Editing Film noir (section)

==Classic period==

===Overview===
The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the classic period of American film noir. While ''City Streets'' and other pre-WWII crime melodramas such as ''[[Fury (1936 film)|Fury]]'' (1936) and ''[[You Only Live Once (1937 film)|You Only Live Once]]'' (1937), both directed by Fritz Lang, are categorized as full-fledged noir in Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward's film noir encyclopedia, other critics tend to describe them as "proto-noir" or in similar terms.<ref>Silver and Ward (1992), p. 333, as well as entries on individual films, pp. 59–60, 109–10, 320–21. For description of ''City Streets'' as "proto-noir", see Turan (2008). For description of ''Fury'' as "proto-noir", see Machura, Stefan, and Peter Robson, ''Law and Film'' (2001), p. 13. For description of ''You Only Live Once'' as "pre-noir", see Ballinger and Graydon (2007), p. 9.</ref>

The film now most commonly cited as the first "true" film noir is ''[[Stranger on the Third Floor]]'' (1940), directed by Latvian-born, Soviet-trained [[Boris Ingster]].<ref name=3d>See, e.g., Ballinger and Graydon (2007), p. 19; Irwin (2006), p. 210; Lyons (2000), p. 36; Porfirio (1980), p. 269.</ref> Hungarian émigré [[Peter Lorre]]—who had starred in Lang's ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]''—was top-billed, although he did not play the primary lead. (He later played [[character actor|secondary roles]] in several other formative American noirs.) Although modestly budgeted, at the high end of the [[B movie]] scale, ''Stranger on the Third Floor'' still lost its studio, [[RKO]], US$56,000 ({{Inflation|US|56000|1940|fmt=eq}}), almost a third of its total cost.<ref>Biesen (2005), p. 33.</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine found Ingster's work: "...too studied and when original, lacks the flare {{sic}} to hold attention. It's a film too arty for average audiences, and too humdrum for others."<ref>''Variety'' (1940).</ref> ''Stranger on the Third Floor'' was not recognized as the beginning of a trend, let alone a new genre, for many decades.<ref name=3d/>

{{Quote box
|quote  = Whoever went to the movies with any regularity during 1946 was caught in the midst of Hollywood's profound postwar affection for morbid drama. From January through December deep shadows, clutching hands, exploding revolvers, sadistic villains and heroines tormented with deeply rooted diseases of the mind flashed across the screen in a panting display of psychoneurosis, unsublimated sex and murder most foul.
|source = Donald Marshman, ''Life'' (August 25, 1947)<ref>Marshman (1947), pp. 100–1.</ref>
|width  = 35%
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Most film noirs of the classic period were similarly low- and modestly-budgeted features without major stars—[[B movies]] either literally or in spirit. In this production context, writers, directors, cinematographers, and other craftsmen were relatively free from typical big-picture constraints. There was more visual experimentation than in Hollywood filmmaking as a whole: the Expressionism now closely associated with noir and the semi-documentary style that later emerged represent two very different tendencies. Narrative structures sometimes involved convoluted flashbacks uncommon in non-noir commercial productions. In terms of content, enforcement of the [[Production Code]] ensured that no film character could literally get away with murder or be seen sharing a bed with anyone but a spouse; within those bounds, however, many films now identified as noir feature plot elements and dialogue that were very risqué for the time.<ref>Ballinger and Graydon (2007), p. 4, 19–26, 28–33; Hirsch (2001), pp. 1–21; Schatz (1981), pp. 111–16.</ref>

