I skipped watching Farewell my Lovely as I'm reading it (for the first time) at the moment, and didn't want it spoiled. I couldn't get to grips with The Lady From Shanghai for some reason. I don't think it was just because of Welle's Oirish brougue. The Big Combo however was excellent, full of noirish signifiers: all smoke and shadows, bursts of gunfire, duplicitous dames, the lot.
― all you proper coppers... i'm zipper the slipper (DavidM), Tuesday, 25 August 2009 14:33 (3 years ago) Permalink
Joseph H Lewis, who directed THE BIG COMBO, also made GUN CRAZY, which might not be strictly noir but is one of the greatest psychosexual girl/guy/gun flicks of all time
also love the two noirish thrillers that Fritz Lang made in the 1940s, WOMAN IN THE WINDOW and SCARLET STREET
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 25 August 2009 14:41 (3 years ago) Permalink
Gun Crazy is plain great: always puzzled me why John Dall didn't really have a movie career.
― Marco Damiani, Tuesday, 25 August 2009 15:40 (3 years ago) Permalink
Gun Crazy always looked mildly hokey to me. Worth a screening, then?
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 25 August 2009 16:05 (3 years ago) Permalink
I loved Woman in the Window until the final five minutes, which seemed like a betrayal of the whole noir aesthetic.
― Dorian (Dorianlynskey), Tuesday, 25 August 2009 16:11 (3 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, the ending of that movie is pretty disappointing, but apparently Lang (rather cinically) enjoyed performing this cheesy trick.
― Marco Damiani, Tuesday, 25 August 2009 16:34 (3 years ago) Permalink
recently seen Classe tous risques (the big risk), the 2nd movie by claude sautet, and it's def. one of my favourite noirs ever.it's actually a combination between noir and neo-realism. Melville was highly influenced by it, and it shows.
― Zeno, Tuesday, 25 August 2009 16:42 (3 years ago) Permalink
I need to watch more Tourneur. Recently saw I Walked With a Zombie, which isn't strictly noir but is amazingly atmospheric and features the spookiest calypso singer ever.
― Dorian (Dorianlynskey), Tuesday, 25 August 2009 17:18 (3 years ago) Permalink
features the spookiest calypso singer ever.
Tying the whole thing together here...
― Aw naw, no' Annoni oan an' aw noo (Tom D.), Tuesday, 25 August 2009 17:35 (3 years ago) Permalink
Weird true fact--I bought the 'Phantom Lady' novel by Cornell Woolrich a couple of years ago, and the bookshop person is "Oh, that comes with an action figure, I think."
And it did:
Strangest thing I've ever got at a bookshop.
― When two tribes go to war, he always gets picked last (James Morrison), Wednesday, 26 August 2009 00:41 (3 years ago) Permalink
Oh SHIT yes! Worth it for the one-take bank-robbing scene alone, but it's all great. Has this fascinating complicated sexual vibe all the way through--Lewis wanted Dall to play the 'hero' as though he was maybe gay.
― When two tribes go to war, he always gets picked last (James Morrison), Wednesday, 26 August 2009 00:43 (3 years ago) Permalink
oh hoos, plz, it's only "hokey" to those cretins who laugh their way thru Every Old Movie Ever.
John Dall didn't really have a movie career.
? He's in Spartacus, that's a dozen years later. Figured he was handicapped in later years by seeming so obviously gay.
Big Combo was photographed by this guy, who did tons of good/great stuff:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0023003/
― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 26 August 2009 01:14 (3 years ago) Permalink
"He's in Spartacus, that's a dozen years later. Figured he was handicapped in later years by seeming so obviously gay"
Quite probable. I remember seeing Rope when I was a kid and being struck by his sneer.
