Open Culture's 50 Free Noir movies
Open Culture made a list of free, good-ish Noir flicks. Now, I know what I'm watching this Noir-vember.
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50 titles
- DirectorBernard VorhausStarsTurhan BeyLynn BariCathy O'DonnellOn the beach one night, Christine Faber, two years a widow, thinks she hears her late husband Paul calling out of the surf; then meets a tall dark man Alexis, who seems to know all about such things.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartJennifer JonesGina LollobrigidaOn their way to Africa are a group of rogues who hope to get rich there, and a seemingly innocent British couple. They meet and things happen...
- DirectorOtto BrowerStarsCarole LandisWilliam GarganRichard CranePolice lieutenant Sam Carson investigates a political murder after the victim is dumped at the door of police headquarters.
- DirectorW. Lee WilderStarsJohn BromfieldMartha VickersRobert HuttonWhen a scheming fortune hunter finds his rich wife is not going to die as expected, he and his lover make other plans to get her millions.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsCornel WildeRichard ConteJean WallaceA police lieutenant is ordered to stop investigating deadly crime boss Mr. Brown because he hasn't been able to get any hard evidence against him. He goes after Brown's girlfriend, who despises him, for information instead.
- DirectorJack BernhardStarsRobert PaigeLeslie BrooksRuss VincentA society reporter keeps herself in the headlines by marrying a series of wealthy men, all of whom die under mysterious circumstances.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsFred MacMurrayClaire TrevorRaymond BurrTwo undercover agents infiltrate a drug-smuggling ring in Mexico, but neither is aware of the other's identity.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsLew AyresTeresa WrightVictor JoryA badly injured fugitive explains to a priest how he came to be in his present predicament.
- DirectorArthur RipleyStarsRobert CummingsMichèle MorganSteve CochranChuck Scott gets a job as chauffeur to tough guy Eddie Roman; but Chuck's involvement with Eddie's fearful wife becomes a nightmare.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsTom NealAnn SavageClaudia DrakeThe life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsEdmond O'BrienPamela BrittonLuther AdlerFrank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why.
- DirectorMaxwell ShaneStarsPaul KellyDeForest KelleyKay ScottA man dreams he committed murder, then begins to suspect it was real.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsBarbara StanwyckWendell CoreyPaul KellyAssistant district attorney Cleve Marshall falls for the mysterious Thelma Jordon when she seeks help solving robberies of her aunt's estate.
- DirectorBill KarnStarsJohnny CashDonald WoodsCay ForesterA murderous thug and his cohorts take a bank executives wife hostage after their robbery plans go awry.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsErich von StroheimMary Beth HughesDan DuryeaPart of an entertainment act, a beautiful but unscrupulous female performer manipulates all the men in her life in order to achieve her aims.
- DirectorCharles GuggenheimJohn StixStarsSteve McQueenCrahan DentonDavid ClarkeA gang's plans for a St. Louis bank robbery are complicated when the sister of one of the thieves starts voicing her well-founded suspicions.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsGlenn FordGeraldine BrooksCedric HardwickeAn ex-soldier and his new girlfriend comb France for a valuable relic...which others are willing to kill for.
- 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.
- DirectorAlfred L. WerkerAnthony MannStarsRichard BasehartScott BradyRoy RobertsThis film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop.
- DirectorIda LupinoStarsEdmond O'BrienFrank LovejoyWilliam TalmanTwo fishermen pick up a psychopathic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over.
- DirectorMax NosseckStarsLawrence TierneyAllene RobertsMarjorie RiordanParoled sociopath and career criminal Vincent Lubeck betrays his family's trust when he masterminds a complex armored car robbery.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsBrian DonlevyElla RainesCharles CoburnA unfaithful wife plots with her lover to kill her husband, but the lover is accidentally killed instead. The husband stays in hiding and lets his wife be charged with conspiracy.
- DirectorLew LandersStarsCharles RussellMary Beth HughesBilly HouseA man fleeing the police after having committed a murder hides out in a boarding house in a small town.
- DirectorPhil KarlsonStarsJohn PayneColeen GrayPreston FosterAn ex-con trying to go straight is framed for a million dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits.
- DirectorTrevor JimenezStarsTrevor JimenezIn this animated spin on the noir genre, A man's obsession with key lime pie brings him to the brink of insanity and a chance encounter with the grim reaper.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsFaye EmersonJulie BishopFrank WilcoxActing as a decoy in a bank robbery Dot get arrested. But before going to jail she manages to steal the $40, 000 loot from her accomplices. Her arrest attracts the attention of her former sweetheart Ken who believes her innocent.
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsLloyd BridgesMoira ListerAlan WheatleyAn American WWII veteran goes back to England after the war only to discover that his wartime sweetheart has got mixed up with a dangerous spy ring.
