Keep learnin' us Para and I'll keep studying the clues ... many of these I've seen but with new eyes and a little understanding it becomes quite enjoyable. We didn't watch BRUTE FORCE, because it was billed as the most violent movie ever made and I generally don't find large amounts of cruelty entertaining.

Don't get me wrong, I like shoot 'em ups/justified revenge/violence but I never did just out and out cruelty, and Mr Muller set it up that as the key focus, and I believed him.

I listened to Mr. Muller talk about the Totalitarian aspect of of it during the intro - but just didn't want to end my day on such a movie. Went "light" with the last Nick and Nora crime mystery (Asta too) for something simple (Song of the Thin Man). Odd that it was channeling 1938 in 1947. Was kind of out of place, with the introduction of Jazz and white people trying to talk "hip".

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SIGnified,

Next Sunday:
"He Walked by Night"
Semi documentary about a cop killing. Richard Basehart before he commanded the Seaview. Jack Webb before Dragnet and this movie is said to be the inspiration for the series. In a small role is John Dehner, an underrated character actor who was in many, many (260) movies and TV in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

I love John Dehner, great character actor and voived many of the classic radio shows. He was Paladin on radios Have Gun Will Travel

What it comes down to is this- during the Nazi occupation of France beginning in 1940, the Fench and other peoples of Europe no longer had access to new American films. From 1940 to 1946, the French people- film fanatics all- saw no new American films. Just as when you don't see a friend for a long time and the changes in them are apparent immediately, so the French saw the dark mood pervading many American films, and they gave this style a name - Film Noir.

It's not about guns or cops or private detectives or fast dames, although all those things come right along with films in which this dark mood is appropriate and viable. Film Noir is about tone, attitude, atmosphere, whatever you want to call it.

Also, not to forget the point of all of this- the films that constitute the canon of film noir are some of the coolest movies ever made.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:


Also, not to forget the point of all of this- the films that constitute the canon of film noir are some of the coolest movies ever made.

Agreed.

Did you notice last week when Muller mentioned this week's film - He Walked by Night- that he didn't mention actors or directors or the story line? He mentioned who shot the film. I doubt that Mr. Muller will treat any of the other films in the series this way, but it's no surprise, because He Walked by Night is the work of the one and only John Alton.
Although Nicholas Musuraca is my favorite cinematographer of this period, no one can compare to the talents of cinematographer John Alton.

He Walked by Night is a showcase of the visual iconography of film noir. I just love the world Alton creates in this film.









The film is credited to the unremarkable director Alfred Werker, but apparently he was replaced early on in production by Mann. This film is an Anthony Mann/John Alton collaboration. There's simply no doubt about it. There are some scenes in the film which don't exhibit the chiaroscuro lighting of Alton and I wonder if those scenes were directed by Werker. I guess Werker's contract specified that he would be credited with the film's direction even if he was replaced. Maybe Eddie Muller can fill us in. If anyone would know these days, he would.

Mann and Alton made several films together, the first of these being the 1947 film noir T-Men, If you watch films like T-Men and Raw Deal, you'll see what I mean. There's no doubt that almost all of He Walked by Night was directed by Mann.

Speaking of Anthony Mann and film noir, allow me to point out something which may further your understanding of film noir - while films like Desperate, Railroaded, He Walked by Night, T-Men and Raw Deal are obviously film noir, Mann made several other films in what is known as his dark period (Mann later moved to widescreen color sword-and-sandals epics), which advanced students identify as film noir. Do a bit of research on the following:

The Furies

Devil's Doorway

The Tall Target

Reign of Terror aka The Black Book

In that list are two Westerns, a film about an assassination attempt on Abraham Lincoln at the start of his presidency, and - hold onto your hats- a film about the French Revolution. An argument can be made that Mann's Winchester 73 qualifies as film noir, due to the obsessive behavior of the film's protagonist.

The point is that film noir is not limited to contemporary crime films.

Oh, BTW, in He Walked by Night, there is a scene evocative of a scene in the Coen's No Country for Old Men, but will all due respect to the Coen brothers, Mann's set piece is superior.
Also, He Walked by Night beat The Third Man by a full year in showing the sewers of a city being used by the film's villain. How good a cinematographer was John Alton? He was so good, he could make an actual shit hole look attractive.

