Thursday, December 10, 2020
Noir (on Ice!) Watch: Suspense (1946)
Sunday, December 6, 2020
Noir Watch: Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Noir Watch: Fear (1946)
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Spooky Noir Watch: The Seventh Victim (1943)
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Noir Watch: Destination Murder (1950)
Watch Party Watch: Slighty Scarlet (1956)
Watched: 10/20/2020
Format: Amazon Watch Party
Viewing: First
Decade: 1950's
Director: Allan Dwan - Director of Photography: John Alton
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Noir Watch: The Racket (1951)
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Noir Watch: Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
Saturday, October 3, 2020
Noir Watch: They Won't Believe Me (1947)
An interesting noir with a series of curious twists and a solid cast. Presented on TCM's Noir Alley, host Eddie Muller brought in author Christina Lane who recently released a book on the film's producer Joan Harrison, Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock (which would make a welcome Christmas gift for us at Signal Watch HQ). Harrison is worth discussing for her path into the film business, sensibility she brought to Hitchcock's story-telling, and... frankly, some of the other movies she's produced - including Phantom Lady* and Ride the Pink Horse - are fantastic and owe a lot of their story strength and sensibility to Harrison.
They Won't Believe Me (1947) is framed with a murder trial. Young is the defendant, and he's telling his tale/ spilling his guts from the witness stand, trying to explain what really happened, and which looks, honestly, really, really bad for him.
Monday, September 21, 2020
Noir Watch: Danger Signal (1945)
Watched: 09/19/2020
Format: Noir Alley on TCM
Monday, September 7, 2020
Noir Watch: The Unfaithful (1947)
Watched: I dunno. A couple of months ago.
Sunday, August 30, 2020
Neo-Noir Watch: Nocturnal Animals (2016)
Watched: 08/29/2020
Format: HBO
Viewing: First
Decade: 2010's
Director: Tom Ford
A lot of the coverage of the release of this film was that it was directed by Tom Ford, a fashion designer - which is an interesting idea. One would assume a fashion designer has an eye for visuals, lifestyle cues, wardrobe and staging. And - arguably, Ford delivers on all of these things.
He's cast beautiful people and dressed them well. He's hired some beautiful people and dressed them down. And, of course, there's the opening sequence which casts some (let's be honest) not gorgeous people and dressed them not at all. For Ford - this is a hellish horror, absurd and tasteless, open to interpretation and meaningless, so awful its funny. And knowingly hard to look at. And... is, at best, a very small building block of what is arguably his point with the film, and set me to thinking about what and who a Tom Ford is and how that would set them for empathy and sympathy with characters in a story.
Monday, August 17, 2020
PODCAST: "Le Samourai" (1967) and "The Conformist" (1970) - a European Neonoir Watch w/ JAL and RYan
Watched: Le Samourai 07/28, The Conformist 07/31
Format: HBOmax/ BluRay
Viewing: third for both, I believe
Decade: 1960's/ 1970's
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville & Bernardo Bertolucci
For more ways to listen
Justin and Ryan head to Europe for some neo-noir! We swing through France for a hitman film and over to Italy for... well, he's not much of a hitman, really. One of these is absolutely noir and the other, we're kind of calling a noir - and we're pretty excited about both of them. Join us as for a double-bill, continental style!
Music:
Le Samourai Title Theme - François De Roubaix
The Conformist Title Theme - Georges Delerue
Playlist - Noir Watch:
Monday, July 20, 2020
Noirish Melodrama Watch: The Sign of the Ram (1948)
Watched: 07/20/2020
Format: TCM on DVR
Viewing: First
Decade: 1940's
Director: John Sturges
A sort of gothic noir, The Sign of the Ram (1948) is a peculiar film. Set in a sprawling English countryside home, a seemingly happy family welcomes a new secretary into the fold (Phyllis Thaxter). She's to be the aid, in particular, to the beautiful, young, wheelchair bound stepmother to the family.
The film is a showcase for actress Susan Peters who had screen success until a hunting accident left her in a wheelchair. She's actually fantastic in the role, which is that of the antagonist. This is, apparently, the screenplay she finally accepted after being asked to play a chipper Pollyanna overcoming adversity in offer after offer. I'll not play armchair psychologist, but it's a hell of a heel turn for Peters to take on - but she nails it, showing tremendous range in the single role (young actors, take note: you can play all sorts of things with an angry character and none of them have to read "angry").
