Film Noir. One of those few genres in which the words themselves manage to convey a sense for the genre itself. It evokes a black and white image of a world weary P.I. in a trench coat, scouring the back alleys of Los Angeles. The characters on both sides of the law are hardboiled and there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone knows the classics of the genre,
The Maltese Falcon,
Double Indemnity,
The Big Sleep,
The Third Man, or some of the great Neo-Noirs like
Chinatown, Blood Simple, or
Mulholland Drive. These are movies which represent the genre, and they're some damn good ones too. But too often the rest of the genre is left at the bottom of the barrel, and there are great Noirs from the 1940s and 50s which slipped through the cracks of time. These are films that stretch the genre to its limits, and take dark and gritty to a whole new level. Movies which helped define the genre in its prime. Some of them could even challenge the established classics for prestige Noir status. In short, these are five films any fan of Film Noir needs to see.