The Film Noir Thread

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  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,040
    It's called Palette it's actually a web page, I have only used some movie images on the site. This channel recommended Palette, the video gives a quick breakdown of the software...

    I have no intention of using personal images on the site.

    I have been thinking about getting some installable software that will do the same thing just not got round to it.
    Thanks a lot! I may try this in the near future.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,133
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    It's called Palette it's actually a web page, I have only used some movie images on the site. This channel recommended Palette, the video gives a quick breakdown of the software...

    I have no intention of using personal images on the site.

    I have been thinking about getting some installable software that will do the same thing just not got round to it.
    Thanks a lot! I may try this in the near future.

    As its a web page it's difficult to determine whether they keep images used that's why I wont use personal photo's. If I find some good free downloadable software I will let you know.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,040
    As its a web page it's difficult to determine whether they keep images used that's why I wont use personal photo's. If I find some good free downloadable software I will let you know.
    Thanks, I appreciate it. I've looked around on several computer publication sites and even the free products tell you they're the absolutely greatest, but you can't be sure what their free software does to your system and your data. If it were an open-source program (say, like GIMP, only just for colorization), I'd trust it, but I don't really want any shady stuff (not saying any of it is shady, just being wary).
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited December 2022 Posts: 25,133
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    As its a web page it's difficult to determine whether they keep images used that's why I wont use personal photo's. If I find some good free downloadable software I will let you know.
    Thanks, I appreciate it. I've looked around on several computer publication sites and even the free products tell you they're the absolutely greatest, but you can't be sure what their free software does to your system and your data. If it were an open-source program (say, like GIMP, only just for colorization), I'd trust it, but I don't really want any shady stuff (not saying any of it is shady, just being wary).

    It's always best to be cautious. I have used GIMP for years, despite having other software I use GIMP 99% of the time it's great all round except colorizing.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    Dwayne wrote: »
    Thanks @Fire_and_Ice_Returns. OUT OF THE PAST is top 10 Noir for me. Mitchum, Douglas and Greer ... it is hard to top that!
    FgmL.gif
    ... the moment Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer) walks in ^:)^

    The chap at the door agrees.

    I watched The Big Steal yesterday (which i see has been name checked here), now i'm in the mood to give Out Of The Past another watch. As Mitchum films go, they are two I haven't watched that much.
  • I remember thinking OUT OF THE PAST was pretty good. More about the atmosphere than the actual story. And Jane Greer was beautiful. Kirk Douglas was a good baddie, smiling and sneering a lot. But I can’t see it as a classic in the same vein as DOUBLE INDEMNITY or KEY LARGO or even DARK PASSAGE from the same year. Those films left a more lasting impression.
  • Posts: 628
    OUT OF THE PAST is far superior to both KEY LARGO and DARK PASSAGE.

    DARK PASSAGE is a terrific novel by David Goodis that somehow doesn't click as a movie, despite all of the talented people in front of and behind the camera.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    Ava turned Frank into a simp. What a woman. Talk about a force of nature. She... Oh, hang on, did somebody mention simping... ;)
  • Posts: 7,507
    Finally got myself to see "Touch of Evil".
    Have to say it was a very disappointing experience. Compared to other Noirs of it’s time it didn't feel very engaging. And what am I not getting in regards to Orson Welles' performance? I honestly thought he was quite terrible... a hammy caricature that looked like it belonged in a bad SNL sketsh. Even if it was supposed to be ridiculous I don't think it was well done.

    Please tell me what I am not getting. I am humbly curious?
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited December 2022 Posts: 13,978
    Venutius wrote: »
    Ava turned Frank into a simp. What a woman. Talk about a force of nature. She... Oh, hang on, did somebody mention simping... ;)

    If she'd opened an OnlyFans account, Frank would have subbed even if it were just for feet pics. ;)
  • Posts: 16,167
    jobo wrote: »
    Finally got myself to see "Touch of Evil".
    Have to say it was a very disappointing experience. Compared to other Noirs of it’s time it didn't feel very engaging. And what am I not getting in regards to Orson Welles' performance? I honestly thought he was quite terrible... a hammy caricature that looked like it belonged in a bad SNL sketsh. Even if it was supposed to be ridiculous I don't think it was well done.

