Auteur Noir from Italy:
Chronicle of A Love Affair-Antonioni's take on The Postman Always... Lucia Bosé is the femme fatale.
Il Bidone-Fellini's noir about three conmen (Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, & Franco Fabrizi) who prey on Italy's poor. The final act, wherein Crawford attempts a last score without the aid of his comrades, is relentlessly brutal.
― C. Grisso/McCain, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 15:24 (sixteen years ago) link
This is going on in LA for the next couple of weeks: http://www.americancinematheque.com/archive1999/2008/Egyptian/Film_Noir-2008.htm
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 15:40 (sixteen years ago) link
What's the one with Edward Robinson as a guy who drops out of his day job to paint and murder?
― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 20:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Seen recently and loved: Detour, DOA, The Killing, Thieves' Highway, Gun Crazy, Panic in the Streets (a couple of these probably not usually considered noir, but they're so full of NIGHT and GUNS and BARS and JAZZ that I don't care).
Thieves' Highway is weird--one of the few SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER Hollyowwod/Hays code era movies which ends with the hero ditching his 'good' WASP girlfriend and ending up with the foreign hooker.
― James Morrison, Thursday, 10 April 2008 00:35 (sixteen years ago) link
That's Scarlet Street.
― The Yellow Kid, Thursday, 10 April 2008 02:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Tonight is Shadow of a Doubt.
Awesome shots in the opening bits, all the dutch tilts of the buildings & vacant lots, with men criss-crossing around.
And starring Joseph Cotten!
― kingfish, Sunday, 13 April 2008 06:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Thanks, TYK.
― Oilyrags, Sunday, 13 April 2008 19:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Out of the Past Glass Key Blue Dahlia Murder My Sweet (aka Farewell my Lovely) Kiss Me Deadly Gilda Dark Passage Key Largo In A Lonely Place Where The Sidewalk Ends
― remy bean, Sunday, 13 April 2008 20:26 (sixteen years ago) link
watching blast of silence this weekend, will report back.
― Jordan, Friday, 30 May 2008 18:13 (sixteen years ago) link
after dark, my sweet
― cozwn, Sunday, 26 July 2009 00:13 (fourteen years ago) link
"Double Indemnity" is incredible.
― DOES ANYONE IN THIS BITCH LIKE OMC (Tape Store), Sunday, 26 July 2009 00:14 (fourteen years ago) link
The Maltese Falcon is one of my favorite movies of all time.
― Pancakes are one of my favorite ways to party. (ENBB), Sunday, 26 July 2009 00:14 (fourteen years ago) link
naked city
stray dog
un flic
breathless
d.o.a.
touch of evil
la confidential
double indemnity is basically the best movie ever made imo
― BIG HOOS's wacky crack variety hour (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Sunday, 26 July 2009 08:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Unmentioned To Have and Have Not is my favorite film of all time.
― Mordy, Sunday, 26 July 2009 08:36 (fourteen years ago) link
glad Scarlet Street was mentioned.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XUWgyi9favs/SkJ4nNGCnPI/AAAAAAAABgQ/FVEMdeQwJBI/s1600-h/act+of+violence.jpgAct of Violence wasn't and has some pretty cool stuff going on too.
― Ludo, Sunday, 26 July 2009 08:50 (fourteen years ago) link
For no reason I can think of, I've been getting into noir of late. Last week I rented The Big Sleep, which was excellent if incomprehensible. I've since added In A Lonely Place and The Maltese Falcon to my Lovefilm list.And on friday I bought this Chandler novel:http://www.detective-fiction.com/4salepix/chandlerfarewell.jpg
― DavidM, Sunday, 26 July 2009 10:01 (fourteen years ago) link
me too, but i bought the film noir collection! all great films. love alan ladd in these.
― Great Scott! It's Molecular Man. (Ste), Sunday, 26 July 2009 10:28 (fourteen years ago) link
The Maltese Falcon, which I could watch on a loop forever
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Monday, 27 July 2009 15:37 (fourteen years ago) link
It's nearly perfect.
― ENBB, Monday, 27 July 2009 15:41 (fourteen years ago) link
I got to see most of the Noir City festival earlier this year - looks like they are playing Chicago later this week. Opening night was a double-bill of 2 newspaper noir classics: Deadline USA and Scandal Sheet. The Big Sleep is the best ever though.
― Jaq, Monday, 27 July 2009 16:02 (fourteen years ago) link
I think Night and the City is my favorite movie, noir or otherwise. Picked up a Chandler collection from the library and so far it's fantastic. Never read him before.
― mile high guy (brownie), Monday, 27 July 2009 16:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Chandler is probably my favorite writer ever. Everyone needs to get to The Long Goodbye eventually.
― BIG HOOS's wacky crack variety hour (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Sunday, 2 August 2009 23:58 (fourteen years ago) link
btw just watched Red Rock West last night, it was a fun little western noir with nick cage and jt walsh and dennis hopper all hamming it up. it felt like a showtime adaptation of a jim thompson novel.
― BIG HOOS's wacky crack variety hour (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Monday, 3 August 2009 00:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh yeah, I got to see In A Lonely Place last Friday. Not quite the film I was expecting it to be, but a good film nontheless. What an ending!
― DavidM, Monday, 3 August 2009 14:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Movie Madness's film noir collection was like crack to me when I was studying in Portland, OR. The bulk of the most choice noirs have been mentioned already.
