Film Noir HoF III

The Stranger (1946)

A very entertaining film, that in spite of not being top tier by Orson Welles still has that amazing cinematography and mood that defines him! The main weakness I see in this is the characters. I liked Welles' character and the detective is ok but all the rest are either weak, like the female lead or unforgettable. The clerk had some funny scenes but apart from that you really don't care for anyone.
The ending though is very well accomplished and the tension is perfectly built till then.
Very intereting nom!

Today was Orson Welles day as I watched two films starring him back to back!

The Third Man (1949)

There are so many things I love about this film. It was one of the first noirs I've ever seen and a couple of watches later it still holds up as one of the best.
I love that the the germans speak german, it may seem like a simple thing, but back then it wasn't at all that common. The lighting and cinematography are a freaking dream and that's the only way I can put it without feeling I have to write a book on it, the characters are incredibly complex, the plot is messy but there's a sense of purpose through the entire film so we almost never feel lost. I sometimes feel the lack of tension in some parts, ultimately hurting the pacing of the whole thing, and that would be my only complaint, but it's only a minor one.

And then there's my absolute favourite movie quote ever, delivered masterfully by the great Orson Welles that finishes a spectacular dialogue: "Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

The film ends with yet another stunning shot with a really nice soundtrack, leaving you with that sense that only a few movies give you: like you just witnessed greatness!

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The Stranger (1946)

Right from the opening scenes we are treated to Welles' signature camera angles, shadows, long shots, and unique stylistic techniques. An escaped Nazi criminal's colleague is released from prison, with the expectation by the authorities that he'll reunite with the highly sought after fugitive who is believed to be hiding in the U.S. The somber foreboding tone is set early. In fact this is one of Welles' darker films. There was hardly a smile in the entire picture.

Surprisingly Welles --as the Nazi fugitive who has established a completely new identity as a professor at a small Connecticut college-- gives himself a fairly humdrum first entry into the story, in contrast to many of his other movies. His character is introduced into the film without flourish.

But soon the colleague Konrad Meinike, played by the superb Russian cum American actor Konstantin Shayne, hooks up with Welles' Franz Kindler, who is shocked that he risked his exposure by meeting with him in person. In short order Kindler murders Meinike to avoid further recognition. These actions occupy the first 15 minutes of the picture, and Shayne is perfection in his role as the loyal but frightened Nazi.

Kindler is about to marry the daughter (Loretta Young) of a state supreme court justice, but the Nazi Hunter --in a wonderful performance by Edward G. Robinson-- figures out who Kindler is, and plots to take him down. Kindler is gradually exposed as a ruthless psychopath who is even willing to kill his new wife after he is exposed. Kindler's end provides a memorable and well filmed section of film in a clock tower that has been imitated many times by others.

It was surprising to me that Welles maintained his role as Kindler in an almost one dimensional fashion: serious, humorless, and distant. He could have imbued the character with many facets, but instead kept it very steadfast. His minor attempts at portraying Kindler as a pillar of the community, or a "right guy" were so scarce that one wonders if footage that portrayed a more well rounded character weren't edited out. In fact, upon research, editor Ernest Nims was given the order to freely cut scenes which did not advance the story. So many of Welles' explanatory and side scenes were slashed, some to the picture's detriment. Still, Welles' Kinlder was imposing, chilling, and memorable, and was probably deeply impressed upon the minds of post war American audiences.

That brings up an important point about viewing Welles' films in retrospect. Many of his pictures, and certainly his earlier ones-- were not only innovative, but very timely and fresh. For example in The Stranger, which was shot soon after the end of WWII, people were not convinced that the Nazi concentration camps were real; and the idea that an escaped important Nazi could be living undetected in the U.S. had not occurred to people. Welles' insertion of Nazi death camp newsreel footage was a first in American films, and brought home the reality to American movie-goers. So too, the Nazi fugitive theme was unique for the era.

Therefore some in contemporary audiences aren't able to experience the impact that films like The Stranger had at the time, so it's helpful to experience them with that in mind.

Despite Welles' agreed-to restrictions, and his contractual obligation to finish the film on time and within budget, The Stranger is a memorable production that was not only popular in its day, but made the studios handsome profits-- a combination which may have been unique in Welles' prolific career.

