(film nwär) – noun
1. a type of crime film featuring cynical malevolent characters in a sleazy setting and an ominous atmosphere that is conveyed by shadowy photography and foreboding background music.
2. a film of this type.
1. SUNSET BLVD. (1950)
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity. (110 mins.) William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim. Dir: Billy Wilder
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2. M (1931)
3. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
4. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
5. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
6. TOUCH OF EVIL (1958)25. SCARLET STREET 26. PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET Chicago 70. NO WAY
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When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt. (117 mins.) Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut. Dir: Fritz Lang
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An insurance rep lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions. (107 mins.) Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson. Dir: Billy Wilder
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Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna
A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette. (100 mins.) Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George. Dir: John Huston
6. TOUCH OF EVIL (1958)
Stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in Mexican border town. (95 mins.) Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Janet Leigh. Dir: Orson Welles
7. ACE IN THE HOLE (1951)
A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque
8. STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)
A psychotic socialite confronts a pro tennis star with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder...a theory that he plans to implement. (101 mins.) Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
9. WHITE HEAT (1949)
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn (114 mins.) James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond
10. THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love. (114 mins.) Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely. Dir: Howard Hawks
11. THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)
A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery. (93 mins.) Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish. Dir: Charles Laughton
12. THE KILLING (1956)
Crooks plan and execute a daring racetrack robbery. (85 mins.) Sterling Stanley
13. SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957)
Powerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician. (96 mins.) Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison. Dir: Alexander Mackendrick
14. LAURA (1944)
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating. (88 mins.) Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton
15. OUT OF THE PAST (1947)
A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses and duplicitous dames. (97 mins.) Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas . Dir: Jacques Tourneur
16. IN A LONELY PLACE (1950)
A potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. But she begins to have doubts... (94 mins.) Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy. Dir: Nicholas Ray
17. NIGHT AND THE CITY (1950)
A small-time grifter and nightclub tout takes advantage of some fortuitous circumstances and tries to become a big-time player as a wrestling promoter. (101 mins.) Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers. Dir: Jules Dassin
18. THE BIG HEAT (1953)
Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate. (90 mins.) Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando. Dir: Fritz Lang
19. KEY LARGO
A man visits his old friend's hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other. (100 mins.) Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall. Dir: John Huston
20. MILDRED PIERCE (1945)
After her cheating husband leaves her, Mildred Pierce proves she can become independent and successful, but can't win the approval of her spoiled daughter. (111 mins.) Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott. Dir: Michael Curtiz
21. THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950)
A major heist goes off as planned, until bad luck and double crosses cause everything to unravel. (112 mins.) Sterling
22. THE KILLERS (1946)
Hit men kill an unresisting victim, and investigator Reardon uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly Kitty Collins. (103 mins.) Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond
23. FURY (1936)
When a prisoner barely survives a lynch mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to frame the mob for his murder. Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel. Dir: Fritz Lang
24. STRAY DOG (1949)
During a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol. (122 mins.) Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji. Dir: Akira Kurosawa
When a man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, her venal fiancé persuades her to con him out of some of the fortune she thinks he has. (103 mins.) Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea. Dir: Fritz Lang
