I got into this blogging game for the conversations. Ironic, since the vast majority of readers tend to shy away from the comments section. So we scribes do what we can to get the conversation going. Over the past couple of years, my two buddies, Sergio Angelini and Nick Cardillo, and I have set aside several hours every few months to discuss matters of the murderous heart. We are three rabid mystery fans, both of the literary and film variety, and we like nothing better than to spend hours in heated conversation over a topic of our choice.
Inspired by a couple of film podcasts that we love, Screen Drafts and The Big Picture, we have so far created “Best of” lists of the following:
- The Agatha Christie Top Twenty Novels Draft
- The Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes Films Super Draft
- The Distaff Columbo Episode Draft
- The Film Noirs of 1944 Draft
- The Fox Charlie Chan Film Draft
Our games come with a whole set of rules, but we won’t deal with them now. The reason I’m standing before you today (hunched in my darkened room, cackling wildly) is that I’m pleased to announce that the Three Amigos have TWO new drafts in the works. And because I’m giving you fair warning about these, I’m hoping that you, too will play along.
THE SUMMER DRAFT
On July 1, I’ll be posting the results of our draft on favorite mystery films. For this one, we are returning to the style of The Big Picture, which means that a. each of us is going to build and share his own list, and b. the titles we name must fall under certain predetermined categories. As I speak, Nick, Sergio and I are combing our film libraries and our memories to select appropriate films, and then when we come together, we are going to play a game where we try and get as many of our favorites on our list. The challenge is what to do if someone names our favorite before we do because films can only be played once over all three lists!
Here’s how you can contribute to the cause: below you will find all thirteen categories. If you have a favorite in one or more of these, feel free to reply in the comments below (or send me an e-mail to ahsweetmysteryblog@gmail.com) with the film’s title and a sentence or two as to why it’s your favorite in that category. I will share anything I receive with my cohorts, and you may see some of your choices appearing on our lists. Plus, if I get an interesting enough variety of responses, I will write a follow-up post sharing what my readers have selected.
Here are the categories:
- Best portrayal by an actor of a classic sleuth (adapted from books)
- Best detective created for the movies
- Best film from a series of films (the series must have at least six entries)
- Best Giallo or slasher film (any era)
- Best Screwball/comic mystery
- Best Noir Mystery
- Best Inverted Mystery (the ol’ cat and mouse game where we know who the killer is from the start)
- Best twist ending
- Best adaptation of a film from a mystery play
- Best adaptation of a mystery novel
- Best mystery created for the movies
- The book that should be adapted but hasn’t been yet
- Wild Card (this can be any film in any category; it’s like the free spot in the center of a bingo card!)
Remember that your choices can come from any period in the history of film. However, we follow the mooch rule from Screen Drafts here: nothing from TV is allowed. No Suchet, no One of My Wives Is Missing . . . just movies!
THE NOIRVEMBER DRAFT
Last fall, the three of us got together and drafted the best films noir from the year 1944. We had such a good time that I suggested we should try it again sometime with another year. Of course, we turned to the Noir Master, Sergio himself, for our next date, and he chose . . . .
1955.
That’s a special year to me as it happens to be the year of my birth. That’s right: I have a very big birthday coming up this December! And it turns out that ’55 was a HUGE year for film noir. Sergio handed us a list of thirty-six films!! We’re drafting the top thirteen of these, and I’m going to make every effort to watch or rewatch every one of them before our November meeting. Between now and then, I hope to offer you reviews of these films, but feel free to watch along yourselves. Here is the list:
| # | TITLE | STUDIO | DIRECTOR | STARS |
| 1 | 5 Against the House | Columbia | Phil Karlson | Guy Madison/Kim Novak |
| 2 | The Big Bluff | United Artists | W. Lee Wilder | John Bromfield/Martha Vickers |
| 3 | The Big Combo | Allied Artists | Joseph H. Lewis(Alton!) | Cornel Wilde/Richard Conte |
| 4 | The Big Knife | United Artists | Robert Aldrich | Jack Palance/Ida Lupino/Rod Steiger/Shelley Winters |
| 5 | A Bullet for Joey | United Artists | Lewis Allen | Edward G. Robinson/George Raft |
