Wikipedia's List of Film Noir: Classic American noir, 1940-1944
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_noir_titles ; Last Updated: Jan. 28, 2014
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49 titles
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHerbert MarshallJames StephensonThe wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand may prove her undoing.
- DirectorBoris IngsterStarsPeter LorreJohn McGuireMargaret TallichetAn aspiring reporter is the key witness at the murder trial of a young man accused of cutting a café owner's throat and is soon accused of a similar crime himself.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsGeorge RaftHumphrey BogartAnn SheridanWhen one of two truck-driving brothers loses an arm, they both join a transport company where the other is falsely charged as an accessory in the murder of the owner.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsLaurence OlivierJoan FontaineGeorge SandersA self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
- DirectorStuart HeislerStarsAlbert DekkerSusan HaywardFrances FarmerA mentally unstable man who has been kept in isolation for years escapes and causes trouble for his identical twin brother.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsPriscilla LaneBetty FieldRichard Whorf"Jigger' Pine forms a band that includes singer Ginger 'Character' Powell, wife of the trumpeter Leo Powell, and Nickie Haroyen and Peppi. All of them dedicate themselves to work as a unit and to play blues music. The dedication isn't paying off financially and, while riding the rails in a boxcar, they meet and befriend gangster Del Davis. He offers them a job at a New Jersey roadhouse, where Powell falls in love with Kay Grant, a former 'real good friend' of Davis. But when Powell learns that Character is about to have a baby, he returns to her. Jigger tries to make Kay the band's singer and, after this fails, runs off with her. She leaves him with nothing but a nervous breakdown. Back at the roadhouse, after his recovery, Kay shows up, has a quarrel with Davis, shoots and kills him, and plans to take back up with Jigger, who knows better but just can't help himself. While she is waiting in a car for him, along comes cripple Brad Ames, who she put in that condition, and he gets in and drives the car over a cliff, leaving no survivors in the two-passenger crash. The band is back together at the end, still using boxcars as their transportation, but happy playing the blues.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsIda LupinoHumphrey BogartAlan CurtisAfter 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 resort.
- DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsBetty GrableVictor MatureCarole LandisWhy is Inspector Ed Cornell trying to railroad Frankie Christopher for the murder of model Vicky Lynn?
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsRobert TaylorLana TurnerEdward ArnoldThe step-daughter of a district attorney falls in love with a gangster on parole who her father originally imprisoned.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsIda LupinoLouis HaywardEvelyn KeyesThe housekeeper to a retired actress tries at the same time to look after her own two emotionally disturbed sisters, with dramatic results.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartMary AstorGladys GeorgeSan Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsIda LupinoJohn GarfieldThomas MitchellA Brooklyn pier racketeer bullies boat-owners into paying protection money but two fed-up fishermen decide to eliminate the gangster themselves rather than complain to the police.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeRobert B. SinclairRichard ThorpeStarsRobert MontgomeryIngrid BergmanGeorge SandersRobert Montgomery and George Sanders team-up to play against type in this probing psychological thriller that features Ingrid Bergman as the object of their obsessions.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantJoan FontaineCedric HardwickeA shy young heiress marries a charming gentleman, and soon begins to suspect he is planning to murder her.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsGene TierneyWalter HustonVictor MatureIn Shanghai, dragon lady 'Mother' Gin Sling operates a gambling house for wealthy patrons but she clashes with influential land developer Sir Guy Charteris who wants to put her out of business.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsJoan CrawfordMelvyn DouglasConrad VeidtA female blackmailer with a disfiguring facial scar meets a plastic surgeon who offers her the possibility of looking like a normal woman.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsWilliam PowellHedy LamarrClaire TrevorAn amnesiac French diplomat is blackmailed for crimes that he committed before he lost his memory.
- DirectorStuart HeislerStarsAlan LaddVeronica LakeBrian DonlevyA crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
- DirectorArchie MayoFritz LangStarsJean GabinIda LupinoThomas MitchellIn California, Bobo and his mooching pal Tiny are doing odd jobs and getting drunk and they hide a secret about the unsolved murder of sailor Pop Kelly but suicidal waitress Anna, saved by Bobo, unravels the mystery.
- DirectorJack HivelyStarsBurgess MeredithClaire TrevorLouise PlattAfter an accident, a New York man with amnesia finds out the ugly truth about his real identity and past by interacting with people who seem to know him well.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsAlan LaddVeronica LakeRobert PrestonWhen assassin Philip Raven shoots a blackmailer and his beautiful female companion dead, he is paid off in marked bills by his treasonous employer who is working with foreign spies.
- DirectorReginald Le BorgStarsLon Chaney Jr.Patricia MorisonJ. Carrol NaishA doctor is not sure if he murdered his beautiful but wicked wife, and has his attractive nurse try to find the truth by hypnotizing him.
- DirectorRichard WallaceStarsJohn GarfieldMaureen O'HaraWalter SlezakIn 1940, an American former Republican prisoner during the Spanish Civil War, John McKittrick, is determined to find the killer of NYPD Lieutenant Louie Lepetino, who had helped him escape.
- DirectorNorman FosterOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDolores Del RíoAn American ballistics expert in Turkey finds himself targeted by German agents. Safe passage home by ship is arranged for him, but he soon discovers that his pursuers are also on board.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsKim HunterTom ConwayJean BrooksA woman in search of her missing sister uncovers a Satanic cult in New York's Greenwich Village and finds that they could have something to do with her sibling's random disappearance.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsTeresa WrightJoseph CottenMacdonald CareyA teenage girl, overjoyed when her favorite uncle comes to visit the family in their quiet California town, slowly begins to suspect that he is in fact the "Merry Widow" killer sought by the authorities.
