IMDb's Film-Noir Top 50

IMDb's Film-Noir Top 50's icon

An official iCheckMovies list.

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Film noir ('black film') is a branch of the crime/gangster sagas from the 1930s. Strictly speaking, film noir is not a genre, but rather the mood, style or tone of various American films that evolved between the 1940s and 1960s. However, film noir has re-occurred in cyclical form in other years in various neo-noirs. Noirs are usually black and white films with primary moods of melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt and paranoia. They often feature a cynical, loner hero (anti-hero) and femme fatale, in a seedy big city.

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  1. 1 -

    Sunset Blvd.

    1950 — a.k.a. Sunset Boulevard, in 35 top lists Check
  2. 2 -

    Double Indemnity

    1944, in 37 top lists Check
  3. 3 -

    I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

    1932, in 14 top lists Check
  4. 4 -

    The Third Man

    1949, in 37 top lists Check
  5. 5 -

    Ace in the Hole

    1951, in 21 top lists Check
  6. 6 -

    White Heat

    1949, in 16 top lists Check
  7. 7 -

    The Night of the Hunter

    1955, in 35 top lists Check
  8. 8 +1

    Sweet Smell of Success

    1957, in 20 top lists Check
  9. 9 +1

    Out of the Past

    1947, in 16 top lists Check
  10. 10 +2

    Strangers on a Train

    1951, in 17 top lists Check
  11. 11 +3

    The Big Sleep

    1946, in 22 top lists Check
  12. 12 +3

    Notorious

    1946, in 24 top lists Check
  13. 13 -

    The Maltese Falcon

    1941, in 26 top lists Check
  14. 14 +3

    The Killing

    1956, in 15 top lists Check
  15. 15 -7

    Touch of Evil

    1958, in 30 top lists Check
  16. 16 -

    Laura

    1944, in 21 top lists Check
  17. 17 -6

    Mildred Pierce

    1945, in 17 top lists Check
  18. 18 -

    The Lost Weekend

    1945, in 17 top lists Check
  19. 19 -

    The Big Heat

    1953, in 18 top lists Check
  20. 20 +1

    In a Lonely Place

    1950, in 19 top lists Check
  21. 21 -1

    Angels with Dirty Faces

    1938, in 10 top lists Check
  22. 22 -

    Night and the City

    1950, in 12 top lists Check
  23. 23 -

    Shadow of a Doubt

    1943, in 15 top lists Check
  24. 24 -

    To Have and Have Not

    1944, in 16 top lists Check
  25. 25 -

    The Asphalt Jungle

    1950, in 15 top lists Check
  26. 26 -

    Fury

    1936, in 11 top lists Check
  27. 27 -

    The Set-Up

    1949, in 9 top lists Check
  28. 28 +1

    Scarface

    1932, in 17 top lists Check
  29. 29 +1

    The Killers

    1946, in 16 top lists Check
  30. 30 -2

    Key Largo

    1948, in 7 top lists Check
  31. 31 +1

    Nightmare Alley

    1947, in 8 top lists Check
  32. 32 -1

    Scarlet Street

    1945, in 10 top lists Check
  33. 33 -

    Gilda

    1946, in 13 top lists Check
  34. 34 +3

    The Big Clock

    1948, in 5 top lists Check
  35. 35 -

    Leave Her to Heaven

    1945, in 12 top lists Check
  36. 36 -2

    Pickup on South Street

    1953, in 15 top lists Check
  37. 37 -1

    The Woman in the Window

    1944, in 7 top lists Check
  38. 38 +3

    Odd Man Out

    1947, in 15 top lists Check
  39. 39 -1

    Gun Crazy

    1950, in 17 top lists Check
  40. 40 +2

    The Narrow Margin

    1952, in 7 top lists Check
  41. 41 -1

    The Fallen Idol

    1948, in 10 top lists Check
  42. 42 -3

    Caged

    1950, in 3 top lists Check
  43. 43 -

    Where the Sidewalk Ends

    1950, in 3 top lists Check
  44. 44 -

    Body and Soul

    1947, in 6 top lists Check
  45. 45 -

    Spellbound

    1945, in 8 top lists Check
  46. 46 +1

    Murder, My Sweet

    1944, in 6 top lists Check
  47. 47 -1

    The Lady from Shanghai

    1947, in 10 top lists Check
  48. 48 -

    Kiss Me Deadly

    1955, in 21 top lists Check
  49. 49 new

    The Harder They Fall

    1956, in 4 top lists Check
  50. 50 -1

    High Sierra

    1940, in 9 top lists Check
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Last updated on Jan 16, 2025; source