The 15 Best Noir Films of the 1940s: Taste of Cinema

This anxiety is expressed in film noir – particularly the early film noir of the 1940's that this list will focus on – as a sense of disorientation, confusion and distrust, as well as a sense of entrapment in a nightmare world that has gone out of control. The protagonists of these film are men who are often in love with and yet betrayed by beautiful women and they often face the choice between a fair haired 'good' woman and a dark haired, sultry 'femme fatale' who is likely to lead them astray down the wrong path (which is the path that they take, for the most part). Most of these early film noir are told in flashback with voice over and are shot with many night scenes featuring high contrast lighting, dark shadows and odd camera angles.

This then is a list of the 15 essential films that one must be familiar with in order to understand the early, 'classic' period of film noir that thrived from 1940 to 1949.

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from tasteofcinema.com · made by EB437

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White Heat (1949)