[[File:OutOfThePastMitchumGreer.jpg|thumb|alt=Black-and-white image of a man and a woman sitting side by side on a couch, viewed at an angle. The man, in profile in the left foreground, stares off to the right of frame. He wears a trenchcoat, and his face is shadowed by a fedora. He holds a cigarette in his left hand. The woman, to the right and rear, stares at him. She wears a dark dress and lipstick of a deeply saturated hue.|''[[Out of the Past]]'' (1947) directed by [[Jacques Tourneur]], features many of the genre's hallmarks: a cynical private detective as the protagonist, a [[femme fatale]], multiple [[Flashback (literary technique)|flashbacks]] with [[voiceover]] narration, [[chiaroscuro|dramatically shadowed]] photography, and a [[fatalism|fatalistic]] mood leavened with provocative banter. Pictured are noir icons [[Robert Mitchum]] and [[Jane Greer]].]] 
Thematically, films noir were most exceptional for the relative frequency with which they centered on [[Portrayal of women in film noir|portrayals of women]] of questionable virtue—a focus that had become rare in Hollywood films after the mid-1930s and the end of the [[Pre-Code Hollywood|pre-Code]] era. The signal film in this vein was ''[[Double Indemnity]]'', directed by Billy Wilder; setting the mold was [[Barbara Stanwyck]]'s [[femme fatale]], Phyllis Dietrichson—an apparent nod to [[Marlene Dietrich]], who had built her extraordinary career playing such characters for Sternberg. An A-level feature, the film's commercial success and seven [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] nominations made it probably the most influential of the early noirs.<ref>See, e.g., Naremore (2008), pp. 81, 319 n. 13; Ballinger and Graydon (2007), pp. 86–88.</ref> A slew of now-renowned noir "bad girls" followed, such as those played by [[Rita Hayworth]] in ''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]]'' (1946), [[Lana Turner]] in ''[[The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 film)|The Postman Always Rings Twice]]'' (1946), [[Ava Gardner]] in ''[[The Killers (1946 film)|The Killers]]'' (1946), and [[Jane Greer]] in ''[[Out of the Past]]'' (1947). The iconic noir counterpart to the femme fatale, the private eye, came to the fore in films such as ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'' (1941), with [[Humphrey Bogart]] as [[Sam Spade]], and ''[[Murder, My Sweet]]'' (1944), with [[Dick Powell]] as [[Philip Marlowe]].

The prevalence of the private eye as a lead character declined in film noir of the 1950s, a period during which several critics describe the form as becoming more focused on extreme psychologies and more exaggerated in general.<ref>See, e.g., Ballinger and Graydon (2007), p. 30; Hirsch (2001), pp. 12, 202; Schrader (1972), pp. 59–61 [in Silver and Ursini].</ref> A prime example is ''[[Kiss Me Deadly]]'' (1955); based on a novel by [[Mickey Spillane]], the best-selling of all the hardboiled authors, here the protagonist is a private eye, [[Mike Hammer (character)|Mike Hammer]]. As described by [[Paul Schrader]], "[[Robert Aldrich]]'s teasing direction carries ''noir'' to its sleaziest and most perversely erotic. Hammer overturns the underworld in search of the 'great whatsit' [which] turns out to be—joke of jokes—an exploding atomic bomb."<ref>Schrader (1972), p. 61.</ref> Orson Welles's baroquely styled ''[[Touch of Evil]]'' (1958) is frequently cited as the last noir of the classic period.<ref>See, e.g., Silver (1996), p. 11; Ottoson (1981), pp. 182–183; Schrader (1972), p. 61.</ref> Some scholars believe film noir never really ended, but continued to transform even as the characteristic noir visual style began to seem dated and changing production conditions led Hollywood in different directions—in this view, post-1950s films in the noir tradition are seen as part of a continuity with classic noir.<ref>See, e.g., Ballinger and Graydon (2007), pp. 19–53.</ref> A majority of critics, however, regard comparable films made outside the classic era to be something other than genuine film noir. They regard true film noir as belonging to a temporally and geographically limited cycle or period, treating subsequent films that evoke the classics as fundamentally different due to general shifts in filmmaking style and latter-day awareness of noir as a historical source for [[allusion]].<ref>See, e.g., Hirsch (2001), pp. 10, 202–7; Silver and Ward (1992), p. 6 (though they phrase their position more ambiguously on p. 398); Ottoson (1981), p. 1.</ref> These later films are often called [[neo-noir]].

===Directors and the business of noir===
[[File:LonelyPlaceTrailer.jpg|thumb|alt=Black-and-white image of a man and woman, both with downcast expressions, sitting side by side in the front seat of a convertible. The man, on the right, grips the steering wheel. He wears a jacket and a pullover shirt. The woman wears a checkered outfit. Behind them, in the night, the road is empty, with a two widely separated lights way off in the distance.|A scene from ''[[In a Lonely Place]]'' (1950), directed by [[Nicholas Ray]] and based on a novel by [[Hardboiled#Noir fiction|noir fiction]] writer [[Dorothy B. Hughes]]. Two of noir's defining actors, [[Gloria Grahame]] and [[Humphrey Bogart]], portray star-crossed lovers in the film.]]

