The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown
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I patiently wait the more fruitful passages of the list for my ballot.
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So Far for me
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23. Woman on the Run (1950) [#91]
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So Far for me
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23. Woman on the Run (1950) [#91]
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Last edited by mrblond; 03-18-24 at 05:53 PM.
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....
I wish. I did not vote for The Glass Key (it was on my short list) but it is by far my favorite. Any fans of Joel & Ethan Coen's Miller's Crossing who haven't stumbled across it yet, do yourself a favor.
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The Blue Dahlia is the 3rd from my ballot to make it as my #20-loved the cast and dialogue.
I know of Brute Force but haven't seen it yet.
I know of Brute Force but haven't seen it yet.
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Random list facts...
Obviously, things will change as the list goes on, but so far things have been really tight. The biggest point gap has been three (3) between The Dark Corner (28 points) and Angel Face (31 points).
On that same line, there have been 6 ties, including a 5-way tie from #82 to #78.
So far, there have been four (4) films with a 100% RT score: The Dark Corner, Force of Evil, Too Late for Tears, and The Blue Dahlia.
On a similar line, the highest IMDb scores so far have been for Le Corbeau and Gaslight (both with 7.8) while the lowest has been The Amazing Mr. X (6.4) and Stranger on the Third Floor (6.8).
Obviously, things will change as the list goes on, but so far things have been really tight. The biggest point gap has been three (3) between The Dark Corner (28 points) and Angel Face (31 points).
On that same line, there have been 6 ties, including a 5-way tie from #82 to #78.
So far, there have been four (4) films with a 100% RT score: The Dark Corner, Force of Evil, Too Late for Tears, and The Blue Dahlia.
On a similar line, the highest IMDb scores so far have been for Le Corbeau and Gaslight (both with 7.8) while the lowest has been The Amazing Mr. X (6.4) and Stranger on the Third Floor (6.8).
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The Blue Dahlia and Brute Force. Both good films, but really weren't close to making my list.
The Blue Dahlia proved without a doubt that Veronica Lake could not act. But she's sure easy to look at. Raymond Chandler's script was dynamite, but he was furious --as he deserved to be-- that the studio changed his ending. He had written that Buzz (Bendix) was the murderer while in a blackout, but Paramount refused to allow a serviceman to be portrayed as a murderer.
Brute Force was a powerful film with first rate performances by Lancaster and by Hume Cronyn as the graphically sadistic prison warden. But the movie is not a noir, it's a prison break film. I'm not sure why Wikipedia lists it as noir. Maybe because it's in black & white??
The Blue Dahlia proved without a doubt that Veronica Lake could not act. But she's sure easy to look at. Raymond Chandler's script was dynamite, but he was furious --as he deserved to be-- that the studio changed his ending. He had written that Buzz (Bendix) was the murderer while in a blackout, but Paramount refused to allow a serviceman to be portrayed as a murderer.
Brute Force was a powerful film with first rate performances by Lancaster and by Hume Cronyn as the graphically sadistic prison warden. But the movie is not a noir, it's a prison break film. I'm not sure why Wikipedia lists it as noir. Maybe because it's in black & white??
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Didn't vote for either of today's noirs but seen both and enjoyed them.
I wrote this:
I wrote this:
Brute Force (1947)
Surprisingly violent prison film with Burt Lancaster as a prisoner stuck in an overcrowded and abusive prison. Hume Cromyn is the captain of the prison guards and behaves like a Nazi (a message the film draws comparisons to). Exciting and fast paced.
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
A fun noir, if you go into it knowing it's not hard hitting or serious...it's lighter fare. I was interested throughout the film and it never drags. BUT it does get real silly in the last scene that wraps up the mystery of who killed a returning war veteran's wife. A man holds a match so that his buddy can shoot it, 'lighting up' the match, which is suppose to prove the buddy is such a good shot that he couldn't be the killer. Never mind that the gun is fired in the office of a nightclub. I guess the police who are also in the room aren't concerned that the bullet will travel through the wall, possibly killing someone on the dance floor. As silly as that was, the ending with the perpetrator confessing all of his crimes like an ending to a Scooby Doo cartoon is even more daft.
