Angel Face is a really strong noir. Mitchum and Simmons work well together. Rather unique as Simmons' femme fatale character, it's embellished by her being nuts.
I suppose one could see the ending coming, but it was nonetheless shocking, and leaves the viewer perplexed and unsatisfied.
I've finally seen a film! Force of Evil is good, but it didn't make my ballot. I enjoyed the contrast between Joe and Leo, but felt the film didn't shine until the final act.
If I said I'd heard of either of those two films I'd be pretending. But I don't feel bad because I was pretty much expecting the first half of this countdown to go this way for me.
Seen : 2/16
Heard of but not seen : 1/16
Never heard of : 13/16
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Director: Robert Wise
Production: RKO
Cast: Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak
33 Points, 3 Lists
'Walter Slezak, Lawrence Tierney, and Claire Trevor in Born to Kill (1947) A calculating divorcée risks her chances at wealth and security with a man she doesn't love by getting involved with the hotheaded murderer romancing her foster sister.'
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Last edited by Citizen Rules; 3 weeks ago at 02:35 PM.
Best Picture Oscar winner All the King's Men was #67 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1940s.
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
I watched All The King's Men for the Best Picture Hall of Fame. I respected its intent but I really disliked the acting, the narration, and the intrusive score. Another film I would not have voted for if I'd been able to submit a ballot.
I’m trying not say this much, but when I see All The Kings Men listed as Noir I get baffled and realize even the experts definition is all over the place. It’s been a while, but I didn’t care for it much anyway, so it wouldn’t have made my list.
Born To Kill…Noir watchlist. It’s Robert Wise, so I am sure I will dig it.
All the King's Men is the first one I've seen from the list. I didn't vote for it mostly because I didn't see much noir in it, so it didn't really cross my mind, but I did like it a lot. Great performances from Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. Here is my review from the film.
Interesting list trivia, this is the first instance of recurring directors; not only one, but both Robert Wise and Robert Rossen are repeating. Wise had I Want to Live at #90, while Rossen had Body and Soul at #94 (and The Hustler in the Neo-noir countdown).
I watched Born to Kill, last Noirvember but most not have wrote anything about it...I do remember being luke warm to it.
My past review of All The King's Men
ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949)
Robert Rossen
What a photo! I love it!...It's raw, intense and focused. It's a great publicity photo...and Mercedes McCambridge was a powerhouse in this movie. I mean she was one tough hard boiled lady and in 1949 you just didn't get characters like that. And that's what I liked about All the King's Men, dynamic, forceful characters that seemed real.
Broderick Crawford made a damn good, corrupt-political boss, Huey Long. I've seen a documentary on the real Huey Long and he really did operate like a crime boss, using every trick he could to keep his political machine going. It's pretty sickening actually that he did what he did for so long.
Broderick Crawford was a great choice for this. I can't image another actor at the time better suited to playing Huey long. John Ireland was a good choice too, I liked him and most all of the supporting cast.
Yeah, seeing All the King’s Men on Noir lists (ours is not the only one) is baffling to me as well. But so be it. Born to Kill, on the other hand, is exactly what Noir is all about…
Born to Kill is a dark RKO production that is mean and wicked and full of despicable characters. And that’s why it is a Film Noir classic, directed by one of the all-time greats. This little potboiler follows an unscrupulous brute, played by the legendary Lawrence Tierney, who decides to marry a San Francisco dame (Audrey Long) to get her money. This is after the opening section of the flick where he murders his trampy girlfriend in Las Vegas and the new fella she was seeing just to make him jealous. It worked. As his mousey friend warns him, “You can’t just be goin’ round killin’ people whenever the notion strikes you, it’s not feasible!” His pal is played by one of the genre’s greats, Elisha Cook Jr. The bride’s sister (Claire Trevor) is a new divorcee and is strangely drawn to the man, and though she doesn’t trust him she also can't keep her hands and lips off of him. Between her dark desires and growing suspicions plus a cheeky private detective from Vegas trying to solve those murders, it is only a matter of time before that homicidal rage shows itself again.
If you only know Lawrence Tierney from Reservoir Dogs and ”Seinfeld”, Born to Kill is a perfect place to start discovering what a scary badass he was as a young man (on and off screen). It is also an early effort of director Robert Wise, who had a remarkable career that eventually included Oscar wins (West Side Story and The Sound of Music) and the man seemingly never met a genre he didn’t like. This was his first Noir. His next is one of the all-time greats and should be very high on the collective list, but this mean little flick deserves its spot, too. Born to Kill is his second reveal thus far, following I Want To Live! (#90).
It was my fourteenth pick, good for a dozen of its thirty-three points.
HOLDEN'S BALLOT 14. Born to Kill (#84) 18. He Walked By Night (#88) 22. Panic in the Streets (#98) 25. The Crimson Kimono (DNP)
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