film noir?

welsh

welsh

Junkmaster
Anyone into Film Noir? I was reading something on the web and realized that many of my favorite films are of the Film Noir genre.

This could range widely from the Maltese Falcon, or Strangers on a Train, the Talent Mr. Ripley, Dark City and Blade Runner in sci-fi, the Postman only Rings Twice, or the Manchurian Candidate.

For more on this genre-
http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html
 
Yip, I'm an old-time Film Noir lover...

Uhm...Why? any film in particular you're thinking of?
 
The Usual Suspects, Memento, Blade Runner, L.A. Confidential, Strange Days, Black Widow, The Grifters, Wild at Heart, Basic Instinct, Heat, Fargo and Face-Off are the ones I've seen from that list.

I've yet to see Mulholland Drive and Dark City. I also haven't seen Citizen Kane yet (dodges bulltets), but i just haven't had a chance. Honest!

Incidentally, isn't Dead on Arrival that film with Dennis Quaid? Iremember little of it now, but remember liking it a lot at the time i saw it (which was in 1990, quite likely).

And Se7en just flat out rules.
 
I agree with you role player. Dead on Arrival was a great flick. Se7en was also great.

I just think this is one of the best genres. Watching Dead Men DOn't Wear Plaid with all the bits got me into the genre again.

I picked up Chandler's collection of novels as a belated Christmas/birthday present. But few of his movies have really worked that well.

What about oldies? Any suggestions?

Also I liked Dead Again- wonderful use of reincarnation with the noir themes.
 
One of the problems I find with some of the oldies is that they don't stand up well with time.

I recently saw Night of the Hunter- this is a movie that begs to be redone.

Cool Hand Luke, however, is classic as is the Hustler.

One of my favorites is Orson Well's A Touch of Evil. This is such a good flick.

Have yet to see Sunset Blvd. Recently saw Chinatown again- wonderful.
 
welsh said:
I recently saw Night of the Hunter- this is a movie that begs to be redone.
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Some of Robert Mitchum's expressions in that movie were pure gold - I was on the verge of laughter through a good many scenes. Great movie, but I wouldn't like to see it re-done - I feel like it would be so over-dramatized and action-packed that it would just make the story and characters seem ridiculous.
 
welsh said:
I recently saw Night of the Hunter- this is a movie that begs to be redone.
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I have that on DVD, but haven't watched it yet. I've actually had it for about six months. I couldn't get into it, but since I've been watching silent films lately I think I'll finally be able to give it a go.

BTW, do you remember a while ago when you asked me about my film history project? If you remember I brought up the Hayes Code/Motion Picture Production Code. Check into it -- you can find it in its entirety on the Web, even down to the revisions made after it was initially drafted in '30 -- and you'll see why it is that a lot of films ended up being re-worked and fucked up in the process because they weren't allowed to say/refer to/show whatever. We're talking everything from miscegeny to rape to clergy being portrayed as villains. (Which is one reason Night of the Hunter is of interest since it has a villainous preacher...) Hell, Citizen Kane had to have a scene changed (the one w/the dance girls) because it was set in a brothel, and that went against the Code.

welsh said:
One of my favorites is Orson Well's A Touch of Evil. This is such a good flick.
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Isn't it amazing that Charlton Heston who is such an abominable actor was in so many great movies? Of course, they're largely great in spite of him rather than because of him, but that's another issue. :lol:

Personally, I think it's a tragedy that people are largely closed to black and white cinema today. There's a lot of things that can be done w/expressionistic lighting, etc. that simply can't be done w/color. However, no producer is going to let a film be made in this medium unless it's a farm film like Clerks, which took zero advantage of the medium because it was a budgetary constraint rather than an artistic choice.

OTB
 
OnTheBounce said:
Personally, I think it's a tragedy that people are largely closed to black and white cinema today. There's a lot of things that can be done w/expressionistic lighting, etc. that simply can't be done w/color. However, no producer is going to let a film be made in this medium unless it's a farm film like Clerks, which took zero advantage of the medium because it was a budgetary constraint rather than an artistic choice.
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Well, that's the great thing about movies like Lenny and Raging Bull. Black-and-white by choice, and brilliant so. Boogie Nights, which was thematically identical to Raging Bull and had so many mirorring scenes, really should've been black-and-white too, but I suppose that would constrain the 70's-to-80's feel.

I watched an imported Seven DVD I borrowed of of a colleague yesterday. It has the original colour-scheme as intended by the director, which is very much more grayscale-ish than the theater release and looks great, and while watching it I realised this film is partially a tribute to film noir as much as it is just another film noir in itself.

Ah well. Rant rant.
 
I know that version of Seven.

That's one of the truly great films of the 90s, that is often overlooked.
 
Oh, by the way, Malky, I also got my grubby hands on/borrowed another DVD from that guy; Terminator 3. That deleted scene and the bloopers are hilarious, but overal I must say it's a pretty lousy edition (especially since it doesn't decode perfectly on my DVD player; it sometimes has some trouble with other-region DVDs, did so with the first Spawn disc too). The Dutch edition by Columbia Tristar sucks too (different countries, different publishers, a bit weird, but hey...)

Artisan will re-release it next year. Artisan is like Europe's (at least I think they're European) Criterion, they make superb editions, but as opposed to Criterion, they pick out a lot of sucky movies.

I also hear Columbia Tristar is going to make a 2-disc Superbit out of it. That'd rock.
 
Oh man, I laughed so hard at the deleted scene. The DVD we have over here is okay, nothing too amazing though. I liked T3, but it pales in comparison to the other films.

One day, my friend, one day we will have King Conan.
 
Malkavian said:
Oh man, I laughed so hard at the deleted scene. The DVD we have over here is okay, nothing too amazing though. I liked T3, but it pales in comparison to the other films.
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I just said I watched the DVD you had over there, the WBHV release. Here it's a CTHE release, and a bit different (did I just switch my V and Es).

T3 is the mad shit. There's nothing like a good sequel that acknowledges it's not as good as the previous, and just becomes a funny parody of itself, provided it's done well.

Malkavian said:
One day, my friend, one day we will have King Conan.
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With Vin Diesel as Conan.

My hopes for Conan 3 anytime soon are as high as my hopes for Fallout 3 anytime soon...No, wait, my hope for Fo3 are as high as my hopes for Mad Max 4, my hopes for Conan 3 are lower/
 
I try really hard to like Polinksi, but the Pianist is the only thing I really respect.
Wohooo. Ugly Irish bitch is sister/mother to mysterious woman and daughter/lover of father. Might as well watch a Kabuki play.
 
Kharn said:
OnTheBounce said:
I watched an imported Seven DVD I borrowed of of a colleague yesterday. It has the original colour-scheme as intended by the director, which is very much more grayscale-ish than the theater release and looks great, and while watching it I realised this film is partially a tribute to film noir as much as it is just another film noir in itself.

Ah well. Rant rant.
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I think thats the version i have. My father bought it when he went to the UK last year. I specially liked the mini-documentary depicting the creation of Jonathan Doe's notebooks.
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