The film noir genre is known for its compelling visuals and gritty stories, and there are plenty of classic noir movies that are streaming for free. Literally translating to black film from the original French, noir had its heyday in the ’40s and ’50s, and often features morally compromised characters and the seedy underbelly of the post-WWII United States. Noir continued to evolve as time passed, and each generation has left its own stamp through spinoff genres like neo-noir and tech-noir among many others. Regardless of the subgenre, noir has a distinctive style that is consistent in any era.

Copyright law is complicated, and plenty of noir films from the golden age have lapsed into the public domain. This means that the original copyright holder doesn’t have a claim over the film anymore, and it is free for use by the public. Many classics are free to stream on various platforms, and others are simply floating around the internet archives as downloadable files. While many films in the public domain are of questionable quality, the genre is unique because many of its best noir films have lapsed into the public domain long before their copyright was due to expire.

10

Too Late For Tears (1949)

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Classic film noir was intentionally edgy and often pushed boundaries, but 1949’s Too Late for Tears was particularly shocking for its time. Lizabeth Scott stars as Jane Palmer, a woman who will stop at nothing to keep a purloined suitcase with $60,000 inside, even stooping to murder. The femme fatale is a classic noir trope, but Scott’s Jane Palmer is perhaps one of the most ruthless examples ever put to film.

Moral corruption is a running theme in noir, but Too Late for Tears was especially scandalous because it cast a woman in a role so villainous. While it lacks the rain-drenched cityscapes of its contemporaries, Too Late for Tears is a quintessential example of domestic noir.

9

The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

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The Hitch-Hiker

Release Date

March 30, 1953

Runtime

71 minutes

Writers

Collier Young, Ida Lupino

• 

  Edmond O’Brien

  Roy Collins

• 

  Frank Lovejoy

  Gilbert Bowen

• 

  William Talman

  Emmett Myers

• 

  José Torvay

  Captain Alvarado

Plenty of horror films have picked up on the idea of a murderous hitchhiker, but the 1953 film of the same name adds brilliant touches of noir. Loosely based on a real-life case, The Hitch-Hiker is a brief and tense noir that pushes the suspense to its absolute limits in its short running time. The characters take center stage, and the three-person drama plays out at break-neck speed. The Hitch-Hiker is a unique noir from the era because it was directed by Ida Lupino, a pioneering female director in a time dominated by men.

8

Suddenly (1954)

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Suddenly

Release Date

September 17, 1954

Runtime

77 Minutes

Director

Lewis Allen

Writers

Richard Sale

Though Frank Sinatra is best known as a crooner, he also had a successful acting career. Suddenly casts old blue eyes in his first villain role as would-be presidential assassin John Baron, who has seized the home of an unsuspecting family because of its strategic location. The movie’s small scale and unique setting are distinct for a film noir, and Sinatra turns in a stunning performance as Baron.

Eschewing the usual small-time crooks and jaded gumshoes of the noir genre, Suddenly co-opts noir visuals to tell a thrilling tale with larger implications. A few years later, Sinatra would star in the adaptation of The Manchurian Candidate, which also involves an attempt on the life of the President of the United States.

7

D.O.A. (1950)

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D.O.A.

Release Date

December 23, 1949

Runtime

83 minutes

Director

Rudolph Maté

Writers

Clarence Greene

Producers

Leo C. Popkin

• 

  Edmond O’Brien

  Frank Bigelow

• 

  Pamela Britton

  Paula Gibson

• 

• 

  Beverly Garland

  Miss Foster

D.O.A. is an ambitious movie that’s told entirely in flashback, a clever storytelling device that was perfected in the best noir films. Frank Bigelow (Eugene O’Brien) has been poisoned, and the mystery unfolds as he recounts his tale and muses on who might be responsible. Perfectly exemplifying the fatalistic attitude of the noir genre, it’s clear from the beginning that Frank is doomed. D.O.A. has been remade on numerous occasions, though none have matched the superior quality of the thrilling original movie.

6

The Big Combo (1955)

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The Big Combo

Release Date

February 13, 1955

Runtime

88 minutes

Director

Joseph H. Lewis

Writers

Philip Yordan

Producers

Sidney Harmon

• 

  Cornel Wilde

  Leonard Diamond

• 

  Jean Wallace

  Susan Lowell

While the name of the movie might not be as widely known, The Big Combo features what is perhaps the most iconic image from any noir film in history. Drenched in dreary fog and stuffed with every trope known to noir history, The Big Combo is a fascinating and sleazy journey into the dark hearts of its main characters. The final shot of Diamond and Susan looking at one another in the fog has become the universal symbol for noir, and the movie is brilliant from start to finish.

