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The Film Noir Thread

post #1 of 105
1/10/08 at 12:34pm
Thread Starter 
I am on a big film noir kick for a number of reasons, and it's fast becoming my favorite genre.

Out of the Past (1947): Really loved this one. I think that it's a great introduction to all the elements of noir. The scene where Mitchum sees Jane Greer for the first time, in one word? Damn. And man, this thing is quotable as all hell. It doesn't get cooler than "Build my gallows high, baby." People who are in the know, is "Against All Odds" worth checking out as a companion piece?

Classic Babe Alert: Greer is stunning, but I also appreciated Rhonda Fleming as the faux femme fatale.

Nightmare Alley (1947): This thing had more endings than Lord of the Rings. However, I really liked it -- the idea of a noir set in the carnival/mentalist arena was pretty cool. I also thought it was pretty subversive for its time -- if my reading is correct, the film was equating mentalism, psychiatry, and religion as all being frauds. That's ballsy.

Classic Babe Alert: Coleen Gray may be the ultimate Midwestern girl next door.
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post #2 of 105
1/10/08 at 12:58pm
THE BIG SLEEP (1946) really is quintessential noir. I'm always amazed at how adult the film is for the time in which it was made. It's also Bogart's finest performance, in my opinion.
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post #3 of 105
1/10/08 at 1:44pm
Amazon's got some great deals on classic noir discs. I picked up the 2 disc release of Double Indemnity for 8 bucks. Last time I looked, Sunset Boulevard was going for, like, 6.

As for The Big Sleep, it doesn't get better than Bogey and Bacall. Also, I heart Martha Vickers in that movie. Best piece of trivia? While filming, Howard Hawks and the cast could not figure out who had killed the chauffeur (or if he had committed suicide) and so they sent a telegram to Raymond Chandler. He cabled back that he had no idea!
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post #4 of 105
1/10/08 at 2:27pm
I like The Big Sleep okay, but it's way too indecypherable for me to really consider it a great movie. So many great scenes, but it feels like there are brick walls between them.

I bought a ten-disc set a while back that has a bunch of second-tier Noirs like Detour and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers for $10 bucks a while back ($1 per movie, I couldn't pass that up), but I haven't cracked it open yet. Maybe this weekend...
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post #5 of 105
1/10/08 at 2:56pm
I actually wrote my thesis on film noir, so I am obviously a huge fan. A really interesting one to check out is Lady in The Lake (1947). The film stars Raymond Chandler's iconic P.I. Philip Marlowe, but the reall interesting thing about the film is that it is all shot in first-person. It's not really the best, but a pretty ballsy move for the 40s.
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post #6 of 105
1/10/08 at 3:02pm
I caught the first 30 minutes or so of Lady in the Lake on TCM a few months ago, I found it very offputting and I had to shut it off. A series of ten-minute takes of various characters staring into the lens and telling their life's story was too bizarre for me.
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post #7 of 105
1/10/08 at 3:18pm
As far as modern noir goes, I think the Coen's BLOOD SIMPLE (1985) and Dahl's THE LAST SEDUCTION (1994) are good places to start.
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post #8 of 105
1/10/08 at 3:22pm
How about Brick? I'd place that up there with Blood Simple and Chinatown in terms of modern noir. Black Dahlia wasn't half bad until they blew it in the final reel.
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post #9 of 105
1/10/08 at 3:39pm
Ace in the Hole is pretty close, even if it's not a noir vérité. But is there no love for Touch of Evil? It's awesomely odd and quotable, and sad. "You're future's all used up."
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post #10 of 105
1/10/08 at 3:54pm
I like when Charlton Heston plays a Mexican, therefore I like Touch of Evil.
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post #11 of 105
1/10/08 at 4:18pm
Red Rock West is a very good modern noir that would go great with Blood Simple.

It really is essential to watch anything by Anthony Mann. T-Men and Raw Deal are both just great, great stuff. John Alton's photography is always the star.
One of my favorite lesser known gems is The Big Combo with Cornel Wilde. It features a very tense torture scene with a radio.
The House of Bamboo is one of my favorites, and probably one of the only color film noirs I've seen. I'll probably buy anything with Robert Ryan in it, and he's sick in this one.
Brute Force is brilliant in every way. Hume Cronyn is seriously demented in it, and it has the most violent ending to ever come out of the era.
Rififi is my favorite film noir ever, though. Plain and simple. Anyone I show that movie to falls in love.

