Film noir: your favourites

the helicopter model attached to visible wires represents the impossibility of crime except as an artificial fantasy, dude

in all srsnss, scene is carried off by the acting and the in-train filming

*impossibility of SUCH a crime, even

This is such a boy genre.

ilx's own Lauren P would beg to differ.

cm, especially with the chiaroscuro lighting effects usually featured, sure.

Great, now I have to use Google! ;)

the starkly separated pools of light & shadow

Jane Greer, oh brother!

http://voiceover.blogdiario.com/img/outofthepast.jpeg

Yep, got it! When done well (Night Of The Hunter, anyone?) that technique can be dazzlingly tense.

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.

The protaganist in this movie is the like the angel of death. Every woman he comes in contact with dies.

mob moll with disfiguring facial burns

Wasn't Jane Greer married to Rudy Vallee for a while? She was young, Vallee told her mom he would bring her out to Hollywood "under my auspices." He liked to have her dress up like a Marilyn Manson girlfriend. She eventually balked, although not before her marriage had got her into trouble with Howard Hughes, who was obsessed with her. She had a similar facial palsey to Sylvester Stallone, which gave her that intriguing expression.

Fans of OOTP should also see the "sequel" with Mitchum and Greer, The Big Steal. Here is an informative obit http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jane-greer-729365.html

Janey Janey, what a gal

a friend of mine used Greer for a radio narration job not long before her death. Apparently she turned down the Gloria Stuart role in Titanic.

xpost

I just saw "Laura" for the first time the other night. Oh my god, how could I have waited so long to see this movie? Gene Tierney and Clifton Webb are amazing, and it is so weird to see Vincent Price try to play a "Southern hunky gigolo" character. Plus the sets and clothes and lighting are scrumptious in every detail.

Oh man, don't get me started on Gene Tierney

No, you can't get started. Have you seen Leave Her to Heaven?

And how about that haunting David Raksin theme?

Yeah, I then watched that Biography documentary "Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait" about her life- really amazing/awful life story that makes you think again about what's going on with her performances, what was bottled up in there.

I've always known the Raskin theme, but the first version I ever heard was the Spike Jones parody version, perversely enough . . .

Gorblimey!

http://alabasterbrow.blogsome.com/images/gene7.jpg

I've always known the Raskin theme
Not to be a pain, I just learned how to spell it five minutes ago, but it's Raksin.

I wonder how Dadaismus feels about Linda Darnell.

Not that much of a fan of hers, anyway I'm turning this into one of those dead people you fancy threads, apologies

Oh yeah, UKers there is a film noir night on BBC4 tonight.
An hour long documentary, The Rules of Film Noir, and four films: Farewell My Lovely, The Lady From Shanghi, The Big Combo, and Force of Evil. And tommorrow they are showing Build My Gallows High.

Schizerkoff, I missed this. Now, if only they'd repeat it as often as 'Blues at the BBC'.

No wait, it's Saturday today. Yays!

aargh no my digibox is broken!

Orson Welles' Irish accent is unbelievable!

It really is!

That doc was predictably disappointing BBC four - I only liked the guy that explained how noir scores differed from the norm for that time.

btw Build My Gallows High was incredible. Robert Mitchum was some serious laconic but lethal motherfucker throughout.
"I don't want to die"
"Neither do I, but if I have to I'm gonna die last"

Mitchum took laconic to an entirely new dimension. He had to be high on grass.

For anyone who doesn't already know, Build My Gallows High = Out of the Past. Mitchum was such a badass.

I've been reading back-to-back Raymond Chandler novels all summer.
Trying to figure out a contemporary actor who could play Marlowe...

and I don't think Gould was that far out a choice for The Long Goodbye, I think he hit the mark even better than Bogart.

what happened to those planned Clive Owen / Marlowe movies? in turnaround I guess.

I guess Owen looks the part, but can he be funny? I'm thinking more Seth Rogan, Robert Downey Jr...

Robert Downey Jr would be great ... probably the most realistic choice (in terms of films that would make money) would be George Clooney.

Clooney's funny, charming and tall enough ... but maybe not luckless enough? this is a guy who gets beat up every other chapter. That's what Bogey got wrong.

Clooney does tend to have a bit of a smug look a lot of the time.

I think Chevy Chase could have pulled it off in the 80s.
Fletch is basically Marlowe with "gags."

I could see Clooney getting his ass kicked and wisecrack all the way through it. Very Marlowe.

wisecrackING

Bogey gets beat up at least twice in The Big Sleep, that's a lot for a '40s movie "hero"

...and he pretends to be gay, but doesn't get beat up for that.

Don't know if someone mentioned it upthread, but Robert Siodmak's Phantom Lady is a total classic.

Here the famous jazz scene, with Elisha Cook Jr as the satyr-like drummer (the quick shot when he touches Ella Raines' neck is still one of the most disturbing things I ever saw):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vEgZM5x0ik

So, my digibox went on the fritz and I missed all of these. I've already seen Build My Gallows High, and I'm sure Farewell will be on again, but the others - Stranger on the Third Floor, Lady from Shanghai, Big Combo, Force of Evil - are relatively obscure. My film guide says they're all brilliant and strange, but did anyone here actually see them? Thoughts? Recommendations?

i just read "Film Noir" by Alan Silver & James Ursin. good book, beautiful pictures. i made notes of noirs i've yet to see, here's the list. (so this could be Alain Silver's recommendations in a way)

Criss-Cross
T-Men
They Drive By Night
They Live By Night
Human Desire
Phantom Lady (indeed)
D.O.A.
Detour
The Killers
Crossfiere
The Sniper
Brute Force
The Man I Love
The Reckless Moment
The Lady in the Lake
Gilda

---
also Hammett should be interesting a film Wim Wenders made about well Hammett the detective writer who was an alcoholic detective himself

<3 the reckless moment
human desire pretty good too

Lady From Shanghai is an Orson Welles containing at least a couple of extraordinary scenes (and a platinum Rita Hayworth).

I really like They Drive By Night (George Raft + Humphrey Bogart directed by Raoul Walsh),

Simply put, Detour is one of the absolute best low budget movies ever. Shot in 2 or 3 days, its impossibly grim, dark and cold and its a fine testament of Edgar Ulmer's huge talent; Lady in The Lake is another Chandler-inspired movie, this time all shot from the perspective of Philip Marlowe; Brute Force and The Killers have both Burt Lancaster in his early roles and they're stunning - I maybe prefer The Killers, another GREAT Siodmak movie with an impossibly beautiful Ava Gardner as the dark lady.

Check also Force of Evil (directed by a not yet blacklisted Abraham Polonsky) and, again if it not mentioned above, Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past.

Gilda and Brute Force are pretty great.

dorian: Yeah, Lady From Shanghai is totally worth it, a few brilliant scenes in it. And Orson Welles' terrible accent just adds to the bizarre atmosphere of it.

Big Combo isn't super well known, but I remember it being pretty good.

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.