Crime classics

[Connavar]

I knew i could count on musky for some Noir


Touch of Evil isnt that famous Noir movie where Welles used lights,darkness well. Where you see characters face in darkness ?

In a comic i read called Criminal a noir one, in the letter pages the writer Ed Brubaker and other famous writers,journalists was talking about best Noir movies from Touch of Evil to Point Blank and many others.

Thats why i made this thread not to miss out on the great crime/noir movies of 40's,50's and 60's.

Doesnt anyone know good French crime classics ? Seeing as the history of Film Noir they should have atleast a couple.

[gully_foyle]

Why has no-one mentioned Hitchcock yet? I just watched the 39 steps the other night, and I can't think of a more classic "noir" thriller. He had some brilliant thrillers in the 50s and 60s too, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo and (arguable) North by Northwest. You could watch all his movies over and over again.

[iansales]

Hitchcock's early films are bit too, well, English to qualify as noir, I think. Not just the The 39 Steps, but the original The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Lady Vanishes, Secret Agent, Foreign Correspondent and suspicion.

[Connavar]

Can you guys separate his "too english" and his more Noir like movies if he did any ?

This thread isnt only for Noir. I like any good crime story no matter the type except one type i dislike.

The type of crime story i dislike is Agatha Christie kind. I find her type so clichè and annoying. Marple,Poirot and their fricking gathering of usual suspects in a living room everytime...

[iansales]

All the Hitchock ones I mentioned are worth seeing. Also Rear Window, Vertigo, Notorious, Spellbound, Sabotage, Suspicion, Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, Stage Fright, Strangers on a Train, The Wrong Man and Frenzy.

[Connavar]

Ok cool.


Right now im trying to get hold first Touch of Evil by Welles,The Killing by Kubrick and Le Samourai by Jean-Pierre Melville.

Melville one i choosed cause it sounds like the type of film noir i want. Also i havent seen too many french movies of that type.

I have found them and gonna watch at them as soon as i can.

Three very noir sounding movies which will prolly be good for my hunger for movies of that kind.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

Doesnt anyone know good French crime classics ? Seeing as the history of Film Noir they should have atleast a couple.

Rififi is probably the best french movie in the noir style. Miss this one and you miss probably the best heist movie ever made

[littlemissattitude]

Speaking of Hitchcock...if you like your crime spiked with a bit of humor, try The Trouble With Harry. Now there's an odd little movie about a dead body that keeps trying to be buried but just keeps turning up, like the proverbial bad penny. Stars John Forsythe and Shirley MacLaine (might be her first film role, but I can't recall for sure).

[gully_foyle]

How do you classify Noir? I'm not sure that films can be too English to be Noir. Is Rififi too French?

Another one to consider is The Third Man with Orson Welles.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by gully_foyle

How do you classify Noir? I'm not sure that films can be too English to be Noir. Is Rififi too French?

Another one to consider is The Third Man with Orson Welles.

English crime was the reason Noir aka Hardboiled crime stories showed up in US with Hammett,Chandler and co.

Agatha Christie,Conan Doyle etc dominated before then.

Its nothing to do with nationality itself. But that english crime and their mystery,cosy mysteries etc is the opposite of Noir.

Plus the French was the first with Film Noir.

Also as i said i like any type crime except cosy ala Christie. Noir is just my favorit which is im gonna watch the french Le Samourai first.