Noirvember

[MrCarmady]

miller's crossing is incredible.
that strick movie starred james lipton, who's so 'actor's studio' in my head i never even thought about him acting in anything outside of arrested development. it has fewer than 5 people who watched it on imdb which is usually a sign that a movie has never been available. best case scenario, it's in some archive. i wanna see the balcony though...

[Lencho of the Apes]

the balcony

It's available online, and it slots into our current yearpoll; I'll add a link for that movie to my YP watchlist this evening.

[greennui]

[rischka]

ok i try to get in the spirit with a pretty spiritless brit noir directed by 'charles de la tour' pseudonymously blacklisted director cy endfield, 'impulse' from 1954. the plot is ridic but i like arthur kennedy enough to follow through. here he plays a patsy who enjoys playing the hero to a 'damsel in distress' while his wife is out of town and is soon a murder suspect. it's nearly comic how he adapts to the criminal life. however all is well as our hero returns to his loving wife with no repercussions(?!) ok cy endfield



cheers also i think the sopranos should count

ps. the balcony is on the free kinocult channel.

It stars Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, Lee Grant and Leonard Nimoy.

k i'm watching this

[greennui]

Quiet Please, Murder (John Francis Larkin, 1942) - The title of this film just doesn't stick, mistakingly typed in 'Quiet Murder, Please' initially. Anyway, I liked this one. George Sanders plays a masochistic art forger who teams up with Gail Patrick (<3) in a daring, convoluted heist of a public library. Everyone uses guns with silencers (must have been pretty new at that time) and there's Nazi's involved as well. Richard Denning is the most Kirk Douglasly man not to be Kirk Douglas and Kurt Katch is the most Erich von Stroheimy man not to be Erich von Stroheim.

[Lencho of the Apes]

brit noir

Funny, I started my noirfest with a UK movie as well... it turned out to be as much a spoofy detective comedy as anything else, but they used the bombed-outness of everything for noir pictorial value... and there's trench coats aplenty... Lady In The Fog , by Sam Newfield.

Most of the movie had already played out before I realized that Cesar Romero's character wasn't named Adele, the way everyone seemed to be calling him... and what's up with that tagline on the movie poster? Ahem.

Anyway, it doesn't seem to be available online anymore, so I'll share it if someone wants to see.

[greennui]

Hidden in the Fog (Lars-Eric Kjellgren, 1953) - Was wondering initially what the hell kinda name 'Lora' was for the protagonist as it's not really that Swedish but soon enough I realized through many references and a character actually saying out loud "you have the same name as that woman in that film, Laura". Anyway, a strong supporting cast but ultimately nothing more than a decent enough riff on Laura.

[rischka]

https://twitter.com/rbgscfz/status/1458 ... 45600?s=20



highway 301 is a pretty tough police procedural featuring the most noir faced guy since mitchum and mature: steve cochran



lady scarface is kind of disappointing aside from the novelty of a lady boss (mrs danvers!) and nice musuraca photography

[rischka]

blues in the night isn't really noir and it's practically a musical. i'm enjoying it a lot!

this was in my watchlist for reasons long forgotten, in spite of my aversion to priscilla lane (she's a good singer, it's her general demeanor)

edit: and i see that greg loves this. because of course. probs why it was in my watchlist. THX GREG crazy good montage sequences by don siegel



here 'jigger' is haunted by his guilt for stealing the black man's music jk but credit is due for an early montage that makes it explicit

[greennui]

The Chase (Arthur Ripley, 1946) - The initial setup of this, with the random dude getting rewarded by becoming the chauffeur of a rich man and driving his wife, Michele Morgan around, pretty much mirrors the beginning of the later film There’s Always a Price Tag (Denys de La Patellière, 1957). So, I spent pretty much the entire film thinking how I much prefer that one. Morgan is a thousand times hotter in that one as well. My obscure noir rec!

[rischka]

greennui is anti-american. i KNEW it

watched a couple more cheapies, i forgot how fun these are and also short!

the port of 40 thieves (1944) - a poverty row picture and it shows. the 'supernatural' angle is fun

destiny (1944) - and here as well! an excised segment of duvivier's flesh and fantasy (1943). silly but it has something

[...]

Heh. Yeah, sometimes even I hit on films other people will like too, and don't require a three page essay to explain why. It's rare to be sure, but it happens!

The montages are great, Priscilla Lane's given a role that fits her, and Litvak's not shy about cutting loose himself when he gets the chance, keeping the tempo with the melodrama.

[rischka]

I was only kidding greennoir. Don't abandon us

Im down to my last 3 sopranos episodes

[greennui]

I was only kidding greennoir. Don't abandon us

Im down to my last 3 sopranos episodes

I got that, ma'am. Haven't seen another film worthy of reviewing yet. I've realized that I probably should stay away from the more mainstream efforts and stick to the B ones. They Drive By Night and Pushover put me to sleep. Fred MacMurray has gotta be one of my least favourite noir stars along with Kirk Douglas and John Payne.

