Film Noir Reviews

[Andrew Monroe]

This seems as good a place as any to post this, thought any noir fans might enjoy this cool story from Eddie Muller (from the Film Noir Foundation Update):

"In the meantime, I wanted to share with you the huge success we recently had in France. For the Film Noir Foundation, October's Grand Lyon 2009 film festival was a triomphe extraordinaire. My friend and colleague Philippe Garnier and I presented a series of seven films noir largely unknown to French cinéphiles--no easy assignment in such a film savvy country. The surprising and sublime reaction to the series, entitled "The Art of Noir," is best conveyed in a single anecdote:

On the festival's final day my wife and I were invited to an exclusive send-off luncheon for the festival's Guest of Honor, Clint Eastwood, regarded by the French as America's greatest living contributor to world cinema, both as a screen icon and a director. When I was introduced to Eastwood (a fellow San Franciscan), he smiled and said, "So you're the one who brought over Woman on the Run. Pierre hasn't stopped talking about it."

Pierre Rissient, France's most legendary cinéphile (and Eastwood's close friend), is generally regarded as the Man Who Has Seen It All. After viewing Woman on the Run (1950) with a packed house at the Institut theatre, Rissient had shaken my hand and proclaimed the film "a revelation." Many other French critics who attended "The Art of Noir" series agreed, filling major publications such as Le Monde, Liberation, Le Figaro, and Télérama with praise for the program--and this "rediscovered" Ann Sheridan film in particular.

In fact, the ecstatic response to Woman on the Run slightly overshadowed the enthusiastic reception accorded Joseph Losey's 1951 masterpiece, The Prowler--which is no small irony. While we were eager and proud to unveil in France the FNF-funded restoration of The Prowler produced at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, we were sheepish about having to screen a digi-beta version of Woman on the Run--made by yours truly in 2003 from the only known 35-millimeter print extant, which was lost last year in a fire on the Universal Studios lot.

It mattered not to the French, who were equally impressed by both films--as well as the other rarities in the series: Fly-By-Night (1942), The Web (1948), The Threat (1949), 711 Ocean Drive (1950), and The Sniper (1952). Due to strict archival guidelines, each film was shown only once, which made "The Art of Noir" perhaps the hottest ticket in the festival and helped ensure completely full houses. Imagine: more than 450 people starting their day at 9:30 am with Charles McGraw running amok in The Threat!"

Good God! WOMAN ON THE RUN on the big screen! Bill, I hope you see this. The thought of seeing this, along with THE PROWLER and THE THREAT on the big screen is well, the stuff dreams are made of. Not to mention 711 OCEAN DRIVE and THE SNIPER! To be there for that....

[Steve R]

Roadhouse 1948
Saw this for the first time just before getting on the road.
Great film. It's a tough noir. Gritty double crossing tale.
Torrid Melodrama. Killer climax in the fog enshrowded forrest with all four princliples bloodied.

Was there ever a more cyncial, seductive woman alive than Ida Lupino? She smokes constantly through this pictures leaving burning cigarette butts on her piano and everything else in sight. She's a lounge singer. Bluesy piano styling support torchy readings of One For My Baby and others. She even incites a barroom brawl when one of her tunes gets a man way too worked up. The fight is shot really well with broken glass flying, chairs cracking and low angles. Just when you think this is a too muchc intrigue and romance - smash - it errupts in your face.

Best maniacal laugh ever has to go to Richard Widmark. Amazing performance.

More later, but this is definitely one of the really good ones. You do get a dose of Gilda-like two guys after one girl, more sexual overtones and metaphores than any dozen other films and what they do with bowling balls shoulda been illegal. A romantic noir wth Ida Lupino and Richard Widmark as the man who is not happy about it.

Strong Recommend.

[Steve R]

Raw Deal (1948) Anthony Mann

Early poverty row film from Anthony Mann. For some odd reason the leads, Dennis O'Keefe and Claire Trevor just didn't click for me in this one. Have liked them in other stuff.

Dennis breaks out of jail, things go wrong and he winds up in a fast stolen car with his moll Trevor and a kidnaped social worker that tried to help him. He likes both girls and Trevor is not happy. After the Jail break, for me the whole middle of the film kind of sags and bogs down in this semi-romantic road picture.