There are others that are quite difficult to get a hold of that i've been dying to see. The Prowler (1951), which is James Ellroy's supposed favorite movie of all time, and The Lineup starring Eli Wallach, which I only really want to see because it was directed by Don Siegel.
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post #12 of 105
1/12/08 at 5:51pm
I'm a pretty big fan of Noir. A couple that need mentioning here is Kubrick's The Killing from -56, Fritz Lang's The Big Heat with a really sinister bad guy portrayal by a young Lee Marvin, and of course The Third Man, which is one of my favorite films ever. Those are some fairly standard choices, so I suppose everybody's already seen them or at least knows them. Also, one can't go wrong with The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity or The Maltese Falcon.

As far as modern or neo noir, I think Miller's Crossing is outstanding (btw, is The Glass Key w/ Alan Ladd any good?), and L.A. Confidential is one of my favorite films from the '90s. I used to love the noir feeling that the voice-over lent to Blade Runner but on subsequent viewings I have, like many others, found that it's fairly redundant. Wait... will bringing that discussion to this thread ruin it for everybody? If so, I'll apologise and move on.
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post #13 of 105
1/12/08 at 7:20pm
Thread Starter 
L.A Confidential is my favorite film of all time. Period.
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post #14 of 105
1/12/08 at 7:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu
L.A Confidential is my favorite film of all time. Period.
When I come across some schmuck who hasn't seen it I always recommend it as "the best film from the year Titanic came out". They say "no way", I lend them the film, they return it a while later saying "wow, you were right. It's awesome".* Has happened three times, so far.

*I don't reply "I told you so", because "I never say it, and I don't like people who do".
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post #15 of 105
1/12/08 at 10:25pm
Thread Starter 
Red Rock West (1993): I haven't finished this yet, but Dennis Hopper's entrance was really fucking awesome. Also: "I don't want to see an innocent woman get hurt...but it's an awful lot of money."
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post #16 of 105
1/12/08 at 10:39pm
Thread Starter 
Is it based on the Shel Silverstein classic?
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post #17 of 105
1/13/08 at 6:39am
ALPHAVILLE did future noir so much better than BLADE RUNNER.
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post #18 of 105
1/13/08 at 10:10am
Thread Starter 
Red Rock West, continued: The movie doesn't stick the landing, and by the landing, I mean the climax in the cemetary. The coda's pretty awesome, though, and everything up to that point is spectacular. Hopper steals the show, but JT Walsh has to be the dearly departed master of sleaze.
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post #19 of 105
1/16/08 at 12:07am
Thread Starter 
Laura (1944): You know, it's movies like this which remind me why I fell in love with them in the first place. That's really sentimental for a noir like this one, but when a film that's over sixty years old can have me screaming at the television in suspense in the last five minutes, something few films ever do, well, that's really something. The cinematography here is gorgeous, and at 88 minutes, it doesn't feel short.

Also: Vincent Price is a tall motherfucker. Also, he kind of looks like Ralph Fiennes.

Also: Watching this film had me thinking about Carnahan's remake of "Bunny Lake is Missing"* and that game we used to play where we recast classic films for today; if I were going to recast this one, I'd have to get Dominic West for the Dana Andrews part -- they look somewhat similar.

Classic Babe Alert: Gene Tierney has this weird thing going on with her teeth, but aside from that, mega hotness. I netflixed Red River just because of Coleen Gray, from "Nightmare Alley," I may have to check out some of Tierney's other pictures.

In short: Otto Preminger, you are my new god.

*Now at the top of my netflix queue.
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post #20 of 105
1/16/08 at 9:20pm
Thread Starter 
It's in my Netflix queue.
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post #21 of 105
1/16/08 at 9:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabriel Williams
ALPHAVILLE did future noir so much better than BLADE RUNNER.
I love both, but I'll take Blade Runner. Still, they're both pretty fucking good.

Plus I enjoy playing the Alphaville drinking game, where you toss one back every time you hear Anna Karina say "M'sieur Johnson."
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post #22 of 105
1/18/08 at 1:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabriel Williams
THE BIG SLEEP (1946) really is quintessential noir. I'm always amazed at how adult the film is for the time in which it was made. It's also Bogart's finest performance, in my opinion.
Ditto to all that.

