Hamburg Noir
History
Hamburg Noir was inspired by hardboiled pulp fiction that made it onto the big screen as film noir. Here’s a sample.
The Maltese Falcon (1930)
A former Pinkerton detective, Dashiell Hammett all but invented the hardboiled crime novel. Humphrey Bogart made it a Hollywood legend.
An isolated roadside diner, a penny-pinching owner, his restless young wife, a “Man Wanted” sign out front, and a no-good drifter. What could go wrong?
Double Indemnity (1936)
Originally serialized in a magazine, James M. Cain’s sordid tale of adultery and murder was converted into a classic noir film by Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder.
Thieves Like Us (1937)
In this noir gem from the Great Depression, Edward Anderson tells a rugged but touching love story about two Dustbowl Okies on the run from the law.
To Have and Have Not (1937)
The original adaptation of this brutal but tender tale is really just a Bogey vehicle. It took a remake to convert Hemingway’s original into a classic noir film.
The Big Sleep (1939)
Chandler hits the ground running in this classic: “I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it.... I was calling on four million dollars.”
Farewell, My Lovely (1940)
Chandler cannibalized three of his own short stories to produce this pulp classic. Dick Powell delivered the definitive Philip Marlowe on the Silver Screen.
High Sierra (1941)
W.R. Burnett has been compared to Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain. His hardboiled novel about a doomed ex-con on the run made Humphrey Bogart’s career.
Build My Gallows High (1946)
This hardboiled pulp became what many say is the best noir film ever made. Why? Both the book and the screenplay were written by Geoffrey Homes.
After Dark, My Sweet (1955)
It took Hollywood 35 years to discover this Jim Thompson classic about a mentally unstable ex-boxer, an alcoholic widow, and an ex-cop turned con man.
The Night of the Iguana (1961)
People don’t usually associate Tennessee Williams plays with pulp fiction or film noir. This one is both. It’s a dark morality play that began as a short story.
Neuromancer (1984)
William Gibson’s cyberpunk classic is a hardboiled pulp set in a dystopian future. After decades of broken promises, it’s coming to your screen soon. Honest.
Devil in a Blue Dress (1990)
Half a century after The Big Sleep hit theaters, Walter Mosley wrote a Chandleresque novel set in 1948. Denzel Washington did the rest.
L.A. Confidential (1990)
In the third book of his L.A. Quartet, James Ellroy delivers epic hardboiled detective fiction, with LAPD in the lead role, circa 1953.
Babylon Berlin (2007)
Just when you think film noir is history, an obscure novelist brings its roots back to life in Berlin, circa 1929. The result is a cult TV series.
For noir junkies, here’s a century of hardboiled one-liners, snappy comebacks, and world-weary monologues.