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Who doesn’t love a good mystery? There’s something deep within the fabric of our subconscious that won’t allow us to leave things unresolved. It’s why, in this modern age, the internet has become lousy with amateur sleuths who pick apart and dissect every sordid murder or mysterious disappearance that makes headlines. Even if there’s little to no information available, people will obsess over the most minute details in search of something they’ll proclaim as the truth. While real-life mysteries can plague us and often end up leaving us with more questions, the ones we watch in films can be even more compelling. Mysteries can come to play in any genre, but, snub-nosed revolver to my head, I’d have to argue that the most compelling are those in film noir.
This subgenre, steeped in the long history of hard-boiled fiction and detective novels, is rife with plot twists, murder plots and MacGuffins. Their narratives are like a sweater with a dozen loose threads, and we can help but pull at every last one of them. Whether you prefer your noir classic in black and white or neo in lurid color, every era has some terrific films on offer that will tease your brain and have you thirsting for clues. They’ll make you ask who done it, how it got done and who benefited? Also, what the hell is in that box? If you’re compelled by a good mystery, then these are the ten best noirs for you.
‘The Maltese Falcon’ (1941)
We begin our dark journey with The Maltese Falcon, an absolute classic film noir that also features one of the most prevalent plot devices used for mysteries, the MacGuffin. This film term, popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, generally refers to an item or object crucial to the plot of the film that is generally coveted by multiple characters, whether it carries any actual importance or not. That descriptor certainly applies to the titular statue in John Huston’s seminal noir adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s classic detective novel.
After Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) and his partner are hired by the deceptive Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor), a pair of murders, beginning with Spade’s partner, compels him to investigate further. He discovers O’Shaughnessy is deeply involved with some unscrupulous underworld figures, including the Queer-coded Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) and the gluttonous Kasper Gutman (Sidney Greenstreet). They want the titular bird, and Spade wants justice for his partner and to clear his name. It’s a twisty noir plot filled with intrigue and mystery fueled by one of the most iconic MacGuffins of all time.
‘Laura’ (1944)
Death is always a strong catalyst for any mystery. Murder even more so. Otto Preminger’s iconic mystery noir Laura begins with the titular character having already been shuffled off the mortal coil, and thus begins a sordid story of obsession and deception. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Vera Caspar. Despite the troubled production, Laura became a huge success, opening to critical acclaim and earning multiple Oscar nominations, and it remains a totemic mystery noir.
Laura (Gene Tierney) is an ad exec who has been violently murdered in her apartment, leaving behind a tangled web of acquaintances who now serve as suspects for detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews). McPherson slowly becomes infatuated with the deceased Laura and obsessed with solving her murder, which is complicated by a midfilm plot twist that only adds more layers of mystery. Iconic for its mystery and twists, as well as Clifton Webb‘s work as the titular character’s haughty and arrogant mentor, Laura is an essential noir film with one hell of a compelling mystery.
‘The Third Man’ (1949)
Who was The Third Man? That’s one of many questions that plague the protagonist of the iconic film noir directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles. The answer to that question only causes more consternation. Set and shot in Vienna, with a heavy influence on the visuals from German Expressionism, the film is incredibly atmospheric and perfectly encapsulates the cynicism of post-war noir.
Holly Martins (Cotten) is an American author come to Vienna to see his friend Harry Lime (Welles) for a job. When he arrives in the Austrian city, however, he discovers that Lime has died, but the circumstances and facts surrounding his death are inconsistent and contradictory. Holly’s investigation into the mysterious death of his friend features similar twists and turns as Laura, elevated by the moral complications of its specific setting. The Third Man is uncompromisingly pessimistic, exemplifying the tone of film noir, but its mystery keeps you compelled.
‘D.O.A’ (1950)
While the prior two films concern protagonists investigating the murder of another character, the classic genre effort D.O.A has its protagonist trying to solve his own. He’s been poisoned and only has days to live and to figure out who poisoned him and why. It’s an iconic premise which has been repeated, both officially and unofficially, multiple times, since the film’s copyright expired after a failure to renew it. While there have been more modernized and outrageous versions of the story, the original mystery is still the best and most compelling.
Frank Bigelow (Edmond O’Brien) is an accountant and notary public who enjoys a good drink. Unfortunately, after a night out while on vacation, someone poisons his drink with a toxin that has no antidote. With limited time left on Earth, Bigelow investigates who poisoned him and why, following a trail of theft, betrayal, and murder. The fatalistic nature of the narrative makes the solving of its mystery all the more imperative, and the film propels through its short runtime. D.O.A keeps you compelled with its mystery and in constant suspense.
‘Sunset Boulevard’ (1950)’
Similar to D.O.A, Billy Wilder’s darkly comedic noir Sunset Boulevard begins with its protagonist already dead, though here his demise is less a propulsive investigation and more a Hollywood tragedy. A biting satire of the fleeting nature of fame about how the carnivorous studio system devours dreams, the film combines genres but is definitively noir and sits alongside Wilder’s more genre-conforming Double Indemnity as one of his best. It begins about as compellingly as a film can, and the strangeness of its narrative keeps us enthralled even as we approach inevitable calamity.
Joe Gillis (William Holden) is a struggling screenwriter who, by a simple twist of fate, ends up meeting former silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), living in her mansion with only her servant Max (Erich von Stroheim) to keep her company. Norma is deluded about the state of her fame, dreaming of a triumphant comeback, and Joe finds himself increasingly drawn into her fantasy world. Featuring many real-life Hollywood figures in supporting roles, Sunset Boulevard was meta long before it was ever trendy. Its poison-penned script and standout performances have allowed it to remain the premier Hollywood satire, and it continues to compel decades later.
