Sunday, June 7, 2009

TOP 10 - FILM NOIR

Top 10 Rated Film-Noir
What is FILM NOIR?
Film noir began in the 1930's and remained as a strong cinematic medium until the early 1960's. Film noir literally means "black film" in French and features themes which are more negative than positive, with an overall dark and shadowy outlook--being filmed in black and white. This film genre takes in detective and crime noir as well as many gangster films of the 1930's. Noir also moves into more modern films combining with other genres. These would include western noir--"High Noon", romance noir--"Laura", crime noir--"The Big Heat" and even modern detective noir--"L.A. Confidential" and "Chinatown". The first recognized noir movie was "Stranger on the Third Floor" from 1940, although films made use of many noir facets well before. "Stranger on the Third Floor" featured what was at the time a new cinematic technique that made use of dark or dim lighting effects, dreary settings, filtered lights and generally dark themes and characterizations. Noir scenes are made from interesting camera angles and with dramatic close-ups and shadowed lighting. Frequently the stories use of smoke-filled rooms, views of light filtered through venetian blinds, seedy downtown areas with neon lights, dark wet streets to heighten the noir effect. Brightly-lit scenes are not used in noir films since the desired effect is that of dreary hopelessness.
1.Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, an aging silent film queen, and William Holden as the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screen's most memorable characters in Sunset Boulevard. Winner of three Academy Awards., director Billy Wilder's orchestration of the bizarre tale is a true cinematic classic. From the unforgettable opening sequence through the inevitable unfolding of tragic destiny, the film is the definitive statement on the dark and desperate side of Hollywood. Erich von Stroheim as Desmond's discoverer, ex-husband and butler, and Nancy Olson as the bright spot in unrelenting ominousness, are equally celebrated for their masterful performances.
2. M (1931)
M is a 1931 German film noir directed by Fritz Lang in which a serial killer, played by Peter Lorre, preys on children; the police and criminal underground of Berlin both work to stop him. M was the first starring role for Peter Lorre, and it boosted his career, even though he was typecast as a villain for years after. The tune Peter Lorre was whistling was "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg. The film was based in part on the stories of Jack the Ripper and the Vampire of Düsseldorf and is consistently in the top 50 of the Internet Movie Database's top 250 films.
3. Double Indemnity (1944)
Double Indemnity is a 1944 film noir film that tells the story of an insurance investigator who finds himself entwined in a plot to kill a woman's husband. It stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. The movie was adapted by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler from the novel Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind by James M. Cain. It was directed by Wilder. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Barbara Stanwyck), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Director (Billy Wilder), Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
4. The Third Man (1949)
An out of work pulp fiction novelist, Holly Martins, arrives in a post war Vienna divided into sectors by the victorious allies, and where a shortage of supplies has lead to a flourishing black market. He arrives at the invitation of an ex-school friend, Harry Lime, who has offered him a job, only to discover that Lime has recently died in a peculiar traffic accident. From talking to Lime's friends and associates Martins soon notices that some of the stories are inconsistent, and determines to discover what really happened to Harry Lime.
5. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
This 1941 film was directed by John Huston in his first directorial role - he also wrote the screenplay - and stars Humphrey Bogart as the detective, Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy, the femme fatale who hires him, Sydney Greenstreet in his exceptional film debut as the extraordinary Kasper Gutman, and Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo. Also in the film are Barton MacLane and Ward Bond as policemen, Lee Patrick as Spade's long-suffering secretary and Gladys George confusing things as the wife of Spade's partner.
6. Touch of Evil (1958)
Touch of Evil (1958), was one of the last and one of the greatest examples of film noir ever made. It was directed by Orson Welles, who also appeared as a strangely corrupt policeman, Captain Hank Quinlan. The black-and-white film also features Charlton Heston as Mike Vargas, a Mexican narcotics agent on his honeymoon, Janet Leigh ("at her most perversely innocent" as one critic put it) as his bride, and Marlene Dietrich as Tanya, a cigar-smoking Mexican gypsy brothel owner with huge beautiful eyes. The movie was written in two weeks by Welles based on Whit Masterson's novel Badge of Evil. It is not to be confused with another movie of the same title which aired on Mystery Science Theater 3000 during its later years.
7. Strangers on a Train (1951)
Strangers on a Train was a film released in 1951 by Warner Bros. The film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film starred Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker and Leo G. Carroll. The movie was based on Patricia Highsmith's novel. Granger plays tennis star Guy Haines, who wants to divorce his wife (who has cheated on him) in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Morton (played by Roman). Haines meets Bruno Anthony ( Walker) on a train and Bruno tells Guy all of his ideas (Bruno is somewhat crazy). One of his ideas is to switch murders Crisscross. Bruno would kill Guy's wife if Guy kills Bruno's father. Guy doesn't take Bruno seriously, but Bruno kills Guy's wife and then expects Guy to kill his father.
8. Notorious (1946)
Notorious is a film noir released in 1946. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film starred Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains. Bergman plays Alicia Huberman the American daughter of a Nazi spy. She is hired by the US government to spy on a group of Germans who have relocated to Brazil after World War II. Grant plays T. R. Devlin the American agent she works for. Rains plays Alex Sebastian the leader of the Germans. The screen play was written by Ben Hecht.
9. The Big Sleep (1946)
The Big Sleep is a 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler, thrice filmed. The Big Sleep (1946) starring Humphrey Bogart as the hard-boiled private-eye Philip Marlowe. Marlowe gets sucked up into a case involving a missing man, two rich girls, a complex blackmail scheme and murder galore. The eldest girl, a femme fatale, is played by Lauren Bacall. The film was directed by Howard Hawks. William Faulkner cowrote the screenplay with Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman, based on Chandler's novel; the plot is so convoluted that Faulkner insisted that he didn't understand all of it.
10. Les diaboliques (1955)
The wife and mistress of a sadistic boarding school headmaster plot to kill him. They drown him in the bathtub and dump the body in the school's filthy swimming pool... but when the pool is drained, the body has disappeared - and subsequent reported sightings of the headmaster slowly drive his 'killers' (and the audience) up the wall with almost unbearable suspense. Post based on the Top Ten Film Noir from IMDB.

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