Tropescilloscope: Film Noir

A film genre involving detectives, Chiaroscuro lighting, crime, and a 1940-60s setting. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Important Haircut Red Right Hand Even Evil Has Loved Ones Daddy's Girl Central Theme Dogged Nice Guy Deadpan Snarker Improvised Weapon Reckless Gun Usage Jump Scare Mundane Made Awesome Fish out of Water Faking the Dead More Dakka Last-Name Basis Demonic Possession Dies Wide Open Dirty Old Man The Hero Red Herring Gilligan Cut A Father to His Men Wicked Cultured Rasputinian Death Earn Your Happy Ending Papa Wolf Big Bad Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Those Two Guys Gainax Ending Rated M for Manly Diabolus ex Machina Older Than They Look Aside Glance Karma Houdini Four-Temperament Ensemble Big Brother Instinct Crazy-Prepared The Stoner Captain Ersatz Costume Porn Jerkass Vitriolic Best Buds Villain Ball Arranged Marriage Deliberately Monochrome Adaptational Attractiveness Undying Loyalty Hope Spot Put on a Bus Peek-a-Boo Corpse Amoral Attorney Well-Intentioned Extremist Sci-Fi Horror timeperiod The Big Guy Chekhov's Gun Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Frame-Up Stock Footage Dull Surprise Empathic Environment Novelization '80s Hair Homage Parental Substitute Lampshade Hanging Serial Killer The Cameo Not Quite Dead Bond One-Liner Aluminum Christmas Trees Obfuscating Stupidity Groin Attack Married to the Job Meaningful Background Event The Place Intrepid Reporter Bullying a Dragon Plucky Comic Relief This Is Gonna Suck Horror Films Ascended Extra Index of Film Westerns Black and Gray Morality After the End True Companions Ungrateful Bastard MacGuffin All Girls Want Bad Boys The Smurfette Principle Gold Digger La Résistance An Axe to Grind Those Wacky Nazis Leave the Camera Running Kids Are Cruel Laughing Mad Take a Third Option Rape as Drama Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Pretty Little Headshots Bowdlerise All for Nothing Adaptational Badass I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Music Stories Take That! Madness Mantra Public Domain Feature Films Genre Throwback Male Frontal Nudity Corpsing Naked People Are Funny From Nobody to Nightmare Interrupted Suicide Good Is Not Nice Match Cut Big Applesauce Combat Pragmatist Television Movie Index Noodle Incident Butt-Monkey Ax-Crazy Rule of Three Does Not Like Shoes Animal Title Index Handicapped Badass Brutal Honesty Our Zombies Are Different Happily Married Flashback Overprotective Dad Precision F-Strike Posthumous Character Parental Abandonment The Lancer Heel–Face Turn Race Lift Romantic Comedy Actually Pretty Funny Did Not Get the Girl Wounded Gazelle Gambit Romantic False Lead "Awesome McCool" Name Your Head A-Splode Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Suspiciously Specific Denial Bait-and-Switch Expy Distracted by the Sexy Obviously Evil The Chessmaster Black Comedy Rape Shut Up, Hannibal! Closed Circle Casting Gag Death by Sex No Celebrities Were Harmed Unresolved Sexual Tension Needs Wiki Magic Love Stealth Hi/Bye Naïve Newcomer Bloody Hilarious No OSHA Compliance Bolivian Army Ending Not What It Looks Like Truth in Television Credits Gag Sinister Minister Defiant to the End Maybe Ever After Cat Scare Artistic License – Physics Award-Bait Song Light Is Not Good Same Language Dub Cold-Blooded Torture Badass Bookworm The '90s Your Cheating Heart Malevolent Masked Men Jitter Cam Alpha Bitch Killed Mid-Sentence Artistic License – Gun Safety Does This Remind You of Anything? Spared by the Adaptation Camera Abuse Those Two Bad Guys Asshole Victim Driven to Suicide Humans Are Bastards She Cleans Up Nicely Sanity Slippage Heroes Want Redheads My Beloved Smother Refuge in Audacity Redshirt Army Curse Cut Short The Sociopath Mad Scientist Made of Explodium Adorkable Shirtless Scene Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Kick the Son of a Bitch For Want of a Nail Celebrity Paradox The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Adult Fear Wham Shot Death Glare Guns Akimbo Fan Disservice Real Life Together in Death Heroic Sacrifice Names to Run Away from Really Fast Mooks Slasher Movie Mama Bear Monumental Damage Boom, Headshot! Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Affably Evil Historical-Domain Character Here We Go Again! Break the Cutie Drill Sergeant Nasty Random Events Plot Yandere Determinator aka: The Determinator Reality Has No Subtitles Retired Badass Serious Business Mistaken for Gay Double Entendre Bloodier and Gorier I Have Your Wife Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Unusual Euphemism Bittersweet Ending Creative Closing Credits Beauty Is Never Tarnished Drugs Are Bad Retcon Cool Old Lady Mighty Whitey B-Movie Parental Incest Ms. Fanservice Eiffel Tower Effect Dramedy Accidental Murder Pre-Mortem One-Liner My God, What Have I Done? Taking the Bullet Anti-Hero All There in the Manual Face–Heel Turn Badass in a Nice Suit Adaptation Distillation Cat Fight Broken Bird Thriller Deus ex Machina Offscreen Moment of Awesome Chekhov's Skill Martial Arts Movie Recycled IN SPACE! French Films Deconstruction Nice Guy The Power of Love Irony Unspoken Plan Guarantee Our Vampires Are Different Video Credits Five-Man Band The Oner Breaking the Fourth Wall The Starscream Really Gets Around Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds The Hero Dies Stylistic Suck Historical Villain Upgrade Slashed Throat Imagine Spot The Film of the Book Horror Comedy Genre Shift Funny Background Event Disney Death Silent Movie Mystery and Detective Films Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Shipper on Deck Bond Villain Stupidity Mr. Fanservice One Steve Limit Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Mugging the Monster Dark and Troubled Past Back from the Dead Hero Antagonist Babies Ever After Hong Kong Films Bilingual Bonus Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Running Gag Canadian Movies Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene The Great Depression Authority Equals Asskicking Made of Iron Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Race Against the Clock You Have Failed Me Dirty Cop Whole Plot Reference Would Hurt a Child Gory Discretion Shot Affectionate Parody Scenery Porn Mr. Exposition Sassy Black Woman Eagleland Creator Cameo Evil Plan Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Sir Swears-a-Lot Big Eater Easily Forgiven Shoot the Shaggy Dog Straight Gay Hollywood Darkness Ambiguously Gay Early Installment Weirdness My Greatest Failure German Films Evil-Detecting Dog The End... Or Is It? Brick Joke Crucified Hero Shot Sequel Hook Only Known by Their Nickname Off with His Head! Real Life Writes the Plot Dramatic Irony One-Word Title Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Evil vs. Evil Sequel Escalation Badass Boast Death by Irony The '70s Sacrificial Lion Chiaroscuro Arch-Enemy Slap-Slap-Kiss As Long as It Sounds Foreign Deal with the Devil Demoted to Extra Not So Above It All No-Sell The Chick The Dragon Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Nice Hat Too Dumb to Live Cool Old Guy Evil Is Hammy Stepford Smiler The Brute NO INDOOR VOICE Evil Is Petty Artistic License – Geography Fainting Catapult Nightmare Actor Allusion Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Redemption Equals Death Vomit Indiscretion Shot Dirty Coward Dark Is Not Evil Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Early-Bird Cameo Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Double-Meaning Title Adapted Out Comically Missing the Point Kill It with Fire Overly Long Gag Call-Back Male Gaze Christmas Movies Index Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Disney Villain Death Big Fancy House Anguished Declaration of Love Spanner in the Works Card-Carrying Villain Ship Tease Rule of Funny Anyone Can Die Tempting Fate Training Montage Black Comedy Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane The Reveal Country Matters Becoming the Mask Psychopathic Manchild British Films Age Lift Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Be Careful What You Wish For Make It Look Like an Accident Batman Gambit Dropped a Bridge on Him Unreliable Narrator Break the Haughty As the Good Book Says... The Faceless Children Are Innocent Shout-Out Self-Deprecation Foregone Conclusion Black Best Friend O.O.C. Is Serious Business Better to Die than Be Killed And I Must Scream Trailers Always Spoil Pet the Dog Everyone Has Standards And the Adventure Continues All Men Are Perverts Advertised Extra Bar Brawl Vampire Fiction Bad "Bad Acting" Visual Pun Villainous Breakdown Expository Hairstyle Change Not So Different Major Injury Underreaction Developing Doomed Characters As Himself Scary Black Man Catch-Phrase Humiliation Conga Defrosting Ice Queen Call-Forward Cool Guns Ripped from the Headlines Science Fiction Films Fire-Forged Friends Abusive Parents Blood from the Mouth Once More, with Clarity! Armor-Piercing Question It's All About Me Smug Snake Ominous Latin Chanting The Dreaded Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Betty and Veronica Artistic License – Biology Adaptation Expansion "The Reason You Suck" Speech Department of Redundancy Department