L.A. Noire – An Authentic Noir Experience

Rockstar’s latest blockbuster gaming hit L.A. Noire is is game developed by Team Bondi and seeks to provide an authentic representation of 1947 Los Angeles. This is through the eyes of Cole Phelps, a newly returned “hero” of World War II, making his way from traffic cop and up through the ranks of detective for the L.A.P.D.. The game receives an authentic setting a feel from real 1940s aerial photography, a quality selection of licensed music (L.A. Noire Licensed Music List) and a beautiful score and original songs fitting the period (L.A. Noire Soundtrack List).

Hidden throughout the game are 50 gold film reels featuring actual film titles from classic Hollywood yesteryear. These films are listed below. The Film Noir status of some of these is debatable. People have argued over the Noir qualities of Notorious for decades. Angels with Dirty Faces for example is more a gangster film than anything, though it is sometimes referred to as a proto-Noir film. Many People point to the Maltese Falcon as the first A Film Noir, but Noir aficionados will point to 1940’s B-picture Stranger on the Third Floor as the first true Film Noir.

L.A. Noire Film Review Project

The goal here is to review the 50 L.A. Noire gold film reels and perhaps some related films influenced by the genre. Complete films will be hyper-linked to their reviews. Films in italics are in process, in my possession or have been previously viewed (or someone else has agreed to review them).

L.A. Noire Gold Film Reel List Film Title Year Angels With Dirty Faces 1938 Body and Soul 1947 Brute Force 1947 Crossfire 1947 Detour 1945 Double Indemnity 1944 Gilda 1946 Gun Crazy 1950 House of Bamboo 1955 In A Lonely Place 1950 Key Largo 1948 Laura 1944 Leave Her to Heaven 1945 M (1951) 1951 Mildred Pierce 1945 Murder, My Sweet 1944 Night and the City 1950 Nightmare Alley 1947 Notorious 1946 Odd Man Out 1947 Out of the Past 1947 Pickup on South Street 1953 Rififi 1955 Scarlet Street 1945 Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Strangers on a Train 1951 Sunset Boulevard 1950 Sweet Smell of Success 1957 The Asphalt Jungle 1950 The Big Carnival aka Ace in the Hole 1951 The Big Clock 1948 The Big Heat 1953 The Big Sleep 1946 The Killers 1946 The Killing 1956 The Lady From Shanghai 1947 The Letter 1940 The Maltese Falcon 1941 The Naked City 1948 The Narrow Margin 1952 The Night of the Hunter 1955 The Set-Up 1949 The Spiral Staircase 1945 The Third Man 1949 The Woman In the Window 1944 Thieves Highway 1949 This Gun for Hire 1942 Touch of Evil 1958 Where The Sidewalk Ends 1950 White Heat 1949



These are films in the Noir tradition. They are films directly in the Noir style, or so-called Neo-Noir. Blade Runner for example is cyberpunk in genre, which is heavily influenced by Noir characteristics.

Film Noir Honorable Mentions (Not in L.A. Noire) Film Title Year A History of Violence 2005 Blade Runner 1982 Blood Simple 1984 Cape Fear 1962 Chinatown 1970 Dark City 1998 Gattaca 1997 Ghost in the Shell 1995 Heat 1995 L.A. Confidential 1997 Memento 2000 Miller’s Crossing 1990 Moonlighting (TV) 1985-89 Mulholand Drive 2001 Raging Bull 1980 Reservoir Dogs 1992 Road to Perdition 2002 Stranger on the Third Floor 1940 The Fugitive (TV) 1963-67 Thief 1981 Twelve Monkeys 1995 Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 1988 Wonder Man 1945

This is a big project obviously and any help is appreciated. If you wish to submit a review, please write a minimum of 300 words and break your review into sensible paragraphs (plot, actors, music, etc). Send them to JamesInDigital. They will be edited for grammar, spelling, optimization and images will be added where appropriate/possible. Reviewers will get an about the author paragraph and link back to your own page.