While the inceptive noir, ''Stranger on the Third Floor'', was a B picture directed by a virtual unknown, many of the films noir still remembered were A-list productions by well-known film makers. Debuting as a director with ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'' (1941), [[John Huston]] followed with ''[[Key Largo (film)|Key Largo]]'' (1948) and ''[[The Asphalt Jungle]]'' (1950). Opinion is divided on the noir status of several [[Alfred Hitchcock]] thrillers from the era; at least four qualify by consensus: ''[[Shadow of a Doubt]]'' (1943), ''[[Notorious (1946 film)|Notorious]]'' (1946), ''[[Strangers on a Train (film)|Strangers on a Train]]'' (1951) and ''[[The Wrong Man]]'' (1956),<ref>See, e.g., entries on individual films in Ballinger and Graydon (2007), pp. 34, 190–92; Silver and Ward (1992), pp. 214–15; 253–54, 269–70, 318–19.</ref> [[Otto Preminger]]'s success with ''[[Laura (1944 film)|Laura]]'' (1944) made his name and helped demonstrate noir's adaptability to a high-gloss [[20th Century-Fox]] presentation.<ref>Biesen (2005), p. 162.</ref> Among Hollywood's most celebrated directors of the era, arguably none worked more often in a noir mode than Preminger; his other noirs include ''[[Fallen Angel (1945 film)|Fallen Angel]]'' (1945), ''[[Whirlpool (1949 film)|Whirlpool]]'' (1949), ''[[Where the Sidewalk Ends (film)|Where the Sidewalk Ends]]'' (1950) (all for Fox) and ''[[Angel Face (1952 film)|Angel Face]]'' (1952). A half-decade after ''Double Indemnity'' and ''The Lost Weekend'', Billy Wilder made ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]'' (1950) and ''[[Ace in the Hole (1951 film)|Ace in the Hole]]'' (1951), noirs that were not so much crime dramas as satires on Hollywood and the news media respectively. ''[[In a Lonely Place]]'' (1950) was [[Nicholas Ray]]'s breakthrough; his other noirs include his debut, ''[[They Live by Night]]'' (1948) and ''[[On Dangerous Ground]]'' (1952), noted for their unusually sympathetic treatment of characters alienated from the social mainstream.<ref>Ballinger and Graydon (2007), pp. 188, 202–3.</ref>

[[File:Lady from Shanghai trailer rita hayworth6.JPG|thumb|left|[[Rita Hayworth]] in the trailer for ''[[The Lady from Shanghai]]'' (1947)]]
Orson Welles had notorious problems with financing but his three film noirs were well-budgeted: ''[[The Lady from Shanghai]]'' (1947) received top-level, "prestige" backing, while ''[[The Stranger (1946 film)|The Stranger]]'' (1946), his most conventional film, and ''[[Touch of Evil]]'' (1958), an unmistakably personal work, were funded at levels lower but still commensurate with headlining releases.<ref>For overview of Welles's noirs, see, e.g., Ballinger and Graydon (2007), pp. 210–11. For specific production circumstances, see Brady, Frank, ''Citizen Welles: A Biography of Orson Welles'' (1989), pp. 395–404, 378–81, 496–512.</ref> Like ''The Stranger'', Fritz Lang's ''[[The Woman in the Window (1944 film)|The Woman in the Window]]'' (1944) was a production of the independent International Pictures. Lang's follow-up, ''[[Scarlet Street]]'' (1945), was one of the few classic noirs to be officially censored: filled with erotic innuendo, it was temporarily banned in Milwaukee, Atlanta and New York State.<ref>Bernstein (1995).</ref> ''Scarlet Street'' was a semi-independent, cosponsored by [[Universal Pictures|Universal]] and Lang's Diana Productions, of which the film's co-star, [[Joan Bennett]], was the second biggest shareholder. Lang, Bennett and her husband, the Universal veteran and Diana production head [[Walter Wanger]], made ''[[Secret Beyond the Door]]'' (1948) in similar fashion.<ref>McGilligan (1997), pp. 314–17.</ref>

