I'm in a real jazz noir kick at the moment, walked for three hours in the rain the other evening with soft piano and mournful saxophone in my ears - beautiful.

It's time I get to grips with the visual aspect of the overall movement. I loved Motherless Brooklyn and I like the whole Rorschach vibe. I enjoyed Casablanca. Chinatown didn't really do a lot for me honestly.

I'm looking for a noir film that's accessible yet powerful, something full of longing and darkness and a sense of profound hopelessness, the weight of the world too great to shoulder. A heartbreaking soundtrack and stark, desolate visuals would be huge pluses.

I recently loved 12 Angry Men so black and white isn't a problem although I also really love shots of scenery, and they tend to do more for me in colour. I suppose I'm saying I'm not picky.

So what would you recommend to someone new to the genre; welcoming enough to sit through but enough of a gut-punch to linger long after credits roll?

Thank you in advance!!

Going to my first Noir fest this weekend. What are your must see picks? Notorious, postman, the killers and spiral staircase locked in for me but I confess I haven't seen most of them! Excited to spend many hours in there.

Warner Brothers studio tour in Burbank: the piano from Casablanca was very small. I didn’t expect that.

Movies that filmed in Union Station Los Angeles looked exactly the same in late 90’s. The information booth morphed into a coffee and bagel shop.

Hopefully this isn’t too specific…..this is for a gift!

Rouge Noir is an animated tribute to the atmosphere, visual language, and dark storytelling of classic film noir, where shadows, mystery, and moral ambiguity shape a story of espionage, violence, and loss.

A father leaves his family behind to accept a dangerous assignment that will take him into the clandestine world of spies and assassins. As he becomes increasingly immersed in a life of secrets, danger, and violence, the family he left behind is forced to live with uncertainty, wondering if he will ever return.

Through dramatic shadows, noir-inspired imagery, and a haunting atmosphere, Rouge Noir explores the personal cost of a double life and the consequences of choosing duty, money, or secrecy over the people waiting at home.

🎬 Title: Rouge Noir

🎨 Format: Animation

🕵️ Genre: Film Noir / Espionage / Thriller

🥀 Themes: Family, secrets, sacrifice, violence, and loss

A fictional story inspired by classic film noir, spy thrillers, and the timeless visual language of shadows, silhouettes, and moral ambiguity.

This globetrotting Roger Moore show has so many darkly lit/bathed in shadows scenes of Simon Templar plotting and calculating his next move, lighting a cigarette from a street corner. Many episodes are about shadowy figures, spies and gangsters. Procedural noir at its finest or is it too charming and cosy? A lot of grizzly murders happen and the The Saint must step in, martini in hand. He monologues to camera, explaining why he must enact vengeance and act as a guardian angel. It most often conveniently involves seducing a young hotty.

To me, noir is far more than just detective in fedora solving crimes. It's such a vast genre of movies with many subgenres. So, I find the story a little simplistic and one note, so far. After reading plenty of hard-boiled detective fiction, I also find the central character boring.

Plus, all the game seems to be is button mashing around a crime scene and then looking at a characters eyes when questioning a witness/suspect.

I've found it pretty dull. I can't be the only one who found it boring? Or is worth pushing through? I keep hearing the phrase masterpiece...but I can't help feeling that may be from 'normies' who know little about the genre.

I made an indie noir love letter to the genre. It’s free to watch I hope you’ll take a look.

This is a great one that sticks with you long after you've seen it. It really is a 1970's French realistic neo-noir (French director, writer, crew, producer) just set in Atlantic City with American actors. It gets that gritty, down at the heels look of Atlantic City, which wasn't hard to do back then. So the setting is perfect. Lancaster is amazing as an aging small time hood who still aspires for greater things. Sarandon is really good as well in a type of femme fatale role. The kind of movie where everyone has an angle to try to just get by.

In this episode of Ask Eddie, TCM Noir Alley Host & Film Noir Foundation President and Director of Communications Anne Hockens discuss and answer questions about: Red Harvest adaptations by Dashiell Hammett ranging from Samurai classics to westerns(Personally, I think a 1940's adaptation with Alan Ladd as The Continental Op could've been great in another timeline).

Various Noirs that were partly inspired by or an adaptation of classic literature, like the Shakespearean Noir adaptations, House of Strangers with Edward G. Robinson (King Lear) or Strange Illusion by Edgar G. Ulmer (Hamlet). Me, I'd also give an honorable mention to Anthony Mann (he loved Shakespeare based on an interview I saw with him) who had bits of The Bard sprinkled throughout his Western Noirs with Jimmy Stewart, especially his Lear-esque The Man from Laramie. Also some mentions of Sci-Fi classics and Eddie gives his take on an early screening of Brad Bird's new film, Ray Gunn, a Sam Spade meets Buck Rogers noir-esque animated film.

Discussing people involved in the noir filmmaking era that were tortured souls in real life, such as Nicholas Ray, Gail Russell, etc. Eddie gives his opinion on how the fate of Turner Classic Movies looks from his perspective right now after the corporate stuff that's been happening recently.

Eddie and Anne discuss the Jules Maigret novels by Georges Simenon and their various adaptations, and then international crime dramas, and aquatic themed Noirs set on Boats and Cruises (The Last of Sheila and Dead Calm get brought up). Sam Neill's fairly recent passing is brought up and his Bogart inspired performance in John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness too.

Overall, another good episode worth hearing for noir and classic film fans, in general.

I was curious, as I dive more deeply into this incredible genre, about how you assess a noir/neo-noir.

It's a subjective question and deserves subjective answers. I'd appreciate your thoughts, as well as the titles of films that did it best. Thanks a lot.

Ok I'm going to take a shot here. All I really remember is the stiking opening shot, a long zoom to a California ranch type house. I remember thinking it might have been done, maybe partly, with a model because it starts from so far away. The plot, from what I can remember, is sort of one of the typical classic noir plots, a murder in the house that gets blamed on the wrong person, and the killer is totally unexpected (to the other characters, it's not a mystery film). Any ideas?

https://crimeonfilm.com/his-chilling-story-points-toward-a-covert-murderer/

Trying my hand at jewelry making. There's a small circuit board and display inside. May make as gifts.

I know, I know, this may be a jewelry or maker post, not a film noir post, but hey, it's Gilda.

At the 2026 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival hosted by Alan K. Rode (done in collaboration with Eddie Muller's Film Noir Foundation), there was a screening of this Horror-Noir classic directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton as part of his great cycle of Horror films for RKO Studios in the 1940's. Wyatt McCrea, the grandson of Golden Age Hollywood actors Joel McCrea and Frances Dee, was there to present and give some facts and history about the making of the film (the Jane Eyre inspiration, rewrites, etc.) and his family.

A worthwhile listen, imo. For example, it was very cool to hear that Frances Dee was able to know how well-liked the film became later at film festivals in the 1990's with its resurgence and appreciation by the likes of Martin Scorsese (a huge Val Lewton fan).

I got to interview author Nat Segaloff on his new book The Secret Hitchcock: How Hollywood’s Legendary Director Lived through Cary Grant and James Stewart.

Thought you film noir fans might enjoy it :)

Cat People(1942) Excellent psychological horror noir about an American who marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.