Tropescilloscope: Film Noir

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

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