Before leaving the United States while subject to the [[Hollywood blacklist]], Jules Dassin made two classic noirs that also straddled the major/independent line: ''[[Brute Force (1947 film)|Brute Force]]'' (1947) and the influential documentary-style ''[[The Naked City]]'' (1948) were developed by producer [[Mark Hellinger]], who had an "inside/outside" contract with Universal similar to Wanger's.<ref>Schatz (1998), pp. 354–58.</ref> Years earlier, working at Warner Bros., Hellinger had produced three films for [[Raoul Walsh]], the proto-noirs ''[[They Drive by Night]]'' (1940), ''[[Manpower (1941 film)|Manpower]]'' (1941) and ''[[High Sierra (film)|High Sierra]]'' (1941), now regarded as a seminal work in noir's development.<ref>See, e.g., Schatz (1981), pp. 103, 112.</ref> Walsh had no great name during his half-century as a director but his noirs ''[[The Man I Love (1947 film)|The Man I Love]]'' (1947), ''[[White Heat]]'' (1949) and ''[[The Enforcer (1951 film)|The Enforcer]]'' (1951) had A-list stars and are seen as important examples of the cycle.<ref>See, e.g., entries on individual films in Silver and Ward (1992), pp. 97–98, 125–26, 311–12.</ref> Other directors associated with top-of-the-bill Hollywood films noir include [[Edward Dmytryk]] (''[[Murder, My Sweet]]'' (1944), ''[[Crossfire (film)|Crossfire]]'' (1947))—the first important noir director to fall prey to the industry blacklist—as well as [[Henry Hathaway]] (''[[The Dark Corner]]'' (1946), ''[[Kiss of Death (1947 film)|Kiss of Death]]'' (1947)) and [[John Farrow]] (''[[The Big Clock (1948 film)|The Big Clock]]'' (1948), ''[[Night Has a Thousand Eyes]]'' (1948)).

Most of the Hollywood films considered to be classic noirs fall into the category of the B movie.<ref>See Naremore (2008), pp. 140–55, on "B Pictures versus Intermediates".</ref> Some were Bs in the most precise sense, produced to run on the bottom of [[double feature|double bills]] by a low-budget unit of one of the [[studio system|major studios]] or by one of the smaller [[Poverty Row]] outfits, from the relatively well-off [[Monogram Pictures|Monogram]] to shakier ventures such as [[Producers Releasing Corporation|Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC)]]. [[Jacques Tourneur]] had made over thirty Hollywood Bs (a few now highly regarded, most forgotten) before directing the A-level ''Out of the Past'', described by scholar Robert Ottoson as "the ''ne plus ultra'' of forties film noir".<ref>Ottoson (1981), p. 132.</ref> Movies with budgets a step up the ladder, known as "intermediates" by the industry, might be treated as A or B pictures depending on the circumstances. Monogram created [[Allied Artists Pictures Corporation|Allied Artists]] in the late 1940s to focus on this sort of production. [[Robert Wise]] (''[[Born to Kill (1947 film)|Born to Kill]]'' [1947], ''[[The Set-Up (1949 film)|The Set-Up]]'' [1949]) and [[Anthony Mann]] (''[[T-Men]]'' [1947] and ''[[Raw Deal (1948 film)|Raw Deal]]'' [1948]) each made a series of impressive intermediates, many of them noirs, before graduating to steady work on big-budget productions. Mann did some of his most celebrated work with cinematographer [[John Alton]], a specialist in what James Naremore called "hypnotic moments of light-in-darkness".<ref>Naremore (2008), p. 173.</ref> ''[[He Walked by Night]]'' (1948), shot by Alton though credited solely to Alfred Werker, directed in large part by Mann, demonstrates their technical mastery and exemplifies the late 1940s trend of "[[police procedural]]" crime dramas. It was released, like other Mann-Alton noirs, by the small [[Eagle-Lion Films|Eagle-Lion]] company; it was the inspiration for the ''[[Dragnet (series)|Dragnet]]'' series, which debuted on radio in 1949 and television in 1951.<ref>Hayde (2001), pp. 3–4, 15–21, 37.</ref>