    Please tell me what I am not getting. I am humbly curious?

    I like the film well enough. It's not one of my favorites, though and I actually prefer the theatrrical version to the later revised edit.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    Venutius wrote: »
    Ava turned Frank into a simp. What a woman. Talk about a force of nature. She... Oh, hang on, did somebody mention simping... ;)

    If she'd opened an OnlyFans account, Frank would have subbed even if it were just for feet pics. ;)

    :)) Brilliant. And it's funny cos it's true...!
  • Escalus5 wrote: »
    OUT OF THE PAST is far superior to both KEY LARGO and DARK PASSAGE.

    DARK PASSAGE is a terrific novel by David Goodis that somehow doesn't click as a movie, despite all of the talented people in front of and behind the camera.
    I don’t know. I found the story in DARK PASSAGE much more engaging. The idea of a man spending most of the film in bandages while trying to discover who set him up was very interesting to me. Interesting also that Bogie was willing to spend a good chunk of the film with bandages concealing his face. And another pairing with Lauren Bacall is always a plus!
    As for OUT OF THE PAST I honestly can’t even remember what the story or plot was about. The former stuck with me but the latter is a complete fog to me. Really can’t remember much of anything except that Jane Greer was a femme fatale who was playing both Mitchum and Douglas. But that’s about it.

    As for KEY LARGO I prefer it to both of the ones above. My favorite Bogie film alongside CASABLANCA.
  • Posts: 16,167
    Venutius wrote: »
    Ava turned Frank into a simp. What a woman. Talk about a force of nature. She... Oh, hang on, did somebody mention simping... ;)

    If she'd opened an OnlyFans account, Frank would have subbed even if it were just for feet pics. ;)

    YES!
    Escalus5 wrote: »
    OUT OF THE PAST is far superior to both KEY LARGO and DARK PASSAGE.

    DARK PASSAGE is a terrific novel by David Goodis that somehow doesn't click as a movie, despite all of the talented people in front of and behind the camera.
    I don’t know. I found the story in DARK PASSAGE much more engaging. The idea of a man spending most of the film in bandages while trying to discover who set him up was very interesting to me. Interesting also that Bogie was willing to spend a good chunk of the film with bandages concealing his face. And another pairing with Lauren Bacall is always a plus!
    As for OUT OF THE PAST I honestly can’t even remember what the story or plot was about. The former stuck with me but the latter is a complete fog to me. Really can’t remember much of anything except that Jane Greer was a femme fatale who was playing both Mitchum and Douglas. But that’s about it.

    As for KEY LARGO I prefer it to both of the ones above. My favorite Bogie film alongside CASABLANCA.

    I love both DARK PASSAGE and KEY LARGO. I really don't rate them against OUT OF THE PAST. They're all brilliant, IMO. OUT OF THE PAST is one that grew on me over the years, though. Now I can't get enough of ot.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited December 2022 Posts: 13,803
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    jobo wrote: »
    Finally got myself to see "Touch of Evil".
    Have to say it was a very disappointing experience. Compared to other Noirs of it’s time it didn't feel very engaging. And what am I not getting in regards to Orson Welles' performance? I honestly thought he was quite terrible... a hammy caricature that looked like it belonged in a bad SNL sketsh. Even if it was supposed to be ridiculous I don't think it was well done.

    Please tell me what I am not getting. I am humbly curious?

    I like the film well enough. It's not one of my favorites, though and I actually prefer the theatrical version to the later revised edit.

    I like Touch of Evil a lot. Here's an assessment from Danny Peary's Guide for the Film Fanatic. He wrote a longer piece on it in his book Cult Movies 3, I greatly relied on his insight in the early 80s and after to search out and understand and relive the best parts of films.