[rischka]

cool cool.

i don't usually pay attention to such things but i happen to notice that i need two films for platinum on TSPDT 100 noir list @ICM. so i'll be watching them tonight

the program will be fritz lang's blue gardenia and hitchcock classic the wrong man. with two of my least favorite noir leads tbh



oh good another film where a woman kills in self defense but has to lie about it cuz no one will believe her nicely lit though



even worse:

Spoiler!

turns out she's not the killer! good thing since the newspaperman is in love with her! the killer is a jealous psycho who came in while she was out!

DUMBNESS. and the actors are boring. except raymond burr but they killed him. let's see what hank fonda's got

[rischka]

the wrong man isn't bad but it isn't really noir? it's like an extended law and order episode. based on a true story about an italian man (played by henry fonda) ok

Rose Balestrero (1910–1982) died in Florida at the age of 72. Despite the claim in the film's epilogue, Rose never fully recovered after her nervous breakdown. She blamed herself for her husband's arrest.

-- sounds like the basis for a good lawsuit and a clear case of racial profiling. at least they made some money from the film

[greennui]

Not Guilty (Henri Decoin, 1947) - Surprised that this cynical obscurity isn't more well known. A quite devilish performance by Michel Simon.



Whirlpool (Lewis Allen, 1959) - I liked the poster more than the film. Nice technicolor but just a terrible script and performances.



Lady in the Lake (Robert Montgomery, 1946) - Audrey Totter staring at me for about an hour is something that I don't mind.

[rischka]

of course i had to watch a film listed on letterboxd as 'woman of evil' -- le diable souffle (devil's breath) gréville (1947)



translation is very unfair, so she wears make-up! that isn't evil! she's practically kidnapped by a creepy old man who transports her to an island and tells her she can never leave! director creates a nice gothic atmosphere. then the predictable happens. and who can blame her? apparently whoever translated this title! ever since eve...

[rischka]

i've watched some more things: somewhere in the night, calcutta, i died a thousand times, private hell 36

https://twitter.com/rbgscfz/status/1465 ... 02146?s=20

this was probably the best one

[Silga]

1. The Face Behind the Mask (Robert Florey, 1941) 8/10
2. Among the Living (Stuart Heisler, 1941) 7/10

The Face Behind the Mask is wonderful and exciting film! There are two scenes that feel reminiscent of those in Tim Burton's Batman and Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. Maybe Burton and Coppola also saw this great film featuring a masterful performance by Peter Lorre.

[Curtis, baby]

my main plans this noirvember:

The Thief (Russell Rouse, 1952)
Moonrise (Frank Borzage, 1948)
Deadline USA (Richard Brooks, 1952)
Undercurrent (Vincente Minnelli, 1946)

would be nice to see some noiry kautners as well

as far as neonoirs i wanna see Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)

[rischka]

who's that guy

(noiry kautners) - see romanze in moll

[greennui]

My goal this month is to gain 3 new favs and reach 75

https://letterboxd.com/greennui/list/film-fatale/

[greennui]

99 River Street/The Breaking Point - Tried giving John Payne and John Garfield another chance but I just can't stand them. Proto-Kevin Spacey and proto-Mark Wahlberg.

[rischka]

so probably technically it's a spy thriller from british director guy green with this cast of characters. the title house of secrets threw me. quite suspenseful tho

[rischka]

99 River Street/The Breaking Point - Tried giving John Payne and John Garfield another chance but I just can't stand them. Proto-Kevin Spacey and proto-Mark Wahlberg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJwToR_Nokw

you've made him sad now. you're so wrong about him watch nobody lives forever (1946)

[pabs]

I bombed out completely and watched nothing this scfzoween. I'll try and join in the noirvember though. I might follow my favourite social media film person's recommendations:


https://twitter.com/selfstyledsiren/sta ... 9V58K-jDlw

[Silga]

Blues in the Night (Anatole Litvak, 1941) 10/10
Out of the Fog (Anatole Litvak, 1941) 6/10

Blues in the Night is an absolutely perfect film in my book. An exhilarating masterpiece that I will watch again and again.

[rischka]

yay another blues in the night fan!

https://twitter.com/rbgscfz/status/1588 ... VYwq5NAagw

[rischka]

https://twitter.com/rbgscfz/status/1589 ... 0aCQCq3lqQ

speaking of garfield he finally gets a non-criminal role. an escaped prisoner of war hunted by the nazis. or is he... iirc garfield was considered the forerunner of brando's acting style. ofc he died quite young, hounded to death by HUAC. RIP hero