Film-Noir Discussion/DVD Review Thread

[dave jenkins]

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

LVC is referenced in Dark City, p. 181:

The beaked-nose former accountant would knock around Hollywood as a henchman and saddle tramp for fifteen years before Sergio Leone made him an international star, casting him beside fellow squint-meister Clint Eastwood in spaghetti westerns A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Eddie, Eddie, EDDIE, if you stray from Dark City to enter Leone territory, make sure your stuff is first vetted here at the Leone Board!!!

[cigar joe]

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

LVC is referenced in Dark City, p. 181:

Eddie, Eddie, EDDIE, if you stray from Dark City to enter Leone territory, make sure your stuff is first vetted here at the Leone Board!!!

lol

[dave jenkins]

On his home turf, Eddie can't be bettered. Here is his comment on Marie Windsor:

Although indelible in every part she played, Windsor never broke into the top ranks of female stars. She was too physically intimidating--a statuesque five-foot-nine, with a balcony that could support a double run of pinochle.

p. 225

Heh, heh.  No, Drink, don't even try to figure it out.

[dave jenkins]

Now available in print: https://www.amazon.com/NOIR-CITY-Magazine-Eddie-Muller/dp/B098WG3QV1

[dave jenkins]

This is a great channel for noir: https://ok.ru/video/c3036443

It seems they are pirating all the new releases (including all the recent ones from KL), because the PQ is excellent. The down side is that this is a site run by Russians who want to completely data mine your ass. You've been warned.

[dave jenkins]

When There's No More Room in Noir, the Argentines Will Walk the Earth . . . or something.

https://www.flickeralley.com/classic-movies-2/#!/The-Bitter-Stems-Los-tallos-amargos/p/377888979/category=20414531
https://www.flickeralley.com/classic-movies-2/#!/The-Beast-Must-Die-La-bestia-debe-morir/p/377888729/category=20414531

[dave jenkins]

Noir City no. 31, in da house! It has worthy articles on Virginia Grey, Andre de Toth, the writer Art Cohn, even a cover story on Mike Hodges (!). There are regular features that seem interesting (Noir or Not; Book vs. Film) as well as recurring departments.

I'm finding the book review section the most interesting.

First up is Film Noir Style: The Killer 1940s by Kimberly Truhler, reviewed by Nell Beram. A sample paragraph from the review:

Truhler's contention that noir style has had a lasting impact is unassailable. Granted, there's no evidence that when a houndstooth suit appears in a fashion magazine today it's a nod to Lauren Bacall's look in The Big Sleep (1946). But there's proof of the ongoing influence of Humphrey Bogart's trench from the same film: British clothier Aquascutum produces a look-alike named for the actor. Incidently, Leah Rhodes may have gotten costume-design credit for The Big Sleep, but the supplier of the trench was the House of Bogie.

Vince Keenan covers a new biography of Patricia Highsmith written by Richard Bradford. Apparently, Bradford doesn't much care for his subject:

... he holds his nose surveying what Highsmith wrought and asking how she got away with being such a terrible person in life and on the page. He never answers the question satisfactorily, and in the ensuing silence you can practically hear Highsmith cackling.

I Died a Million Times: Gangster Noir in Midcentury America by Robert Miklitsch is reviewed by Randy Dotinga. It's a great review, giving us, in a few paragraphs, a very good feel for the book as well as Dotinga's excellent critique of it, with everything entertainingly stated (CJ in particular, take note):

The language of the book is full of ten-dollar words. It's not a good sign when "diegetic specificity" and a "vexed dialectic" appear on the first two pages, along with "antinomies." The third page introduces us to the "virgule," which the rest of us would call a forward slash. We're only a few sentences into the preface, and I'm already annoyed. And "chiasmus"--don't ask--is still to come.

The impenetrability is a shame because Miklitsch is onto something. As American crime evolved throughout the middle decades of the twentieth century, the crime film evolved with it. Prohibition-era celebrity gangsters had given way to the mob's deeper postwar presence in day-to-day life.
...
While he loses me in the details--something about the virgule between the "transactional nouns" in his term "gangster/noir"--Miklitsch sees branches erupting from the crime film tree. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) is a caper movie, while The Killers (1946) and Criss Cross (1949) are heist movies. "Syndicate movies," meanwhile, highlighted organized crime. A long chapter on The Phenix City Story (1955), heavy on plot play-by-play, notes the influence of TV-style camera-work that avoided shadows and flattened the appearance of crime flicks.

By the 1960s, when neo-noir was born, Miklitsch sees other newcomer genres such as neo-gangster (Underworld U.S.A. [1961]) and post-classic heist movie (Ocean's 11 [1960]). Most surprising of all, he defines Cape Fear (1962) as a post-classic rogue cop flick (!).

I Died a Million Times is paradigmatic of what happens when intriguing film commentary gets lost in bloat and sesquipedalian language (Great, now I'm doing it.) Noir filmmakers created masterpieces that run under ninety minutes. It's not too much to ask for academics to leave plenty of material on the cutting-room floor.

pp. 86-88
With writing like this I may have to take out a subscription . . . .

[dave jenkins]

Deported coming to blu. But is it even a noir? https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=29054

[T.H.]

Better late than never....


