A great crime thriller, one of the best action movies turning 30 in 2025, Michael Mann’s Heat is perhaps the finest neo-noir film in existence, but there are other movies in the genre that deserve attention. While Heat deconstructs the mysticism that hangs over the genre, the 1941 film The Maltese Falcon, starring Humphrey Bogart, is often considered to be the first noir film, marked by a cynical interpretation of the crime thriller genre. In fact, many of the great crime movies where the villain wins in the end, made today, are inspired by classic noir films.

The blending of noir sensibilities with other genres yields fascinating results, like drama films that verge on becoming horror, because a certain sense of doom and immorality takes it over. The neo-noir genre’s popularity today proves that the concepts introduced by noir filmmaking are always in demand. This is why some classic movies like Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity have never been forgotten. However, many great noir films from the ’40s and ’50s have become obscure today and deserve to be seen even today.

10

The House on 92nd Street (1945)

Directed by Henry Hathaway

One of character actor Lloyd Nolan’s most underrated movies, The House on 92nd Street is a docudrama spy thriller set during the Second World War, that also doubles as a noir movie. It tells the story of US government officials as they attempt to track down and incarcerate Nazi spies hiding in the nation. It even features a cameo by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, which makes it apparent that the movie will feel like FBI propaganda.

The use of noir genre conventions to tell the story of espionage is an interesting choice as it leads to a relatively dull thriller. The slow-burn isn’t the most effective style of telling such a story. However, The House on 92nd Street is an interesting film worth watching as it is an interesting cross between noir thriller and a documentary as well. Moreover, it features surprisingly amazing performances from a lesser-known cast of actors. So, despite the obvious propaganda on display, it’s worth checking out as one of the first World War 2 movies ever.

9

Kiss of Death (1947)

Directed by Henry Hathaway

It is very rare for an actor to win an Academy Award nomination for their very first feature film acting role. One of the few men who can boast of this achievement is Richard Widmark, whose performance as Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death was critically acclaimed when it came out. Udo is a psychopathic killer, and Widmark is said to have been inspired by the character Joker from the Batman comics for his Golden Globe-winning performance.

Kiss of Death tells the story of Nick Bianco (Victor Mature), who becomes an informant for the police after his wife dies, and he loses his faith in his fellow gang members. Mature’s performance as the jaded protagonist who keeps going back and forth over his decisions is compelling too, but Widmark steals the show in his supporting role. The film was later remade in the ’90s and starred Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, and David Caruso. Despite retaining the crime plot, the remake doesn’t have Udo’s character.

8

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Directed by Lewis Milestone

It is sad that The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is such an underrated film today. It was a critically acclaimed film when it came out, and it was nominated for an Academy Award as well as the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of Martha, who accidentally kills her aunt and marries the only other witness in order to keep him quiet and stay out of prison herself.

Barbara Stanwyck plays Martha, and is joined by another of the best film noir movie actors, Lizabeth Scott, as the new love interest of the man Martha was in love with. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers‘ bleak ending is a great tragic conclusion to a story brimming with guilt in its protagonists. The classic noir elements of a cynical worldview, a morally corrupt main character, and a hushed-up crime make it especially enjoyable to watch.

7

Nightmare Alley (1947)

Directed by Edmund Goulding

Based on William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel of the same name, Edmund Goulding’s Nightmare Alley stars Tyrone Power as the protagonist, a decade before his final performance in Witness for the Prosecution, one of the essentially perfect legal dramas. He plays an opportunistic man who falls into fortune after accidentally killing a man, and later hatching a scam plot with a shady therapist.

A dark cautionary tale that warns people about the consequences of being driven by greed, Nightmare Alley follows the rise and fall of the protagonist. The bleak film lives up to its name as its scenes are chock-full of intriguing and somewhat scary imagery, including a few haunted premises. While this was the first adaptation of Goulding’s novel, Guillermo Del Toro’s 2021 adaptation of the same name is the more popular version. Still, the 1947 version deserves to be famous as well, for its brilliant performance and beautiful cinematography.

6

The Set-Up (1949)

Directed by Robert Wise

The Set-Up is Robert Wise’s last film for RKO studios, famous for movies like Citizen Kane, Bringing Up Baby, and Cat People, a classic black-and-white horror movie that still holds up today. It is a masterclass in storytelling as it follows a boxing match in real time, and weaves a narrative of ambition, mortality, hope, and loss. The Set-Up follows veteran boxer Stoker (Robert Ryan) in a match against a newcomer backed by the mob.