I watched The Asphalt Jungle today. Like many others, it was OK. It's going to be a pain to order my vote. Anyway, a proper review in a few days.

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spellbound

hitchcock at his most dream-like, even outside of the great dali dream sequence. not sure how much this film works when taken at face value and i was ready to be disappointed after the first 15 minutes, but then i let myself be taken in by its rhythms and found that it has a peculiar, but extremely subtle, effect on the subconscious. something about the music, the lighting, ingrid bergman's voice, and all the talk about dreams and psychology created something that was, for lack of a better word, spellbinding. it doesn't really feel like any other movie but i'd be interested to rewatch some other hitchcock with this mindset, letting the sounds and images place me into a mild trance. it's full of hitchcock's favorite themes, most prominently the uncertainty and fear that arises when someone you love isn't who they say they are, although bergman's relatively steadfast trust of peck's motives is a bit of an aberration in his filmography. there is plenty of suspicion and mystery regarding his identity, but this is one of his only films in which we never feel a serious threat to the love between the two main characters, another way the film expresses love triumphing over the clinical logic of the psychiatric world. and of course, hitchcock's fascination with duality manifests in the polarity of the two paternal psychoanalyst figures played by michael chekhov and the great leo g. carroll, whose final moment is one of hitchcock's coolest shots.

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letterboxd
criticker

I know exactly the feeling you are describing: that ethereal, dreamy, yet pleasing mood. To me that's the best part of the film in this case.

But I love that feeling, and it's present in lots of old movies. The subjects were real, but were elevated above the humdrum by mystic and soothing photography and music. Great stuff.

The Stranger


When people rattle off Welles best films they will name the obvious ones. Kane, The Third Man, Touch of Evil, The Magnificent Ambersons and even Lady From Shanghai. I think The stranger deserves to be mentioned amongst them and even higher then some of them. It’s that underrated to me.
Welles plays the part of a hunted Nazi (Franz Kindler/Charles Rankin)*hiding in America very well, as he becomes more and more desperate as the inspector on his case, played well by The steady presence of Edward G Robinson, closes in on him.
Watching Kindler/Rankin return to his old ways as he becomes more (don’t say desperate)......um...desperate (that’s it, I’m out of here *cue brains leaving*) is amazing to watch.
But it’s his use of shadows (more shadows! More shadows I say! Ok, that’s enough shadows) and silhouettes that really stand out, and his effective use of close ups to his face. You know, just in case you forgot it was Welles. Or maybe just in case you wanted a closeup of his mustache (cue Neil Patrick Harris dancing to “My Mustache!” What? Look it up).
But it works! (The close ups, not the song. Seriously. Look it up guys)
Regardless this is a very fine film where Welles is at his best directing, near his best acting. It lacks the playfulness that is The Third Man or the brashness of Kane. But it’s up there.
One minor quibble...unnoticed as they were playing chess they both moved the same red piece when the store owner should have moved his black piece. That’s all.

Angel Heart

Louis Cyphere: No matter how cleverly you sneak up on a mirror, your reflection always looks you straight in the eye.

Now, I have not seen The Wrestler, which many cite as Mickey Rourke's very best, I do, very much, feel that it's here, playing Detective Harry Angel. Followed closely by his role as Henry in Barfly.
He is at top form as the detective hired by the mysterious Mr. Cyphere to locate a missing crooner by the name of Johnny Favourite in this neo-noir detective romp into the supernatural.
Along with Robert DeNiro, an enchanting Lisa Bonet
who would lose her job on Bill Cosby's sitcom for some of the more racier scenes which, considering what we've all come to know about Cosby really screams hypocrisy and the far too short screen time of the always enchanting Charlotte Rampling

we have a dark spiraling story filled with even darker hints of why Cyphere is searching for Favourite beyond his vague responses such as he does not like open accounts.

This film is what I would picture many of the pulp novel adapted noir films may have been without the Hays Code trying to keep them "appropriate" cinematic viewings. I have continually enjoyed this film since I first watched it at the movie theater at its release, due to its fine blending of detective and horror genres with a Faustian twist. There's a subtle off setting with every interview that Harry delves into in his investigation and with them, his every meeting with Cyphere drags him, and us, deeper into the underworld and away from reality.