    51A7WyX4z1L._SL200_.jpg
    Guide for the Film Fanatic, Danny Peary, 1986.
    TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) B&W/93m. Producer
    Albert Zugsmith gave Orson Welles his long-awaited chance
    to again direct a Hollywood film. Welles also wrote the
    script that was very loosely based on Whit Masterson's novel
    Badge of Evil. Welles the writer turned out the sleaziest
    story imaginable--with seedy characters and locations,
    drugs, sex, corruption, murder, racism, etc. Welles the di-
    rector shot it like and artist, employing some of the most
    audacious visual strokes of his career. The result of this
    artist directing sleaze? A masterpiece. An American bigwig
    and his mistress are killed by a bomb in their car while
    crossing into the United States from Mexico. Slovenly, ci-
    gar-smoking Welles, a respected detective, accuses a young
    Mexican of the murder. Moral Mexican detective Charlton
    Heston accuses Welles of having planted evidence--dy-
    namite--in the young man's apartment so that Welles's
    partner (Joseph Calleia) would discover it. Welles tries to
    discredit Heston by telling the authorities that he and his
    American wife, Janet Leigh, are addicts. Leigh is staying
    at the dumpy motel owned by drug dealer Akim Tamiroff,
    who does whatever Welles wants. Left alone by sex-crazed,
    immature motel attendant Dennis Weaver--we see the roots
    of Leigh and Anthony Perkins in Psycho--she is terrorized
    by Tamiroff's juvenile drug dealers. She is to be framed on
    murder and drug charges. Welles's Detective Hank Quinlan
    is one of his most interesting, complex characters. He is a
    great detective but he always thinks himself above the law: he is
    always correct when he accuses someone of a crime, but to
    assure convictions he always plants incriminating evidence
    himself so Calleia can find it. It's interesting that Heston's
    character investigates Quinlan's past to find out who Quin-
    lan is now--this search for a great man's past, and the
    subsequent discovery of consistent moral corruption (the
    reason he was able to make it to the top in the first place)
    was also essential to Citizen Kane and Mr. Arkadin. Welles's
    characters are potentially great men but none of them act
    nobly on their way to the thrones of their particular worlds.
    This is the reason Calleia, who loves Welles's Quinlan, is
    so disappointed: real heroes must have pure pasts. Pay at-
    tention during the lengthy, famous opening shot. Marlene
    Deitrich (as the only person who understands Welles) has a
    memorable cameo. Leigh was never sexier--Welles was
    the rare director to emphasize her large chest. Impressive
    photography is by Russell Metty. Music is by Henry Man-
    cini. Also with: Valentin De Vargas, Ray Collins, Joanna
    Moore, Mort Mills, Mercedes McCambridge, Joseph Cot-
    ton, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Joi Lansing.
    7611653_master.jpg?width=1500
    apiycjnrq__66645.1626669885.jpg?c=2

  • Posts: 16,167
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    jobo wrote: »
    Finally got myself to see "Touch of Evil".
    Have to say it was a very disappointing experience. Compared to other Noirs of it’s time it didn't feel very engaging. And what am I not getting in regards to Orson Welles' performance? I honestly thought he was quite terrible... a hammy caricature that looked like it belonged in a bad SNL sketsh. Even if it was supposed to be ridiculous I don't think it was well done.

    Please tell me what I am not getting. I am humbly curious?

    I like the film well enough. It's not one of my favorites, though and I actually prefer the theatrical version to the later revised edit.

    I like Touch of Evil a lot. Here's an assessment from Danny Peary's Guide for the Film Fanatic. He wrote a longer piece on it in his book Cult Movies 3, I greatly relied on his insight in the early 80s and after to search out and understand and relive the best parts of films.



