Fatalistic & Free: 10 Film Noir Movies Streaming Free on Tubi TV This Noirvember

A Film Noir Tubi TV Noirvember guide diving into moral ambiguity, cinematic grit, and the timeless pull of fatalistic storytelling.

With November in full swing and the nights growing longer, there’s no better time to embrace the fog, shadows, and fatalism that define film noir. As the chill sets in and daylight fades, Noirvember offers the perfect excuse to settle in with stories of doomed love, double crosses, and moral ambiguity.

Film noir has a dedicated fan base that celebrates the genre every November, and Tubi makes it easier than ever to join in. Tubi’s ad-supported model means you’ll get a few breaks along the way, but it’s a fair trade for a front-row seat to some of cinema’s darkest delights. From cynical detectives to desperate dreamers, these films capture the grit and glamour of a bygone Hollywood. Here are ten noir essentials you can stream for free on Tubi TV this Noirvember.

1. The Third Man (1949)

Outside of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles is perhaps best remembered for his turn as the elusive Harry Lime in The Third Man. Welles’ brief but unforgettable performance steals the spotlight from Joseph Cotten’s Holly Martins, an American writer who travels to postwar Vienna to accept a job from his old friend, only to learn that Lime has died under suspicious circumstances. As Martins investigates, he’s drawn into a shadowy world of black-market deals, moral compromise, and doomed romance.

Celebrated for its striking cinematography, eerie zither score, and haunting use of Vienna’s bombed-out streets, The Third Man remains a benchmark of postwar noir. Its Dutch angles and fog-drenched alleys pull you in from the first frame to the film’s melancholy ending, which lingers long after the final note fades.

2. In a Lonely Place (1950)

Most noirs follow detectives or private eyes, but In a Lonely Place explores corruption and violence through a far more personal lens. The film follows Dixon "Dix" Steele (Humphrey Bogart), a violent-prone screenwriter, whose charm and intensity attract his neighbor, Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame). As their relationship develops, Dix's darker impulses begin to surface.

While not as widely celebrated as Humphrey Bogart's other noir performances in The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep, his role in this film is often regarded as one of his best. His trademark charisma and wit serve as a mask for a deep sense of loneliness and despair. From a psychological perspective, the film captures a level of corruption and destruction similar to other crime-focused noir films, but it does so with a quieter, more domestic sense of fatalism. The tension never explodes—it lingers in the shadows, refusing to let go.

3. Gilda (1946)

Few femme fatales have left a mark like Rita Hayworth’s Gilda Mundson. Lush cinematography, elegant costumes, and one of the most famous character introductions in movie history make this a defining entry in the genre. The story follows small-time gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford), hired by a Buenos Aires casino owner who soon introduces his glamorous new wife—Johnny’s former lover, Gilda.

Hayworth’s performance is layered with both confidence and vulnerability. While the role haunted her afterward, leading to a complicated relationship with the studio-crafted “sex symbol” persona she resented, it is through her sheer talent and command of presence that this film remains every bit as magnetic today as it was in 1946. Even with a surprisingly optimistic ending for a noir, Gilda remains a landmark, a film that made the femme fatale immortal and secured Hayworth’s place among Hollywood legends.

4. Strangers on a Train (1951)

Not many noir thrillers boast a creative lineup this stacked. Strangers on a Train brings together the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, and co-screenwriter Raymond Chandler, adapting Patricia Highsmith's novel, both defining voices in the genre. The result feels like an Avengers-style summit of dark imaginations.

The story follows two strangers who meet on a train, where one casually suggests they swap murders to solve their respective problems—which, as one might expect, doesn’t go well. Hitchcock turns Highsmith’s premise into a precise study of obsession, fate, and duality. His meticulous framing and eerie visual motifs, most famously the reflection of a murder in a fallen pair of glasses, make Strangers on a Train a noir classic that blurs the line between suspense and moral decay.

5. The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Robert Mitchum, already a noir icon thanks to Out of the Past, delivers one of his most chilling performances in The Night of the Hunter. He plays a self-proclaimed preacher and serial killer who marries a grieving widow to find her late husband’s hidden fortune, only to turn his wrath toward her children when they uncover the truth.

