I'm getting hooked on noir

charliechaplinfan · September 25th, 2008, 4:55 pm

I've been hooked on silent movies, musicals, foreign language movies, precodes and now joining the bunch is noir. In the last couple of weeks I've seen Criss Cross, DOA, He Walked By Night, The Naked City, They Live By Night, Sorry Wrong Number and The Big Steal.

I've never known much about noir films, the directors or the stars. Someone recommended a book for me called The Noir Style .

It makes me realise what a rich tapestry film really is.

ChiO · Post by **ChiO** » September 25th, 2008, 5:58 pm

Welcome to the club of the obsessives. The world needs more depressed movie viewers who can accept the Doom surrounding us with a shrug. And, by the way, that's a fine selection of movies that you've seen over the past couple of weeks.

Another good primer is Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen (Foster Hirsch). Film Noir (Eddie Robson), published first in Great Britain, goes into more detail on the 18 movies that he views as the essentials (not necessarily the best movies). Then More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts (James Naremore) corrects (translation: I agree with him) the historical errors of the others. Read the Film Noir Reader (Silver & Ursini) series and you qualify for geekdom.

Dewey1960 · Post by **Dewey1960** » September 25th, 2008, 6:51 pm

Hi there - Let me be the second to officially welcome you to the menacingly beautiful nocturnal world of film noir. I know you didn't ask for it, but here's a Baker's Dozen of personal favorites which come highly recommended from me to you. I've intentionally left off OUT OF THE PAST and TOUCH OF EVIL, the two films voted "Favorite Film Noir" on these very boards this past spring because, as I recall, you mentioned that you had seen them both. There's a good likelihood you've seen some of these as well, but here goes:
THE LEOPARD MAN (1943; Jacques Tourneur)
PHANTOM LADY (1944; Robert Siodmak)
SCARLET STREET (1945; Fritz Lang)
DETOUR (1945; Edgar G. Ulmer)
DECOY (1946; Jack Bernhard)
BLACK ANGEL (1946; Roy William Neill)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947; Edmund Goulding)
GUN CRAZY (1949; Joseph H. Lewis)
IN A LONELY PLACE (1950; Nicholas Ray)
ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1952; Nicholas Ray)
PICK UP ON SOUTH STREET (1953; Samuel Fuller)
KISS ME DEADLY (1955; Robert Aldrich)
THE KILLING (1956; Stanley Kubrick)

Most, if not all of these should be available on DVD or VHS.
I would also second ChiO's book recommendations; all extremely useful and entertaining. Another fascinating book I would add is I WAS INTERRUPTED, an autobiographical tome by Nicholas Ray. Lotte Eisner's FRITZ LANG is an engrossing read as well. Let's hope the ever-esoteric Arkadin shows up with some recommendations as well!

Mr. Arkadin · Post by **Mr. Arkadin** » September 26th, 2008, 7:22 am

Most investigations begin with a trip to the library. Here are some books you might check out:

Dreams and Dead Ends: The American Gangster Film by Jack Shadoian
http://tinyurl.com/3kbs74

The Big Book of Noir by Lee Server, Martin H. Greenberg, and Ed Gorman
http://tinyurl.com/3tncu8

Women in Film Noir by E.Ann Kaplan
http://tinyurl.com/444m43

Hollywood's Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir (Twayne's Filmmakers Series) by R. Barton Palmer
http://tinyurl.com/4oblve

As for films, I'm sure you can find tons of reccomendations:

http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.j ... 2&tstart=0

Many of these books (as well as ChiO and Dewey's lists) will let you discover what films are interesting to you and why. Film Noir can be light (a seeming contradiction!), to quite bleak. There are also many proto or neo type (films that come before or after the classic era) that might be of interest to you. Good luck, and if you have any questions just post here. I'm sure there is someone who would love to answer.

charliechaplinfan · September 26th, 2008, 1:38 pm

Thanks to all of you.

From your list Dewey I've watched three or four and have access to about half. I've seen In A Lonely Place, Detour, Gun Crazy. I loved them all especially Gun Crazy. I'll look out for the rest

TCM Movie Morlocks · Post by **moira finnie** » September 26th, 2008, 1:55 pm

Hi Alison,
There are a couple of great websites devoted to film noir that you might enjoy. I've linked each of them to their names within this post for easy access. My particular favorites are Noir of the Week and Back Alley Noir, a discussion group that is an offshoot of the first site. It's all coordinated by a guy named Steve and it is user friendly and kind to those of us still learning about noir as well as those who are deep into the darkness.