However we get a great last third act and some killer touches.
John Alton's camera work is superb throughout.
When O'Keefe meets each girl in the prison visiting chiars, they each get one artful twinkle in the eye. Looks like a star filter trick, cute.
Raymond Burr assaults a lady with a flaming flambe to the face (wonder if this was the inspiration for Lee Marvin and Gloria Graham's hot coffee splashing in Lang's Big Heat in 1953)
Deer Antleers - Our man Dennis manages to push the bad guy's face right into the business end of a mounted trophy during a fight.

A lesser Mann for me, but I want to see all of his, and Budd Boetticher and Fritz Lang's work. This Poverty Row stuff gives the director such a free hand and Mann was one to be really creative in tandem with Alton.

[Andrew Monroe]

Finally managed to catch up with Nicholas Ray's PARTY GIRL ('58) thanks to a TCM airing this week. A period piece set in 1930's Chicago where Robert Taylor, a mob mouthpiece, starts to question his choices after he meets and inevitably falls in love with club dancer Cyd Charisse (I mean, seriously, who the hell wouldn't fall in love with this stunner?). Lee J. Cobb does another of his larger-than-life turns as the mob boss, pretending to be civilized and a gentleman, right up until he beats a backstabbing rival silly with a sterling silver trophy. Charisse really quickened my pulse in this one, she has two quite steamy dance numbers - this woman had legs for days - and it's obvious Ray agreed. Beautifully photographed, particularly those dance scenes and pretty darn violent too. There's a montage of murders that had me wondering if it influenced THE GODFATHER.

[Steve R]

While The City Sleeps (1956) Fritz Lang with
Dana Andrews, Ida Lupino, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Vincent Price

This film just doesn't have much bite to it. Kind of a real pale noir. There's a lipstick killer on the loose who is costumed like an extra from The Wild Ones. The old newspaper tycoon owner dies leaving his son in charge. Vincent Price has a competition with his staff. Whoever can reveal thes identity of the killer gets the newly created top position at the paper. This is no Ace In The Hole expose of the newspaper racket. They just drink and putz around the office. The most enjoyable parts were from the array of great supporting characters. Vincent Price practicing his golf put at home while his trophy wife stretches in her personal sandbox. Ida Lupino smokes up a storm and preys on poor Dana. There's a brief chase in the subways at the end that has a few nice shots. For a film set in New York, it looks nothing like the city. Fritz Lang has said he really likes this one.

I am a huge fan of Langs, but he's got a few that don't make the cut. To me the story and script were weak and Fritz didn't show much style here. Still, I want to se all of them.

[Robin Bougie]

UNDER THE GUN (1951)
Richard Conte is great in this, and so is Audrey Totter. The former plays a smooth-talkin' gangster who convinces the lovely Miss Totter's character (who is a night club singer) to join him on a roadtrip to New York, where he claims he'll make her a star. But while driving through the Deep South, they stop at a resort where Conte coldly guns down a would-be assassin, is tried for murder, and get 20 years hard labour in a southern prison work camp when Audrey won't lie under oath to save him. At this point, the whole film bears down and takes on a noir prison theme, and I don't want to divulge much more about the plot because the violent, morally repugnant escape plan and subsequent twists are just so original and creative, it would be a shame to not get to see them unravel with an element of surprise in the mix.

[Andrew Monroe]

Frank Borzage's ultra-stylish MOONRISE makes its TCM premiere tomorrow (Feb. 3) night at 10 pm. The film stars Dane Clark and Gail Russell. I saw this on AMC many moons ago and look forward to a refresher. The opening sequence is one of the few things I still recall about it, a real stunner in terms of photography.

[Phil B.]

Thanks for the tip..I've heard comparisons to Laughton's NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, so I'll be checking it out.

[Steve R]

The beginning of Moonrise was very stylish and had some real chilling images.
I associate Borzage with such upbeat community realted stuff, yet my favorite one of his is No Greater Glory which has some creepy scenes as young gang kids sneak into and out of enemy territory, often along the water's edge.

