crimewave Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 In keeping with the theme of how film noir is defined, on the Warner Brother’s box set, Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 3, there is a bonus dvd called, Bringing Darkenss To Light. In it there’s an opening interview with James Ellroy about what film noir means to him. I’ve transcribed the interview below if you don’t have access to the dvd. “Here’s what film noir is to me. It’s a righteous, generically American film movement that went from 1945 to 1958 and exposited one great theme and that theme is you’re ****. You have just met a woman, you’re inches away from the greatest sex of your life but within six weeks of meeting the woman you will be framed for a crime you did not commit and you’ll end up in the gas chamber and as they strap you in and you’re about to breath the cyanide fumes you’ll be grateful for the few weeks you had with her and grateful for your own death.” -James Ellroy Novelist, L.A. Confidential 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trsquare Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Yeah, but what a way to go! Unless you're Susan Hayward, and then you go out looking fabulous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Holmes Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Ellroy does not mince words and does not suffer fools. I'm sure *some* part of his public persona is exaggeration, but he's like a walking billboard for nihilism. Personally, I love to hear him discuss pretty much anything. Never less than entertaining. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piperhaven Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 In keeping with the theme of how film noir is defined, on the Warner Brother’s box set, Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 3, there is a bonus dvd called, Bringing Darkenss To Light. In it there’s an opening interview with James Ellroy about what film noir means to him. I’ve transcribed the interview below if you don’t have access to the dvd. “Here’s what film noir is to me. It’s a righteous, generically American film movement that went from 1945 to 1958 and exposited one great theme and that theme is you’re ****. You have just met a woman, you’re inches away from the greatest sex of your life but within six weeks of meeting the woman you will be framed for a crime you did not commit and you’ll end up in the gas chamber and as they strap you in and you’re about to breath the cyanide fumes you’ll be grateful for the few weeks you had with her and grateful for your own death.” -James Ellroy Novelist, L.A. Confidential And to think people take courses on philosophy when Ellroy can sum up life so comprehensively in two sentences. Genius! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cigarjoe Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Ellroy's two commentaries with Eddie Muller, for Crime Wave & The Lineup are priceless, a real bonus on those DVD's 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiercingMildred Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Cigarjoe, thanks for bringing up James Elroy! I thoroughly enjoy his craftmanship of literature and the spoken word. I miss his Investigation Discovery series 'Los Angeles:City of Demons.' Can't believe they stopped at only 3 episodes. He remains the most interesting host that channel has ever produced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiercingMildred Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Ellroy does not mince words and does not suffer fools. I'm sure *some* part of his public persona is exaggeration, but he's like a walking billboard for nihilism. Personally, I love to hear him discuss pretty much anything. Never less than entertaining. I hope, if I should meet him that he would "suffer" me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolita1 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 I In keeping with the theme of how film noir is defined, on the Warner Brother’s box set, Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 3, there is a bonus dvd called, Bringing Darkenss To Light. In it there’s an opening interview with James Ellroy about what film noir means to him. I’ve transcribed the interview below if you don’t have access to the dvd. “Here’s what film noir is to me. It’s a righteous, generically American film movement that went from 1945 to 1958 and exposited one great theme and that theme is you’re ****. You have just met a woman, you’re inches away from the greatest sex of your life but within six weeks of meeting the woman you will be framed for a crime you did not commit and you’ll end up in the gas chamber and as they strap you in and you’re about to breath the cyanide fumes you’ll be grateful for the few weeks you had with her and grateful for your own death.” -James Ellroy Novelist, L.A. Confidential I just watched this the other night and love listening and or reading anything Ellroy. There is a book of noir short stories called "The Best American Noir of the century" which is edited by James Ellroy and Otto Penzler. Ellroy also writes the introduction. I'm including a few lines from it. "We created it, but they love it in France more than we do here. Noir is the most scruitinized offshoot of the hard-boiled school of fiction. It's the long drop of the short pier, the wrong man and the wrong woman in perfect misalliance." "The thrill of noir is the rush of moral forfeit and the abandonment to titillation. The social importance of noir is it's grounding in the in the big themes of race, class, gender, and systemic corruption. The overarching joy and lasting appealof noir is that it makes doom fun." "The inhabitants of the Secret Pervert Republic are a gas. They relentlessly pursue the score big and small. They only succeed at a horrific cost that renders it all futile. This society grants women a unique power to seduce and destroy. A six-week chronology from first kiss to gas chamber is common in noir." "The short stories in this volume are a groove. Exercise your skeevy curiosity and read every one. You'll be repulsed and titillated. You'll endure moral forfeit. Doom is fun. You're a perv for reading this introduction. Read the whole book and you'll die on a gurney with a spike in your arm." James Ellroy July 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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