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Author Topic: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014  (Read 28164 times)

The Deer Hunter

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #20 on: October 31, 2014, 06:07:28 PM »
Sweet Smell Of Success and Out Of The Past are the only two of my watchlist so far. It's hard to get copies of a lot of these down here so I'll have to take a closer look and see what i can find.

verbALs

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #21 on: October 31, 2014, 06:16:34 PM »
You should try finding US b-movies in the UK. Nightmare.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

Jared

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #22 on: October 31, 2014, 08:39:00 PM »
archive.org has dozens of film noir movies, streaming and for download, all free.

https://archive.org/details/Film_Noir

The Stranger, Detour, and Suddenly are good options for the noir newcomer  :)

Jared

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #23 on: November 01, 2014, 11:32:46 AM »
Caged

Eleanor Parker plays a newly imprisoned widow thrown in with the general pop of hardened criminals.

When the film starts out we meet a lot of the staff as she is processed. One understands from the early conversations that this is kind of an unjust imprisonment (at least in the severity of the punishment) and that this film is going to try to pull at your heartstrings with the injustices of it all...Shawshank style. Given this, you expect the jailors to be the rough type, but for the most part, the movie throws a bit of a curveball. The staff, led by Ruth Benton (Agnes Moorehead), is actually helpful and accommodating for the most part. Interested in the rehabilitation of the prisoners.

We eventually meet Evelyn Harper (played by Hope Emerson, one of about a half dozen wonderful film noir character actresses in this movie) though, and she is the typical corporal punishment/unfair rules type that we see in a lot of these movies.

Parker is the showcase and is fantastic, but I really liked Moorehead even more. As the superintendent of the prison she tries to corral Harper, battle with politicians and the parole board who have no sympathy for any of the prisoners, and keep her prisoners under control when Harper lashes out. It's a performance that makes a good but fairly routine prison movie quite a bit more interesting.

MartinTeller

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #24 on: November 01, 2014, 12:13:14 PM »
I liked that one.  Excellent cinematography.

Jared

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #25 on: November 01, 2014, 04:09:34 PM »
The Get-Away

I'd watched a couple John Ford movies recently with Dan Dailey in them and rather liked them, so when I saw him and Donna Reed amongst a cast I hit it in the DVR.

Dailey plays Sonny Black, an imprisoned leader in a dangerous gang that the FBI is hunting. Robert Sterling plays a young man who is busted for a robbery and is jailed up with Black. The two formulate an escape plan and then are off to a hideout to meet up with the gang.

It's one where characters spend a lot of time questioning each others allegiances. There are pretty big twists in about the middle, both with one of the two leading males, and when Donna Reed's character is introduced. Neither really worked a whole lot to me. As we find out new information about characters a lot of the things that has already happened in the movie do not make a whole lot of sense. Scene by scene it is pretty good, but some of the inconsistencies make it not quite a sum of its parts.

 

1SO

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #26 on: November 02, 2014, 12:33:36 AM »

Cry of the City (1948)

I love films that quickly and efficiently introduce characters and drop them right into danger. Cry of the City isn't a quick hit off a pipe. It's that nice, long drag off a cigar. It's a film where a lot is happening, both in terms of story and character development, but nothing is hurried. The end is a climax of character arcs, not action - though there are a couple of exciting standoffs - and with the themes tied together in beautiful bits of drama, at the end I was so excited to be in Noir-vember.

This one's been on my list since my first Noir Marathon. A MartinTeller recommendation, long unavailable to me. I only looked for it occasionally, since I'm not really a fan of co-leads Victor Mature and Richard Conte. Both are at the top of their craft here, and there are a deep well of familiar supporting actors too. The timing of my viewing also benefits from coming after the pseudo-noir Man Hunt. With this film, there is no doubt. Not just in the technicals, like the photography and year of release, but the fatalism that hangs over both characters nice and thick. Both men keep moving forward beyond their bodies' physical limits. The exhaustion just piles on, opening the characters up to musing about where their roads will end. That makes it not right for Noir Beginners, but top of the list when you're ready to go beyond the essentials.

I'm being vague about details because it's not an easy film to summarize. It's also not a difficult film to follow. There's the occasional bad bit player, and sometimes I thought the director (Robert Siodmak) was trying too hard to not be tight. I'm not sure the family bits needed so much screen time, though the final shot of the younger brother is perfect. I'm stuck in the middle of two ratings, but this is one of the best Noirs I've seen, with a terrific final 10-15 minutes.
Rating: * * * 1/4

Jared

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #27 on: November 02, 2014, 12:57:53 AM »
I enjoyed that one too. Liked how the Mature character was from the same neighborhood as the Conte character and commanded a lot more respects than the police usually do in these movies. Can't remember the majority of the beats in the plot but it was pretty damn good.

MartinTeller

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #28 on: November 02, 2014, 01:15:54 AM »
One of my very favorites, glad you liked it.  Is this your first quarter star?  I don't recall seeing that before.

1SO

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2014
« Reply #29 on: November 02, 2014, 01:40:25 AM »
It is. I'll bend one way or another after a few days. (Will probably show it to Mrs. 1SO, and that 2nd watch should help me decide.) It's a very good film, but superior as an example of Noir.

 

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