― Marco Damiani, Wednesday, 26 August 2009 09:25 (3 years ago) Permalink
This Gun for Hire is great, really liking Alan Ladd
Drifted off with Maltese Falcon on last night, and ended up dreaming with Bogie popping up occasionally. Remember playing darts with him at one point, but he was throwing the darts from about 20 yards away and throwing them really hard. I had to ask him to be careful and watch my windows, to which he smiled "you're windows will be fine"
― Great Scott! It's Molecular Man. (Ste), Friday, 28 August 2009 09:21 (3 years ago) Permalink
Just watched another Bogie effort, Dark Passage. Pretty good, some great shots of San Fran too. love how they don't show Humphrey's face for the first part of the movie, until he's had his plastic surgery.
― Great Scott! It's Molecular Man. (Ste), Thursday, 17 September 2009 23:39 (3 years ago) Permalink
Just ordered this, am hoping they're good!
1950s Japanese noir movies
― When two tribes go to war, he always gets picked last (James Morrison), Friday, 18 September 2009 00:28 (3 years ago) Permalink
I own that box but have only watched the first movie so far. Not conventional noir, not even in the way that, say, some of Kurosawa's stuff qualifies. Nikkatsu aimed for a teen market, so there's a lot of starcrossed lovers, theme songs sung by handsome lead actors, etc., though the movies do seem to be very dark and violent in a post-war poverty sort of way. But I think the noir categorization is mostly marketing on Criterion/Eclipse's part.
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 18 September 2009 02:32 (3 years ago) Permalink
Wow this 1948 UK film Daughter of Darkness was just given dvd reissue by Redemption films. It's both British noir and femme fatale wrapped in one with plenty of chiaroscuro and gothic vibe. Definitely recommended.
― Nate Carson, Sunday, 29 November 2009 22:47 (3 years ago) Permalink
Anthony Mann's Side Street makes really amazing use of NYC locations and a great cast of supporting players. MGM was clearly trying to cash in on Naked City's success of the preceding year, but I think this one's better.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 15 July 2010 03:34 (2 years ago) Permalink
Human Desire was finally released on DVD last week. Caught it yet? Not one of Lang's best noirs, and no pox on Renoir's version.
― I'm never gonna do it without the Lex on (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 15 July 2010 03:39 (2 years ago) Permalink
Just saw Deadline At Dawn, (mentioned 4 years ago) last night, and it's fascinating: bizarrely pseudopoetic dialogue by Clifford Odets, and a very Edward Hopper-ish visual design; Susan Hayward is beautiful.
― Taller than the president (Dan Peterson), Monday, 11 October 2010 14:46 (2 years ago) Permalink
Came to say that the 1998 sc-fi noir Dark City with Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly and William Hurt is grebt, but the 1950 not-quite-noir Dark City with Charlton Heston, Lizabeth Scott, Jack Webb, Harry Morgan, Dean Jagger, Ed Begley and Viveca Lindfors is fun but doesn't really satisfy.
― buffalo stence (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 11 October 2010 14:54 (2 years ago) Permalink
The Carlton here (not a rep theatre; a little hard to classify) has a "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid Weekend" going on. I'd like to see a bunch of them, but the way the price structure's set up, I'll limit myself to a couple--maybe I Walk Alone and Deception.
Fri 11-Sun 13 - Toronto Film Society presents a festival of film noir classics. $10 rush tickets; Fri or Sat pass $65, Sun pass $50, full weekend pass $150.
Fri 11 - Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) D: Carl Reiner. 9:15 am. Notorious (1946) D: Alfred Hitchcock. 11 am. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) D: Tay Garnett. 1:25 pm. Double Indemnity (1944) D: Billy Wilder. 3:35 pm. The Killers (1946) D: Robert Siodmak. 6:50 pm. The Lost Weekend (1945) D: Billy Wilder. 8:50 pm. Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) D: Anatole Litvak. 10:45 pm.
