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1. OUT OF THE PAST
2. THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
3. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946)
4. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
5. IN A LONELY PLACE
6. DARK PASSAGE
7. HIS KIND OF WOMAN
8. MACAO
9. THE BIG COMBO
10. RAW DEAL (1948)
11. ROAD HOUSE (1948)
12. THE KILLERS (1946)
13. THE BRIBE (1949)
14. DETOUR
15. LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN
16. LAURA
17. JOHNNY EAGER
18. KISS ME DEADLY
19. MY GUN IS QUICK
20. WHERE DANGER LIVES
21. ANGEL FACE
22. NIAGARA
23. THE BIG STEAL
24. CRISS CROSS
25. DOUBLE INDEMNITY.
I'm going to wait until the end of the year to revise my "Essentials" list. I'll probably drop the Hitchcock titles since he is really a genre all to himself.
Based on my weekly Noir Alley viewing, I've seen quite a few "minor" titles in the past few months - but they were all quite enjoyable.
So far, The File On Thelma Jordon (1949), Deep Valley (1947), Storm Warning (1951), Out of the Fog (1941) and Whiplash (1948) are on my list of future DVDs to buy. Given that November is also NOIRVEMBER (as well as Gloria Grahame's Centennial) I'll have a lot of films to rewatch. Probably between rewatches of Godzilla films!!! :))
Great list, @Dwayne. I really like Storm Warning, Impact, Dial 1119 and Desparate. Several titles on that list I still haven't seen. :)
The Schedule (thus far):
Nov 7th/Nov 8th
8:00 pm Crossfire (1947)
9:45 pm Woman's Secret (1949)
11:30 pm Roughshod (1949)
1:15 am Blonde Fever (1945)
2:30 am Merton of the Movies (1947)
4:00 am Song of the Thin Man (1947)
5:30 am It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
Nov 14th/Nov 15th
8:00 pm In a Lonely Place (1950)
10:00 pm The Glass Wall (1953)
11:30 pm Man on a Tightrope (1953)
1:30 am Macao (1952)
Nov 21st/Nov 22nd
8:00 pm The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
10:15 pm Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
12:00 am Not As a Stranger (1955)
2:30 am The Cobweb (1955)
:x :x :x
Excellent, @Dwayne . Gloria must be TCM's star of the month.
Nov 28th/29th
8:00 pm The Big Heat (1953)
9:45 pm Human Desire (1954)
11:30 pm Naked Alibi (1954)
1:15 am The Good Die Young (1954) [directed by Lewis Gilbert]
3:15 am Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)
Such a great scene! Love this movie. :D
FYI: on X (Twitter), #NoirvemberChallenge is holding a daily series of Film Noir questions. One for each of the thirty days of this month. Listed below are the tweeter questions for Nov 1st to Nov 10th.
My choices thus far (Day 1,2,4 and 9 only):
Harry Lime (Orson Welles) in THE THIRD MAN. This is still the standard IMO. It is Interesting to compare this with how Sean Bean’s Alex Trevelyan steps out of the shadows in GOLDENEYE.
THE BREAKING POINT (1950). I’ve written about this classic on several occasions. John Garfield is simply one of the greatest actors that most people don’t know about.
OUT OF THE PAST. I could have selected DOUBLE INDEMINITY, but I think that historical “B-movie ‘ness” of Film Noir is really captured by OUT OF THE PAST. DOUBLE INDEMNITY, on the other hand, was really an “A” movie. That said, given the amount of talent shown in a lot of film noirs I beginning to think of then not as B-movies, but simply as “non-A” films.
THE BIG HEAT (1953). While I love THE BIG COMBO and THE BIG SLEEP, Gloria Grahame’s Debby Marsh really makes this film especially exciting.
While I can't find the specific tweet at the moment, one poster suggested Bond's own Mads Mikkelsen in a remake of IN A LONELY PLACE. You know something... I'm really starting to see that. It would be tough to follow Bogart, but perhaps he could pull it off.
This Saturday (Day 11) will be loads of fun, since everyone is tasked with selecting their favorite femme fatale. Thoughts?
That sounds like a blast @Dwayne ! Of course my personal fave noir femme fatale is............
Too bad I gotta work all day Saturday and I dont have Twitter.
I'll try and answer these questions:
1. Cora Smith
2. THE MALTESE FALCON
3. Remake of ON DANGEROUS GROUND with Gal Gadot in the Ida Lupino role and Liam Neeson in the Robert Ryan role. Bit if a cop out answer, but I can't think of too many actors today that are noirish.
4. OUT OF THE PAST
5. MY GUN IS QUICK slightly references THE MALTESE FALCON in the final scene.
6. Mitchum helping the kid beat Jim Backus in HIS KIND OF WOMAN may be my fave gambling scene.
7. OUT OF THE PAST and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE
8. Between John Huston, Anthony Mann and Robert Siodmak.
9. THE BIG SLEEP
10. John Alton.
As for my favorite femme fatale; I'm going to have to sleep on it! :D
I actually joined twitter several months ago, specifically to tweet along with #TCMParty. So far, so good. But outside of the confines on classic filmdom, twitter can be an absolute cesspool and I avoid it at all costs.
I suppose there are actors today who could be in noir....but for me even those actors were, say 20 years ago. Robert Patrick, for instance, I could see in a Robert Ryan type role back in the 90s or 2000s.
Yeah. I had a Twitter account at one point, @Dwayne, but I somehow locked myself out.
