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Scrapped: The Original Opening Sequence of “Sunset Boulevard” was Even Stranger than the Final Cut, and Audiences had a Peculiar Reaction to It
Erich von Stroheim, William Holden, Gloria Swanson,“Sunset Boulevard” (1950). Preview audiences were left stunned, oddly amused and utterly confused Joe Gillis (Holden), a life cut short. By Paul Parcellin At the start of “Sunset Boulevard,” hapless screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) floats face-down in a swimming pool with several bullet holes punched into…
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Pop! Goes the Flashbulb: In Noir, Photographers Did It the Old Fashioned Way, and their Pictures Usually Turned the Town, and Crime Investigations, Upside Down
Howard Duff snaps a candid shot in “Shakedown” (1950). Contains Spoilers By Paul Parcellin Lighting and photographic style play an outsized role in crime dramas of all kinds, including film noir. But then there are the noirs and thrillers that put a camera in front of the camera — or to be more precise, they’re…
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Kings of the Road: Alienated, Disenchanted Drifters May Think They’re Heading Toward their Destination, but They’re Really on Course to a Tragic End
Ann Savage, Tom Neal, “Detour” (1945). Contains Spoilers By Paul Parcellin Film noir is full of cheap hotel rooms, train stations, roadside diners, filling stations, bus depots — places that transients inhabit while on their way somewhere, or perhaps rambling toward nowhere in particular. A compulsive desire to take to the highways is part of…
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Is It or Isn’t It? “Clash by Night” is a Gripping Drama, Alright, But Some Insist It Doesn’t Make the Cut as an Authentic Noir Because It Lacks One Crucial Element
Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan, “Clash by Night” (1952). Contains Spoilers By Paul Parcellin “Clash by Night” has the look and feel of noir, but not everyone thinks of it that way. It stars Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan, two giants of the shadowy crime dramas of the 1940s and ‘50s that define those…
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One Revealing Moment: Something that Happens in “The Night of the Hunter” Made Me Rethink My First Impression of the Film and See It in an Entirely New Light
Robert Mitchum, “The Night of the Hunter” (1955). By Paul Parcellin I first saw “The Night of the Hunter” (1955) around 20 or so years ago and walked away impressed but not particularly in love with the movie, and having said that I know what many of you are thinking: Heresy! I have no real…
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The 900 Pound Gorilla in the Room: Why Watching “Lady in the Lake” Requires Extensive Mind Over Matter Skills, and Perhaps a Bourbon on the Rocks
Robert Montgomery, “Lady in the Lake” (1946). By Paul Parcellin I have a confession to make: For as long as I’ve watched film noir (and I don’t care to go into exactly how long that is) I’d never sat down and watched “Lady in the Lake” (1947) until very recently. That’s not really a stunner,…
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The Man From Nowhere: Who is Larry Cravat and why do so many people want to do him harm?
John Hodiak, Nancy Guild, “Somewhere in the Night” (1946). Battle Fatigue on the Homefront: Two views of life after the big one By Paul Parcellin “Somewhere in the Night” (1946) George Taylor (John Hodiak) awakens in a military hospital, and to his horror discovers that his memory has been wiped clean by a serious wound…
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Murder, Suspense and Mystery Take Hold in Two Films by Master Storyteller Henri-Georges Clouzot
Simone Renant, “Quai des Orfèvres” A.K.A. “Jenny Lamour” (1947). By Paul Parcellin “Quai des Orfèvres” is a Gaulish police procedural that holds its own with any American made crime drama of that era. The title refers to the location of the central police headquarters in Paris, where some of the film’s action takes place. The story…
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The Demimonde After Dark: Two Visions of Paris, and the Gangsters Who Inhabit Each are Worlds Apart
Roger Duchesne, “Bob le flambeur” (1956). Contains Spoilers By Paul Parcellin Two films about the Parisian underworld are as different as fire and water. One is awash in old world charm, a nostalgia-tinged tale of the gangsters and gamblers of Montmartre. The other takes place in a Paris at odds with the city’s romanticized past.…
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Gumshoe Confidential: Would-Be White Knights, Reluctant Heroes and Rotten Apples, Otherwise Known as Private Detectives, Walked the Mean Streets of a Noir Hellscape
Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, “The Maltese Falcon” (1941). By Paul Parcellin Private eyes, those lone rangers who traverse bleak urban landscapes, are romanticized in books, radio dramas and movies as upholders of right and wrong. They do the dirty work that the cops can’t or won’t touch. Often hired by those…