‘Kiss Me Deadly’ (1955)
As the second, and most iconic, film to feature author Mickey Spillane’s private detective character Mike Hammer, Kiss Me Deadly is easily one of the most influential film noirs. Its bleak tone and moody atmosphere have influenced filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Alex Cox, and its MacGuffin has been paid homage to in films as varied as Pulp Fiction and Raiders of the Lost Ark. It stands out for its plot that reflects the nuclear war anxieties of the Cold War, and for its unflinching nihilism.
In the film, Hammer (Ralph Meeker) picks up a hitchhiking woman named Christina (Cloris Leachman) who is quickly and suddenly killed, and Hammer himself is left for dead. Now motivated to find out the truth, Hammer’s investigation leads him into a deadly conspiracy involving criminals and government agents all in pursuit of a mysterious box containing an eerie glow. Kiss Me Deadly is a transitional noir from post-war pessimism to apocalyptic paranoia, and its hard-knuckled protagonist bashes his way through a compelling plot that points towards total annihilation.
‘Vertigo’ (1958)
It’s a matter of some debate whether Vertigo qualifies as noir. For that matter, it’s debatable if any of Alfred Hitchcock’s films qualify as such. Many of his films feature noirish elements, such as his classic Psycho, which begins with a classic crime plot that subverts expectations when it suddenly veers into horror. The director also preferred using dramatic irony, where the audience is privy to information the characters aren’t, in order to maximize tension. Vertigo, however, features enough noir trappings and has such a deeply compelling mystery that it needs to be listed here.
Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) is a former detective who has retired due to his debilitating fear of heights. He’s hired by a college friend to follow his wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), who has been acting strangely. When Scottie witnesses Madeleine fall to her death, he suffers a psychological break, and his mental state only becomes more unstable when he meets a woman named Judy (Novak) who looks just like Madeleine. Scottie’s obsession is emulated in the film’s garish use of color, and its surreal style keeps us constantly questioning its reality. Depending on your definition, Vertigo may or may not be a noir, but its mystery is undeniably compelling.
‘Chinatown’ (1974)
Often considered the most essential neo-noir, Chinatown features a pitch-perfect screenplay by Robert Towne that perfectly constructs its mystery through the perspective of its protagonist and is just as emotionally compelling. It’s a dark and heavy noir, filled with vile characters. Whether you can stomach a film that features an incestuous sexual assault as a key plot point, directed by a rather unsavory figure, is entirely your own decision to make. While many argue otherwise, art is often intrinsically tied to the artist who created it, and as compelling a film as it is, Chinatown cannot be wholly severed from its infamous director.
The film follows Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson), a private eye hired to follow an engineer for the Department of Water and Power, who later turns up dead. Gittes is then plunged into a municipal conspiracy alongside the engineer’s widow, Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), whose wealthy father, Noah Cross (John Huston), wields considerable power in the city of Los Angeles. Chinatown showcases the machinations of private individuals to control public resources in their unending greed, and it ends with an emotional gut punch. Even divorced from the evil actions of the filmmaker responsible for it, the film never fails to upset.
‘L.A. Confidential’ (1997)
A lean adaptation of James Ellroy’s sprawling crime novel, L.A. Confidential is a tautly made neo-noir thriller that crackles with suspense and atmosphere, anchored by a terrific ensemble cast. Set in the titular city in the early ’50s, the film is centered on the cross-section of fame, scandal and corruption, with three cops revolving around a bloody massacre used to cover up darker secrets. Even if the film is a stripped-down simplification of the far more complex novel, it’s a perfect modern update of the classic noir template, trading shadowy black and white for sun-baked color that makes the violence all the more visceral.
Detectives Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), Bud White (Russell Crowe) and Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) all have very different approaches to police work, but when a slaughter takes place in an all-night diner, their worlds collide. The film never shies away from the violence and bigotry that almost seemed inherent to police work during that era, and likewise it fully embraces the more explicit content that classic noirs had to merely suggest due to the Hays Code. L.A. Confidential succeeds thanks to Curtis Hanson’s pulpy direction, Brian Helgeland’s cracking script, and a plethora of performances that are never anything less than compelling.
‘Memento’ (2000)
Memento is compelling not only for its central mystery, but also for how that mystery unfolds. Starring Guy Pearce as another dedicated investigator, the film’s structure hinges on his character’s amnesia and inability to form new memories. In alternating scenes, the film progresses chronologically from the start and in reverse from the end, meeting at a middle that completely recontextualizes everything we’ve seen at that point. The unusually structure isn’t designed merely to confound, but to force the audience to experience the world as its protagonist does, always unsure of what has just occurred in each scene.
Leonard Shelby (Pearce) suffers from his condition due to an attack that also took the life of his wife. Now, relying on rudimentary methods of memory such as Polaroids and tattoos, Leonard searches for his wife’s killer. The unreliability of the narrative makes it hard for Leonard, or us, to ever know if he’s being lied to, but we’re never questioning Christopher Nolan‘s filmmaker skills. The director exacts the same kind of control over the film as he would later become known for, and that control keeps it consistently engrossing. Memento is one of the most inventive neo-noirs, and it helped usher the genre into the 21st century with compelling proficiency.
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William Smith
Almontather Rassoul
