Film noir: your favourites

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No mention here of D.O.A., which I saw last night. Man walks into police station, claims he's been murdered, then in classic noir fashion the whole movie is in flashback. It's not quite up there with the best noirs (Double Indemnity, Laura, etc.), but it's pretty terrific and almost an A-Z of noir tropes - flashback structure, protagonist doomed from the start, femme fatale/wholesome girl binary, urban paranoia...

Zelda Zonk, Friday, 25 January 2008 12:35 (sixteen years ago) link

Double Indemnity and Touch of Evil are my shit. All-time.

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 25 January 2008 13:41 (sixteen years ago) link

hells yeah, BIG HOOS.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 25 January 2008 13:41 (sixteen years ago) link

Time to rep for Preminger's Fallen Angel and Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 25 January 2008 14:03 (sixteen years ago) link

'the big heat' ftw

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 25 January 2008 14:05 (sixteen years ago) link

Naked City was better than I'd expected.

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 25 January 2008 14:07 (sixteen years ago) link

Just saw Murder, My Sweet. Pretty great. I'm still trying to work out the plot.

brownie, Friday, 25 January 2008 14:07 (sixteen years ago) link

two months pass...

So awesome that Netflix has its own section for this. Just watched "Woman in the Window", which was okay.

Now have "The Asphalt Jungle" running.

kingfish, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 07:10 (sixteen years ago) link

Asphalt Jungle
Le Doulos
The Second Breath
hell - basically just about all Melville that involves a raincoat or gun somewhere
Double Indemnity
T-Men
let's see...

Too many to mention but it's my fave genre

Capitaine Jay Vee, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 07:34 (sixteen years ago) link

Gotta be The Third Man.

chap, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 10:42 (sixteen years ago) link

IIRC, Scarlet Street is basically the same movie as Woman in the Window but better. Maybe it's the other way around though. Another Lang/Lorre american noir with a similar plot.

dan selzer, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:12 (sixteen years ago) link

Is Woman in the Window the one where he wakes up at the end and it's all been a dream? Cos that's a shitty shitty ending.

chap, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:16 (sixteen years ago) link

yes, that's the one.

lauren, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:22 (sixteen years ago) link

It's a shitty ending, but the rest of the movie is really good.

Zelda Zonk, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:22 (sixteen years ago) link

Joan Bennett is excellent.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:24 (sixteen years ago) link

'Out of the Past' anyone?

Michael White, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:27 (sixteen years ago) link

one of the best.

lauren, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:28 (sixteen years ago) link

I think I quoted about half the dialogue of OOTP on the other thread.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:29 (sixteen years ago) link

in the french noir department: elevator to the gallows

lauren, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:30 (sixteen years ago) link

Preminger made several goodies: Laura, Angel Face, Where The Sidewalk Ends, Fallen Angel.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:32 (sixteen years ago) link

xpost:
Yup. With the grebt Miles soundtrack with the grebt Pierre Michelot on bass. Speaking of gallows, the original title of Out Of The Past was Built My Gallows High. Well, title of the novel it was adapted from.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:33 (sixteen years ago) link

in the french noir department: elevator to the gallows

If only for the soundtrack...

Michael White, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:33 (sixteen years ago) link

re crap ending of Woman In The Window, Wikipedia says: "Director Fritz Lang substituted the film's dream ending in place of the originally scripted suicide ending, to conform with the moralistic Production Code of the time." So blame it on the Hays Code.

Zelda Zonk, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:38 (sixteen years ago) link

third man, big sleep, point blank, chinatown, all the obvious stuff.

Jordan, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:38 (sixteen years ago) link

Not to derail totally, but speaking of 'Elevator to the Gallows' (and Maurice Ronet), has anybody ever seen 'Le Feu Follet'?

Michael White, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:44 (sixteen years ago) link

I'm glad detour was rated by a couple people, but can't believe no one's mentioned gun crazy so far.

Edward III, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:46 (sixteen years ago) link

Scarlet Street is basically the same movie as Woman in the Window but better. Maybe it's the other way around though. Another Lang/Lorre american noir

no, SS is better (and it's Eddie G, not Lorre).

Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:48 (sixteen years ago) link

I picked up Le Feu Follet on video for a couple bucks awhile back, but haven't watched it yet. Criterion's doing a DVD in May

C. Grisso/McCain, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:53 (sixteen years ago) link

Sweet! I haven't seen it in eons.

Michael White, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:55 (sixteen years ago) link

love the cover on the old vhs

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/guncrazy.jpg

Edward III, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:56 (sixteen years ago) link

Also, 'The Maltese Falcon'. There's actually a reproduction of 'the stuff dreams are made of' leering down from the top of a bookcase in my house.

Michael White, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:59 (sixteen years ago) link

'Maltese Falcon' is my favourite film.

darraghmac, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 15:03 (sixteen years ago) link

I was reading about Flitcraft just the other day in the intro to The Continental Op.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 15:03 (sixteen years ago) link

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

What's the one with Edward Robinson as a guy who drops out of his day job to paint and murder?

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

one month passes...

watching blast of silence this weekend, will report back.

Jordan, Friday, 30 May 2008 18:13 (fifteen years ago) link

one year passes...

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.jpg
Act 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


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