Here is an interesting little article covering the history of noir in California, all the way from the books written by Cain, Chandler and Hammett to Pizzolatto and his new season of True Detective. Briefly going over classic film noir and the neo noir films of the 1970’s. It is a very good article written by Michael Weinreb.
Click on the link below for the full article:
http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/true-detective-and-the-shady-history-of-california-noir-20150622
Stranger on the Third Floor is a film Boris Ingster who sadly only directed three films. After seeing this film I would like to see more from him. This film is written by Frank Partos who has written many classics for the silver screen. This film’s biggest star is Peter Lorre, who made this film with only a few days left on his RKO contract. His role and presence doesn’t have much screen time, but he still got top billing for his appearance in this film.
So for many classic film noir historians, The Maltese Falcon is the first true film noir. This film actually came out the year before Falcon and as some have said, this is actually the first true film noir. As everything with noir, people have varying opinions. This film checks almost every box a film noir should as far as style and story. We have amazing cinematography with lots of shadows and low angles. We have a characters wrongly accused of crimes they did not commit and seemingly no way out. The story is intense with some of our characters having few allies to turn to. The ending isn’t exactly happy, well if it would have ended about 5 minutes earlier anyway. The story is told with flashbacks and has a crazy dream scene which uses a lot of noir techniques. You will get Claustrophobia feelings as our protagonist’s world comes down around him. The only fault I can see for this not being the first true film noir is we do not have a femme fatale of any sort. Personally I would say this is a film noir, so let the arguments for and against this begin.
If this film still doesn’t say classic film noir, I don’t know what does.
John McGuire plays a journalist who just got a raise and wants to marry his girlfriend played by Margaret Tallichet. Everything is going great for our couple. The reason he is getting his raise is he has written an article about a murder, which he happens to be the only witness to. The story goes into the court room where Elisha Cook Jr. is the accused murderer and everybody from the lawyers and judges, even the jury is phoning this one in. They find him guilty of the murder of the coffee shop owner and he goes to death row. Tallichet goes to court to watch her boyfriend in action. She feels that Cook Jr. could be innocent and McGuire’s testimony put him in prison. This gets McGuire thinking she maybe right. He goes home where he sees the stranger on the third floor played by Lorre. He chases Lorre out of the building, but feels there is something wrong in the apartment next door. The neighbor and McGuire have butted heads before and he realizes how easy it would be, to be framed for his murder. As our story continues we ask questions like, Could the neighbor really be murdered? Will he be framed for it? Is Cook Jr. innocent after all?
This film is very good and worth watching whether you think it is a film noir or not. That just makes the conversations about this film more interesting. Our four big stars are all great in this, with Lorre and Cook Jr. at their creepiest best. I also found Tallichet a very gifted actress, it is a shame she retired from the business so early in her career. If you love classic film, noir or not, you will like this film.
Deadfall is a neo-noir from director Stefan Ruzowitzky and written by Zach Dean, but the real story here is the amazing cast! We have Eric Bana as a casino robber with a violent streak. Olivia Wilde as Bana’s little sister and has a bit of a strange relationship with her brother. Charlie Hunnam is a man recently released from prison for fixing a fight and happened to win the silver medal in the Olympics. Kate Mara plays a police officer with F.B.I. ambitions. We also get veteran actors Treat Williams as Mara’s father and the local sheriff and Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek as the farming parents of Hunnam.
This story starts out like a car crash, literally! Bana and Wilde are counting money while they are being driven in a limo. The limo hits a deer on a snow-covered road and goes rolling down a bank. The police officer responds and Bana kills him. Bana and Wilde split up in this winter wonderland as the police are unaware of Wilde’s involvement in a casino robbery. Bana goes on a wild winter survival adventure across the frozen land. Hunnam, who was just released from prison, goes to his boxing manager’s gym, as he was the one that had him throw a fight. this is what caused him to go to prison. The two get in a fight and the manager ends up dead. Hunnam is on the run, he does not want to go back to jail. He heads to his parents for Thanksgiving and on the way picks up an almost frozen Wilde. The story builds to a violent and unhappy ending.
