Sunday morning Noir is a ritual here. Playing "Crime Wave" this morning. Sterling Hayden, Charles Budinsky, André De Toth directing, and the spectacular Timothy Carey! A great cast and the cinematography is fantastic. I love all the location shooting of L.A. I am a sucker for Sterling Hayden and L.A. Noir. Yes, the Eddie Muller's commentary is fabulous. The comparison to "The Killers" and "L.A. Confidential" is right on the money. Bud White is Sterling Hayden.
Just watched China Moon (1994) for the first time. A pleasant surprise, as a modern day noir, starring Ed Harris and Madeleine Stowe. The plot works, as does the chemistry between Harris and Stowe (which I never would've guessed coming into the film). Really enjoyed this film. Stowe's beauty jumps off the screen and has all the makings of a femme fatale in the noir classics, and has a lot going for it with the mysterious plot that is tough to figure out as you're watching, the shadowy and often dark Florida backdrop, and a lot more. Solid film. This is my second really good noirs from the 90s (the other film is Devil In A Blue Dress).
I have a theory that the first noir is a movie called "Stanger on the 3rd Floor" with Peter Lorre (1940) Fantastic movie with all the great elements of the noir I love. Urban setting, dream sequence, shadows, murder, confusion, and Elisha Cook Jr. No femme fatale though. I also tend to think the last noir of the modern era was "Psycho" (1960) It starts out as a familiar noir and then makes this great left turn into something we have not seen before. It was like Hitchcock was telling us that noir is over baby. This is the new killer in town. And he was right. Would love to hear some thoughts.
He played the same character in so many films. I liked his girlfriend Agnes Lozelle played by Sonia Darin in "The Big Sleep." "What do those look like, grapefruit?"
I have it and think it is a great book. Photos and graphics really good too. Also like that every film discussed has an entry in the index, making the text easy to find.
Great I will check it out at my library. Is there a bunch of lesser known films referenced here as well? I'd be interested to see some rarer good old noir films.
Peter Gunn really had a noir vibe, and a lot of style. The other 50s crime/detective shows pale in comparison, even Mr.Lucky which was made by the same team.
The book is mostly an overview of film noir, highlighting the actors, directors etc. prominent in noir. There are capsule summaries of a lot of movies and why they are important in film noir history. I am using it as a “browsing book”.
They Live by Night Watched the criterion blu R last night. Looked far better than dvd. This is one dark movie. Begins with no hope and goes downhill from there.
I finally picked up the criterion blu ray of this. Looking forward to viewing it again. It’s been a while
I don't know if this fits the thread, please let me know if not. I just watched Body Heat, the 1981 film starring Kathleen Turner and William Hurt. Loved that thick Florida atmosphere. You can practically feel the merciless heat and the tension between the leads. William Hurt's character should definitely have known better than to start that affair at the beginning of the film! Definitely got some serious Double Indemnity and Detour vibes out of this. Also, John Barry's sultry, seductive soundtrack is fantastic and got used just to the right extent.
Eddie Muller, host of TCM’s Noir Alley, has a Q&A program on YouTube entitled “Ask Eddie”. Anne Hockens co-hosts. On the NoirCitySF YouTube channel. It is really good.
“Body Heat” was one of the movies featured on Friday nights in July on TCM’s neo-noir series. What a movie!
I discovered film noir about 7 years ago out of curiosity. I would browse the TCM listing and read the descriptions looking for something interesting to watch. Often I noticed the description would contain the term "film noir". What the heck is film noir? I looked it up and was intrigued so I decided to record a couple examples and see if they could hold my interest. The first one I watched was DOA, the second was The Killers. I was hooked. Which for me was a transformation - my preconceived notion that B&W films were all dated, corny and cheesy was shattered. I am now a full fledged noirista - always on the lookout for a noir I haven't yet seen. Better yet I have discovered a whole new world of films to enjoy - all those other great B&W films I willfully ignored.
I watched and enjoyed Scarlet Street a few days ago. Eddie Robinson, whadda sap, poor guy. Joan Bennett is great as la femme fatale.
SPOILER ALERT: He was being sarcastic. He did actually know the plot. In the novel, Carmen the youngest daughter of Gen. Sternwood, shot his best friend and chauffer because he wouldn't sleep with her. She's a pyscho, and Marlowe finds that out when she tries to do the same thing to him. He doesn't tell Sternwood because he doesn't want to hurt the dying old man. But the older sister knows. She agrees to put Carmen in a hospital to get help. The studios couldn't show such things in 1944 so Howard Hawks had to change the third act and kind of dance around it, leading to endless confusion.
