Trail Nº 02
Film Noir for Beginners: Choose Your First Film
Start with Sunset Blvd., Detour or The Set-Up. The Third Man stays in this four-film route as a disputed comparison, with Momo’s objection made explicit.
For a first film noir, start with Sunset Blvd. Its sharp humour and the uneasy bargain between a writer and a former star give you a relationship to follow before you know anything about noir. Detour and The Set-Up offer shorter evenings, with very different kinds of storytelling. The Third Man is here for comparison: I find its handling of Holly’s loyalty too insistent to recommend it as your first noir.
Choose tonight’s film
-
Hollywood wit and danger
Sunset Blvd.
110 minA screenwriter looks back
Why this one -
A disputed comparison, not my first pick
The Third Man
104 minAn outsider follows conflicting accounts
Why this one -
The shortest film here
Detour
69 minA hitchhiker tells his side of the story
Why this one -
One fight, without a tangled crime plot
The Set-Up
72 minThe pressure builds in chronological order
Why this one
- 01
Sunset Blvd. (1950) If you only watch one
Start here for dry wit and Hollywood viewed from inside a decaying mansion. A struggling screenwriter accepts work from a former silent star, and their arrangement turns money, attention and dependence into a trap. Follow the gap between his witty narration and what he agrees to do. You can enter through that relationship without first mastering a network of criminal suspects.
Runtime shown: BFI 110-minute presentation.
- 02
The Third Man (1949)
Use this stop to test a disagreement. An American writer arrives in Vienna to meet an old friend and finds conflicting accounts instead. The film can stage an entrance brilliantly; I am less convinced by the repeated pressure it applies to his loyalty. Follow which new facts change his position and which simply press the same case again. The Film page’s folded Note explains the objection with plot details.
Runtime shown: British 104-minute version.
- 03
Detour (1945)
Choose Detour if you want a short noir that makes you question its storyteller. A hitchhiking pianist explains how his journey went wrong, and each coincidence gives you another reason to listen closely. Watch for the gap between what Al calls bad luck and the decisions he describes. Its shabby rooms and restless narration keep the pressure close, with little room to relax.
Runtime shown: Criterion 69-minute restoration.
- 04
The Set-Up (1949)
Choose The Set-Up if you want physical tension without a complicated crime plot. An ageing boxer prepares for a match while his manager, his wife and the spectators each want something different from him. You need no boxing knowledge: watch the waiting, the blows and the faces around the ring. The crowded arena makes the pressure on one fighter easy to feel.
Runtime shown: AFI original-release record.
Why this order works
If you want to compare all four, move from Sunset Blvd. to the disputed The Third Man: leave the enclosed bargain of the mansion for a city where an outsider has to work out whom to trust. This is a comparison stop, not a recommendation hidden in the itinerary. Detour then brings you back inside one man’s account, with far fewer comforts around him. End with The Set-Up, where a single bout gathers the pressure in front of you. The order lets you compare how noir can trap a character through dependence, uncertain loyalties, a story he tells himself or the people surrounding the ring.
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