I'm extremely happy that this made it into this noir, especially since I had considered going with this film originally.

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The Third Man

British MP: I'm sorry, Miss, it's orders. We can't go against the protocol.
Anna Schmidt: I don't even know what protocol means.
British MP: Neither do I, Miss.

Oh the shadows! The beautiful, beautiful shadows!
One of the very great selling points of seeing a Black & White film is the clever use of shadows and The Third Man does it in spades. Such as the first reveal of the scoundrel, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), it becomes an entity of its own in the final act of this film. Along with the incredible dutch angle style of composition, the tension is skillfully and playfully rendered. There are countless scenes where you can easily hit pause to admire and appreciate how so many of the shots are crafted in the film. Placing us in the twisted maze that Joseph Cotten's Holly Martin is dropped within, and then refuses to leave, once arriving in Vienna only to discover that his friend from his youth, Harry Lime is dead.
His confusion/frustration is even expressed in the musical choice of a zither which may seem out of place for much of the more intense situations, but for me, it brings a sort of out of one's safe zone as Martin wanders about Vienna's criminal world.

Another beautifully crafted aspect of this film, beyond the obvious work of the Director and the main actors, Cotten, Welles and Alida Valli are many of the secondary characters/actors. Such as Trevor Howard as Maj. Calloway and his number two man, Sgt. Paine (Bernard Lee), to Baron Kurtz played by Ernst Deutsch and, my favorite epitome of British polite charm, Wilfrid Hyde-White as Crabbin.
They are the cornerstones of this story of "cat and mouse", doing a beautiful job of it.

I think this is the third viewing of this great film, which, like so many, I had the pleasure of discovering as a member of this site and it causes me to be very thankful for this forum and everyone here.

Not gonna lie. This may be, hands down, when all is said and done, the hardest HOF to order. So far all four films I’ve reviewed already have been absolutely great. I expect the others to be either just as great or better. Maybe a few less so. But still, this could very well be our strongest lineup yet for me.

I don't have anything in particular to comment, but there's a nice string of reviews on this page.

I usually have a hard time ranking the films anyway, but this HoF is more difficult than most. I quite liked all the nominations, so I'm probably going to have get really petty about things I'd normally overlook in order to decide which ones are going to be on the bottom of my list haha.

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I think the Noir films are harder to rank because the movies tend to be more similar to each other than in other genres.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

Double Indemnity (1944)

Double Indemnity (DI) is the big kahuna of films noir. It was not the first noir, but it was the one which influenced all that followed in terms of story, dialogue, photography, set design, narration, and hard as nails stereophonic characters. Director Billy Wilder stepped into what would become a famous style purely from the desire for artistic exposition, and to make a good film. His famous quote: “I never heard that expression film noir when I made Double Indemnity ... I just made pictures I would have liked to see. When I was lucky, it coincided with the taste of the audience. With Double Indemnity, I was lucky.”

But it turns out that we film lovers were far luckier than was Wilder. Thanks to his talents we’ve been treated to a fascinating film style that has endured over the decades all the way to modern times. All those juicy and mesmerizing films to follow in DI’s style would not have been possible without Wilder & crew’s work in this film.

Most fans know the story: an insurance salesman mentored by a tough wily claims examiner falls for an enticing woman who later enlists him for a murder plot of her husband in order to collect the life insurance benefit from the company who employs both the salesman and the mentor. Many recall the story as one of a scheming femme fatale who uses her lover’s emotions against him in order to bring off the crime. And that’s true in part. But the real story is how the salesman tries to outwit his long time mentor, and to pull off the crime while fooling his hero. It’s as much a cat & mouse game as it is a doomed love story.


Much praise has been given the 3 stars: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. It’s hard to imagine who could have portrayed their parts with more believabilty and style. MacMurray and Stanwyck had worked together 4 years earlier in Remember the Night, a romantic comedy. And now each was the highest paid actor in Hollywood of their respective sexes. Stanwyck didn’t want the role, and had to be coaxed into it, whereas MacMurray --being a light comedy actor-- didn’t believe he could handle the part. He too had to be convinced. Their pairing for DI turned out to be one of the best in film history. And Robinson also wowed audiences with his portrayal. One of his best known speeches was the “method of suicide” monologue, which is one of the most memorable from the era.