[[File:DetourPoster1.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Movie poster with a border of diagonal black and white bands. On the upper right is a tagline: "He went searching for love&nbsp;... but fate forced a DETOUR to ''Revelry&nbsp;... Violence&nbsp;... Mystery!''" The image is a collage of stills: a man playing the clarinet; a smiling man and woman in evening dress; the same man, with a horrified expression, holding the body of another man with a bloody head injury; the body of a woman, asleep or dead, splayed out over the end of a bed, a telephone beside her; leaning against either side of a lamppost, the same man a third time, wearing a green suit and tie and holding a cigarette, and a woman wearing a knee-length red dress and black pumps, smoking. Credits at the bottom feature the names of three actors: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, and Claudia Drake.|''[[Detour (1945 film)|Detour]]'' (1945) cost $117,000 to make when the biggest Hollywood studios spent around $600,000 on the average feature. Produced at small [[Producers Releasing Corporation|PRC]], however, the film was 30 percent over budget.<ref>Erickson (2004), p. 26.</ref>]]
Several directors associated with noir built well-respected oeuvres largely at the B-movie/intermediate level. [[Samuel Fuller]]'s brutal, visually energetic films such as ''[[Pickup on South Street]]'' (1953) and ''[[Underworld U.S.A.]]'' (1961) earned him a unique reputation; his advocates praise him as "primitive" and "barbarous".<ref>Sarris (1985), p. 93.</ref><ref>Thomson (1998), p. 269.</ref> [[Joseph H. Lewis (director)|Joseph H. Lewis]] directed noirs as diverse as ''[[Gun Crazy]]'' (1950) and ''[[The Big Combo]]'' (1955). The former—whose screenplay was written by the blacklisted [[Dalton Trumbo]], disguised by a front—features a bank hold-up sequence shown in an unbroken take of over three minutes that was influential.<ref>Naremore (2008), pp. 128, 150–51; Ballinger and Graydon (2007), pp. 97–99.</ref> ''The Big Combo'' was shot by John Alton and took the shadowy noir style to its outer limits.<ref>Ballinger and Graydon (2007), pp. 59–60.</ref> The most distinctive films of [[Phil Karlson]] (''[[The Phenix City Story]]'' [1955] and ''[[The Brothers Rico]]'' [1957]) tell stories of vice organized on a monstrous scale.<ref>Clarens (1980), pp. 245–47.</ref> The work of other directors in this tier of the industry, such as [[Felix E. Feist]] (''[[The Devil Thumbs a Ride]]'' [1947], ''[[Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951 American film)|Tomorrow Is Another Day]]'' [1951]), has become obscure. [[Edgar G. Ulmer]] spent most of his Hollywood career working at B studios and once in a while on projects that achieved intermediate status; for the most part, on unmistakable Bs. In 1945, while at PRC, he directed a noir cult classic, ''[[Detour (1945 film)|Detour]]''.<ref>See, e.g., Ballinger and Graydon (2007), pp. 83–85; Ottoson (1981), pp. 60–61.</ref> Ulmer's other noirs include ''[[Strange Illusion]]'' (1945), also for PRC; ''[[Ruthless (1948 film)|Ruthless]]'' (1948), for Eagle-Lion, which had acquired PRC the previous year and ''[[Murder Is My Beat]]'' (1955), for Allied Artists.

A number of low- and modestly-budgeted noirs were made by independent, often actor-owned, companies contracting with larger studios for distribution. Serving as producer, writer, director and top-billed performer, [[Hugo Haas]] made films like ''[[Pickup (film)|Pickup]]'' (1951), ''[[The Other Woman (1954 film)|The Other Woman]]'' (1954) and Jacques Tourneur, ''[[The Fearmakers]] (1958)''. It was in this way that accomplished noir actress [[Ida Lupino]] established herself as the sole female director in Hollywood during the late 1940s and much of the 1950s. She does not appear in the best-known film she directed, ''[[The Hitch-Hiker]]'' (1953), developed by her company, The Filmakers, with support and distribution by RKO.<ref>Muller (1998), pp. 176–77.</ref> It is one of the seven classic film noirs produced largely outside of the major studios that have been chosen for the United States [[National Film Registry]]. Of the others, one was a small-studio release: ''Detour''. Four were independent productions distributed by [[United Artists]], the "studio without a studio": ''Gun Crazy''; ''Kiss Me Deadly''; ''[[D.O.A. (1949 film)|D.O.A.]]'' (1950), directed by [[Rudolph Maté]] and ''[[Sweet Smell of Success]]'' (1957), directed by [[Alexander Mackendrick]]. One was an independent distributed by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]], the industry leader: ''[[Force of Evil]]'' (1948), directed by [[Abraham Polonsky]] and starring [[John Garfield]], both of whom were blacklisted in the 1950s.<ref>Krutnik, Neale, and Neve (2008), pp. 259–60, 262–63.</ref> Independent production usually meant restricted circumstances but ''Sweet Smell of Success'', despite the plans of the production team, was clearly not made on the cheap, though like many other cherished A-budget noirs, it might be said to have a B-movie soul.<ref>See Mackendrick (2006), pp. 119–20.</ref>

