Film noir

[Theli]

I'll bring the popcorn!

[bugen]

The Maltese Falcon (1941) - directed by John Huston, written by John Huston (screenplay), Dashiell Hammett (novel)

“I certainly wish you would have invented a more reasonable story. I felt distinctly like an idiot repeating it.”

Often regarded as the very first of the film noirs, the film that inspired the rest, The Maltese Falcon is a very complicated but coherent mystery with P.I. Sam Spade (Bogart) bringing a series of rare smiles to the role of a man beset on all sides. His partner is killed right off the bat and everyone else in the film is working angles he's got to uncover before he goes down for everything. At the center of the plot is the search for an artifact lost to history.

The mystery, the murder and the darkness in the fact that all the players are working their own agendas and against each other adds up to a fantastic film. It's as good as they've always said and lives up to the hype.

“If they hang you, I’ll always remember you.”

5- stars

Maltese Falcon.jpg

Merry Christmas, and be excellent to each other!

[bugen]

The Lady from Shanghai - directed by Orson Welles, written by Orson Welles (screenplay), Sherwood King (novel)

"Some people can smell danger. Not me."

An Irishman (Welles) saves the life of a rich lawyer's wife (Hayworth) and is invited to their yacht as part of the crew. When he realizes the madness of the people he's dealing with, he's already in too deep and involved in a complicated murder plot.

Locations are lush, the plot is complex, the hero is an underdog, the villains are insane, and the girl is out-of-this-world gorgeous. This is one of my new favorites.

"Either me, or the rest of the whole world, is absolutely insane."

5- stars

[Theli]

Maltese Falcon was one of the truest adaptations from book to film that i have seen. A little bit was toned down as far as sexuality goes, but otherwise pretty spot on on. Great performances all around too. Just love it.

The Lady from Shanghai is also great, but I do feel the first half can sort of drag a bit, the finale though... it's out of this world! I hesitated to include it on my top list, but it's real damn close.

[bugen]

The Maltese Falcon will live on, to be revisited multiple times. I loved it too.

The Lady from Shanghai was watched from the prison of my parents' house out in the middle of nowhere, on my laptop, after the entire house had gone to bed. I was pulled into the picture--it was a full-sized theater screen to me for a couple of hours. And yep, that ending was something special.

[bugen]

The Asphalt Jungle - directed by John Huston, written by Ben Maddow and John Huston (screenplay), W.R. Burnett (novel)

“Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor.”

A criminal mastermind is released from prison and makes his way to a bookie where he pitches a new job he’s dreamed up. When the particulars are hammered out, the crew assembled and the job in progress, everything starts going south. As these things do.

A lot is at work in the film. One key issue is the incompetence of people out of their element--in this case, the rich. Masters of the universe are revealed as worms when real heat is on.

There’s a sad moment of truth when our mastermind is fleeing the city after everything turned so badly and he stops at a diner where a girl is dancing by the jukebox. Something in his expression… a thousand words. He wanted nothing more than this in his life, the simple pleasure of watching a girl dance, and he tried to get closer to it any way he thought he could. It’s like a misfiring engine. His life could have been so simple, but instead became endlessly complicated when he took the road to becoming one of the most revered planners in the game.

Also, near the end is a stern but impassioned speech by the police commissioner to reporters, defending police work as being 99% honest men trying to do an honest job. He flips through the available active radio channels, leaving each one active so a clamor of people needing help builds in the background:

“We send police assistance to every one of those calls. Because they’re not just code numbers on a radio beam; they’re cries for help. People are being cheated, robbed, murdered, raped. That goes on 24 hours a day, every day in the year. That’s not exceptional; that’s usual. It’s the same in every city of the modern world. But suppose we had no police force, good or bad. Suppose we had (he switches the radio channels off one by one) just silence. Nobody to listen. Nobody to answer. The battle’s finished. The jungle wins.”

It's a great speech, and he then goes on to be completely wrong about a guy still at large—possibly the most honorable of all the players…

See? It’s not black and white. It’s not even gray. It’s just mistakes, piled on top of each other. Rarely do we glimpse evil, but we deal in it every day. And not all of us are lucky.

The cinematography is gorgeous, so go for the Criterion Blu-ray if you can. The acting in the film is top of the line. Smarminess oozes from some, bluster is unmistakeable in others, and the competence of the crew is assured and subsequently verified. If anyone can pull off the job, they can. But Sterling Hayden… this guys nails it. To a post. Then runs the whole thing over with a train.

