Collider ranks standout film noirs released since 1946, arguing that the genre’s lasting appeal lies in its moral ambiguity, cynicism, fatalism and increasingly hard-edged style. The list spans classic Hollywood noir and later evolutions of the form, while excluding earlier landmarks such as The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity because of its 80-year timeframe.

– At number 10, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 Strangers on a Train is praised for combining noir’s ethical uncertainty with Hitchcockian suspense. Its plot follows tennis player Guy Haines, who becomes trapped in a murder pact proposed by the menacing Bruno Anthony.
– At number 9, Howard Hawks’s 1946 The Big Sleep is highlighted as a defining Humphrey Bogart noir, alongside The Maltese Falcon. Based on Raymond Chandler’s novel, it follows private detective Philip Marlowe investigating blackmail for a wealthy family amid a deliberately convoluted plot.
– The article stresses that sharp dialogue, sexual chemistry, visual tension and a bleak atmosphere can be as important to noir as straightforward storytelling.