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Insomnia

Erik Skjoldbjærg
1997 • 97 minutes • 1.85:1 • Norway
Spine: #47 Edition: DVD

Disgraced Swedish detective Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård) travels to northern Norway to solve a brutal murder in Erik Skjoldbjærg’s debut feature, Insomnia.

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The Killers

Robert Siodmak
1946 • 103 minutes • 1.33:1 • United States
Edition: Collector’s Sets

The first screen incarnation of Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Killers” came in 1946, when director Robert Siodmak unleashed The Killers, helping to define the film noir style and launching the careers of Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner.

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The Killers

Don Siegel
1964 • 93 minutes • 1.33:1 • United States
Edition: Collector’s Sets

Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Killers” has fascinated readers and filmmakers for generations. In 1964, Don Siegel—initially slated to direct the 1946 version—took it on, creating the first-ever made-for-TV feature.

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The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

John Cassavetes
1976 • 135 minutes • 1.85:1 • United States
Spine: #254 Editions: DVD, Collector’s Sets, Hulu Plus, iTunes

John Cassavetes engages film noir in his own inimitable style. Ben Gazzara brilliantly portrays gentlemen’s club owner Cosmo Vitelli, a man dedicated to pretenses of composure and self-possession. When he runs afoul of a group of gangsters, Cosmo is forced to commit a horrible crime.

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The League of Gentlemen

Basil Dearden
1960 • 116 minutes • 1.66:1 • United Kingdom
Editions: Collector’s Sets, Hulu Plus

A delightful cast of British all-stars, including Richard Attenborough, Bryan Forbes, and Roger Livesey, brings to life this precisely calibrated caper, which was immensely popular and influenced countless Hollywood heist films.

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The Long Good Friday

John Mackenzie
1979 • 114 minutes • 1.77:1 • United Kingdom
Spine: #26 Edition: DVD

Bob Hoskins, in his breakthrough film role, stars as a London racketeer fast losing control of his gangland empire; Helen Mirren shines as his classy moll.

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Mona Lisa

Neil Jordan
1986 • 104 minutes • 1.77:1 • United Kingdom
Spine: #107 Edition: DVD

Bob Hoskins (who snagged an Oscar nomination for his performance) plays George, a small-time loser employed as a chauffeur to an enigmatic, high-class call girl in writer-director Neil Jordan’s brilliant, noir-infused love story.

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The Naked City

Jules Dassin
1948 • 96 minutes • 1.33:1 • United States
Spine: #380 Editions: DVD, Hulu Plus

Master noir craftsman Jules Dassin’s dazzling police procedural The Naked City was shot entirely on location in New York. As influenced by Italian neorealism as American crime fiction, this double Academy Award winner remains a benchmark for naturalism in noir.

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The Naked Kiss

Samuel Fuller
1964 • 90 minutes • 1.75:1 • United States
Spine: #18 Editions: DVD, Blu-ray, Hulu Plus

The setup is pure pulp: A former prostitute (a crackerjack Constance Towers) relocates to a buttoned-down suburb, determined to fit in with mainstream society.

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Night and the City

Jules Dassin
1950 • 101 minutes • 1.33:1 • United States
Spine: #274 Edition: DVD

Two-bit hustler Harry Fabian aches for a life of ease and plenty. Trailed by a history of go-nowhere schemes, he stumbles upon a chance of a lifetime in the form of legendary wrestler Gregorius the Great. But there is no easy money in this underworld of shifting alliances and pummeled flesh.

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Pickup on South Street

Samuel Fuller
1953 • 80 minutes • 1.33:1 • United States
Spine: #224 Edition: DVD

In Sam Fuller’s hardboiled classic, a petty crook and an unsuspecting woman find themselves on the run from Communists in a precarious gambit.

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Rififi

Jules Dassin
1955 • 118 minutes • 1.33:1 • France
Spine: #115 Editions: DVD, Collector’s Sets

After making such American noir classics as The Naked City and Brute Force, blacklisted director Jules Dassin went to Paris and embarked on his masterpiece: a twisting, turning tale of four ex-cons who hatch one last glorious heist in the City of Lights.

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Rusty Knife

Toshio Masuda
1958 • 90 minutes • 2.35:1 • Japan
Editions: Collector’s Sets, Hulu Plus

In Toshio Masuda’s smash Rusty Knife, Yujiro Ishihara and fellow top Nikkatsu star Akira Kobayashi play former hoodlums trying to leave behind a life of crime, but their past comes back to haunt them when the authorities seek them out as murder witnesses.

