Brit noir

[MissGoddess]

I have seen The Passionate Friends. As a big Claude Rains and Trevor Howard fan and someone who prefers Lean's black and white movies over his big epics, I was looking forward to it, but couldn't warm to it, in part, I think, because, just as she seemed to be a human icicle to me in The Paradine Case, the director's then-wife, Ann Todd left me cold as a sort of upper crust Brief Encounter wife without much humanity.

Oh yes, Ann Todd is icy and I would have much preferred someone else in the role. I think I just liked the
movie itself, it's qualities apart from the performers, which is something rare for me. I always put characters
and performers on top. Ann did an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" in which her ice maiden quality was put to perfect use.

I agree that this is one of his best roles, but have you ever seen Robert Preston in This Gun for Hire (1942), The Macomber Affair (1947), Whistling Smith (1948), Blood on the Moon (1948), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) or All the Way Home (1963), and his wonderful acting in My Father's House (1975)?? "

Yes, No, Yes, Yes, No, No and No. I thought he was just serviceable in the three I saw, several other actors could have done the job even better. I really want to see The Macomber Affair for Joan Bennett. The Dark at the Top of the Stairs is a title I've always heard about...it sure intrigues me. I don't know about a 1975 movie, it would take a LOT to get me to sit in front of a flick from that dubious vintage. A lot more than Robert Preston!

[Mr. Arkadin]

I have finally just received a copy of Cloudburst and am now drooling with anticipation. The only problem is also reading Miss G's excellent comments on The Fearmakers in this same section, which I am also about to watch. Quit making life difficult for me!

[stuart.uk]

I don't know if their exactly noir

The Blue Lamp-Jack Warner, Dirk Bogarde and Jimmy Hanley
Highly Dangerous-Margaret Lockwood, Dane Clark and Marious Goring
Get Carter-Michael Caine and Britt Ekland
The Italian Job-Michael Caine and Noel Coward
Vendetta For The Saint-Roger Moore, Ian Hendry, Ami Macdonald and Finlay Currie
The Fiction Makers (another Saint movie)-Roger Moore, Sylvia Syms and Justine Lord
The Man Who Haunted Himself-Roger Moore
Sweeney-John Thaw, Dennis Waterman, Ian Bannon, Colin Welland, Diane Keen and Barry Foster
Sweeney 2-John Thaw and Dennis Waterman
The Whistle Blower-Michael Caine and Nigel Havers

[rudyfan]

Okay, I've seen The Third Man. I confess, beyond that, I know very little about Brit Noir films. Any place I can find a general list of recommended titles? Beyond the few noted in this thread?

[ChiO]

Ones I'd like to see one of these days are:

WHITE FIRE (1954)(aka THREE STEPS TO THE GALLOWS) - D: John Gilling; w/ Scott Brady
THE BLACK GLOVE (1954)(aka FACE THE MUSIC) - D: Terence Fisher; w/ Alex Nicol
THE UNHOLY FOUR (1954)(aka THE STRANGER CAME HOME) - D: Terence Fisher; w/ Paulette Goddard
THE DEADLY GAME (1954)(aka THIRD PARTY RISK) - D: Daniel Birt; w/ Lloyd Bridges
PAID TO KILL (1954)(aka FIVE DAYS) - D: Montgomery Tully; w/ Dane Clark
THE GLASS TOMB (1955)(aka THE GLASS CAGE) - D: Montgomery Tully; w/ John Ireland & Honor Blackman

All are from Hammer Films.

[stuart.uk]

Hi Miora

I compare Carve Her Name With pride to the earlier Oddette, another secret agent used as an advisor in CHNWP. Unlike Vi who was half French Odette as played by Anna Neagle was full French. Both women were caught around the same time and tortured, but what maybe saved Oddette was that she prentended to be married to her boss and future husband Peter Churchill, played by Trevor Howard, who claimed to be a distant relative of Winston. The film ended with German soldier surrendering in her custody and travelling toward allied lines.

I admit I'm not a great expert on Anne Todd films, but I'm an admirer of Lean's other wife of the 40s Kay Walsh, who IMO did make a great impact in his films

[Ollie]

I think 1962's JIGSAW with Jack Warner should be listed as one of the Must-See's, although it's not a noir film. It joins several "procedural" films in the top-notch category, though, and it's got a closing, revelatory scene almost like TO CATCH A THIEF with Cary Grant's fear-struck eyes at the prospect of his soon-to-be mother-in-law's arrival.

And if procedural films are brought into this, then at least a pair of Jack Hawkins' films (1960's LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN and 1958's GIDEON'S DAY) should be on a viewer's must-see list. (Maybe GIDEON'S should be a "day in the life" film instead of a strictly "procedural" film, but following the participants' activities to the mystery's solution are much the same in both styles of storytelling.)

I think this is why I tend to lump these films into Noir categories because it's the small, character-construction details that beckon my emotional investment. I really wouldn't understand why Gloria Grahame throws in her 2-cents-worth with Glenn Ford if the film didn't show her motivation for revenge against Lee Marvin. And I wouldn't understand just how bad Ava Gardner really was in THE KILLERS unless we realized she'd been playing all the men against each other. It's all in the details. Or how bad Jane Greer was, either.

