Lol
― Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 16:48 (one year ago) link
Only goes around fourteen seconds.
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
Watched Pickup on South Street this morning, through a fog of tiredness and hangover (the quintessential conditions for noir-viewing, in honesty). Found it kinda flimsy at the level of plot and character motivation but dang, the violence was visceral and shocking. Kind of stunned it got through the censors in 1953? Standout was obviously Thelma Ritter, who came on like a character out of Dostoevsky. Her death scene is utterly heart-wrenching.
― Stars of the Lidl (Chinaski), Saturday, 6 May 2023 18:43 (one year ago) link
I watched it recently, too... as I think I mentioned on the TCM thread, the biggest issue for me wasn't that I didn't share the film's affection for the Richard Widmark character as a sympathetic rogue; it just didn't seem to do anything to establish his likability, or why Jean Peters would be drawn to him. (The scene where he stands over Peters in his shack, after knocking her out cold, and the camera/music are kind of leering in a titillated fashion was just... uncomfortable.) It had some good aspects, tho.
― Are You There God? It's a-Me, Mario (morrisp), Saturday, 6 May 2023 19:17 (one year ago) link
Thelma Ritter walks in and knocks the movie over imo
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 6 May 2023 19:20 (one year ago) link
Wham! Like two taxis coming together on Broadway!
― Because the Nighttoad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 6 May 2023 19:34 (one year ago) link
Sorry, wrong Thelma Ritter movie.
― Because the Nighttoad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 6 May 2023 19:35 (one year ago) link
Probably the wrong thread for Odds Against Tomorrow; heist films are adjacent to noir, with some overlap, but to me they're a little different.
Disorienting to see '70s guys Richard Bright (Al Neri in The Godfather) and MASH's Wayne Rogers. (Also Zohra Lampert.) When Ed Begley assures everyone "It's gonna work," he's like the character who goes downstairs with a flashlight in a horror film: "What's wrong with you--haven't you ever seen a heist film before?" Anyway, while I wouldn't rank it with The Killing or The Asphalt Jungle, it was good. How did Robert Wise go from this to his oversized road-show films of the '60s?
― clemenza, Sunday, 7 May 2023 03:01 (one year ago) link
The Peter Principle?
― Cosmo’s Hacienda (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 7 May 2023 04:31 (one year ago) link
Saw Odd Man Out with James Mason a few months ago and it's such a bare bones no-fat noir against a running clock. It's stayed with me ever since.
― ⓓⓡ (Johnny Fever), Sunday, 7 May 2023 13:28 (one year ago) link
Can’t fault the accent work
― michel goindry (wins), Sunday, 7 May 2023 13:30 (one year ago) link
he's beautiful
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 7 May 2023 13:32 (one year ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/Aij9Hj6.jpg
― ⓓⓡ (Johnny Fever), Sunday, 7 May 2023 14:00 (one year ago) link
Odd Man Out gets better with every viewing.
― Cosmo’s Hacienda (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 7 May 2023 14:02 (one year ago) link
Was one of the few I disliked back in college movie classes, but I owe it a rewatch
― fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Sunday, 7 May 2023 14:05 (one year ago) link
I fell asleep multiple times the first time I watched it, but that often happens when I am especially stressed or sleep-deprived.
― Cosmo’s Hacienda (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 7 May 2023 14:10 (one year ago) link
Carol Reed is terrific generally.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 7 May 2023 14:18 (one year ago) link
Yes. Even like that one in the tropical paradise with Trevor Howard, Outcast of the Islands.
― Cosmo’s Hacienda (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 7 May 2023 14:23 (one year ago) link
Find myself re-watching They Live By Night more than maybe any other film? Not quite yearly but gotta be close.
― ian, Friday, 19 May 2023 01:21 (eleven months ago) link
I got ahold of The Asphalt Jungle on Blu-ray... as with others I've watched recently, it's one I've seen in the past, and certain lines/characters were dimly familiar (but I remembered nothing else about it).
