Film Noir?

[Widebrim]

Thin man series is really good. I watched it as a kid. William Powell makes a great 1930s detective. John Payne does a pretty good job in 99 River street.

99 River Street is one on my list. I've read that Payne did a good job in his roll of the ex-boxer on the lam. I grant you that Payne (like Dana Andrews) was not really the hard-boiled type that Bogart, Tierney, and others like them were, but I think both he and Andrews deserve more credit than they often receive. In more than one of Payne's Noir(ish) roles, he played average Joes forced into the position of proving their innocence of some crime, and I think that Payne's acting style lent itself to the fallibility and limited "toughness" of such characters.

 

[skyvue]

99 River Street is one on my list.

Ask, and ye shall receive: It airs tonight at 8pm ET on Turner Classic Movies, followed by two more Payne pictures -- KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL and THE CROOKED WAY.

 

[Dapper Dave]

I agree with you 100%

 

[Widebrim]

Ask, and ye shall receive: It airs tonight at 8pm ET on Turner Classic Movies, followed by two more Payne pictures -- KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL and THE CROOKED WAY.

Oh, man:eusa_doh:...I would watch all three, but I don't have cable, and I'll be at the Orpheum tonight watching a Clara Bow movie...

 

[Wally_Hood]

Wow, I watched The Narrow Margin (1952) with Charles McGraw and Evelyn Keyes, directed amazingly by Richard Fleischer. What a noir, what a movie- Basic plot: McGraw the cop escorts the widow of a murdered mob boss from Chicago to Los Angeles to testify before a grand jury. Nearly the whole movie takes place on a train, but the effect is any other than claustrophobic. Fleisher films it with the high contrast look specific to noir, but he also runs the camera up and down the passage ways, blocks the scenes with actors moving in and out of fuzzy backgrounds and foregrounds, and antedates the hand held camera look. And the fight scene! Hyperkinetic, fast cuts, and a pounding fists.

If you are a noir fan, rent this and watch it, it's full of twists and solid story telling.

 

[Blackthorn]

Thanks, Wally, I like to get recommendations like that.

Today I saw Kansas City Confidential, which was very good.

 

[Widebrim]

Wow, I watched The Narrow Margin (1952) with Charles McGraw and Evelyn Keyes, directed amazingly by Richard Fleischer. What a noir, what a movie- Basic plot: McGraw the cop escorts the widow of a murdered mob boss from Chicago to Los Angeles to testify before a grand jury. Nearly the whole movie takes place on a train, but the effect is any other than claustrophobic. Fleisher films it with the high contrast look specific to noir, but he also runs the camera up and down the passage ways, blocks the scenes with actors moving in and out of fuzzy backgrounds and foregrounds, and antedates the hand held camera look. And the fight scene! Hyperkinetic, fast cuts, and a pounding fists.
If you are a noir fan, rent this and watch it, it's full of twists and solid story telling.

Thanks, Wally; I really like movies that take place on trains (for some reason). I've read that it is considered McGraw's best Noir role. I know "the secret" about Marie Windsor's character, but is that something which is revealed early on, or is that part of the climax?

 

[Widebrim]

Thanks, Wally, I like to get recommendations like that.

Today I saw Kansas City Confidential, which was very good.

Glad that you liked the film; one of my favorites. Remember when he was being interrogated, and what the (I believe) insurance agent says to him: "(You) left school to join the engineers. Good soldier, too. Bronze Star, Purple Heart..." Payne's character doesn't even look up, but simply sneers, "Try and buy a cup of coffee with them."

I'm watching John Payne in Slightly Scarlet (1956), a film which some consider Noir, but I'm not sure so far, even if John Alton is the cinematographer. It's in color, rather late in the Noir period (that is if it does qualify), and Payne plays a duplicitous fellow, something I don't feel "comfortable" with. It's incredible how quickly Payne is able to "put the make" on Rhonda Fleming (not that I can blame him...).

 

[martinsantos]

I saw this few weeks ago, it's really a little gem! A tense, well directed thriller.

Fleisher is the most irregular director i can remember; when he works well, he is just great. But when he goes wrong the results are horrible...

Wow, I watched The Narrow Margin (1952) with Charles McGraw and Evelyn Keyes, directed amazingly by Richard Fleischer. What a noir, what a movie- Basic plot: McGraw the cop escorts the widow of a murdered mob boss from Chicago to Los Angeles to testify before a grand jury. Nearly the whole movie takes place on a train, but the effect is any other than claustrophobic. Fleisher films it with the high contrast look specific to noir, but he also runs the camera up and down the passage ways, blocks the scenes with actors moving in and out of fuzzy backgrounds and foregrounds, and antedates the hand held camera look. And the fight scene! Hyperkinetic, fast cuts, and a pounding fists.

If you are a noir fan, rent this and watch it, it's full of twists and solid story telling.

