Noir Alley

[txfilmfan]

Noir Alley on Sep. 7/8 will be Out of the Past - generally thought of as one of the best Noirs.
If you haven't seen it, this is the one to watch. I've seen a lot of Jane Greer performances, but this is probably her best. She is a great femme fatale in it. Although I prefer her in The Big Steal. And Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas are right in there.

I suppose there's always the possibility for a novice viewer of OOTP among us Cid, but I still doubt there'd be anyone who's a regular contributor on/reader of these boards who hasn't watched this great film at least once before.

(...or, say like me, who has watched it probably at least half a dozen times out of the..ahem..IN the past)

There's at least one.

I'm not as well versed on noir as many of you, so there's a lot of films I haven't seen in that genre.

[Dargo2]

Noir Alley on Sep. 7/8 will be Out of the Past - generally thought of as one of the best Noirs.
If you haven't seen it, this is the one to watch. I've seen a lot of Jane Greer performances, but this is probably her best. She is a great femme fatale in it. Although I prefer her in The Big Steal. And Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas are right in there.

I suppose there's always the possibility for a novice viewer of OOTP among us Cid, but I still doubt there'd be anyone who's a regular contributor on/reader of these boards who hasn't watched this great film at least once before.

(...or, say like me, who has watched it probably at least half a dozen times out of the..ahem..IN the past)

There's at least one.

I'm not as well versed on noir as many of you, so there's a lot of films I haven't seen in that genre.

Well, in that case Tex, after you watch it, you should then discover the reason I've always said that Robert Mitchum is the REAL "King of Cool".

(...and that that other guy noted for racing cars and motorcycles during his off-hours from the set, was always only second best in this regard)

[ElCid]

Noir Alley on Sep. 7/8 will be Out of the Past - generally thought of as one of the best Noirs.
If you haven't seen it, this is the one to watch. I've seen a lot of Jane Greer performances, but this is probably her best. She is a great femme fatale in it. Although I prefer her in The Big Steal. And Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas are right in there.

I suppose there's always the possibility for a novice viewer of OOTP among us Cid, but I still doubt there'd be anyone who's a regular contributor on/reader of these boards who hasn't watched this great film at least once before.

(...or, say like me, who has watched it probably at least half a dozen times out of the..ahem..IN the past)

There's at least one.

I'm not as well versed on noir as many of you, so there's a lot of films I haven't seen in that genre.

good post.
If you get the chance and haven't seen it, watch The Big Steal with Mitchum and Greer. It's a crime/mystery, but in a lighter touch. They both perform excellently in both movies but in a different manner. Because they are really, really great actors.

[ElCid]

Sept. Out of the Past and then A Lady Without Passport (Hedy Lamar) 09-14/15; Split Second (Stephen McNally), 09-21/22; High Wall, (Robert Taylor & Audrey Totter) 09-28/29.
Saw Passport a long time ago and liked it, but don't remember it in detail. Also saw Split Second and not bad, but not that memorable. Do not recall having seen High Wall. But Wiki description sounds familiar.

[ElCid]

Out of the Past is on tonight and tomorrow. Eddie Muller ranks this as number 9 of top 25. He ranks In a Lonely Place as number one. However, I believe I have heard that Out of the Past is the definitive film noir.
On a side note, The Falcon's Brother comes on at 4:30 AM Sunday. Not noir, but entertaining and how Tom Conway saved the Falcon series.
https://www.eddiemuller.com/top25noir.html

[jamesjazzguitar]

Out of the Past is on tonight and tomorrow. Eddie Muller ranks this as number 9 of top 25. He ranks In a Lonely Place as number one. However, I believe I have heard that Out of the Past is the definitive film noir.
On a side note, The Falcon's Brother comes on at 4:30 AM Sunday. Not noir, but entertaining and how Tom Conway saved the Falcon series.
https://www.eddiemuller.com/top25noir.html

Can anyone here post what Muller's top 25 are?

#9 for Out of the Past would be too low for my ranking. For me Mitchum was the most iconic noir actor, and Out of the Past his most iconic noir film, thus I would rank the film much higher.

[Dargo]

...Also saw Split Second and not bad, but not that memorable.

Although and perhaps the most memorable aspect to this sort 'The Petrified Forest'-esque tale of hostages being held against their will, would be the added tension supplied to the plot by the idea of them being held in a desert area that's about to totally incinerated and obliterated by one of 1950s era's above ground atomic bomb testing.

(...and I'd say Dick Powell's direction of this film uses that added tension effectively)

[jamesjazzguitar]

...Also saw Split Second and not bad, but not that memorable.

Although and perhaps the most memorable aspect to this sort 'The Petrified Forest'-esque tale of hostages being held against their will, would be the added tension supplied to the plot by the idea of them being held in a desert area that's about to totally incinerated and obliterated by one of 1950s era's above ground atomic bomb testing.

