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GulfportDoc's Avatar
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07-02-21
Originally Posted by skizzerflake
Tonight's noir film - He Walked by Night - Set in Los Angeles, about 1946. A guy shoots a cop and the police are out to get him. It's a faux-documentary, lots of detectives with trench coats and hats (in LA) and lots of high-contrast imagery. It's early in the noir cycle.

What's somewhat notable is an early appearance by Jack Webb as a supporting character, not surprisingly, a cop. The word "dragnet" is used a lot, and the then young Jack Webb is not yet Joe Friday, but everything else fits as the prototype for the Dragnet TV show that had several runs. Citizen rights are violated, the entire area is locked down and everybody is a suspect.

Glad you suggested that film! I re-watched it last night after many years, and was struck by several things. John Alton's (Father of the Bride, Elmer Gantry) cinematography was breathtaking. His noir set ups and lighting was almost as striking as those in The Third Man-- the film which surely influenced much of the L.A. storm drain settings in "Walked".

Another was the fine acting by Richard Basehart, an actor who never got superstardom, but who had a wide range, and was always excellent. For example he went on to play "the fool" in Fellini's La Strada (1954), and did an number of important eclectic roles up to 1979 in Being There (Peter Sellers).

I agree that it did have a quasi documentary feel. In tenor it was not much different from other noirs of the period, but the photography and acting floated it up among the better films noir of the era.

You may already have tried this, but to enhance my enjoyment of noir films I like to watch Eddie Muller's intros and outros from his excellent TCM shows, Noir Alley. Many of them are available on YouTube. Here is his intro for "Walked":




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07-02-21
Originally Posted by GulfportDoc
Glad you suggested that film! I re-watched it last night after many years, and was struck by several things. John Alton's (Father of the Bride, Elmer Gantry) cinematography was breathtaking. His noir set ups and lighting was almost as striking as those in The Third Man-- the film which surely influenced much of the L.A. storm drain settings in "Walked".

Another was the fine acting by Richard Basehart, an actor who never got superstardom, but who had a wide range, and was always excellent. For example he went on to play "the fool" in Fellini's La Strada (1954), and did an number of important eclectic roles up to 1979 in Being There (Peter Sellers).

I agree that it did have a quasi documentary feel. In tenor it was not much different from other noirs of the period, but the photography and acting floated it up among the better films noir of the era.

You may already have tried this, but to enhance my enjoyment of noir films I like to watch Eddie Muller's intros and outros from his excellent TCM shows, Noir Alley. Many of them are available on YouTube. Here is his intro for "Walked":
That's an interesting commentary. I wasn't aware of the movie and just randomly picked one from a cheap box set of "dark mystery" films. The look and feel is really archetypal. I don't know why they didn't say "noir", but that "ripped from the headlines" thing became was also used a lot to suggest that we are all just slipping downhill into a wallow of gangsters and cops.



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07-03-21
The Oak Room (2020)

Heyy, Walter Jr. Always good to see RJ.
Not starting off super-well. A lot of unearned emotional shouting and profanity. Really not buying it so far. ****ing this, ****ing that, what now?



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07-03-21
The Argentinian Nine Queens (2000)

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