    51A7WyX4z1L._SL200_.jpg
    Guide for the Film Fanatic, Danny Peary, 1986.
    TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) B&W/93m. Producer
    Albert Zugsmith gave Orson Welles his long-awaited chance
    to again direct a Hollywood film. Welles also wrote the
    script that was very loosely based on Whit Masterson's novel
    Badge of Evil. Welles the writer turned out the sleaziest
    story imaginable--with seedy characters and locations,
    drugs, sex, corruption, murder, racism, etc. Welles the di-
    rector shot it like and artist, employing some of the most
    audacious visual strokes of his career. The result of this
    artist directing sleaze? A masterpiece. An American bigwig
    and his mistress are killed by a bomb in their car while
    crossing into the United States from Mexico. Slovenly, ci-
    gar-smoking Welles, a respected detective, accuses a young
    Mexican of the murder. Moral Mexican detective Charlton
    Heston accuses Welles of having planted evidence--dy-
    namite--in the young man's apartment so that Welles's
    partner (Joseph Calleia) would discover it. Welles tries to
    discredit Heston by telling the authorities that he and his
    American wife, Janet Leigh, are addicts. Leigh is staying
    at the dumpy motel owned by drug dealer Akim Tamiroff,
    who does whatever Welles wants. Left alone by sex-crazed,
    immature motel attendant Dennis Weaver--we see the roots
    of Leigh and Anthony Perkins in Psycho--she is terrorized
    by Tamiroff's juvenile drug dealers. She is to be framed on
    murder and drug charges. Welles's Detective Hank Quinlan
    is one of his most interesting, complex characters. He is a
    great detective but he always thinks himself above the law: he is
    always correct when he accuses someone of a crime, but to
    assure convictions he always plants incriminating evidence
    himself so Calleia can find it. It's interesting that Heston's
    character investigates Quinlan's past to find out who Quin-
    lan is now--this search for a great man's past, and the
    subsequent discovery of consistent moral corruption (the
    reason he was able to make it to the top in the first place)
    was also essential to Citizen Kane and Mr. Arkadin. Welles's
    characters are potentially great men but none of them act
    nobly on their way to the thrones of their particular worlds.
    This is the reason Calleia, who loves Welles's Quinlan, is
    so disappointed: real heroes must have pure pasts. Pay at-
    tention during the lengthy, famous opening shot. Marlene
    Deitrich (as the only person who understands Welles) has a
    memorable cameo. Leigh was never sexier--Welles was
    the rare director to emphasize her large chest. Impressive
    photography is by Russell Metty. Music is by Henry Man-
    cini. Also with: Valentin De Vargas, Ray Collins, Joanna
    Moore, Mort Mills, Mercedes McCambridge, Joseph Cot-
    ton, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Joi Lansing.
    7611653_master.jpg?width=1500
    apiycjnrq__66645.1626669885.jpg?c=2

    That was a great film guide book! I remember it well.
  • DwayneDwayne New York City
    Posts: 2,847
    I don't have much to add to the TOUCH OF EVIL debate. Like @ToTheRight, while I like the film, it isn't a Noir that would necessarily be my first choice on a Sunday afternoon. Still, the performances are top notch, and the opening tracking shot is legendary.


    BTW: That is model Joi Lansing complaining about hearing "ticking noises." :D She was also featured (uncredited) in a 1949 Tex Avery cartoon called The House of Tomorrow.
  • Posts: 16,167
    Dwayne wrote: »
    I don't have much to add to the TOUCH OF EVIL debate. Like @ToTheRight, while I like the film, it isn't a Noir that would necessarily be my first choice on a Sunday afternoon. Still, the performances are top notch, and the opening tracking shot is legendary.


    BTW: That is model Joi Lansing complaining about hearing "ticking noises." :D She was also featured (uncredited) in a 1949 Tex Avery cartoon called The House of Tomorrow.

    Always liked Joi Lansing, @Dwayne. She was great as "Superman's Wife". One of my favorite color episodes of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. :D
    I think the more I watch TOUCH OF EVIL the more it will become a favorite for me. It's one I just don't put in very often.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited December 2022 Posts: 25,133
    a1631f4abe8fbdd02b30f444fd6428f6.jpg
    Jimmy Stewart with Robert Mitchum.

    Watching Michael Winners The Big Sleep (1978), its been a while since I last watched this I remember not being overly happy with the period in which it was set hopefully time will change my mind. Watching the titles now I forgot what an insanely good cast this film has.

    Edited: The dialogue really does not fit the time period in which it is set, in fact the opening scene is quite jarring.

    Its really difficult not to compare this with Bogeys Masterpiece.
  • Posts: 7,430
    a1631f4abe8fbdd02b30f444fd6428f6.jpg
    Jimmy Stewart with Robert Mitchum.

