Noir Alley

[ElCid]

5 hours ago, unwatchable said:

That makes as much sense as anything else I see from you. You mind your own business, and I'll do the same.  I'm not jumping through your little hoops. Go find someone else to bother.

You are very quick to attack others, as you did in this situation.

[cigarjoe]

2 hours ago, Hoganman1 said:

It had some flaws, but most noirs do as a lot are low budget B movies. 

Yea but we are running out of the top notch easy to program Noir from the 40's & 50s. There are a few Boston ****, Bull Dog Drummond and even a couple of Dick Tracy that are Noir-ish ,  got to branch out to some non TCM film vaults/libraries, Foreign Noir, Transitional Noir films.

[ElCid]

3 hours ago, unwatchable said:

Yes, well, as you pointed out- relevant or irrelevant, consequential or inconsequential, it doesn't matter. Muller and Mankiewicz will mention HUAC every time they have the opportunity. Without fail.

And that makes it boring.  You can bet your bottom dollar that if HUAC had been dealing with the far right instead of the far left, we wouldn't see the utter reverence with which the people who were questioned by HUAC are treated by the hosts of TCM. Instead, the members of HUAC would probably have a shrine built to them by the left.

Eddie's job is to educate us and inform us.  Apparently you believe in censorship, especially if it is about right-wing extremists and Republicans trying to stifle the freedom of speech and association of liberals. 

[ElCid]

I had seen Johnny O'Clock before and planned to skip it after catching Eddie's intro,  but I got sucked in as, I frequently do.  Not a great or even a very good movie, but an entertaining one.  As usual I found Eddie's intros and outros educational and informative - all of both.

Probably too late, but maybe Eddie could scrounge up a couple of Christmastime time movies for December. 

[JamesJazGuitar]

50 minutes ago, Vautrin said:

I can never quite get past the name O'Clock. Every time it's  said I giggle, even though I presume  this  was  not  his birth name.

And I've never taken Dick Powell very seriously  as any kind  of  tough guy. He's  just  too unprepossessing. And while O'Clock

can  toss off a blizzard of wise cracks, frankly he comes  across as  a bit of a shmuck. Half way through the picture I was hoping

someone would clean his o'clock.  And then there's the romance with Evelyn Keyes. Their  cutesy  dialog gradually turns rather

puke  inducing.  Get a room, kids. Fortunately, Lee J. Cobb the working  class  hero cop adds a helping hand and  gets  the movie

back  on track toward its corny Hollywood  happy ending. The funniest part was Thomas Gomez thinking his  wife was at all

interested  in him instead of his money. What a lovesick dope. All in all, it's  okay, but on the worn out  side.

Of course  the Trotsky Twins  mention the blacklist at  the drop of an icepick. These  two are  as  red as Cherry Chloraseptic.  I

bet they both have a photo of  Stalin  on their nightstand and dream of  collectivist sheep.

The book Film Noir has a summary of the film that is similar to what you wrote here (but without your sense of humor).

That the character Johnny is too emotionally unattached to what is going on around him and therefore it is hard for the audience to get emotionally attached to the character.    If the screenwriter and director had decided upon that happy ending then they should of added more scenes (or reshot some),  to make Johnny more likeable.    If they wanted to keep the character "a bit of a shmuck",  then the ending should have the shmuck getting what is coming to him.

[cigarjoe]

Just now, ElCid said:

I had seen Johnny O'Clock before and planned to skip it after catching Eddie's intro,  but I got sucked in as, I frequently do.  Not a great or even a very good movie, but an entertaining one.  As usual I found Eddie's intros and outros educational and informative - all of both.

Probably too late, but maybe Eddie could scrounge up a couple of Christmastime time movies for December. 

Christmas Holiday would a good Holiday Noir we got a whole thread on it here

The up to date list

Classical Noir

Christmas Holiday 

Roadblock 

Crime Wave 

I, The Jury 

Cover Up 

Lady In The Lake

Repeat Performance

Backfire

L'assassinat du Père Noël aka Who Killed Santa Claus?

 

Transitional Noir

Two Men In Manhattan

Blast Of Silence 

 

Neo Noir

Le Monte-Charge

The Lookout

Delusion

Warm Nights On A Slow Moving Train

Hard Eight

 

 

[Dargo]

I thought Dick Powell was very believable in the titular role. I also thought every actor was on their game in this film. Also liked the direction, the cinematography, and even didn't mind what might now days in hindsight be considered "cliched" dialogue.

And sorry, but I don't get the idea that this film's narriative was "confusing" at all. Nope, it pretty much spelled out the idea that O'Clock had had a dallince with his partner's wife, had a vague idea but no comfired thought until later that his partner had killed the crooked cop and his girlfried, and that the later attempted hit on him was motivated because of the aforementioned dalliance.

