Tropescilloscope: Film Noir

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

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