Perhaps no director better displayed that spirit than the German-born [[Robert Siodmak]], who had already made a score of films before his 1940 arrival in Hollywood. Working mostly on A features, he made eight films now regarded as classic-era noir (a figure matched only by Lang and Mann).<ref>See, e.g., Silver and Ward (1992), pp. 338–39. Ottoson (1981) also lists two period pieces directed by Siodmak (''[[The Suspect (1944 film)|The Suspect]]'' [1944] and ''[[The Spiral Staircase (1946 film)|The Spiral Staircase]]'' [1946]) (pp. 173–74, 164–65). Silver and Ward list nine classic-era film noirs by Lang, plus two from the 1930s (pp. 338, 396). Ottoson lists eight (excluding ''[[Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956 film)|Beyond a Reasonable Doubt]]'' [1956]), plus the same two from the 1930s (passim). Silver and Ward list seven by Mann (p. 338). Ottoson also lists ''[[Reign of Terror (film)|Reign of Terror]]'' (a.k.a. ''The Black Book''; 1949), set during the French Revolution, for a total of eight (passim). See also Ballinger and Graydon (2007), p. 241.</ref> In addition to ''The Killers'', [[Burt Lancaster]]'s debut and a Hellinger/Universal co-production, Siodmak's other important contributions to the genre include 1944's ''[[Phantom Lady (1944 film)|Phantom Lady]]'' (a top-of-the-line B and Woolrich adaptation), the ironically titled ''[[Christmas Holiday]]'' (1944), and ''[[Cry of the City]]'' (1948). ''[[Criss Cross (1949 film)|Criss Cross]]'' (1949), with Lancaster again the lead, exemplifies how Siodmak brought the virtues of the B-movie to the A noir. In addition to the relatively looser constraints on character and message at lower budgets, the nature of B production lent itself to the noir style for economic reasons: dim lighting saved on electricity and helped cloak cheap sets (mist and smoke also served the cause). Night shooting was often compelled by hurried production schedules. Plots with obscure motivations and intriguingly elliptical transitions were sometimes the consequence of hastily written scripts. There was not always enough time or money to shoot every scene. In ''Criss Cross'', Siodmak achieved these effects, wrapping them around [[Yvonne De Carlo]], who played the most understandable of femme fatales; [[Dan Duryea]], in one of his many charismatic villain roles; and Lancaster as an ordinary laborer turned armed robber, doomed by a romantic obsession.<ref>Clarens (1980), pp. 200–2; Walker (1992), pp. 139–45; Ballinger and Graydon (2007), pp. 77–79.</ref>

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| style="text-align:center;"|
! style="background:#dbdaba; font-weight:normal; line-height:normal;"| <span style="font-size: 14px;">'''Classic-era film noirs in the [[National Film Registry]]'''</span>
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!  style="background-color:#fff; width:55px; background-color:#dbdaba; font-size:11px;"|[[1940s in film|1940–49]]
| style="background:#f5f5ec;"|
{{flatlist|
*''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'' 
*''[[Shadow of a Doubt]]'' 
*''[[Laura (1944 film)|Laura]]'' 
*''[[Double Indemnity]]'' 
*''[[Mildred Pierce (film)|Mildred Pierce]]'' 
*''[[The Lost Weekend]]'' 
*''[[Detour (1945 film)|Detour]]'' 
*''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]]'' 
*''[[The Big Sleep (1946 film)|The Big Sleep]]'' 
*''[[The Killers (1946 film)|The Killers]]'' 
*''[[Notorious (1946 film)|Notorious]]''
*''[[Out of the Past]]'' 
*''[[The Lady from Shanghai]]'' 
*''[[Force of Evil]]'' 
*''[[The Naked City]]'' 
*''[[All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men]]'' 
*''[[White Heat]]''}}
|-
! style="background:#dbdaba; font-size:11px;"|[[1950s in film|1950–58]]
| style="background:#f5f5ec;"|
{{flatlist|
*''[[Gun Crazy]]'' 
*''[[D.O.A. (1949 film)|D.O.A.]]'' 
*''[[In a Lonely Place]]'' 
*''[[The Asphalt Jungle]]'' 
*''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]'' 
*''[[The Hitch-Hiker]]'' 
*''[[The Big Heat]]'' 
*''[[Kiss Me Deadly]]'' 
*''[[The Night of the Hunter (film)|The Night of the Hunter]]'' 
*''[[The Phenix City Story]]''
*''[[Sweet Smell of Success]]'' 
*''[[Touch of Evil]]''
}}
|}