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Five Fingers (1952)
Topaz (1969)
The Man who Knew too Much (1956)
Passage to Suez (1943)
Our Man in Havana (1960)
Malaya (1949)
The Black Watch (1929)
No I haven't. I hadn't even heard of that series until recently. Is it good?
I ask because I've never seen either before, but saw a good deal on them online and wanted to know what people thought. I really like what I saw of Douglas' style in The Detective and would be interested in seeing the product of his other two films with Frank. I just don't like making blind buys for things I've never seen something of.
https://imgur.com/a/TuvC9
Good collection of shots too: The second shot, any of the shots between Sinatra and Remick, the close-up on Bisset's eyes, and the closing shot with Sinatra in the car to name a few. An improvement? Perhaps, but I like the colourful look of late 60's movies – no matter what genre.
They are lighthearted 60's detective films, so don't expect them to be like The Detective*. I didn't really care much for Tony Rome, but the sequel, Lady In Cement was much better. Gotta love that super cool Hugo Montenegro score as well.
It's so 60's it hurts.
* I say this every time I bring up The Detective, but I strongly recommend The First Deadly Sin (1980). It might not offer much in the way of examination, unlike The Detective, but but the character Sinatra plays in it, is an older Joe Leland in all but name.
@Torgeirtrap, many thanks. It was a blast to do, though I really scoured the movie for a long while collecting them.
I agree that, when there isn't a range of color to distract the eye, we are more able to hone in on the composition of the image and instead become attracted to the mix of light and shadow presented, which is really all there is to focus on in the absence of spotting "color." I think the monochrome works well with the content of the film, very haunting and cynical, but also weary.
The way the lighting in used in the film shows that Gordon Douglas and his DP were tuned into how to shoot movies in that noir style, and just the way the lighting and shadow falls at times can really add so much meaning to the image that wouldn't be there otherwise. Take the shot of Karen comforting Joe on the bed: in some shots Frank's face was fully visible in the light, making it a very simple shot, but in the one I chose his face was aimed downward with the shadow hiding most of his face, giving him a weary sort of feeling. In a few seconds, the whole mood of the shot was changed and that's fascinating to me.
I'll be watching the other Douglas noirs with Frank soon, and might repeat this whole process with some of the shots in those films.
@MajorDSmythe, the Rome films are ones I'll be watching in the coming weeks right off the back of my recent viewings of Douglas' The Detective, so they're on the schedule. I'm fascinated to see how those two films contrast with his first collaboration with Frank. From what I've read it seems to be a situation like where Bogart played Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe with just a few years apart, and, as with Bogart, Sinatra's Leland seems to be more of a do-gooder type like Marlowe whereas Rome seems to be a more roguish fellow in line with Spade.
As for The First Deadly Sin, that's been on my list since you first mentioned it and it'll be the one I see after these 60s detective films with Frank. Because Tony Rome is an ex-cop gone private I'm tempted to treat him like Joe Leland coming back to crime-fighting from the outside, just as I'll treat the character in Deadly Sin just the same. I'll probably post my non-spoiler thoughts in this thread when I see any of them.
Both the abovementioned films have some nice cinematography, so they will no doubt look good in a black and white treatment. Might look a bit different to The Detective, as the setting changes from NYC to sunny Miami.
Val Lewton is fantastic. Cat People is an obvious great but I really like The 7th Victim. What he can do with just light and shadow is marvellous. That's an unsettling film. The torturously long, patient shot down the hallway is masterful. I do a monthly film podcast and my co-host is a big Val Lewton fan.
We also recently did an episode on Ida Lupino - she had a great noir (the first by a female Hollywood director) 'The Hitch-Hiker'.
We're called ***Spoiler Alert*** - you can search for it on I-tunes (although there are many podcasts named this - when we started six years ago there were far less!)
The episode 49 (link below) we reviewed 'Spectre' (I haven't listened to this in ages so curious to hear what I thought about it...I imagine far more forgiving then now!)
http://sunsetstudios.co.nz/spoiler-alert-podcast-episode-49/
Here's the latest episode where we look at Ida Lupino (and The Hitch-hiker)
http://sunsetstudios.co.nz/spoiler-alert-podcast-episode-66-part-2/
And this is the Seventh Victim discussion
http://sunsetstudios.co.nz/movie-challenge/
Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Yeah, it looks to have been a good director/actor combination. Watched both the Tony Rome-films only a day apart. Would recommend doing the same thing – or even better, as a double-feature. They follow the same template in just about everything, making it an interesting viewing.
I also liked Sinatra a lot in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM. And BLADE RUNNER 2049.
Not only that, the film has Bruce Willis's first film appearance (as an extra). Willis went onto play John McClane in DIE HARD, which is based on Roderick Thorp's sequel to The Detective!
Here are the two Joe Lelands passing each other:
Did not know that! Will keep an eye out for the cameo when I get the chance to see the film. :-)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ejqgwh
One of my favourites too! Magnificent film.
The sequence where the first truck crosses the gravel plain slowly to not upset the nitro-glycerine while the second truck following and unable to communicate - decides to go fast to glide across it is brilliant.
Pick Up Alley is heading to blu ray, and features a documentary about Warwick Films.