Playbuzz has a fun little test for noir fans. Can you ace this quiz and prove you are a noir expert? I think most of you can.
http://www.playbuzz.com/fetchpublicity10/the-big-film-noir-test
film-noir
Review: The Tattooed Stranger
The Tattooed Stranger is a film noir from RKO, released in 1950. This has a lot of things that make it sound interesting, especially the title! Remember this is 1950, so the whole tattoo thing was not as mainstream as it is today. This movie stars John Miles and Walter Kinsella as new partners on a case. Patricia Barry also stars as a Lab Tech to help solve the case. This film is directed by Edward Montagne, who looks to have started out doing documentary shorts, moved on to a couple of B-noir films, then moved onto television and comedies.
This story starts out with a man walking his dog and comes across a dead girl, in a car, in the middle of Central Park. Soon our hardboiled, experienced detective is on the scene, where he learns he will be teaming up on this case with the rookie detective with the college degree. We get a pretty cookie cutter procedural from here. With the vet and rookie clashing on different issues and techniques as our rookie feels he needs to prove himself and our veteran is secretly intimidated by the smarter rookie.
The acting is nothing to write home about. The story may have been fairly fresh in 1950, but today plays like an average episode of C.S.I.. If you like straight forward police procedural, you may find this interesting. Especially if you would like to compare techniques the police where using in 1950 to what they can do today. Has things changed much? This movie is short and not a horrible, un-watchable mess, but it is not a hidden gem that time has forgotten. I would not recommend it to the casual fan. For those that need to see everything film noir, go for it!
I think this film still sums it up, looks interesting and I want to watch it, but after I have seen it and I don’t plan on revisiting it.
Favorite Tidbit: This is John Miles last film. He seemed to have a bit of charm and charisma and could have had a decent career I would think. Not sure why he quite showbiz after this film, does anybody out there know his history and reason?
Review: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a classic film noir from 1946. This film has a lot of unique history to it. It is directing great Lewis Milestone’s only film noir. It is also Kirk Douglas’ first film, recommended for the film by the first couple of noir, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall based on his Broadway acting. We also have “The Threat” Lizabeth Scott in only her second film. Scott may have been called “The Threat” based on her being a possible threat to film noir greats Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake. It’s hard to say if Scott was ever really a threat to those two, but she sure held her own and has earned a right to be named with those two as some of film’s noir favorites. In addition to all this talent we have the two biggest stars of this film being the all time great Barbara Stanwyck and our leading man being Van Heflin. Heflin was coming off of a three-year leave from the movies to serve in World War II.
Our film starts out with Martha as a young girl trying to run away from her overbearing Aunt. She is aided by juvenile delinquent Sam. When Walter tells his father and the police where Martha might be, she is soon caught. After a black out and a scuffle on the stairs Martha hits her Aunt with a poker and she falls to her death down the stairs. We flash forward seventeen years as Sam, played by Heflin is driving by his old hometown, he gets in a car wreck and brings his car into town to be fixed. Sam finds his childhood friends are now prominent fixtures in the small town. Walter played by Douglas is now the D.A. and is married to Martha, played by Stanwyck, who has inherited her Aunts wealth. Sam soon meets ex-con Toni, played by Scott. There is an instant attraction, but when Toni gets in trouble, Sam calls on his old friend, the D.A. Walter to help her.
This is a great film with quite a few plot lines going on. Will Martha’s past come back to haunt her when her best friend from her past comes home? Will Sam use her to help out his new flame? How will Walter react to all of this? What will he do?
This is a must see film noir for all fans of classic film. If you are a fan of any one of the big four stars of this picture you will love it. If you are not a fan of any of these four stars…you need to start watching some of their films!
Favorite Tidbit: This film appears on the television in a scene from last years horror favorite The Babadook.
Review: They Made Me a Criminal
They Made Me a Criminal may not be considered a film noir by some because of its production date. This film was made in 1939, a year or two before some consider the film noir movement started. This film is based on a book from Bertram Millhauser who maybe more famous for his Sherlock Holmes movies then his noir stories. The film is directed by Busby Berkeley, a director better known for his musicals and comedies then crime films.
I was most interested in watching this because it stared Ann Sheridan, unfortunately even though she is third on the billing she isn’t in the film very long. Claude Rains plays a pivotal role, but isn’t in the film much either. The ‘Dead End’ Kids provide some comedy relief and some fast paced dialog, but this is most definitely a John Garfield film.
