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film noir: Quick Facts

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Photos

Jacques Tourneur: Out of the Past
The Maltese Falcon
Laura
Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake stand close together in dramatic lighting, with Ladd holding a pistol, in a scene from the film The Blue Dahlia.
Conrad Veidt carries Lil Dagover across a sharply angled, surreal rooftop set in a scene from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Wiene.
Black-and-white scene from Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang, showing people fleeing through waist-deep water in a flooded industrial setting with a large circular machine in the background.
Max Schreck as Graf Orlok in Nosferatu (1922) crouches over a bed, with a bald head, pointed ears, and long clawed fingers, in a dimly lit room.
Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane stands at a podium giving a speech, with a large banner of his character's face and the word Kane behind him in Citizen Kane.
A scene from Double Indemnity
Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond descends a staircase, arm raised dramatically, surrounded by police, photographers, and reporters in the final scene of Sunset Boulevard.
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Topics

Key People

Billy Wilder poses in a suit and hat, leaning against a streetlamp with a sign reading Sunset Blvd. in a promotional photo for the film Sunset Boulevard.
Billy Wilder
Austrian-born American director and producer
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Anthony Mann
American director
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Edward Dmytryk
American film director
Director Robert Aldrich stands on a sandy set gesturing as he speaks with actress Barrie Chase, who is in costume, during filming of The Flight of the Phoenix.
Robert Aldrich
American director
Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford in Gilda
Charles Vidor
American director
Negulesco, Jean
Jean Negulesco
Romanian-born artist and director
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Anatole Litvak
Ukrainian-born director
lobby card for The Comedy of Terrors
Jacques Tourneur
French-American director
John Ford, left, and Henry Hathaway, right, both wearing hats and casual jackets, stand together outdoors on the set of How the West Was Won.
Henry Hathaway
American director
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Robert Siodmak
German director
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Phil Karlson
American director
Jules Dassin
Jules Dassin
American film director
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Stuart Heisler
American director and editor
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Joseph H. Lewis
American director
Garfield, John
John Garfield
American actor
Out of the Past
Robert Mitchum
American actor
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Henry Levin
American director

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