Wilder’s direction was masterful, as he reportedly was trying to out-do Alfred Hitchcock in excellence. But it was the pregnant and rough clipped dialogue --chiefly written by the great Raymond Chandler-- that set the mood up on a pedestal, never to be knocked down. Chandler’s hard boiled word interplay was to be a master class in dialogue for future film writers. Wilder rewarded Chandler with a cameo, visible 16 minutes into the film, as he sat outside the door of the insurance office reading a newspaper.

Cinematographer John Seitz brought with him years of experience from a catalogue of fine films to photograph the shadows and set design necessary to this picture. He was to follow it up with other top Wilder films such as The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard. Also at a high level was Miklos Rozsa’s alluring score. He typically set moods by use of leitmotif musical passages representing the main characters, and also for surreptitious meetings between the two principals.

James N. Cain had written the novella on which DI was based, and many of the studios wanted the rights. But when Paramount finally acquired the rights the Hays office objected that the film was too tawdry, and that MacMurray’s character (Walter Neff) hadn’t received a decisive enough demise. Wilder had initially written an ending at great expense that showed Neff being executed in the gas chamber while his mentor looked on. But yet that ending was thought to be too gruesome by the censors. On reconsideration Wilder realized that the way Neff’s end was shown was perfectly proper, given the nature of the two characters’ relationship, so he omitted the gas chamber ending entirely, and we all can be grateful for Wilder’s decision.

DI is one picture on a small list of films which would be difficult to imagine anything added or subtracted. It’s one of those happy convergences that have occurred over the decades that bring just the right people together at just the right time. Double Indemnity is not just one of the great noirs, but one of America’s greatest films.

LOOOVED all the bits of trivia you threw into this, Doc!!

The Third Man (1949)

A pulp writer comes to Vienna to visit with a friend when the revelation that is friend is both dead and a possible criminal and thus we get The Third Man. This is structurally an unusual film you can see a bit of Citizen Kane though everything is just a little bit flipped. We get Harry Lime's death and funeral and then a procession of character interviews which helps expand on Lime. You don't really know where the film is going for the first act and then we get these side missions and side quests involving Anna. Much like with Kane the character development comes with each new person enters the story and changes your perspective on Lime.

The second and third acts things obviously change, the body count rises though the violence is always off screen and we're left with the mental picture which is perhaps not enough. But then we get the climax which is one of cinema's great set pieces and the film reverts to a German expressionism type film. You have this entire second world as you spend most of the film is this cluttered destroyed mess of a city but the film ends in this empty sparse area where it's just shadows and killers.

Great film love it to death

Double Indemnity (1944)


You've got to give Billy Wilder credit the man knew how to build suspense and tell a winding creative story with compelling characters. This is the story of Walter Neff who is drawn into a familial drama of the Dietrichsons. You have eight characters in this film each one is very well flushed out and adds something to the greater plot and complicates Neff's morals. I think the first time you watch the film you get drawn into Keyes story, Edward G Robinson who is the both the head supporting character but also the detective. We don't really need a detective because we see the crime before us, but Robinson is charismatic and has a threatening aspect to himself that plays over the other characters. But Keyes has his own inverse that you don't really notice the first time you watch it but Lola's story is almost the most compelling one and it's the plot we see the least. Her mother and father are murdered her stepmother seduces her boyfriend and she's kicked out of the home. It could be it's own noir but instead Wilder chooses to tell a different story. It's a creativity that the noir genre always a writer and director to tell.

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)


The Asphalt Jungle is primarily a heist movie and only secondarily noir. Its story is quite straightforward by modern heist standards, but I prefer that over the cavalcade of forced twists we often see today. By keeping the motives simple, the story flows more naturally, and its characters feel more like real people than plot devices.

While the simplicity is mostly positive in The Asphalt Jungle, the predictability due to the Hays Code isn't. It's annoying to watch these older films after learning the reasons why certain things always happen; the stupid code spoils the endings because crime can't pay. Here the resolution mostly fits, but the whole code business is making me mad.

