Seven classic noir films to watch after Spider-Noir

Spider-Noir is out now, and while it’s not like the live-action Spider-Man films, it leans heavily on the conventions of film noir. The show plays like a hardboiled detective story populated with morally ambiguous characters, moody lighting and a running inner monologue.

Film noir rose to prominence in the 1940s and 1950s as largely cynical crime dramas centered on detectives, shaped by the desperation of the Great Depression and the horrors of World War II. The director of Spider-Noir’s first two episodes named four films that informed the series, and this list adds a few more recommendations for viewers who want more of that moody vibe.

Chinatown (1974), directed by Roman Polanski, stars Jack Nicholson as J. J. "Jake" Gittes, a private detective in 1930s Los Angeles whose investigation of a cheating husband leads into murder and corruption; its color and neo-noir blend make it a common entry point.

United States, Los Angeles

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