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Le Samouraï

Jean-Pierre Melville
1967 • 105 minutes • 1.85:1 • France
Spine: #306 Edition: DVD

In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays a contract killer with samurai instincts. A razor-sharp cocktail of 1940s American gangster cinema and 1960s French pop culture, maverick director Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece Le Samouraï defines cool.

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Sapphire

Basil Dearden
1959 • 92 minutes • 1.66:1 • United Kingdom
Edition: Collector’s Sets

Basil Dearden’s bold, direct police procedural, starring Nigel Patrick as the detective in charge of the investigation, is a devastating look at the way bigotry crosses class divides, and a snapshot of the increasingly interracial culture of England in the late fifties.

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Shoot the Piano Player

François Truffaut
1960 • 81 minutes • 2.35:1 • France
Spine: #315 Editions: DVD, Hulu Plus

Part thriller, part comedy, part tragedy, Shoot the Piano Player relates the adventures of mild-mannered piano player Charlie (Charles Aznavour) as he stumbles into the criminal underworld and a whirlwind love affair.

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Stray Dog

Akira Kurosawa
1949 • 122 minutes • 1.33:1 • Japan
Spine: #233 Editions: DVD, Collector’s Sets, Hulu Plus

When a pickpocket steals a rookie detective’s gun on a hot, crowded bus, the cop goes undercover in a desperate attempt to right the wrong. Kurosawa’s thrilling noir probes the squalid world of postwar Japan and the nature of the criminal mind.

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Take Aim at the Police Van

Seijun Suzuki
1960 • 84 minutes • 2.45:1 • Japan
Editions: Collector’s Sets, Hulu Plus

At the beginning of Seijun Suzuki’s taut and twisty whodunit, a prison truck is attacked and a convict inside is murdered. The penitentiary warden on duty, Daijiro (Michitaro Mizushima), is accused of negligence and suspended, only to take it upon himself to track down the killers.

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Thieves’ Highway

Jules Dassin
1949 • 94 minutes • 1.33:1 • United States
Spine: #273 Edition: DVD

Thieves’ Highway vividly depicts the perilous world of “long-haul boys,” who drive by night to bring their goods to the markets of America’s cities. Richard Conte stars as ex-G.I. Nick Garcos, a tyro trucker bent on satisfaction from the man responsible for crippling his father.

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The Third Man

Carol Reed
1949 • 104 minutes • 1.33:1 • United Kingdom
Spine: #64 Editions: DVD, Blu-ray, Collector’s Sets

Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime—and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder.

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Tokyo Drifter

Seijun Suzuki
1966 • 82 minutes • 2.35:1 • Japan
Spine: #39 Editions: DVD, Blu-ray, Hulu Plus, iTunes

In this jazzy gangster film, reformed killer Tetsu’s attempt to go straight is thwarted when his former cohorts call him back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang.

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Touchez pas au grisbi

Jacques Becker
1954 • 96 minutes • 1.33:1 • France
Spine: #271 Editions: DVD, Collector’s Sets

Having pulled off the heist of a lifetime, Max looks forward to spending his remaining days relaxing with his beautiful young girlfriend. But when Max’s hapless partner lets word of the loot slip to loose-lipped, two-timing Josy (Jeanne Moreau), Max is reluctantly drawn back into the underworld.

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Le trou

Jacques Becker
1960 • 131 minutes • 1.66:1 • France
Spine: #129 Edition: DVD

In a Paris prison cell, five inmates use every ounce of their tenacity and ingenuity in an elaborate attempt to tunnel to freedom. Based on the novel by José Giovanni, Jacques Becker’s Le trou (The Hole) balances lyrical humanism with a tense, unshakable air of imminent danger.

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Underworld

Josef von Sternberg
1927 • 81 minutes • 1.33:1 • United States
Spine: #529 Edition: Collector’s Sets

Josef von Sternberg’s riveting breakthrough is widely considered the film that launched the American gangster genre as we know it.

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Vengeance Is Mine

Shohei Imamura
1979 • 140 minutes • 1.66:1 • Japan
Spine: #384 Editions: DVD, Hulu Plus, iTunes

A thief, murderer, and charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) is on the run from the police. Director Shohei Imamura turns this fact-based story of his seventy-eight-day killing spree into a cold, perverse, and diabolically funny tale of the primitive coexisting with the modern.

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