The first strike is that it was filmed almost entirely on a studio lot (no actual city streets), which is kind of a bummer for a movie like this. Plus, it's set in a generic Midwestern city (that's not Chicago or Cleveland); so it lacks even an attempt at geographic specificity.
Beyond that – it's a long, somewhat slow & plodding film about a not-very-interesting heist and its not-very-interesting aftermath. If they had tightened it up by 30 mins or so, it may have played better? – but as it stand, most scenes feel roughly the same length, with actors circling the set, visibly hitting their marks, and chewing the scenery a bit (Sterling Hayden is an exception, but he also doesn't quite seem to know what to do with his character). The best performance (IMO) is by Louis Calhern, as the caddish lawyer who "finances" the heist.
There's also a super awkward "thin blue line"–type speech by the police commissioner at the end; I assume the studio required this, to compensate for the crooked-cop character, but oy. I did like the swing dance scene in the diner.
― Day 1 fan (morrisp), Saturday, 10 June 2023 22:49 (eleven months ago) link
Yeah Asphalt Jungle is a plodder
― Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Saturday, 10 June 2023 22:52 (eleven months ago) link
There's a YouTube channel that posts full length film noirs frequently often reasonable enough quality. The films themselves are a mixture of classics and a good dose of by-the-yard b movies starring people with names assembled from the names of bigger stars. A date with dignity starring Rita Hayes and Joseph Powell, that sort of thing. In general this golden era stuff seems increasingly unguarded by copyright claims. I've been wondering if studios have started writing off the last few years of copyright for large chucks of this beyond the obvious play it again Sam type perennials. Does anyone know if this is true or a totally spurious hunch?
Anyway I like it in the sense that it feels like catching a movie on TV in a way I have felt robbed of in recent years, it doesn't have to be any good (most aren't) but when you hit a seam it's good. For instance I had seen desert fury but nothing else with Lizbeth Scott and really enjoyed a couple of films where she was pure simple evil. Obviously this all applies to a far broader range of films than noir but it does fit that genre's ready-to-be-pulped appeal.
― plax (ico), Friday, 27 October 2023 07:58 (six months ago) link
Sounds cool, what's the name of the channel?
― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Friday, 27 October 2023 10:07 (six months ago) link
Whenever I go searching for old films on YouTube, it seems that Warner Bros Inc still closely guard their back catalogue - other studios/rights holders, not so much. Boutique physical media labels like Indicator also tend to protect their remastered scans, for understandable reasons. When you go deep diving in places like YT or Vimeo you realise just how many films there are, and how quickly it became impossible to see everything in one lifetime.
Last noir I enjoyed on YT - Preminger's Where the Sidewalk Ends.
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 27 October 2023 10:27 (six months ago) link
In general this golden era stuff seems increasingly unguarded by copyright claims. I've been wondering if studios have started writing off the last few years of copyright for large chucks of this beyond the obvious play it again Sam type perennials. Does anyone know if this is true or a totally spurious hunch?
Good question! I do have success finding old stuff on YT more often than I'd think - but it's also true that when I then suscribe to these channels they get taken down on a pretty regular basis.
Then there's the wild west of DailyMotion...
I went the pricier route of b noir by buying all of those Indicator Columbia box sets - I can't say that they justify the price but they did leave me with a larger appreciation of people like Lizbeth Scott, Dan Duryea, director Phil Karlson.
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 27 October 2023 10:29 (six months ago) link
and how quickly it became impossible to see everything in one lifetime.
Well you're never gonna get there with that attitude!
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 27 October 2023 10:30 (six months ago) link
not noir, but this week I was ill off work and watched a bunch of Jean Arthur movies. All the classic ones were easy to find on YT.
the noir channel i use is literally the one that comes up if you type 'film noir' into the search bar. its called dk classics ii
― plax (ico), Friday, 27 October 2023 10:37 (six months ago) link
it seems to have been around for ages. But yeah when one gets yanked there's never a lack of other channels.
― plax (ico), Friday, 27 October 2023 10:38 (six months ago) link
Cool, thanks.I don't noir much during the summer for some reason, but looking for"ard to diving back in soon...
― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Friday, 27 October 2023 11:44 (six months ago) link