Noirvember 2022 - 30 days of film noir

[Gwanum]

Abandoned (1949) 1/2

Detective Story (1951)

[kingdoxie]

Originally Posted by odguitar

Panic in the Streets

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[Show spoiler]https://i.postimg.cc/JzSCY1RL/panic-in-the-streets-photo.webp

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I almost watched this last year but ended up skipping it due to the theme still feeling a little too close to home. But this is a really interesting one. Typical underworld crime, but also a potential pandemic, governmental bureaucracy, media pressure, and even commentary on immigration issues of the time lift this head and shoulders above the typical B-movie nature of the genre. Richard Widmark is fantastic as always, Kazan's direction is quietly stunning, and Palance's face that is just pure angles works perfectly for his heavy character.

4.5/5

Found this one at Dollar Tree years ago, it was the only movie in the whole store. Along with finding Double Indemnity Limited Edition at Big Lots, it's one of my best finds.

[kingdoxie]

Fall.jpg

The Harder They Fall ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bogart's last and one of his greatest films. He plays an out of work sports writer hired by an unscrupulous boxing promoter (Rod Steiger) to hype his latest fighter. The problem is he's a powder puff puncher with a glass jaw; through a series of fixed fights he rises in the rankings for a shot at the title. Will Bogart have a crisis of conscience and redeem himself?

[kingdoxie]

Wild Things ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Notorious for a few scenes but it really is a tight crime thriller/neo noir at it's heart. It's got more twists and turns than the Coney Island Cyclone and Bill Murray plays a great shyster.

[bonehica]

Watched



Case Files:

#:
A: Address Unknown - 1944 (Menzies)
B:
C: Crossfire - 1947 (Dmytryk)
D: Dark Passage - 1947 (Daves)
E:
F:
G: The Glass Key - 1942 (Heisler)
H:
I:
J:
K:
L:
M:
N:
O:
P:
Q:
R:
S:
T:
U:
V:
W: Where the Sidewalk Ends - 1950 (Premminger)
X:
Y:
Z:

[MassiveMovieBuff]

11/6

[Show spoiler]

5/5

[Ender14]

The File on Thelma Jordon





Pushover1/2

[Travis]

The Enforcer (1951)

Bogie gets it done.

[Travis]

Naked Alibi (1954) 1/2

Nice surprises here. Was interested the whole time.

[kingdoxie]

Nightfall ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A murder and a missing satchel of stolen money drive this story. Aldo Ray is a man on the run from both the murderers/robbers who know he is innocent and want their money and the cops/insurance investigator who think he is guilty. Filmed in the snowy mountains, it has an unforgettable climax involving a snow plow. Also notable for the atrocious lounge singer type theme song over the opening credits.

Shoes.jpg

I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes ⭐⭐⭐⭐

An man on death row just hours from the appointed time tells his story to his fellow inmates in flashback. His wife believes in his innocence and enlists the aid of the original police detective who arrested her husband and they race against the clock to uncover new evidence.

[odguitar]

Johnny Eager



Robert Taylor is extremely charing as a racketeer who seeks revenge on the DA and seduces her daughter in pursuit of it. Van Heflin gives a great performance here too. And Lana Turner has it even from such a young age. Kind of a hybrid of the 30s gang pictures and the early 40s noir films, in a good way.

3.5/5

[odguitar]

In Cold Blood



In the way of the 60s neo-noirs, this is a lot more realistic and depressing. The faithfulness to the book and real life story is impressive, and Robert Blake and Scott Wilson are fantastic as the drifters who kill. It also looks gorgeous, and Quincy Jones music is great as well.