Sat 12 - The Big Sleep (1946) D: Howard Hawks. 9 am. This Gun For Hire (1941) D: Frank Tuttle. 11:10 am. Humoresque (1946) D: Jean Negulesco. 1:15 pm. White Heat (1949) D: Raoul Walsh. 3:35 pm. I Walk Alone (1948) D: Byron Haskin. 7 pm. In A Lonely Place (1950) D: Nicholas Ray. 8:50 pm. Suspicion (1941) D: Alfred Hitchcock. 10:40 pm.
Sun 13 - The Bribe (1949) D: Robert Z Leonard. 9:30 am. Deception (1946) D: Irving Rapper. 11:10 am. Johnny Eager (1941) D: Mervyn LeRoy. 2 pm. Dark Passage (1947) D: Delmer Daves. 4 pm. The Glass Key (1942) D: Stuart Heisler. 6 pm.
― clemenza, Friday, 11 May 2012 17:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
Wow.
― The Unbassful Serpent (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 11 May 2012 20:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
Got out to I Walk Alone and Johnny Eager. The first reminded me a lot of The Strange Love of Martha Ivers--partly that Kirk Douglas and Elizabeth Scott are in both, but more for the structure. I find Liz Scott kind of annoying. First time I've seen Johnny Eager. Lana Turner as a sociologist is right up there with Jennifer Lopez, child psychologist in The Cell. I've never found Turner that beautiful in The Postman Always Rings Twice--don't like the way she's got her hair--but she sure is beautiful here. I don't recall any mention of Van Heflin's character in The Celluloid Closet, but Heflin's portrayal seems ahead of its time. Robert Taylor's fake niece has a great scene.
― clemenza, Sunday, 13 May 2012 23:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
I have some problems with LS as well.
Anthony Mann's Side Street makes really amazing use of NYC locations and a great cast of supporting players. MGM was clearly trying to cash in on Naked City's success of the preceding year, but I think this one's better.― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:34 PM (1 year ago)
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:34 PM (1 year ago)
― The Unbassful Serpent (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 14 May 2012 00:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
Triggered by the name-that-still thread, I was looking at some images from Force of Evil last week; fantastic.
David Thomson reviews a re-release today and says it's better than On the Waterfront:
http://www.tnr.com/article/film/105544/david-thomson-force-of-evil
I'd be surprised if I liked it that much, but I do need to see this.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 31 July 2012 16:25 (9 months ago) Permalink
It's really great.
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 31 July 2012 16:50 (9 months ago) Permalink
But I don't think of it when I think of the most expressionistic cinematography. It's more about the script and characters.
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 31 July 2012 16:51 (9 months ago) Permalink
I watched a neat one last night (actually 3AM, damn insomnia) -- Without Warning!
Quiet, unobtrusive LA citizen Carl Martin picks up look-alikes for his estranged blonde wife and murders them with garden shears.
Actually more police prodecural than straight noir, but what made it better than average for me was location footage of a long-gone Hollywood, including many scenes shot around Chavez Ravine, a ramshackle Latino neighborhood in the hills above the then-under-construction freeway system. I didn't know the story of this area until I researched this morning; I found it fascinating.
― David Allan Cow (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 31 July 2012 19:29 (9 months ago) Permalink
All bulldozed for Dodger Stadium. Still a contentious issue.
― nickn, Tuesday, 31 July 2012 23:19 (9 months ago) Permalink
This is a nice piece; great pics and a salient quote:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2009/05/eric-avila-is-an-associate-professor-of-chicano-studies-history-and-urban-planning-at-ucla-his-book-popular-culture-in-the.html
the city reneged on its promise to build housing for poor people because government-subsidized housing was "socialistic," then turned around and subsidized (Walter) O'Malley's bid to build a stadium in the area... Many Angelenos saw that as pure hypocrisy (and it very much reminds me of current accusations of "socialism" in the U.S.)