All actors do a good job and fit their roles. There's much potential to go darker (like the relationship of the hooligan and his girlfriend), but yeah. I didn't even recognize young Marilyn Monroe but liked her naive and cute portrayal of childish mistress.

I'm not a huge fan of heist movies, but The Asphalt Jungle is clearly in the upper half of its kind. It may not be enough for me to say it's really good, but it's at least very close to that.

Does someone have a decent link of Crossfire?

The Third Man (1949)

Producer Alex Korda had sent British novelist Graham Greene to Vienna after WWII to conceive and write a screenplay which would capture the wantonness and treacherous times in the post war-torn city. After much research Green developed a screenplay, The Third Man, the novelization of which was published following the film’s highly popular reception.

The opening monologue over depictive scenes of the war-changed city, and how it was divided up into policing sectors by the Allies, set the dynamic expectant mood. Holly Martins, an American pulp western writer, has been invited to come to Vienna by his old friend Harry Lime, who has promised Martins a job. Unfortunately upon arrival Martins learns that Lime has been killed in a pedestrian auto accident. Martins soon suspects that there has been some foul play after inquiring about the incident with some of Lime’s associates, physician, girlfriend, and the porter where Lime resided.

Lime suddenly appears in the flesh, and eventually meets with his old friend. The truth comes out about Lime’s nefarious deadly black market schemes which had resulted in many innocent deaths. A British Major Calloway convinces Martins to help snare Lime, who has agreed to meet again with Martins and Lime’s girlfriend Anna Schmidt. On his arrival Anna warns Lime who flees to the city’s mammoth sewer system. The police lead by the Calloway and Martins chase Lime, who is ultimately shot.

This film is as close to perfection as one could imagine. Everyone involved in the production was at their finest: co-producers Alex Korda and David O. Selznik, Director Carol Reed, cinematographer Robert Krasker, musician Anton Karas, every single actor in the cast, and the phenomenal editing by Oswald Hafenrichter.

Reed had brought with him both Krasker and Hafenrichter who had worked with him on Odd Man Out, and The Fallen Idol respectively. With these men Reed captured the deepest essence of noir darkness and design, never to be outdone in film to this day. Although Reed had three crews working simultaneously (one each for night, sewer system, and day shooting), it was the impressive night framing, glistening cobblestone streets, back alleys, ubiquitous rubble, and foreboding mood that he captured so palpably.

Each actor was perfect. When David O. Selznik agreed to join as co-producer he brought along Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles to fill the roles of Holly Martins and Harry Lime, originally written as British characters. Also under contract to him was the ravishing Alida Valli, who was being promoted by Selznik as the next Ingrid Bergman. Some of Germany’s finest actors were enlisted: Paul Hoerbiger, Ernst Deutsch, Erich Ponto, and the fiesty Hedwig Bleitreu as a landlady.

It’s hard to imagine the impact of this picture without the phenomenal score by zither artist Anton Karas. In a happy accident, Reed heard Karas play at a party, and was galvanized by the sound and its relevance to the story and mood of Reed’s picture. He practically hired Karas on the spot to fashion the sole music track, and brought him to London to overdub the music during a 6 week session-- the same amount of time used for the entire Viennese shoot. Never has a score represented the style of a film, and in this case the era of mid 20th Century Vienna, more exquisitely than did Karas’ stylings. It evokes the gamut of emotions from nostalgic, to haunting, to lively, to humorous. And its use was unique in film as being a single instrument without vocals. The only other score that comes close is David Shire’s eerie piano score for Coppola’s The Conversation.

The film includes two of the most famous scenes in movie history: Harry Lime’s electrifying first entrance into the film by suddenly shining a night time spotlight on Welles, framing him in a doorway displaying his sardonic and whimsical smile with hat askew; and possibly the most iconic ending in film history-- after Lime’s funeral, as Anna takes the long walk back to town on the autumn leaf strewn lane, she walks straight past Martins, who had been leaning on a wagon waiting to reconcile with her. Rebuffed, Martins lights a cigarette, then throws down the match in disgust. The screen goes to black.

Books and countless articles and lectures have been written about The Third Man. The British Film Institute selected it as the #1 film in their list of top 100 British films. In my view it’s one of the best films ever made.

I got one, check your PM