What this film lacks in film noir style it more than makes up for in noir story. Garfield plays a champion boxer who has just won a big fight. He tells the press what the public wants to hear. He thanks his Mom, says he doesn’t drink, isn’t a womanizer and comes across as a class act. We soon find Garfield back in his room, drunk with his manager and his best girl played by Sheridan. We find he is nothing like his public persona and is actually the opposite of the way he acts in public. I found this aspect of the film very interesting as we see this with pro athletes to this day. It seems the smart athletes know how to come across as a humble, good person, but we soon learn in their private life they have drug problems, cheat on their beautiful wife, have gambling problems or have even thought they could get away with bigger crimes.
When Sheridan invites her friend up to the room to continue the party, things are said and tempers flair. Sheridan’s friend brings up her date who unknown to our party goers is a reporter. When he says he is taking the information he learned to his paper, Garfield tries to stop him, but is too drunk. His manager hits the reporter over the head with a bottle of liquor before he can leave. This kills the reporter and with Garfield being passed out and the only person in the room when it happens the manager frames him for the murder. The manager and Sheridan escape and soon are chased by the cops and it ends in a fiery wreck killing both of them. Garfield wakes up with a headache and no knowledge of the murder. The police mistakenly think Garfield was in the wreck and the murderer of the reporter. Garfield travels across the country as everybody thinks he is dead. Will it ever be discovered he is really alive? Will he ever be able to return to the ring and his former glory?
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This film is a pretty good film with a very noir ending. If you are a Garfield fan you have to see this one. I wish Sheridan was in this a little longer, but she does leave a lasting impression on you in the little time she is in the film. Like I said, some may not consider this a true film noir because of the date of its release. I say we have boxing, a falsely accused man brought down from being on the top of the world to a penniless man who must start over. To watch this man risk it all for people he recently meet, knowing it will be his undoing. Lets not forget the hardboiled cop that nobody likes and you have all the elements of a noir story. I recommend all film noir fans watch this and see for yourself if you would classify this a film noir or not, plus you will get to see a pretty good film no matter what genre you put it in.
List: The 10 Best Movies Written by, Adapted from, or Inspired by Raymond Chandler
Taste of Cinema is at it again! This time with the 10 best films involving the great noir author Raymond Chandler. Agree or Disagree with the choices or the placing if you like, but read the full article for some great knowledge about the author and these movies you may not have known. Well worth your time to check it out if you are a fan of noir or Chandler. Here is the link to the full article:
Review: Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
This is a documentary from 2006 about classic film noir. This is very interesting with modern noir legends like Frank Miller, Christopher Nolan, and James Ellroy giving you their take on film noir. We also get some insight from the Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller and other experts of film noir. It is a short film and in my opinion lacking a little. Sure it is entertaining and informative, but it over looks a lot! The stuff they cover, like a look at Robert Mitchum and Elisha Cook Jr. as some of the great actors of film noir is very good. They also cover Raymond Chandler slightly and discuss Philip Marlowe and how he fit into noir and film noir, which is great, but they only really cover Murder, My Sweet in this part of the film. Just to show how lacking this documentary is, neither The Big Sleep or Humphrey Bogart is mentioned in either of these sections of the film! Even after they show some footage of Cook Jr, in The Maltese Falcon with Bogart they don’t really cover Bogie. They of course have a section of the film about the femme fatale’s role in film noir, and talks about a few great actresses but doesn’t even mention Rita Hayward, Ava Gardner, or Lauren Bacall! I think this film must have run into movie rights issues. I say this because they cover a lot of RKO stuff and even though this film was distributed by Warner Home Video, it doesn’t even cover most of the Warner Bros. classics. Though Maltese Falcon, The Letter and White Heat clips show up, none are covered in-depth. I also noticed Fox and Paramount films are not covered at all.
I would say this film is still worth checking out for what it does cover and is nice to see what some of today’s noir greats think about the era. It is also a good primer for people just starting to learn about the classic film noir era. I watched this film on DVD which came with a few extras, but you can watch the film here for free.
