Noirvember 2022 - 30 days of film noir

[kingdoxie]

WithoutPity.jpg

Time Without Pity ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A father races against the clock to save his son on death row with a shocking ending.

[lemonski]

Case I:
Impact (1949)
Brian Donlevy, Ella Raines, Charles Coburn, Helen Walker
Dir: Arthur Lubin

The beautiful wife of a rich industrialist cooks up a plan to kill him so she can run off with her lover. It's a pretty standard setup, but it goes off in an unexpected and very enjoyable direction. Despite some slightly rubbery police work and dubious courtroom action, everything wraps up with a satisfying conclusion and is well worth the run time. And if you've ever wondered what Ella Raines looks like in mechanic's overalls, here's your chance to find out.

1/2

[u2popmofo]

Blood Simple - Great looking and sounding disc with awesome extras.

[kingdoxie]

Campion.jpg

Champion ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

Kirk Douglas as a boxer told to take a dive, but of course this being film noir we all know what he decides.

[u2popmofo]

Tokyo Drifter

[Gwanum]

He Ran All The Way (1951) 1/2

[odguitar]

Quicksand



Quick noir film starring Mickey Rooney as a mechanic who commits a small petty crime and gets pulled into increasingly bigger crimes trying to cover up his initial one. Nothing special, less than 80 minutes so it flies but not really distinguishable from other middle of the road noirs of the time.

3/5

[odguitar]

Murder by Contract



I was blown away by this one. Scorsese has spoken about his love for this and it's easy to see why. Maybe the coolest noir of all time, Vince Edwards plays a ruthless, unfeeling contract killer tasked with killing a woman. This movie looks great, is acted great, and the score is top notch. I could see this joining regular rotation for me every year.

4.5/5

[Al_The_Strange]

[CASE OVERTURNED BY JUDGE]

[Show spoiler]

Scarface (1932)
Blu-Ray

Tony Camonte is a thug who leads a campaign of murder and bootlegging, which pushes him to the top. Then he goes over-the-top and it's all downhill from there.

It seems like this is the film that cements the iconography of the classic ganger: the coin-flipping, suit-wearing, fedora-tipping, Tommy-gun wielding types. These unsavory characters are shooting each other quite frequently throughout the movie, always recklessly and without care for the collateral damage they cause. It must have been shocking for a 30s audience--it certainly fell in the crosshairs of the Hays Office, which took umbrage against the film's "glorifying" of the gangster lifestyle. How dare this film make Tony a relatable character. How dare they kill him off. How dare they show things like it is (mostly inspired by Al Capone's career nonetheless). Think of the children!

As edgy as the film is, I find it rather dry for some reason. It could be the nature of the scenes in-between the violence, which is often rather talky and quiet (come to think of it, there's not much of a music score to this either). It is interesting in bursts though--there are good moments from Paul Muni, who alternates between swagger and viciousness.

It's hard to divorce this from its remake, released 51 years after this one, with a mammoth production, iconography, and star power that eclipses this one. DePalma's film took so many of the same story elements and amplified them to such a degree that they stood out dramatically and theatrically. It almost beats you over the head with all of it, but that made it a memorable and poignant experience. I don't get that with Hawk's version. It's shorter, and less should be more, but when it comes to dissecting those themes of excess and corruption or connecting with the characters, I find it a little too subtle for my tastes.

What isn't subtle, funnily enough, are the title cards at the film's beginning that slaps you in the face with a "look at how horrible this is and the government doesn't do anything about it!" message (although the more I read about it, the more it seems this might have been added to appease the Hays Office).

It's a cool film to visit by classic standards. I just find it rather dry. Compared to the '83 version, it's like comparing Jupiter with Mercury. One is smaller scale and runs faster, but the other one is huge and beautiful and would totally swallow its counterpart when put in close proximity.

