The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

I have had five of my choices plus my one-pointer revealed, thus far. I am feeling pretty darn good about the majority of my list's chances. There may only be one or two others that join The Crimson Kimono as misses. Cannot say the same on the Neo Noir side. Too many marginal choices already, in genre terms, which means more to come and inevitably some bonafide Neo Noir canon that will won't make it in favor of some action movies. Oh, well.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

When I watched Fallen Angel back in 2017, I only gave it -

Not familiar with Confidential Report

Still a perfect record for me!

0/22

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I wrote this about Fallen Angel in the Noirvember 2022 thread last year.



I knew the title Fallen Angel but it wasn't until I was halfway through the film that I realized why it's such a landmark film in the history of cinema. I remembered watching a biography on Alice Faye. Faye had done something unique at the time, she walked away from a successfully film career by breaking her studio contract. She did that over this film Fallen Angel. Alice Faye was set to be the costar of the film but the studio cut her role down to allow newcomer Linda Darnell to have a big build up. That pissed off Alice Faye enough that she literally told the studio where they could stick their film and left the movie making business, not returning for another 17 years.

My thoughts on the film: as I was watching it, it seemed in the first half to be a bit disjointed. Dana Andrews didn't seem really suited to his pitch/con man role and Linda Darnell didn't evoke a femme fatale quality that would make men do anything to get her. My thoughts about Darnell's character was that she was a loser who slung hash and had a poor attitude. When I first seen Alice Faye she seemed to be a background character and Dana Andrews showing interesting in her seemed at first to come out of the blue. I attribute that to the film's editing with important scenes with Alice Faye being cut out.

But all of that changes in the third act and the film tightens up to a good mystery that kept me guessing as to the film's outcome. Loved Charles Bickford as a violent cop putting on gloves to beat a suspect, ouch! I also liked Dana Andrews final outcome which was surprising given the Hays Code.

Good film, enjoyed it.

There's at least three of us, I believe. Who will crack first?!


0/22

Maybe you'll get lucky tomorrow

I'm sure there are more of us

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I like Fallen Angel. I love Dana Andrews. I don't know whether it was on my list or not because I can't find my list. I haven't seen Mr. Arkadin. Maybe I will watch it tonight.

Should be in your inbox.

Look in your Sent folder, but just in case I will message you your voting ballot now.

Thanks guys!


Fallen Angel is on my list.

My list
21. Fallen Angel

I come here expecting it, and by God I get it. But I'll be like a kid in a candy store when we get to the upper reaches.

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You did see All the King's Men, but we're all still well in the running for 'seen the least number of movies in the countdown'. 😄

Time for me to make a post before this ends up being War and Peace.

Stranger on the Third Floor was not on my ballot but was a close contender. Gave it a re-watch after it was revealed and it still holds up very well. Great visual style and I really like the characters, especially Peter Lorre of course doing what he does best.

I had Woman on the Run placed at #22. It's got a very unique flavour about it and it's probably thanks in no small part to Ann Sheridan's gutsy no-nonsense performance and interesting dialogue. The nice location photography and tense roller coaster scene at the end make it a stand out.

I Want to Live! was on my ballot at #10. The beginning's quite noirish but it does then admittedly move into being more of a tense drama concerning the justice system. Whatever the facts in reality may be about Barbara Graham it made the basis for a great movie, and the phenomenal knock-out performance from Susan Hayward is one you can never forget.

Brighton Rock is one I think I may have only vaguely ever heard of, which is interesting as I've seen a lot of Richard Attenborough's earlier films. Great to see a Brit film like this make the countdown as most of them don't get tagged film noir as much as the American films.

He Walked By Night was on my list at #19 and I saw it again after the reveal. No messing around in this film as it gets on with the job of portraying the tense cat and mouse game between the criminal and the police investigators. Great lighting in this throughout, especially in the underground sequence. And great sound for that portion as well with all the cops advancing and the subsequent gun battle. Very cool to see how much this influenced Jack Webb and Dragnet. Incidentally I was considering the 1954 Dragnet movie for my ballot, a film which in my opinion was ahead of its time.

Seen The Dark Corner a couple of times but can't remember much about the story. I do however remember the visuals being outstanding, so there's that at least. Also seen Angel Face several times and liked it just fine. The ending was easily predictable but brutal all the same.

Had Force of Evil at #4. It's an interesting thing that whenever I think of film noir this is always the first film to come to my mind. There's just something about it that symbolises the genre to me, which is peculiar I guess because there were certainly a lot of better noirs made overall which will no doubt be appearing here in due course. This clip from A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies encapsulates what I mean:


Seen Born To Kill a couple of times and really enjoyed it. A lot of powerful stuff there about a guy to whom murder comes casually and very irrationally (although is murder ever rational?). Lawrence Tierney plays his part with ease and Claire Trevor makes for a natural counterpart to his corruption. A similarly great cast in All The Kings Men but otherwise I didn't care for it unfortunately. The Amazing Mr. X is one I've not heard of, and Too Late For Tears ticks a lot of noir boxes and Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea are always great. It's a solid noir although I did find some of the plot a little frustrating to endure at times. Not seen Fallen Angel or Confidential Report.

Also watched Crime Wave from the one pointers and thought it was excellent. Really appreciated the high frequency of realistic lighting and locations. I'm wondering if Kubrick was influenced by it in any way for when he made The Killing.

So that's five from my ballot so far (these in addition to Sorry, Wrong Number) with 14/22 seen, and I'm currently expecting three on my list to not make the cut.

Fallen Angel was smack-dab in the middle of my Watch List but I didn't get to it in time, which unfortunately will be the case for a lot of films in the Countdown on my part. I relied on quite a few that were already tops for me instead of new watches but I've been watching more and more that will oust some out of my all-time favorite Noirs list, including one I watched last night. I won't reveal it but I know it will make the Countdown.

I'd not heard of Confidential Report till its reveal but the name Mr. Arkadin sounds really familiar to me. Still, I come up with nada on this reveal.

#15 He Walked By Night List Proper #88

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

0/22

I am now thoroughly invested in which one of you 0/XX Mofos lasts the longest.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Haven't had anything from my ballot show yet, but that's not too surprising as I only watch the best of the best when it comes to noir. The only film I've seen so far is Gaslight.

That's three of us that are currently 0/22, and at least two more that are 1/22.


Let's see both who lasts longest as 0/22, and who has the least in the end. 😅

I think it's four: stillmellow, Sedai, Thief and ScarletLion. EDIT: Removing Thief he's seen one.

Not to shame you all or anything. You are the ones posting your (lack of) stats. I'm cheering for you. I'm on your side!

And protip you can watch any of the 22 films listed so far today and end the misery. But why would you want to do that this far in.