Article: TO LOVE HER ISN’T TO KNOW HER: THE GREAT, MYSTERIOUS GLORIA GRAHAME TAKES LINCOLN CENTER
Here is an article about the film noir career of Gloria Grahame and bit of history of her personal life, which sounds like a noir tale itself! This is written by Graham Fuller over at The Village Voice and is well worth reading. Here is the link:
Review: They Live by Night
They Live by Night is a classic film noir based on Edward Anderson book Thieves Like Us.
This is also director Nicholas Ray’s first film, a pretty good start to an amazing career. This film stars Cathy O’Donnell and Farley Granger as a young couple in love. They would go on to team up again in Anthony Mann’s Side Street a few years later. I reviewed that film here:
https://everythingnoir.com/2015/06/10/review-side-street/
This film starts out with a quick scene before the credits role of our happy couple. We than flashback to three men in the process of a prison escape. We see Granger and his two cohorts played by Howard Da Silva and Jay C. Flippen. There is an interesting scene here, where Ray shot from a helicopter for a bird’s eye view of our trio fleeing. This is one of the first action scenes ever shot from a helicopter(pretty amazing idea for a first time director). As our hero has a bum foot or ankle, he hangs by a billboard as his fellow escapees move on to their destination and will send help back for him. When a truck pulls up we meet Cathy O’Donnell as the farmer’s daughter there to take him to meet his friends. We can see the attraction right away between our two leads as she drives him to her father’s farm. As the trio regroup they decide the best move is to rob a bank to raise some money to make their getaway. Will they succeeded? Will our happy couple live happily ever after?
I’m not sure if Edward Anderson wrote this story as a fictional tale of Bonnie and Clyde or not, but it at least had to be a huge influence. This is a twisted love story in more than a few ways. This film is a must see for film noir fans, though I would not rank it among my favorites and maybe my expectations were to high going in. This is a good film and when you know it is Ray’s first film, I do appreciate it. I hope to read the book on which this film is based someday and revisit this film again.
Favorite Tidbit: Another film was made in 1974 based on this novel as well. It goes by the novel’s title Thieves Like Us and stars Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall. I have not seen this film but may have to watch both of these films back to back for an interesting double feature.
Review: Desperate
Desperate is a B-film from 1947. Anthony Mann Directs and helps with the original story. Of course Mann went on to A films soon after this and created some classics in the noir genre as well as some other Hollywood classics. I recently reviewed Two O’Clock Courage from Mann which he made 2 years before Desperate and you can see his growth between those two films is petty huge. Though I liked Two O’Clock Courage, Desperate is darker, the story is better and the cinematography is way ahead. There are a couple of scenes in this film that are noir cinematography at its best. The first scene where Burr and his gang is torturing our hero is amazing. The last scene with the chase/gun fight on the stairwell is worth watching the whole film just to for this one.
Our story is a basic noir tale, but it is always worth seeing different takes on it all these years later. Our hero is played by Steve Brodie who has his own truck and is recently married to Audrey Long. He gets a call from a stranger for a last-minute trucking job. He had plans with his wife but can’t pass up the $50 this job will pay.
What he doesn’t know is this is a job where he will be hauling stolen goods for Raymond Burr and his gang of thieves. When he figures out he is on a robbery, he flashes his lights at a police officer. The officer is shot and soon dies by the hand of Burr’s little brother. Our hero pulls the truck away and Burr’s brother falls off the loading dock and is knocked out. Burr’s little brother is caught and charged with murder. Burr is soon on a rampage to free his little brother and frame our hero for the whole job, including the murder of the police officer. Our hero’s sole objective now is to get his wife to safety before Burr can find them. Will he succeed? Will he be able to save himself too? Will Burr and his gang get revenge?
This is a very good B-movie noir and well worth checking out. Fans of Mann will like this film and will want to seet his early work. As per usual Raymond Burr steals the show, this being only his 4th film and his first film noir. This maybe the reason Burr was cast for years to come as the ultimate heavy in film noir. His performance is worth watching this film for as well.
Hardboiled Wonderland 50 Crime Flick Picks From the 50s
Author Jedidiah Ayres has his list of the 50 best crime films of the 1950’s. There are a lot of great films on this list and a few I haven’t seen yet. Check out the full list using the original movie poster art for each film here:
http://letterboxd.com/jedidiahayres/list/hardboiled-wonderland-50-crime-flick-picks/
And if you missed it, here is a link to his 40 best crime films of the 1940’s:
https://everythingnoir.com/2015/08/19/hardboiled-wonderland-40-crime-flick-picks-from-the-40s/
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