6/10

-----------------------------------

Cases Closed: 21

[Show spoiler]11/02: Killer's Kiss 8/10
* 11/05: High Sierra 8/10
11/11: Raging Bull 8/10
* 11/11: Nighthawks 7/10
* 11/11: Angels With Dirty Faces 8/10
11/11: Branded to Kill 9/10
* 11/15: House of Games 8/10
11/15: Wild Things 8/10
* 11/17: The Grifters 7/10
11/18: Lost Highway 8/10
11/19: Mulholland Drive 10/10
11/22: Taxi Driver 10/10
11/23: The Usual Suspects 8/10
11/24: Brick 8/10
11/25: Fight Club 10/10
* 11/26: The Chase (1966) 6/10
11/26: Infernal Affairs 7/10
11/26: Double Indemnity 8/10
11/27: Private Property (1960) 8/10
11/28: Joker 9/10

11/30: Scarface (1932)

DA Challenge: 20

[Show spoiler]Angels With Dirty Faces
Branded to Kill
Brick
The Chase (1966)
Double Indemnity
Fight Club
The Grifters
High Sierra
Infernal Affairs
Joker
Killer's Kiss
Lost Highway
Mulholland Drive
Nighthawks
Private Property (1960)
Raging Bull
Scarface (1932)
Taxi Driver
The Usual Suspects
Wild Things

* = First time to the crime scene
Purple = The bright neon lights of 4K

[SeanJoyce]

Scarface is not a film noir.

[kingdoxie]

Double Indemnity ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Saved one of the best for last.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Scarface is not a film noir.

I'm sorry. I've been worried something like this might happen and I've been Googling my entries to make sure they're considered noirs. I thought I saw some places pegging Scarface as a noir as well, but if the consensus is that it shouldn't count, then I'll strike it from my list.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I'm sorry. I've been worried something like this might happen and I've been Googling my entries to make sure they're considered noirs. I thought I saw some places pegging Scarface as a noir as well, but if the consensus is that it shouldn't count, then I'll strike it from my list.

It's not the most egregious thing ever, it's just that the early 30s gangster films were more like forebears to what we know and embrace as "film noir", which is often credited as beginning in '41 with The Maltese Falcon and I Wake Up Screaming.

Of course a bunch of overlap between gangster pics and film noir did occur, most pointedly in the two Cagney classics White Heat and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

It's not the most egregious thing ever, it's just that the early 30s gangster films were more like forebears to what we know and embrace as "film noir", which is often credited as beginning in '41 with The Maltese Falcon and I Wake Up Screaming.

Of course a bunch of overlap between gangster pics and film noir did occur, most pointedly in the two Cagney classics White Heat and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye.

Understood. It did occur to me after I posted that the classic noir era probably didn't go that far back, and the more I think about it the more I think it probably shouldn't count.

[Al_The_Strange]

THE FINAL REPORT:

-----------------------------------

Cases Closed: 20 (FEMME FATALE)

[Show spoiler]11/02: Killer's Kiss 8/10
* 11/05: High Sierra 8/10
11/11: Raging Bull 8/10
* 11/11: Nighthawks 7/10
* 11/11: Angels With Dirty Faces 8/10
11/11: Branded to Kill 9/10
* 11/15: House of Games 8/10
11/15: Wild Things 8/10
* 11/17: The Grifters 7/10
11/18: Lost Highway 8/10
11/19: Mulholland Drive 10/10
11/22: Taxi Driver 10/10
11/23: The Usual Suspects 8/10
11/24: Brick 8/10
11/25: Fight Club 10/10
* 11/26: The Chase (1966) 6/10
11/26: Infernal Affairs 7/10
11/26: Double Indemnity 8/10
11/27: Private Property (1960) 8/10
11/28: Joker 9/10

DA Challenge: 19 (NO CONVICTION)

[Show spoiler]Angels With Dirty Faces
Branded to Kill
Brick
The Chase (1966)
Double Indemnity
Fight Club
The Grifters
High Sierra
Infernal Affairs
Joker
Killer's Kiss
Lost Highway
Mulholland Drive
Nighthawks
Private Property (1960)
Raging Bull
Taxi Driver
The Usual Suspects
Wild Things

* = First time to the crime scene
Purple = The bright neon lights of 4K

-----------------------------------

I managed to comb through 20 cases this month. Looks like that makes me...a femme fatale. Oh my, I better throw on my fishnet stockings, stilettos, and sunglasses.

I got started in the city that never sleeps. It all started with that boxer who got mixed up with a dame and a jealous old guy. Happened a few boroughs down from where that crazy taxi driver gunned down a pimp and some other lowlives. Got a tip about a international terrorist running around town, but thankfully the cops nailed him. Had to stop by La Motta's for a drink and maybe a laugh, but the place got shut down for admitting underage girls (that's just as well, the guy running the place was a lousy comedian. Sadly through, I found myself in old Gotham city later that night and came across an even worse comedian--that guy just stood there and laughed the whole time, what a rip-off).