Not only is the script amazingly funny and suggestive ("She tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up") but the acting is way ahead of its time, too. The Big Sleep is one of my all time favorites and the film that turned me on to Bogart.
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post #23 of 105
1/22/08 at 3:18pm
Thread Starter 
Where The Sidewalk Ends (1950): I still have an hour to go in this, but it's making my brain hurt. Gene Tierney is so, so hot. I think I'm going to have to watch every movie she ever made, even as an old lady.
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post #24 of 105
1/22/08 at 3:57pm
She's terrific in Leave Her to Heaven. Even when playing a horrible person, she's still breathtaking.
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post #25 of 105
1/22/08 at 4:19pm
Okay, so we're 37 posts into a conversation about noir and there's no mention of Body Heat yet? Shame, shame, shame!
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post #26 of 105
1/22/08 at 4:20pm
Thread Starter 
Body Heat is actually near the top of my queue. I'm excited to see that one.
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post #27 of 105
1/22/08 at 4:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu View Post
Body Heat is actually near the top of my queue. I'm excited to see that one.
You should be. It's some kind of awesome form a decade that had very little awesome in terms of noir.
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post #28 of 105
1/22/08 at 4:49pm
I was just thinking about Body Heat the other day. It's fucking cold here right now and me and a friend were talking about hot movies. It may be the sweatiest movie ever made.

Another good modern noir is KILL ME AGAIN, which I thought was John Dahl's first movie but I was wrong.
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post #29 of 105
1/22/08 at 4:55pm
I'm not that crazy about Body Heat. It's basically the same story as Double Indemnity only not as good.
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post #30 of 105
1/22/08 at 7:40pm
Thread Starter 
Where The Sidewalk Ends, continued: Mark Dixon, you so crazy. At least this film ends with the retroactive knowledge that he probably would have gotten off, being a cop in 1950, and the dude attacked him. He'd been back on the sidewalks and schtupping Tierney in no time.

Otherwise, really good movie. A little hard to follow in the beginning, plus, that friend of Taylor's had the shrillest NY accent EVAH, but I really liked it. Karl Malden was kind of an asshole, too.
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post #31 of 105
1/23/08 at 12:36am
Thread Starter 
Holy crap, Bunny Lake is Missing's cinematography is gorgeous.
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post #32 of 105
1/23/08 at 12:37am
Body Heat, the definition of knowing the words but not the music.
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post #33 of 105
1/23/08 at 1:31am
I just rewatched "Dead Again" (saw it in the theater, originally) and aside from the hokey ending, I thought it did a pretty good job trying to fit in the genre. But I can't quite put my finger on why it doesn't feel complete... the visuals were nice, I liked the dual storyline, but it feels a bit like a kid playing dress-up in noir clothes?

And I'm wondering if it was meant to be that way, or if Branagh's intention was to try to create a full-blooded noir?
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post #34 of 105
1/23/08 at 11:24pm
Fuck. Nightfall with Aldo Ray and Anne Bancroft, directed by Jacques Tourneur was on at 8:15 this morning on TCM. I had no idea and wasn't able to set the DVR. Based on the David Goodis novel of the same name and long unavailable on video or DVD. I'll be looking for this again.
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post #35 of 105
1/31/08 at 12:05am
Thread Starter 
Sorry, but I think Body Heat kind of sucks.
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post #36 of 105
1/31/08 at 4:43am
Some bitch: You're not very tall.
Bogart: Well, I try to be.

I saw The Big Sleep for the first time in a theater and I remember everyone cracking up at that line. It wasn't a re-release either- I'm 74 years old!

Also, I still haven't seen L.A. Confidential, but I don't need convincing. I'm just an asshole, but I'll get to it soon. In all fairness, I never saw all of Titanic because it seemed shitty as hell except for Billy Zane.
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post #37 of 105
1/31/08 at 11:21am
Here all these years I thought I was going against the grain on Body Heat. Glad I'm not the only one that isn't crazy about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean Stockwell View Post
I saw The Big Sleep for the first time in a theater and I remember everyone cracking up at that line. It wasn't a re-release either- I'm 74 years old!
Mr. Stockwell? Is that really you?

EDIT: Damn, the real Dean is 71. Ah well, I can pretend can't I?
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post #38 of 105
1/31/08 at 9:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin K View Post
Here all these years I thought I was going against the grain on Body Heat. Glad I'm not the only one that isn't crazy about it.

Mr. Stockwell? Is that really you?

