Category: Robert Ryan
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Crime tourists, Part II: Americans clash with the underworld in foreign lands
DeForest Kelley, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Ryan, (unidentified), Robert Stack, ‘House of Bamboo’ (1955). By Paul Parcellin We’ve already talked about films with Americans overseas acting badly. It seems that whenever a region is beset by war, a pack of jackals descends on the still twitching carcass of civilization to devour whatever meat is left on…
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Headshrinker Noir: 10 Films With Mind Games, Crime
Ingrid Bergman, “Spellbound” (1945). From Dedicated Healers to Evil Control Freaks, Noir Psychiatrists Want to Pick Your Brain By Paul Parcellin Do all psychiatrists intentionally drive their patients insane and force them to commit awful crimes? In real life it’s unlikely … probably. But in film noir it’s a 50-50 bet. Not that all noir…
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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…
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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…
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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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Knockout Punch Noir: The Runyonesque, Raw-Boned World of Prizefighting Inspires Tales of Corruption, Violence and Redemption
Humphrey Bogart, “The Harder They Fall” (1956). By Paul Parcellin This post contains spoilers, so you may want to see the films before reading the article. You’d be hard pressed to find a sport more noir-like than professional boxing. It’s got all of the elements of noir rolled into a savage athletic competition whose object…
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Red Scare Noir: Communists on the Waterfront
Janis Carter, John Agar and Thomas Gomez in ‘The Woman on Pier 13’ (1949). ‘The Woman on Pier 13’ (1949) When the Berlin Wall went up in 1961, my first-grade teacher, Miss Berzetz, marched into the classroom and scared the bejesus out of us. To hear her tell it, this was the end of life…