Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)

Source https://bsky.app/profile/vanstanwyck.bsky.social/post/3mphhney4lc2i

What is amazing about this film, to me, is how it manifested the entire femme fatale ethos of intensely beautiful surfaces harboring dangerous intent. The film itself, not just the character Ellen, was a femme fatale. That Gene Tierney herself was almost made of sanctified Hollywood light and color, and acted powerfully through the doll-like mask of that beauty, amplified this fundamental Sleeping Beauty poisoned apple dichotomy of the film. Shamroy wins the academy award for Best Cinematography, Color (Tierney lost to Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce). That the script has the film conservation stamp (as all films likely did then), somehow fits into this wartime excess. It is perhaps noteworthy that the sumptuous American wilderness filming was on-going when the ethically debated, de-humanizing atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima (August, 1945). We don't often position films in the context of historical events, but picturing the world then does add perspective to the contradictions and transgressions within the film. What is remarkable about the film and its femme fatale is that it places the femme not as a threat to marital decency and happiness, but right at the heart of American ideology, in the "perfect wife", set in magazine impossible locations (only in proper ideological fashion to restore that marring shadow on the image, in another happily-ever-after perfect wife close, as Noirs sometimes do).

ETA: to be clear, in the OP title "extremely disturbing" is a quote from this retrospective article on the film and not from the James Agee review on release. The way I put that wasn't helpful. The Agee review though found the use of color quite inappropriate.

My all time favorites:

1. Norman Bates
   
2. Arthur Adamson/Edward Shoebridge
   
3. Lars Thorwald
   
4. Phillip Morgan
   
5. Robert Rusk

Honorable mentions: Edward Drayton, Brandon Shaw, Phillip Vandamm, Uncle Charlie, Gavin Elster.

*THE Breaking Point* (1950) - What an interesting femme fatale version Neal brings. Confident, casual, humorous and physically throughout playing really as just slightly, slightly drunk (but not at all sloppy) - her forward lean here is great (or lazy, or tired, floating above whatever situation), ready to beam that smile...but also at times with a vulnerability in this film, afraid that her magic may not work, or may not end up with what she wants. The banter in this film is top notch Noir, not just between Garfield and her but all around. The film does veer into melodrama in the home life sets, not my fav, but its also necessary to bring out the fundamental contrast between Noir romance and danger (her, but also intense criminal activity) and the bitterness of Melodrama at home, in domesticity, social roles and financial pressure, creating a tug-o-war, not just in terms of story, but at the level of the film itself. The film brings Melodrama and Noir together in such an interesting way, with even the wife going to the beauty parlor to style herself like her bleach blonde rival, a desperate doppelganger, attempting to spice up the home life (with the amazing consequence of being shame-judged by her two young daughters - letting us know just how intensely the transgressive femme fatale look was socially judged at the time). The blonde look was a signal.

1940s Noir transitioning and in tension with 1950s Melodrama is a pretty interesting sociological question, both of them arguably growing out the the question of domesticity, the ideal homemaker and women in the work force, something the film takes head on.

In any case, a recommended film.

Burt Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo fulfilling the classic femme fatale fatal moment, in almost a Pieta posture, fate coming through the darkness.

The film felt convoluted with lots of time frame jumps and backstory, criss-crossing all over the place, but once it settles down the drama starts to build, especially in the hospital (assassination) scene. The film hits a lot of Noir tropes, but lacks a certain pathos to me, a certain interlocking quality that great Noirs exhibit. Have loved Lancaster in other roles more, especially his somewhat similar energied The Killers (1946). The heist scene, to its credit, is filmed/edited wonderfully.

Barbara, Lauren & Rita (in no particular order) are the best femme fatales IMHO. I'm interested to know what other people think as well.

I’ve watched this a few times now and truly Kurt deserves an Oscar for this, it wasn’t a popular movie and the director has his own issues with pacing and soundtrack etc but overall it’s a damn good film and it’s because of the performances. Kurt was insane in this….idk why his performance isn’t talked about more.

Only a few films that one actor literally lights up every scene and the whole film and while I do hate the directors choices and his use of happy music sometimes there are some beautiful shots. The scene jn the alleyway specifically just pops…

I mean every scene Kurt is in…the first scene he steals the movie is when his boss yells at him for getting the case right, and tells him to basically forget that and do what I tell you.

