Film Noir Classics

[Richard Krauss]

Caught Pitfall with Dick Powell, Lizbeth Scott, Jane Wyatt and Raymond Burr last night. Very good movie. Fairly fast paced, tight script, solid performances and interesting social commentary on fidelity, boredom with the post-war "good life" and the aftermath of bad choices.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5IBCzVDgPI

[Brian Hoffman]

One of my favorites is Dark Passages with Bogie and Bacall.  Probably the least known of the four they did together.  Watch Agnes Moorehead, she is wickedly wonderful.

[Richard Krauss]

Thanks for the tip, Brian. Now it's in the Netflix queue!

[Richard Krauss]

Hey Brian, got a chance to see it last night. I can see why you like it. Great performances and stars. Big surprises were seeing it was based on a novel by David Goodis and the use of first person camera for the first third of the movie. Yes, Agnes was juicy wicked!

[Jed Power]

That's a good one, Richard.  One of the best is "They Live By Night" starring Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell as innocent young lovers trying to start fresh and escape from the gang Granger used to be a member of.  It's a 1949 gem based on Edward Anderson's Depression era novel, "Thieves Like Us," one of the earliest of the Noir genre.  It was the maiden effort of director Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without a Cause, etc.)  They don't make them like that anymore.  Matter of fact, there weren't many that good even back in the golden age of Noir.  

[Richard Krauss]

Thanks Jed. Nicholas Ray was a fine director. I'll have to see if I can find a stream somewhere.

Saw Hammett's The Glass Key last night. Very tight script. Read the book last year, so the movie was extra fun and helped refresh my memory. Great performances all the way around. Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake pairing.

[Mark Gilroy]

Robert Altman's treatment of Hammet's Long Goodbye was great. Available on Netflix - not sure if anywhere else. For crime noir fiction, Hammet is still my favorite - I think! My review:http://tinyurl.com/c3gp6h2

[Richard Krauss]

Thanks for the link, Mark. I read The Killer Inside Me recently and then had a chance to see the movie. Powerful story.

Saw The Long Goodbye back in the day . . . time to revisit it! Found it on my local library site and put in a request for it. Thanks for the tip!

[Eric Christopherson]

Have not seen Pitfall or They Live by Night. They sound great.

How about the 1982 film, "Hammett," based on the Joe Gores book. Thirty years ago is a classic now, right?

[Richard Krauss]

And it's on Netflix instant! Thanks!

[Brian Hoffman]

Here is a list of great noir movies.

MOVIE LIST

[Richard Krauss]

Great list! Thanks Brian.

[Conrad Johnson]

The Third Man starring Orson Welles.