Stuff Blowing Up Author Appeal Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Police Brutality Broken Aesop Camp Gay Awesome, but Impractical Obstructive Bureaucrat Bunny-Ears Lawyer Took a Level in Badass Action Prologue Stalker with a Crush Eureka Moment Foreshadowing Australian Movies Insult Backfire Nothing Is Scarier Accidental Misnaming Evil Counterpart What Happened to the Mouse? Air-Vent Passageway The Bad Guy Wins Rewatch Bonus Manipulative Bastard Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Brainless Beauty Smoking Is Cool Greater-Scope Villain All There in the Script In Name Only Conspicuous CG Wretched Hive Villain with Good Publicity The Lost Lenore Setting Update Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Arc Words I Need a Freaking Drink Determinator Facial Horror Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Covers Always Lie Dwindling Party Fanservice Blatant Lies Storming the Castle Tap on the Head Biopic Karmic Death Every Car Is a Pinto Even Evil Has Standards Face Death with Dignity Dark Reprise Bland-Name Product There Is No Kill Like Overkill Police are Useless Green-Eyed Monster Bloodless Carnage Twist Ending The Voiceless Politically Incorrect Villain The Ghost Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday The Alleged Car Plot Hole Composite Character Loophole Abuse Insistent Terminology Tranquil Fury Evil Laugh Loads and Loads of Characters Dual Wielding Eye Scream Beware the Nice Ones Knight Templar Extreme Doormat All Just a Dream 20 Minutes into the Future Leaning on the Fourth Wall Hidden Depths Small Name, Big Ego Tagline Instant Death Bullet The Remake Historical In-Joke Annoying Younger Sibling Missing Mom Cool Shades Despair Event Horizon Punny Name Offscreen Teleportation The Atoner Poor Communication Kills Leitmotif Beta Couple You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Animal Motifs Hate Sink Adaptation Name Change Historical Hero Upgrade The '50s Exact Words The Load Meaningful Name Throwing Your Sword Always Works Insane Troll Logic Neck Lift Worthy Opponent Japanese Films Failed a Spot Check Outrun the Fireball Amusing Injuries Spiteful Spit In Medias Res Due to the Dead Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies A God Am I Kubrick Stare How We Got Here Suspiciously Similar Substitute Ironic Echo Logo Joke Shower Scene Epic Movie Depraved Bisexual Documentary Taking You with Me Femme Fatale Domestic Abuse Market-Based Title In the Back Knife Nut Meaningful Echo Hypocrite Not Using the "Z" Word Anachronic Order The Cavalry Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Zombie Stories Fantastic Racism The Ditz Reality Is Unrealistic Laser-Guided Karma The '80s Dying Moment of Awesome Brother–Sister Incest Manchild Red Eyes, Take Warning Villain Song Man on Fire Up to Eleven Improbable Aiming Skills Establishing Character Moment Fourth Date Marriage The Dog Bites Back Ambiguous Ending Unusually Uninteresting Sight Translation Convention Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Pragmatic Villainy And Starring From Bad to Worse Vomit Discretion Shot Darker and Edgier Psycho for Hire The Mole Action Girl Cassandra Truth Riddle for the Ages Neck Snap Sadistic Choice Disguised in Drag Stealth Pun Hypocritical Humor Toplessness from the Back Took a Level in Jerkass An Arm and a Leg Moment Killer Adults Are Useless May–December Romance Victoria's Secret Compartment Ambiguous Disorder Mind Screw Military and Warfare Films It's Personal Big Bad Duumvirate Freeze-Frame Bonus Show Within a Show Mercy Kill Badass Longcoat I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Kick the Dog Dissonant Serenity Jerkass Has a Point Belligerent Sexual Tension Improbable Weapon User Immune to Bullets Creepy Child Intergenerational Friendship Film Noir Index Manic Pixie Dream Girl Works Set in World War II Protagonist Title Villain Protagonist Flipping the Bird She's Got Legs Only One Name Crapsack World Didn't Think This Through What the Hell, Hero? I Did What I Had to Do Mythology Gag One-Man Army Apocalypse How No-Holds-Barred Beatdown The Smart Guy He Who Fights Monsters Roger Ebert: Great Movies List The Vamp Token Minority Fate Worse than Death Fatal Family Photo A.I. Is a Crapshoot Bad Boss Big-Bad Ensemble Sole Survivor Drives Like Crazy Shell-Shocked Veteran Disproportionate Retribution Woman in White Hollywood Law Guile Hero Bavarian Fire Drill Author Avatar Properly Paranoid Love Triangle Badass Normal Dark Action Girl Fanservice Extra Black Dude Dies First Red Shirt Fantasy Films Big Damn Heroes Love at First Sight Paper-Thin Disguise