I am a fan of film noir, and have been for a long time. Perhaps it's the atmospherics or the long shadows - or maybe the tough guys and dames on the streets of some long beleaguered city. Whatever the reason, I've been knocking away at a strong number of them over the past few years, and so I tallied a list.
As for directors, there's lots of Henry Hathaway and Alfred Hitchcock with some Carol Reed, Jules Dassin and Fritz Lang thrown in for good measure.
On the actors side, James Mason has become a fan favorite, followed closely by Ray Milland and Robert Donat.
And of course let's not forget the best Holmes-Watson pairing of them all, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.
Anyway, it's all just fun stuff from long ago.
| Title | Year | Actor(s) | Director |
| 13 rue Madeleine | 1947 | James Cagney | Henry Hathaway |
| 49th Parallel | 1941 | Leslie Howard | |
| 5 Fingers | 1952 | James Mason | |
| Adventures of Tartu | 1943 | Robert Donat | |
| Berlin Correspondent | 1942 | | |
| British Intelligence | 1940 | Boris Karloff | |
| Captain Horatio Hornblower | 1951 | Gregory Peck | |
| Cash on Demand | 1961 | | |
| Charade | 1963 | Cary Grant; Audrey Hepburn | |
| Circle of Danger | 1951 | Ray Milland | |
| Cottage to Let | 1941 | Alistair Sim | |
| Counterspy meets Scotland Yard | 1950 | | |
| Cry of the City | 1948 | Victor Mature | |
| Damn the Defiant! | 1962 | Alec Guinness | |
| Deadline USA | 1952 | Humphrey Bogart | |
| Dial M for Murder | 1954 | Ray Milland; Grace Kelley | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Dick Tracy | 1945 | | |
| Dick Tracy’s Dilemma | 1947 | | |
| Diplomatic Courier | 1952 | Tyrone Power | Henry Hathaway |
| Dracula: Dead and Loving It | 1995 | Harvey Korman; Mel Brooks | |
| Enter Arsene Lupin | 1944 | | |
| Foreign Correspondent | 1940 | Joel McRae | |
| Funeral in Berlin | 1966 | Michael Caine | |
| House on 92nd Street | 1945 | | Henry Hathaway |
| I’ll Get You | 1952 | George Raft | |
| Johnny O’Clock | 1947 | Lee Cobb | |
| Lady in the Fog | 1952 | Caesar Romero; Lois Maxwell | |
| Man Hunt | 1941 | Walter Pidgeon; Joan Bennett | Fritz Lang |
| Man in Cairo | 1953 | George Raft | |
| My Favorite Brunette | 1947 | Bob Hope; Dorothy Lamour | |
| Mystery of Marie Roget | 1942 | | |
| Naked City | 1948 | | Jules Dassin |
| Nazi Agent | 1942 | | Jules Dassin |
| New York Confidential | 1955 | | |
| Night Train to Munich | 1940 | Rex Harrison | Carol Reed |
| No Highway in the Sky | 1951 | Jimmy Stewart | |
| North Sea Hijack | 1980 | Roger Moore; James Mason | |
| Pimpernel Smith | 1941 | Leslie Howard | |
| Port of New York | 1949 | Yul Brenner | |
| Rear Window | 1954 | Jimmy Stewart; Grace Kelly | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Sabotage | 1936 | | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Scarlet Street | 1945 | Edward G. Robinson | Fritz Lang |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1939 | —Hound of the Baskervilles | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1939 | —The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1942 | —Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1943 | —Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1943 | —Sherlock Holmes in Washington | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1943 | —Sherlock Holmes faces death | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1944 | —The Spider Woman | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1944 | —The Scarlet Claw | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1944 | —The Pearl of Death | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1945 | —The House of Fear | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1945 | —The Woman in Green | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1945 | —Pursuit to Algiers | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1946 | —Terror by Night | |
| Sherlock Holmes films | 1946 | —Dressed to Kill | |
| Sink the Bismarck! | 1960 | Kenneth More | |
| Spy Hunt | 1950 | | |
| Strangers on a Train | 1951 | | Alfred Hitchcock |
| The 39 Steps | 1935 | Robert Donat | Alfred Hitchcock |
| The Dark Corner | 1946 | Lucille Ball | Henry Hathaway |
| The Deadly Affair | 1967 | James Mason | Sidney Lumet |
| The Fake | 1953 | | |
| The Heroes of Telemark | 1965 | | |
| The Iron Curtain | 1948 | Tyrone Power | Henry Hathaway |
| The Lady Vanishes | 1938 | | Alfred Hitchcock |
| The Naked Street | 1955 | | |
| The Secret Ways | 1961 | Richard Widmark | |
| The Stranger | 1946 | Orson Welles | Orson Welles |
| The Underground | 1941 | | |
| The Upturned Glass | 1947 | James Mason | |
| Triple Cross | 1966 | Christopher Plummer; Romy Schneider | Terrence Young |
| Waterfront | 1944 | John Carradine | |
| Where There’s Life | 1947 | Bob Hope | |
| Whispering City | 1947 | Paul Lukas | |
| Woman in the Window | 1944 | Edward G. Robinson |