That said, there's something both entirely believable about the tension at the center of the film - a family completely dominated by the iron willed matriarch who plays everyone like puppets without them ever noticing it - and a sense of melodrama that skews a bit too much toward telegraphing where the film is headed.
It's well shot, Peters and Thaxter are great, but I can't say it was exactly my cup of tea. It was clearly made in the shadow of stuff like Rebecca, but never quite hits those notes. But for a solid melodrama, you could do worse.
Sunday, July 19, 2020
French Noir Watch: Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
Watched: 07/18/2020
Format: TCM on DVR
Viewing: First
Decade: 1950's
Director: Louis Malle
Look - I'd never seen this movie, thoroughly enjoyed it, and would quickly recommend. But I can also imagine it hits the buttons of every pretentious film dork out there.
A shining example of (a) made in the 1950's, (b) being French (b) more or less New Wave (c) noir, (d) with a fatalistic, downbeat ending and (e) the soundtrack is by Miles Davis. Ferchrissake - I can just see my film school instructors getting the vapors talking about this one.
And, you know, deservedly so.
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Noir Watch: The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
Watched: 06/29/2020
Format: Noir Alley on TCM
Viewing: third
Decade: 1940's
Director: Orson Welles
The backstory to the making of The Lady From Shanghai (1947) is famous, gossipy Hollywood lore. Hayworth starred alongside soon-to-be-ex husband and director, Orson Welles, transformed from the red-coiffed icon of Gilda into a platinum blonde and a femme fatale.
A bit like The Big Sleep, a lot of people talk about how this movie is confusing, but I didn't find it particularly so. While I cop to the fact that The Lady from Shanghai isn't a pat story and that the plot wanders - it all holds together within each character's motivation, and I don't really get the complaints. From Muller's shownotes, I'll give the credit for cohesive storytelling not to Welles, but to his editor Viola Lawrence, who took Welles' loose footage and worked with him to get it into some sort of story, and got it cut to a standard-length picture when Welles left the movie.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Noir Watch: Underworld USA (1961)
Watched: 06/26/2020
Format: Noir Alley on DVR
Viewing: First
Decade: 1960's
Director: Samuel Fuller
One of the things I enjoy about watching noir and older films is figuring out how great some directors really were. I still haven't watched enough Samuel Fuller, but I have yet to see a Fuller movie that didn't hit me over the head like a 2x4, and Underworld U.S.A. (1961) is no exception.
Friday, June 19, 2020
Noir Watch: Backtrack (1990) and Murder by Contract (1958) w/ JAL & Ryan
Watched: 06/11/2020 (Backtrack) & 06/16/2020 (Contract)
Format: Amazon Streaming and TCM Noir Alley
Viewing: First / Second
Decade: 1990's/ 1950's
Director: Dennis Hopper/ Irving Lerner
More ways to listen - choose an app
We're back with more noir - neo and otherwise! It's two movies about weirdo hitmen filmed 30 years apart. One is from the go-go 90's and has a lot of surprises, and the other is a cult classic of noir, about a man who just wants enough money to get that house he's had his eye on. Both have casts worth discussing and off-kilter approaches to their form. Join JAL and Ryan as we make our way through two features that don't get that many mentions.
Music:
The Executioner Theme - Perry Botkin, Murder By Contract score
Noir Playlist:
Friday, June 12, 2020
Noir Watch: The Woman in the Window (1944)
Watched: 06/10/2020
Format: TCM on DVR
Viewing: First
Decade: 1940's
Director: Fritz Lang
This film has a tremendous premise, a terrific cast, and is absolutely knee-capped by the Hayes Code in the final minutes. I wouldn't say it's not worth watching, but if you're squinting at the movie and aware of the rules of the road for a movie made in 1944, and wondering "holy heck, how is *this* going to resolve?" - you may be on to something.
Sunday, June 7, 2020
Noir Watch: Cornered (1945)
Watched: 06/04/2020
Format: Noir Alley on TCM on BluRay
Viewing: First
Decade: 1940's
Director: Edward Dmytryk
There's a lot to like in Cornered (1945), categorized here as Film Noir, but it's early in the movement and won't fit some people's ideas of the category. Still, a man driven half-mad by obsession ignores common sense in pursuit of his goals, his weaknesses clobber him repeatedly and near fatally, and there are possibly scheming women, even as he sets about solving a mystery. He's not a professional detective, but former Canadian RAF pilot Gerard (a not Canadian-polite Dick Powell) is recovering at the end of the war and learns that the French girl he met and married while hiding out in a village after being downed, was rounded up and killed by a Nazi collaborator.