Noirvember 2023 - Rate the last noir you watched

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THE MOB 1951 Robert Parrish

The story is told from a police inspector's perspective so the title is a bit misleading. It’s also not as ‘dark’ as the main film poster leads it on to be. Underseen/rated/talked about Noir very much recommended for the Noir genre completionists. In contention for my ballot.




BODY AND SOUL 1947 Robert Rossen

This classic Noir deserves to be mentioned in one sentence with all the boxing classics like; The Set-Up, Raging Bull and Rocky. (See what I did there?)




THE MOB 1951 Robert Parrish
The story is told from a police inspector's perspective so the title is a bit misleading. It’s also not as ‘dark’ as the main film poster leads it on to be. Underseen/rated/talked about Noir very much recommended for the Noir genre completionists. In contention for my ballot.

Cool, I haven't seen that but I do have the movie...You've convinced me to watch it! I'll add this to my watch list and get to it before I submit my ballot (to myself).



GUN CRAZY 1950 Joseph H. Lewis

Another great classic Noir, the artwork and film posters are crazy good as well. I wish somebody had told me back in the day before I watched; Natural Born Killers, Bonnie & Clyde, Thelma & Louise etc etc.. Young man; you should watch Gun Crazy first!

+



I WALK ALONE 1947 Byron Haskin

Characters and actors like these along with viewers who appreciate them are getting kind of extinct nowadays. For that reason I’m not only going to be generous with my rating but also considering it for a one-pointer spot on my list. Kirk Douglas should’ve played more ‘villains’ in his career, he was really great at it.




Cool, I haven't seen that but I do have the movie...You've convinced me to watch it! I'll add this to my watch list and get to it before I submit my ballot (to myself).
Really fast paced/witty dialogue, fastest I've heard since Wilder's One, Two, Three. Enjoy!



@John-Connor

Thanks for posting those noirs...alot of good sounding ones there. Besides wanting to watch The Mob, I think I'll check these out:

BODY AND SOUL 1947...I seen it but years ago and after recently being impressed with John Garfield in The Breaking Point (1950) I need t to see it again.

I WALK ALONE 1947....Lizabeth Scott with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, that has got to be worth a watch...so I will!



Angel Face


Another very fun one. I am really growing to love Mitchum. This might be my favorite Noir score next to Third Man. The story is really good, and I love that ending. Could contend for my list.

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Angel Face


Another very fun one. I am really growing to love Mitchum. This might be my favorite Noir score next to Third Man. The story is really good, and I love that ending. Could contend for my list.

I don't remember the score but I do remember Angel Face was Neiba's nom in the 19th HoF. I loved it and it placed high on my HoF ballot...which is weird because I'd seen it a couple years earlier and reviewed here at MoFo and I panned it!



I read that Jean-Luc Godard in 1963 named Angel Face as his 8th best American Sound film. I could watch Angel Face again.



I don't remember the score but I do remember Angel Face was Neiba's nom in the 19th HoF. I loved it and it placed high on my HoF ballot...which is weird because I'd seen it a couple years earlier and reviewed here at MoFo and I panned it!



I read that Jean-Luc Godard in 1963 named Angel Face as his 8th best American Sound film. I could watch Angel Face again.
If you do tell me if the piano part of the score reminds you of The Long Goobye. I think Altman might be a thief.





Abandoned (1949)

I'm tired and don't have much to say but that's OK because this was one dull movie. It's got an interesting premise: "Newspaperman helps girl find her sister's illegitimate baby, gets mixed up in baby-adoption racket."...And that movie poster makes it look like it'll be a tabloid exploitation film, which sounded fun to me....but nah it wasn't fun at all. That's Dennis O'Keffe I'm sure he can act but here he just acted bored. So did Gale Storm who was the reason I watched this. I really liked Miss Storm in the Christmas movie It Happened on Fifth Avenue, where she sparkled with a fresh charm...Here, she was just along for the ride. The only decent acting was had by Raymond Burr who plays a corrupt detective involved in the baby adoption racket. This movie was based on a real baby adoption ring in L.A.




Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) Watched on Youtube. This was pretty good, although I wouldn't consider it one of the all time great noirs. It won't make my ballot, but I wouldn't be surprised if it makes the countdown.



Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) Watched on Youtube. This was pretty good, although I wouldn't consider it one of the all time great noirs. It won't make my ballot, but I wouldn't be surprised if it makes the countdown.
I seen that a couple years ago when I was watching all of Gloria Grahame's films. I remember liking it pretty well and would probably rate it the same as you. It seems to be fairly well liked so you might be right it might make the countdown.



Yeah, Odds Against Tomorrow is not one of my favorite noirs either, although Robert Ryan was pretty good in it. It was produced by Harry Belafonte's production company. Looking back it was one of the early social justice films illustrating prejudice against blacks that were popular in the late '50s, early '60s.

I was surprised to see that Eddie Muller lists it as his 16th ranked favorite noir film.




The Long Haul (1957)

Interesting story line about long haul truckers in the U.K. with corruption and inside insurance scams raising the stakes. Victor Mature is a married serviceman living in Germany. When he resigns from the army he wants to move back home to America but his British wife wants to stay in London with her mom for a few months. With no job and tension in their marriage growing, Victor Mature takes a dangerous job driving big trucks from England to Scotland...He finds out that the only way to make a buck is to break the law.

Decent noir. It's claim to fame other than the unusual storyline is a harrowing off road, cross country trip with a big rig truck in the highlands of Scotland. I'm not kidding, they actually drive this big truck all over some very rough terrain with no road insight. The other big plus is Britain's answer to Jane Mansfield....Diana Dors. I've only seen her in one other film The Unholy Wife. Here she actually gets a chance to show real warmth while still looking stunning. I liked her, she had a deeper aspect to her personality, that made the film a bit better.



A publicity photo of Diana Dors sometime in the 1950s.
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The Desperate Hours
(William Wyler 1955)

So intense and so void of the usual noir trappings that this home invasion film is 20 years ahead of it's time. "Three escaped convicts move in on and terrorize a suburban household."...and it's surprising just how terrorizing they can be. Here Bogart isn't doing Bogart, he's a plain rotten and angry escaped murderer, who's just as likely to shoot the family as he is to let them live. Fine performances all around especially the great Fredrick March. Director William Wyler keeps it real, keeps it intense, no wonder this one is highly rated.
Watched this one last night and I liked it, but was a star lower on it than you just because of the elements you mentioned actually. I liked the story and the look but it lacked the menace it was going for for me. I didn’t feel the weight of the threat of violence like I should. Bogart is more slimey as a cad than he is here for me. A bit of a bummer.



[The Desperate Hours] Watched this one last night and I liked it, but was a star lower on it than you just because of the elements you mentioned actually. I liked the story and the look but it lacked the menace it was going for for me. I didn’t feel the weight of the threat of violence like I should. Bogart is more slimey as a cad than he is here for me. A bit of a bummer.
It's interesting that, on the flip side of this film, just 3 months earlier Bogart was in a comedy about 3 escaped convicts who ingratiate themselves into a family's home by offering to cook Christmas dinner: We're No Angels. Cute film worth a watch.



[The Desperate Hours]Watched this one last night and I liked it, but was a star lower on it than you just because of the elements you mentioned actually. I liked the story and the look but it lacked the menace it was going for for me. I didn’t feel the weight of the threat of violence like I should...
I'd venture a guess that the reason I thought The Desperate Hours was intense and you didn't has to do with me not watching newer films. When a newer film or tv series deals with a home invasion situation, it's going to be very intense. People get use to that intensity as the norm, in the same way that I'm use to the lower tension in old 20th century films. Which is probably why I found it almost uncomfortable intense and you didn't find it all that intense.

It's interesting that, on the flip side of this film, just 3 months earlier Bogart was in a comedy about 3 escaped convicts who ingratiate themselves into a family's home by offering to cook Christmas dinner: We're No Angels. Cute film worth a watch.
Seen that at Christmas time, good and fun film. It's color too, maybe the only color film Bogie did? I'm too lazy to look that up.