I tend to get hacked on Instagram. Word of advice: avoid responding to messages sent by Instagram followers you don't really know.........especially femme fatale followers. :(
Speaking of femme fatales, my follow up choices would be Jane Greer in OUT OF THE PAST, Ava Gardner in THE KILLERS and Gene Tierney in LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN.
The Noirvember Challenges for Days 11 to 20.
For the record, choosing a single favorite femme fatale proved to be impossible for many, though Stanwyck was cited by most people.
While excluding Barbara Stanwyck – the gold standard IMO - my post cited Jane Greer (OUT OF THE PAST), Gene Tierney (LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN), Joan Bennett (SCARLETT STREET) and – naturally – Peggy Cummins (GUN CRAZY).
Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy (THE MALTESE FALCON, 1941), Jean Gillie as Margot Shelby (DECOY, 1946) – bring on the Methylene blue(!) as she’s perhaps the most ruthless fatale – Ava Gardner as Kitty Collins (THE KILLERS, 1946) and Lizabeth Scott as Jane Palmer (TOO LATE FOR TEARS, 1949), would have been a more diverse selection. But what is done, is done.
However, I don’t think anyone has ever been as “Fatale” as Ann Savage / Vera in DETOUR (1945).
She scares me!
Okay, here's my answers:
1. Cora Smith
2. MOONRISE
3. DARK PASSAGE
4. OUT OF THE PAST ans THE POSTMAN ALWAY RINGS TWICE
5. WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS
6. "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it."-THE MALTESE FALCON
7. THE MALTESE FALCON
8. DOUBLE INDEMNITY
9. ON DANGEROUS GROUND
10. Robert Mitchum and Lana Turner.
She's too much 'fatale' and not much 'femme' ... when what's required is an equal amount of both.
At least to my taste in noir ...
Similarly, Mary Astor in TMF is just too uncool, nervous from the start, and lacks the va-va-voom to convincingly enthrall & ensnarl any male of the species.
I come second to no one in my love of Gloria Grahame in The Big Heat, but she's really far too sympathetic & vulnerable a character to be a true femme fatale. Kind of the opposite of Ann Savage ... notwithstanding the revenge she enacts at the end.
To my eyes, from examples mentioned above, it's hard to top Jane Greer. Honorable mentions to Ava and Joan ...
Put Jack Nicholson in Tightrope and it is a noir as it can be.
Hadn't seen this noir in decades and it really hit the spot. Great cast, great atmosphere and excellent music score. I loved every frame.
In other Noir "news", the questions for days 21-30:
Finally, yesterday, November 19th, I saw that Gene Tierney was trending on twitter. It had slipped my mind, but yesterday marked the 103rd anniversary of her birth. Clearly, one of the most beautiful women ever, I’m going to watch LAURA tonight in her honor.
I think you'd like I WALK ALONE, @Dwayne. Lizabeth Scott has a great role.
Last night I popped in my copy of LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN in honor of Gene Tierney's birthday.
1. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE
2. THE BIG SLEEP
3. OUT OF THE PAST
4. THE MALTESE FALCON
5. WHITE HEAT
6. IN A LONELY PLACE
7. DARK PASSAGE
8. HIS KIND OF WOMAN
9. LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN
10. DETOUR
11. ON DANGEROUS GROUND
12. MACAO
13. I WALK ALONE
14. JOHNNY EAGER
15. THE BRIBE (1949)
16. LAURA
17. THE KILLERS (1946)
18. CRISS CROSS
19. RAW DEAL (1948)
20. ROAD HOUSE (1948)
21. PORTRAIT IN BLACK
22. DOUBLE INDEMNITY
23. KEY LARGO
24. MY GUN IS QUICK
25. THE BIG COMBO
I also didn't get a chance to watch LAURA. Fate has intervened, however, and the #FilmNoirClub is having a virtual watch along tonight.
American Cinema - Film Noir (PBS documentary)
And "Noirvember" creator Marya E. Gates did the introduction to this article of the best 100 noirs. An excellent read.
https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/best-film-noirs/
Always loving your posts and love for noir, @Dwayne. Happy Thanksgiving!
Currently watching HUMAN DESIRE on TCM.
I like that Youtuber's noir videos.
Yesterday I received THE TWO MRS CARROLLS in the mail and watched it back to back with CONFLICT. Great Bogie double feature. I'm actually more familiar with CONFLICT, but I really enjoyed both films. Very similar noirs Bogie did that don't get much discussion.
In April, the criterion channel is highlighting the noir films of 1950 in a series they call “Peak Noir.” Among the films being streamed:
- IN A LONELY PLACE
- SUNSET BLVD
- THE ASPHALT JUNGLE
- NIGHT and the CITY
- GUN CRAZY
- THE FILE ON THELMA JORDON
- CAGED
- THE BREAKING POINT
- THE DAMNED DON’T CRY
- WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS
In addition, there is a thirty-minute overview of the series by Eddie Muller and Imogen Sara Smith in which they outline why 1950 was just a pivotal year for classic film noir. As Eddie states:“Of course, crime pays! Haven’t you been living in this country for a while?!”
I think @ToTheRight can guess which movie I streamed first! :x :x :x
Excellent!
FYI, on Wednesday evening I participated in a live-tweet of the 1931 version of "THE MALTESE FALCON." For now, I'll just say, that it was much better than I anticipated, and the "pre-code" aspects of the film were really nice.
YES!