Film noir

[Tommy]

Oh definitely. I've seen Casablanca and Citizen Kane each about 50 times and will never accept either as a noir but Ace in the Hole I came around to. I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't good because I thought it wasn't a noir.

With regards to Laura, that is a fascinating topic and deserves several articles!

[Theli]

No worries, I didn't mean to imply that you implied that!

Just clarifying my own thoughts!

[bugen]

I ordered the 70th Anniversary Blu-ray of Casablanca and am really looking forward to a re-watch and to arguing with you guys about it! Or, more likely, removing it from the list. Still, I hope it can stay...

My comment about the mystery only able to be seen once in Laura was badly written and has been tweaked, clarifying that maximum impact comes from the first watch. And that falling in love with a dead woman, later used so effectively in Somewhere in Time, was fantastic! I loved the film, and when the list is finished I'll probably go back and meander through some of them again, including this one. It will be interesting to see if/how initial rankings change on subsequent viewings.

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White Heat - Directed by Raoul Walsh, written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts (screenplay)

“If I turned my back long enough for Big Ed to put a hole in it, there’d be a hole in it.”

The film opens with a train heist where multiple victims fall, and as the law closes in, gang boss Cody Jarrett (Cagney) unveils his plan to plead guilty to another crime elsewhere that exonerates him from the current mess while his crew continues to operate under the direction of his mother. He’s serving a light sentence alongside a police informant when he hears his mother has been killed and breaks out of prison to seek revenge and continue his rampage.

This one’s also its own beast. Initially resembling a crime drama more than noir, we keep receiving glimpses into a sadistic side to our main character (Cagney). There’s a sense that he wouldn’t be as brutal as he is if the situation didn’t call for it, but as the situation does call for it, he enjoys the brutality.

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Also present is the usual femme fatale (Virginia Mayo), cheating, maneuvering and generally attempting to wreak havoc, but this time the wicked intelligence of Cagney’s gangster keeps her pinned down. She tries to muck up the works, but Jarrett's just not having it. In noir, women seem to run all over men. In this noir, she tries but meets a steel wall.

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A few factors both qualify it for and disqualify it from the genre. First, there’s the femme fatale (qualifies), except she fails at stirring up trouble (disqualifies). She cheats on the boss with his right hand man (qualifies), but he’s barely interested in what she’s up to at all (disqualifies). Also, the darkness of Cagney’s character exhibits itself over and over through the film (qualifies), but the almost maniacal glee he seems to takes in some of his most brutal acts detaches the situation from the modern, cynical condition (disqualifies).

The film covers a lot of territory where the action is concerned, encompassing enough for a miniseries. It's gangster, it's noir, and it's highly recommended.

4+ stars

[Tommy]

That's another one I've never thought of as a noir but you're right, it definitely has noir elements. I've always thought of it as the "mother" of all gangster films.

[Theli]

It's been a while since I'd seen White Heat, though I did enjoy it quite a bit. I was on a pretty heavy Cagney kick for a while. Great actor. Yeah he's a little guy, but he's the real deal. The guy did know how to fight and didn't take shit from anyone.

Just like any other genre, sometimes noir overlaps with other genres. I would consider White Heat noir in general, but that doesn't mean it's not also a gangster flick or a dark drama. I mean take Alien for example, just because it's a sci-fi movie does not preclude it from being horror as well.

On the note of borderline noir flicks, or films defying classification, I watched Notorious last night. A solid Hitchcock flick for sure. I would argue against it, like most other Hitch flicks I've seen, being film noir, though it does have elements of it. Most notably, I would say, is the dysfunctional romance and character drama that develops throughout. And though the film's cinematography is darker than other Hitch flicks, it's not quite so hazy or shadowy as the quintessential noir films. The subject itself, espionage, doesn't scream noir to me. It's not quite down to earth enough to fit in with the genre I think. The setting too, bourgeois Rio, is not quite your average film noir setting.

Regardless of genre the characters are what stand out the most in this flick, very dynamic, well cast and acted. Ingrid Bergman particularly stands out in a rather heroic yet tragic portrayal. The finale is incredibly tense, though deceivingly so. It's not guns out, bullets flying type ending (sorry to spoil that much) but just taut with emotion and suspense.

I liked it quite a bit. Right up there with the best Hitchcock has to offer.

[bugen]

On Dangerous Ground - Directed by Nicholas Ray, written by A.I. Bezzerides (screenplay), Gerald Butler (novel)

“How do you live with yourself?"
“I don’t. I live with other people.”

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Straight-laced detective Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) is drowning in a corrupt world, slowly losing his sanity as he physically beats criminal after criminal. Ordered to take a break from the city, he’s assigned to a murder investigation in the country. As he tracks his murderer with the help of the rabid Walter Brent (Ward Bond), who’s lost a daughter to the killer, he’s shown sympathy by Mary Malden (Ida Lupino).

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The film eschews a few of the standard noir stereotypes, such as the complicated plot and the smoking hot seductress, but the mental condition of our main character along with the sordid world fits right in with the genre, not to mention the stark photography. Our detective is a good man tortured by his place in a negative world, and right from the beginning we know we’re witnessing a few moments of his last stand before he gives up entirely. His forced trip out of the city and into the open countryside, along with meeting the blind, attractive Mary, may be his final chance to leave the path to oblivion.

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It’s a fantastic, beautiful film, and it offers an element generally missing from noir: redemption.

“To get anything out of this life, you’ve got to put something in it. From the heart.”

4+ (5-) stars

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[Theli]

^I haven't seen that one, but it sounds great! Robert Ryan is fantastic.

