The Silver Screen Oasis

I become hooked on noir almost as soon as I started becoming interested in film history as a teen, only I wasn't clear on what "noir" actually meant. Some of the first classics I remember seeing were among the greatest of the American noir/pre-noir pictures: Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Gilda, The Maltese Falcon, Laura, Gun Crazy, Angels With Dirty Faces.

Almost anything else I have to say on this thread would be redundant except for possibly one thing: don't make the mistake of neglecting the b-movies. Granted, most aren't as sleek or star-packed as the studio noirs, but they're entertaining and engaging nonetheless, not to mention thematically significant (often moreso than the studio noirs). Many play quite often on TCM, and Dewey's list contained a couple of the most popular.

Judith, that's really interesting. Here the spelling with one l is the most common. When I asked my mother about my name she said she remembered a character from Peyton Place which I think was late 50's. This could be a link to your college chums. My mother had to come up with my name right away and her and my father hadn't agreed on a name. She was told I had only a slim chance of survival and had to have me christened straight away. That's the only name she could think of.

This is another thing I never understood, how are the people who leave their babies unnamed for days or weeks. We'd argued and cajolled one another during my pregnancies so that we had a selection of names available for the baby.

As for noir, I've watched some of the B movies, they are as enjoyable. A film doesn't need a big name or swanky sets. I think noir is one avenue of film that B films really contributed too.

charliechaplinfan wrote:Judith, that's really interesting. Here the spelling with one l is the most common. When I asked my mother about my name she said she remembered a character from Peyton Place which I think was late 50's. This could be a link to your college chums. My mother had to come up with my name right away and her and my father hadn't agreed on a name. She was told I had only a slim chance of survival and had to have me christened straight away. That's the only name she could think of.

This is another thing I never understood, how are the people who leave their babies unnamed for days or weeks. We'd argued and cajolled one another during my pregnancies so that we had a selection of names available for the baby.

As for noir, I've watched some of the B movies, they are as enjoyable. A film doesn't need a big name or swanky sets. I think noir is one avenue of film that B films really contributed too.

Ah, yes. How could I have forgotten Allison MacKenzie (with two "lls"). She was played on Peyton Place by Mia Farrow. Big to-do when Mia cut her long Alice-in-Wonderland blonde hair really, really short, like Jean Seberg's. However, that TV show ran in the mid-60s. The Allisons I knew in college would have been born 20 years earlier. But, as I said, they were uniformly non-New Yorkers, so maybe the name had some early currency beyond the East Coast. In any event, I think it's a name we would have associated with "rich" girls. At that time names like Alison and Pamela were not used by the blue-collar classes.

Has anyone mentioned Pickup on South Street? I just watched it for the first time this past August, and I'm hooked! Richard Widmark is slimy, amoral, cunning...the perfect Noir hero! and Thelma Ritter's "Moe" is the best thing about the movie. Alison, find this one and enjoy!!!!


Nancy

I've just added that to my rental list. Thanks Nancy

Judith,

I remember that Mia hair brouhaha. It went on for weeks and weeks. I had long hair at the time, and I remember thinking "How could she do that?"

Then the more I matured, I realized it was a pretty plucky thing to do.

charliechaplinfan wrote:I've just added that to my rental list. Thanks Nancy

Laura is a really good one too make sure you see that one .

I've loved Laura for a long time. Thanks Inglis.

Gene Tierney brings such a lovely quality to the screen.

The weird thing for me about Laura is that though I adore Gene Tierney, and dig Dana Andrews, I just can't get into the film. I think it's pretty good and all, but I can't invest myself in it, the way I can Leave Her To Heaven. I've tried, but it just doesn't work for me.