This is faultless noir and gets the highest recommendation.

5 stars

[c marvel]

The Desperate Hours (1955) starring Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March. This is one of my favorite movies period. There was one line that made it memorable for me. March's character, a father, is trying to save his family and the father is taunted by Bogart's villainous character who says "Using his brain, is he, Hal? Look at him. Clickety-clickety-click, I can see it perkin'". That line cracked me up.

Credit for helping me find the clickety clickety click line goes to http://thestuffyougottawatch.com/desphours.html


Cap

[Theli]

The Asphalt Jungle - directed by John Huston, written by Ben Maddow and John Huston (screenplay), W.R. Burnett (novel)

“Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor.”

A criminal mastermind is released from prison and makes his way to a bookie where he pitches a new job he’s dreamed up. When the particulars are hammered out, the crew assembled and the job in progress, everything starts going south. As these things do.

A lot is at work in the film. One key issue is the incompetence of people out of their element--in this case, the rich. Masters of the universe are revealed as worms when real heat is on.

There’s a sad moment of truth when our mastermind is fleeing the city after everything turned so badly and he stops at a diner where a girl is dancing by the jukebox. Something in his expression… a thousand words. He wanted nothing more than this in his life, the simple pleasure of watching a girl dance, and he tried to get closer to it any way he thought he could. It’s like a misfiring engine. His life could have been so simple, but instead became endlessly complicated when he took the road to becoming one of the most revered planners in the game.

Also, near the end is a stern but impassioned speech by the police commissioner to reporters, defending police work as being 99% honest men trying to do an honest job. He flips through the available active radio channels, leaving each one active so a clamor of people needing help builds in the background:

“We send police assistance to every one of those calls. Because they’re not just code numbers on a radio beam; they’re cries for help. People are being cheated, robbed, murdered, raped. That goes on 24 hours a day, every day in the year. That’s not exceptional; that’s usual. It’s the same in every city of the modern world. But suppose we had no police force, good or bad. Suppose we had (he switches the radio channels off one by one) just silence. Nobody to listen. Nobody to answer. The battle’s finished. The jungle wins.”

It's a great speech, and he then goes on to be completely wrong about a guy still at large—possibly the most honorable of all the players…

See? It’s not black and white. It’s not even gray. It’s just mistakes, piled on top of each other. Rarely do we glimpse evil, but we deal in it every day. And not all of us are lucky.

The cinematography is gorgeous, so go for the Criterion Blu-ray if you can. The acting in the film is top of the line. Smarminess oozes from some, bluster is unmistakeable in others, and the competence of the crew is assured and subsequently verified. If anyone can pull off the job, they can. But Sterling Hayden… this guys nails it. To a post. Then runs the whole thing over with a train.

This is faultless noir and gets the highest recommendation.

5 stars

Well put my friend! The Criterion blu-ray just came out recently (within a month or so). I went to pick it up, but it wasn't at the HMV by my work. Might just order it online.

c marvel: I haven't seen that one, but I'll do a little digging and see what I can find.

[bugen]

The Asphalt Jungle looks incredible on Blu-ray--you won't be disappointed if you pick it up. From Netflix I've received Ace in the Hole, which I know you recommended. Can't wait to check out!

Cap, I've added your recommendation to the list. Thanks!

[bugen]

Laura (1944) - directed by Otto Preminger, written by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt (screenplay), Vera Caspary (novel)

“Young woman. Either you have been raised in some incredibly rustic community, where good manners are unknown, or you suffer from the common, feminine delusion that the mere fact of being a woman exempts you from the rules of civilized conduct. Or possibly both.”

A woman has been murdered by shotgun, and even in today’s ultra-violent society this level of gunplay against women is unsettling. As Laura’s (Gene Tierney) murder is investigated, numerous suspects are interrogated by Detective McPherson (Dana Andrews), who suspects no one and everyone.

Rounding out the cast we have Vincent Price as Shelby Carpenter, a socialite used to a rich lifestyle who pursued Laura, Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker, a highly respected writer and columnist who also pursued Laura, and Judith Anderson as Ann Treadwell, a wealthy woman who’s pursuing Clifton Webb.

