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Defining Genre
Peak 1940s

THE FILM-NOIR

SHADOW AND FALLING MAN
The genre that taught cinema what fluorescent light is for. Where a city, a woman, and a doomed man do all the talking.
Peak 1940s
596
Films Catalogued
68.7
Avg Master Score
6.7
Avg IMDb
1940s
Peak Decade
FRITZ LANG
Top Director
Of which 18 won at least one Oscar
The Defining Three

ESSENTIAL VIEWING

Top-ranked by master score. If you only saw three films from this decade, these are the three.

No.01
MS92.9
HOWARD HAWKS|1946
THE BIG SLEEP

“The picture they were born for!”

No.02
MS91.7
ALFRED HITCHCOCK|1946
NOTORIOUS

“Deep their love! Great the risk!”

No.03
MS90.8
STANLEY KUBRICK|1956
THE KILLING

“In all its fury and violence...”

Filter the List
596/596 films
Master Score
Awards
Showing 60 of 596
Sort
01
The Big Sleep
1946 · Howard Hawks
92.9
02
Notorious
1946 · Alfred Hitchcock · 2 noms
91.7
03
The Killing
1956 · Stanley Kubrick
90.8
04
The Big Heat
1953 · Fritz Lang
90.1
05
Shadow of a Doubt
1943 · Alfred Hitchcock · 1 nom
90.0
06
Out of the Past
1947 · Jacques Tourneur
89.7
07
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
1932 · Mervyn LeRoy · 3 noms
89.6
08
Strangers on a Train
1951 · Alfred Hitchcock · 1 nom
89.6
09
In a Lonely Place
1950 · Nicholas Ray
89.3
10
The Killers
1946 · Robert Siodmak · 4 noms
88.8
11
The Maltese Falcon
1941 · John Huston · 3 noms
88.4
12
The Lost Weekend
1945 · Billy Wilder · 4 Oscars
88.3
13
The Fallen Idol
1948 · Carol Reed · 2 noms
87.3
14
The Narrow Margin
1952 · Richard Fleischer, William Cameron Menzies · 1 nom
87.3
15
Pickup on South Street
1953 · Samuel Fuller · 1 nom
87.2
16
Odd Man Out
1947 · Carol Reed · 1 nom
87.2
17
Where the Sidewalk Ends
1950 · Otto Preminger
87.2
18
Brute Force
1947 · Jules Dassin
86.4
19
Night and the City
1950 · Jules Dassin
86.4
20
Murder, My Sweet
1944 · Edward Dmytryk
86.3
21
The Letter
1940 · William Wyler · 7 noms
86.3
22
The Big Clock
1948 · John Farrow
86.2
23
Gun Crazy
1950 · Joseph H. Lewis
85.9
24
The Woman in the Window
1944 · Fritz Lang · 1 nom
85.6
25
Nightmare Alley
1947 · Edmund Goulding
85.4
26
Double Indemnity
1944 · Billy Wilder · 7 noms
85.1
27
The Breaking Point
1950 · Michael Curtiz
85.1
28
The Set-Up
1949 · Robert Wise
84.9
29
The Harder They Fall
1956 · Mark Robson · 1 nom
84.9
30
Detour
1945 · Edgar G. Ulmer
84.7
31
Sudden Fear
1952 · David Miller · 4 noms
84.5
32
Scandal Sheet
1952 · Phil Karlson
84.3
33
Sunset Boulevard
1950 · Billy Wilder · 3 Oscars
84.2
34
Thieves' Highway
1949 · Jules Dassin
84.0
35
Ride the Pink Horse
1947 · Robert Montgomery · 1 nom
83.7
36
You Only Live Once
1937 · Fritz Lang
83.6
37
Touch of Evil
1958 · Orson Welles
83.6
38
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
1946 · Lewis Milestone · 1 nom
83.5
39
Raw Deal
1948 · Anthony Mann
83.5
40
The Big Combo
1955 · Joseph H. Lewis
83.5
41
Angels with Dirty Faces
1938 · Michael Curtiz · 3 noms
83.0
42
Criss Cross
1949 · Robert Siodmak
82.5
43
The Lineup
1958 · Don Siegel
82.4
44
No Way Out
1950 · Joseph L. Mankiewicz · 1 nom
82.3
45
Gilda
1946 · Charles Vidor
82.3
46
Dead End
1937 · William Wyler · 4 noms
82.3
47
Don't Bother to Knock
1952 · Roy Ward Baker
82.3
48
All the King's Men
1949 · Robert Rossen · 3 Oscars
82.2
49
Cry of the City
1948 · Robert Siodmak
82.2
50
Kiss of Death
1947 · Henry Hathaway · 2 noms
82.2
51
The Third Man
1949 · Carol Reed · 1 Oscar
82.1
52
Force of Evil
1948 · Abraham Polonsky
82.1
53
The Window
1949 · Ted Tetzlaff · 1 nom
82.0
54
Sorry, Wrong Number
1948 · Anatole Litvak · 1 nom
82.0
55
Crossfire
1947 · Edward Dmytryk · 5 noms
81.9
56
Niagara
1953 · Henry Hathaway
81.8
57
D.O.A.
1949 · Rudolph Maté
81.8
58
The Blue Dahlia
1946 · George Marshall · 1 nom
81.6
59
The Stranger
1946 · Orson Welles · 1 nom
81.4
60
Caught
1949 · Max Ophüls
81.3
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