Noir Archive Volume 1: 1944-1954


711 Ocean Drive (1950) - The main reason why I bought the set. I'd pay a Twilight Time price for this, so all is not lost.

The Black Book (1949) - aka Reign of Terror is another gem directed by Anthony Mann and shot by John Alton.

Miami Story (1954) - is good, and a little better in hindsight, but not something I'd have to own.

Johnny Allegro (1949) - Would have greatly benefited if it didn't star George Raft. This might be something to revisit with virtually any other leading man from the period. Welp.

Address Unknown (1944) - will be considered (at least) something of a gem to the majority of folks but it didn't resonate with me. Beautifully shot movie though.

The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) - is another movie that the average person likes more than me, so that needs to be taken into account.

Assignment Paris! (1952) - the sluggish first half sinks the thing.

The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947) - is a turkey that starts off relatively interesting with a couple interesting dream sequences.

Escape in the Fog (1945) - I saw this years ago and didn't think enough of it to give it another shot. Only for Boetticher completionists.


Overall, the transfers are adequate (and probably better than you'd expect for Mill Creek), but I can only recommend this to noir fans that already know that they'll get their 35 bucks worth. For me, 711 Ocean Drive and The Black Book make the set worth it, but I don't know if I could recommend the set in good faith -- if it's not on sale. C-



I usually have pretty good luck going through box sets where I haven't seen everything, and this was close to a worst case scenario type situation playing out for 29 bucks spent here. I can't say I'm particularly excited about going through Vol II & III but at least Vol III has The Lineup (1958).

[dave jenkins]

Better late than never....


Noir Archive Volume 1: 1944-1954


711 Ocean Drive (1950) - The main reason why I bought the set. I'd pay a Twilight Time price for this, so all is not lost.

The Black Book (1949) - aka Reign of Terror is another gem directed by Anthony Mann and shot by John Alton.


Overall, the transfers are adequate (and probably better than you'd expect for Mill Creek), but I can only recommend this to noir fans that already know that they'll get their 35 bucks worth. For me, 711 Ocean Drive and The Black Book make the set worth it, but I don't know if I could recommend the set in good faith -- if it's not on sale. C-

Pretty much agree. For me the set was worth getting for those two, and most of the other titles are filler. The one exception, though, is Johnny Allegro, which I hadn't seen before and enjoyed quite a bit. Yes, it would be a better movie with someone besides Raft in the lead, but Nina Foch is pretty good, and George Macready is always a pleasure. The plot isn't bad, starting out one place and ending up where I hadn't expected it to go. I was even amused how they segued into The Most Dangerous Game at the end. I'd say this title, along with the two you champion, has a definite re-watchability.

[T.H.]

Pretty much agree. For me the set was worth getting for those two, and most of the other titles are filler. The one exception, though, is Johnny Allegro, which I hadn't seen before and enjoyed quite a bit. Yes, it would be a better movie with someone besides Raft in the lead, but Nina Foch is pretty good, and George Macready is always a pleasure. The plot isn't bad, starting out one place and ending up where I hadn't expected it to go. I was even amused how they segued into The Most Dangerous Game at the end. I'd say this title, along with the two you champion, has a definite re-watchability.

You state a good case, and my George Raft bias was definitely speaking. I also enjoyed how the movie morphed into Most Dangerous Game, and the opening 15 mins or so are very well shot. I think Miami Story is probably worth another view at some point as well. But I would classify the aforementioned movies more as supplemental to the main two entries than a reason(s) to pick up the set.

[drinkanddestroy]

some intros/outros from Eddie & Ben's neo-noir series on Fridays in July:

Mona Lisa intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbdA5sCinv4

Mona Lisa outro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhbSz33Q8ds

Blade Runner ? The Final Cut intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCvWVT0XIPg

Blade Runner ? The Final Cut outro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNsTjRg-QrQ

Cutter's Way intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wReXW1ftnYA

Cutter's Way outro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMKsz8tNx08

Night Moves intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKd2z_zGYp8

Night Moves outro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6KxOLeqH1c

Blood Simple intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR9-hfkFw90

Blood Simple outro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7HAX8PLIlc

To Live and Die in L.A. intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRtq_9D1h7w

To Live and Die in L.A.outro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8jTul-jGqk

Pulp intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io7m3O3aUho

Pulp outro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5ZSjQ8e3Ok

[dave jenkins]

Hey, hey, hey: https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=29226

At last I'll be able to toss out the old (very poor) DVD.

[cigar joe]

Hey, hey, hey: https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=29226

At last I'll be able to toss out the old (very poor) DVD.

Good news

[drinkanddestroy]

Noir Alley is back from vacation during August's TCM Summer Under the Stars


here is the sked for the rest of 2021

SEPTEMBER
4 - Cloudburst
11 - Drive a Crooked Road
18 - Human Desire
25 - Hell Bound

OCTOBER
2 - The Glass Wall
9 - Brighton Rock
16 - The Dark Past
23 - La bestia debe morir (The Beast Must Die)
30 - Cat People


NOVEMBER
6 - Five Steps to Danger
13 - The Lineup
20 - Johnny O'Clock
27 - Tight Spot


DECEMBER
4 - The Unsuspected
11 - Cruel Gun Story
18 -  Blast of Silence