Watch the drunks and the lovers appear to take turns as the stars of the Sovereign Light Café

[sovay]

theseatheseatheopensea invited me to make one, so here is a list of a hundred films noirs. It is non-completist. It is non-proscriptive. I had intended it to start with proto-noir and end with neo-noir, but it turned out I had far more than a hundred noirs of the classically defined period to winnow down from and any number of solid citizens and weird little ornaments had already been left by the side of the meme. Like all of the other lists, it will be different tomorrow. Anything on this one that I haven't written about, rest assured that I want to. I would, however, need to sleep more than an hour, which is how the last couple of nights have been going.

Comments

[rushthatspeaks]

Shiny! As I thought, I have not merely seen the four of those I have seen because of you, but actively with you, which is great, and I would like to do more of that. Love.

[radiantfracture]

What an excellent suggestion! I believe I have seen the most obvious three from this list and that is all.

I hope you sleep. There must be at least 100 films noirs that come solely from your dreams.

[gwynnega]

I have seen most of these! (What with the generic way some noirs are titled, there are a few I couldn't be sure of at a glance.)

[thisbluespirit]

You remember when I said that I probably hadn't watched a single Hollywood noir in my life? Well, I certainly haven't found any proof to the contrary yet:

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I'm so sorry!!

I very much enjoyed looking at all the posters. I've heard lots of the names before but this was the first time I've been able to put any sort of context to them, even if no doubt often misleading but nevertheless gloriously pulpy and frequently enticing. (I'm still sad that when I did my list they had the 98% incorrect in every details except for the cast names poster for The Traitors, which clearly the artist wasn't having with the low-key little thing that it is, and drew somethng else entirely, but then when I sorted the list the image vanished forever.)

I did notice on this and your other lists a couple of Barbara Stanwycks, which does remind me I should find some more of hers. I picked up The Miracle Woman in a charity shop years ago when I was enjoying all the UK 30s films on my Network Ealing Rarities, and she was definitely a standout. I think that was the first old school US film I actually liked, so it was very encouraging. I was beginning to think all that would ever happen was that I would bounce off all the most famous films in the English-speaking world and become outcast among film buffs and fandom everywhere & it might be better not to risk it.)

ETA: Apologies for the editing, but *hugs* on the lack of sleep. I hope that some is achieved soon. In the meantime, it is an excellent list! <3

[moon_custafer]

I've seen twelve. I didn't count Gun Crazy because I've only seen the last reel or so (came across it on tv).

[aurumcalendula]

Neat! I definitely need to check out more of these.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

What an excellent list, it being chronological makes it very satisfying! I think I clicked on everything I've seen (other than probably some confusing translated titles), and we match on 52 out of 100! If I made my own list, it would also be different each day, but it would always include Blues In The Night, so I absolutely loved seeing it in yours--Character is one of my favourite characters in noir! <3 And you included a lot of Don Siegel and I heartily approve! Have you seen The Line-up? I'd always include it my list too.

This list was such a treat and I could probably be here all day, but I'll just say that I approve of seeing Dassin, and a Gassman noir (to which I'd probably add "Cry of the hunted"), and of course Repeat Performance and The Big Combo! And ohh, Don't bother to knock, which I think is so underrated!

thank you for sharing your list! I hope you manage to sleep more and better soon, and not just because I'd love to read your thoughts about any of these movies! <3

[selkie]

Are you on the Group W bench with folk who do not think The Third Man is noir? I don't have an opinion or stakes, I just heard the debate ad nauseam in
*SHAKES GROGGER*
graduate school.

[dramaticirony]

Cool list!

Quite interesting to see all the movie posters, with aesthetics much more colorful and busy than, say, than the black, white, with a dash of red that Criteron Channel uses.

Of course, their overall style is to prominently feature a frame from the film, so in most cases they'd be at least committed to something greyscale, if not starkly black and white.

[thawrecka]

Three that I can remember. I've probably watched more, because I did a class on Noir at uni, but I can barely remember what I watched last year let alone ten years ago.

[skygiants]

Alas, only 8! Frankly I desperately want you to program a film festival.

[gullyfoyle]

I was surprised to not see In a Lonely Place and The Big Heat on your estimable list. But, as I once heard Nick Lowe reply to a shouted song request, "So many songs, so little time." So many noirs, so little time.... Both those films feature Gloria Grahame. I'm sure she's represented in the list.

I have to admit I have a little trouble classifying Glenda as a noir. Its characters, mood, and plot are so weird and fucked up (not a criticism!) that it defies typical classification for me. My invented classification for it is "proto-David-Lynchian."

[yhlee]

...I achieved 0/100 :p and count myself lucky to have heard of some of these. (That is, I know you review them but my memory is trash; the ones I recognized were ones of which I'd read the novels.)