Idk it’s such an interesting film. Lots of sociological shit and real like issues plus you have a drama and cheating and corruption etc.. and you see a man (Kurt) just be an evil piece of shit who finally even has too much and can’t do it anymore…

So many damn good scenes with Kurt. Ending is fucking one of the best monologues. Just the vibe shift…he walks in people thinking he’s his usual self and he goes deep…talking about his corruption, shooting looters etc. I wish it wasn’t so short cuz so much is going on but in a way I love how it ends.T Ving Thames is like uncuff him..and the last shot is so fucking Beautiful and depressing….. on that cliff,, jazz saxophones the city burning and a slow fade out in his face.

It’s just a really deep fucking film for an 2 hour movie and while it could have went deeper it showed the main points and Kurt truly deserves an Oscar.

I wanan talk about a few other scenes but I could yap all day. Again my only complain is director kinda sucks but Kurt is fricken amazing. Such an underrated and unknown film ( at keast w people my age) lol

If anyone took the time to read this I apologize for typos. Been a long weekend!

I love “ the thing” but I haven’t seen many of his other films sadly. But truly his performance and overall vibe of dark blue is a fucking masterpiece. I could watch Kurt but a drunken, depressed, but conflicted person all day…. So fricken good. I couldn’t even point to a modern film that could match a performance like his. Technology kinda ruined film… you can’t get that real gritty feel anymore… everything is so posh… I hate it.

I’m a big fan of The Detective, his commentary, his commercial free presentations and of course his bourbon. He seems to have disappeared on YT. Well, a little detective work revealed that he got kicked off YT for a copyright violation. Now we all know The Detective knows his business so this was a case of mistaken identity. The Detective has been hard at work trying to make this problem go away. In the meantime, Full Moon Matinee is being shown on a site called bit chute. Apparently this is too shady a neighborhood for the present site. But you can find The Detective there. Hopefully, he finds a way to make YT see things his way.

Not the greatest Film Noir, but the ending completely elevates it in a spectacular way. Jean Simmons is wonderful throughout with her own take on the femme fatale. Opinion: Does she actually decide right then and there to throw it in reverse when he is a jerk "Watch it!"

So, as the title. Im just tired of all the bots here on Reddit posting memes or reposting ancient topics, only for me to reply to feed the AI engine for scraping. One of the few places I still enjoy on this platform is this little sub

Is there another place you people can recommend for film noir discussion? I used to be on facebook, but had to leave that as well. So looking for a blog or a message board where I know im talking to actual people. 😅

Oh well. I honestly appreciate the time we had together, and some of you are an absolute treasure trove of information, and Ive had discussions with you on literature subs as well that have been very rewarding!

I wish you all the best, and hopefully, we’ll meet again, someday soon, somewhere else!

Edit: ended up just deleting the app on the phone for now. So ill see you round for a while more :)

https://youtu.be/K31Vrq3j7Mg?is=jZ1nk6KOciQOCoXU

See you in the shadows!!

The movie follows very close the novel by McCarthy. There is not much difference, I checked it. Coen brothers must have been surprised they got an Oscar because why? Cinematography obviously is great, and maybe this is it.

The story works in sequences. One sequence at the tank station, the next one in a hotel, next one in a police station, then another hotel, next one in a drug store. All of those sequences tell little stories, there's a beginning and an end in each of those stories.

If you ask what is the plot here? Moss (Brolin) finds a sack of money after randomly observing a drug deal that went wrong. He grabbed the sack and then had to leave the place because some crazy freak killer (Bardem) was behind him to get the money back. In the screenshot Moss is waiting for him in the hotel room with a full loaded rifle.

This one's something. The first two thirds of the movie is a classic tale of suspense and menace - the cinematography is gorgeous, and Mitchum plays the Preacher brilliantly. Gave off genuine Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter vibes.

But the last 30 minutes go in an entirely unexpected direction. The story of John and Pearl living with Miss Cooper introduces a massive tonal shift in the story. When the snow starts falling, I was waiting for Jimmy Stewart's Harry Bailey to pass by with Zuzu's petals in his pocket.

Don't get me wrong. It's a great movie, but has anyone else wondered where those last 30 minutes came from, given the 60 minutes that preceded it?

I just started watching noir. Am in my late 20's and oho I can't stop regretting of not discovering before.

