8 Must-Watch Noir Movies

Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in 'Double Indemnity.'

Eddie Muller 64, the host of Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies, is one of the world's foremost experts on film noir. Fans of TCM know him as the host of that network’s weekly series all about film noir, retro-stylish Hollywood crime drama with cynical guys, dangerous dames, risky liaisons and dark, dirty deeds. He's also written 11 books on the subject, including Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar, with cocktails inspired by noir movies, and his first “kid noir” book, Kitty Feral and the Case of the Marshmallow Monkey.

Film noir is of course the dark, mysterious genre made popular in the 1940s and '50s and full of long shadows, shady characters, gloomy streets, inky nights and dimly lit rooms. Originally they were always filmed in black and white, providing stark visual contrasts—and unmistakable metaphors for right (light) and wrong (dark). But over the years the form has changed and evolved. Nightcrawler (2014) starring Jake Gyllenhaal was definitely a bleak, new-noir thriller. Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley (2021) with Bradley Cooper was another.

Parade asked Muller to compile a list of classic noir films that every genre newbie should watch. Here are his favorites:

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Parade asked Muller to compile a list of classic noir films that every genre newbie should watch. Here are his favorites:

Must-watch noir movies

1. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Based on a novel by Dashiell Hammet, this story centers on a San Francisco private detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) who takes on a case that involves him with a trio of criminals, a gorgeous liar and a quest for an elusive statue, the Maltese Falcon. “It’s the movie that sort of set everything in motion,” Muller says. “Bogart created the noir persona in that film. And he made the antihero, in his character of Sam Spade, hugely popular with American audiences. That opened the door for more of these films.”

2. Double Indemnity (1944)

In this film based on a novel by James M. Cain and directed by Billy Wilder, an insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) and a provocative housewife (Barbara Stanwyck) conspire to murder her husband. “This was the movie that really kick-started the noir movement in Hollywood,” says Muller, “because it’s a great film that also featured two hugely popular stars planning on murder—which was not a common thing in Hollywood at that time.” The tense crime thriller was nominated for seven Oscars.

3. Out of the Past (1947)

A former private investigator (Robert Mitchum) escapes his troubled life to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up to him in this classic drenched in noir—a complex, fatalistic storyline, dark shadows and a quintessential femme fatale (Jane Greer). “It’s a very shadowy movie and it covers a lot of ground. It’s the realization of the complete noir vision, everything you want in a noir film; the ultimate noir,” says Muller. In 1987, Mitchum guest-hosted Saturday Night Live and Greer appeared with him in a parody—called “Out of Gas”—of their ‘40s collaboration.

4. The Killers (1946)

Based on a story by Ernest Hemingway, Burt Lancaster made his film debut as a man murdered by hitmen, leading to a trail that connects—in flashbacks, of course—to a beautiful, deadly woman (Ava Gardner) in this film promoted on the poster as “Tense! Taut! Terrific!” Muller agrees, calling it “the story of a doomed man who didn’t run from fate,” one of the benchmarks of a noir protagonist. “And then the flashbacks—why he accepted his fate being killed by these two assassins. A fabulous movie.” The film was so popular, cinemas in New York City stayed open around the clock to meet the demand for tickets.

5. Criss Cross (1949)

Filmed in black and white around Los Angeles, this movie—about an armored truck driver (Burt Lancaster) conspiring with his ex-wife (Yvonne de Carlo) to have his own truck robbed on a route—was later remade in 1995 and titled The Underneath. But Muller extolls the original. “It’s by the same director of The Killers and it’s very, very similar,” he says. “But in some ways, I think it even perfected what The Killers set out to do.” It marked the film debut of Tony Curtis, who plays an uncredited extra in a scene.

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6. Sunset Boulevard (1950)

“It’s not commonly thought of as noir,” says Muller, “but it is pretty noir, and it’s fabulous.” Set in the era of silent films, Sunset Boulevard—named after the street that runs through the heart of Hollywood—has dark lighting, a murder that unfolds in flashbacks, a classic femme fatale (Gloria Swanson) and a cynical view of the world as greedy and opportunistic. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, and Swanson went down in cinematic history for her indelible performance as Norma Desmond, a delusional former screen-star dreaming of making a triumphant comeback. “I’m ready for my close-up!” Norma exclaims as she stalks toward a camera at the end. Swanson’s character was based on several real-life starlets from Hollywood’s past, including silent film actresses Clara Bow and Mary Pickford.

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7. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Cloris Leachman made her film-acting debut in this crime drama as a doomed hitchhiker who pulls detective Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) into a deadly web of intrigue revolving around a mysterious box. “It’s the perfect Cold-War, Atomic-Age noir,” says Muller. “In the book by Mickey Spillane, the ‘Macguffin’ (a plot object that drives a movie and its characters forward—while being relatively unimportant itself)—the box—was drugs. But in the movie, it’s plutonium, being used to create a bomb. So, it would make a good double bill with Oppenheimer.”

8. Touch of Evil (1958)

Orson Welles (of The War of the Worlds and Citizen Kane fame) both directed and starred in this highly atmospheric tale of murder, kidnapping and corruption in a Mexican border town. “Welles created much of the cinematic grammar that became familiar in film noir,” says Muller. “He did it in Citizen Kane, which isn’t film noir, but it feels like film noir. And in Touch of Evil (with Janet Leigh), he’s applying all that cinematic genius to a totally film noir story.” It was filmed on location in Venice, Calif., standing in for Tijuana.

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