(...in other words, it was in essence pretty much "A-B-C" as the story unfolded for me)

 

[Vautrin]

4 hours ago, JamesJazGuitar said:

The book Film Noir has a summary of the film that is similar to what you wrote here (but without your sense of humor).

That the character Johnny is too emotionally unattached to what is going on around him and therefore it is hard for the audience to get emotionally attached to the character.    If the screenwriter and director had decided upon that happy ending then they should of added more scenes (or reshot some),  to make Johnny more likeable.    If they wanted to keep the character "a bit of a shmuck",  then the ending should have the shmuck getting what is coming to him.

Yeah, the character is not  very  likeable, being just a tiny bit on the self-absorbed  side, not that  would  be  anything unusual for a

noir character. Well he did get wounded at the end, though he will survive. By the end I really didn't care that  much  what  happened

to him.  I  do  agree that the visuals were first rate, even if the movie wasn't.

[Mr. Gorman]

Maybe Eddie M. and his contacts in the film biz can get hold of the 1970 movie THE LADY IN THE CAR WITH THE GLASSES AND THE GUN.  Directed by Anatole Litvak.  His last film, apparently. 

I don't care how good or bad it is -- it could be a Neo•Noir-y movie and that's good enough for me.  I've never seen it and I'd like to. 

Then there's the 1969 movie "WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO KILL A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU?".   Never seen this movie, either. 

[Hibi]

About half way through I realized I'd seen the film before, but I couldn't remember how it ended so kept watching. It was ok. I was a bit bored in spots. Some good dialog, but the plot (what there was of it) wasn't that interesting. I agree, though, Keyes looked stunning.

[Hibi]

15 hours ago, Mr. Gorman said:

Maybe Eddie M. and his contacts in the film biz can get hold of the 1970 movie THE LADY IN THE CAR WITH THE GLASSES AND THE GUN.  Directed by Anatole Litvak.  His last film, apparently. 

I don't care how good or bad it is -- it could be a Neo•Noir-y movie and that's good enough for me.  I've never seen it and I'd like to. 

Then there's the 1969 movie "WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO KILL A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU?".   Never seen this movie, either. 

Yes, I vaguely remember the film, though I didn't see it (Glasses). Samantha Eggar. Intriguing title!

[Hibi]

14 hours ago, cigarjoe said:

Christmas Holiday would a good Holiday Noir we got a whole thread on it here

The up to date list

Classical Noir

Christmas Holiday 

Roadblock 

Crime Wave 

I, The Jury 

Cover Up 

Lady In The Lake

Repeat Performance

Backfire

L'assassinat du Père Noël aka Who Killed Santa Claus?

 

Transitional Noir

Two Men In Manhattan

Blast Of Silence 

 

Neo Noir

Le Monte-Charge

The Lookout

Delusion

Warm Nights On A Slow Moving Train

Hard Eight

 

 

Christmas Holiday was scheduled once, but they pulled it.

[Janet0312]

18 hours ago, cigarjoe said:

Yea but we are running out of the top notch easy to program Noir from the 40's & 50s. There are a few Boston ****, Bull Dog Drummond and even a couple of Dick Tracy that are Noir-ish ,  got to branch out to some non TCM film vaults/libraries, Foreign Noir, Transitional Noir films.

Oh! I would love to see Boston **** on Eddie's noir show.

[Janet0312]

18 hours ago, cigarjoe said:

Christmas Holiday would a good Holiday Noir we got a whole thread on it here

The up to date list

Classical Noir

Christmas Holiday 

Roadblock 

Crime Wave 

I, The Jury 

Cover Up 

Lady In The Lake

Repeat Performance

Backfire

L'assassinat du Père Noël aka Who Killed Santa Claus?

 

Transitional Noir

Two Men In Manhattan

Blast Of Silence 

 

Neo Noir

Le Monte-Charge

The Lookout

Delusion

Warm Nights On A Slow Moving Train

Hard Eight

 

 

How about Lady on a Train with Durbin?

[Stallion]

Concerning Johnny O'Clock, I felt I was watching a text book film noir. Like The Big Sleep, sometimes plot doesn't matter to me as long as I am seeing what is film noir. I think a couple of the noirs that Eddie has had on recently almost departed from classic noir, so I was glad to watch Johnny O'Clock.

[Stallion]

22 minutes ago, Janet0312 said:

Oh! I would love to see Boston **** on Eddie's noir show.