I imagine we'll hear Eddie Muller use adjectives like "incomparable" and "phenomenal" to describe the talents of John Alton, and you have an opportunity to see why this is so, coming on in less than an hour. Truly one of my favorite films.

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"I am your retribution." - Donald Trump, speech at CPAC, March 4, 2023

Next Sunday:
Shield for Murder.
Edmond O'Brien cast against type as a violent corrupt cop. Very versatile actor and (IMHO) a standout in his role as Dutton Peabody in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Carolyn Jones before she morphed into Morticia Addams.
Both Jones and O'Brien are Oscar holders.

Shield for Murder is a late offering in film noir. By the time this film was produced, Borde and Chaumeton's Panorama du Film Noir Américain had been published, and American film makers were now aware that this stye they had been employing in films for some time had a name. Once the film makers became conscious of what they were doing, the nature of film noir changed, and then we get low budget offerings like his "bad cop" film, and flashy, brassy films such as Kiss Me Deadly and The Big Combo.

Once the American film makers heard the term "film noir", the style began to fade. Film noir at that point changed from being an organic film movement, to being a self-conscious style. Once film noir knew its own name, it began to die.

Kinda like those old cartooon characters who walk off of a cliff but don't fall until someone points out that they've walked off the edge and are standing in mid-air.

Skynet becomes self aware...


Here's director Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly and The Big Knife, films noir, both from 1955) pictured on the set of his 1956 film Attack!, holding a copy of Borde and Chaumeton's Panorama du Film Noir Américain.



Aldrich's copy is in French, of course. The English language version did not become available until 2002. The copy Aldrich is holding has a dust cover with a production still from Jules Dassin's Night and the City. That's Richard Widmark. The 2002 English language version is a softcover, and has a production still from The Postman Always Rings Twice on the cover.

Trivia aside, the point is that late films noir, such as Orson Welles' Touch of Evil were made by studios and directors that were fully aware of what they were doing, and this killed film noir in its classic form.

The March 19th broadcast of Act of Violence was preempted for a tribute to Robert Osborne. TCM will be broadcasting this film on May 23 at 7:45 AM EST.

If you're interested in film noir and you have not seen Act of Violence, you need to see it. It's a really superb example of film noir and makes good use of seedy Bunker Hill locations, as well as Angel's Flight and the Third Street Tunnel.

When you start viewing this film, you think you know what's going on, but not too far into it, you find out that you are mistaken, and then the ending gives a nice twist. The film is not predictable, and it has Borde and Chaumeton's "cruel and unusual atmosphere" in spades, a true nightmare.

Also, though everyone remembers Mary Astor for her portrayal of Brigid O'Shaunessy in The Maltese Falcon, I think her performance in Act of Violence was one of the best things she ever did.

Thank you for the heads up!

Watched Shield for Murder last night.

Next Sunday:
The Prowler.
Van Heflin cast against type as an obsessed killer cop.

So was Mankowitz correct in virtually saying Mildred Pierce is a soap opera in the style of noir? Also being '55, is it also guilty of targeting noir specifically, or aligned with the tradition?

Fuck Ben Mankiewicz

Mildred Pierce is a crime drama, begins with a murder, and the tale is told by flashback after flashback. If that stupid son of a bitch thinks that is the structure of a soap opera, then he really is where he is only because of his last name.

I can't stand that smirking leftist asshole

My cat knows more about film noir than that douchebag.

Tonight at midnight, TCM is airing a neo-noir classic- the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple. If I had to cite just one example of neo-noir, it wouldn't be Chinatown or Body Heat or Red Rock West (although these are all prime examples)- it would be Blood Simple.

M. Emmett Walsh is great as a sleazy private detective. I love his opening lines.

"The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, and watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else... that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, and down here, you're on your own."

BTW, the title of the film is inspired by Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest, a novel I would recommend to those interested in the source materials of film noir. For those of you who may have a copy of Naremore's More Than Night handy, there's lots of good information about this novel.

I stayed up and watched it. A very well made and very dark film.

My vote for an excellent neo-noir:
A Simple Plan
Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton.
And I am usually up for anything by the Coen brothers,

Netflix streaming has "The Third Man" for those of us who don't have TCM.

quote:

Originally posted by cne32507:
Netflix streaming has "The Third Man" for those of us who don't have TCM.

The very best of British noir.

Heads up:
More Noir on TCM tonight.
8 PM Eastern: Gilda. Rita!
Midnite Eastern: Cornered. WWII Noir.