ChiO's list of Hammer Noirs brings up another angering issue - Hammer did such a good job on those films yet, ten years later, they were abandoning the creative talent behind them in order to pursue the American Drive-In Horror dollar instead.

EDIT: As for Mr. Ark's complaints about MissG and her comments - I know what ya mean! She tricks me into paying attention to all kinds of films AND books that I've always managed to skip away from before. She's awful, just awful. If she were the only writer here who did that, I could probably ignore those, but there are so many others who accomplish the same wicked destruction of my leisure hours!

[klondike]

And if procedural films are brought into this, then at least a pair of Jack Hawkins' films (1960's LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN and 1958's GIDEON'S DAY) should be on a viewer's must-see list. (

Definitely concur with you about League of Gentlemen, Ollie; caught it myself just a couple of months ago, and although the substance & content were pretty much text-book linear & squared away, the art side of the film (dialogue, direction, photography, pacing, just pure style) was damn-near sharp enough to shave with!

[Ollie]

Klon, I'm not sure why I forgive some films' weaknesses yet use those same ones so harshly in judgment towards others. I'm not sure how a film makes me want to like them, but LEAGUE did everything right in those opening moments and when I see it again, over and over, and discover the slow, boring parts, or weak moments, I cast those aside and focus on the supporting characters or some construction-of-character process. "Sharp" as you said.

Warner's JIGSAW is not available on formal DVD and the TV-copy I have is fairly bleached out and mushy - think "Alpha Videos' bad quality". Yet, this is a top notch detectives seek murderer's identity film, and we go up their blind alleys with them, and back down again. We head up one wrong path after another, and finally get one crumb of good info here or there. For such a NOTHING film, it builds a lot of great tension towards the solution of the crime. Yet the question of "Why?" persists until the film's final scene. The cops don't NEED that answer - they have their killer - but they're walking out onto the street, asking each other, "Why? How did he meet them? How did he select them?" and, there, on the billboard across the street - voila! And that's the end of the film - nothing more was needed.

I think in the modern RONIN film - the Robert DeNiro one - a billboard was used similarly, but was a smaller piece in that puzzle, and with far less satisfaction that JIGSAW's conclusion offered.

[MissGoddess]

I really enjoyed JIGSAW, too, and didn't think the picture quality was bad, Ollie.

[MichiganJ]

Not quite sure if it qualifies as Noir (my apologies if I'm in the wrong thread), but I just watched Contraband, a terrific spy thriller (with a good dose of genial comedy) directed by Michael Powell and scripted by Pressburger. Conrad Veidt is the captain of a neutral Danish freighter, which has been brought into port by the British navy. Two passengers steal the two landing passes meant for the Captain and his mate, and it's up to the captain to sneak ashore and round up his missing passengers. In the process he gets tangled in a den of Nazi spies and enlists the aide of Danish waiters to help thwart the would-be evil doers.

Somewhat reminiscent of Hitchcock, Contraband has plenty of good twists and has a feisty heroine in Valerie Hobson (who was a marvel to me. I've only seen her in Bride of Frankenstein and Werewolf of London). Hay Petrie, playing the dual role of Danish brothers, is very funny and nearly steals the film.

The photography is absolutely amazing. Many of the shots are out on the streets of London during the blackout, and the sparse lighting is used to great effect.

First class entertainment.

[klondike]

Contraband is a dandy little thriller, very well seasoned with lots of coy, off-handed dialogue, nicely balanced against scenes of sudden tension & danger, all taking place in those great homefront-after-dark locales.
I think it was Moira who steered me to this one, although with it being a Powell production I was pretty easily persuaded; still, I was surprised by the elan & bravura with which Veidt stepped into the shoes of being a protagonist in a propogandist script, for a change!

[MikeBSG]

I watched the 1947 "They Made Me a Fugitive" last night on DVD.

It struck me as more Dickensian than noir. The most noirish aspect of the film, to me, was Griffith Jones' performance as "Narcy," the narcissistic gangster. (Would he be considered a spiv?) I'd like to see him share the screen with Dan Duryea's character from "Scarlet Street" and let the best actor win. Everything about Narcy, his appearance, his dialogue and the attitude it expressed, hinted at a viciousness much stronger than the movie dared show.

This wasn't as good as "Went the Day Well?" or the ventriloquist story in "Dead of Night," but it was still pretty gripping as long as Narcy was around.

Trevor Howard didn't really register strongly with me here.

[charliechaplinfan]

Does Peeping Tom count? I love that film, I know relatively little about Brit noir, I'm all ears

[ChiO]

PEEPING TOM does not leap into my mind when I think of film noir, but, with its surface narrative of a man who, as a result of being shaped by a force beyond his control, is engaged in criminal behavior from which he seeks redemption, it's hard for me to say it's not film noir. So, now, I guess I have to say that PEEPING TOM may replace THE THIRD MAN as my favorite film noir from Great Britain.