Still I liked it, for just a fun relaxed watch. I always enjoy seeing Veronica Lake. And while Alan Ladd never impresses me, William Bendix was one colorful character. I also enjoyed the performances by Doris Dowling who plays the wife and Howard Da Silva who's the shady man having an affair with Ladd's wife.
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
A fun noir, if you go into it knowing it's not hard hitting or serious...it's lighter fare. I was interested throughout the film and it never drags. BUT it does get real silly in the last scene that wraps up the mystery of who killed a returning war veteran's wife. A man holds a match so that his buddy can shoot it, 'lighting up' the match, which is suppose to prove the buddy is such a good shot that he couldn't be the killer. Never mind that the gun is fired in the office of a nightclub. I guess the police who are also in the room aren't concerned that the bullet will travel through the wall, possibly killing someone on the dance floor. As silly as that was, the ending with the perpetrator confessing all of his crimes like an ending to a Scooby Doo cartoon is even more daft.
Still I liked it, for just a fun relaxed watch. I always enjoy seeing Veronica Lake. And while Alan Ladd never impresses me, William Bendix was one colorful character. I also enjoyed the performances by Doris Dowling who plays the wife and Howard Da Silva who's the shady man having an affair with Ladd's wife.
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I highly recommend Dashiell Hammett’s book even more.
Despite never seeing it, I have read it. Excellent book.
The Blue Dahlia - a movie that was on my general watchlist, so I bumped it for this countdown. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't top 25 material (basically see similar comments I had for This Gun for Hire).
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1 for 2. Haven't seen The Blue Dahlia, yet another iconic noir that I should have watched. I did watch The Blue Gardenia though. Maybe that'll show up on the countdown later.
But I did watch Brute Force back when I was trying to find as many Jules Dassin movies as I could. Good prison noir with Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn laying the acting groundwork for an all out anarchic ending. Neither were on my ballot.
9 of 28 seen.
But I did watch Brute Force back when I was trying to find as many Jules Dassin movies as I could. Good prison noir with Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn laying the acting groundwork for an all out anarchic ending. Neither were on my ballot.
9 of 28 seen.
The Blue Dahlia is one I didn't watch (once again) until after the deadline, but I really liked it. Yes, the proving of the innocence of Bendix didn't quite make sense to me, but I'm glad it wasn't him despite the author's misgivings. Everyone was fine for me in the movie but it was Bendix who stole the show for me. I was never quite sure what he was going to do when he got "fuzzyheaded" or whatever he called it. That's what made it real fun for me.
I haven't seen Brute Force but it looks like another Lancaster film I'll have to add to the old list, as I really like the guy.
Fizzling out lately. Oh well, lots to come.
#15 He Walked By Night List Proper #88
#22 This Gun For Hire List Proper #78
I haven't seen Brute Force but it looks like another Lancaster film I'll have to add to the old list, as I really like the guy.
Fizzling out lately. Oh well, lots to come.
#15 He Walked By Night List Proper #88
#22 This Gun For Hire List Proper #78
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Last edited by dadgumblah; 03-19-24 at 10:51 PM.
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I highly recommend Dashiell Hammett’s book even more.
It definitely helped fuel my Noir mania that I was also reading a lot of the best source material, too.
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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
"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
Last edited by Holden Pike; 03-19-24 at 12:25 PM.
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I feel like we may have a Hitchcock coming today?
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Good question would be what Hitchcock films might have a chance to make it into this countdown. I'm thinking mostly Notorious and Shadow of a Doubt, but I can see a case for Strangers on a Train as well.
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Director: William Wyler
Production: Warner Bros.
Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson
45 Points, 5 Lists
'The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter in her own hand may prove her undoing.'
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Last edited by Citizen Rules; 3 weeks ago at 02:45 PM.
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