Noir Watch: Double Indemnity (1944)

Watched:  01/04/2018
Format:  Noir Alley TCM on DVR
Viewing:  Unknown.  4th?  5th?
Decade:  1940's

Whole books have been written about Double Indemnity (1944), so I'll keep it brief while the more scholarly pursue it's winding journey through the souls of a couple of grifters.  And Eddie Muller's intros and outro's were, as ever, insightful, knowledgeable and refreshing.

Noir Watch: The Hunted (1948)

Watched:  12/28/2018
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's

Christmas Noir Watch: Lady in the Lake (1946)

Watched:  12/19/2018
Format:  DVR off TCM
Viewing:  unknown.  5th?
Decade:  1940's

Noir Watch: "The Naked City" (1948)

Watched: 12/15/2018
Format: TCM on DVR (from Criterion, natch)
Viewing: first
Decade: 1940's

"There are 8 million stories in the Naked City.  This has been one of them." is probably a line you've heard used somewhere - maybe not from this movie, exactly, but from the television show loosely based on this movie that was a sort of crime-anthology series that started off in the late 1950's, aping the style of police procedural that The Naked City (1948) may not have originated, but it did get down to a T. 

Noir Watch: The Big Sleep (1946)

Watched:  12/14/2018
Format:  Big screen at Austin Film Society
Viewing:  unknown.  Fifth?
Decade:  1940's

I'm not actually going to write up this movie.  You should watch it.  And behold Bacall.  I need to re-read the novel.  It's been a long time.

Christmas Watch: "Holiday Inn" (1942)

Watched:  12/07/2018
Format:  streaming on Prime, I think
Viewing:  7th or so
Decade: 1940s

Holiday Inn (1942) is a terrific movie, except for the deeply problematic blackface sequence.

PODCAST: "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) - Episode 2 of Holiday Cinema Series (w/ NathanC and Ryan)

Watched:  12/02/2018
Format:  Horrendous colorized version streaming on Amazon, I believe
Viewing:  Unknown.  Dozens.
Decade:  1940's


NathanC and Ryan take on the big Christmas classic about a guy who meets an angel who deeply improves his Christmas Eve. "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) is an annual favorite, but it's also a movie that gets pretty dang dark. We take a look and ponder why the film has endured.





Music:
Christmas Time is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio from A Charlie Brown Christmas
Main Title/ Heaven - Dimitri Tiomkin, It's a Wonderful Life OST
It's a Wonderful Life (finale) - Dimitri Tiomkin, It's a Wonderful Life OST
O Tannenbaum - Vince Guaraldi Trio from A Charlie Brown Christmas

Show Notes:

~29:55 articles on gender and libraries (nowhere near complete on the topic)

• Father of Modern Libraries Was a Serial Sexual Harasser
• The Stereotype Stereotype
• Women's Values, Vision And Culture In The Transformation of American Librarianship, 1890 -- 1920

31:45 Gloria Graham at IMDB


Holiday Cinema Series Playlist

Signal Watch Reads: All the Answers (Kupperman, 2018)

I started reading All the Answers (2018) a couple of weeks ago, got ten pages in and realized that I wouldn't have time to read it cover to cover in one sitting, the way one generally wants to watch a film, and so I put away the book and picked it up again when I had uninterrupted time.

Written, researched, drawn and lived by Michael Kupperman, a cartoonist and artist I've followed for well over ten years at this point, the book is more than a minor pivot from a particular brand of humor comic that I would fail to capture here if I tried (and what is explaining a joke, anyway?) - this is also a biographical and autobiographical graphic novel.  I believe Snake n' Bacon strips were my entree into Kupperman's work, followed by Tales Designed to Thrizzle - something that should be a staple in any comics-studies course.  And, of course, Mark Twain's Autobiography, 1910-2010.

Noir Watch: Follow Me Quietly (1949)

Watched:  11/09/2019
Format:  Noir Alley of TCM
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's

Halloween (Night) Watch: Cat People (1942)

Watched:  10/31/2018
Format:  TCM/ DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's

Well, I finally watched Cat People (1942).

I wish I had not been so tired when I put it on, but I figured "now or never" as I was winding down my Halloween night, post trick or treaters and family heading home.

Halloween Watch: The Mummy's Tomb (1942)

Watched:  10/28/2018
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's

Noir Watch: The Gangster (1947)

Watched:  10/23/2018
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade: 1940's

Noir Watch: Desperate (1947)

Watched:  09/19/2018
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM via DVR
Viewing:  Second
Decade:  1940s

Noir Watch: The Locket (1946) - recommended

Watched:  09/11/2018
Format:  Noir Alley on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's

The Locket (1946) gets name dropped a lot in noir circles, but not always with a lot of context.  It starred no particular favorites aside from Mitchum, and didn't happen to cross my path til it aired on Noir Alley, so I'd not made a tremendous effort to watch it.  Turns out, The Locket is a hell of a movie with some terrific qualities, from the performances to the direction and cinematography, but it starts with a story and script that - while maybe a bit rudimentary in applying psychology as a science (a common trope of this era) - tells a unique, engaging, tragic story via unconventional techniques - and puts a new spin on the "femme fatale" (if that's accurate here, and I'll say it is) that's fascinating to watch unfold.

Audrey Watch: The Beginning or The End (1947)

Watched :  08/28/2018
Format:  DVR/ TCM
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's
Audrey Quotient:  Nowhere near enough Audrey!

This isn't a noir film!  Nope.  This one is an historical drama about the creation of the atomic bomb.  So, you know, fun stuff.

Audrey Watch! The Cockeyed Miracle (1946)

Watched:  08/16/2018
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's
Audrey Quotient:  mid-range.  A tad low.  She plays "the daughter" in an ensemble comedy.

Noir Watch: Scene of the Crime (1949)

Watched:  08/05/2018
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM/ DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's

Noir Watch: Pitfall (1948)

Watched:  06/21/2018
Format:  TCM Noir Alley on the DVR
Viewing:  Second
Decade:  1940's

This was the second time I'd watched Pitfall (1948), an indie produced noir starring Dick Powell, Raymond Burr and Lizabeth Scott.

Noir Watch: The Clay Pigeon (1949)

Watched:  06/12/2018
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM (DVR)
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's

Noir City Austin: The Unsuspected (1947) & The Threat (1949) - Sunday shows

Watched:  05/20/2018
Format:   Noir City Austin at Alamo Ritz in 35mm
Viewing:  fourth/ first
Decade:  1940's

We attended two films on the final day of Noir City Austin, The Unsuspected (1947) and The Threat (1949).  Two extremely different movies, but both a real treat.  The Film Noir Foundation isn't just Eddie Muller, and as he had to depart, we were lucky to have author Alan K. Rode in attendance to introduce the films.