I was wondering if anyone felt up to a Noir film challenge in July, similar to the Horror and Holiday challenges. If enough people are into it, I could provide a prize to the winner.

This would be fun but I dread the inevitable arguments over what constitutes film noir.

I agree, unfortunately.

That said, great idea, but I'm away from home (and my DVDs) in July and won't be able to participate. If it happens, I'd like it to be one where people have to write short reviews of what they've seen. I would really enjoy reading people's thoughts.

I was thinking about this as well. We could either go the traditionalist route and only consider films from 41-58, i.e. Maltese Falcon through Touch of Evil, or we could be more inclusive and allow "neo-noir" films like Chinatown, LA Confidential and The Usual Suspects. I would be inclined to lean towards the latter, since I would assume quite a few people have more of these titles than films like, say, The Crooked Way or Quicksand. More people could participate, and watch more films this way. There is an exhaustive list located at DVD Beaver that includes foreign films, though there are many titles on there that I would not consider noir at all, like Unfaithfully Yours. Here's the link: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/film-noir.htm
I recall there being a bit of disagreement about which films could be included in the horror challenge as well, so this would seem to come with the territory.

Two questions:

1. So we can watch any film noir, even if it hasn't been officially released? I have a lot of stuff recorded off TCM.

2. If we were obligated to watch The Great Pumpkin in the horror challenge, should everyone have to watch Garfield: Babes and Bullets for this one?

IMDB link

Sounds like fun and I have a ton of Noir DVDs that I have yet to watch. I just wish I had more time to watch movies. It seems like I never have time to watch a movie lately.

I'd probably join in the fun. I've been meaning to watch some more Noir. I could fill up the Netflix queue.

So is anyone interested in this?

I think it would be fun, but I alway thought a summer blockbuster movie challenge would be better.

Damn, I just did an exploration of the noir genre last month for my own personal benefit and enjoyment. I watched these movies, most of which aren't very obscure and all of which according to IMDB are "film-noir" (I'd disagree on some of these, but whatever... that's neither here nor there...)

M (1931)
Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Laura (1944)
Gilda (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Notorious (1946)
Out of the Past (1947)
Key Largo (1948)
White Heat (1949)
The Third Man (1949)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
In A Lonely Place (1950)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
the Big Heat (1953)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Rififi (1955)
The Killing (1956)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Touch of Evil (1958)