Stoker is used to losing games without being able to provide much compeтιтion, but on this fateful night, with the mob backing his opponent, he becomes defiant and puts on the fight of his life. There’s a glorious sense of self-confidence laced with the classic noir cynicism in the film’s tone, as the cinematography attaches metaphorical meaning to the frames that depict the boxing match. The iconic sH๏τ from Scorsese’s Raging Bull where the boxer seems to have a halo on his head could possibly have been inspired by a similar sH๏τ in The Set-Up.

5

The Window (1949)

Directed by Ted Tetzlaff

The grimness of The Window is even more tense than the average noir film, as it’s a kid who’s in danger of dying throughout the runtime. Daring death-defying stunts and thrilling chase sequences, usually not ᴀssociated with the genre, which more commonly features a slow-burn narrative, The Window is a reinterpretation of the famous Aesop’s fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Based on Cornell Woolrich’s short story The Boy Cried Murder, it was later remade in 1966 with the same name as the short story.

A boy who is known for telling tall tales witnesses a murder, but no one is willing to believe him. He is chased by the murderers and manages to escape from them many times before one of them dies while trying to chase him. The adventurous tale wouldn’t be a noir film if it didn’t focus so much on the helplessness of the situation and closely follow the murderers. The Window was remade another time in 1984, as Cloak & Dagger, not to be confused with the Marvel Studios show of the same name.

4

Criss Cross

Directed by Robert Siodmak

Director Robert Siodmark is famous for practically inventing modern noir cinema, but despite his achievements and influence on cinema, he was only nominated for one Academy Award in his life. His Oscar nomination for Best Director came for his work on the film The Killers, where he worked with famous Hollywood star Burt Lancaster. Siodmark directed Lancaster just one more time, and that was in Criss Cross.

Lancaster plays a man who returns to Los Angeles to try and win his ex-wife over. There’s just one obstacle in his path – a gangster he has to make a deal with. Dan Duryea plays the gangster and delivers one of the greatest villain performances in film noir history. Fans of the cynicism that defines noir cinema should check out Criss Cross, whose bleak ending is highly memorable and in perfect agreement with the doomed atmosphere of the film. It was later remade by Steven Soderbergh in 1995 as The Underneath.

3

No Way Out (1950)

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

All About Eve is one of the movies that defined Bette Davis’ career. It was written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who made another great movie the same year he directed it. No Way Out, starring Sidney Poitier, Richard Widmark, and Linda Darrell, is Poitier’s film debut as an unlucky doctor. Racially charged accusations are leveled against him when a white patient dies in his care.

A тιԍнт thriller that follows an escalating situation at a deliberate pace, No Way Out is a case study in slow-burn writing. As is often the case with movies starring him, the film’s most remarkable performance is Widmark’s. He plays a bigoted and insufferable man who escalated the situation in the beginning by delaying the patient’s care since he cannot fathom a doctor being black. Widmark disappears into the role and breathes uncannily believable life into his character.

2

I Wake Up Screaming (1941)

Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone

Victor Mature, famous for My Darling Clementine, one of John Ford’s best movies, stars as the protagonist in H. Bruce Humberstone’s I Wake Up Screaming. Told non-linearly, the film follows Mature’s character as he tries to figure out who is framing him for the murder of the Hollywood actress he helped find fame. Her sister, played by a brilliant Grable in one of her most underrated roles, decides to help him.

A dark tale of jealousy and obsession, I Wake Up Screaming also stars Carole Landis, who is known for her roles in A Scandal in Paris and Moon Over Miami. She has a minor role as the murder victim, but still makes an impression in the flashback scenes. The primary antagonist is played by Laird Cregar, whose imposing screen presence makes him an intriguing villain to Mature’s hero.

1

Plunder Road (1957)

Directed by Hubert Cornfield

One of the best cold opens in TV show history follows Rick Grimes’ group of survivors as they clear out a house without speaking one word. That scene is a reference to Hubert Cornfield’s brilliant noir thriller Plunder Road. The movie opens with a fourteen-minute-long robbery sequence involving five robbers where they don’t exchange a single line of dialogue for the whole sequence.

With no build-up, Plunder Road is a unique heist film that starts with the heist itself and only follows the characters to the natural conclusions of their stories. It doesn’t bother much with the characters’ past, instead focusing on the desperation they experience when they realize what ending is inevitable for them. The deliberate pacing, a common element in noir films, is particularly engrossing in Plunder Road, because the intense plot clashes with the pace and keeps viewers glued to their seats in anticipation.