TonyB Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Placing my pitch--more film noir movies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyscar11ett Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I'll sure second that ....... and some we haven't seen for awhile, please. I'd love to see Kiss of Death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I think it would be a good idea to show the two German films, ?Pandora?s Box? and ?M?, and explain that they were early German ?noir? type movies, and then show the 1940 American film ?Stranger on the Third Floor? and point out that it tended to imitate some of the old German crime and mystery films in its style, ushering in the ?film noir? era in the US. I would also like to see film noir movies from France. A whole ?film noir style? night would be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyscar11ett Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Wow.....what an incredible idea, Fred. TCMProgrammer, are you listening. A history of film noir, and film noir type, would be fascinating! M is a wonderful movie, as is Stranger on the Third Floor. Peter Lorre at his finest, in both. I've been suggesting a Peter Lorre month for a long time. I haven't seen the other one you mentioned Pandora's Box? but would love to. In fact, why a night? Why not a weekof film noir evenings? Scarlett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviegeek Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I'd love to see TCM play the French noir classic: DIABOLIQUE as well. WOMAN IN THE WINDOW rarely ever gets played either. And I love the Cop Noir: THE NAKED CITY KISS ME DEADLY is pure genius as well. As is SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS. And as far as DocuNoir goes, CALL NORTHSIDE 777 with Jimmy Stewart and Richard Conte. As mentioned in another thread, I think we'd all like to see ACE IN THE HOLE again for old time's sake. As well as the Ladd-Lake classics: THE BLUE DAHLIA and THE GLASS KEY. Anyone ever see Edward G. Robinson in RED HOUSE? FredCDobbs? You must've seen this one? An outstanding performance by him in this film. A very different type of noir picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviegeek Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 In short, how cool would it be to have one full week dedicated to vintage Film Noir. And have it to where on each day we get a different noir theme, such as: Prelude to Film Noir(30's and 1940), Gangster noir, Detective Noir, Femme Fatales, Wrongfully Accused, Espionage/Spy Noir, and Cop Noir/DocuNoir That would be fantastic! What's more TCM could even dedicate each day to a certain Studio. Have the Warner noir films on the first two days, Universal's/Paramount on days three & four, Fox on day five & six, and Columbia's on the last day. Call it: The Unlucky Seven-TCM's 7-Day Film Noir festival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Excellent idea, Fred. Of course, I'd have to fire up my recently quiet VCR, which is as cold right now as the heart of the dame who broke the heart of McPherson in Washington Heights. Then, I could close the Venetian blinds, straighten my seams, and travel back to the 1940s with a cup of Joe. Wake me when it isn't 2006 anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviegeek Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Wake me when it isn't 2006 anymore. Wow! I love that statement! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Wow, an all noir week! That sounds great! I?d like to see a couple of clever modern directors, such as Martin Scorsese, discuss the history of noir movies. I think there should be some discussion about full noir and semi-noir. I maintain there are two main elements that make up a true noir movie: 1) special low-key lighting, and 2) men and women getting themselves into a lot of trouble, especially with each other, and especially in criminal matters. Scorsese did a great re-make of ?Cape Fear? several years ago. TCM aired an interview with several older retired film noir lady stars a while back, and I?d like to see that interview again. It was funny. They were all nice ladies. I had always thought of them as being rude heartless tough dames. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickspade Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 > Wow, an all noir week! That sounds great! > >> > TCM aired an interview with several older retired > film noir lady stars a while back, and I?d like to > see that interview again. It was funny. They were all > nice ladies. I had always thought of them as being > rude heartless tough dames. I agree 100 percent! I bet if the TCM programmer really worked at it, he/she could come up with an entire month-long noir festival. And if he can't, it sounds as if several of us on this thread could do it for him. On your second point, Fred, there's a terrific book by Eddie Muller (since you're so knowledgeable about noir you probably are aware of this) called Dark City Dames. The book contains features and lengthy interviews with six noir actresses of the 40s: Colleen Gray, Jane Greer, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Savage, Audrey Totter, and Marie Windsor. It's a wonderful read for any noir fan, and as you described, they all come across as nice (and smart and funny) ladies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Hey, I just remembered. There is at least one Japanese noir movie, titled ?Drunken Angel? by Akira Kurosawa, 1948, with Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura. Mifune plays a local gangster who hassles people for money. He wears a white zoot suit. There are some nightclub scenes with Japanese dames singing American type jazz and jive music. Very good film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Thank you, moviegeek. Have you ever read Time and Again? If the premise of the book were possible, for me it'd be 1935, in the lobby of the Empire State Building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviegeek Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Dobsy, my boy...you and I share the same passions in film. I absolutely LOVE the idea of having a guy like Scorsese involved with something like that. You know he did that great little Special Featuette in FORCE OF EVIL, and he also shared the commentary on that DVD: THE SET-UP. He'd be perfect to call in for a retrospective look at some of the noir films. Not only that, I truly believe he loves films so much, that'd he be WILLING to come and do such a thing. Speaking of semi-noir: that's another great point. Let's look at THE LOST WEEKEND, and MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM. Both of these classics deal with many of the usual noir elements, but they also personify the qualities of a regualr life versus a plagued, tragically flawed life. It's absolute magic! And I'm with you on the femmes of noir pictures. They were almost fearsome in many of their roles, and we finally saw them in their true element...it was a side-swiping realization! All of these acclaimed 'evil women' of the old Hollywood regime were actually just as classy in real life, as they were portrayed as 'sinister sisters' on film. And that's the intrigue, I think, of these classic noir pictures. Man...I love noir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviegeek Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 You know...I haven't, stoney. I'll tell you what though-I'll look into it immediately! I'm such an advocate of this by gone era that I almost wish, well, that I had been