My Watching the Films Noir Has So Far to Go

Most film historians agree the classic film noir genre began in 1940 with The Stranger on the Third Floor starring Peter Lorre and spanned some 300 films before it ended with Orson Welles' A Touch of Evil shot in 1958. Now admittedly many of the 300 films are mediocre ones and are perhaps not worth spending my time on trying to track down and watch. On the other hand, there might some real gems among them. There are some films I'll watch just for who stars in them. Dan Duryea, Robert Ryan, Barbara Stanwyck, Lizabeth Scott, John Garfield, Mary Astor are a few stars that spring to mind. There are others, too. Edward G. Robinson is good. Bogart, Bacall, Mitchum, and so forth. But getting back to the 300 films, I'd have to watch one a week for six years straight to view the entire list. I don't envision that happening with everything else going on. I estimate I have watched two scores, maybe a few more. Many have fallen into the public domain. Some are available on DVD. I used to see the films noir on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel. So, let's get back to the screen and see what is coming on next.