Movies Watched in October 2017 Part III

My apologies for not providing any further information or comment on the films I watched during the last part of October. Several projects presented me from going into further detail this time, but I did link to a few films I expounded on a bit further, including many of the Noir City DC films. But rest assured: Noirvember will offer at least 30 film noir titles that are (1) new to me and (2) were all released during the “classic” noir era (1941-1958), give or take a year or two here and there. Also here’s Part I and Part II from October. So let’s finish up the month:

Today on Noir Alley: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Today at 10am EST on TCM’s Noir Alley, hosted by Eddie Muller:

The Strange Love of Martha IversThe Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) Lewis Milestone
(1:55)

Nearly two decades after the death of her rich aunt, Martha Ivers (Barbara Stanwyck) has married Walter (Kirk Douglas, in his very first role), a district attorney whom Martha doesn’t love, but the marriage is one of convenience. Martha’s former friend Sam (Van Heflin) drifts into town, meets a sultry woman named Toni (Lizabeth Scott), who’s on parole, and tries to convince Martha to use her influence to keep Toni out of the joint. Nice film noir that tiptoes along that thin line separating noir from melodrama, but the cast is out of sight. Although uncredited, Byron Haskin directed at least part of the film since Lewis Milestone was away from the film for a considerable time adding his support to a set decorators’ strike. Although available on Blu-ray from Film Chest, the reviews are not good. This is another excellent noir that deserves a better restoration.

4/5

Noir City DC 2017: Sexy Beast (2000) Jonathan Glazer

Gary “Gal” Dove (Ray Winstone) has had a good run as a safe-cracker, so good that he and his wife DeeDee (Amanda Redman) can afford to retire from London bank jobs and relax at their Spanish villa. All is well until an old associate named Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) demands that Gal pull one more heist for London crime boss Teddy Bass (Ian McShane). If you’re a fan of classic film noir, you’ll recognize this as the basic set-up from Out of the Past (1947), but the similarities pretty much end there.

Noir City DC 2017: Out of the Past (1947) Jacques Tourneur

Although Noir City DC 2017 has come to an end, I’m still working my way thorough my notes and hope to report the films I haven’t already discussed. One of the highlights of the festival was seeing one of my all-time favorites on the big screen for the first time: Jacques Tourneur’s Out of the Past, which marked not only the film’s 70th anniversary, but also the Robert Mitchum Centennial.

Noir City DC 2017: Joan Fontaine Double Feature

As part of the Joan Fontaine Centennial, Noir City DC programmed two of her noir titles that often get overlooked: Ivy (1947) and Born to Be Bad (1950). Eddie Muller introduced the films by commenting on Fontaine’s tempestuous relationship with her sister Olivia de Havilland, taking sibling rivalry to a whole other level. De Havilland was born first and became an actress first, but Fontaine was always close behind, spouting an “I can do it, too” attitude. Fontaine won her first Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar in 1941 for Suspicion, the same year de Havilland was nominated  for Hold Back the Dawn. (De Havilland won her first Oscar in 1946 with To Each His Own.) Mutual congratulations were not part of their family dynamic. It got worse: de Havilland didn’t tell Fontaine of their mother’s death for weeks. At one time Fontaine told a reporter something along the lines of ‘I married first, won an Oscar first, and she’ll be mad if I die first!’

Noir City DC 2017: Alain Delon Double Feature

Film Noir Foundation President Eddie Muller congratulated Todd Hitchcock, the AFI Silver’s Director of Programming, for finding a 35mm print of a film Muller wanted to show at Noir City 15 back in January, Any Number Can Win (Mélodie en sous-sol), the second film in Saturday’s Alain Delon double feature. Muller treated us to a Walter Matthau double feature on Friday, so here’s an Alain Delon double feature, which caused Muller to joke, “Walter Matthau, Alain Delon… They’re like brothers, right?”

Noir City DC 2017: Walter Matthau Double Feature

 

I ask you, how many times in your life have you ever read or heard the words “Walter Matthau Double Feature”? You can’t exactly envision people lining up and down the block for such a double bill, but I’d say the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center brought in well over 100 people for both The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and Charley Varrick (1973) last night.

Waiting for Noirvember 2017

Journeys in Darkness and Light will be quiet for awhile… I plan on spending a few days at Noir City DC (and I promise to report back) watching some great noir, seeing some noir folks I haven’t seen in awhile, and hopefully meeting some new friends. Before and after that, I’ll also be doing some research on an upcoming project. (I’ll report back on that, too, when it gets a little closer.)

In the meantime, I’ve been delighted to see several people on Twitter posting their Noirvember lists. I’m not going to post mine beforehand, but rather post a new film each day as I’ve done in the past. So while the blog is silent for awhile, here are the films I reported on during Noirvember 2015 and 2016. Maybe you’ll find something to add to your lists. Enjoy!

Photo: Benito Movie Poster

Movies Watched in October 2017 Part II

Due to having several projects in the queue, most of my thoughts on the movies I’ve watched lately will be brief. Hopefully there’s enough here to stir (or dispel) your interest. If you missed it, here’s Part I of what I’ve watched in October so far. And here’s more…

Film Noir Releases in November 2017

Photo: Film Riot

If you’re new to my monthly Film Noir Releases posts, welcome! My goal is to cover all the first-time releases to Blu-ray and DVD, usually passing over reissues unless there’s a good reason to include them. Unless otherwise noted, these are all North American Region A Blu-ray discs. I often use the terms “film noir” and “neo-noir” rather loosely, so while you may quibble with some of my choices, I hope these are films you’ll at least consider. As always, if you know of any film noir or neo-noir films I’ve left out, please let me know in the comments below. And thanks for reading!

As far as new releases go, November 2017 isn’t exactly a barn burner… But Noirvember does offer a classic from Criterion, a nice UK Region B box set, and maybe a few other temptations for you. Let’s get started: