Posts tagged as:

Noir

20 movies: The Big Heat (1953)

by Bill on July 27, 2010

Depending on your age, you may remember seeing Glenn Ford in movies and on television. I’m thinking roughly of the 1970′s, perhaps late 60′s. He usually had an avuncular quality. He was a nice, friendly older man. He often played fatherly types. For example, in 1978′s Superman: The Movie he played kindly Pa Kent. So [...]

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The Night of the Hunter (1955)

by Bill on May 20, 2010

Directed by Charles Laughton I think it’s fair to say 1955′s The Night of the Hunter is one of the oddest films to ever come out of Hollywood. According to many, it’s also one of the greatest. This may be true; I’m not sure. But it’s definitely worth seeing a time or two to decide for [...]

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Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

by Bill on June 14, 2009

Directed by Otto Preminger Although I was confused about where exactly Anatomy of a Murder was taking place (Michigan, it seems), it was a great, enthralling courtroom drama of the noir variety. It has a great late 50′s black and white look, somewhat similar to Kiss Me Deadly, though I think this is a far [...]

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Murder, My Sweet (1944)

by Bill on May 25, 2009

Directed by Edward Dmytryk Needing to get back to some older movies after a pretty lengthy drought, tonight I watched one that had been in my movies on-deck circle for some time, 1944’s Murder, My Sweet directed by Edward Dmytryk and written by John Paxton based on the Raymond Chandler novel. First of all – [...]

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All I don’t know about Nicholas Ray

by Bill on November 29, 2008

I really know very little about director Nicholas Ray. But I know a little more now thanks to Noir of the Week and a review of On Dangerous Ground (1952) by clydefro. You, too, can learn a little more about Ray, of whom he says: Ray’s decade was the 1950′s. You can look at and [...]

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L.A. Confidential: moral dilemmas and style

by Bill on November 17, 2008

Recently, it appears I’ve been on a John Wayne thing. To get away from that for the moment, here’s what I wrote recently about L.A. Confidential (1997). For what it’s worth … I’ve always been lukewarm on noir films. I prefer comedies, romances and, of course, westerns. Still there are, as we all know, some [...]

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Chinatown (1974)

by Bill on November 20, 2007

Directed by Roman Polanski Chinatown, a wonderful movie, is an example of what a script can do for a film. It’s like finding the right music at a party. Someone feels compelled to dance, then another and another. Soon, everyone’s up dancing. And dancing well. In Chinatown, just about every artist is dancing their damnedest [...]

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Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

by Bill on September 16, 2007

Directed by Robert Aldritch On Tuesday night I watched The Big Heat; on Wednesday, Kiss Me Deadly. The first is a good movie; the second is not. Kiss Me Deadly suffers from its nihilism. It is too “noir” for its own good. By the time the apocalyptic ending comes about, you simply don’t care. You’re [...]

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The Big Heat (1953)

by Bill on February 8, 2003

Directed by Fritz Lang Now this is what a noir film should be. Good guys, bad guys, and a lot of dubious ground between them. (Mind you, it’s not a noir film in the strictest sense.) Perspective is everything, I suppose, and perhaps that is why (for me) noir works best in black and white. [...]

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Sunset Boulevard (1950)

by Bill on December 15, 2002

Directed by Billy Wilder We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces! – Nora Desmond – One of the best movies to ever come out of Hollywood is 1950′s Sunset Boulevard, a movie about Hollywood. It’s a kind of anodyne for the glamorous mystique of the movie business. Interestingly, it takes core elements of Hollywood, romance [...]

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