Now that adds a wonderful "under the radar" component to the discussion--thanks, Owen!

To get a better sense of the prevalence of "fatal(e)" characters in noir, I've dipped into the noir-o-meter to capture both the female and male "bad faith" characters in US noir whose "fatal(e)" intensity as graded in the method exceeds 70% of maximum (or, 11 or more points out of 15).

These are shown below. The ones identified in the Saturday Evening Post article have titles presented in bold type; Bob's suggestions are shown in italics; and Owen's have been identified with a yellow background shown for the film titles.

Note that certain of these films have a lower score than 11 from the noir-o-meter. And note that we've included films with "homme fatal" characters, which at the 11-15 intensity level actually outnumber the films with comparable "femme fatales." (In the case of Owen's choice of BAIT, it seems to us that it's really Hugo Haas who truly carries the "fatal" virus in that one--but he's virulent enough to make the list. We can think of several other Haas films where Cleo Moore is more "fatale" than in BAIT. And Signe Hasso's scheming seems mitigated by subsequent actions in DANGEROUS PARTNERS, though she's a very interesting case here.)

And note that I've included films where both genders contribute to the "bad faith" peril operating within the goings-on. These are rather plentiful as well.

Including all the films where the intensity level is higher than 50% (the benchmark for a film being a noir) would have brought us more than 350 films to look at--for now, we'll leave it at a more manageable (?) 115.

Here's the list (at last)--but as you look at the US list, keep in mind that Daniele Delorme (VOICI LE TEMPS DES ASSASSINS) and Catherine Rouvel (CHAIR DE POULE) are waving at you from France, both with excellent claims on being at the top of any list of "femmes fatales." (And let's not forget Mariko Kaga, as the uniquely nihilistic "death pact" thrill-seeker in PALE FLOWER...)