- DirectorHugo FregoneseStarsJack PalanceConstance SmithByron PalmerAfter an enigmatic, self-described pathologist rents the attic room of a Victorian house, his landlady begins to suspect her lodger is Jack the Ripper.
- DirectorFelix E. FeistStarsLee J. CobbJane WyattJohn DallA veteran homicide detective who has witnessed his socialite girlfriend kill her husband sees his newly-minted detective brother assigned to the case alongside him.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsConstance TowersAnthony EisleyMichael DanteA former prostitute relocates to a buttoned-down suburb, determined to fit in with mainstream society. But perverse secrets simmer beneath the wholesome surface.
- DirectorPeter GodfreyStarsAngela LansburyRaymond BurrDick ForanA lawyer suffers a guilt complex after getting a murder acquittal for his client, and then finding out she did commit the crime.
- DirectorLaslo BenedekStarsScott BradyRichard RoberK.T. StevensTwo narcotics agents go after a gang of murderous drug dealers who use ships docking at New York Harbor to smuggle in their contraband.
- DirectorIrving PichelStarsMickey RooneyJeanne CagneyBarbara BatesAfter taking 20 dollars from his employer to go on a date with plans to repay it the next day, an auto mechanic falls into increasingly disastrous circumstances for more and more money which rapidly spirals out of his control.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsEdward G. RobinsonLon McCallisterJudith AndersonAn old man and his sister are concealing a terrible secret from their adopted teen daughter, concerning a hidden abandoned farmhouse, located deep in the woods.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsEdward G. RobinsonJoan BennettDan DuryeaA man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, though her fiancé persuades her to con him out of the fortune they mistakenly assume he possesses.
- DirectorJames V. KernStarsRobert YoungBetsy DrakeJohn SuttonIn flashback from a 'Rebecca'-style beginning: Ellen Foster, visiting her aunt on the California coast, meets neighbor Jeff Cohalan and his ultramodern clifftop house.
- DirectorAlfred L. WerkerStarsVincent PriceLynn BariFrank LatimoreA psychologically distraught woman is committed to a private sanitarium by the man she witnessed commit a murder.
- DirectorWilliam BerkeStarsRussell WadeLuana WaltersEdmund MacDonaldA woman apparently marries a corrupt deputy D.A. to get evidence that a certain criminal was framed for murder.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsJimmy LydonSally EilersWarren WilliamPaul dreams that his father's fatal accident actually was murder. When details of his dream repeat themselves in reality he seeks the help of psychiatrist Dr. Vincent, and they attempt to solve the riddle - with dangerous consequences.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsBarbara StanwyckVan HeflinLizabeth ScottA man is reunited with his childhood friend and her husband who believes he knows the truth about the death of her rich aunt years earlier.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesEdward G. RobinsonLoretta YoungAn investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerDouglas SirkStarsHedy LamarrGeorge SandersLouis HaywardIn 1820s New England beautiful but poor and manipulative Jenny Hager marries rich old man Isaiah Poster but also seduces his son and his company foreman.
- DirectorLewis AllenStarsFrank SinatraSterling HaydenJames GleasonIn the city of Suddenly, three gangsters trap the Benson family in their own house, on the top of a hill nearby the railroad station, with the intention of killing the president of the USA.
- DirectorBusby BerkeleyStarsJohn GarfieldClaude RainsThe Dead End KidsA champion boxer on the lamb, believed to have committed murder while drunk, takes refuge and finds redemption at a farm for delinquent youths.
- DirectorW. Lee WilderStarsLloyd BridgesLea PadovaniAldo FabriziAfter a prison sentence an American GI stationed in Italy discovers that his hidden loot has disappeared and goes searching for it.
- DirectorMark StevensStarsMark StevensKing CalderFelicia FarrIn Arizona, a train's baggage car is robbed of a large payroll, prompting an investigation led by a railroad official-insurance investigator team.
- DirectorByron HaskinStarsLizabeth ScottDon DeForeDan DuryeaThrough a fluke circumstance, a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and is determined to hold onto it even if it means murder.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsLloyd BridgesBarbara PaytonJohn HoytSecret Service agents make a deal with a counterfeiting inmate to be released on early parole if he will help them recover some bogus moneymaking plates, but he plans to double cross them.
- DirectorLéonide MoguyStarsGeorge RaftAva GardnerVictor McLaglenWhen beautiful Mary returns home to her "whistle stop" home town, long-standing feelings of animosity between two of her old boyfriends leads to robbery and murder.
- DirectorNorman FosterStarsAnn SheridanDennis O'KeefeRobert KeithFrank Johnson becomes an eyewitness to a murder. He's pursued around San Francisco by his wife, the police, and the killer.