The Silver Screen Oasis

NIGHTWALKER wrote:
"It truly almost seems as if the creators of these films can't quite conceive that such a thing as a happy marriage can exist, at least for long, because it would involve imperfect, possibly even tainted, people."

A well-made point, although it would somehow seem implausible that a happy marriage could ever be considered thematically suited for inclusion in a noir film. Unless, of course, the happy couple was singled out as the victims of a grisly murder plot. ("There goes the bride, there goes the groom...")
-Dewey
By the way, welcome aboard!

Of course you're right, Dewey. A happy marriage would be a bit of an odd duck in the noir world. In fact, I think only the marriages of subsidiary characters (such as Sam Levene & Virginia Christine in the '46 THE KILLERS) can generally be seen as being "happy" in these films.

And thanks for the welcome! Glad to be here.

Hi there, Nightwalker. A couple of other "happy" film noir marriages occurred to me after reading your post: Glenn Ford and Jocelyn Brando in Fritz Lang's classic THE BIG HEAT (although she comes to a tragically unhappy end) and Frank Lovejoy and Jeff Donnell in Nicholas Ray's superb IN A LONELY PLACE. Bogart and Gloria Grahame's weirdly dysfunctional relationship in that film serves as a fascinating counterpoint.

I also thought that John Garfield and Phyllis Thaxter were a pretty happy couple (at least, happy with each other) in THE BREAKING POINT. Keechie and Bowie in THEY LIVE BY NIGHT also seemed happy with each other, and in the case of each of those films, it was the intrusion of the "outside" world that brought about the conflict central to the story in each film.

So I guess the upshot is that, even if you're happy, in the world of noir, it won't last.

Well deduced!