The selling point of this film in my opinion is the great cast. Though Spacek and Kristofferson do not have big roles and this shows nothing new from them, they are still great as an All-American couple. Wilde is very good as our femme fatale with second thoughts. Hunnam plays a every man with bad luck very well. Bana plays a psychopath, but doesn’t go over the top with his performance. The story is complex and comes together fairly well, making it interesting. I will say there is something a bit off about this film. but I can not put my finger on it. This is an average film that is missing something that could have made it a great film. Neo-noir fans will find it an enjoyable watch, and if you are a fan of some of the cast it will be worth your time.
I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. is a film noir from 1951. This story is based on Matt Cvetic who was an undercover informant for the F.B.I.. Gordon Douglas directs this movie in a docudrama format. I am not a big fan of the docudrama format for noir and still have not seen one that I love.
Frank Lovejoy plays Cvetic in this film with Dorothy Hart playing a teacher and member of the Communist Party. Cvetic is undercover in Pittsburgh where the Communist Party is trying to disrupt manufacturing. He is suspicious of everybody as he doesn’t always know who is with him and who is against him. This does show him in his family life where his son has a hard time defending him at school and his brother fights with him constantly because he thinks he is a Communist. This part of the story felt pretty real to me. On the other hand, the members of the Communist Party who are portrayed in this film seem to over the top. They are very racist, having issue with Jews as well as Blacks. They seem more like the mob, as they don’t care who gets hurt and use a lot of violence to get their message across. This film is obviously a propaganda film for Anti-Communism and though it maybe based on a true story they definitely made sure the members of the Communist Party had absolutely no redeeming qualities in this film. This film is short and to the point. If we ignore the politics of this film it is a decent noir with some great suspenseful moments. On the other hand it is fun to look at the politics of this film as a time capsule to see just how paranoid of the communist movement America was in the 1950’s, maybe all the way through the 1980’s for that matter.
This is an interesting film. I would not say it is a great film by no means, but can be viewed in a number of different and entertaining ways. It has a different feel to it then most classic film noir, and though our main character is on the verge of being found out at every turn, it isn’t as gritty as most. This is worth viewing for film noir buffs, but if you are new to the genre, I would recommend starting somewhere else. I would also like to hear from you political historians out there and what you felt about the film in that context.
Favorite Tidbit: Though the Communist Party was fairly large at one time, with reports of up to 200,000 members, by the mid 1950’s the number of members was under 10,000 and 1500 of those where undercover F.B.I. informants.
Taste of Cinema is back with another list! This one is a pretty basic list, I don’t see to many people arguing with this one. I know some may argue White Heat is not a noir and I noticed the photo they are using for D.O.A. is not from that film, but overall a good list. What do you think?
http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/30-essential-noir-films-that-you-need-to-watch/
Dark Places may not have the commentary on society like Gone Girl, but Dark Places is still my favorite Gillian Flynn book so far, and I think the darkest. I’ve been looking forward to this movie ever since I finished reading the book. Based and the trailer, it looks like they did a good job with it. This is a great cast and the look of the film feels very noir. Who else is excited to see this one?
The Long Goodbye is a neo noir from Robert Altman made in 1973. This is based on Raymond Chandler’s masterpiece book of the same name. I have read 3 of Chandler’s books but have not read this one yet. When this was released in Los Angeles it was a big failure and Chandler fans were horrified by this adaptation. The marketing was changed to show it as more of a satire of Chandler’s work in New York and the film had a little more success. Though it had more success on the east coast it was still a big flop at the box office. Robert Altman took a lot of chances with this film. He took a beloved book and moved its setting from 1950 Hollywood to 1972 Hollywood. He also took a new ending from the script by Leigh Brackett(who also wrote the script for The Big Sleep in 1946) and fought to keep it, instead of staying true to the original novel. He also hired Elliott Gould, who was black listed for being hard to work with and had not worked for 2 years at this point.
So this film had a lot going against it and it was not a big hit, so how come it is considered such a classic today among noir and neo-noir fans? Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe appeared in 4 film in 10 years with Marlowe in 1969, then this film and then two more films a few years later starring noir legend Robert Mitchum in a more true to the books adaptations. I have seen all three of those and they are all good, but this adaptation is the one that gets all the attention. I have to agree that it is well deserved. It is different and a much more enjoyable watching experience then the other three films.
