review score: 8.0
In a work directed and starring Orson Wells, a sailor bumps into a beautiful young woman who has been robbed on the road and has a secret affection, but one of her husband's requests to the sailor pulls everyone into this bottomless pit of sin.
It's a very emotionally complex film, with a lot of dialogue, plot, and scenes that I find pleasing to my eyes, but I must admit that because it's so deep, I can't fully understand the film, but that doesn't stop the fact that this movie is a masterpiece.
9. "The Third Man"
Year: 1949
Average review score: 8.4
An American writer came to Vienna to visit his friend, but learned the news of his friend's death, and in the process of his continuous in-depth investigation of the cause of his friend's death, he slowly discovered the "third person" lurking at the scene of the crime.
The film uses very mature and beautiful film techniques and forms of expression, the setting of the shots and scenes are full of surprises, and the story itself is quite flavorful, starting from a funeral to the end of a funeral, although the crime is finally punished, but also lost a lot, can't help but be afraid.
In addition, orson Wells' cameo villain was a small surprise to the audience.
10.《Stray Dog》
Average review score: 8.8
The loss of a pistol makes the protagonist, a policeman, have to go deep into the darkest part of the city to search, and during the journey to find the gun, the underclass of post-war Japan is revealed.
The same gun in the hands of different people will do very different things, like people, may have experienced similar encounters, but whether to become a hero or degenerate into a wild dog, ultimately depends on personal choice.
11. "The True Colors of the Four Seas"
Year: 1950
Average review score: 8.6
The crumbling man, the unstable bridge, the black London. The opportunity to get rich through his own elaborate words, the little profit he won by struggling back and forth between several forces, but accompanied by a small accident, scattered all the money and lost everything.
I love this movie, it's like a life's ups and downs, and finally the balloon of desire is broken by reality, and only the haze of London silently witnesses everything.
12. Night of the Hunters
Year: 1955
Average review score: 6.9
A robbery of stolen goods is hidden in the doll's doll, while the evil man who learns the news is slowly approaching the innocent family.
Some of the scene design and mood of this film are still good, including the bad guys using the identity of a priest to approach the family is also interesting, but overall the plot is still relatively flat, there is no ups and downs.
13. "The Devil"
In a boarding school, the principal's wife conspires with the principal's lover to plot a murder plan because she is bullied by the principal, but after that, more strange things happen.
Although the film is about demons, there is no real evil ghost, the resurrection of the dead, the shadows in the night, it is not the evil ghosts that appear in the world, everything is just the evil thoughts in the heart.
14. "The Killer"
Year: 1956
Average review score: 7.7
A well-arranged robbery, recruiting members, arranging in advance, seamlessly, but missing, seemingly interlocking plans, and finally evolving into layers of interlocking failures.
Although this film is not Kubrick's debut, as a work of his youth, it is already wonderful to show his strong control over the plot and shots so early. The next year he made a masterpiece like "The Road to Glory", and I can only sigh: this is a real genius.
15. "The Record of Redressing Grievances"
Average review score: 8.3
A Hitchcock work that I personally like, like the title, tells the story of a wronged person. The rhythm of the first half of the whole film is very perfect, and you watch the male protagonist being walked into prison step by step in accordance with the flow, and the powerless sense of despair is portrayed as wordless but shocking.
The second half of the yixue grievances are a little worse than that, but this film is based on real events, and it is still related to it, since there is such a coincidence in the world, if it happens to us, will we have the opportunity to prove our innocence?
16. "The Elevator to the Gallows"
Year: 1958
The error that occurred when cleaning up the scene after a murder made the male protagonist trapped in the suspended elevator, but because of his poor thoughts, more uncontrollable aftermath slowly expanded, encroaching on the entire night.
Director Louis Mahler can make such a rare film in his debut film, and the foolish couple who occupy the magpie's nest is too annoying, but it also makes the male and female protagonists who cannot meet seem even more tragic.
17. Ecstasy
Average review score: 7.9
Still in Hitchcock's work, the male protagonist began to track the female protagonist after accepting the commission of his friend, and found some strange but convincing secrets, and after failing to save the fallen female protagonist because of his fear of heights, the male protagonist gradually entered a nightmare of self-blame and regret.
This movie, of course, also has the fatalistic end game common in film noir, and the lingering love between the male and female protagonists also makes people anxious to watch, but unfortunately, the first half is really slow and hot.
18. "Heaven and Hell"
Year: 1963
This film describes a kidnapping incident for the children of big entrepreneurs, the indoor scene in the first half, the tense interplay between the kidnappers inside and outside the phone, the police, and the entrepreneur, but in the second half of the movie, it suddenly changes into a criminal investigation case of tracking and chasing the kidnappers, but inadvertently breaks through the hatred of hell and looking at the kingdom of heaven.
As soon as I saw the title and the first half of the film, I thought it was about a man who fell from a rich paradise to a poor hell, but as the film developed into a solid crime film, it wasn't until the moment when the criminal borrowed fire from the unsuspecting Mifune and watched him leave, that I realized that the film talked so much about, but in fact, it was just to show a person who thought he lived in hell, and for the people who lived in heaven in their eyes, pure malice.
19. "Naked Kiss"
Year: 1964
Average review score: 6.7
A rare big female protagonist type of film noir, a dusty woman who is determined to make a makeover, meets a man who looks perfect in all aspects in a small town, but after lingering pity, she can only swing her iron fist when she finds the evil hook behind him.
The story of the movie can not be said to be bad, but it is really not exciting to look at, the only amazing thing is the heroine's singing, in addition, lackluster.
20. "Chinatown"
Year: 1974
As a highly acclaimed work that was nominated for multiple Oscars that year, the personal feeling is that it is very flavorful, but it is not as wonderful as it is bragged about.
A self-respecting detective is caught up in a cascading whirlpool while investigating a case related to "water", and the "Chinatown" of the past that he repeats is also an unspeakable sad past, so when the nightmare repeats and he can't do anything about it, it is the most sad and fragile curtain call.