Examples of Noir Films

Double Indemnity: 1944 Directed by Billy Wilder
A salesman of the Pacific All Risk Insurance Co. Walter Neff meets the seductive wife of one of his clients, Phyllis Dietrichson, and they start an affair. Phyllis proposes to kill her husband to receive the prize of an accident insurance policy and Walter plots a scheme to receive twice the amount based on a double indemnity clause. When Mr. Dietrichson is found dead the police accept the evidence of an accidental death. But the insurance analyst and Walter's best friend Barton Keyes does not buy the version and suspects that Phyllis has murdered her husband with the help of another man, not suspecting Walter. Its a cynical, witty, and sleazy thriller about adultery, corruption and murder all usual characteristics of a film noir. Written by Claudio Carvalho

Sunset Boulevard : 1950 Directed by Billy Wilder
Attempting to elude creditors, down-on-his-luck Hollywood scriptwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) pulls into the driveway of the ramshackle mansion of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) on a stretch of Sunset Boulevard. Norma is a former matinee star from the silent film era and is now a recluse at the house where she lives with Max her all-around attendant. Norma hires Joe to write a screenplay from a stack of handwritten pages she has scratched out for a film of Salomé which she has written to get her return to the screen. Joe takes on the assignment because he needs the money to pay his creditors, but when Max moves all of Joe's possessions into the house on Sunset Boulevard he begins to feel trapped. Needing to finish the script but needing friendship Joe leaves one night to visit his friend Artie Green where he accidentally bumps into studio reader Betty Schaefer. Betty and Joe are attracted to each other immediately but Joe runs back to Norma due in part to his warped sense of loyalty to the older actress. When Joe falls in love with Betty Schaefer, Norma becomes jealous and completely insane and her madness leads to a tragic end. Sunset Boulevard is notable for the atmospheric film noir cinematography of John F. Seitz. Written by Claudio Carvalho