I agree. I have heard the character several times on Radio Classics on Sirius XM radio, so would look forward to seeing a movie bringing the radio character to visual life for me.

[Shank Asu]

22 hours ago, cigarjoe said:

Its probably because  they are running low on the easy to get a hold of titles.  

I've only been watching Noir Alley (and TCM) for about a year now.  I know has said he's shown a some films a few times, but how often does Noir Alley repeat a film?  When The Third Man was shown a few months ago, i figured that 's probably been repeated more than a few times.  As a bit of a newbie to the channel, i don't mind some repeats for my sake.

[Thompson]

1 hour ago, Janet0312 said:

How about Lady on a Train with Durbin?

Had to look that one up.  Was thinking The Girl on the Train, a 2016 movie that I would never watch based on a NYT best selling novel by the same name by a woman writer that thank goodness I’ve forgotten her name but I did read the novel and it was hands down the worst novel ever.  This dilemma bothered me (how can this tripe be on the Times best seller list for weeks on end?).  I figured, well, don’t get your bowels in an uproar about it Thompson.  Just post a lateral thinking post that gets a ‘like’ from MissWonderly and you’ll be alright.  It might not just be me that doesn’t get it.  It might be there is nothing to get all.

[lydecker]

Did anyone notice (how could you miss it?) that the name Johnny O'Clock was repeated ceaselessly. "Johnny O'Clock, Johnny O'Clock . . . ." Argh!!!!  If it had been a drinking game, one would have been totally blotto within the first 20 minutes. 

[Hibi]

1 hour ago, Shank Asu said:

I've only been watching Noir Alley (and TCM) for about a year now.  I know has said he's shown a some films a few times, but how often does Noir Alley repeat a film?  When The Third Man was shown a few months ago, i figured that 's probably been repeated more than a few times.  As a bit of a newbie to the channel, i don't mind some repeats for my sake.

Very rarely.

[Herman Bricks]

Saw Johnny O'Clock, it was OK. Haven't I seen it on that Movies! channel alot recently? Anyway...

Lee J. Cobb seems too emotional (for no apparent reasons). Dick Powell flashes some nice duds, but is too unemotional. Evelyn Keyes was just right, she smolders!

The best dialogue is thrown back and forth between Ms. Keyes and Mr. Powell. My favorites:

Keyes (about the pianist) : "tell him to stop playing, it's bad for my eyes"

Powell: "Hey you with the hands... go home."

and

Keyes to Powell: "Tell me things, sweet pretty things. I'll close my eyes and make believe they're true."

 

[jameselliot]

16 hours ago, Mr. Gorman said:

Maybe Eddie M. and his contacts in the film biz can get hold of the 1970 movie THE LADY IN THE CAR WITH THE GLASSES AND THE GUN.  Directed by Anatole Litvak.  His last film, apparently. 

I don't care how good or bad it is -- it could be a Neo•Noir-y movie and that's good enough for me.  I've never seen it and I'd like to. 

Then there's the 1969 movie "WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO KILL A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU?".   Never seen this movie, either. 

Lady in the Car is an okay film. I saw it in a theater. It's nothing memorable but Eggar and Reed always deliver.  Avoid the worthless 2015 remake.

[CinemaInternational]

It's several months since the special Neo-noir theme, but I found one more that I for one liked although I know of at least one person here didn't care for. It was 1988's Sunset, which despite being advertised as a comedy, was actually mostly a Neo-noir/retro-noir directed by Blake Edwards. The story was a fictional what-if, if Wyatt Earp (James Garner) and Tom Mix (Bruce Willis) had teamed up to solve a twisty murder case in 1929 Hollywood, climaxing on Oscar night. The look of the film is magnificent, and James Garner, who despite second billing is the star of the film, gave a tremendous performance. Well worth a look.

[Cigarjoe cellph]

On 11/21/2021 at 6:35 PM, cigarjoe said:

Christmas Holiday would a good Holiday Noir we got a whole thread on it here

The up to date list

Classical Noir

Christmas Holiday 

Roadblock 

Crime Wave 

I, The Jury 

Cover Up 

Lady In The Lake

Repeat Performance

Backfire

L'assassinat du Père Noël aka Who Killed Santa Claus?

 

Transitional Noir

Two Men In Manhattan

Blast Of Silence 

 

Neo Noir

Le Monte-Charge

The Lookout

Delusion

Warm Nights On A Slow Moving Train

Hard Eight

 

 

Found another one today

la Orta (1946) a Mexican Noir that takes place at Christmas. Stars Delores Del Rio, it was good 👍

[Mr. Gorman]

Just for the record, the real-life WYATT EARP survived in to 1929.   He died January 13, 1929.   He was 80.