I finally got a big tip from a bunch of suspects they rounded up from the docks, and they dropped the name Keyser Söze on us. I decided to check the guy out and I flew to Asia thinking he might have been based out of Hong Kong. The lead turned out to be bogus--I got a call when the dopes at the station found out the name was fabricated. But I got an even better lead on Mr. Big when a mole in the Hong Kong police department butted heads with an undercover cop. The mafia boss fled to Tokyo, and I tried to follow him there. Had a bad run-in with an assassin who had a weird habit of sniffing rice. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.

The guy I was following fled to LA, presumably to find protection. I had a bad run-in with three grifters (three at once, what are the odds?), but I eventually tracked down an associate of Mr. Big. Was convicted once before, but the fool knocked off a casino and took to the Sierras. The cops nailed him in the end, but I found out that one of his associates was dealing dope at a nearby school. A poor high-school girl was killed over it and left in a tunnel. I called in the DEA and they busted the Pin's joint. In the cross-fire, some cocaine must have exploded and flew up in my face, because all of the suddenly I was driving on an infinite highway with some creepy guy filming me the whole time. Then I woke up somewhere in Hollywood and was chased around by a tiny elderly couple. This really is a hell of a drug.

When I finally came to, I found myself on a beach. I found some help in a nearby rich neighborhood, but had to help out a lady who was being assaulted by a pair of scumbags. I helped her fill out the police report downtown, and while I was in the station I found out about an insurance agent who was in cahoots with a client and planned out a murder, but it went wrong. Turns out the guy was the same insurance agent Mr. Big used for his assets. I tried to meet with somebody at the company, but found out that the other agents were fired after being involved with some illicit underground boxing club. I found out later that those guys were indoctrinated to carry out planned acts of vandalism, and they even bombed a few credit card buildings. Glad I wasn't there.

Fortunately, they had a branch in Seattle, so I flew there and meet with those agents. One of them turned out to be a con man who ran some rigged poker games, and they had a psychiatrist wrangled into their group. I should have known these guys were up to something, because they directed me to Florida on a possible lead. Wound up going there and the guy I was looking for was dead--whacked by a pair of horny, gaslighting teenagers. Then I got sidetracked when a prisoner escaped, a sheriff got shot, and a lynch mob formed in a small town nearby.

I thought I had one more lead--a guy named Tony Camonte. If I could nail him, we could nail Mr. Big. I thought I had him, we were close, but the judge threw the case out. I should have known this was outside the jurisidiction, and because of my slip-up, the DA chewed me out for the last hour and wanted me to turn in my...femme fatale badge.

What a crazy month. On top of all this, I also watched an angry teenager shoot up a guy with a crossbow. I'm going to have to take it easy for the holidays, but if we're going to nail Mr. Big next year, I have a lot more training to do to get my license back. Until then, he gets to walk for another year.

[Travis]

19 Cases Closed. May have to work overtime this month to finish the DA challenge.

Covers

[Show spoiler] Attachment 283592

District Attorney Challenge

B: The Big Heat (1953) 1/2
C: The Chase (1946)
D: Deadline - U.S.A. (1952) 1/2
E: The Enforcer (1951)
F: The Fallen Sparrow (1943) 1/2
G: The Glass Key (1942) 1/2
H: Hidden Fear (1957)
I: I Wake Up Screaming (1941)

N: Naked Alibi (1954) 1/2
O: Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) 1/2
P: Pitfall (1948) 1/2
R: Revolt In The Big House (1958) 1/2
S: Sudden Danger (1955)
T: They Drive by Night (1940) 1/2

W: The Web (1947) 1/2

Neo-Noir
1. Blood Simple (1984)
2. Miller's Crossing (1990)
3. Blue Velvet (1986)
4. Dressed to Kill (1980) 1/2

[lemonski]

Case T:
The Tall Target (1951)
Dick Powell, Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou, Will Geer
Dir: Anthony Mann

Superb Anthony Mann noir with Dick Powell as a New York detective trying to foil a plot to assassinate Lincoln just before the start of the Civil War. All the action takes place on the New York to Baltimore train against a backdrop of character actors discussing political events of the day. Despite not having much of a grip on the historical context in which the film takes place - much of it slipped past me - it lends a contemporary feeling to events that (shockingly) occurred only 90 years before the film was made, and 161 years on still manages to make it feel like a short trip in a time machine. The railway sequences are beautifully shot, Powell is reliably good (if somewhat anachronistically modern), and like a claustrophobic Murder on the Orient Express, Mann expertly ratchets up the tension as the plot unfolds.

