Tropescilloscope: Film Noir

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

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