I'm no film noir maven, but I'll toss in another vote for Pickup on South Street. Widmark is damn near perfect in his role.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 5 July 2022 17:01 (one year ago) link
I am a huge fan of Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer books, but have never seen the two that were adapted into movies (Harper and The Drowning Pool).
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 5 July 2022 17:08 (one year ago) link
If 'M' is considered noir, wouldn't it be the earliest?― oops (Oops), Saturday, April 10, 2004 2:34 AM (eighteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink
― oops (Oops), Saturday, April 10, 2004 2:34 AM (eighteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink
People don't talk about proto-noir as much as I'd like. (Mind you, by "proto-noir" I mean certain deservedly obscure silent and pre-code films.) German expressionism, along with American crime/gangster films and French poetic realism, contributed to what people generally recognize as film noir.
If anyone here hasn't seen M (Lang, 1931), do so ASAP. Other proto-noir recommendations available on request.
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Tuesday, 5 July 2022 19:09 (one year ago) link
I haven't even heard of a couple of these:
https://crimereads.com/10-underappreciated-american-neo-noirs-of-the-early-1970s/
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 20:53 (one year ago) link
Received a blu-ray of Phantom Lady for Xmas and watched it for the second time tonight. Just a fantastic film. It’s pretty boilerplate for awhile, with the “wronged man convicted of killing his wife sent off to the gallows” aspect, which could have led in any number of less interesting directions, but choosing to follow Ella Raines as the framed guy’s lovelorn associate, and her tenacious and dangerous pursuit of the real culprit (who is hell-bent on silencing witnesses) is pretty great. She’s second-billed in this film but it’s a true star vehicle, and one of the great sequences in noir is when she turns up at a theater to flirt with and seduce and shortly thereafter drive absolutely crazy Elisha Cook Jr while attempting to get to the bottom of his part in the twisted story.
― omar little, Friday, 6 January 2023 05:58 (one year ago) link
my kid announced he was kinda tired of watching MCU films and picked Kiss Me Deadly last night out of a few options. I think he loved it beyond being thoroughly mystified by Marian Carr as Carl Evello’s sister Friday, and her very strong immediate affection for Mike Hammer upon meeting him. (me: “that kind of thing doesn’t usually happen.”) Meeker is probably underrated as an actor who possesses a lot of charisma and presence, he’s quite a nasty force in this film and yet not entirely unsympathetic, despite his frequent use of brute force, bullying and slapping around half the people he meets, and despite being a callous meathead to the women around him (tho he is almost gentle with the women around him a lot of the time, and seems mainly motivated to avenge the death of a woman he barely knew.) The energy of the film is one of its primary drivers and the direction isn’t flashy but its perfect throughout in terms of framing and camera movements that don’t draw attention to themselves. It’s still almost heartbreaking to see all the scenes filmed in the Bunker Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles, and how it used to be.
side note — Maxine Cooper (who played Velda) was really something else:
Cooper married Sy Gomberg, a screenwriter and producer, in 1957.[1] She left the acting profession in the early 1960s in order to raise her family.[1]Gomberg and her husband became active members of the Hollywood activist community. She helped to organize groups of actors, writers and studio executives to participate in marches with Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama, during the 1960s.[1] Cooper also led campaigns against House Un-American Activities Committee's Hollywood blacklists.[3] She also spearheaded protests by those in the entertainment industry against nuclear weapons, the Vietnam War, and other causes.[1]Gomberg briefly returned to her acting roots during the 1970s.[3] She made a cameo appearance as herself in the 1975 television series Fear on Trial, which starred George C. Scott as John Henry Faulk, a blacklisted 1950s television and radio host.[3]Gomberg became a photographer during her later life. Her photographs were used to illustrate a book by Howard Fast entitled The Art of Zen Meditation. The Los Angeles Times referred to the book as "beautiful" in a 1977 book review when referring to her photographs.[1]
Gomberg and her husband became active members of the Hollywood activist community. She helped to organize groups of actors, writers and studio executives to participate in marches with Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama, during the 1960s.[1] Cooper also led campaigns against House Un-American Activities Committee's Hollywood blacklists.[3] She also spearheaded protests by those in the entertainment industry against nuclear weapons, the Vietnam War, and other causes.[1]
Gomberg briefly returned to her acting roots during the 1970s.[3] She made a cameo appearance as herself in the 1975 television series Fear on Trial, which starred George C. Scott as John Henry Faulk, a blacklisted 1950s television and radio host.[3]
