Category: classic film
-
New York noir: 20 films that explore the big city’s dark corners
John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, ‘Force of Evil’ (1948). By Paul Parcellin It might not come as news to you that noirs set in New York City look a lot different from the ones taking place in Los Angeles. The City of Angels is a sun bleached sprawl of low buildings between the ocean and desert.…
-
‘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…
-
‘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…
-
‘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…
-
Off the Hook: A bedridden heiress glimpses the face of doom in ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’
Barbara Stanwyck, ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’ (1948). Crossed phone lines deliver chilling news to a woman stranded in her apartment. Post war prosperity, women’s position in society go under the microscope Contains some spoilers By Paul Parcellin ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’ (1948) Barbara Stanwyck plays Leona Stevenson, a woman distinctly different from cold blooded Phyllis Dietrichson, whom…
-
Whiteout Noir: 6 Films With Cold Blooded Crimes In Wintery Places
Ward Bond, Robert Ryan, “On Dangerous Ground” (1951). Murder has a different look atop a crisp blanket of snow By Paul Parcellin Winter is upon us, and in many places snow has either fallen or soon will. So it’s time to consider noirs that feature arctic blasts of frigid air and piles of the white…
-
What does a Dancer, an Actor, a Magician and a Disenchanted Cop Have in Common? They All Meet in a “City that Never Sleeps”
Marie Windsor, Gig Young, Chill Wills, “City That Never Sleeps” (1953). A cloud of failure hangs over a handful of Chicagoans whose dreary lives are about to become a lot more dramatic. In “City That Never Sleeps” a would-be ballerina, reduced to dancing in a burlesque house; an out of work actor, his face painted…
-
When Noir Got Into the True Crime Game — Docudramas: How True Were They?
Ted de Corsia, “The Naked City” (1948) — just one of the 8 million stories. By Paul Parcellin Maybe it was the rigors of World War II that whet the public’s appetite for true crime stories in the 1940s. Returning soldiers, who saw real blood and guts on the battlefield, were less than inspired by…
-
Noir Must Be Shot in Black and White, Right? Guess Again
Marilyn Monroe, “Niagara” (1953). Raw Emotions Sizzle When Noir is in Color By Paul Parcellin I can already hear the howls of protest over the idea that film noir can be in color, so those who insist that color is verboten in noir will probably want to sit this one out. We all know that…