L.A. Noire Film Reel Project - Film Noir Reviews

L.A. Noire – An Authentic Noir Experience

Rockstar’s latest blockbuster gaming hit L.A. Noire is is game developed by Team Bondi and seeks to provide an authentic representation of 1947 Los Angeles. This is through the eyes of Cole Phelps, a newly returned “hero” of World War II, making his way from traffic cop and up through the ranks of detective for the L.A.P.D.. The game receives an authentic setting a feel from real 1940s aerial photography, a quality selection of licensed music (L.A. Noire Licensed Music List) and a beautiful score and original songs fitting the period (L.A. Noire Soundtrack List).

Hidden throughout the game are 50 gold film reels featuring actual film titles from classic Hollywood yesteryear. These films are listed below. The Film Noir status of some of these is debatable. People have argued over the Noir qualities of Notorious for decades. Angels with Dirty Faces for example is more a gangster film than anything, though it is sometimes referred to as a proto-Noir film. Many People point to the Maltese Falcon as the first A Film Noir, but Noir aficionados will point to 1940’s B-picture Stranger on the Third Floor as the first true Film Noir.

L.A. Noire Film Review Project

The goal here is to review the 50 L.A. Noire gold film reels and perhaps some related films influenced by the genre. Complete films will be hyper-linked to their reviews. Films in italics are in process, in my possession or have been previously viewed (or someone else has agreed to review them).

L.A. Noire Gold Film Reel List
Film Title	Year
Angels With Dirty Faces	1938
Body and Soul	1947
Brute Force	1947
Crossfire	1947
Detour	1945
Double Indemnity	1944
Gilda	1946
Gun Crazy	1950
House of Bamboo	1955
In A Lonely Place	1950
Key Largo	1948
Laura	1944
Leave Her to Heaven	1945
M (1951)	1951
Mildred Pierce	1945
Murder, My Sweet	1944
Night and the City	1950
Nightmare Alley	1947
Notorious	1946
Odd Man Out	1947
Out of the Past	1947
Pickup on South Street	1953
Rififi	1955
Scarlet Street	1945
Shadow of a Doubt	1943
Strangers on a Train	1951
Sunset Boulevard	1950
Sweet Smell of Success	1957
The Asphalt Jungle	1950
The Big Carnival aka Ace in the Hole	1951
The Big Clock	1948
The Big Heat	1953
The Big Sleep	1946
The Killers	1946
The Killing	1956
The Lady From Shanghai	1947
The Letter	1940
The Maltese Falcon	1941
The Naked City	1948
The Narrow Margin	1952
The Night of the Hunter	1955
The Set-Up	1949
The Spiral Staircase	1945
The Third Man	1949
The Woman In the Window	1944
Thieves Highway	1949
This Gun for Hire	1942
Touch of Evil	1958
Where The Sidewalk Ends	1950
White Heat	1949

These are films in the Noir tradition. They are films directly in the Noir style, or so-called Neo-Noir. Blade Runner for example is cyberpunk in genre, which is heavily influenced by Noir characteristics.

Film Noir Honorable Mentions (Not in L.A. Noire)
Film Title	Year
A History of Violence	2005
Blade Runner	1982
Blood Simple	1984
Cape Fear	1962
Chinatown	1970
Dark City	1998
Gattaca	1997
Ghost in the Shell	1995
Heat	1995
*L.A. Confidential*	1997
Memento	2000
Miller’s Crossing	1990
Moonlighting (TV)	1985-89
Mulholand Drive	2001
Raging Bull	1980
Reservoir Dogs	1992
Road to Perdition	2002
Stranger on the Third Floor	1940
The Fugitive (TV)	1963-67
Thief	1981
Twelve Monkeys	1995
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?	1988
Wonder Man	1945

This is a big project obviously and any help is appreciated. If you wish to submit a review, please write a minimum of 300 words and break your review into sensible paragraphs (plot, actors, music, etc). Send them to JamesInDigital. They will be edited for grammar, spelling, optimization and images will be added where appropriate/possible. Reviewers will get an about the author paragraph and link back to your own page.