Noir Alley

[King Rat]

5 hours ago, Dargo said:

Btw here KR, and re my new and latest discovery of the "worst studio era actor of all time" here and thus replacing George Raft and James Craig who've previously held that title..

Cr

...sorry, but I don't see his resemblance to Anthony George here...

...and who always reminded me of George Maharis.

From that angle North doesn't look like Anthony George, agreed. But comparing the handsome Anthony to the meh George Maharis is not acceptable! True, they both had black hair.

[Dargo]

43 minutes ago, King Rat said:

From that angle North doesn't look like Anthony George, agreed. But comparing the handsome Anthony to the meh George Maharis is not acceptable! True, they both had black hair.

Really? The "meh George Maharis", ya say? 

Funny, but I always thought Mararis here was a pretty darn handsome guy, anyway...

So, what did ya always think of the guy's looks that replaced Maharis on Route 66? You know, Tom Corbett!

Oh wait! "TOM Corbett" was that Space Cadet guy on TV back in the '50s, huh. Sorry.

I meant of course GLENN Corbett here...

 (...boy, we've sure gotten off the ol' Film Noir thing here, now haven't we?!) 

LOL

[mr6666]

 

[cigarjoe]

Cruel Gun Story (1964) interesting heist flick. I've seen chipmunk cheeked Jô Shishido before in other Japanese Noir and like him. Like Eddie mentioned he always played a variation of the same character, sort of like a Japanese Clint Eastwood. 

Next weeks Blast of Silence (1961) directed by and starring Alan Baron is a low budget "New York Film School" Christmas set Noir and it illustrates a Transitional Noir, those Noir made between the end of the Classic Hollywood Era Noir and the Neo Noir to come. Transitional Noir 1960-1969 reflect the rise of the independent productions, the demise of the MPPC and the revolving obscenity laws.

It was supposed to star Peter Falk but he got a real offer he couldn't refuse. lol.  Molly McCarthy (The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery(1959)) Larry Tucker (Shock Corridor (1963)) with a VO narration by Lionel Stander. 

Anyway, Barons next feature was Terror In The City aka Pie In The Sky that starred Lee Grant as a New York City prostitute who takes in a runaway child has sort of dropped off the radar. That would be a film I'd like to see judging from Blast of Silence. 

Anyway here is a review (maybe some spoilers)  Blast of Silence.

[Thompson]

I enjoyed it immensely.  It was FAST.  No love triangles or any of that corn.  Only one scene (and there was no ordering and not eating) with food.  Loved the hot plate thing that boiled the water for tea.  The pool hall scene was great.  A billiards table it was.  You don’t see a game of billiards in movies very often.  Remember when Fast Eddie realized he was going to play his opponent at billiards in The Hustler?  The cigarette smoking was okay, I’m always looking for affectation, or what seems like affectation to me, and there was some of that, however, those deep drags that several characters inhaled were just great.  The interloper girlfriend smoked a perfect cig.  Good actress, good acting all around.  The sunglasses bugged me a bit.  Looking forward to next week as well.

[jameselliot]

Blast of Silence captured a grimy, seedy, dirty vision of Manhattan that's similar to the New York of TV's Naked City.

Baron became a TV series director. I think he worked on Love American Style. An interesting career transition.

The best Transitional Noir in my op is Murder By Contract. Vince Edwards spouting his Nietzschean hitman philosophy elevates the movie way above the usual.

 

[Katie_G]

Snore Alley

Bad acting and gangsters in dark glasses trying to look tough.  Trying to sell it by comparing it to The Godfather and other gangster films was hilarious, but I think Eddie's obligated to push some of the Criterion catalog.  Just don't serve sausage and call it prime rib.  Hopefully next week will be better but I'm not optimistic at this point.

[Thompson]

“Don’t serve sausage and call it prime rib.”  — that’s a great line, Katie_G.  Sure, the film was dime store noir, but it was FUN.  Sausage takes some seasoning and cooking technique, prime rib not so much, a very cool analogy nevertheless.

[Dargo]

4 hours ago, Katie_G said:

Snore Alley

Bad acting and gangsters in dark glasses trying to look tough.  Trying to sell it by comparing it to The Godfather and other gangster films was hilarious, but I think Eddie's obligated to push some of the Criterion catalog.  Just don't serve sausage and call it prime rib.  Hopefully next week will be better but I'm not optimistic at this point.

Yep, Eddie made his big mistake here by comparing Cruel Gun Story to the Coppola classic.

And whereas what he SHOULD have compared it to was Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, but evidently I'm the only one who recognizes this.