Gomberg became a photographer during her later life. Her photographs were used to illustrate a book by Howard Fast entitled The Art of Zen Meditation. The Los Angeles Times referred to the book as "beautiful" in a 1977 book review when referring to her photographs.[1]
― omar little, Sunday, 15 January 2023 19:37 (one year ago) link
watched THE GLASS KEY last night, and it’s a good one. You can really see a lot of Miller’s Crossing in this, but the shifting loyalties are less of a plot point, and the ending isn’t the same bittersweet one but rather a happy one. Brian Donlevy is really great as the powerful political boss who’s also a lovelorn rube a bit in over his head. Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake make quite a pair, lots of heat but it simmers throughout the film rather than getting consummated early. The plot is just really interesting for a noir, as one might expect since it’s based on the Hammett novel, and the nameless mid-size eastern city/right-hand man pulling the strings/possible femme fatale with a loser brother is really most of what the Coens borrowed for their own film. It fits a ton of plot into a runtime under 90 min. The direction is fairly boilerplate, and not very overtly stylish, but Stuart Heisler did a really fine job of giving the film a lot of real city life energy (tho it looks like it was all sets.)
― omar little, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 18:18 (one year ago) link
the book itself is also very much where Millers Dialogue comes from. I dont' remember the movie well enough to remember how much it kept to that but all that language... I always remember lines like "see where the twist flops".
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 20:32 (one year ago) link
Saw the pretty good Dont Bother to Knock, which may not be too noir-y besides the fact it was introduced by eddie muller on TCM. We couldn't get out in front of the plot, which was a pretty good sign
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 20:36 (one year ago) link
watched THE GLASS KEY last night, and it’s a good one. You can really see a lot of Miller’s Crossing in this,
but is there a gay love triangle? asking for a friend
― Pierre Delecto, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 20:38 (one year ago) link
my kid announced he was kinda tired of watching MCU films and picked Kiss Me Deadly last night out of a few options.
This sentence is like if Upworthy made headlines tailored to me.
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 19 January 2023 10:58 (one year ago) link
Can anyone remember a noir set in a small farming town, an ensemble piece, where Jack Palance plays a heavy? Maybe an Aldrich. Saw it at the Cinematheque about 15 years ago but can’t remember what it was called.
Does “Letter from an unknown woman” count, structurally at least, as a sort of noir? If so, then that. I’ll be damned if I can remember a sadder film.
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 19 January 2023 11:05 (one year ago) link
Sudden Fear?
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 January 2023 11:16 (one year ago) link
City Slickers?
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 19 January 2023 11:19 (one year ago) link
Shane?
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 19 January 2023 12:10 (one year ago) link
Watched Phantom Lady last night, thanks to a recommendation upthread. A great noir, although like many it goes slightly off the boil once the mystery is revealed and you wait for things to play out. But Ella Raines is absolutely luminous in this, I wonder why she wasn't a bigger star. It's free on YouTube btw
― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 19 January 2023 22:11 (one year ago) link
That the one with the best drum solo in cinema history?
― dan selzer, Thursday, 19 January 2023 23:49 (one year ago) link
Yep!
― Zelda Zonk, Friday, 20 January 2023 00:09 (one year ago) link
Elisha Cook Jr def one of the great character actors of the era
― dan selzer, Friday, 20 January 2023 00:26 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yushXLcMalE
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 22 January 2023 14:12 (one year ago) link
^that’s not going to be the famous Out of the Past parody “Out of Gas,” is it?
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 14:18 (one year ago) link
Oh wait, that’s Aubrey Plaza. From last night, I guess.
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 14:24 (one year ago) link
Yeah, it's a sketch from last night.
I just checked, and the only thing on YouTube from Mitchum's episode that he actually appears in is his brief monologue.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 22 January 2023 14:46 (one year ago) link
in 1987, robert mitchum & jane greer reunited to star in an snl parody of their film out of the past (1947) called out of gas pic.twitter.com/dAtbVzq7ZR— ana (@pelicinema) November 10, 2022
here is the rest of the sort of odd yet endearing skit pic.twitter.com/9KUuKnK9YA— ana (@pelicinema) November 10, 2022
Playback on the second part is acting up for me.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 22 January 2023 15:00 (one year ago) link
Same for me. First part was excellent though.
