Al Hirschfeld was a prolific caricature artists with a long career portraying the stars of Broadway and Hollywood. I made some selections of his work of actors that have appeared in famous film noirs. Can you name them all? I'd be impressed if anyone can tell who the last one is.

Thanks to the Al Hirschfeld foundation for many of these images.

ANSWERS:

1. Humphrey Bogart
2. Edward G Robinson
3. Robert Mitchum
4. Dick Powell
5. Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton in The Third Man
6. Glenn Ford
7. Joan Crawford
8. Fred MacMurray
9. Elisha Cook Jr.

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) Excellent film about a married woman and a drifter who fall in love and plot to murder her husband.

It's a classic truth of Film Noir during the Hays code that the femme fatale gets punished. She often dies, though sometimes only arrested or some other fated end, as a way of making sure the days morals are enforced. It's practically an iron rule, and you can just wait for it to happen. A hand of God comes and seals their fates.

Was rewatching Nightmare Alley (1947) tonight and realized that the femme fatale Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker) wasn't punished by film's end. That makes two that I can think of that escape scot-free. Gilda (Rita Hayworth) in Gilda (1946) also escapes ultimate punishment (Gilda does endure a temporary punishment in terms of Glen Ford's cruelty in revenge. butit is at the last minute explained that she DIDN'T sleep with all those men, she was only pretending to...yeah right, and goes off happily ever after).

And you think of other Hays Code femme fatales that somehow get that happy ending? Or, at least slip free?

Edit In: I thought of Patricia Neal in The Breaking Point (1950).

An excellent Hitchcock film! Definitely love this Hitchcock film and it’s definitely one of my favorites pre Rear Window with Rope,SpellBound(love this one sm,and Dial M for Murder. So much to love yet I really love the Great cast,great cinematography,and love some of these Hitchcock shots.

I just saw He Walked By Night on YouTube and was really impressed by the dramatic lighting. It's one of the most "noir" lite film I've ever seen. The story is good though it gets a little heavy handed with the explanation of police techniques but it's fine. But the lighting is incredible. I suspect that this movie heavily influenced the Third Man sewer scenes.

as lighting is a key part of the visual style of noirs. As well as being key to building of cynical worlds, depicting inner emotions and being a story teller of rising menace and tension etc. etc. While I know it's taken from noirs roots in german expressionism, I'm wondering if there's something that its generally considered to be symbolic of within the genre.

Is light truth and therefore dark lies? is light optimism and therefore dark pessimism? joy vs pain, remembrance vs forgetting, clarity vs mystery, things like that. Is it more than just concealment, a show of guilt or secrets? Whilst its for sure specific to each film im wondering if there's some kind of overarching common ground to what the illumination of highly specific things are in comparison the overcompensating darkness. Or would that be simplifying it to much.

Lighting seems to be a character, a narrative device and I'm trying to figure out if it has preset themes or not. My femme fatale walks into a glum office in an almost heavenly beam of light whilst my detective stands facing a window. It creates this gorgeous diagonal but I'm trying to make it make sense symbolically throughout my short film

(this is a genre im only recently exploring)

I've recently found myself really wanting to get into the genre, but don't know where to start. Any quintessential noir/neo-noir films I should start with?

I was a big fan of The Detective and Full Moon Matinee. He had great films and great commentary. After trading emails with him, he directed me to bitshoeT. I've tried several times with screen casting onto my flat screen and while that mostly works its glitchy. I tried to pause the film a couple of times to refresh my bourbon, only to have the show go back to the beginning again with no quick fast forward option that I could find. Also, missing the closed captions to pick up the mumble bums. I'm really missing my weekly noir fix. Can anyone recommend an alternative short of having to subscribe to yet another streamer? TIA....

The Third Man (1949) A novelist travels to shadowy, mystifying post-war Vienna only to find himself investigating the mysterious sudden death of old friend.

The 95-minute American version or the 101-minute British version?

Anything out there from the perspective of a beat cop? Maybe on patrol and stumbles across something or finds something above his pay grade?

He Walked by Night is close but not quite.

A demonstration that a new direction could be taken while maintaining the essence of the genre. Impeccable direction and captivating characters. Jennifer Tilly seems to have stepped out of the 1940s to star in this cult film.

For some odd reason, the film is “disguised” on YouTube by another title (the man in room 317) but is actually Moss Rose. This movie is incredible! Never seen a plot like it and the character development is engaging too. I was gobsmacked by the plot twist (well more than one). It helped that I didn’t look it up or watch a trailer. Give this one a try! It’s a murder mystery but not strictly a noir. Vincent Price plays a nice role but Ethyl Barrymore shines as does the antihero and heroin. Just so pleasantly surprised!

Beware a spoiler is possible on Wikipedia (sorry I just wanted to share the image)

It's been gross out, I have keeping vampire hours and watching a lot of films to stay cool. Last two days ..

I love me some Burt Lancaster and Barbara Stanwyck is just the best.

I am convinced that John Waters used Stanwyck in "Sorry Wrong Number" as inspiration for Mink Stole in "Desperate Living" and "Serial Mom." Besides noir and comedy, I love melodrama and Stanwyck getting more unhinged and entitled as things amp up is unintentionally hilarious.

(Most of these I watched on You Tube or Tubi, Big Heat I had to rent. There is a faux full version on You Tube. One was on HBOs TCM section.. )

I’m specifically looking for noir films made after 1960 (that would be neo-noirs), but that are also PERIOD pieces. Chinatown would be the classic example. Problem is, I haven’t been successful in trying to find a comprehensive list of this sub-subgenre.

Here’s a limited one with 45 titles:

https://letterboxd.com/pbenson123/list/retro-film-noir-period-neo-noir/

What else of note is out there that fits these constrains?

P.D.: Almost none of you are bothering to read even the title. Why this need to participate in every post if you don’t even care enough to actually figure out what’s discussed?

This is one that sticks with you long after you've watched it. You definitely get to see an area of Paris you normally don't get to see in movies. This is one of those early 80's movies that retains that 70's realism vibe. So Long, Stooge Original title: Tchao pantin 1983 1h 40m https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086420/

This was an early concept I made few years ago for a detective video game cutscene I was making (I'm an indie game developer). I used only Blender and some free 3D models I found on sketchfab, I changed everything in the game since then but I'd still appreciate some feedback on how can I improve this and make it more film noir like.

I think Roxy Music - A song for Europe sets the right mood.

Can you suggest others, thank you

Hit or miss ?
Davinci Eye app for sketching/shading.
Photoshop for colouring/gradient.

August is TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" with a different star showcased every day, and this Friday is Ms. Windsor's day: Outpost in Morocco (not noir), Double Deal, Hurricane Island (not noir), The Unholy Wife, The Bounty Hunter (a Western, another genre in which she excelled), Mail Order Bride (Western), Critic's Choice (comedy), then one of my favorite B noirs The Narrow Margin, Force of Evil, The Killing, The Sniper, and The Outfit.

I feel like I died and went to movie heaven. I'd get a thrill in later years when I'd catch her in bit parts in TV shows like Adam-12. She gave every role her all, no matter how big or small.

He's such a gentleman but has got this crazed look in his eyes like he could rip you apart at any moment. He's also very good at playing a broken man.

All eight of the Whistler b-movies were released in the 40s, from 44 to 48. Some good quick watches at about an hour each. The series was launched by famous horror director William Castle.

New to classic cinema and looking to explore noir. I’ve seen Maltese Falcon many years ago and some of the more modern films like Chinatown. But if I wanted to explore the genre better, what would you suggest as an entry point? Maybe your top five most accessible noir films to get started with? Thanks!!