A pickpocket unwittingly lifts a message destined for enemy agents and becomes a target for a Communist spy ring. (80 mins.) Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter. Dir: Samuel Fuller
27. THE SET-UP (1949)
Over-the-hill boxer Bill 'Stoker' Thompson insists he can still win, though his sexy wife Julie pleads with him to quit... (73 mins.) Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias. Dir: Robert Wise
28. GASLIGHT (1944)
Years after her aunt was murdered in her home, a young woman moves back into the house with her new husband. However, he has a secret which he will do anything to protect, even if that means driving his wife insane. Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten (114 mins.). Dir: George Cukor
29. THIEVES' HIGHWAY (1949)
A war-veteran-turned-truck driver attempts to avenge the crippling and robbing of his father at the hands of an amoral produce scofflaw. (94 mins.) Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb. Dir: Jules Dassin
30. ODD MAN OUT (1947)
A wounded Irish nationalist leader attempts to evade police following a failed robbery. Action takes place in Belfast , Northern Ireland
31. GUN CRAZY (1950)
A well meaning crack shot husband is pressured by his beautiful marksman wife to go on an interstate robbery spree, where he finds out just how depraved and deadly she really is. John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Berry Kroeger (86 mins.). Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
32. BODY AND SOUL (1947)
Charley Davis wins an amateur boxing match and is taken on by promoter Quinn. Charley's mother doesn't want him to fight... (104 mins.) John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks. Dir: Robert Rossen
33. NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947)
Stanton Carlisle is an ambitious carnie who plays scams alongside phony mentalist Zeena and her alcoholic husband Pete... (110 mins.) Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray. Dir: Edmund Goulding
34. GILDA (1946)
The sinister boss of a South American casino finds that his right-hand man Johnny and his sensuous new wife Gilda already know each other. (110 mins.) Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready. Dir: Charles Vidor
35. THE NARROW MARGIN (1952)
A woman planning to testify against the mob must be protected against their assassins on the train trip from Chicago to Los Angeles
36. THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944)
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. (107 mins.) Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey. Dir: Fritz Lang
37. THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI
Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot. (87 mins.) Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett
38. THE NAKED CITY (1948)
Amid a semi-documentary portrait of New York
39. KISS ME DEADLY (1955)
A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit." (106 mins.) Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart. Dir: Robert Aldrich
40. BRUTE FORCE (1947)
At a tough penitentiary, prisoner Joe Collins plans to rebel against Captain Munsey, the power-mad chief guard. (98 mins.) Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford. Dir: Jules Dassin
41. THE LETTER (1940)
The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense; a letter in her own hand may prove her undoing. (95 mins.) Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson. Dir: William Wyler
42. CAGED (1950)
A naive nineteen year old widow becomes coarsened and cynical when she is sent to a woman's prison and is exposed to hardened criminals and sadistic guards. (96 mins.) Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby. Dir: John Cromwell
43. WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950)
Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon wants to be something his old man wasn't: a guy on the right side of the law. But Dixon
44. THE BIG CLOCK (1948)
A career oriented magazine editor finds himself on the run when he discovers his boss is framing him for murder. (95 mins.) Ray Milland, Maureen O'Sullivan, Charles Laughton. Dir: John Farrow
45. SPELLBOUND (1945)
A female psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory. (111 mins.) Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
46. DETECTIVE STORY (1951)
On one day in the 21st Precinct squad room, assorted characters form a backdrop for the troubles of hard-nosed Detective Jim McLeod. (103 mins.) Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix. Dir: William Wyler
47. MURDER, MY SWEET (1944)
After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit. (95 mins.) Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley. Dir: Edward Dmytryk
48. HIGH SIERRA (1941)
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
49. THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (1948)
An escaped convict is injured and is helped by a woman with whom he has an ill-fated relationship. (95 mins.) Cathy O'Donnell, Farley Granger, Howard Da Silva. Dir: Nicholas Ray
50. HANGMEN ALSO DIE! (1943)
After the Nazi administrator of Czechoslovakia
51. CRISS CROSS (1949)
