Noirvember 2022

Trouble with a capitial 'T'

11-16-22

Originally Posted by Torgo

Caan does look and carry himself in a '40s way and his office looks like it belongs in that decade as well. The problem is that the movie doesn't have that much of a '60s look and feel, so Marlowe doesn't seem as out of place as he does in Farewell or The Long Goodbye. Still, pretty good and worth watching.

The movie is on YouTube. Oh, and no poodles were harmed in the making of it.

Ah thanks and glad to hear the poodles were safe

GulfportDoc

Registered User

11-16-22

Originally Posted by Thunderbolt

The glass of milk scene was the most captivating of the whole movie. Maybe the film would�ve gained a better reputation if they had stuck to the book ending.

The film version was probably more believable than the book version. But Hitchcock wanted to do this: Have Grant bring Fontaine the poisoned milk after she has just finished a letter to her mother saying that she's desperately in love with Grant, but that she doesn't want to live with him being a killer. And though she'd rather die, she believed that society should be protected from Grant.

When Grant enters with the milk Fontaine asks him if he would mail the letter for her. She then drinks the milk and dies. The last scene is Grant, while merrily whistling, walks to a mail box and drops in the letter, sealing his own fate. Now THAT'S Hitchcock...

GulfportDoc

Registered User

11-16-22

Originally Posted by Citizen Rules

When I first got into older movies almost 20 years ago it was noir and precode that I mainly was interested in. From there I got interested in other genres. I've also like sci-fi but never liked horror and don't care for fantasy much. I tend to like character driven dramas.

But I hadn't watch any noir since last Noirvember and before that it had been years since I watched much noir. Now I find myself really enjoying exploring noir. For me it's like taking a road trip to a place I've never been to and even though I'm tired I want to keep driving to find out what lays around the next bend. I suppose it helps that I'm really into old Hollywood films and stars and a big part of the noir experience for me is seeing old favorite actors. I was joking with my wife that we would skip Christmas movies next month and just keep watching noir

But I bet I'll be watching Christmas movies!

If you'd like to see a good noir set at Christmastime, a good choice would be I, the Jury (1953) based on the Mickey Spillane novel. It features wonderful photography by the great John Alton.

Citizen Rules

Trouble with a capitial 'T'

11-16-22

Originally Posted by GulfportDoc

If you'd like to see a good noir set at Christmastime, a good choice would be I, the Jury (1953) based on the Mickey Spillane novel. It features wonderful photography by the great John Alton.

I'll watch it! Never seen it either, so I'll save if for December. I know another Christmas noir Christmas Holiday (1944) with Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly. It might not sound like a noir but it is and was directed by Robert Siodmak. I watched it by mistake last December thinking it was an old romantic drama about Christmas. It was pretty good too.

Citizen Rules

Trouble with a capitial 'T'

11-17-22

I've been working on a theme for many of my noir watches this month: noirs with female protagonist leads. I didn't plan it that way it just happened that the first couple of noirs I watched: Raw Deal & Caught had a story that centered not around a man but a woman. So I looked up some list of noirs with strong female leads and have been watching those mainly this month. Any suggestions that fit that theme?

Thief

Master of None

11-17-22

Laura?

Sunset Boulevard?

Shadow of a Doubt?

The Letter and Mildred Pierce? although I haven't seen either?

Most of these that came to mind are very popular, so I suppose you already went through them.

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Citizen Rules

Trouble with a capitial 'T'

11-17-22

The Velvet Touch (Jack Gage 1948)

I didn't really expect a noir with Rosalind Russell to be hard hitting and it wasn't. I guess the noir theme fits as Rosalind Russell is a Broadway star who in the first 2 minutes of the movie accidentally murders her producer a powerful man who was going to ruin her if she left him for another Broadway producer. Claire Trevor discovers the body and mistakenly picks up the murder weapon, which ironically is an award statue the producer had won. The noir angle is the police arrest and charge Claire Trevor and self-important Rosalind Russell lies sealing Claire's fate.

Of course in 1948 someone who does what Rosalind did can't get away with it and so the themes are solidly noir but the tone of the film is lighter with Rosalind being, well very Rosalind like.

I liked this as it was different and my wife liked it which is a plus because so doesn't always love the hard boiled noirs like I do.

Citizen Rules

Trouble with a capitial 'T'

11-17-22

Originally Posted by Thief

Ah, all great choices. I've seen them all and Mildred Pierce is in my Top 10 profile. I do need to see The Letter again as it's been decades

since my one and only viewing.