 

[Wally_Hood]

Thanks, Wally; I really like movies that take place on trains (for some reason). I've read that it is considered McGraw's best Noir role. I know "the secret" about Marie Windsor's character, but is that something which is revealed early on, or is that part of the climax?

Ah, the secret, which I didn't see coming at all, is about half-way through. I stopped the dvd and started asking the missus, "Did you see that?! Do you know that was coming?!"

And McGraw looks like the bad guy, so his role as protector cop is like casting against type.

 

[Widebrim]

Ah, the secret, which I didn't see coming at all, is about half-way through. I stopped the dvd and started asking the missus, "Did you see that?! Do you know that was coming?!"

And McGraw looks like the bad guy, so his role as protector cop is like casting against type.

Okay, so at least I know that it's not intended to be a surprise ending, and that something substantial still happens in the second half. Yeah, McGraw just about always looks like a crook.

 

[Wally_Hood]

Thanks, Wally, I like to get recommendations like that.

Today I saw Kansas City Confidential, which was very good.

I first saw KCC when I taped (yeah, taped, it was that far back) it off a local so Cal PBS station, not KCET, I think. It is so well done, with John Payne able to convey the "regular joe" pushed to extreme measures with complete believability.

I like the line of Payne's when confronting the hood who searched his room, "Who tipped you to toss my place?" (or something like that: help me, FLers)

 

[Widebrim]

I first saw KCC when I taped (yeah, taped, it was that far back) it off a local so Cal PBS station, not KCET, I think. It is so well done, with John Payne able to convey the "regular joe" pushed to extreme measures with complete believability.

I like the line of Payne's when confronting the hood who searched his room, "Who tipped you to toss my place?" (or something like that: help me, FLers)

Yeah, I think that was the line. Love that film.

 

[Blackthorn]

I first saw KCC when I taped (yeah, taped, it was that far back) it off a local so Cal PBS station, not KCET, I think. It is so well done, with John Payne able to convey the "regular joe" pushed to extreme measures with complete believability.

I like the line of Payne's when confronting the hood who searched his room, "Who tipped you to toss my place?" (or something like that: help me, FLers)

I also like the scene where they're beating him up and his girlfriend walks in and interrupts. They back off and leave, then he says, "Nice guys...playful."

 

[Widebrim]

Finished watching Slightly Scarlet, with John Payne, Rhonda Fleming, and Arlene Dahl. I don't think that I'd consider it Film Noir, and not simply because it was filmed in color. Payne was pretty good as a character whose motives were not always clear. Has anyone else seen this, and would you consider it Noir?

Also finally saw The Stranger on the Third Floor (RKO-Radio, 1940). Enjoyed the film, although it really looked low-budget. Some say it is the first Film Noir, but I'm not so sure; I'd at least call it proto-Noir, though. (There are those who label "Rio" [1939] as the first Film Noir, and some would go back even farther...) It does have a great dream sequence, filmed by maestro Nicholas Musuraca (who was influenced by German Expressionism), which showcases some bizarre lighting. It also has some "they won't believe me," victim of fate moments on the protagonist's part, and a lot of voice-over narration. Yet apart from the above, it just didn't seem to have enough of the right elements, though I could be wrong. Definitely worth a watch, though.

 

[martinsantos]

After several years, I saw again "The Asphalt Jungle". it's a masterpiece, in my opinion. Houston is one of the great storytellers, and Sterling Heyden was very good - but except this, never saw very good films with him (Johnny Guitar is a classic, but I understand this one as full of references about the period... And a somewhat strange film).

 

[Blackthorn]

After several years, I saw again "The Asphalt Jungle". it's a masterpiece, in my opinion. Houston is one of the great storytellers, and Sterling Heyden was very good - but except this, never saw very good films with him (Johnny Guitar is a classic, but I understand this one as full of references about the period... And a somewhat strange film).

Very well done movie, as we would expect from John Huston, and Sterling Hayden's fedora is one of the best movie hats ever. I liked it so much I considered asking Art Fawcett to make one for me.

 

[Widebrim]

After several years, I saw again "The Asphalt Jungle". it's a masterpiece, in my opinion. Houston is one of the great storytellers, and Sterling Heyden was very good - but except this, never saw very good films with him (Johnny Guitar is a classic, but I understand this one as full of references about the period... And a somewhat strange film).

Jaffe's character is interesting; his capture was a consequence of his "predilection." Hayden's demise on his father's farm is also very symbolic, and even touching.

 

[Wally_Hood]

Jaffe's character is interesting; his capture was a consequence of his "predilection." Hayden's demise on his father's farm is also very symbolic, and even touching.

I don't think I'm spoiling anything by pointing out that the ending shots of Hayden's character, Dix Handley, are all bright and sunny- at the end of his life- in contrast to the film noir darkness visually and thematically for the whole film.

NB: whatta great noir name for Jean Hagen's character, Doll Conovan.

 

[Widebrim]

^^Good point. (And, yeah, a great name.)