An armored truck driver and his lovely ex-wife conspire with a gang to have his own truck robbed on the route. (88 mins.) Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea. Dir: Robert Siodmak
52. THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942)
When hired killer Philip Raven shoots a blackmailer and his beautiful female companion dead, he's is paid off in marked bills by his treasonous employer who is working with foreign spies. Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake
53. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946)
A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband... but even once the deed is done, they must live with the consequences of their actions. Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway (113 mins.). Dir: Tay Garnett
54. THE DESPERATE HOURS (1955)
Glen, Hal and Sam are three escaped convicts who move in on and terrorize a suburban household. (112 mins.) Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Arthur Kennedy. Dir: William Wyler
55. KISS OF DEATH (1947)
With his law-breaking lifestyle in the past, an ex-con, along with his family, attempt to start a new life, knowing a betrayed someone from the past is bound to see otherwise. (98 mins.) Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray. Dir: Henry Hathaway
56. THE HARDER THEY FALL (1956)
Down-on-his-luck ex-sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by shady fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his latest find, an unknown but easily exploitable phenom from Argentina
57. DARK PASSAGE (1947)
A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence. (106 mins.) Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett. Dir: Delmer Daves
58. THE STRANGER (1946)
An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut
59. SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948)
Whilst on the telephone, an invalid woman overhears what she thinks is a plot to murder her. (89 mins.) Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards. Dir: Anatole Litvak
60. SUDDEN FEAR (1952)
After an ambitious actor insinuates himself into the life of a wealthy middle-aged playwright and marries her, he plots with his mistress to murder her. (110 mins.) Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame. Dir: David Miller
61. KANSAS CITY
An ex-con trying to go straight is framed for a million dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico Preston Foster. Dir: Phil Karlson
62. ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1952)
Hard, withdrawn city cop Jim Wilson roughs up one too many suspects and is sent upstate to help investigate... (82 mins.) Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond. Dir: Nicholas Ray
63. FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
An unethical lawyer, with an older brother he wants to help, becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket. (78 mins.) John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Marie Windsor. Dir: Abraham Polonsky
64. ACT OF VIOLENCE (1948)
An embittered, vengeful POW stalks his former commanding officer who betrayed his men's planned escape attempt from a Nazi prison camp.. Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh (82 mins.). Dir: Fred Zinnemann
65. DETOUR (1945)
Chance events trap hitch-hiker Al Roberts in a tightening net of film noir trouble. (67 mins.) Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake. Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer
66. THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (1946)
A ruthless, domineering woman is married to an alcoholic D.A., her childhood companion who is the only living witness to her murder of her rich aunt seventeen years earlier. (116 mins.) Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott. Dir: Lewis Milestone
67. I WANT TO LIVE! (1958)
Barbara Graham is a woman with dubious moral standards, often a guest in seedy bars. She has been sentenced for some petty crimes... (120 mins.) Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland , Virginia
68. CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (1948)
69. CHAMPION (1949)
Boxer Midge Kelly rises to fame...mainly by stepping on other people. (99 mins.) Kirk Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Marilyn Maxwell. Dir: Mark Robson
A black doctor is assigned to treat two racist White, robbery suspects who are brothers, and when one dies, it causes tension that could start a race riot. (106 mins.) Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally. Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
71. RAW DEAL (1948)
Joe Sullivan is itching to get out of prison. He's taken the rap for Rick, who owes him $50 Grand. Rick sets up an escape for Joe... (79 mins.) Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt. Dir: Anthony Mann
72. THE BIG COMBO (1955)
A police lt. is ordered to stop investigating deadly crime boss Mr. Brown, because he hasn't been able to get any hard evidence against him. He then goes after Brown's girlfriend who despises him, for information instead. (84 mins.) Richard Conte, Jean Wallace, Cornel Wilde. Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
73. CROSSFIRE (1947)
