The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

#90 I Want to Live! (1958)

#89 Brighton Rock (1948)

Director: John Boulting
Production: Associated British Picture Corporation
Cast: Graham Greene, Terence Rattigan, Richard Attenborough
27 Points, 3 Lists

Seen both, voted for neither.

Seen: 10/12

My first Rectification is inspired by seeing Cosmic's post and her high placement of this one.



Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

At a very short 1 hour and 3 minutes, this was a quick and easy watch, and much like Cosmic applauded it for, the German Expressionism in terms of visual aesthetic was definitely delivered in spades. And yes! Seeing Peter Lorre, especially in an early role, was the absolute highlight for me.
I think my only critique on this very enjoyable noir was the lead role was a little lackluster for me, but still a great noir with some excellent visual composition. Very cool!



Watched 6 out of 10 (60%)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Panic In The Streets (1950) (#98)
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10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
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18.
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23. Body And Soul (1947) (#94)
24. Dead Reckoning (1946) (#95)
25.


Rectification List
Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) (#92)

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I've seen Brighton Rock but like I suspect many on this list that I've seen it was quite a while ago and never given it a rewatch. My notes indicate I liked it but nothing memorable - which is great because I don't remember much. The system works.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Very cool idea that you were inspired to watch Stranger on the Third Floor. Like you and Cosmic said it is the expressionism visuals that make the film.

Wow, two more donuts from me. I assume it's gonna be that way until we hit the halfway mark 😔

I'm happy that seeing my praise for the film's visuals intrigued you enough to see it for yourself, and I'm really glad you ended up liking it as well!

I probably would've felt bad if you found it a slog, but at least it would've only been an hour wasted as opposed to 2 or more haha. I really appreciated the breezy runtime when I saw it, and wished I had more short films like that on my watchlist.

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I don't think you're alone in that, so you're in good company!

I don't think I've seen either of today's films either, but some of those screenshots of Brighton Rock look very familiar (as does the name), so I might need to investigate further in case I have seen it haha.

SEEN 2/12
BALLOT 00/25

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Brighton Rock was my #7. What an ending! And what a nasty little character Pinkie is, played so well by Richard Attenborough. Based on the book by Graham Greene who also wrote the screenplay for The Third Man (which I imagine is still to come on this countdown).

Have watched Brighton Rock (and enjoyed it). But not I Want to Live! (even though I've had several opportunities to do so). Seemed kind of soap opera-ish to me. Didn't vote for either of them. If I would have remembered BR I might have considered doing so.

So I'm 2 for 12 so far.

I haven't seen either film once again

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Good thing you voted for it, you gave it 19 points which was enough to get it on the ballot.

I really wouldn't call I Want to Live! soap opera-ish at all, just drama with a hard hitting ending.

Yeah, that's on me. But that's what so great about these countdowns. They prod one's memory about films you should watch. I already added Woman on the Run to my watchlist.

Brighton Rock was a contender for my list although I don't remember it. A lot of these noirs made or didn't make my ballot based upon my records.

I've not heard of the other.

Yeah, I haven't seen squat so far other than the ones I've picked on my list. I knew this would be more of a making aware list than one I'd feel confident I've seen a good amount of.

My List:

16. Le Corbeau (1943)
18. Quicksand (1950)

Seen: 1 for 10

We've made it through all the #90s reveals...So a new feature! A lot of these noirs on the countdown have gotten traction by their exposure in the Hall of Fames. To recap 100-90, we had three noirs that had been nominated in past HoFs.

#100 Le Corbeau (1943) was in the Film Noir III where it finished
7th out of 9 nominations.

#96 Gaslight (1944) was in the 19th HoF where it finished
4th out of 9 nominations.

#94 Body and Soul (1947) was in the 1940s Hof Part 2 where it
6th out of 11 nominations.

Oh, man! I'll NEVER forget seeing that film. I was 14 or 15 when it came to one of our three local theaters. In those days people just went to see whatever was showing, oftentimes not knowing anything about the picture except for its title.

I innocently took a date to the film. It was fascinating enough, but it got bleaker and darker as it went on. The ending was very graphic and shocking. We more or less crawled out of the theater, the film having put us in a hang dog mood. We made up for that later in her living room..

Later I found out that the writers took major liberties with the actual story. In actual fact Barbara Graham (Susan Hayward) was guilty. The film delighted early opponents of capital punishment folks, like Arthur Miller and Paddy Chayevsky.

But Hayward's performance was absolutely stunning, and she deservedly won the Best Actress Oscar.

0/12 so far!!! Yikes!

I have some noir watching to do!

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