― David Allan Cow (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 14:24 (9 months ago) Permalink
Force of Evil is great, much less sentimental than Waterfront, no sop-to-the-audience finish.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 14:26 (9 months ago) Permalink
think I can only catch one of two lesser-known Siodmaks at Film Forum tonight... probably Christmas Holiday, w/ Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly! Yes, it's a noir, apparently!
http://www.filmforum.org/movies/more/the_dark_mirror_christmas_holi
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 21:17 (9 months ago) Permalink
Thanks for the alert!
― Like Monk Never Happened (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 2 August 2012 22:09 (9 months ago) Permalink
This really turned out to be an excellent double feature by the way, both Christmas Holiday and The Dark Mirror, with Olivia de Havilland and Thomas Mitchell.
― Zing Can Really Hang You Up the Most (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 4 August 2012 03:18 (9 months ago) Permalink
My wife, who's not much of a movie buff, is for some reason really interested in the Noir City festival. What should we see? Kiss Me Deadly is probably at the top of my list (I haven't seen any of them); The Window looks intriguing, but we've already got plans the night it's screening.
― Trewster Dare (jaymc), Wednesday, 8 August 2012 15:56 (9 months ago) Permalink
Besides KMD, I would recommend On Dangerous Ground, White Heat, Phantom Lady, Caught.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 8 August 2012 16:03 (9 months ago) Permalink
Yeah, those look good, thanks!
― Trewster Dare (jaymc), Wednesday, 8 August 2012 16:05 (9 months ago) Permalink
What Dr Morbius said, plus This Gun for Hire
― computers are the new "cool tool" (James Morrison), Thursday, 9 August 2012 01:12 (9 months ago) Permalink
glass orchid
― baking (soda), Thursday, 9 August 2012 01:22 (9 months ago) Permalink
sorry, conflated glass key and no orchid for miss blandish
― baking (soda), Thursday, 9 August 2012 01:23 (9 months ago) Permalink
Is No Orchid any good? Never seen it. Glass Key was cool.
― computers are the new "cool tool" (James Morrison), Thursday, 9 August 2012 02:07 (9 months ago) Permalink
no, it's not any good, that's what it's famous for.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 9 August 2012 02:20 (9 months ago) Permalink
Ha, right--I knew the book had that rep, didn't know about the film.
― computers are the new "cool tool" (James Morrison), Thursday, 9 August 2012 02:22 (9 months ago) Permalink
video essay on Chandler adaptations:
http://filmstudiesforfree.blogspot.de/2012/10/hard-boiled-studies-of-raymond.html
― cancer, kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 14 October 2012 17:06 (7 months ago) Permalink
Just watched Blast of Silence, partly for its Christmas setting. When it was done, one of my friends said, "Well that was a fuckin' gangster movie." Pretty amazing film. So much in it that could be ridiculous and kind of is -- especially the sneering narration -- but it's so uncompromising and flinty straight to the end that you can't laugh it off.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Monday, 17 December 2012 03:19 (5 months ago) Permalink
Anthony Mann's Side Street makes really amazing use of NYC locations and a great cast of supporting players. MGM was clearly trying to cash in on Naked City's success of the preceding year, but I think this one's better.― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:34 PM (1 year ago) I forgot to second this two years ago.― The Unbassful Serpent (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 14 May 2012 00:50 (7 months ago) Permalink
I forgot to second this two years ago.
― The Unbassful Serpent (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 14 May 2012 00:50 (7 months ago) Permalink
Thirded. I just stumbled across this one last night, it's really great.
― Rocking Disco Santa (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 20 December 2012 15:43 (5 months ago) Permalink
It seems I rated Blast of Silence five stars on Netflix, but I don't remember watching it. Will have to re-screen.
― Peacock, Friday, 21 December 2012 01:50 (5 months ago) Permalink
I had never seen Dark Passage before last night. The POV camera gimmick, Bogey's dream sequence, nonsensical plot, odd supporting characters, beuatiful San Fran location shooting... even if this isn't maybe a great movie, it's great fun!
― Rocking Disco Santa (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 2 January 2013 16:12 (4 months ago) Permalink