EDIT: Damn, the real Dean is 71. Ah well, I can pretend can't I?
That biography is wrong. Everyone gets my birthday wrong because of what I told some interviewer back in '78. I was trying to seem younger because she was only 24 and well, haha, it's a weird story but I wound up fucking her brains out.
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post #39 of 105
2/2/08 at 10:04pm
Thread Starter 
Night and the City is pretty fucking awesome. I like that Harry is basically a fuck-up, it's an archetype that I haven't seen in these noirs that I've been watching. Gene Tierney singing, well, goddamn. The fight scene? That might be all-time. All-time. And I love the "Bounty Is Put Out On Harry's Head" sequence. There's so much gorgeous cinematography and camera work, too, that I know I'm missing. I'll buy this one for sure.
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post #40 of 105
2/7/08 at 4:07am
Thread Starter 
Couple of days later, and "Night and the City" is still sticking with me. I frontloaded my Netflix queue with a lot of Dassin, so I'm excited about checking those out.

Anyway, finally watched the rest of Body Heat. I wound up thinking it was solid entertainment, but I think Kasdan is not a very good director at all. The performances made it for me, and even then, I agree with Andre -- it's a movie that knows the words but not the music.
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post #41 of 105
7/16/08 at 9:42am
Great thread. Got THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (not strictly noir) in the mail; been rocking the 70's for about the last six monthes, thinking of going on a noir kick. Would love to hear more of people's favorites and hidden gems.

The tops for me: BIG SLEEP, OUT OF THE PAST, KISS OF DEATH, & HIGH SIERRA

EDIT: Throw in mention of your favorite Dames & Dicks if ya want
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post #42 of 105
7/16/08 at 10:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Dellamorte View Post
Body Heat, the definition of knowing the words but not the music.
Ouch!! I can see that about SILVERADO, but BODY HEAT..really? It's been a long time, but always remembered it as being the premier example (along with LAST SEDUCTION) of the modern femme fatale done right.
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post #43 of 105
7/16/08 at 1:04pm
I just watched Mildred Pierce last weekend and I loved it. Joan Crawford won the Best Actress Academy Award in 1946 for her performance as the mother who just wants to make her children happy and seems to fail at every turn (but not from lack of effort). I can't recommend this movie enough based on Crawford's performance alone. The supporting cast is aces, even though for the most part they are all incredibly unlikable assholes (especially Pierce's eldest daughter).

My wife is a big noir fan, so we usually watch at least one new title a week. Next in the queue: Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street.
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post #44 of 105
7/16/08 at 1:46pm
Va-va-voom! 3D! Pow! I love Kiss Me Deadly. Ever notice Mike Hammer never reads, whenever a note or newspaper is handed to him he immediately and almost angrily hands it over to someone else to read it for him. It happens so deliberatly throughout the film I'm convinced it's done for a specific reason. Finally, he does read one thing, the label of an opera record, then sneers and takes extreme joy in breaking the record. Weird. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who has ever noticed this and I'm reading more into it than there really is.
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post #45 of 105
7/16/08 at 5:17pm
Douglas Sirk's Lured (1947) is a lesser known gem. Solid cast/performances, and the atmosphere is great.

Also, Blast of Silence. Probably the most stylistic noir I've ever seen, and on such a low budget.

I love noir.
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post #46 of 105
7/16/08 at 5:38pm
Just saw Out of the Past for the first time on Monday. Loved it! It made me realize I haven't really seen any Mitchum stuff from that era, gonna have to rectify that. I was really pissed yesterday the power went out in the middle of taping Kiss Me Deadly off TCM.
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post #47 of 105
7/20/08 at 4:15pm
I'm fond of Black Angel, but I may just be a Duryea fanboy. There's a really interesting shot right at the beginning, a guy standing on the street looking up at an apartment building, and the camera zooms up and goes through the wall. Everything else in the movie looks pretty pedestrian, so I don't know if they just blew their creativity wad or what.
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post #48 of 105
7/25/08 at 9:24am
Philip Marlowe shouldn't be transfered to the screen IMO, it'll always fall short. Am I crazy or is Downey Jr. going to play him soon?
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post #49 of 105
1/8/09 at 10:43pm
This is the closest to a thread on Double Indemnity I could find. After seeing Sunset Boulevard, I wanted to see more Billy Wilder and so I picked this up.

I can't say this has left as much of an impression as Sunset Boulevard, but it is still wildly entertaining. The only other role I previously saw Fred MacMurray in was the Nutty Professor. So I have to admit that was a bit strange to for me see him in this kind of role.

Barbara Stanwyck is just perfect in her role, she's evil and backstabbing and yet I still want a piece.

I love that there is such a large quantity of films as far as 60 or 70 years old for me to discover and love. It doesn't bother me that they are well-tread by other more seasoned film fans because they are new to me. I am interested in hearing what other Chewers think of this film.
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post #50 of 105
1/9/09 at 3:54am
The Big Combo.
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