[bugen]

The Big Combo (1955) - Directed by Joseph H. Lewis, written by Philip Jordan

Harboring a secret love for the gorgeous Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace), girlfriend of the ruthless gangster Mr. Brown (Richard Conte), policeman Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) obsessively pursues his unpopular investigation into the gangster as the body count rises. Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman offer excellent support as henchmen.

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The film is quintessential noir in nearly every way, missing only a femme fatale. The acting is spot on all around, but Conte’s portrayal of Mr. Brown is a highlight with a smart, enthusiastic and unapologetic viciousness.

“Now Benny, who runs the world? Have you any idea?”
“Not me, Mr. Brown.”
“That’s right. Not you. But a funny thing: they’re not so much different from you. But they’ve got something. They’ve got it and they use it. I’ve got it and he hasn’t. What is it, Benny? What makes the difference? Hate. Hate is the way, Benny. Hate the man who tries to beat you. Kill him, Benny, kill him! Hate him until you see red, and you’ll come out winning the big money. And the girls will come tumbling after.”

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The music is good, and the writing bears special mention. Numerous mini-speeches permeate the film and stand out like the above, with even minor characters getting a lot of love from the script. Another favorite is when the police lieutenant visits an old associate of the gangster boss, offering protection from the murderer, when he’s met with the following response:

“Mr. Diamond, I was a seaman for 30 years. I went to sea aged 14. I’ve seen storms. I’ve seen gunfire. I’ve seen torpedoes. I’ve been wrecked; not once, four times. On a raft, 37 days nothing but water. Nothing kills me. I’ll die in Stockholm like my great-grandfather, aged 93. I’m not scared of anyone, including you. So get out.”

Visually the film merits special attention as well. On a few separate occasions characters appear and disappear from shots by mixtures of light, fog and darkness in disquieting ways. There’s a fantastic tracking shot in the film, impossible to capture except in real time, of two men in a dark warehouse. A flicker of fire from the shadows barely illuminates the face of a third man in the background as he lights a cigarette, followed by two gangsters materializing from the darkness as they approach the two in focus. Its an incredible shot, almost demonic, and likely influenced the nearly supernatural appearance of the killers in dusters in Sergio Leone’s masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West.

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The Big Combo is a standout film, encapsulating the spirit of noir nearly perfectly with its murder, torture, obsession and ego, and it joins the list of favorites.

5- stars

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[Tommy]

I'm glad you liked it Andrew! I don't recall seeing On Dangerous Ground either. I will have to check my records. If not, I will be playing catch up soon!

Random but noir would be something quite less if not for cigarettes! I used to be a smoker but quit and now can't stand the smell but I love watching people smoke in movies. Weird.

[Tommy]

Just noticed that TCM will be showing Hitchcock films all day tomorrow. Good Stuff!

http://www.tcm.com/schedule/index.ht...ate=2017-01-01

[bugen]

Rebecca (1940) - Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison (screenplay), Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan (adaptation), Daphne Du Maurier (novel)

“It wouldn’t make for sanity, would it? Living with the devil…”

A rich woman’s traveling companion and servant (Joan Fontaine) meets and falls in love with the fabulously wealthy, recent widower Maxim de Winter (Lawrence Olivier). She returns with him to his estate and finds herself constantly compared to his previous wife Rebecca, who lost her life in a seafaring accident a year before.

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Her new life is complicated by Mrs. Danvers, the head of the staff, who adored Rebecca and is constantly deploying small tortures against the new Mrs. de Winter out of spite. When a ship wrecks off the coast of the de Winter estate, the hull of Rebecca’s boat is examined and new evidence is revealed, causing the investigation into her death to reopen.

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This is a fantastic romantic story and has little to do with traditional noir, aside from the visual style, for the first hour and a half. But the story darkens and pressure increases on the young bride as she struggles to live up to Rebecca’s impeccable image. Suspicions deepen as it’s slowly revealed the previous Mrs. de Winter may not have been the angel everyone remembers.

Here in Hitchcock’s first American film, Lawrence Olivier delivers a stellar performance, but Joan Fontaine’s modest and sweetly stunning Mrs. de Winter is impossible to look away from, hitting you with a hammer of moonlight right between the eyes (and I think I’ve fallen madly in love with her).

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It is a bit of stretch including this as film noir, being romantically oriented and a little slower paced that most, but it’s darker elements are eventually revealed as well as an unlikely femme fatale, so it arguably does qualify.

The bottom line is this: Rebecca is a wonderful film, absolutely deserving of its 11 Oscar nominations and 2 wins, including a win for Best Picture, and I do believe I’ve now got to include it on my list of favorite movies of all time.

5 stars

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[Tommy]

Rebecca is pretty amazing. I watched it about ten times before I noticed we never get the new Mrs. de Winter's first name. It's Hitch's first American film and also the one film he had the least amount of control over. I don't think Selznick and Hitch jived too well. It won best picture but I don't think Hitchcock was ever as pleased with it as some of his other films. It's still amazing after all these years.

I love this marathon you're on Andrew! It's reinvigorating my love for the classics.

[bugen]

I'm having a ball! And I really appreciate the help from you guys. Everyone who's posted here has led me to something I didn't originally consider and the experience is so much better because of it.

Tomorrow, as the first film of the new year, I'm planning to finally view Kubrick's The Killing. I've been sitting on it for a few days now because I'm nervous it may not live up to the other commanding films from my hero. It's stupid, I know, but I desperately need the film to be incredible.

[Tommy]

You have nothing to worry about