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What are your b&w / Film Noir / Suspense / Mystery films of the 30s to 60s

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  • ThrasosThrasos
    edited September 2016 Posts: 1,469
    Yeah, I like Two Jakes (have it on DVD). Agree that it's not quite up to Chinatown's level, but in one way, how could it be...and given that Jack ended up directing, not sure if "self-indulgent" is the best way to credit that, but he got the story told/shown, and I do like the atmosphere and detail in it, though it does meander at times. Memorable scenes. Harvey Keitel was great, I thought--same with the sexy Madeleine Stowe. And Nicholson still had it as Gittes. Very glad to have it in my collection.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited September 2016 Posts: 28,694
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I'm embarrassed to admit I have never seen it, and I thought I was well steeped in both film noir and Sinatra. I will have to remedy that soon.

    @Birdleson, I think you'd really dig it, for a variety of reasons. Great characters, performances, mystery and social commentary in addition to some beautiful direction. One of my favorite things about this movie is that, during scenes where Leland and his wife are speaking to each other, often the camera holds tight, zooms in and stays hooked on each of the characters faces as they stare into the lens to deliver their lines. Douglas' camerawork and the attentive gazes of both Frank Sinatra's Leland and Lee Remick as his spouse in these scenes make it feel as it they are both speaking right to you as the viewer, which brings you that much closer to them and their conflicts. The fourth wall is already removed for us to spy in on their marital lives as it is in all movies, but the camerawork here only endeavors to develop the intimacy of these moments even more.

    A masterfully crafted movie in every way for me. Do be sure to let us know your feelings on it when you catch it.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Just spent a hyper-focused half of my day creating some more posters based around the film noir The Maltese Falcon, if you all want to see them. I'm putting them under a spoiler tag as they are high in number and big in file size.
    gMOraMm.jpg

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    V4hQWid.jpg

    9gpqSGF.jpg

    w46kySd.jpg

    XFdyRgh.jpg
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    My envy compounds itself.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Steaks aren't so good actually.

    I don't like steak, but I'd go there just to touch the falcon and recreate some scenes from the movie. Until the owners told me to get out of dodge and banned me from the premises for life, that is.
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,167
    Being a huge fan of noirs such as THE MALTESE FALCON, and DARK PASSAGE I find it criminal I have yet to visit beautiful San Francisco. A friend of mine went there and took pictures of Bacall's apartment from DARK PASSAGE. Needless to say, I was jealous.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @Birdleson, I'm an east-coaster Northern Pennsylvanian. At the moment I'm basically as far away from San Francisco as I could be, outside of living in Maine.

    I'll have to visit the Bay area someday though to see some locations from the Hollywood classics and other items from history. I would very much like to meet you and any other MI6 regulars who may be around town as well. It's just a matter of time and resources, which I have little of at the moment just out of college.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I live in Port Allegany, a town that's part of McKean County, that is so far north in Pennsylvania it takes only about thirty minutes to cross into New York state lines from my house.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited September 2016 Posts: 9,020
    Port Allegany has just made my short list for "must see" locations in the USA @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

    The other ones being Maple Grove where the @PropertyOfALady lives, Ohio @Murdock city (how could it be called anything else), West Virginia Bumfuck (according to @Creasy47 that's where he lives) and of course @Master_Dahark himself in Maryland. And last but not least the ever fabulous great @Chrisisall from Massachusetts.
    Hope I did get all the locations right ;)

    Seems all reasonably close together. Now tell me why have you guys never met each other??
    I AM SO JEALOUS. I want to live in Maine or Vermont :) I'll be visiting you all the time...
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @BondJasonBond006, well, speaking for myself here, the past 4 years of the 5 I've been a member here I've spent in college, and when I wasn't enrolled I was working summer jobs, so there hasn't been much wiggle room for me to do much anything outside of those roles, much less do meet-ups across state lines. I've also not got my license yet (working on it).

    I would certainly love to meet some East Coast MI6ers, for sure, especially @Murdock and @Creasy47 as I know them better than most here (joined around the same time) and we live quite close, or closer than most at the very least.