1/2

[lemonski]

Case R:
Riffraff (1947)
Pat O'Brien, Anne Jeffreys, Walter Slezak, Percy Kilbride
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff

I really dug Riffraff. It's one of those "exotic locale" adventure noirs, this time set in Panama, with Pat O'Brien as a private detective/local conman hired by various shady characters of unknown motives and alliances to locate a valuable oil field map. It's non-stop entertaining, break-neck paced, has cracking dialog, inventive camera work and one of the best openings you will ever see in a film noir. Pat O'Brien is great as the private detective (if somewhat miscast I thought. Dick Powell was making pictures for RKO at the time, I suspect he would have improved the film by adding a harder edge to O'Briens role), Walter Slezak is menacingly good as a bad guy, and Percy Kilbride as a deadpanning taxi driver almost steals the show from everyone.

1/2

[lemonski]

That's Noirvember wrapped up, 15 cases closed a disappointing effort and a lot of unhappy clients. I'll be trying to make it across the Mexican border tonight, this Nightclub Owner needs to find a crummy joint to lay low for a while. Somewhere with cheap booze, cheaper women, and where they don't ask too many questions.

[Show spoiler]#:
A: Adventures in Vienna (Abenteuer in Wein) 1/2
B: Blonde in a White Car (Toi...le venin) 1/2
C: Carancho
D:
E: Everybody Wants to Kill Me (Tous peuvent me tuer) 1/2
F:
G:
H: Hit and Run
I: I Died a Thousand Times 1/2 Impact 1/2
J:
K:
L: Loophole 1/2
M: The Maltese Falcon
N: Nocturne 1/2
O: The Ogre of Athens (O Drakos) 1/2
P:
Q:
R: Riffraff 1/2
S: The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
T: The Tall Target 1/2
U:
V:
W: When the Clock Strikes
X:
Y:
Z:

[kingdoxie]

Finished with 44, got the conviction on Mr. Big and also 4 neo-noir which is actually a lot for me. Watched some all-time favorites regardless of genre and quite a few new watches...I'm always recording film noir on the DVR.

The full case load:

[Show spoiler]DA case files
#: 99 River Street ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
B: Black Angel ⭐⭐⭐⭐
C: Cast a Dark Shadow ⭐⭐⭐⭐
D: Double Indemnity ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
E: Enter Arsene Lupin ⭐⭐⭐
F: The Fearmakers ⭐⭐⭐
G: The Guilty ⭐⭐⭐⭐
H: The Harder They Fall ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I: I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes ⭐⭐⭐⭐
J: Johnny Stool Pigeon ⭐⭐⭐⭐
K: Knock on Any Door ⭐⭐⭐⭐
L: The Locket ⭐⭐⭐½
M: My Gun is Quick ⭐⭐⭐⭐
N: Nightfall ⭐⭐⭐⭐
O: Out of the Past ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ w/ commentary
P: Pickup Alley ⭐⭐⭐⭐
R: The Raging Tide ⭐⭐⭐⭐
S: So Dark the Night ⭐⭐⭐½
T: Temptation ⭐⭐⭐
V: Violence ⭐⭐⭐
W: Wanted for Murder ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Extra Case Files
1. Stranger on the Third Floor ⭐⭐⭐½
2. Woman on the Run ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Dead Reckoning ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. Night Has a Thousand Eyes ⭐⭐⭐½
5. My Name is Julia Ross ⭐⭐⭐½
6. Street of Chance ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. The Boss ⭐⭐⭐
8. The Spiral Staircase ⭐⭐⭐½
9. Hidden Fear ⭐⭐⭐
10. Conflict ⭐⭐⭐⭐
11. I Love Trouble ⭐⭐⭐
12. The Reckless Moment ⭐⭐⭐⭐
13. Time Without Pity ⭐⭐⭐⭐
14. Champion ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

Neo Noir Sunday
1. Wild Things ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. Devil in a Blue Dress ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Se7en ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
4. Deep Cover ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Film Noir locations
1. Sirocco ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. Tokyo Joe ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Singapore ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. Chicago Confidential ⭐⭐⭐½
5. The Phenix City Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