Any Noir specialist around for advice?

[Ann Harding]

Currently the French Cinémathèque is running a Film Noir season together with the Film Noir Foundation. They selected some rare titles. Can anybody shed some light and recommend the best?

Abandoned (1949, Joseph Newman) with Dennis O'Keefe, Gale Storm
The Third Voice (1959, Hubert Cornfield) with Edmond O'Brien
Tomorrow is Another Day (1951, Felix Feist) with Ruth Roman
Kiss the Blood off My Hands (1948, Norman Foster) with Joan Fontaine & Burt Lancaster
Among the Living (1941, Stuart Heisler) with Albert Dekker
Bodyguard (1948, Richard Fleischer) With Lawrence Tierney
Hell on Frisco Bay (1955, F. Tuttle) with Alan Ladd
Crashout (1955, Lewis R. Foster) with William Bendix
Loophole (1954, Harold Schuster) with Barry Sullivan
The Mob (1951, Robert Parrish) with Boderick crawford
Woman on the Run (1950, Norman Foster) with Ann Sheridan
The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947, Felix Feist) with Lawrence Tierney
The Hunted (1948, Jack Bernhard) with Preston Foster
Walk Softly, Stranger (1951, Robert Stevenson) with Joseph Cotten
Red Light (1949, Roy Del Ruth) with George Raft
For You I Die (1947, John Reinhardt) with Cathy Downs
Guilty Bystander (1950, Joseph Lerner) with Zacchary Scott
They Won't believe me (1947, Irving Pinchel) with Susan Hayward
Cry Danger (1951, Robert Parrish) with Dick Powell
Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949, William Castle) with Shelley Winters
Larceny (1948, George Sherman) with John Payne
Pitfall (1948, Andre de Toth) with Dick Powell
Shakedown (1950, Joseph Pevney) with Howard Duff
Strangers in the Night (1944, Anthony Mann) with William Terry
The Threat (1949, Felix Feist) with Michael O'Shea
Too Late for Tears (1949, Byron Haskin) with Lizbeth Scott
City That Never Sleeps (1953, John H. Auer) with Gig Young
Framed (1947, Richard Wallace) with Glenn Ford
Undertow (1949, William Castle) with Scott Brady
The Underworld Story (1950, Cy Enfield) with Dan Duryea
Alias Nick Beal (1949, John farrow) with Ray Milland
The Web (1947, Michael Gordon) with Ella Raines & Edmond O'Brien

Thanks in advance!

[knitwit45]

Yes, we do have a Noir specialist...in fact we have 3! Dewey has programmed at least 2 very successful Noir film fests in San Francisco, and ChiO and Ark (Mr. Arkadian) are no slouches, either. I'm sure one or all 3 will drop by here soon.

[Dewey1960]

Hi - The only ones I would consider "must-see" from that batch would be:
THE DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE
FRAMED
GUILTY BYSTANDER
THE UNDERWORLD STORY

While many of those titles are rare and certainly worth seeing, they're not necessarily top tier or
sufficiently interesting to recommend whole-heartedly. Will they be screening film prints or
projecting DVDs?

Good luck with what you see and please provide us with a full report!

[ChiO]

Dewey's the expert's expert. Unfortunately, Mr. Ark -- the deep thinker -- is probably sans computer. I'm the fan and I say see them all. But to narrow it a bit, my views on some of them:

Abandoned -- Good one, even if not up to his 711 Ocean Drive. William Daniels works the camera. Raymond Burr is a Bad Guy mobster in the baby-stealing biz.
Tomorrow Is Another Day -- Any Feist movie is worth seeing in my book.
Kiss the Blood off My Hands -- It's time to fly to Paris! This probably tops my list of noir I haven't seen, but really really want to. Russell Metty is the DP, so that's a huge plus. And Foster's resume is strong with Journey into Fear and Woman on the Run.
Bodyguard -- Haven't seen this one either, but Fleischer and Tierney are reasons for going to O'Hare.
The Mob -- Also with Richard Kiley and Ernest Borgnine, and Frank Tuttle sets. Violent and nasty -- both the Bad Guys and the putative Good Guys.
Woman On the Run -- Definitely worth seeing. This looks and acts like the noir we know and love.
The Devil Thumbs a Ride -- Get in line now to see this! One of my favorites. Tierney is...well, Tierney at his finest, which means he is at his absolute worst.
They Won't Believe Me -- Not only with Hayward, but Robert Young, Jane Greer, Tom Powers, Don Beddoe & Frank Ferguson. Think Double Indemnity crossed with A Place in the Sun. Joan Harrison produced.
Cry Danger -- Another good one with a fine cast of Powell, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Erdman, William Conrad (he makes every movie better), Regis Toomey and Jay Adler.
Johnny Stool Pigeon -- Shelley Winters directed by William Castle is reason enough to see this. But you can add Howard Duff, Dan Duryea, Tony Curtis and John McIntire. Definitely worth seeing.
Pitfall -- Another definitely worth seeing (but I'm a De Toth fan). Also includes Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr and Ann Doran. Should be shown to all about-to-be-husbands as an object lesson on the pitfall of straying.
Strangers in the Night -- To be seen more for historical interest than cinematic value. Mann is my favorite noir director, and this was his first noir. The best was definitely yet to come.
The Threat -- Did I say any Feist noir is worth seeing? This has Charles McGraw. See it.
Too Late for Tears -- Fun! Dan Duryea is a weak, corrupt detective and Lizabeth Scott is a husband killer who has some money that isn't hers. So what more do you need?
City That Never Sleeps -- William Talman! Marie Windsor! A docu-noir on murder and redemption in Chicago.
Framed -- Another not to be missed. With the sinister and lovely Janis Carter and the not-so-sinister and definitely not lovely Edgar Buchanan. Shot by Burnett Guffey, second only to John Alton in my Noir Cinematographer Pantheon. Ford gets framed by Carter (who would have thought?). Carter's boyfriend, Barry Sullivan, gets framed by Carter. Carter gets framed by prison bars.

[moira finnie]

Kiss the Blood off My Hands -- It's time to fly to Paris! This probably tops my list of noir I haven't seen, but really really want to. Russell Metty is the DP, so that's a huge plus. And Foster's resume is strong with Journey into Fear and Woman on the Run.

I'll save you the money on the flight, ChiO. This movie can be seen here and in the thread on our website, Lost Movies on Youtube.

[ChiO]

I'll save you the money on the flight, ChiO.

Okay, then...you explain that to Mrs. ChiO. I was going to take you to Paris, really, I was, but Moira said it's all on Youtube.

Oh, well. You seen one Musee d'Orsay, you seen'um all.

[Ann Harding]

I'll save you the money on the flight, ChiO.

Okay, then...you explain that to Mrs. ChiO. I was going to take you to Paris, really, I was, but Moira said it's all on Youtube.

Oh, well. You seen one Musee d'Orsay, you seen'um all.

Thanks a lot ChiO! Well, if you change your mind, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands is on July 7th at 7pm and also on July 17th at 9pm. I'm pretty sure I'll go to see this one. The title and cast already attracted my attention. So far, I went to see two Universal Pre-Codes (Okay America and Afraid To Talk) that were included in the season because of their Noirish/gangster themes. Both were great and superb prints.

Thanks also Dewey for your advice. They are screening 35 mm prints. But Too Late for Tears is a 16mm print. Eddie Muller, the head of the Film Noir Foundation, said during a presentation that he would like to restore this title. But so far, he only managed to get 3 incomplete prints. But he heard of an original nitrate print which was purchased (illegally) by a projectionist in Philadelpia. For the past two years, he has been trying to contact the man. But no telephone and no email. He will have to go there to see him...!

[JackFavell]

I have two thumbs up for Alias Nick Beal, but I am unsure on how noiry it is. Two people I know insist that it MUST be seen, one of whom is my father, whose taste I implicitly trust. The other is Bronxgirl who posts here occasionally, whose taste I implicitly trust. It can be found almost nowhere.