    I've got a great idea for meeting @Master_Dahark, too. Since he's a state policeman, I would pick @Murdock and @Creasy47 up and drive us to Maryland where we would cause a (drunken?) disturbance of some rowdy sort near @Master_Dahark's area of patrol until he showed up to arrest us, at which point we would introduce ourselves to his surprise and hopefully be off scot- free. Either that or he would haul us off to be booked, at which case he could chat us up if the three of us shared a jail cell.

    Either way, it'd be a story!
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited October 2016 Posts: 9,020
    Thanks for the many tips and reviews.

    Went a little crazy and just purchased:
    The Detective 1968
    Tony Rome 1967
    Lady In Cement 1968
    Suddenly 1954

    And now the shocking truth:
    I love a lot of music but not many acts are as significant in my life as Barbra Streisand or Frank Sinatra. I own all his music, special editions, 75th Anniversary Boxes, 100th Anniversary Boxes etc.

    But when it comes to film I have not seen many of his. Of course I own Young At Heart (Doris Day), High Society (Grace Kelly) and Ocean's Eleven. Of course I own and have seen each and every Barbra movie.

    I wasn't aware Frank has done Film Noir movies!

    Looking forward to watching them.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Barbara Streisand? Things start falling into place.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,183
    Quite obviously, the best film noir, suspense films of the era at the very least include
    - The Big Sleep
    - Dark Passage
    - Key Largo
    - The Maltese Falcon
    - High Sierra
    - The Killing
    - Dead Reckoning
    - North By Northwest
    - Strangers On A Train
    - The Third Man
    - ...

    Worst?
    Gee, I can't think of any.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    Barbara Streisand? Things start falling into place.

    You mean my obvious fabulousness and niceness?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Among other traits.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited October 2016 Posts: 28,694
    @BondJasonBond006, there's other performers, and then there's Sinatra. A man with such variety of talent he could take up a mic and rouse a crowd until midnight in one moment, then pick up a script and play a heartbreaking and emotional scene on the big screen the next. My all time favorite entertainer, hands down, and the masculine voice of an age, if not the greatest male voice of all time.

    I think you'll really dig The Detective, and you'll have to let us all know when you've seen it. A powerhouse film.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote: »
    @BondJasonBond006, there's other performers, and then there's Sinatra. A man with such variety of talent he could take up a mic and rouse a crowd until midnight in one moment, then pick up a script and play a heartbreaking and emotional scene on the big screen the next. My all time favorite entertainer, hands down, and the masculine voice of an age, if not the greatest male voice of all time.

    I think you'll really dig The Detective, and you'll have to let us all know when you've seen it. A powerhouse film.

    Didn't know you're such a fan of Sinatra, that's good to know, not that I had any doubts about your impeccable taste in music and film AND art anyway.

    Yes I consider him to be the best entertainer ever and the best singer.
    It's hard to pick favourites with him but one album that certainly I'd consider amongst the best albums ever recorded is 1967's Francis Albert Sinatra/Antonio Carlos Jobim which got a wonderful new release in 2010 "The Complete Reprise Recordings" which is 20 tracks strong.

    I'll receive the four movies I ordered as early as Tuesday it seems, already got a "send out" notification. So I definitely will watch them next week as they fit so perfectly into my current Film Noir/50s/60s/Monroe Marathon.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Just finished CHARADE 1963 with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
    One of the best mystery movies outside of Hitchcock.
    Stanley Donen at his best (as usual really) and one that can be re-watched every couple of years easily.

    The supporting cast is splendid and the influence of James Bond can be seen with the PTS and the title sequence that resembles Dr. No's quite a bit. The train in the PTS, the snowy Alps after the titles and then Paris as the main location.

    Charade works on all levels and once again I'm convinced Cary Grant would have made a perfect James Bond had he taken the role.

    Feeling like a short detour to Cary Grant films now.

    So next on the menu:
    TO CATCH A THIEF fits my Hitchcock-athon nicely
    NORTH BY NORTHWEST as well a Hitchcock classic
    THAT TOUCH OF MINK starts off my Doris Day-athon
    MONKEY BUSINESS fits my Monroe-athon

    Yep I'm doing quite a few Marathons and mixing them up is fun :)
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Double feature of Frank Sinatra:

    SUDDENLY 1954, classic film noir
    THE DETECTIVE 1968, has film noir elements

    I never thought of Frank Sinatra as an actor, I regard him as the best male singer ever. And I even wasn't aware that he made serious dramatic movies.