Citizen Rules

Trouble with a capitial 'T'

11-17-22

The Locket (John Brahm 1946)

I never heard of this until I found it in a list of noir's with strong female leads. I've seen Laraine Day recently in The High and The Mighty and also was interested as this had Robert Mitchum. Neither actor disappoints. This was a pretty good noir...and very different.

What was different was the movie starts on a wedding day of a mysterious woman (Laraine Day) to a wealthy man. A man momentarily interrupts to tell the groom in private that the woman he's about to marry is a psychopathic liar and thief. What's interesting in the story has 4 stories within each other via flashbacks. Worth watching just for the unconventional narrative.

Last edited by Citizen Rules; 11-17-22 at 12:46 PM.

Thief

Master of None

11-17-22

Originally Posted by Citizen Rules

Ah, all great choices. I've seen them all and Mildred Pierce is in my Top 10 profile. I do need to see The Letter again as it's been decades

since my one and only viewing.

Check out this list I found from Mubi...

Women's Noir

Citizen Rules

Trouble with a capitial 'T'

11-17-22

Originally Posted by Thief

Check out this list I found from Mubi...

Women's Noir

Thanks, I will.

*Update...Wow that list has lots of neat noirs I've not heard of.

Last edited by Citizen Rules; 11-17-22 at 01:04 PM.

Thief

Master of None

11-17-22

Originally Posted by Citizen Rules

Thanks, I will.

*Update...Wow that list has lots of neat noirs I've not heard of.

Same. I've only seen 3 (Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, The Bigamist), but there are a good bunch I didn't even know about... that look really good!

GulfportDoc

Registered User

11-17-22

Originally Posted by Citizen Rules

Good film, but strange to see Gene Kelly as a bad guy. I've seen most of Siodmak's films, with the exception of Time Out of Mind (1947), which reportedly was poorly regarded. I think he did 11 noirs-- probably more than any director.

ThatDarnMKS

Msg

Registered User

11-17-22

Originally Posted by Citizen Rules

The Blue Gardenia

culliford

It's okay with me.

11-17-22

Double Indemnity
(Wilder, 1944)

First rewatch. This movie is so good I wanna pick up smoking, start to unashamedly lean against walls with my hands in my pockets and scheme breaking a toe for insurance money. Until after I've done it when I suddenly feel rotten to the core and regret everything. I think the screenplay is stellar and the directing so perfectly portrays what the characters are thinking at any given moment. Or at least I feel as if I know what they're thinking. If I had to find something to nag about, I think that maybe a few minutes in the second half of the film could have been cut out to make it tighter, but otherwise it's perfectly paced. I haven't watched many but this is so far my favourite noir of the 40s. And only The Long Goodbye has topped this for me.

GulfportDoc

Registered User

11-17-22

Originally Posted by Citizen Rules

I haven't seen the list, but just about any noir with Barbara Stanwyck in it might fit the bill. A good one? If you haven't seen it-- The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). It's also Kirk Douglas's film debut...

GulfportDoc

Registered User

11-17-22

Originally Posted by culliford

Double Indemnity
(Wilder, 1944)
First rewatch. This movie is so good I wanna pick up smoking, start to unashamedly lean against walls with my hands in my pockets and scheme breaking a toe for insurance money. Until near after I've done it when I suddenly feel rotten to the core and regret everything. I think the screenplay is stellar and the directing so perfectly portrays what the characters are thinking at any given moment. Or at least I feel as if I know what they're thinking. If I had to nag find something to nag about, I think that maybe a few minutes in the second half of the film could have been cut out to make it tighter, but otherwise it's perfectly paced. I haven't watched many but this is so far my favourite noir of the 40s. And only The Long Goodbye has topped this for me.

Ha! You cracked me up..

And you picked one of the absolute great noirs-- top 5 for sure.

culliford

It's okay with me.

11-17-22

Originally Posted by GulfportDoc

Ha! You cracked me up..

And you picked one of the absolute great noirs-- top 5 for sure.

I can't wait to dive in to this genre, both noirs and more modern ones.

Citizen Rules

Trouble with a capitial 'T'

11-17-22

Originally Posted by GulfportDoc

Impressive that you've seen that many of Siodmak's films. I sure need to get busy watching them! I just looked up Time Out of Mind (1947) and it sounds good to me as it has Ella Raines so I'm going to try and watch that too.

Originally Posted by ThatDarnMKS

The Blue Gardenia

Ohh, the mini synopsis sounds good and it has Anne Baxter who was a real cutie back in the day. Another one I gotta watch.

Originally Posted by GulfportDoc

I seen that a couple of months ago, even better than I had expected and I'm a huge fan of Barbara Stanwyck. Kirk Douglas is always great too.

Citizen Rules