I have been trying to consistently watch noir movies this November and I have had some great finds, unfortunately almost none of them are streaming. Noir is not surprisingly neglected by conventional streaming services. I have included a couple on the list that that are on Amazon Prime, and they are good. Also included are a couple you will have to rent, they are worth it. I decided to go with an eclectic list, aimed at showcasing how wide ranging the genre can be rather than try for best of.
Out of the Past (1947) 🦛🦛🦛🦛
Considered by many the cream of the crop this is a prototypical noir featuring a P.I. (Robert Mitchum), a criminal (Kirk Douglas), a femme fatale (Jane Greer) tangled loyalties and lies. Great stuff superbly acted,shot by Nicolas Musuraca and directed by Jacques Tourneur, two of the best.
Streaming: Amazon Prime
Rent: AppleTV
Thoughts? Feel free to weigh in!
Mildred Pierce 🦛🦛🦛🦛
A story about a spoiled brat and the mother who made her. The great Joan Crawford gives one of her great performances as Mildred. You will assume that at some point Mildred, a strong independent single woman and terrible parent will see the light but this movie just keeps diving into bad parenting Hell. Necessarily tamer in some details than James M. Cain’s book it looses none of the harshness that made his work great. A personal favourite.
Streaming: ☹️
Rent: AppleTV
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Laura 🦛🦛🦛1/2
A cop falls in love with a dead woman in Otto Premingers deliriously creepy murder mystery. Gene Tierney plays the dead Laura and it’s easy to see why the cop falls in love with her picture. Dana Andrews gives a great performance as the cop who seems perpetually irritated, mostly with himself (probably for falling for a dead woman) and Clifton Webb steals the show as Waldo Lydecker who is positively reptilian. One of my all time favourites of any genre.
Streaming: ☹️
Rent: AppleTV
Thoughts? Feel free to weigh in!
The Window 🦛🦛🦛
Again something quite different based on Cornell Woolrich’s short story “The Boy Who Cried Murder”. Little Tommy (Bobby Driscoll) who is prone to telling tall tales witnesses his NY apartment neighbours commit a murder but no one will believe him. Except the murderers that is. A well made movie that creates peril out of the the very real fact that adults often dismiss what children say out of hand. You will probably listen to your children little more carefully after this one. At least for a couple of days.
Streaming: Amazon Prime
Rent: AppleTV
I couldn’t find a trailer for this one so you get this intro by Czar of Noir Eddie Muller.
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This was a new one for me but it has been on my to see list for a long time.
Adolescent Bart has a passion for guns that borders on the criminal even if he is otherwise a good kid. An early courtroom scene establishes that Bart is not a psychopath he is just Gun Crazy (🦛🦛🦛🦛) in fact he is unwilling even to hunt, in context this is significant and immediately sets the movie apart from its peers. Having established Bart’s character the movie time jumps to his adult self played by co-star John Dall just out of the army and returning to the hometown he left so long ago. He reconnects with childhood friends Dave and Clyde. The trio visit a carnival in town. There Bart sees Laurie (Peggy Cummings) and sparks fly. To quote singer/songwriter Matt Kearney “that look locked up my whole life.” Congratulations and thank you to the casting director who completely nailed it. The spark turns to a flame when in a sexy and slightly terrifying display of gun skill when Bart and Laurie who is the carnival’s sharpshooter compete in a showdown for fifty dollars. It is clear the two are fated to head whichever way they are going together and the title leads you to believe that the way is not going to end so well for them. Bart joins the carnival but the lovers soon get booted by the jealous owner who sees Laurie as his. Everything up to this point was build up. Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (it is credited to Millard Kauffman because Trumbo was blacklisted) turns up the heat when Peggy is up front about the fact that she wants “to live” in the expensive sense of the word. She loves Bart but she is not willing to compromise on having it all. The skilled with a gun duo naturally turn to crime and so starts the lovers on the lam portion of the movie. I leave the rest of the details for you to discover. Director Joseph H. Lewis with a strong assist from cinematographer Russell Harlan does a brilliant job directing the duo’s time on the run and the heists themselves. I saw future echo’s of crime classics Breathless (🦛🦛🦛🦛) and Bonnie and Clyde (🦛🦛🦛🦛) all over the place. The plot is not complex but the filming is dynamic, and the moral complexity of the script is deep. I was surprised by it. You could miss it under the ridiculous amount so sex appeal in the crime spree. The ending is stirring and heartbreaking but for me the best scene is where Laurie explains why she is willing to kill. It is completely human moment and highlights that there are no hero’s and villains here just people. Gun Crazy is fun, brilliant and was way ahead of its time.
Streaming: ☹️
Rent: AppleTV
Housekeeping note
I a dialling back to a two week release schedule for the foreseeable future. I am not the best time manager and until I get a better rhythm more time will equal more consistency.