A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why? (86 mins.) Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan. Dir: Edward Dmytryk
74. HOUSE OF STRANGERS (1949)
In New York
75. THE WINDOW (1949)
To avoid the heat of a sweltering summer night a 9 year old Manhattan
76. PHANTOM LADY (1944)
Unhappily married Scott Henderson spends the evening on a no-name basis with a hat-wearing woman he picked up in a bar... Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis (87 mins.). Dir: Robert Siodmak
77. LITTLE CAESAR (1931)
The ambitious criminal Rico moves from the country to the big city in the east and joins Sam Vettori's gang with his friend Joe Massara... (79 mins.) Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
78. D.O.A. (1950)
Frank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why. (83 mins.) Edmond
79. THE RECKLESS MOMENT (1949)
After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal. (82 mins.) James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks. Dir: Max Ophüls
80. THE ENFORCER (1951)
A crusading district attorney finally gets a chance to prosecute the organizer and boss of Murder Inc. (87 mins.) Humphrey Bogart, Zero Mostel, Ted de Corsia. Dir: Bretaigne Windust
81. CRIME WAVE (1954)
Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter. (73 mins.) Gene Nelson, Sterling
82. PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950)
A doctor and a policeman in New Orleans
83. TOMORROW IS FOREVER (1946)
Elizabeth and John say good-bye as John leaves to go to war. When the war ends, Elizabeth
84. BOOMERANG! (1947)
The true story of a prosecutor's fight to prove the innocence of a man accused of a notorious murder. (88 mins.) Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb. Dir: Elia Kazan
85. ANGEL FACE (1952)
Ambulance driver Frank Jessup is ensnared in the schemes of the sensuous but dangerous Diane Tremayne. (91 mins.) Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman. Dir: Otto Preminger
86. ROAD HOUSE (1948)
A night club owner becomes infatuated with a torch singer and frames his best friend/manager for embezzlement when the chanteuse falls in love with him. Ida Lupino, Celeste Holm, Richard Widmark (95 mins.). Dir: Jean Negulesco
87. MINISTRY OF FEAR (1944)
Stephen Neale has just been released from an asylum during World War 2 in England
88. BORN TO KILL (1947)
A calculating divorcée risks her chances at wealth and security with a man she doesn't love by getting involved with the hotheaded murderer romancing her foster sister. Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak (92 mins.). Dir: Robert Wise
89. I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1941)
Why is Inspector Ed Cornell trying to railroad Frankie Christopher for the murder of model Vicky Lynn? Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Carole Landis (82 mins.). Dir: H. Bruce Humberstone
90. HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948)
This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop. (79 mins.) Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts. Dir: Alfred L. Werker
91. HOUSE BY THE RIVER (1950)
A deranged writer murders a maid after she resists his advances. The writer engages his brother's help in hiding the body... (88 mins.) Louis Hayward, Lee Bowman, Jane Wyatt. Dir: Fritz Lang
92. HUMAN DESIRE (1954)
A Korean War vet returns to his job as a railroad engineer and becomes involved in a sordid affair with a co-worker's wife and murder. (91 mins.) Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford. Dir: Fritz Lang
93. FALLEN ANGEL (1945)
A slick con man arrives in a small town looking to make some money, but soon gets more than he bargained for. (98 mins.) Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell. Dir: Otto Preminger
94. THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946)
An ex-bomber pilot is suspected of murdering his unfaithful wife. (96 mins.) Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake
95. CAUGHT (1949)
It was Leonora Eames' childhood dream come true. She had married Smith Ohlrig, a man worth millions... (88 mins.) James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan. Dir: Max Ophüls
96. THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS (1944)
Mystery writer Cornelius Leyden becomes intrigued when the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus. (95 mins.) Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott. Dir: Jean Negulesco
97. THE GLASS KEY (1942)
During the campaign for reelection, the crooked politician Paul Madvig decides to clean up his past... Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake
98. POSSESSED (1947)
A dazed woman walks the streets of Los Angeles
99. DECEPTION (1946)
Music teacher Christine Radcliffe thought Karel Novak to have been killed in the war. She loves him more than ever and insists they marry... (110 mins.) Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains. Dir: Irving Rapper
100. THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948)
A covert FBI agent infiltrates a ruthless gangster mob, but his life is at risk from a mysterious informant who funnels inside information to the hoodlums. (91 mins.) Mark Stevens, Richard Widmark, Lloyd Nolan. Dir: William Keighley
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