The Yardbreaker ranks them 1 to 25, but you might want to try your hand at a different form of quantitative ranking with them. I'm bringing them over as a list, which will convince you that these folks are not really quite on it in terms of defining the nature and degree of peril/danger these ladies conjure up within the "cinema worlds" they inhabit...
...BUT there might be an interesting exercise as regards the "noir-o-meter" that can spring from the list, if you decide to give it a try. I'll elaborate on the other side of the list:
1/Veda Pierce, MILDRED PIERCE
2/Norma Desmond, SUNSET BLVD.
3/Phyllis Dietrichson, DOUBLE INDEMNITY
4/Annie Laurie Starr, GUN CRAZY
5/Gilda, GILDA
6/Laura Hunt, LAURA
7/Kitty Collins, THE KILLERS
8/Kathie Moffit, OUT OF THE PAST
9/Brigid O'Shaughnessy, THE MALTESE FALCON
10/Alice Reed, WOMAN IN THE WINDOW
11/Vera, DETOUR
12/Elsa Bannister, LADY FROM SHANGHAI
13/Cora Smith, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE
14/Ellen Berendt Harland, LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN
15/Rose Loomis, NIAGARA
16/Kitty March, SCARLET STREET
17/Laurel Gray, IN A LONELY PLACE
18/Sherry Peatty, THE KILLING
19/Helen Grayle aka Velma Valento, MURDER MY SWEET
20/Jane Palmer, TOO LATE FOR TEARS
21/Madeleine Elster aka Judy Barton, VERTIGO
22/Myra Leeds, PLEASE MURDER ME
23/Debby Marsh, THE BIG HEAT
24/Lilith Ritter, NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947)
25/Coral Chandler, DEAD RECKONING
Without writing an essay about it, there are clearly characters here who really aren't femme fatales at all--they're either good-bad girls surrounded by various forms of toxic masculinity (often trapped in triangles of jealousy or some form of emotional/sexual blackmail), or they are part of some confidence game that's really being masterminded by a man. Debby Marsh is no femme fatale: the real "black widow" in the BIG HEAT is played by Jeanette Nolan (Bertha Duncan), whom Debby takes out in solidarity with Glenn Ford's Dave Bannion.
In the "noir-o-meter," 15 points (out of the method's total of 200) get assigned to the "fatal(e) or "peril-inducing" function within noir. The most intense, concentrated, significant, relentless and consistently-in-play-throughout-the-film schemers/manipulators/seductresses/betrayers/borderline or total nutcases are the "peril-inducers" who warrant a full 15 points. Looking over this list, it appears to me (going from memory, now...) that there are probably 3-4 characters who warrant 15 points; then may 2-3 more who clock in right underneath them at 13-14; probably 6-7 in the 11-12 range.
For this proposed exercise, you're invited to peruse the list and identify the "femme fatales" (Laura Hunt--really??) whom you think would deserve at least 10 points out of 15 for their various forms of misbehavior. Feel free to copy the list over into a post and indicate your choices, either with an "X" or by actually assigning a point value (as in "!5" for--hint, hint--Kathie Moffat!). But in case a number of you DO decide to give this a try, please consider doing so without looking at anyone's else's post, so that you're working with the concept on your own terms the first time around.
I'm not hugely optimistic that many of you will give this a shot, but color me hopeful that a few will take the plunge...remember, the "noir-o-meter" is your friend! :-)
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