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Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, “Double Indemnity” (1944). |
They pop up in all kinds of movies and TV shows,but flashbacks are the stuff that films noir are made of
By Paul Parcellin
Is that film you’re watching a noir? Here’s one semi-reliable way to tell: Look for flashbacks. In noir, flashbacks show us the stuff that gets characters into the mess that they are in, and are no doubt trying to wriggle out of.
Did that someone betray a spouse, steal from an employer or send another to an untimely grave? Or, maybe it’s a poor sap with rotten luck who landed in hot water. Flashbacks give us background information — the essential dirty details in a neat package.
Flashbacks let stories unfold in fragments rather than in a single straight line. Their unpredictability jacks up our emotions and expectations, reshapes a story’s contours and, if done right, provides us with plot twists we never saw coming.
At first we may feel sympathy for the one in a tight spot. But moods can shift once the facts come out in a flashback. Of course, the opposite is also be true. Villains sometimes morph into angels when we see what they’ve endured.
Having said all that, here are 36 noirs with flashbacks that manipulate the flow of the story as well as our perceptions and attitudes toward it. This is but a fraction of the flashback-heavy noirs available for viewing. Bet you can name a number of others:
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| Rory Mallinson, Jay C. Flippen, Maureen O'Hara, “A Woman's Secret.” |
“A Woman's Secret” (1949)
A failed singer confesses she shot her friend, and in flashbacks we see the events leading up to the shooting. But her manager and a detective doubt her story and cannot establish a reasonable motive.
“Backfire” (1950)
While recuperating from wartime back injuries, a veteran is visited on Christmas Eve by a beautiful stranger with a cryptic message. Flashbacks are used extensively to piece together a fragmented story as characters recount past events.
“The Big Clock” (1948)
The film opens at night with a magazine editor stealthily moving about in the deserted skyscraper where he works. A giant timepiece, which will prove important to the story, looks down on the building’s lobby. A murder investigation is underway and flashbacks add to the pressure principal characters experience.
“Black Angel” (1946)
When a wrongly accused man is convicted of a singer's murder, his wife tries to prove him innocent, aided by the victim's ex-husband. In a flashback, the ex-husband tells the story of the woman’s death from his point of view.
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| Hume Cronyn, Burt Lancaster, “Brute Force.” |
“Brute Force” (1947)
At a tough penitentiary, a convict plans to rebel against a power-mad chief guard. Flashbacks offer insights into the prisoners’ backgrounds, motivations and the circumstance that led to their incarceration.
“Call Northside 777” (1948)
Chicago reporter P.J. McNeal re-opens a decade-old murder case, a perfect opportunity to see the details in flashbacks.
“Confidential Report” (also known as Mr. Arkadin) (1955)
A mysterious billionaire hires an American smuggler to investigate his past, which leads the investigator down a rabbit hole of cold-war European intrigue. As the smuggler interviews others, we see the billionaire’s life in flashbacks
“Crossfire” (1947)
A man is murdered by a demobilized soldier he met in a bar. An investigator puts together the pieces of the puzzle and we see in flashback how and why the crime occurred.
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| Lee J. Cobb, William Holden, Nina Foch, “The Dark Past.” |
“The Dark Past” (1948)
An escaped psychopathic killer takes a police psychiatrist, his family and neighbors hostage. The documentary style film is told in flashback as the psychiatrist recounts his days as a psychology professor, and the events that led him to do police work.
“Dead Reckoning” (1946)
A soldier runs away to avoid receiving the Medal of Honor, so his buddy gets permission to investigate. Romance and death soon follow. We see the story in flashbacks as an investigating officers recounts the facts of his query to a priest.
“Double Indemnity” (1944)
An insurance salesman falls for his customer’s wife and is lured into a murder scheme. When it all blows up in his face he makes a recording of his confession on the office Dictaphone machine and we get the story in flashback.
“Dual Alibi” (1947)
Twin trapeze artists fall out over a lottery ticket and a woman. Flashbacks frame the story and explore themes of betrayal and personality contrasts.
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| Zero Mostel, Humphrey Bogart, “The Enforcer.” |
“The Enforcer” (1951)
A lead prosecutor is frustrated in his attempts to send the boss of a murder for hire syndicate to the chair. He pores over evidence hoping to find a fresh lead, and as he does we see the investigation in flashbacks, and in flashbacks within the flashback.
“Gun Crazy” (1950)
Two gun-obsessed young people launch a crime spree. An extended flashback gives insight into the young man’s psychological makeup and his fascination with guns.
“The House on Telegraph Hill” (1951)
A concentration camp survivor finds herself involved in mystery, greed and murder after she takes on the identity of a dead friend to gain passage to America. We learn of her past history in flashback.