(...btw...I'm with Thompson here...I was very pleasantly surpised by how much I enjoyed this Japanese film)

[Dargo]

And now a question about why Joe Shishido the lead in this film would think implanting the pads in his cheeks which made his face look fatter and instead of implanting them higher up and around his cheekbones and so in order to give his face more a taut and sculpted look.

Did or do the Japanese believe this fatter face look to be desirable or more attractive in some way?

(...didn't get THIS at all)

[Thompson]

18 hours ago, Dargo said:

Yep, Eddie made his big mistake here by comparing Cruel Gun Story to the Coppola classic.

And whereas what he SHOULD have compared it to was Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, but evidently I'm the only one who recognizes this.

(...btw...I'm with Thompson here...I was very pleasantly surpised by how much I enjoyed this Japanese film)

Heck, I thought the “sound familiar “ that Eddie said was in reference to The Killing.  I dig the Tarantino similarity, Dargo, it ain’t like Gunsmoke.  Just don’t know why ol’ Quentin can’t  see that his acting ability is subpar and downright embarrassing.  Reservoir Dogs nonetheless is a killer movie. They all died slow.

[laffite]

18 hours ago, Dargo said:

Did or do the Japanese believe this fatter face look to be desirable or more attractive in some way?

I think it was just to look more menacing, or something that would sell himself at a leading man in a crime movie. Not desirable in the usual sense nor attractive in the usual sense. Why didn't he just put cotton in his cheeks?

22 hours ago, Katie_G said:

Hopefully next week will be better but I'm not optimistic at this point.

It will be much better. For me, my favorite crime film of all time. A portrait of a hired killer. I'll say no more, though I'm sure glad that Peter Falk did not do the film. I like Falk, immensely in fact, but the guy who had the role was too good to lose, I don't even know his name as he was not a wwll known and if I remember he might not be a pro actor, per se ; not a great performance in the sense we usually mean, but PERFECT for the role. Try not to miss it.

On 12/12/2021 at 3:44 AM, cigarjoe said:

Next weeks Blast of Silence (1961) directed by and starring Alan Baron is a low budget ...

*****

On 12/12/2021 at 9:49 AM, Thompson said:

Loved the hot plate thing that boiled the water for tea.

A Japanese samovar?

**

I wish he had got away of the inferno and ready to board the plane to Brazil. He wants to take his sister with him but she has a nervous breakdown at the airport, and he must board the plane without her, or get caught. The plane explodes shortly after takeoff, presumably a bomb. A lingering question could be who set it off (that is if there is any left in the cast still alive.)

//

[Thompson]

Good to know about next week’s film Laffite, looking  forward to it.  

[Vautrin]

I thought CGS was pretty entertaining. Heist films usually have similarities to one another and CGS certainly  does: a mixed  lot of crooks in the

gang, the perfect robbery plan, then the actual bungled  for some reason robbery and the usually tragic conclusion to the whole thing. Check.

The even grimier than usual surroundings were a kick and the high  number of  rounds fired and body count outdid most American heist flicks.

These guys had bullets to  spare.  And interesting to see the crime imagined as  it would go in theory and then how messed  up it gets in reality.

Seems they didn't get the meaning  of bulletproof. Should  have bought a very large sledge hammer. I was  kind  of hoping Joe would get away

with  the cash and not  get killed  in the end as the  American Production Code would mandate, but he got killed anyway.  A very stylish

blood and guts picture.

[Hoganman1]

I decided to pass on CRUEL GUN STORY. I'm glad some of you liked it, but it didn't look like something I would enjoy. I do worry that Noir Alley may have run it's course.  Obviously, there are many Noir from outside of the US that are great. However, it looks like Eddie has shown all the Noir films from the US that are available to him.  I've been a loyal fan ever since the series started, but I'm starting to lose interest.  I hate it but as someone once said "all good things must end".

[laffite]

1 hour ago, Vautrin said:

the perfect robbery plan,

Perfect should be in quotes there, firstly because is there such a thing, and secondly and more immediately, was this one perfect? I'm nitpicking but what the heck. The drivers would never have deviated the route, they probably have running orders to return if the usual route was obstructed. Even if not, it is likely they would use the radio for instructions, in which case they would have discovered the radio in the truck was not working. They didn't ask the detour guy for credentials, certainly a common-sense expectation. It's nitpicking for a movie such as this, but also asks to what standards should a movie such as this be held. W T F moments can occur in the worst of films and spoil it, that is if it hasn't spoiled itself already by being so bad.

[Thompson]

I didn’t like the sunglasses but I loved the fat face implants.  I wonder how much that costs.  I’d like to get me a fat face implant.  Looks like it helps the sinuses some too.

