A reader has asked which American films noir have been inducted into the US Library of Congress National Film Registry.
I did a little digging and identified 26 Hollywood movies in the list that fall under the film noir umbrella. There are 650 films in the list so the standard e&oe disclaimer applies.
| Film Title | Year of Release | Year Inducted |
|---|---|---|
| Cat People | 1942 | 1993 |
| Detour | 1945 | 1992 |
| Double Indemnity | 1944 | 1992 |
| Force of Evil | 1948 | 1994 |
| Fury | 1936 | 1995 |
| Gilda | 1946 | 2013 |
| In a Lonely Place | 1950 | 2007 |
| Kiss Me Deadly | 1955 | 1999 |
| Laura | 1944 | 1999 |
| Mildred Pierce | 1945 | 1996 |
| Out of the Past | 1947 | 1991 |
| Sunset Boulevard | 1950 | 1989 |
| Sweet Smell of Success | 1957 | 1993 |
| The Asphalt Jungle | 1950 | 2008 |
| The Big Heat | 1953 | 2011 |
| The Big Sleep | 1946 | 1997 |
| The Hitch-Hiker | 1953 | 1998 |
| The Killers | 1946 | 2008 |
| The Lost Weekend | 1945 | 2011 |
| The Maltese Falcon | 1941 | 1989 |
| The Naked City | 1948 | 2007 |
| The Pawnbroker | 1965 | 2008 |
| The Thin Man | 1934 | 1997 |
| Touch of Evil | 1958 | 1993 |
| Vertigo | 1958 | 1989 |
| White Heat | 1949 | 2003 |
FilmsNoir.Net 
A master class list of inclusions here, and one would be hard press to debate on any of these as genre worthy. Still, it can be argued with some degree of success that VERTIGO, a crossover, has been entered as a film noir. In addition CAT PEOPLE is too often generalized as a low-budget horror, though I never bought that. Several of the Lewton’s are fair game for noir inclusion, and the label is a persuasive one when applied to THE SEVENTH VICTIM. I guess we can agree that the list here isn’t big enough, though it does accentuate the perceived greatness of this short list.
Great post here Tony! These are films I do and will re-visit without question. 🙂
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Thanks Sam. Yes there are more that need to be included. Yet the process seems sadly slow and scattered.
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Useful research, Tony. Thanks!
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