Star-Crossed Lovers Rich Bitch Chewing the Scenery Fun with Acronyms Book-Ends Agony of the Feet Very Loosely Based on a True Story Evil Brit Alliterative Name Downer Ending Adaptational Heroism Death by Adaptation Only Sane Man Motor Mouth Film Noir Based on a True Story The Quiet One Gorn Ghost Fiction Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Action Survivor Jerk with a Heart of Gold Continuity Nod Faux Affably Evil Cruel and Unusual Death Heel Realization The '60s "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Super Strength Destination Defenestration Action Genre Half the Man He Used to Be Sports Stories Large Ham Animated Credits Opening Men Are the Expendable Gender Fat Bastard Framing Device Heterosexual Life-Partners Blackmail Rule of Symbolism Epic Fail Cloudcuckoolander Get Out! Bottomless Magazines The Bully Body Horror Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Let's Get Dangerous! Roaring Rampage of Revenge Pragmatic Adaptation He Knows Too Much Soundtrack Dissonance Drowning My Sorrows Artistic License – History Russian Films Famous Last Words Honor Before Reason BFG Kill 'em All Lighter and Softer Vacation Films Cluster F-Bomb Hair-Trigger Temper Psychological Thriller Anti-Villain Cowboy Cop Eyepatch of Power Death of a Child Bury Your Gays Line-of-Sight Name Narrator Attempted Rape Grey and Gray Morality Punch-Clock Villain Left the Background Music On No Antagonist Auto Erotica Artistic License – Military No Ending Pimped-Out Dress Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Chekhov's Gunman The Stinger A Minor Kidroduction Deliberate Values Dissonance Not Even Bothering with the Accent Slasher Smile Scenery Gorn Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Non-Indicative Name Reality Ensues An Aesop N-Word Privileges Danny Peary Cult Movies List Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Spell My Name with an "S" Hell Is That Noise Cool Car As You Know Decoy Protagonist folderlabel Hooker with a Heart of Gold What You Are in the Dark Villain Opening Scene Bald of Evil Corrupt Corporate Executive Extremely Short Timespan Totally Radical Genre Savvy It Will Never Catch On Dramatic Gun Cock Darkest Hour Only in It for the Money Re-Cut Not So Stoic Freudian Excuse Pay Evil unto Evil Foil The Mafia Berserk Button Grievous Bottley Harm Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Parental Neglect The Stoic "Shaggy Dog" Story Blood Knight Alas, Poor Villain Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Room Full of Crazy Evil Sounds Deep Word of God I'm a Humanitarian Only a Flesh Wound Gender Flip Heroic BSoD Superhero Friend to All Children Lock and Load Montage Beard of Evil Film Series Dutch Angle Artistic License – Law Chase Scene Pyrrhic Victory Revenge Bare Your Midriff Meet Cute Adaptational Villainy Final Girl Antagonist Title Never Found the Body Hero of Another Story Canon Foreigner Idiot Ball Sexy Discretion Shot Henpecked Husband Would Hit a Girl Silence Is Golden Coming-of-Age Story Curb-Stomp Battle Mood Whiplash Red Oni, Blue Oni Soft Glass Dressing as the Enemy Rule of Cool Have a Gay Old Time Disappeared Dad Car Fu It Can Think Gone Horribly Right Crazy Jealous Guy Gratuitous English Italian Films Fiery Redhead Unwitting Instigator of Doom Bi the Way Bound and Gagged Anachronism Stew Never Trust a Trailer Calling the Old Man Out Scare Chord Getting Crap Past the Radar Big "NO!" Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Suddenly SHOUTING! Jerk Jock Retirony Fatal Flaw Reasonable Authority Figure Enemy Mine Hoist by His Own Petard Morality Pet Almost Kiss Eldritch Abomination Woman Scorned Cain and Abel Say My Name The Musical You Killed My Father Rousing Speech The X of Y For the Evulz Abhorrent Admirer The Casanova Dumb Blonde The Un-Reveal Sealed Evil in a Can Product Placement Adaptation Dye-Job Daylight Horror Broken Pedestal Contrived Coincidence Character Development Funny Foreigner Exactly What It Says on the Tin Off-into-the-Distance Ending Damsel in Distress No Name Given Implacable Man Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil "Well Done, Son!" Guy World of Ham Bring My Brown Pants No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Informed Ability Never My Fault Time Skip Captain Obvious Wham Line Manly Tears Wrong Genre Savvy Ass Shove Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Mexican Standoff Shown Their Work Playing Gertrude Title Drop The Alcoholic Death Seeker War Is Hell Fake Shemp Skewed Priorities Oh, Crap! Spiritual Successor Fingore Badass Grandpa The Ace Pretty in Mink A Date with Rosie Palms