Noirvember 2023 - Rate the last noir you watched

Ladies In Retirement (1941)
Charles Vidor

I was surprised to learn that this was an American film. Most of the cast is British. It's set in an old English country estate and takes place in 1885. Everything about this says gothic-drama and yet it's labeled noir.

Anyway I found the film plodding. I know Ida Lupino is capable of great work but here she didn't really get a chance to shine. I guess her two 'crazy' sisters (Elsa Lanchester, Edith Barrett) were entertaining as caricatures as they clean up the marsh by dragging every dead bird and stick they can find into the house. This should've been a light drama comedy.

Lady on a Train (1945)

Deanna Dubin in a comedy noir mystery...and it works if you're looking for a light comic mystery. If you're looking for a serious noir, this isn't the film to watch. I seen this years again and so wanted to watch it again and I enjoyed it for what it was. Deanna sings three songs: the Christmas classic Silent Night which she sings to her father on the phone...Cole Porter's Night and Day which she sings in the Circus Club which is a stunning set. My favorite was also performed at the Circus Club set Give Me a Little Kiss by Roy Turk, Jack Smith and Maceo Pinkard. Fun film set at Christmas with Dan Duryea who may or may not be the bad guy, Edward Everett Horton doing his usual comic relief, Alan Jenkins doing his usual tough guy henchman bit and Ralph Bellamy, well being Ralph Bellamy. Fast paced and fun but not noir.

A Prize of Gold (1955)
Mark Robson

Thought I'd watch a color noir, they didn't make many. This one was a lackluster story and no character or world building. But it has one saving grace it was shot in occupied West Germany and we get to see the real carnage that was left from WWII...and in color. First I noticed the big building in the back had all these light spots on it, then I figured out those were from gun fire and bomb blast. Not Richard Widmark's best film by far and hardly qualifies as a noir.
[rating]3[rating]

In a Lonely Place (1950)
Nicholas Ray

This was one of my favorite noirs and currently sets in my top 10 movie profile here at MoFo. I wrote a glowing review on my last viewing some eight years ago, old review. But last night I revisited In a Lonely Place and found quite a different film than I had previously experienced.

Yes, the story of an unhinged screenwriter who's accused of murdering a hat check girl who he'd invited to his apartment the night before, still packs a wallop. And yes Bogart is still cool and Gloria still fashionably luminous. But the directorial choices by Nicholas Ray are laid on too thick and heavy. Ray doesn't allow us to see anything redeeming in Dixon Steel (Humphrey Bogart). Dixon is a one note idea with no character development. He's all bizarrely evil without any charm or redeeming qualities that would allow us and there forth his girlfriend to see something special in him. As played by Bogart and directed by Ray, Dixon is a 100% hothead psycho. In reality he should be in his own lonely place as everyone around him would shun him, staying as far as they could from his antisocial behavior. In fact that would've been the better angle for this movie.

Gloria Grahame's Laurel Gray...unfortunately falls in love with Dixon but we never experience the all important 'audience also falls in love' with the idea of the couple 'following in love'. If Dixon had more to him than just bizarre behavior it might be more believably that Laurel falls in love with him so deeply that at first she's blinded by his dark side. That dichotomy of love vs violence is an important theme that unfortunately isn't explored deeply enough here.

The film lost my belief in the events when at the beach party Dixon in a rage storms off and drives like a madman down the winding road with Laurel. His erratic driving ends with him sideswiping a car causing a young male driver to confront him angrily. Dixon the hot head beats him to a pulp...OK I buy that, but I don't buy the scene where he picks up a big rock and is about to smash the unconscious guys brains out, only to be stopped by a screaming Laurel. That was attempted murder and at that point Laurel would be so afraid of him that she would get out of her apartment and stay with Detective Nicolai (Frank Lovejoy) and his wife played by Jeff Donnell. The rock bit should've been left out. The director should've dialed back the explosive violence from Bogart, allowing him excuses for his erratic behavior, so that it's then believable that Laurel would love him.

As the film was Dixon's antisocial violent behavior should've ended with him being the killer and killing Laurel. After the movie was over I read that the source novel did indeed have Dixon as a serial murderer/rapist. I also learned the original ending to the film had Dixon killing Laurel, that would've a likely outcome to his violent behavior. I don't believe Laurel or his press agent or anyone would be friends with someone so controlling and violent as Dixon. I don't blame Bogart, I blame the director Nicholas Ray who reportedly rewrote almost every page of the script as they filmed. In a Lonely Place is not balanced, not believable and not polished enough. If this had been made as a pulpy b-noir on a shoestring budget with no-name actors, I might have then enjoyed the brash coarseness of it.

The Set-Up (1949)
Robert Wise

My first and only viewing of this excellent noir was eight years ago in the very first Noir HoF, hosted by me. It was Holden Pike's nomination and I was impressed. So much so that I've never forgotten it. Last night I revisited The Set-Up and if anything was more impressed with the film.

I'm going to post my old review below but I do want to say I was utterly impressed at how polished the film was. The direction by Robert Wise is perfect. The performance by Robert Ryan was real, not acting, I believed him, the boxing looked real too. Audrey Totter is good here, I enjoyed here screen time as much as I did Robert Ryan's.

Talk about world building! The Set-Up in just one long sequences in the locker room gives us so much insight into the comradery, hopes, dreams and fears of these boxers. We see what they have to go through in a hope to move up the ranks to the big time. I appreciated the sequences where Audrey Totter, who's too nervousness about the fight walks around Paradise City and is constantly reminded of the dangers who husband faces in the ring. Loved the realistic look of this dingy town and the people and places who inhabited it. The resolve at the end is perfect. I'm upping this by half a popcorn to Actually that could be 5/5 as I didn't see one misstep or missed opportunity in this gem.

So you noir fans, watch it, consider it for your ballot if you really like it.

Suddenly (1954)

This was a shocker. I can't believe they made this film in the 1950s. They probably should've made the film at all. In the movie the President is traveling by train and disembarking in the small Californian town of Suddenly. The Secret Service has gotten a tip that an assassination attempt will be made in the town. They seal off the businesses by the train station but high on top of a hill is a house with a clear view of the railroad yard and the President down below.

It's rumored that Lee Harvey Oswald watched this film. I wouldn't be surprised that he did because the assassination of JFK by Oswald was literally a copy of what happens in the movie. In the movie an unhinged ex army man (Frank Sinatra) finds a high elevated spot as his shooting base. He uses a German rifle with a scope and builds a gun rest so that he has a stable shot. Sinatra even states he only has 3 seconds to get the shots off. Just as eerie is Sinatra ranting about how he's a nobody but a gun gives him respect and he'll be remembered for years because he killed the president.

I like the movie, Sinatra was excellent in his role and convincing. He delivered his lines with real convection and the film's pacing was perfect.

Force Of Evil (1948)

'An unethical lawyer who wants to help his older brother becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket.'

So many great shots in the movie that I have to compliment the cinematographer and the director too. It really looks good with an abundances of stunning shots. We see the city, we see the waterfront, we see unique camera angles all done nicely.

It's an interesting story too about the 'numbers racket' which must have been a thing back in the day. At the same time it juxtaposes the ethics of 'honest' petty criminals against violent gangster criminals. I wasn't always sure what the film was trying to say but it's an interesting conundrum. John Garfield slid into the educated lawyer role with ease. He was quit good, as was the actor who played his honest but petty criminal brother, Thomas Gomez. I did feel like the story and ethics weren't fleshed out enough which is probably due to the 79 minute runtime. There's a lot of movie packed into those 79 minutes and this is one movie that would benefit from a rewatch.