Nice recommend, Andrew. A coupel of those shots do stay with you.

[Steve R]

Niagara (1953)
Director Henry Hathaway with Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten.

As I started this noir I thought why is this in color? Then when we first see Mailyn waking up between the sheets, tousled blond hair and that lucious sinful shade of bright red listick, I knew why. Marilyn plays a real femme fatale out to kill her maybe/maybe not whacko husband, Cotten. They have a room right next to a goody two shoes couple overlooking Niagara Falls. The juxtopositioning of these two couples is really well done.

The goody two shoes guy is like William H Macy, all smiles and nerdy enthusiasm till you start to see beneath that. He's got a subtte habit of subjugating his wife. In one scene he has her posing for a picture. He lines up the Falls in the background and gets the sunlight just right. He says, Come on honey inhale (she rankles but uncomfortably puffs your chest out). And then Marilyn's shadow fall over them. It spoils the sunlight, wrecks the picture and saves the girl further embaresment. Hathaway does this wonderfully. We suspect what is underneath everyone.

Marilyn sets up the murder, getting everyone to think her husband is loosing it. She pours it on manipulating the next door couple so well. The Falls are the perfect background for planning a murder. They are an historic, even campy landmark associated with honeymoons and so dangerous. Hitchcock would be proud. He likely had considered it himself.

The ending is almost out of an action movie. With the threat of going over the Falls almost a certianly for two of the characters. This is a very well done noir. One I had avoided for no good reason I'm aware of. Maybe becasue I so associate Monroe as the kooky blond bombshell, so great in Some like it hot.

See this one and put it on the shelf next to Asphalt Jungle (John Houston) and Clash By Night (Fritz Lang). That's three valid noirs for the lady. And yeah she looks drop dead gorgeous in all kinds of outfits, here.

[Garrett Sorensen]

The wife and I have watched over 100 film noir's in the last year or two. Here is the ones I can recall with a very rough grade (I can hardly distinguish some of these in my head - and some could not be noirs at all.) Any recommendations on what should be next is welcome.

B A Free Soul
A A Stolen Face
A Act of Violence
A Amazing Mr. X
B Angel Face
A Baby Face
B Big Heat, the
B Big Sleep
B Black Angel
B Born to Kill
A Cat People
A Cause for Alarm-- Loretta Young
A Chase, The-- Robert Cummings
B Compulsion
C Crash by Night
A Crime Wave
B Criss Cross
B Crossfire
A D.O.A.-- Edmond O'Brien
B Damned Don't Cry
C Dark Mirror, the
B Dark Passage
A Dark Waters
B Dead Reckoning
C Decoy
A Detour
A Double Indemnity
B Fallen Angel
A Fear in the Night-- DeForest Kelly
C Frisco Jenny
C Gilda
C Great Flamarion, The-- Erich von Stroheim
B Guest in the House-- Ann Baxter
A Gun Crazy
D Half a Sinner-- Heather Angel
A Heat Wave
B Heroes for Sale
B Hitchhiker
B Hoodlum, The-- Lawrence Tierney
B I Wake up Screaming
B Illegal
B Impact
A In a Lonely Place
A Inner Sanctum-- Mary Beth Hughes
B Jeopardy
C Key Largo
B Killer Bait
A Killing, the
A Kiss Me Deadly
B Lady from Shanghai
B Laura
A Leopard Man, the
C Life at Stake, A-- Angela Lansbury
C Man Bait
B Man Who Cheated Himself-- Lee J. Cobb
A Merrily We Go to Hell
B Midnight Mary
A Mildred Pierce
C moontide
B Mystery Street
C Naked City. the
A Naked Kiss, The-- Constance Towers
B Narrow Margin
B Niagra
A Night of the Hunter
B Nightmare Alley
B On Dangerous Ground
C Other Men's Women
A Out of the Past
A Pickup on South Street
C Please Murder Me-- Angela Lansbury
B Possessed
C Postman Always Rings Twice
B Purchase Price
B Red Headed Woman
A Red House, The-- Edward G Robinson
B Road House
A Scar, The-- Paul Henreid
A Scarlet Street
C Secret File: Hollywood
B Secret from Beyond the Door
C Set-up, the
A Seventh Victim
C Shock
D Shoot to Kill-- Russell Wade
C Side Street
A Silent Partner, the
A Sleeping Tiger, The-- Alexis Smith
A Sorry Wrong Number
A Spiral Staircase
A Split Second
C Strange Illusion-- James Lydon
B Strange Love of Martha Ivers
B Strange Woman-- Hedy Lamar
A Stranger, the
B Sudden Fear
A Sunset Blvd
A Tension
C Thieves Highway
B This Gun for Hire
A Three on a Match
A Touch of Evil
C Undercurrent
A Underworld Story, the
B Where Danger Lives
B Whirlpool
C Whistle Stop-- George Raft
B Wild Boys of the Road
A Woman in the Window
A Woman on the Run-- Ann Sheridan