- DirectorHoward BrethertonStarsJohn HubbardRita QuigleyJoan BlairA bank clerk in a small town returns home from a vacation in Indianapolis, and hears a story on the radio about a girl found murdered there. The description of the killer fits him exactly, and when two girls are murdered in his town, suspicion falls on him - especially when he can't provide an alibi for the time the girls were killed.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsJohn CarradineJean ParkerNils AstherIn Paris, an artist hires portrait models, and after he finishes their portraits, he strangles them.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsDeanna DurbinGene KellyRichard WhorfA young femme fatale-type woman realizes that the man she married is an incorrigible wastrel.
- DirectorWilliam BerkeStarsRobert LoweryPhyllis BrooksCharles ArntJoe Beck leaves Central America so that he can return to Texas and collect a large inheritance, but he picks a dangerous ship on which to travel.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsMerle OberonFranchot ToneThomas MitchellA woman returns to the USA after a German U-boat sank her ship, and finds out that someone wants to kill her for her inheritance.
- DirectorReginald Le BorgJulien DuvivierStarsGloria JeanAlan CurtisFrank CravenBank robbers Cliff Banks and Sam Baker go their separate ways while being chased by the law. Now fleeing alone, Cliff begins to reflect, via flashback, on the various events and unsavory people in his life that lead to his life of crime. Cliff ends up in the idyllic rural town of Paradise Valley. He discovers the local people are very trusting and decides the town would be the perfect place to pull a scam. He meets a farmer named Clem Broderick and his strange blind daughter Jane, who seems to have supernatural powers; she can use a dowsing rod to find water, has ESP, and can control the forces of nature. Despite all her powers, she is unable to read Cliff's mind and discover his plan to steal the Broderick farm out from under them. However, after Jane discovers what the stranger is up to, she invokes a vision in which Cliff is terrorized by the forces of nature and drowns in the river. Cliff, now shaken, vows to reform, and in the process save Clem's life when he is attacked by a bear.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsFred MacMurrayBarbara StanwyckEdward G. RobinsonA Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsHedy LamarrGeorge BrentPaul LukasIn 1903, a doctor suspects murder in the gothic Bederaux family.
- DirectorJohn BrahmJohn CromwellAndré De TothStarsAnne BaxterRalph BellamyAline MacMahonA young manipulative woman moves in with her fiancé's family and turns a happy household against itself.
- DirectorOtto PremingerRouben MamoulianStarsGene TierneyDana AndrewsClifton WebbA police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.
- DirectorSteve SekelyStarsJean ParkerLionel AtwillDouglas FowleyA young woman is on Death Row for the murder of a man who was blackmailing her family, although she claims she was framed. Her fiance', a doctor who is conducting experiments on reviving the dead, also happens to be the state's executioner, and is assigned to pull the switch when she is strapped into the electric chair. A famous criminologist, believing her to be innocent, rushes to investigate the case and clear her before her execution date.
- DirectorJohn BrahmStarsLaird CregarMerle OberonGeorge SandersA landlady suspects that her new lodger is Jack the Ripper.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsRichard DixJanis CarterPorter HallA drifter claims the money in an old bank account by impersonating someone else with the same name. Soon he finds himself the target of a man who turns out to be the son of the old partner of the impersonated man's father, who caused his partner to do time in prison.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsPeter LorreSydney GreenstreetZachary ScottMystery writer Cornelius Leyden becomes intrigued after the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsRay MillandMarjorie ReynoldsCarl EsmondStephen Neale has just been released from an asylum during World War II in England when he accidentally stumbles onto a deadly Nazi spy plot and tries to stop it.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsDick PowellClaire TrevorAnne ShirleyAfter being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsFranchot ToneElla RainesAlan CurtisA devoted secretary risks her life to try to find the elusive woman who may prove her boss didn't murder his selfish wife.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsWilliam TerryVirginia GreyHelene ThimigA lonely, mentally-unbalanced woman invents a fictitious daughter and has the "daughter" write to a Marine stationed in the South Pacific. When the soldier returns to the States, he goes to look up his pen pal and is told by the "mother" that the daughter has moved away. An acquaintance of the women tells the soldier the truth, and in a rage the "mother" kills her. To cover up that crime, she realizes that she must kill the soldier, too.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsCharles LaughtonElla RainesDean HarensAn unhappily married man begins a flirtation with a younger woman. When his wife threatens to ruin her, he decides to take action.
- DirectorArthur RipleyStarsFrancis LedererSigrid GurieJ. Edward BrombergA concert pianist has lost his memory, the result of his being arrested and tortured by the Germans during the war for playing a banned song. He journeys to the island of Guadelupe to try to regain his memory and his health.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsRobert MitchumKim HunterDean JaggerA naive small-town girl comes to New York City to meet her husband, and discovers that he may be a murderer.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsRichard DixGloria StuartJ. Carrol NaishA depressed man hires an assassin to kill him when he least expects it, but when his life takes an upward turn, he finds he now wishes to live.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsEdward G. RobinsonJoan BennettRaymond MasseyWhen a conservative middle aged professor engages in a relationship with a femme fatale, he's plunged into a nightmarish world of blackmail and murder.