I think Kurosawa’s High And Low comes off as much more in the noir genre than Stray Dog, which seems more like a routine crime film.
If you want some film noir filmed in Britain, try out Night and the City with Richard Widmark. 
Thank you for your suggestions, people certainly have some interesting ideas about what constitutes Classic Film Noir.
In my book, anything filmed in the last 30 years, does not count as Classic. Although, maybe that’s just because one of the things which inspired this thread was a character looking for movie posters from pre-World War II.
Psycho and Blade Runner both fall into the general category of films about which I already know enough to conclued that I probably wouldn’t like them.
Actually, I’m not sure that Noir will appeal to me at all, but I’ll try a few and we’ll see what happens.
A book you might find interesting–I read and enjoyed it when I began to watch a lot of noir films on TCM a few years ago:
Dark City : The Lost World of Film Noir
Your local library might have a copy if you don’t want to buy it. There’s a great “poster gallery” chapter with some lovely, lurid images from movie posters of the era. The same author has also done a book on the Art of Noir, which is linked on the same page above.
The Big Sleep – but make sure you see the original, the director’s cut. They released another version that played up the romance between Philip Marlowe and Vivian Sternwood, to capitalize on Bogart and Bacall’s hot screen chemistry. (Not just an act, either, they were married in 1945.) The original story is mainly about depravity and perversion, as it should be (although it’s not quite as spelled out as it is in Chandler’s novella – until I read it, I had no idea that funny little back-room business was a pornography-rental shop, nor that its owner was gay).
**Dark Passage. ** (Bogart and Bacall. San Francisco.)
OK, if you don’t like noir, then try Kind Hearts and Coronets. A witty, perfectly crafted light comedy about a, um … serial killer on a mission. Alec Guinness (long before he became a Jedi master) plays multiple roles.
Jeeze, I am disappointed nobody mentioned Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 film Le Samourai
It practically defines the genre. Plenty of small touches enhancing the mood.
Rent the video, you will not be disappointed.
You guys have covered some of my favourite films.
I would also add ‘This Gun For Hire’.
And two that may not qualify:
The Narrow Margin (1950’s version- one of the best B graders ever made)
Nightmare Alley
Since starting this thread, I have watched (in this order) The Maltese Falcon, Laura, Dial “M” for Murder* and Gilda.
I liked the Maltese Falcon a lot. It was exactly what I would have said Classic Film Noir was, but would have had a hard time articulating why. I also like the fact that while violence was clearly threatened- it mostly occured off-camera. And I throughly enjoyed the dialogue.
Laura was not quite as appealling-- but still was enjoyable.
Dial “M” for Murder was creepy and icky more than enjoyable. Appealling in an intellectual sense (and I’m not sure I’d ever seen any Hitchcock movie before so it’s probably about time) but not in a practical or emotional sense.
Gilda was OK. On my list of movies I’d seen mentioned in a book that I meant to check out sometime but forgot as soon as I closed the book. I just didn’t like Gilda or Johnny or Ballin Mundson. But I did like the song “Put the Blame on Mame”
*OK, it doesn’t quite qualify as Classic Film Noir- for one thing its in color, for another it isn’t mentioned in this thread, and for a third it just isn’t trying to be Noir, but I didn’t quite realize it when I picked it out to watch. Besides, it was on my list of “movies I want to see one day which have a catchy title and sound like they might be Noir or at least classic”
While on the lookout for Green Clocks…
That’s a great little one, but good luck finding it.
I was going to…
Actually, I’m suprised to meet someone else who has even heard of that movie.
The Big Sleep has a lot of recommendations and rightly so, but only one little sideways reference to Sunset Boulevard? Both, along with Night of the Hunter should be on any short list of must-see film noir.
As soon as you finish your plunge into noir, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid is highly recommended to put it all into perspective.
“Damn, that’s never going to heal.”