    Thanks to this thread I now discovered the above mentioned movies.

    Suddenly:
    It seems this movie was "lost" until 2012 as Frank thought this movie's setting was to eerily similar to the Kennedy assassination.
    But now wonderfully restored it probably will find a new audience. Like me.
    First of all Francis' performance is captivating. What a great actor, he commands every scene he's in and the movie itself is really well done. Very simple plot, the whole movie takes place in a house really, where Sinatra takes a family hostage so he can assassinate the President of the United States that will make a stop at the train station in this town called Suddenly. The movie doesn't feature any action except some shooting but still is highly engrossing.
    Recommended.

    The Detective:
    How this movie escaped me that long is a mystery to me. I thought I had seen about every popular movie of 1966 to 1969.
    Joe Leland immediately has made it into my hall of fame of best characters on the big screen ever.

    Sinatra is unbelievably good. But the supporting cast really makes this movie unforgettable too.

    I couldn't take my eyes off the screen as soon as Joe Leland entered the house where the gay man was brutally murdered and left lying naked on the floor with more than one body part cut off.
    After this scene I had to check again if this movie really was made in 1968, especially since Sinatra says words like penis and other very blunt remarks. This feels more like an early 70's cop film in that regard.

    While gay men may not be depicted very favourably in this film, the topics chosen for the story make this movie special and the quite liberal Detective Joe Leland who has to face bigoted and prejudiced fellow cops is one kick ass strong character.
    The backstory of his relationship to Lee Remick who plays his love interest and then wife is complicated, cleverly written and full of character study and drama.

    Also after the first crime of the murdered and mutilated man seemingly solved the movie progresses to Leland's second case of a man who jumped off a roof but his wife claims it wasn't a suicide.

    I didn't get the connection of both cases to the last act of the movie when everything gets explained properly.

    The Detective is one of those movies that cannot be processed with one viewing, not by me anyway. This is heavy character study stuff with a Frank Sinatra that gives a performance that should count among the best of the whole decade in my opinion.

    HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

    Tony Rome and The Lady In Cement will arrive in my mail box as well this week. Can't wait for those really after seeing the above mentioned movies by Sinatra.




  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited October 2016 Posts: 28,694
    @BondJasonBond006, I'm so thrilled you adored The Detective just as much as I did! I agree that Leland is one of the all-time greatest characters in cinema, and he exists inside what still remains an extremely powerful and relevant film from a social society perspective. It's crazy how little this film is talked about when it was one of the biggest movies to bust through the ceiling the old Hayes code had placed on the film industry, and paved the way for the 70s films that continued to tell honest, uncensored stories of its same kind. It's shocking but also extremely beautiful that a film of its kind with its content was made in 1968, but I'm sure it was no easy feat to get it financed and shot with what the film was presenting to audiences. God am I glad it exists.

    Here's a great article on the film, if you're interested:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-simon/great-movie-characters-jo_b_7097266.html

    I'll be watching both Sinatra's Tony Rome films soon as well, and will give my thoughts on them when I've experienced them. We'll have to compare our thoughts.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited October 2016 Posts: 9,020
    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

    THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU so much for providing the link to that article.
    I had to print it out after reading and put it into the Blu-ray case of The Detective.

    I had no idea about the background of the movie and only knew little about the Hayes Code.
    Yet knowing so many 60s movies it immediately became clear to me when watching that this film must be something special. And it is, obviously.

    I also have now read your review about The Detective which I didn't read when you posted it because I didn't want to get spoilers.
    Reading it now was a great experience and quite frankly it moves me to tears.
    I felt the same during the movie, it seems to touch too many current topics and I wonder will our society ever progress to be something better?

    What really struck my heart like a bullet
    was William Windom's character MacIver saying he rather commit suicide (and he did) knowing an innocent man will be electrocuted on the chair for the murder MacIver commited than coming forward saving the innocent man's life but then be branded a homosexual.
    I don't hate his character for this, he was deeply troubled and pushed into a corner by society but the sheer fact that someone would rather die and let someone else die than admitting being gay...
    I would have loved to be young in the 60's, I love that decade, but I have to get rid of my rose-coloured glasses, it wasn't Doris Day's and Rock Hudson's Pillow Talk land after all.
    Still I'm glad that version of the 60's does exist in film, I'm a hopeless romantic...
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @BondJasonBond006, could you put that last paragraph of your post that deals with the plot of the film into spoilers? I ask because this film has yet to be seen by some members here and I don't want them to have it ruined for them. :)

    I agree with you about the rose-tinted glasses, and how our love of the films of these particular decades clouds our judgements of how things really were at times.