[Andrew Monroe]

Wow, ya'll have been on a real noir jag! Nice. Very impressive list too, I need to see a few of those myself. Here's a few I didn't see there that I would definitely recommend (and are on dvd):

ACE IN THE HOLE
THE BIG COMBO
WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS
THE DARK CORNER
THE BIG CLOCK
BORDER INCIDENT
T-MEN
RAW DEAL
THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK
THE SNIPER
GUNMAN IN THE STREETS
KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL
RAILROADED
HE WALKED BY NIGHT

[Steve R]

Garrett,

Some really nice viewing there, buddy! I'm way impressed.
I'll second Andrew's recommendations, placing a huge emphasis on the Anthony Mann titles - T-MEN, RAW DEAL, and RAILROADED

and suggest you get yourself a copy of

Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Vol. 1 with - The Big Heat / 5 Against the House / The Lineup / Murder by Contract / The Sniper

The Sniper & Murder By Contract
Would be great selections now. They are really off the beaten path and different from the normal noirs.
The Lineup is great, too love all the Don Siegels.

Steve

[Garrett Sorensen]

Thanks alot for the titles. I actually have The Big Clock on the way, but will add the others into my queue (don't know how I missed Where the Sidewalk Ends and managed to see Otto's other noirs.) I have very odd taste in Noir because I do not enjoy the ones based around a detective. Thus, Bogart doesn't do it for me although In a Lonely Place was great (otherwise give me Dan Duryea) nor other "classics" like Murder My Sweet.

My wife and I got the addiction after I had gone through all the Bava's and we had finished religiously watching Twin Peaks, so it really fit in perfect. We started with the Dark Crimes mill creek 50 DVD set which still contains some of my favorites (Woman on the Run, The Red House, The Sleeping Tiger etc.) I also got to see the very rare Secret File: Hollywood at 3AM at a country drive-in theater. I have never seen a sub-genre of such consistently high quality, I am rarely disappointed. There is just something about the subversive elements in older films that raise my eyebrows, much like the uncut Baby Face did. By the way, one 70's film (The Silent Partner) crept onto my list because I had just seen and loved it and it is noir down to the button (with a brief WTF giallo moment.) I am sure to follow up my list with some more in-depth reviews of my faves.

[Andrew Monroe]

I have the Dark Crimes set too, it's a treasure trove for noir fans. And at the time it came out there were some pretty rare titles on it - most of which have since turned up elsewhere - like Losey's SLEEPING TIGER (a fav of mine too), GUEST IN THE HOUSE, PLEASE MURDER ME etc. WOMAN ON THE RUN is an old favorite around here, glad to know another fan of it.

You may not like THE DARK CORNER if you don't care much for detective-centric noirs but I think it's a fine one. Very moody. THE BIG CLOCK is also one of my favs, I look forward to hearing what you think of it. There are certainly color noirs, and late period neo-noirs too, heck I love NIGHT MOVES as well as SILENT PARTNER among others. THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE is another terrific 70s bleak noir.

Please do post reviews or comments as it strikes you, always good to get more folks contributing to this thread.

By the way, Turner Classic Movies is a good source of noirs not on dvd (not so much this month with the Oscar focus), if you get the channel. We try to post a heads-up if a rare one is coming up.