Category: films noir
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Pure noir exposes crime films’ darkest, most pessimistic core
Noir comes in a number of hybrid varieties, including gangster films, heists, police procedurals and private detective stories. But some noirs don’t use standard crime film types as their foundation. Pure noirs, told from the point of view of characters who are neither career criminals nor law enforcers, plainly reveal the genre’s darkest tenets: that…
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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…