I'd also recommend checking out The Film Noir Foundation and the British Film Institute's British Film in the 1950s, which describes your countrymen's unique take on the genre. It's a fun field and a fertile one!
Enjoy!

ChiO · Post by **ChiO** » September 26th, 2008, 5:18 pm

Alison, the person with the best taste on this site, wisely said:

I loved them all especially Gun Crazy.

I knew there was something special about you -- same name (and spelling) as our older daughter and an appreciation of the ultimate in the art of film noir.

Put THE BIG COMBO on your list; same director (Joseph H. Lewis) as GUN CRAZY, very good, and a very different feel.

myrnaloyisdope · Post by **myrnaloyisdope** » September 27th, 2008, 4:50 am

Gun Crazy is my favorite noir, with Double Indemnity a distant though much loved second (hopefully you've seen that).

Detour is essential in my estimation as is Out of the Past. Ooh and check out Asphalt Jungle if you haven't yet.

For pre-noir films I would recommend M and Port of Shadows, both of which have a distinctly noir feel, but happen to have been made a decade in advance.

And for post noir, well Chinatown is the place to start.

charliechaplinfan · September 27th, 2008, 2:13 pm

Chio, how old is your daughter? here Alisons are invariably born in the mid sixties to early seventies. I'm early seventies but every other Alison I've ever come across and there are lots have been in that age bracket.

Moira, thank you for the websites, I will check them out.

I haven't found The Big Combo, it hasn't been released here, I have been looking for it though.

ML I've seen M, a fantastic film, also Double Indemnity, The Asphalt Jungle, Out of the Past and Port of Shadows (French film with Jean Gabin?)

I've never seen Chinatown, I don't tend to venture into seventies films much.

myrnaloyisdope · September 28th, 2008, 12:47 am

Hey CCF,

Chinatown is a must, watch it as soon as you get the chance.

Yes Port of Shadows is the Jean Gabin film.

I should also recommend Night and the City, and Leave Her To Heaven, and Laura too. But I'm a Gene Tierney guy, so I'm a bit biased.

TCM Movie Morlocks · Post by **moira finnie** » September 28th, 2008, 9:04 am

For another great example of a fully realized French noir with Jean Gabin, I would recommend Touchez pas au Grisbi (1954) directed by Jacques Becker. Gabin's reflective performance as a tired old lion of a gangster is splendid. The presence of a young Jeanne Moreau and Lino Ventura in this film adds to its resonance as well.

charliechaplinfan · September 28th, 2008, 2:12 pm

I watched Night and the City last night. I enjoyed it very much. I can appreciate you liking Gene Tierney, she's a stunning looking woman.

Thanks, I'm going to rent the Gabin film.

ChiO · Post by **ChiO** » September 28th, 2008, 5:32 pm

CCF asked:

Chio, how old is your daughter? here Alisons are invariably born in the mid sixties to early seventies. I'm early seventies but every other Alison I've ever come across and there are lots have been in that age bracket.

She was born in June 1979. Her mother and I had always liked the sound of the name, but it took Elvis Costello to provide us with the proper spelling.

jdb1 · Post by **jdb1** » September 29th, 2008, 10:11 am

charliechaplinfan wrote:Chio, how old is your daughter? here Alisons are invariably born in the mid sixties to early seventies. I'm early seventies but every other Alison I've ever come across and there are lots have been in that age bracket.

I've been thinking about this, Alison, and I can report that at least in NYC, the preponderance of little girls born in the mid-60s were Jennifers, Sarahs and Emilys. I was running a nursery school in the early 70s, and that's what I had most of (these little girls would have been born in the mid-60s). I can't recall a single Alison then, although I did have a few Audreys.

Interestingly, when I was in college, right before that, there were a lot of Alisons and Allisons in my school. They would have been born in the early to mid 50s. However, at my school there were a lot of students from out of town - I don't recall a single Alison (or Allison, as was more common) in any of my classes when I was in the lower grades. I don't think it at all a common name in New York City before the mid-60s.

The Silver Screen Oasis

The Silver Screen Oasis

I'm getting hooked on noir

I'm getting hooked on noir