    I adore 40s and 50s films, and would have loved to have been alive when all my favorite actors/actresses/entertainers were, but I'd also have to accept all the racism, bigotry and hatred, communist witch hunts and corruption that ruled that period along with all the wonderful things. I guess it's no different than what has always existed ("the best of times, the worst of times"), but it's fair to say we're finally getting out of antiquated modes of thinking that only hurt certain parts of our society and we are collectively becoming more and more accepting and logical over time in many ways.

    Still lots of ground to cover, though, so we all need to embrace our inner Joe Leland and get moving with progress.
  • DRush76DRush76
    Posts: 533
    "The Maltese Falcon" (1931)

    "Night Nurse" (1931)

    "The Thin Man" (1934)

    "After the Thin Man" (1936)

    "The Maltese Falcon" (1941)

    "This Gun For Hire" (1942)

    "The Glass Key" (1942)

    "Double Indemnity" (1944)

    "Laura" (1944)

    "Murder My Sweet" (1944)

    "The Big Sleep" (1946)

    "Out of the Past" (1947)

    "Naked City" (1948)

    "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950)

    "Detective Story" (1951)

    "The Big Heat" (1953)

    "Kiss Me Deadly" (1955)




  • ThrasosThrasos
    Posts: 1,469
    I know several of us have mentioned Chinatown, and I came across this blog post about a lost scene from the movie, so I thought I'd post the link for anyone who might be interested.
    http://theeditroomfloor.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-lost-scene-from-chinatown.html
  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,044
    BondJasonBond006 wrote: »
    Thanks for the many tips and reviews.

    Went a little crazy and just purchased:
    The Detective 1968
    Tony Rome 1967
    Lady In Cement 1968
    Suddenly 1954

    And now the shocking truth:
    I love a lot of music but not many acts are as significant in my life as Barbra Streisand or Frank Sinatra. I own all his music, special editions, 75th Anniversary Boxes, 100th Anniversary Boxes etc.

    But when it comes to film I have not seen many of his. Of course I own Young At Heart (Doris Day), High Society (Grace Kelly) and Ocean's Eleven. Of course I own and have seen each and every Barbra movie.

    I wasn't aware Frank has done Film Noir movies!

    Looking forward to watching them.

    I've only seen Suddenly out of those ones.

    What are your favourite Sinatra albums?
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    @vzok
    No 1 is definitely Sinatra/Jobim for me, after that it already gets tricky.

    Songs For Swinging Lovers
    September Of My Years

    In The Wee Small Hours, obviously

    Furthermore:
    Watertown
    Songs For Young Lovers
    Duets I
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Hi there, lads. Long story short, one of the projects I developed and executed in college was a blog with the purpose of teaching people how to write mystery stories, pulling on my own writing experience and knowledge of the genre to devise 7 posts covering different challenges involving with pursuing mystery writing.

    I assembled all the posts into a blog platform and designed it to make it as readable and accessible as possible, and thought I'd post a think to it if anyone here wanted to read some of it, as I know we're all big fans of the genre:

    https://demystifyingthemystery.wordpress.com/

    I'm currently applying for jobs that demand a skill/proficiency in persuasive and informative writing as well, so any feedback on how successful the writing is on those fronts would be helpful to hear as well.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    I watched one last night. "the Frightened City" a British made film set in the London underworld of the sixties featuring a pre Bond Sean Connery.
  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,044
    BondJasonBond006 wrote: »
    @vzok
    No 1 is definitely Sinatra/Jobim for me, after that it already gets tricky.

    Songs For Swinging Lovers
    September Of My Years

    In The Wee Small Hours, obviously

    Furthermore:
    Watertown
    Songs For Young Lovers
    Duets I

    Some great choices there. Sinatra/Jobim is a great listen in the summer. I like Watertown a lot too, even though it wasn't popular at the time.
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,167
    It's been awhile since I've watched SUDDENLY. Sinatra is great, as is Sterling Hayden. I may be due for a viewing of this classic soon.
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