[Vautrin]

2 hours ago, laffite said:

Perfect should be in quotes there, firstly because is there such a thing, and secondly and more immediately, was this one perfect? I'm nitpicking but what the heck. The drivers would never have deviated the route, they probably have running orders to return if the usual route was obstructed. Even if not, it is likely they would use the radio for instructions, in which case they would have discovered the radio in the truck was not working. They didn't ask the detour guy for credentials, certainly a common-sense expectation. It's nitpicking for a movie such as this, but also asks to what standards should a movie such as this be held. W T F moments can occur in the worst of films and spoil it, that is if it hasn't spoiled itself already by being so bad.

Perfect in  the  mind of a  perverse criminal who may not have the most objective judgement, but there  it is.  I  liked the  short sequence of the robbery playing

out on the screen as  they  see it  in their mind's eye before they had to do it  in the real world, when things soon turn messy.  There are often  nitpicks in crime

movies, but I don't think this  one had more than the average number. The ending still hues to the usual heist plot where things  end up totally screwed up,

not to mention the double crosses.  I just thought  it  was  a good action-packed movie, fast and furious.

[Hibi]

I was surprised how much I liked the film. I was prepared not to like it. Funny, I thought the lead actor had such a weird looking face, almost grotesque for a Japanese person, then found out in the wrap up he'd had check implants done! LOL. Plenty of back stabbing, plot twists etc. and Noir Ending! Really enjoyed it.

[Hibi]

19 hours ago, laffite said:

Perfect should be in quotes there, firstly because is there such a thing, and secondly and more immediately, was this one perfect? I'm nitpicking but what the heck. The drivers would never have deviated the route, they probably have running orders to return if the usual route was obstructed. Even if not, it is likely they would use the radio for instructions, in which case they would have discovered the radio in the truck was not working. They didn't ask the detour guy for credentials, certainly a common-sense expectation. It's nitpicking for a movie such as this, but also asks to what standards should a movie such as this be held. W T F moments can occur in the worst of films and spoil it, that is if it hasn't spoiled itself already by being so bad.

Like with most noirs, you have to suspend disbelief to "buy" aspects of the plot....Agree with your points.

[Hibi]

On 12/13/2021 at 6:01 PM, Hoganman1 said:

I decided to pass on CRUEL GUN STORY. I'm glad some of you liked it, but it didn't look like something I would enjoy. I do worry that Noir Alley may have run it's course.  Obviously, there are many Noir from outside of the US that are great. However, it looks like Eddie has shown all the Noir films from the US that are available to him.  I've been a loyal fan ever since the series started, but I'm starting to lose interest.  I hate it but as someone once said "all good things must end".

I don't think that's true. Maybe for studio noirs. But there are plenty of independents. The problem is TCM getting access to them to air.

[JamesJazGuitar]

4 hours ago, Hibi said:

I don't think that's true. Maybe for studio noirs. But there are plenty of independents. The problem is TCM getting access to them to air.

I assume what you don't believe is true is "Eddie has shown all the Noir films from the US that are available to him.".

If that is the case I agree:    there are many noirs from Fox,  Universal,  Columbia and Paramount that TCM should be able to lease.    So this could be another case of TCM not willing to spend the money to lease outside of the Turner library of films.     There there are the independents,  like United Artist, etc.. as you noted.

 

 

[Polly of the Precodes]

54 minutes ago, JamesJazGuitar said:

there are many noirs from Fox,  Universal,  Columbia and Paramount that TCM should be able to lease.   

This assumes that 1) these studios are willing to lease the films to TCM, and 2) TCM has the budget these studios would expect to be paid. (And 3) the films you're thinking of are available in broadcast-quality prints.)

At any rate, Eddie Muller right now is interested in non-English language film noir--at Noir City DC earlier this year he talked about trying to get the rights to films from Mexico, Brazil,...and Iran. (Broadcast-quality prints and subtitles would be even more important here.)

[Hoganman1]

16 hours ago, Hibi said:

I don't think that's true. Maybe for studio noirs. But there are plenty of independents. The problem is TCM getting access to them to air.

That was my point. If TCM can't or won't get access to these other films, then they're not available to Eddie for Noir Alley.  I occasionally record noirs on the MOVIES channel. I've seen several good ones that have never been on TCM's Noir Alley.  I assume it's because TCM does not have the rights to broadcast them.

[midwestan]

I generally like 'heist' pictures like "Cruel Gun Story".  They almost always contain meticulous details about how the heist is to be pulled off, then show how something unexpected happens during or shortly after the heist which causes the whole plan to unravel.  Unlike most heist films where some people die and others are apprehended by the cops and/or are incarcerated, everyone involved with "Cruel Gun Story" seemed to 'buy it' in the end!