Tag: Victor Mature
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Cable Guys: The Elevator Operators of Noir
We don’t see many elevator operators in our daily lives, but in noir they’re as common as neon signs and clouds of Chesterfield smoke. Elevator operators in film noir work in posh skyscrapers and skid row fleabags. They’re anonymous functionaries battling monotony and are nearly invisible extensions of the machinery they operate. Or they can…
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Noir’s Benevolent Tyrants Create Their Ideal Women
In noir, dark characters who aim to control the vulnerable are easy to spot. Blackmailers, femmes fatale and hardened criminals exert their grip on others in unsubtle ways. But sometimes the aggressor arrives with a smile and a bouquet of roses. He may present a polished image, but his intentions are always unsavory. In “Pygmalion,”…
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New York noir: 20 films that explore the big city’s dark corners
John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, ‘Force of Evil’ (1948). 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. New York is…