It’s a complex murder mystery involving love, that dastardly, inescapable beast, and as Waldo’s radio program plays in the background near the film’s end it attributes most of the atrocities in history to love, asserting the emotion is stronger than life itself.

Due to shifting suspicions, the relatively small cast and the film's revelations, this is a mystery that delivers its most powerful strike on the first watch a la The Usual Suspects. Give it your full attention and reap the rewards.

“I shall never forget the weekend Laura died.”

5-

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[bugen]

Ace in the Hole (1951) - directed by Billy Wilder, written by Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman

“I’m a 250 dollar a week newspaperman. I can be had for 50.”

The Ace is a crack reporter (Kirk Douglas) from all the major cities, fired multiple times for being just this side of a hellraiser. The Hole is a mine in a mountain in the middle of Nowhere, New Mexico, where a man lies buried alive while a rescue operation unfolds. Feel-good story, man helping man. So where’s the noir? It’s right there in the setup, without even mentioning the buried man’s hot wife (Jan Sterling) who wants more than she’s getting.

As the rescue operation gains fame with the reporter playing it up, alliances are formed and people begin realizing a quick rescue may not be in everyone's best interest. Reporters from across the country try to muscle in on the story with no luck.

“We’re all buddies. We’re all in the same boat.”
“I’m in the boat. You’re in the water. Now let’s see you swim. Buddies.”

The real problem is this is all-too-often exactly how it works. We like to think of those we assign to keep us informed as to current events as (at least occasionally) altruistic, but operating in today’s environment often means a story can't even be considered unless it feeds the big machine. You tell the unvarnished truth and you get squashed by a thousand liars with great headlines, so you play ball.

And this is the cost. Initially bearing little resemblance to traditional noir, with its gangsters and shadowy murderers, when this film gets rolling there’s no mistaking it. If you don't already, be prepared to start looking at your news reports with a little extra salt, and newscasters from the corners of your eyes. Ace in the Hole is an excellent, prescient noir film, served cold.

“I’m a thousand dollar a day newspaperman. You can have me for nothing.”

4+ stars

[bugen]

Theli, I owe you a rep for recommending Ace in the Hole--it's incoming as soon as I'm able. There's a good chance I would have missed this one without your comment, so a big THANK YOU!

[Theli]

I'm glad you liked it! Billy Wilder's Noir is a bit different than others, somehow even more pessimistic than the norm in an already pessimistic subgenre. His subjects tend to hit closer to home, whether it be for the viewer (Double Indemnity), the auteur himself (Sunset Boulevard) or both (Ace in the Hole).

[Tommy]

So much to respond to!

Just to echo what Theli was saying about the book The Maltese Falcon, Mary Astor and Bogart's characters do sleep together in the book and Lorre's character is clearly identified as "queer" and I believe has a thing for the Elisha Cook Jr. character. It's very hard to believe but that was Sydney Greenstreet's first film appearance. He holds his own quite well.

The Lady from Shanghai was a flop due largely to the fact that Rita Hayworth's well known long, dark locks were cut and died blonde. Audiences hated that. Their marriage didn't last long after that. Woody Allen does a funny job of spoofing/paying homage to the final scene in his film Manhattan Murder Mystery if you ever get a chance to see it.

Laura is so good that even though we know who the killer is, multiple re-watchings do not diminish it's entertainment value. I've seen it about 20 times. It's one of those that when I see it's on TV, I drop everything to watch it.

I must admit, Ace in the Hole did not strike me as a noir the first time I saw it. I thought it more of a cynical black comedy/morality tale but reading people's arguments about it on IMDB made me see that it does have many of the trademarks of a noir. Great film!

[Theli]

Like Casablanca and Citizen Kane, I think whether Ace in the Hole is considered film noir or not does not detract from the quality of the movie... That said I do think it edges closer to the genre than aforementioned titles.

And yeah, Laura is great. Humorous and sordid. Splendidly told, obvious once you see the finale, yet throughout most of the movie it is unguessable based on the viewers preconceived notions.

Spoiler!

I'm referring to guessing the killer, not that Laura still lives, I think many of us figured that out

I have a magazine from the Times that explores the Noir genre and I think it gives an interesting perspective on Laura, most specifically the unusual sexual preferences/perversions of almost all of it's leading characters, including most obviously the Detective MacPherson's love for a dead woman he'd never met.