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.