born in the late 20's and had done my growing up during the 40's. That whole Depression thing would have been tough to deal with in reality, no doubt. However, thank goodness for the technology we have today-being able to restore these classic films that we all know and love...man-o-man...it's really something! What a spine-tingling rush it is to love classic films, eh? Wooo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 and had done my growing up during the 40's. Same here, moviegeek. I highly recommend the book -- I hope I didn't mislead you, it's about time travel, but the premise is what came to mind. I think you'll like it. I too would love to go back in time, to 1935. I am being simplistic, of course, regarding the horrors in the world at that time, but just think of all the glory in the arts at that time. The music, art, film, why they were -- 'classic'! Yes, we are fortunate in that we have computers and are able to still watch (and record) the film noir gems on TCM. Personally, I would also love a day or week devoted to fantasy films -- after all, it was only recently on TCM that I was able to once again see Time Of Their Lives with Abbott and Costello, a film I hadn't seen for years and years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyscar11ett Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Moviegeek, I love your nightly ideas and even your name for the noir week. If I had any say, you'd be hired! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviegeek Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I wish I really could work for TCM, scarlett. That would be some kind of job. We'd all probably enjoy our job if we worked there. It'd be so much fun it'd be like not even working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Hey, last night I watched a tape of ?Somewhere in the Night?. This is a pretty good noir film from 1946. I recommend it, although it is not shown on TCM very much. It?s about a guy (John Hodiak) who wakes up in a military hospital at the end of WW II, and he doesn?t know who he is. People call him George Taylor, but he?s never heard that name before. He spends the next hour and 40 minutes trying to find out who he is, and he gets robbed, beaten up, chased, and threatened by a bunch of crooked characters, and he doesn?t know why. Some beautiful dame (Nancy Guild) runs into him and decides to befriend him and fall in love with him. (Gee, why can?t that ever happen to me whenever I can?t remember who I am and when hoodlums beat me up and leave me dumped in a sewer by the docks?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Seems to me TCM devoted a full month to Film Noir a few years ago. Anybody around remember that? I'd love to see them do it again. RC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyscar11ett Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 RC, I wonder if they have the schedule from back then, it wouldn't be hard for them to update it a bit and give us that month of movie heaven over again. LOL at Fred's comments. Maybe if that really happened to you, you would wind up with a beautiful dame. Try it and let us know. ;-) That sounds like a good movie.....it reminds me somewhat of James Garner's Mr. Buddwing which was a really good movie but had a weak ending. Moviegeek, yeah, wouldn't we all love a job at TCM. Work? What work? Scarlett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviegeek Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Fred, Yeah, you can buy that on DVD as part of the Fox Film Noir Collection. It's a very under-rated Noir film. I've got all (12) of the Fox Film Noir Collection, and keep your eyes open for the next three in the series coming to DVD on MARCH 7. I buy mine from BestBuy(only $8.99 apiece): NO WAY OUT-When a young black doctor fails to save a gangster's brother life, the bigoted honcho orchestrates a string of race riots and slayings as his means of revenge. Featuring the debut film performances of Sydney Poitier and Ossie Davis. HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL-House On Telegraph Hill is an intriguing cliffhanger set in a spooky Victorian mansion below Coit Tower in San Francisco. FALLEN ANGEL-June Mills (Alice Faye) and her sister Clara live a quiet life in a small coastal town until Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews), a smooth-talking con man, comes into their lives. Here's the link for all the Fox Film Noir Titles, and a host of other cool noir related stuff too: http://www.foxhome.com/filmnoir/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
constarkel Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Stoneyburke, I have the (unabridged) audiobook of "Time and Again" I will be listening to it soon. Another book that may interest you is "Manhattan 45" by Jan Morris. She takes us on a tour of Manhattan as it was in and around 1945....hence the name? I love the subject of time travel. Another one of my favorite books was Michael Crichton's "Timeline" though that involves traveling back and forth to 14th Century France. I remember the rage I felt when I watched Paul Walker & Company absolutely butcher the story on the big screen. Another movie that you may want to rent is "The Thirteenth Floor" It is about a scientist that re-invents a living and breathing Los Angeles circa 1937 with a room full of main frame computers. The movie is a disappointment because not neary enough time is spent exploring 1937 L.A. but the premise was very appealing to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Wow, thank you constarkel, those are all new to me! They are of definite interest. Heck, I even liked Somewhere In Time, only now it pains me to watch it. Apparently a new...soon to be 'classic', I'm sure...movie on the horizon is one based on The Black Dahlia murder. Brian De Palma is the director and he speaks in an article I read of the fascination with the film noir genre and with the idea of the lte 1940s, i.e., there seemed to be so much civility but there was gruesome inhumanity just the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattHelm Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Stoney, The Black Dahlia is based on the James Ellroy book, which I've been waiting to come to the screen for ages. So far, we only have one Ellroy book made into a movie, L.A. Confidential, which was done very well, though it was a LOT different from the book. But I'm worried about De Palma because I think he's incredibly overrated and has made a career out of mimicking other directors' styles. I just hope he mimics a good noir director this time around. The actual Dahlia case files were just recently unsealed and a new book on it believes that Bugsy Siegel was involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
constarkel Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Matt, I am a great fan of James Ellroy's books....especially the "Dudley Smith Quartet" "The Black Dahlia" was the book that introduced to me to James Ellroy. I agree that L.A. Confidential was done very well and it is one of my favorite movies ever. Even though it was a lot different from the book, James Ellroy approved of the changes and by all accounts, was pleased with the result. Let us hope that De Palma chooses to mimick Polanski (Chinatown) or Curtis Hansen (L.A. Confidential only) or possibly even Stephen Frears (The Grifters) or James Foley (After Dark, My Sweet). We can hope, but the getting is another thing entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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