Elliott Gould’s Marlowe is a quick tongued private detective, but does not use the wit as Chandler wrote it. He ad-libbed a lot of his dialog making it seem more fresh and less rehearsed then other adaptations. We also have Sterling Hayden playing a crazed writer. Hayden said this is one of his favorite films. Nina van Pallandt plays Hayden’s wife who hires Marlowe to find her husband. We also see Arnold Schwarzenegger in an early appearance in his career as a body-guard who says nothing, he also went uncredited for this film.
This film starts with Marlowe being called in the middle of the night by a good friend. He asks Marlowe to take him to Mexico right away. Marlowe does, and doesn’t ask many questions. Marlowe ends up getting taken into custody for questioning. His friend is accused of killing his wife. They hold him for 3 days and then he is suddenly released. He soon finds his friend has committed suicide in Mexico and the case is closed. Soon Marlowe is assaulted by some baddies and they want their money back. Marlowe of course doesn’t know anything about any missing money. He thinks his friend was murdered and did not commit suicide and starts looking into it. He is soon hired by a woman to find her husband. This couple is neighbors to his now dead friend. Are both cases related? Will he find who killed his friend and his friend’s wife? Will he find the missing money?
This is a twisted and hard to follow story that does not serve up easy clues and often doesn’t make sense, but what would you expect from a Chandler story? It is a fun watch and something you can re-watch over and over again. Is it the best Chandler adaptation? My favorite is still The Big Sleep with Bogart, but for a lot of people this is their favorite. If you are a noir fan, and if you are, you are probably a Chandler fan too, you need to check out this film.
Favorite Tidbit: Thought this is moved from the 1950’s to the 1970’s, Marlowe still drives a car built-in the late 40’s and his pay is $50 a day plus expenses, an amount more in line with pay from the 50’s then the 70’s.
While all the hype for neo noir television is on this Sunday’s premier of True Detective on H.B.O., Showtime quietly released the new trailer for Ray Donovan Season 3. This is a great neo noir series! I was not a big fan of season 1, but didn’t think it was to bad. I gave season 2 a chance and was not disappointed. Season 2 was amazing and I look forward to season 3. This trailer makes me even more excited about season 3. Check out the new trailer below:
Crime of Passion is a film noir from 1957 with 3 of noir’s greatest. We Have Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden and Raymond Burr in a love triangle that can not end well. Gerd Oswald directs this film, written by Jo Eisinger.
This story starts out with Stanwyck working at a paper as an advice columnist for a San Francisco paper. She gets put on a story against her will where she meets a couple Los Angeles cops who fly up about the case. One of the cops is Hayden and Stanwyck falls in love in short time. She soon moves down to Los Angeles and marries Hayden. She has problems getting along with the other cop’s wives and doesn’t handle the stress of being a cop’s wife herself. We soon learn that Hayden’s boss is Burr and an old flame of Stanwyck’s. Burr is also married, his wife is played by none other than Fay Wray. Wray is very sick and this is hard on Burr. Soon Burr and Stanwyck start seeing each other again. This love triangle does not end well and our story really heats up.
This film is short and starts out quit slow, but it heats up in the last half hour. The film plays as a bit of a psychological thriller and Stanwyck is getting the ball rolling on the psychotic femme fatale that we would see in future films like Fatal Attraction.
Hayden is very good playing his every man’s man, as he always does. Burr is real good playing somebody with a lot of power and is very strong, but when he lets his guard down and shows some weakness it is very believable. Stanwyck is good as always and you could watch this again just to get all the little nuances of her performance. Wray plays a smaller part, but does a good job with it.
This is a good film and well worth watching. Just give it some time to get started as the first half of the film is a little dull and slow. It quickly builds to an interesting noir by the end.
I came across this video on YouTube and found it very interesting. There are a handful of films on this list I have not seen yet. Overall I liked all the films on this list that I have seen and the order seems to be pretty good. Sure there are a few films I would move up the list and a few I would drop down a few spots, but overall they seem to be in a pretty good order. I have no idea where this list came from or who put together this video, but it is a good one!
Is there any films from the 1990’s that did not make this list, that should be? Some I didn’t see that I felt should be on the list are Dark City, Miller’s Crossing, Le Femme Nikita, Point Break, Pulp Fiction, The Crow, Hard Eight, Fargo, and Bound. I look forward to revisiting some of these films soon, and hope to see the few I haven’t yet.
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