A few which haven't that immediately come to mind:
Ride the Pink Horse (massively underrated because it hasn't got a DVD release - would make a great double bill w/ Touch of Evil)Sunset Blvd (obviously not at all underrated but nobody's listed it yet - do you guys not consider it noir?)Touchez pas au grisbi (Jean Gabin classic, also see Pépé le Moko)On Dangerous Ground (Robert Ryan was never better)
Also very good:
His Kind of Woman (Mitchum and Russell reunited!)Kiss of Death (Widmark pushes infirm down stairs)Sweet Smell of Success (badass Burt Lancaster)Criss Cross (probably Siodmak's best)
The Narrow Margin is highly rated by some, but it's not in the top tier for me.
Sui generis but essential and noirish in their own ways:
Johnny GuitarVertigo
FYI, my absolute top four:
Out of the PastTouch of EvilThe KillingKiss Me Deadly
― Goethe*s Elective Affinities, Monday, 3 August 2009 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link
with noirs i always get mixed up with titles, all the noirs blend into one for me.
for example, what is the noir with a guy half-dead and dying at the beginning, relating his story in some kind of office, maybe even a tape-recorder (nah?) a typewriter hmm. i am sure it's famous.
― Ludo, Monday, 3 August 2009 19:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Ludo, sounds like it might be the previously mentioned awesome classic Double Indemnity, but there are a lot of noirs that have that sort of structure.
anyone seen Detour? I think its a great one that doesn't seem to get mentioned often.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, 3 August 2009 19:54 (fourteen years ago) link
oops, i just ctrl+Fed Detour and i see its already been mentioned a few times...
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, 3 August 2009 19:56 (fourteen years ago) link
exactly. i think that's the one though. it was one of the first noirs i saw. (ah it's a dictaphone!)
― Ludo, Monday, 3 August 2009 19:57 (fourteen years ago) link
DOA has the dying guy sitting in an office with a police officer explaining how he came to be dying.
― When two tribes go to war, he always gets picked last (James Morrison), Monday, 3 August 2009 23:52 (fourteen years ago) link
Double Indemnity?
― ice cr?m paint job (milo z), Monday, 3 August 2009 23:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Absolutely it is. Double Indemnity is one of the top five noirs ever. Probably my #1.
― reared on Shakespeare (kenan), Monday, 3 August 2009 23:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Sorry, "films noir."
Ebert is very good on it: "Standing back from the film and what it expects us to think, I see them engaged not in romance or theft, but in behavior. They're intoxicated by their personal styles. Styles learned in the movies, and from radio and the detective magazines. It's as if they were invented by Ben Hecht through his crime dialogue. Walter and Phyllis are pulp characters with little psychological depth, and that's the way Billy Wilder wants it. His best films are sardonic comedies, and in this one, Phyllis and Walter play a bad joke on themselves."
― reared on Shakespeare (kenan), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 00:00 (fourteen years ago) link
anyone know if Key Largo features the song 'Moanin' Low' in full or just a brief extract?
― unban dictionary (blueski), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 18:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Just watched Sudden Fear. Worth it for Joan Crawfords facial expressions and Jack Palances acting.
― Grady Sizemore's elbow (brownie), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 18:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Young Jack Palance in that and 'Panic in the Streets' looks like an Easter Island statue come to life.
― When two tribes go to war, he always gets picked last (James Morrison), Wednesday, 5 August 2009 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Double Indemnity, sure as ten dimes will buy a dollar
― Stop wishing death on people just for the cool thread titles (Myonga Vön Bontee), Wednesday, 5 August 2009 02:11 (fourteen years ago) link
totally just watched Rififi...it's great! i wondered how they'd sustain it after the heist sequence...the second half of the film is even better, even more engrossing. the bit where the money was delivered and Tony clearly didn't give a fuck about it any longer = noirest of noir
― cockles (country matters), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Carl Mohner dedicated a painting to me once.
― BIG HOOS's wacky crack variety hour (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Am watching Kurosawa's Stray Dog tonight.
― BIG HOOS's wacky crack variety hour (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Will be watching Le Cercle Rouge tomorrow. Saw Un Flic a few weeks back, and absolutely adored it. The stylish brilliance of the crooks. The mechanical, self-denying inexorability of the cop. Crime glorified in a way that only serves to heighten its tragedy, only serves to emphasise its ultimate folly. Morality plays, as they should be told.
― cockles (country matters), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:23 (fourteen years ago) link
I need to get Un Flic next week. Have you watched Le Samourai yet?
― BIG HOOS's wacky crack variety hour (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:32 (fourteen years ago) link
not yet but it is in the offing
― cockles (country matters), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:38 (fourteen years ago) link
All time fave tbh
― BIG HOOS's wacky crack variety hour (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Am slightly annoyed that said friend watched it the other night with a mutual friend. Will have to borrow it. He's generally not averse to re-watching films, mind.
― cockles (country matters), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:39 (fourteen years ago) link
I love Double Indemnity, but it's too glossy and clean to be as purely noir as, eg, Out of the Past.
― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:41 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost
Even though I watched it on a beat-up VHS copy, IMO the most perfectly realized noir-ish Melville is Le Deuxieme Souffle.
― Goethe*s Elective Affinities, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:52 (fourteen years ago) link
Morbs - there's one line of yours concerning film that I really dig - the one about a film's greatness being assured if it still works well with the dialogue removed. This kind of film strikes me as the sort for which this might actually be truer than in other cases. Would you say that the best films noir stand up without their dialogue, in practice?
(cheers mr goethe)
― cockles (country matters), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Forgot to mention, but I watched The Big Heat a couple days ago. That was some gritty shit. I don't remember Bogie ever dealing with a dead wife, a mob moll with disfiguring facial burns, dead hookers, etc etc.
― Jesus H. Crap (kenan), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 04:20 (fourteen years ago) link