The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

I re-watched this one in the Noirvember 2023 thread and wrote: Fun movie, not perfect but an enjoyable watch none the less. The opening scenes must have shocked the hell out of the audiences back in 1942...Those contract killing scenes are cold blooded violence. I doubt audiences had seen anything like that before. I've never been a fan of Alan Ladd but this is my favorite performance of his and I think he's real good here. However I am a fan of Veronica Lake and Miss Lake is on the beam. Even her musical number that she does in the nightclub of the bad guy is a treat to watch. So was the bad guy, Laird Cregar, really a strong performance from him. It's a pity he died so young, he was such a talent. Oddly Robert Preston who owns The Music Man was rather milquetoast in his role as a cop and boyfriend of Veronica Lake, maybe he was waiting for a musical number of his own. I liked this well enough that I'm going to watch the other Ladd, Lake noir pairings.***Which I did.

I wrote this about Caged:


Caged, is a Film Noir from 1950, a gritty expose that was part of the 50's socially aware movement in films.

Screen writer, Former LA Times reporter Virginia Kellogg actually had her self locked up to experience prison life first hand. She then wrote a book about her time in prison called, Women without Men. Warner Brothers then hired her to write the script for Caged. The movie plays like her personal diary of the corruption and abuse of a women's prison. She was nominated for an Academy Award for best Screen Play.

Elanor Parker I find her to be excellent in most all of her movies. Here she plays a frightened 19 year old girl who's sent to prison for being an accessory to a robbery that her husband committed. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actresses.

The film could have went with the tired cliche of an innocent girl locked away for a crime she didn't commit...But the film intelligently decides not to say she's innocent, instead if focuses on how the prison system hardens a first time offender.

Each of the women prisoners have their own backstory as to why she was stuck in the jail system. Prisons might not be like this today, but a half century ago they were ripe with corruption and abuse. In a small way, films like Caged help to bring about prison reforms.

Caged was my number 23! Parker was great in it.

@Citizen Rules, I've got They Live By Night on my Watch List and am looking forward to it. More Cathy O'Donnell---yes!

Another one of those links in my life to Noir---my wife's Aunt knew Gale Storm when her Aunt was a child. We all live in Texas where Storm was born and it so happened that her Aunt lived on the same road as Storm. Her older brother (according to the Aunt) used to play with her when they were kids. That's all the info I've got. I can't ask more as her Aunt is now in an assisted living center. But the world just seems so much smaller to me with ths Countdown.

I looked up Storm's film list and the Noirs are:
Walk a Crooked Mile 1948 (voice on tape recorder only)
Abandoned 1949
The Underworld Story 1950
Between Midnight and Dawn 1950

Those are the only ones that IMDB listed as Noir, so I hope that helps.

On todays reveal, I had heard of one and had the other on my list. Caged is one I've heard of but there's only one "women's prison" film I've seen and it isn't on my list but it's a good one. This Gun for Hire was #22 on my list. I watched it for the countdown and I really liked it. Every Alan Ladd film I've seen so far I've enjoyed, no matter the genre but I always like it when he and Veronica Lake are paired up. I found it interesting that he would kill people with no remorse but care for a kitten in the apartment he stayed in. He wouldn't kill cats And Laird Cregar, what a slimy weasel he was! But I have to admit, I like the slimy weasels, especially when they get what's coming to them.

#15 He Walked By Night List Proper #88
#22 This Gun For Hire List Proper #78

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Both me and Sean watched that in the Noirvember 2023 thread. Actually Sean watched it first and rated it a which prompted me to check it out and I gave it ...it's a good one alright.
They Live by Night(1948) Sean
They Live by Night(1948) Citizen

That's a neat story about Gale Storm! Thanks for sharing it. Yup that list of her movies helped, it was Abandoned that I seen. I didn't care much for it but I still plan on watching those other noirs.
Abandoned(1949)

I believe it was a HoF that I had the opportunity to watch Caged, and I believe I gave it around

I don't recall seeing This Gun for Hire, but I'll scour my records before crossing films off the eventual noir list.

It was the 1950s HoF that I hosted. Caged won and I believe thanks to that HoF it made the 1950s countdown.

Oh wow I didn't remember it winning

Probably because it didn't My mistake, I'm tired really tired. I just looked and Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder 1958) won. Caged came in the middle of the pack.

They just keep rolling off the assembly line...2 at a time...

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Yeah, me too. I see now that my noir viewing has mostly been the better known ones. I did not stray off the beaten path.


On the other hand, in the neo noir countdown I've seen 10 of 24.

I've only seen 5/24 in the neo noir countdown, pretty low. I suppose for me I will know the top 30-25 neo noirs much better.

The first movie from my list has made it, This Gun for Hire. Alan Ladd is great as the killer and Veronica Lake is, as always, killer in her own way. I had it at #20.

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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.

Caged was #94 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1950s.

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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've only seen Le Corbeau, Gaslight, and Force of Evil so far.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

#76 Dark Passage (1947)

Director: Delmer Daves
Production: Warner Bros.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett
38 Points, 3 Lists

#75 Ministry of Fear (1944)

Director: Fritz Lang
Production: Paramount Pictures
Cast: Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond
39 Points, 3 Lists

Watched both of these for the list but didn’t love either. Especially thought Dark Passage was pretty bad actually.

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Letterboxd

I thought Dark Passage was pretty good, but not one of Bogart's best films. Ministry of Fear was a little underwhelming for me.

Seen: 25/26

My second *seen* film, though not on my ballot. Ministry of Fear is a pretty solid noir. Milland and Lang are always great. Here's what I wrote about it (read review here)

I haven't seen Dark Passage.


SEEN: 2/26
MY BALLOT: 0/25

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