(...and I'd say Dick Powell's direction of this film uses that added tension effectively)

Split Second was the first film Powell directed, and he does a good job. While looking at Powell's Wiki I found this related to one of your favorite gals. Ms. Powers.

"Powell's ranch-style house was used for exterior filming on the ABC TV series, Hart to Hart. The estate, known as Amber Hills, was on 48 acres (19 hectares) in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles".

For me the best thing about Split Second are Jan Sterling and Arthur Hunnicutt.

[ElCid]

Out of the Past is on tonight and tomorrow. Eddie Muller ranks this as number 9 of top 25. He ranks In a Lonely Place as number one. However, I believe I have heard that Out of the Past is the definitive film noir.
On a side note, The Falcon's Brother comes on at 4:30 AM Sunday. Not noir, but entertaining and how Tom Conway saved the Falcon series.
https://www.eddiemuller.com/top25noir.html

Can anyone here post what Muller's top 25 are?

#9 for Out of the Past would be too low for my ranking. For me Mitchum was the most iconic noir actor, and Out of the Past his most iconic noir film, thus I would rank the film much higher.

This is from Mueller's website: https://www.eddiemuller.com/top25noir.html
Begins with # 25 and goes down to # 1. Although he does state it is more of a ranking of his preferences as opposed to one being better than another.

RAW DEAL Number 25
Eagle-Lion, 1948.
Rambunctious pulp made transcendent through Anthony Mann's direction, John Alton's lighting, and a satisfying gender switch in which the Angel and the Tramp duke it out over the guy.
CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS
Republic, 1952.
Any movie that is narrated by the city itself earns special honors for cinematic chutzpah. Plus, its got Marie Windsor and William Tallman as lovers. That's noir.
TOUCH OF EVIL
Universal, 1958.
Under all the visual razzle-dazzle there's a genuinely moving story: Pete Menzies turning Judas on Hank Quinlan, the mentor who's become a monster. Just imagine Ricardo Montalban instead of Heston.
SCARLET STREET
Universal, 1945.
Deeply perverse, and immensely enjoyable for the ways writer Dudley Nichols and Fritz Lang run circles around the Production Code. Were the three leads ever any better?
DETOUR
PRC, 1945.
You'd have thought it would lose the mystique, being liberated from the limbo of "Movies Till Dawn" and mass-distributed on DVD. Incredibly, it still casts its fetid, doom-laden spell, every time.
TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY
Warner Bros., 1951.
If WB had gone with a tragic finish—imagine Cochran throttling Roman only to learn he wasn't guilty in the first place—this hard-as-nails road picture would be a classic.
THE PROWLER
United Artists, 1950.
Silent producer John Huston's goodbye gift to wife Evelyn Keyes: a terrific role in a truly weird film. Dated by the pregnancy angle, but relentlessly compelling.
GUN CRAZY
United Artists, 1950.
No picture before or since has more deliriously used side arms as sexual symbols. Loopy, corny, overheated, but one big adrenaline rush of creative moviemaking from start to finish.
ACT OF VIOLENCE
MGM, 1949.
It directly confronts lingering WWII nightmares, mixes up the "good" guy versus "bad" guy premise to stunning effect, is beautifully directed and shot, and features great work from the four leads. Damn near perfect.
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW
United Artists, 1959.
Abraham Polonsky had always wanted to make a film about the African-American experience, but ghostwriting this was as close as he got. Robert Wise's best noir, hands up.
THE KILLING
United Artists, 1956.
If you believe that a good script is a succession of great scenes, you can't do better than this. Hey, that scene was so good, let's do it again from somebody else's perspective.
THEY LIVE BY NIGHT
RKO, 1949.
Film noir's version of Romeo and Juliet, made with amazing conviction by Nicholas Ray. A smart, soulful film full of evocative details, including a wonderfully intricate soundtrack.
THIEVES' HIGHWAY
20th Century-Fox, 1949.
Not nearly as uncompromising as the original novel, but a wonderful, politically-charged melodrama in its own right. This is the film that got me hooked on noir.
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
United Artists, 1958.
Almost improvisational in the making, with the palpable hostility of the filmmakers seeping into every shot. All captured brilliantly by his serene highness, James Wong Howe.
THE KILLERS
Universal, 1946.
Hemingway's short story is fleshed out into an incredibly involuted screenplay, which Siodmak renders as the ultimate noir dreamscape. The Citizen Kane of crime movies.
MOONRISE
Republic, 1948.
Relentlessly romantic optimistic Frank Borzage is the last guy you'd expect to turn out an effective film noir, but this was his sound era masterpiece, redemptive ending and all.
OUT OF THE PAST
RKO, 1947.
Face it, the meandering script is saved by Frank Fenton's dialogue. But this is how we want noir to look and sound, so it gets cut lots of slack. Mitchum is great, Douglas never better, and Jane Greer is 22 years old.
NIGHT AND THE CITY
20th Century-Fox, 1950.
Even more baroque than Touch of Evil, the greatness of this film is its stubborn refusal to allow the tiniest ray of light into Harry Fabian's headlong descent in hell. Is this the ultimate noir ending?
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
20th Century-Fox, 1947.
Little by little, as this film resurfaces in the mainstream, it will come to be seen as Tyrone Power's greatest contribution to the movies. "Pffft-Every boy had a dog!"
THE MALTESE FALCON
Warner Bros., 1941.
Okay, it's talky, set-bound and not all that exceptional to look at. But it's the most brilliantly self-contained detective story ever written, perfectly cast. It never gets stale.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY
Paramount, 1944.
Cain's basic blueprint has served as foundation for most of the unhappy homes in Dark City; but for that sloppy subplot with Nino Sachetti this would be #1. Too bad Wilder didn't make Postman, too.
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE
MGM, 1950.
"I wouldn't cross the street to see garbage like that," said the head of the studio that made this, the granddaddy of all caper films. A pure "crime" film, with every character indelible.
SUNSET BOULEVARD
Paramount, 1950.
To those who think this isn't noir: Man uses woman. Woman uses man. Queasy sex. Betrayal. Madness. Gunshots. He's face down in the pool he always wanted. Case closed.
CRISS CROSS
Universal, 1949.
Stupidly, I used to think there was something missing at the core. But it keeps getting better ever time I see it. De Carlo in the parking lot pleading straight to the camera might be noir's defining moment.
IN A LONELY PLACE Number 1
Columbia, 1950.
This incredible rethinking of Dorothy B. Hughes' disturbing serial killer novel is as close as a studio film ever got to "personal filmmaking." No noir iconography, just a profound darkness of the soul.

