Join me in taking a look at the second movie in our Noirvember film noir festival at the library: Robert Siodmak’s The Killers!
1946
Noirvember 2018, Episode 27: The Chase (1946)
Prepare yourself for one of the strangest film noir titles of all time! Find out more here.
Noirvember 2018, Episode 23: The Man I Love (1946)
Ida Lupino sings! She also bounces around like she’s trapped inside a pinball machine in this mostly melodrama noir. Read more!
Noir City DC 2018 Part V: The Killers Double Feature
Twice the killers! Twice the thrills! Twice the noir! And featuring introductions by Eddie Muller! Read on right here.
Noirvember 2017, Episode 16: The Dark Mirror (1946)
The Dark Mirror (1946) Robert Siodmak
Olive Blu-ray (1:25)
Watching The Dark Mirror in 1946 was undoubtedly a fascinating experience. First of all you had Olivia de Havilland performing wonderfully as twin sisters, a Nunnally Johnson screenplay, cinematographer Milton R. Krasner, music by Dimitri Tiomkin and, of course, Robert Siodmak directing. Over 70 years later, the film’s impact is far less than it was in 1946, but this has less to do with the people who made the film than our understanding of psychology.
Noirvember 2016, Episode 27: Decoy (1946)
Decoy (1946) Jack Bernhard (2x)
(1:16)
Warner Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 4 DVD
Like many film noir movies, this Monogram picture is told mostly in flashback, but the weird nature of the film combined with multiple double crosses and a seriously wicked femme fatale, all in a glorious low-budget production, make Decoy a must-see. As the story begins, a dying Margot Shelby (Jean Gillie) tells police Sgt. Joe Portugal (Sheldon Leonard) the story of Margot’s gangster boyfriend Frankie Olins (Robert Armstrong), a criminal who’s about to go to the gas chamber for killing a guard during a heist. Although he got nabbed, Frankie made off with $400,000 and swears he’s going to take the knowledge of where the money’s stashed with him to the grave. Continue reading
Noirvember 2016, Episode 20: The Stranger (1946)
The Stranger (1946) Orson Welles (2x)
(1:35)
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
A member of the UN War Crimes Commission named Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) is convinced that WWII Nazi war criminal Franz Kindler (Orson Welles) is hiding out in America. Wilson sends Kindler’s former right-hand-man Meinike (Konstantin Shayne) to find Kindler with Wilson following closely behind. Meanwhile, Kindler has a new identity: a prep school teacher named Charles Rankin. Rankin is well-respected and is about to marry a young woman named Mary (Loretta Young), the daughter of a Supreme Court Justice (Philip Merivale).
Noirvember 2016, Episode 4: The Strange Woman (1946)
The Strange Woman (1946) Edgar G. Ulmer
(1:40)
Amazon streaming (public domain)
I’m normally not a huge fan of historic period film noir, films such as House by the River (1950), which I watched for last year’s Noirvember. I appreciate the noir element, but it’s really hard for me to think of those films as noir.
Until now.
Two British Noir Movies
Just a short look today at two British film noir movies:
Blindspot Series 2016: Gilda (1946)
Gilda (1946)
Directed by Charles Vidor
Screenplay by Marion Parsonnet and Ben Hecht (uncredited)
Adaptation by Jo Eisinger from a story by E.A. Ellington
Produced by Virginia Van Upp
Cinematography by Rudolph Maté
Edited by Charles Nelson
Music by Hugo Friedhofer (uncredited)
Costumes by Jean Louis
Columbia Pictures
Criterion Blu-ray (1:50)
Continuing my Blindspot Series 2016:
Journeys in Darkness and Light 
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