    Watching Michael Winners The Big Sleep (1978), its been a while since I last watched this I remember not being overly happy with the period in which it was set hopefully time will change my mind. Watching the titles now I forgot what an insanely good cast this film has.

    Edited: The dialogue really does not fit the time period in which it is set, in fact the opening scene is quite jarring.

    Its really difficult not to compare this with Bogeys Masterpiece.

    To think Michael Winner was actually considered as a Bond Director!!! What a disaster that would have been 🤣🤣🤣
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,133
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    a1631f4abe8fbdd02b30f444fd6428f6.jpg
    Jimmy Stewart with Robert Mitchum.

    Watching Michael Winners The Big Sleep (1978), its been a while since I last watched this I remember not being overly happy with the period in which it was set hopefully time will change my mind. Watching the titles now I forgot what an insanely good cast this film has.

    Edited: The dialogue really does not fit the time period in which it is set, in fact the opening scene is quite jarring.

    Its really difficult not to compare this with Bogeys Masterpiece.

    To think Michael Winner was actually considered as a Bond Director!!! What a disaster that would have been 🤣🤣🤣

    I like the original Death Wish and The Mechanic though Winner is more miss than hit, he has made some pretty awful movies over the years, though I have a fondness for Bullseye for obvious reasons.

    The score for The Big Sleep does not help it is pretty dreadful though very much of the time period, Mitchum is easily the best thing in the film.
  • Posts: 16,167
    The Mitchum remake of THE BIG SLEEP I think of as an acquired taste. I really don't like Marlowe in a 1970s setting, though THE LONG GOODBYE seems an exception.
    I do like the cast, and Mitchum is great as always.
    I agree that Michael Winner probably would've been the wrong choice for Bond. However, I like his Charles Bronson movies, and of course BULLSEYE.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,133
    Just channel hoping and watching a random episode of Murder she Wrote The Last flight of the Dixie. I am petty sure Jane Greer is in this, it definitely looks like her...

    msw5-7-bonnie.jpg?w=640

    Just checked it is Jane greer.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    This will sound sacrilegious, and is one for the Controversial Opinions thread, but I just couldn't gel with the original The Big Sleep. I had trouble accepting Bogie as Marlowe. When the attractive brunette librarian was eye-banging Marlowe, I thought was a bit of a stretch. Mitchum was no spring chicken in the remake, but even at a hair over 60, I could still buy him as Marlowe.
  • DwayneDwayne New York City
    Posts: 2,847
    Just channel hoping and watching a random episode of Murder she Wrote The Last flight of the Dixie. I am petty sure Jane Greer is in this, it definitely looks like her...

    msw5-7-bonnie.jpg?w=640

    Just checked it is Jane greer.

    It's the eyes. Young or old, very lovely I must say.

  • DwayneDwayne New York City
    Posts: 2,847
    And speaking of lovely....

    The one and only Peggy Cummins was born of this date in 1925 - December 18th,

    If first seeing THE BREAKING POINT (1950 w/John Garfield) made me sit up and take notice of film noir, then seeing her in GUN CRAZY made me noir fan for life. Where were all of these wonderful films for the first part of my life, I’ve often wondered out loud in the past several years?!

    While the after-effects from being let go during the production of FOREVER AMBER probably hurt her long-term career (“too young, not sexy enough”), we’ll always have GUN CRAZY, NIGHT OF THE DEMON and HELL DRIVERS (for a start). Thanks.

    61VyXeohg+L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

    000f325b-1600.jpg

    Clearly, I'm not the only one noting her birthday.


    And the next time someone attempts to claim that Die Another Day is a great film …… 😊.
    4752a5a027349b4dfc26231a01373643.gif

  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited December 2022 Posts: 9,040
    Dwayne wrote: »
    And the next time someone attempts to claim that Die Another Day is a great film …… 😊.
    4752a5a027349b4dfc26231a01373643.gif

    LMAO. And it looks as though she doesn't even know how to point the gun.

    By the way: GUN CRAZY - is that a historical documentation about the United States? Ok, ok, forget this...we don't want this to turn into political discussion! (See what I did there?)
  • Posts: 16,167
    Peggy Cummins was amazing. I may watch THE BREAKING POINT in her honor today.
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