A work in progress, with many films still to add. Corrections are always welcome, email is preferred: kevin@royalbooks.com.
A master list of classic world noir (i.e., films noir made between 1940-1965), drawing from five major sources noted below.
Entries from the US, UK, France, United Kingdom, and Japan can be found in separately curated lists on Letterboxd, broken out by the five guides. Other countries are in the Notes field accompanying each entry, with the guide source referenced for each.
Spencer Selby. The Worldwide Film Noir Tradition. Ames, IA: Sink Press, 2013. In my opinion the most considered guide to film noir worldwide, fairly exclusive in terms of noir content, focused solely on films made between 1940-1965. Separate Selby lists,…
A work in progress, with many films still to add. Corrections are always welcome, email is preferred: kevin@royalbooks.com.
A master list of classic world noir (i.e., films noir made between 1940-1965), drawing from five major sources noted below.
Entries from the US, UK, France, United Kingdom, and Japan can be found in separately curated lists on Letterboxd, broken out by the five guides. Other countries are in the Notes field accompanying each entry, with the guide source referenced for each.
Spencer Selby. The Worldwide Film Noir Tradition. Ames, IA: Sink Press, 2013. In my opinion the most considered guide to film noir worldwide, fairly exclusive in terms of noir content, focused solely on films made between 1940-1965. Separate Selby lists, divided by country, can be found in my Letterboxd Lists.
Andrew Spicer. Historical Dictionary of Film Noir. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010. Another strong, well curated guide to film noir worldwide, fairly inclusive, focused on films beginning with noir antecedents (1915-1939), moving through classic noir, then neo-noir to the present. Separate Spicer lists, divided by country, can be found in my Letterboxd Lists.
Arthur Lyons. Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir. New York: Da Capo Press, 2000. Lyons' curated list focuses solely on US films noir made by indepedent studios (Poverty Row, etc.) in the US only between 1940-1959. A separate list of Lyons' titles can be found in my Letterboxd Lists.
Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward, James Ursini, Robert Porfirio. Film Noir: The Encyclopedia. New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2010. A conservative guide devoted to core films noir made in the US only, divided into a classic noir section and a neo-noir section. Separate lists for these two sections can be found in my Letterboxd Lists.
John Grant. A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir. New York: Limelight Editions, 2013. To my knowledge, the most inclusive guide to films noir worldwide, considering films with even minor noir content, satires, etc., as well as key films. Truly an exhaustive volume, and in terms of relationships among films noir throughout history, the most exhaustive guide. A separate single list for Grant can be found in my Letterboxd Lists.
My Letterboxd film noir lists are carefully tagged, and best used when sorted by List Name. They are built upward as follows, first by author, then by period, then by country or region, using dates that meet with general agreement on the 5 curators represented:
Antecedents = 1900-1939
Classic = 1940-1965
Neo-Noir = 1966-Present
The following films are not listed in Letterboxd:
DRAGNET (USA, Leslie Goodwins, 1947)
THE PERFECT CRIME (USA, Bert Glennon, 1928)
STRIP TEASE MURDER (UK, Ernest Morris, 1961)
