crimeonfilm.com – crime films and TV, mostly film noir

‘Ivy’ is pure evil under shimmering gaslight

By Paul Parcellin Contains spoilers “Ivy” (1947) Even before the action begins we sense that something is rotten in Edwardian London. During the opening credits the orchestral music turns dark and a vase morphs into the faint image of a human skull. Clearly, this is going to be a horror show. Ivy Lexton (Joan Fontaine)…
Burn, Hollywood, burn! Four noirs reveal the horrors of the screenwriting trade

Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, ‘In a Lonely Place’ (1950). By Paul Parcellin You’ve probably heard that screenwriters get little respect in the big town, and by many accounts that’s true. They labor in isolation, punching out fresh ideas, pouring their deepest emotions onto their pages only to have their hearts broken. Their masterpieces are rewritten…
‘Scarlet Street’ at 80: Flirtations with a femme fatale can often lead to trouble — and sometimes murder

At her service. Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson, ‘Scarlet Street’ (1945). By Paul Parcellin Contains spoilers When “Scarlet Street” premiered 80 years ago this month it was not uniformly praised by critics, and several cities outright banned it due to its dark content. The film hinted at such taboo topics as sex out of wedlock…
A cunning serial killer is on the loose and police are baffled

Song Kang-ho, ‘Memories of Murder’ (2003).Searching for clues and coming up empty. ‘Memories of Murder’ (2003) Bodies are popping up with terrifying regularity in a small South Korean city and the local police force has few clues to go on. Young women are being raped and strangled, their bodies abandoned in little traveled spots, and…
‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’: A Tinseltown Allegory that Ends Unhappily Ever After

Michael Sarrazin, Jane Fonda, ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’ Harrowing Tale of Dance Marathons and the Depression-Era Downtrodden. But Those Marathons Remind Us of Something Else — the Studio System at its Most Heartless Contains spoilers By Paul Parcellin “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They” is a noir tragedy about exploitation of the desperate and beleaguered…
Mark Stevens: his quartet of searing films noir still light up screens today

Lucille Ball, Mark Stevens, ‘The Dark Corner’ (1946). By Paul Parcellin Mark Stevens made a string of taut crime dramas in the 1940s and ’50s that still resonate today. He acted in dozens of films, from westerns, war pictures to musicals and comedies, and directed two of his self-produced noirs as well as some hardboiled…
Two Super-Charged Road Movies Take the Not So Scenic Route Through America

Barry Newman as Kowalski, ‘Vanishing Point’ (1971). A high-speed chase through the desert turns him into an overnight folk hero. By Paul Parcellin “Vanishing Point” (1971) The hyperkinetic, blind radio disc jockey Super Soul (Cleavon Little) is a lot like an evangelical preacher without the fire and brimstone. He’s part guardian angel, part voice of…
Imposter noir: 51 films about swapping, losing and faking identities

Olivia de Havilland, ‘The Dark Mirror’ (1946). “There is only one plot – things are not what they seem.” — Jim Thompson By Paul Parcellin Let’s say you’re a character in a film noir. It’s likely that someone who you’re rubbing elbows with is not who they say they are. For that matter, you may…
‘Pale Flower’: Gambling dens, yakuza and a mysterious woman who lives on the edge

A taste for danger. Saeko (Mariko Kaga), “Pale Flower” (1964). By Paul Parcellin “Pale Flower” (1964) It’s clear from the start that Masahiro Shinoda’s “Pale Flower” isn’t your typical yakuza picture — the kind that’s simmered in the Japanese underworld’s intricate codes of conduct, with a lead character who agonizes over prickly themes such as…
‘The Killers’: A much loved noir that’s the spitting image of another American classic

Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, ‘The Killers’ (1946). By Paul Parcellin “The Killers” (1946) Some say “The Killers” is the “Citizen Kane” of noir, but how can that be? One is a beloved noir, the story behind a brutal murder of a washed up prizefighter. The other, a fictional biography of a media tycoon, loosely based…