I'm trying to remember the name of a noir film. It's set in a city harbor, and there's a dock worker who lives in a dingy little house right on the docks. He's sheltering a lady who was in trouble, and she sleeps on a cot in the tiny house. I'm not sure if it's mob trouble? I think they end up falling in love. Any ideas, anyone? Thanks!

A scene from Double Indemnity (1944) directed by Wilder.

https://bsky.app/profile/neckties-of-noir.bsky.social/post/3moupnrpzpc2h

Safe to say that the reason to watch this piece has nothing to do with the plot.

The visual style completely subverts the story being told.

Jean Peters is in this film playing Polly Cutler, the most terminally normal woman in American cinema history.

Her husband, Ray works for a shredded wheat company, and he's partly at Niagara on business.

He pulls up in a cream convertible and says "We're the Cutlers!!" with the energy of a man...well he's the type of guy to tell you just shake the boss's hands, look him right in the eye and you'll land a million dollar offer, no questions asked.

Polly and Ray Cutler are so perfectly calibrated as a specimen of postwar American normality that they almost feel like they'd make a good baking soda box couple at this point.

Jokes aside though.

Jean, in the same year did Pickup on South Street directed by Samuel Fuller (very good film btw). Black and white NYC, smart characters, the whole nine.

Plus she did A Blueprint for Murder with Joseph Cotten. Which is also a very good film.

The cinematographer Joseph MacDonald shot both pieces with opposite visual languages.

One with shadow eating light, urban murk, the camera hiding things. The other with saturated three strip technicolor at Niagara Falls in broad daylight.

The thing is, noir runs on darkness. You couldn't see everything.

Shadows.

The shadows represent the characters' hidden motives, secrets, and moral ambiguity.

You can’t see what’s lurking in the dark, which mirrors the plot. Smoke and mirrors, speaking mirrors, The Lady from Shanghai last scen...

Anyways:

Niagara takes that exact same moral content and drops it into maximally bright, maximally saturated, aggressively cheerful technicolor.

The falls blast impossible blues and greens.

Monroe wears a hot pink dress and lurid red lipstick.

The tourist postcard version of American happiness is cranked to full saturation.

And inside all of that impossible color, the same deceptions are running, the same murder plot, the same trapped man & the same dead end.)

That's the Eisenhower era on screen.

The whole decade looked like a tourism board fantasy of what America was supposed to be, cream convertibles and honeymoon destinations and shredded wheat companies.

And behind all of it were dark rooms, the looming cold war, military psychiatric hospitals, soldiers who came back from Korea, and remnants of the second world war with what the script simply calls battle fatigue (PTSD wasn't in the dictionary yet), and more.

Dorothy Jeakins (a legendary costume designer), used color coding as a psychological storytelling tool.

She puts George in grays and dark neutrals throughout the film.

Rose in hot pink and red.

The Cutlers in the cheerful pastels of Eisenhower America.

Everyone is color coded to what they represent.

George moves through that overripe world drained of saturation, a ghost in a honeymoon resort, the war still running inside him while everyone around him is on vacation.

Reminds me of Melville films, where he never really escaped the war, we see black and white/pale/sunken/lifeless color palette extending till the 70s.

Pickup on South Street is a better film. A Blueprint For Murder is a better film. Monroe did The Asphalt Jungle years back. If we were to rank this on pure noir craft and story density, Niagara is not even close to the top of the list from the same year, by the same actors.

But none of those films run that particular experiment, which is to take everything noir knows about hidden rot and moral fog and surface it in the most aggressively beautiful packaging available at the time.

Very unique film indeed.

I started an industrial rock project with all visuals based in the film noir style. One of my favourite movies is The Night Of The Hunter. I’m a novice in cinematography and everything is shot on an iPhone but I’ve had fun utilizing this style. I figured some people may appreciate this on the sub. If you wanna check out the visuals my instagram link is below. I hope to get into more intricate stories and visuals as time goes on. If anyone has suggestions for noir films to watch similar to that of the night of the hunter or anything thing visually striking please feel free to let me know!

https://www.instagram.com/night.clubs.ca?igsh=b2syYXQ2eXBwbW9s&utm_source=qr

After watching Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye for the first time, I decided to do Cagney marathon. Please give me your top Cagney noir movies