Few noir films from any era capture the moodiness of the time so effortlessly, and the gritty story is appropriately dour. The Big Combo isn’t the most famous noir film ever, or even the most well-made, but few contemporaries rival its darkness and commitment to its own themes.

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5

Kansas City Confidential (1952)

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Kansas City Confidential

Release Date

November 11, 1952

Runtime

100 minutes

Director

Phil Karlson

Writers

George Bruce

Producers

Edward Small

• 

• 

• 

  Preston Foster

  Tim Foster

• 

Kansas City Confidential was a low-budget indie film, but it would later serve as the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. Telling a complex story of deception and double-crossing, the heist at the heart of the film isn’t even the most exciting part. Genre legend Lee Van Cleef slots well into the film’s ensemble cast, and the underrated noir clearly had a huge influence on not only future noir films, but also the heist and thriller genres as well.

4

Scarlet Street (1945)

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Scarlet Street

Release Date

December 25, 1945

Runtime

103 minutes

Director

Fritz Lang

Writers

Dudley Nichols

Producers

Walter Wanger

• 

  Edward G. Robinson

  Christopher Cross

• 

  Joan Bennett

  Katherine ‘Kitty’ March

• 

• 

  Margaret Lindsay

  Millie Ray

One of the earlier examples of film noir, Scarlet Street stars Hollywood Golden Age legend Edward G. Robinson in one of his most complex roles. Robinson plays Christopher Cross, a middle-aged man who falls for the fake advances of a young swindler who is actually trying to make money off his paintings. What makes the movie such an excellent film noir is that Cross is hardly an entirely sympathetic character, and his bad choices are partially responsible for dragging himself down.

Scarlet Street is beautifully shot and wonderfully acted, and it’s the character work that really shines through. Film noir is almost always dour and fatalistic, but Scarlet Street has a moralist streak that warns of the consequences of defying social conventions.

3

Detour (1945)

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Detour

Release Date

November 30, 1945

Runtime

68 Minutes

Director

Edgar G. Ulmer

Writers

Martin Goldsmith

• 

• 

• 

• 

  Edmund MacDonald

  Charles Haskell Jr.

Noir, by its very definition, is bleak and unrelenting, but 1945’s Detour might be one of the darkest examples in the genre’s long history. A musician assumes the identity of a dead man after a terrible car crash, but a mysterious woman arrives and threatens to uncover his disguise. The recently-restored classic is all about desperation, and the movie builds to an inevitable and disturbing climax.

Few films from the ’40s capture such unrelenting paranoia and fear, and Detour feels incredibly modern despite being 80 years old. Barely an hour long, the legendary noir film doesn’t need much time to deliver an engrossing story, and each frame is absolutely necessary to the plot.

2

Impact (1949)

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Impact

Release Date

March 20, 1949

Runtime

111 minutes

Director

Arthur Lubin

Writers

Dorothy Davenport

Producers

Harry M. Popkin

• 

  Brian Donlevy

  Walter Williams

• 

  Ella Raines

  Marsha Peters

• 

  Charles Coburn

  Lieutenant Quincy

• 

  Helen Walker

  Irene Williams

Though it has a pretty far-fetched plot, Impact lands with plenty of what its title promises. Noir legend Helen Walker co-stars as the conniving Irene, and her plot to kill her husband in an “accident” doesn’t work out as well as she might have hoped. The rest of the film is a tense exploration of the aftermath, and how far Irene is willing to go to clear her name. The quality of Impact rests on its execution, and not necessarily the story. It lacks some of the elements of other great noir films, but excels as a thriller.

1

The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers (1946)

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The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers

Release Date

September 13, 1946

Runtime

116 Minutes

Director

Lewis Milestone

Writers

Robert Rossen, John Patrick, Robert Riskin

Many noir films that have slipped into the public domain are low-budget independent movies, but The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a mainstream Hollywood classic. Barbara Stanwyk leads a cast that includes a debuting Kirk Douglas, and she plays the titular character who finds her deepest, darkest secret is at risk of being exposed by the return of a friend from her past.

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Domestic noir films were somewhat rare, but The Strange Love of Martha Ivers might be the finest example of the subgenre. Stanwyk is mesmerizing, and the plot unravels across the film’s nearly two-hour running time. Unlike other film noir movies from the era, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a slow-paced and meticulous dissection of the characters as each scene grows in intensity until the tragic finale.