Film-Noir Discussion/DVD Review Thread

[dave jenkins]

Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics III in da house!

[cigar joe]

Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics III in da house!

'bout time

[dave jenkins]

Yeah, I'm never ordering directly from TCM again.

[dave jenkins]

Watched The Burglar (1957) last weekend and loved it. Here's a pretty thorough piece on it: http://members.boardhost.com/mrvalentine/msg/1330884149.html

One thing none of the posters noticed, apparently, are the bits that inspired Melville. There are some shots in this I definitely remember seeing in Le Doulos. Also, there's the matter of the bizzare score, mentioned in one of the comments above as distracting. It is that--but is that a sign of ineptitude on the filmmakers' part, or were they intentionally going for a Brechtian alienation effect? Each viewer will have to make up his or her own mind.

[cigar joe]

Watched The Burglar (1957) last weekend and loved it. Here's a pretty thorough piece on it: http://members.boardhost.com/mrvalentine/msg/1330884149.html

One thing none of the posters noticed, apparently, are the bits that inspired Melville. There are some shots in this I definitely remember seeing in Le Doulos. Also, there's the matter of the bizzare score, mentioned in one of the comments above as distracting. It is that--but is that a sign of ineptitude on the filmmakers' part, or were they intentionally going for a Brechtian alienation effect? Each viewer will have to make up his or her own mind.

So you've watched two of the collection altogether so far?

[dave jenkins]

Actually, I've watched Drive a Crooked Road also. It's well made, but the plot isn't much: Mickey Rooney gets vamped by Dianne Foster into driving a getaway car for gangster Kevin McCarthy (similar to the plot of Don Siegel's The Killers). The usual double-crosses are involved. Also, Foster, who makes a very credible femme fatale, gets a conscience and starts to worry about taking advantage of Rooney, which almost ruins it for me. I like my femme fatales pitiless. There's some nice photography featuring Malibu and Palm Springs, but I can only go a 7 out of 10 on this.

[dave jenkins]

CJ, this might be of interest to you: http://blogs.princeton.edu/paw/2012/03/park_51_examine.html

[cigar joe]

CJ, this might be of interest to you: http://blogs.princeton.edu/paw/2012/03/park_51_examine.html

Thanks I blogged my two cents.

[dave jenkins]

I cannot wait! http://www.wbshop.com/product/code/1000285441.do

Joe, check out the accompanying clip.

[cigar joe]

Nice

[dave jenkins]

Women In Danger DVD set: http://shop.tcm.com/women-in-danger-1950s-thrillers-dvd/detail.php?p=369635

I won't be buying this from TCM, but I'll probably snag a copy from another vendor. I've seen only one of these--Woman In Hiding (Ida Lupino menaced by homicidal hubby Stephen McNally) which has its good points, although it has one gigantic plot problem (why must Ida go into hiding when she can just go to the police?). This is often considered a noir (it's listed in Shelby), and has a pretty thrilling climax. Don't know anything about the others, but I'm always up for another Crawford film.

[dave jenkins]

Two with Lyle Bettger, the New Swine Find of 1950.
Union Station (1950) 6/10. Lyle's got a plan: kidnap a blind heiress and shake down her old man for $100,000. His only mistake: choosing Union Station as his frequent rendevous point, the province of one William Holden, railroad cop! Bill is soon on the case, thanks to sharp-eyed Nancy Olsen who notices Lyle carrying iron and acting suspicious. In this town the railroad police seem to be a division of the city cops, so Barry Fitzgerald quickly arrives with reinforcements (the exact setting is obscured, but it could be Chicago--there's one unintentionally funny sequence where a baddie is stampeded to death in a stockyard!). Jan Sterling is in the picture, as Lyle's moll, but when she becomes a liability, Lyle unceremoniously kicks her to the curb--literally. Then there's the exciting final chase, beneath the station, through the power generating plant, down the airshaft, into the "city tunnel" (a well-lit soundstage). Wounded, on the run, clutching a bag with his ill-gotten gains, Lyle is oblivious when the lid pops and money starts pouring out (Were you watching, Stanley?). The message of the film is clear: don't mess with Railroad Cop!

No Man of Her Own (1950) 10/10. Not really a noir--call it a woman's picture with noir trimmings. Barbara Stanwyck is in NY, broke, pregnant, and jilted by Lyle Bettger. Lyle's all heart: he buys her a rail ticket back to San Francisco. Turns out to be the best thing he could have done, though. On the train she meets a kind couple her own age who are also expecting, and when the train crashes and the couple are killed, Barbara is mistakenly identified as the dead man's wife. Turns out the guy was from money, and since the family hadn't yet met the wife, it's easy for Barbara to go on pretending she's the mother of the family's heir. She's no grifter, though; Barbara is doing it for da chile. Her new brother-in-law (John Lund in Handsome-Block-of-Wood mode) has his suspicions, but he soon succumbs to Barbara's charms. Things are going swimmingly--and then Bad Penny Lyle turns up. It's not long before several people have a motive for murder. Referring to Lyle at the end, a police detective remarks, "He must have been quite a guy. Everyone who knew him wanted him dead." The rock-solid plot is derived from a novel by William Irish (Cornell Woolrich).

[dave jenkins]

This might be fun as a rental, but no way am I dropping 20 bucks on it: http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s3849raid.html

[dave jenkins]

[cigar joe]