5/5

[bonehica]

Watched



Case Files:

#:
A: Address Unknown - 1944 (Menzies)
B:
C: Crossfire - 1947 (Dmytryk)
D: Dark Passage - 1947 (Daves)
E:
F:
G: The Glass Key - 1942 (Heisler)
H:
I:
J:
K:
L: Laura - 1944 (Premminger)
M:
N:
O:
P: Pitfall - 1948 (De Toth)
Q:
R:
S:
T:
U:
V:
W: Where the Sidewalk Ends - 1950 (Premminger)
X:
Y:
Z:

[lemonski]

Case A:
Adventures in Vienna (Abenteuer in Wein) (1952)
Gustav Fröhlich, Cornell Borchers
Dir: Emil E. Reinert

This is a really cool film. Made in Austria 3 years after The Third Man, it shows a completely different side of post-war Vienna - dark and war weary to be sure, but vibrant, busy and full of people partying on New Years Eve. The two central characters are engaging and three-dimensional, there's plenty of action, it's tense throughout, and the cinematography is absolutely outstanding. It's a hidden gem that deserves to be rescued from obscurity on a shiny new Blu-ray - come on Kino, Flicker Alley, Radiance, Indicator....get onto it!

1/2

[Ender14]

Cry Danger1/2

I quite enjoyed this one. Dick Powell is outstanding and the supporting cast is great as well. There are some nice touches of humor. I figured out the "twist" well ahead of time but still a very enjoyable little noir.

[kingdoxie]

GunQuick.jpg

My Gun is Quick ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mike Hammer is on the trail of a jewelry theft ring after a hooker he befriended in a hash house turns up dead.

[Travis]

The Chase (1946)

Different one. Separating the fact from fiction wasn’t tough, but it was interesting.

[Dailyan]

#1: Scarlet Street:


Lang's American filmography is very hit or miss. "Scarlet Street" falls into the "hit" category. Robinson is excellent as always with Bennett being a real femme fatale biatch, and Dan Dureya with his constant "cats sake" (I think he said it at least eight times) that's clearly suppose to be a fill-in for a certain individual and/or four letter word. I watched via Kino's Blu and it's decent for what is an archival print from the Library of Congress but I am hoping Kino will do an upgrade from an official license via Universal.

#2: Secret Beyond the Door:



on the flipside, "Secret Beyond the Door" is in the "miss" category. Honestly, it's one of those films I feel that it's a bit a stretch to call it a "noir". It acts more like a Gothic-mystery-thriller. That sounds like an interesting genre description but it's such a dull film. There is one sequence where Lang does have a bit of fun stylization but it's, sadly, short and sweet. The whole genesis for the film feels like somebody saw Hitchcock's "Rebecca" and "Suspicion" and thought "I can do bettererer than either of those films".

#3: Tight Spot:



After almost two years, I finally finished Indicator's "Columbia Noir #2" box. "Tight Spot" is probably one of the better films in the set but that's not saying much. This is one of those "stagebound"-type films where most of the film takes place primarily in one location (a hotel room) and it starts to pick up in the third act. Ginger Rogers really isn't a "femme fatale"-type at all (not that her character is much of one at all but she can be a bit grating at times). Brian Keith is decent but he doesn't have much chemistry with Rogers to begin with and Edward G. Robinson is great but he's not in the film nearly as much.

#4 Man in the Dark...in 3D (viewed in 2D):

1/2

Ah, you gotta love 50s medical logic where somehow removing a piece of somebody's brain will definitely not have long term ramifications. Getting that out of the way, Edmond O'Brien is a criminal that undergoes an experimental surgery to reduce his criminal sentence by removing the memory of his pass criminal life. His old gang shows up at the hospital where he's being held, kidnap him, and most of the film is them, along with his lover, trying to jog his memory to remember where he hid stolen payroll money. The film is barely an hour (just shy of 68 minutes) but it's a surprisingly entertaining ride with two excellent chase sequences. It's definitely more "noir" compared to "Tight Spot" and "Secret Beyond the Door" imo.

The film's biggest selling point is the 3D. I only have a few "golden age" 3D Blus and I just love how obvious the "money shots" are to be when there's about to be a 3D effect. I managed to snag Twilight Time's Blu from Screen Archives when a few copies were in their "rare" section for an absolute steal of $30 (it goes to absurdly prices on the secondary market).

[Gwanum]

The Big Combo (1955) 1/2

[MassiveMovieBuff]

11/9

[Show spoiler]

5/5