“I Wake Up Screaming” (1941)
Police detectives interrogate a sports promoter accused of murdering a beautiful model. We get the entire backstory as he starts from the beginning and tells what happened in a long flashback sequence.
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Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, “The Killers.” |
“The Killers” (1946)
Hitmen arrive in a small New Jersey town to kill an unresisting victim, and an insurance investigator uncovers the victim’s past involvement with a beautiful, deadly woman. As the investigator interviews people involved in the case, we see the story in flashbacks.
“Killer's Kiss” (1955)
Standing on a railway station platform, a down and out prizefighter flashes back on the events of the past two tumultuous days. Losing a bout turns out to be the least of his worries.
“Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” (1950)
A courtroom trial is a fitting starting place to give us the facts of a case presented in flashback. We see that after a violent prison break, a clever, ruthless criminal corrupts everyone around him.
“The Lady from Shanghai” (1947)
In flashback we observe the story of a seaman who is hired to tend to a bizarre yachting cruise. He ends up mired in a complex murder plot.
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| Gene Tierney, “Laura.” |
“Laura” (1944)
A muck-raking journalist tells in flashback of his close personal relationship with Laura, an attractive young woman who meets an untimely end. He’s at odds with a police detective investigating the murder who falls in love with the victim.
“Leave Her to Heaven” (1945)
A writer recounts, in flashbacks, how he fell in love with a young socialite and married her, but her obsessive love for him proved to be the undoing of them both.
“The Locket” (1946)
Just before his wedding, the bridegroom hears a disturbing tale characterizing his beloved bride as troubled and unstable. This may be a record holder of sorts for the most complex structure of nested flashbacks — that is, flashbacks within flashbacks.
“The Mask of Dimitrios” (1944)
A mystery writer becomes intrigued after the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus. As he interviews various individuals we see the story in flashbacks.
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| Joan Crawford, Moroni Olsen, “Mildred Pierce.” |
“Mildred Pierce” (1945)
A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and opens a restaurant to support her spoiled daughter. The title character tells police about the events leading up to a shooting, and we see them in a series of flashbacks.
“Murder, My Sweet” (1944)
Private investigator Philip Marlowe, facing a police interrogation, spills the story that began with an ex-con in search of his former girlfriend, Velma. A complex web of corruption is unearthed and we see it all in flashback.
“Night Has a Thousand Eyes” (1948)
After a phony stage mentalist mysteriously acquires supernatural powers to see the future, he decides to leave the stage to live a quiet life. Flashbacks are a key element that deepen the mystery and explore the psychological torment of the protagonist.
“No Man of Her Own” (1950)
We’re held In suspense as we learn, in flashback, the story of a pregnant woman who adopts the identity of a railroad-crash victim and starts a new life with the woman's wealthy in-laws.
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| Jane Greer, Robert Mitchum, “Out of the Past.” |
“Out of the Past” (1947)
A small-town gas station owner’s past catches up with him. Formerly a private eye, he’s forced to return to the life he’d been trying to escape. Gangsters and a dangerous woman await his return. Even the film’s title screams flashback, and it dishes them out aplenty.
“Possessed” (1947)
After being found wandering the streets of Los Angeles, a catatonic woman tells a doctor the complex story of how she wound up there. Flashbacks offer insight into her psychological makeup and establish her as an unreliable witness.
“Repeat Performance” (1947)
On New Year's Eve 1946, Sheila Page kills her husband Barney. She wishes that she could relive 1946 and avoid the mistakes that led to tragedy. Presto, her wish comes true and the film becomes a year-long flashback.
“The Second Woman” (1950)
In flashback, we see the story of a woman visiting her aunt in California. She meets a neighbor and begins to suspect that he’s in grave danger.
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| Barbara Stanwyck, “Sorry, Wrong Number.” |
“Sorry, Wrong Number” (1948)
An invalid with an overbearing personality eavesdrops on a phone conversation about a murder plan. Her philandering husband leaves her alone for the evening, and she recalls his suspicious behavior in a series of flashbacks.
“Sunset Boulevard” (1950)
Pitch black humor and an inspired use of flashbacks are both strong elements in this story of a hack screenwriter who tries to save his flagging career with the help of a faded silent film star. She’s determined to return to the screen, but things don’t work out for either of them.
“They Won't Believe Me” (1947)
On trial for murdering his girlfriend, a philandering stockbroker takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable-sounding, sequence of events that led to her death. The witness stand is a perfect location to present the story in flashbacks.
“Vengeance Is Mine” (1949)
Believing himself to be dying, a man hires an assassin to kill him so he can frame an enemy for the death. Flashbacks offer gradual revelation of key events and offer psychological depth.
Paul Parcellin writes about crime films and TV. Follow him on Bluesky: @paulpar.bsky.social