The film stands out for its uncanny blend of noir atmosphere and horror imagery. Director Charles Laughton uses stark shadows, expressionistic sets, and fairy-tale symbolism to create a nightmarish world that feels mythic and deeply human. Serving as a bridge between October’s hauntings and November’s noir shadows, The Night of the Hunter is a haunting reminder that evil often hides behind a preacher’s smile.

6. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

This noir trades dark alleys for the neon glow of New York’s nightlife. The film follows ruthless gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) and desperate press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) as they manipulate reputations and destroy lives in a world where information is the highest currency and every conversation feels like a power play.

Shot with a tightening sense of tension and fueled by its scathing dialogue, the film strips away noir’s smoky glamour to reveal its ugliest truths. There are no gunfights or detectives here, just two men devoured by ego, greed, and the relentless machinery of fame. Sweet Smell of Success stands out as one of the most savage and cynical stories on this list, proof that corruption doesn’t always hide in the shadows. Sometimes it sits in the spotlight.

7. Gun Crazy (1950)

Pulpy, thrilling, and tense. A cornerstone of the lovers-on-the-run subgenre, Gun Crazy tells the story of a skilled marksman with an unhealthy obsession with guns who falls for a carnival sharpshooter, leading to a cross-country crime spree fueled by passion and paranoia that spirals toward inevitable doom.

Director Joseph H. Lewis brings striking realism to the film’s long takes and energetic camera work. The famous one-take bank heist, shot entirely from the backseat of a car, becomes a deceptively simple and incredibly tense centerpiece. Decades before Bonnie and Clyde or Natural Born Killers, Gun Crazy captured both the thrill and the devastation of outlaw romance, its noir fatalism crackling beneath every trigger pull.

8. Detour (1945)

It's impressive when a film can feel as doomed, desperate, or purely fatalistic from the start. Detour follows Al Roberts, a down-on-his-luck pianist, as he hitchhikes to California to reunite with his girlfriend. After a fateful encounter with a mysterious traveler, Al finds himself tangled in a web of lies, death, and bad luck that only tightens as the story unfolds.

Made on a shoestring budget and shot over a few weeks, Detour turns its limitations into power. Director Edgar G. Ulmer’s grim efficiency and Ann Savage’s venomous performance create a world where fate feels like a rigged game. Its raw energy and bleak perspective helped define the very essence of noir: the idea that no one escapes the shadows, no matter how hard they run.

9. The Killing (1956)

One of Stanley Kubrick’s early triumphs, The Killing is a lean, relentless crime story that helped shape his reputation as a master of precision and tension. A career criminal assembles a motley crew—including a crooked cop, a sharpshooter, and a racetrack cashier—for one final, foolproof heist. But greed, jealousy, and betrayal quickly unravel the plan, turning order into chaos.

While Kubrick would later be known for his sprawling epics, this film proves how effective he was in the confines of genre storytelling. The Killing takes familiar noir ingredients and reinvents them through Kubrick’s meticulous direction and sharp, nonlinear editing. Beneath the heist mechanics lies a bleak view of human ambition and futility, themes he would return to throughout his career. The result feels both classic and strangely modern, a perfect bridge between noir tradition and auteur filmmaking.

10. Blue Velvet (1986)

While this one falls outside the classic noir era, it earns its place as one of the defining neo-noirs of the twentieth century. A detective story wrapped in suburban surrealism, following a college student who discovers a severed human ear in a field and is drawn into a web of obsession, violence, and secrecy.

Lynch’s fascination with noir has always been clear, but here he filters its familiar shadows through his own dreamlike lens. The film’s lush cinematography and haunting sound design blend romanticism and dread, while Dennis Hopper’s unhinged performance pushes noir menace into full-blown nightmare. Blue Velvet remains both alluring and unsettling, a hypnotic descent into the darkness hiding beneath everyday life.

All titles make for the perfect watchlist for long, shadowy nights. Celebrate Noirvember by checking out Tubi TV’s full Film Noir collection.