IMDB - Top 50 Film Noir

1. HAS to be “Mildred Pierce”. I have no idea WHY this isn’t ranking here. Maybe the fact that it revolves around Joan Crawford as a love-sick mother makes some viewers shy away from what they think is a “women’s film”. Reality: it’s a damn good noir with lots of sex, violence, horizontal blinds and dizzying scenery. My husband loves this film.

2. “The Postman Always Rings Twice”, both on its own merits as classic noirs, but also because without James M. Cain’s original novels (including “Mildred Pierce” and “Double Indemnity”), we wouldn’t have pulp noir as we know it today.

3. “Dark Passage”. Terrific use of San Francisco, not to mention Bogie and Bacall.

4. “Criss Cross”.

5. “D.O.A.”