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 15:30 (one year ago) link
Only goes around fourteen seconds.
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 16:47 (one year ago) link
Mitchum looks like George Kennedy.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 January 2023 16:48 (one year ago) link
Lol
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 16:48 (one year ago) link
Did it for me too, when it got unstuck the audio was completely out of synch.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 22 January 2023 18:44 (one year ago) link
It gets unstuck but then there's no audio at all after a certain point. I got the gag at least. Did you see the writer/director credit at the end?
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 19:08 (one year ago) link
Okay, now I heard the rest.
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 19:18 (one year ago) link
Yeah, it was made by his daughter, and I assume the kid was his grandson?
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 22 January 2023 19:35 (one year ago) link
Irl grandson.
Yup.
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 20:11 (one year ago) link
Makes total sense now.
Last time I remember discussing this was here: Robert Mitchum C/D, S/D
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 20:55 (one year ago) link
I managed to watch all of the "leaving soon" noir on Criterion, last two were The House on Telegraph Hill (more gothic melodrama than noir, with echoes of Rebecca, but fun nonetheless) and The Breaking Point (Michael Curtiz' reworking of To Have and Have Not) which Criterion calls "daylight noir," and which is wonderfully scripted, acted, and shot.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 31 January 2023 16:05 (one year ago) link
Mister, you’re a better man than I.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 31 January 2023 16:12 (one year ago) link
Watched Criss Cross last night, which is a good film in its own right, but the excellent location shooting sent me down a several hour rabbit hole learning about Bunker Hill, the Angels Flight funicular and more.
http://americanfilmnoir.com/page19.html
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 6 February 2023 20:44 (one year ago) link
^That's funny; I recently watched Kiss Me Deadly, and the BD bonus disc had a featurette on Bunker Hill. I wasn't aware of the neighborhood's history (and I've lived in L.A. a long time, have been to Angels Flight, etc.).
Just revisited Act of Violence – it's one of my all-time favorite, I guess movies, ever. I see it's been discussed a bunch on this thread, so nothing really to say about it, beyond – what a remarkable film. (Anyone who hasn't seen it should go in as "fresh" as possible, without reading too much...). By the way, that one also has a few great Bunker Hill scenes.
― unknown blues singer (morrisp), Saturday, 25 February 2023 01:48 (one year ago) link
The Big Lebowski
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 25 February 2023 14:00 (one year ago) link
Great line in Detour (1945), truck driver to diner waitress:“Hey, Glamorous… gimme change for a dime, willya?”
― unknown blues singer (morrisp), Monday, 27 February 2023 05:45 (one year ago) link
Greil Marcus had a big write-up on Odds Against Tomorrow in connection with Harry Belafonte today:
https://greilmarcus.substack.com/p/real-life-rock-top-10-may-2023
Paywall, probably...Never seen it. I notice it's on YouTube, may watch tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSzDfNn3kYc
― clemenza, Friday, 5 May 2023 21:54 (one year ago) link
Ryan and Winters – what a pairing. I love Rob't Ryan so much...
― Are You There God? It's a-Me, Mario (morrisp), Friday, 5 May 2023 22:02 (one year ago) link
Isn’t that a Robert Wise film? Have always wanted to see it but world enough and time etc.
― Because the Nighttoad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 5 May 2023 22:08 (one year ago) link
Abraham Polonsky.
― clemenza, Friday, 5 May 2023 22:12 (one year ago) link
You're right--written by A.P.
― clemenza, Friday, 5 May 2023 22:13 (one year ago) link
Great film, wonderful enraged sweaty Belafonte song performance.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Saturday, 6 May 2023 12:53 (one year ago) link
The film was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Motion Picture Promoting International Understanding.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 6 May 2023 13:14 (one year ago) link
https://static.simpsonswiki.com/images/c/c6/Springfield_Civic_Center_%28Brother%2C_Can_You_Spare_Two_Dimes%3F%29.png
― niall horanburger (cryptosicko), Saturday, 6 May 2023 14:50 (one year ago) link