Tropescilloscope: Film Noir

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

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