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On his site, Muller has compiled a list of “25 noir films that will stand the test of time.”
http://eddiemuller.com/top25noir.html
The comments are Muller's
A list by Luiyo
25
Items on this list73%
Average Rating39h 38m
Total Runtime$18.1M
Total Revenue1
In a Lonely Place
This incredible rethinking of Dorothy B. Hughes' disturbing serial killer novel is as close as a studio film ever got to "personal filmmaking." No noir iconography, just a profound darkness of the soul.
Movie
May 17, 1950
1h 33m
$0
2
Criss Cross
Stupidly, I used to think there was something missing at the core. But it keeps getting better ever time I see it. De Carlo in the parking lot pleading straight to the camera might be noir's defining moment.
Movie
February 4, 1949
1h 28m
$0
3
Sunset Boulevard
To those who think this isn't noir: Man uses woman. Woman uses man. Queasy sex. Betrayal. Madness. Gunshots. He's face down in the pool he always wanted. Case closed.
Movie
August 10, 1950
1h 50m
$5M
4
The Asphalt Jungle
"I wouldn't cross the street to see garbage like that," said the head of the studio that made this, the granddaddy of all caper films. A pure "crime" film, with every character indelible.
Movie
May 12, 1950
1h 52m
$0
5
Double Indemnity
Cain's basic blueprint has served as foundation for most of the unhappy homes in Dark City; but for that sloppy subplot with Nino Sachetti this would be #1. Too bad Wilder didn't make Postman, too.
Movie
July 6, 1944
1h 47m
$2.5M
6
The Maltese Falcon
Okay, it's talky, set-bound and not all that exceptional to look at. But it's the most brilliantly self-contained detective story ever written, perfectly cast. It never gets stale.
Movie
October 18, 1941
1h 40m
$1.8M
7
Nightmare Alley
Little by little, as this film resurfaces in the mainstream, it will come to be seen as Tyrone Power's greatest contribution to the movies. "Pffft-Every boy had a dog!"
Movie
October 9, 1947
1h 51m
$0
8
Night and the City
Even more baroque than Touch of Evil, the greatness of this film is its stubborn refusal to allow the tiniest ray of light into Harry Fabian's headlong descent in hell. Is this the ultimate noir ending?
Movie
June 9, 1950
1h 35m
$0
9
Out of the Past
Face it, the meandering script is saved by Frank Fenton's dialogue. But this is how we want noir to look and sound, so it gets cut lots of slack. Mitchum is great, Douglas never better, and Jane Greer is 22 years old.
Movie
November 25, 1947
1h 37m
$0
10
Moonrise
Relentlessly romantic optimistic Frank Borzage is the last guy you'd expect to turn out an effective film noir, but this was his sound era masterpiece, redemptive ending and all.
Movie
October 1, 1948
1h 30m
$0
11
The Killers
Hemingway's short story is fleshed out into an incredibly involuted screenplay, which Siodmak renders as the ultimate noir dreamscape. The Citizen Kane of crime movies.
Movie
August 30, 1946
1h 43m
$0
12
Sweet Smell of Success
Almost improvisational in the making, with the palpable hostility of the filmmakers seeping into every shot. All captured brilliantly by his serene highness, James Wong Howe.
Movie
July 4, 1957
1h 37m
$2.5M
13
Thieves' Highway
Not nearly as uncompromising as the original novel, but a wonderful, politically-charged melodrama in its own right. This is the film that got me hooked on noir.
Movie
September 20, 1949
1h 34m
$0
14
They Live by Night
Film noir's version of Romeo and Juliet, made with amazing conviction by Nicholas Ray. A smart, soulful film full of evocative details, including a wonderfully intricate soundtrack.
Movie
November 1, 1949
1h 36m
$0
15
The Killing
If you believe that a good script is a succession of great scenes, you can't do better than this. Hey, that scene was so good, let's do it again from somebody else's perspective.
Movie
June 6, 1956
1h 25m
$0
16
Odds Against Tomorrow
Abraham Polonsky had always wanted to make a film about the African-American experience, but ghostwriting this was as close as he got. Robert Wise's best noir, hands up.
Movie
October 15, 1959
1h 36m
$0
17
Act of Violence
It directly confronts lingering WWII nightmares, mixes up the "good" guy versus "bad" guy premise to stunning effect, is beautifully directed and shot, and features great work from the four leads. Damn near perfect.
Movie
January 22, 1949
1h 22m
$1.1M
18
Gun Crazy
No picture before or since has more deliriously used side arms as sexual symbols. Loopy, corny, overheated, but one big adrenaline rush of creative moviemaking from start to finish.
Movie
January 20, 1950
1h 27m
$0
19
The Prowler
Silent producer John Huston's goodbye gift to wife Evelyn Keyes: a terrific role in a truly weird film. Dated by the pregnancy angle, but relentlessly compelling.
Movie
May 25, 1951
1h 33m
$0
20
Tomorrow Is Another Day
If WB had gone with a tragic finish—imagine Cochran throttling Roman only to learn he wasn't guilty in the first place—this hard-as-nails road picture would be a classic
Movie
August 8, 1951
1h 30m
$0
21
Detour
You'd have thought it would lose the mystique, being liberated from the limbo of "Movies Till Dawn" and mass-distributed on DVD. Incredibly, it still casts its fetid, doom-laden spell, every time.
Movie
November 30, 1945
1h 8m
$0
22
Scarlet Street
Deeply perverse, and immensely enjoyable for the ways writer Dudley Nichols and Fritz Lang run circles around the Production Code. Were the three leads ever any better?
Movie
December 25, 1945
1h 43m
$2.9M
23
Touch of Evil
Under all the visual razzle-dazzle there's a genuinely moving story: Pete Menzies turning Judas on Hank Quinlan, the mentor who's become a monster. Just imagine Ricardo Montalban instead of Heston.
Movie
March 30, 1958
1h 51m
$2.2M
24
City That Never Sleeps
Any movie that is narrated by the city itself earns special honors for cinematic chutzpah. Plus, its got Marie Windsor and William Tallman as lovers. That's noir.
Movie
June 12, 1953
1h 30m
$0
25
Raw Deal
Rambunctious pulp made transcendent through Anthony Mann's direction, John Alton's lighting, and a satisfying gender switch in which the Angel and the Tramp duke it out over the guy.
Movie
May 21, 1948
1h 19m
$0