Category: crime film
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Live it up! 11 essential nightclubs of noir
Karen Morley, ‘Scarface’ (1932) By Paul Parcellin In noir, nightclubs are smokey hideaways where criminality thrives under moody lighting. Ritzier than typical barrooms, they are havens for hedonists and the racketeer elite. Crucial to these nightspots are floorshows. A chanteuse may whisper a torch song designed to torment an ex-lover sitting ringside. Her words spell…
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‘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…
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‘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…
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‘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…
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‘Out of the Past’: 13 Signs that Jane Greer is About to Destroy You
Jane Greer, ‘Out of the Past’ (1947). Dressed in mink and deadly. Warnings abound, but the only thing Mitchum can sputter is ‘Baby, I don’t care’ Contains spoilers By Paul Parcellin ‘Out of the Past’ (1947) You can’t say that Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) had no way of knowing what he was in for. A…
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‘The Long Good Friday’: A Gangster Noir That Saw the Future
Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, “The Long Good Friday” (1980). Mobster’s World Blown to Bits in an Easter Wave of Terror Contains spoilers By Paul Parcellin ‘The Long Good Friday’ (1980) As Good Friday approaches it’s fitting that we look at one of the slender number of crime films set on the holiest of Christian holy…
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When Gangsters Collide with the Dark Side: 65 Mobbed Up Films Noir
Jean Hagen, Sterling Hayden, “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950). In Noir, Racketeers Aren’t Like the Ones In Your (Grand)Father’s Mob Pictures By Paul Parcellin Gangster films were already a cinematic staple when a new kind of crime film began to emerge in the early 1940s. Films noir captured the popular imagination for a couple of decades…
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‘Murder by Contract’: This Guy Kills Me
Vince Edwards, Caprice Toriel, ‘Murder by Contract’ (1958). Dreams of a suburban home, picket fence and a garden can lead a man to homicide By Paul Parcellin “I want to be a contractor,” announces Claude (Vince Edwards), a determined, 30ish guy in the middle of an unusual kind of job interview at the start of…
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Could You Repeat That? — 36 Noirs That Unfold In Flashbacks
Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, “Double Indemnity” (1944). They pop up in all kinds of movies and TV shows, but flashbacks are the stuff that films noir are made of By Paul Parcellin Is that film you’re watching a noir? Here’s one semi-reliable way to tell: Look for flashbacks. In noir, flashbacks show us the stuff…
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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…