[Dargo]

Thanks for posing Eddie's Fav List here, Cid. Good job!

And so it seems the reason Eddie hasn't ranked 'OOTP' higher on his list was because:

"Face it, the meandering script is saved by Frank Fenton's dialogue. But this is how we want noir to look and sound, so it gets cut lots of slack. Mitchum is great, Douglas never better, and Jane Greer is 22 years old."

And so yeah, I suppose he has a point here, but still I'd say all this "meandering" he speaks of here somehow never gets boring.

(...well, at least to me, anyway)

[ElCid]

Thanks for posing Eddie's Fav List here, Cid. Good job!

And so it seems the reason Eddie hasn't ranked 'OOTP' higher on his list was because:

"Face it, the meandering script is saved by Frank Fenton's dialogue. But this is how we want noir to look and sound, so it gets cut lots of slack. Mitchum is great, Douglas never better, and Jane Greer is 22 years old."

And so yeah, I suppose he has a point here, but still I'd say all this "meandering" he speaks of here somehow never gets boring.

(...well, at least to me, anyway)

I agree and that's why it is in my top 5, if not number 1. Sometimes I don't like movies that are stuck in the same place all the time and OOTP is definitely a road movie. Have a hard time saying any movie is better than all others. But, Mitchum, Douglas and Greer - that's a trifecta. I have seen Greer in lots of movies and she never looked better than in OOTP. Her youth, looks, makeup, photography, lighting all came together. And her acting was spot on. I do think Eddie's list is interesting and plan to watch the ones I have not seen (if I can). Although some I don't readily recall the movie by title alone, but probably seen most of them - if not all.

[Dargo]

I'm hoping our friend Tex will be watching it tonight or tomorrow morning.

Would love to read his opinion of it.

(...remember earlier he said he's never watched it)

[jamesjazzguitar]

Eddie doesn't have Laura or The Big Sleep on his list and that surprises me. Could it be that these films were too romantic?

[ElCid]

Eddie doesn't have Laura or The Big Sleep on his list and that surprises me. Could it be that these films were too romantic?

Eddie said these were his favorites and maybe for some reason he does not consider either as favorite noirs? But you could be right about the romance angle, although almost all noirs have some kind of romance angle.

[Dargo]

Eddie doesn't have Laura or The Big Sleep on his list and that surprises me. Could it be that these films were too romantic?

Eddie said these were his favorites and maybe for some reason he does not consider either as favorite noirs? But you could be right about the romance angle, although almost all noirs have some kind of romance angle.

And, perhaps also considering both these films have a somewhat happy ending, what with the two leads in each of these films ending up not only alive and well, but yes, in each other's arms as well.

And Eddie has more than once mentioned in his wraparounds that he considers this sort of thing as lessening a noir's ultimate impact.

(...as he seems to feel a noir's protagonist must end up either dead or denied their future happiness in some manner in order for it to be true to this genre's intent and essence)