| 6 | Chicago Syndicate | Columbia | Fred F. Sears | Dennis O’Keeffe/Abbe Lane |
| 7 | Crashout | Filmways | Lewis R. Foster | William Bendix/Arthur Kennedy |
| 8 | The Crooked Web | Columbia | Nathan Juran | Frank Lovejoy/Marie Blanchard |
| 9 | The Desperate Hours | Paramount | William Wyler | Humphrey Bogart/Fredric March |
| 10 | Les Diaboliques | Cinêdis | Henri-George Clouzot | Simone Signoret/Vera Clouzot |
| 11 | Female Jungle | ARC | Bruno VeSota | Lawrence Tierney/John Carradine |
| 12 | Female on the Beach | Universal | Joseph Pevney | Joan Crawford/Jeff Chandler |
| 13 | Finger Man | Allied Artists | Harold D. Schuster | Frank Lovejoy/Forrest Tucker |
| 14 | Illegal | Warner Brothers | Lewis Allen | Edward G. Robinson/Nina Foch |
| 15 | Killer’s Kiss | United Artists | Stanley Kubrick | Frank Silvera/Jamie Smith |
| 16 | Kiss Me Deadly | United Artists | Robert Aldrich | Ralph Meeker/Albert Dekker |
| 17 | Las Vegas Shakedown | Allied Artists | Sidney Salkow | Dennis O’Keeffe/Coleen Gray |
| 18 | Mr Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) | Warner Brothers | Orson Welles | Orson Welles/Akim Tamiroff/Michael Redgrave |
| 19 | Murder Is My Beat | Allied Artists | Edgar G. Ulmer | Paul Langton/Barbara Payton |
| 20 | The Naked Street | United Artists | Maxwell Shane | Farley Granger/Anthony Quinn/Anne Bancroft |
| 21 | New Orleans Uncensored | Columbia | William Castle | Arthur Franz/Beverly Garland |
| 22 | New York Confidential | Warner Brothers | Russell Rouse | Broderick Crawford/Richard Conte |
| 23 | The Night Holds Terror | Columbia | Andrew L. Stone | Jack Kelly/Vince Edwards |
| 24 | The Night of the Hunter | United Artists | Charles Laughton | Robert Mitchum/Shelley Winters/Lillian Gish |
| 25 | The Phenix City Story | Allied Artists | Phil Karlson | John McIntire/Richard Kiley |
| 26 | Queen Bee | Columbia | Ranald MacDougall | Joan Crawford/Barry Sullivan |
| 27 | Rififi | Pathé | Jules Dassin | Jean Servais/Robert Hossein |
| 28 | Shack Out on 101 | Allied Artists | Edward Dein | Terry Moore/Frank Lovejoy |
| 29 | Sudden Danger | Allied Artists | Hubert Cornfield | Bill Elliott/Tom Drake |
| 30 | Tight Spot | Columbia | Phil Karlson | Ginger Rogers/Edward G. Robinson |
| 31 | Women’s Prison | Columbia | Lewis Seiler | Ida Lupino/Jan Sterling |
| 32 | Hell on Frisco Bay | Warner Brothers | Frank Tuttle | Alan Ladd/Edward G. Robinson |
| 33 | Hell’s Island (aka South Sea Fury) | Paramount | Phil Karlson | John Payne/Mary Murphy |
| 34 | House of Bamboo | 20th Century Fox | Samuel Fuller | Robert Ryan/Robert Stack |
| 35 | I Died a Thousand Times | Warner Brothers | Stuart Heisler | Jack Palance/Shelley Winters |
| 36 | Violent Saturday | 20th Century Fox | Richard Fleischer | Victor Mature/Richard Egan |
The list contains a fabulous array of stars and directors and includes some seminal films in the noir lexicon and some odd little movies indeed. Admittedly, I’ve only seen a few of these, so I’ve got my viewing cut out for me. I hope you’ll fasten your seat belts and come along for the bumpy ride.
THE THIRD ANNOUNCEMENT
I recently was invited by Sergio to sit down and talk about Alfred Hitchcock’s place in film noir for his podcast, Tipping My Fedora. The result was an hour-long discussion about Rebecca and Shadow of a Doubt. I had a great time with Serge discussing the Master of Suspense, and I hope you’ll give it a listen. (Check out all the other terrific episodes while you’re at it – there’s one with Nick and Serge discussing the mystery film Dead Again. You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
Ah Sweet Mystery! 
Can’t wait to get stuck in with our Big Picture Drafts (sic) 😁. You were a terrific guest on the Hitchcock podcast Brad – so glad there will be more!!
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I REALLY don’t believe in “bests” (this is not just lip service— I don’t think even unanimous aesthetic opinions can be any more objective than an unpopular opinion held by one), so I’ll just use “Best” here as a substitute for “Favorite”:
Best portrayal by an actor of a classic sleuth (adapted from books)
With Alastair Sim’s Inspector Cockrill and Warner Oland’s Charlie Chan breathing down his neck, I’ll go with William Powell as Nick Charles
Best detective created for the movies
Benoit Blanc. An instant classic, IMO. Didn’t care much for the second film, but the character is as good as they get.
Best film from a series of films (the series must have at least six entries)
The Kennel Murder Case (1933). I think it’s everything people claim for it— the perfect visual illustration of the archetypal American Golden Age detective novel (just as Crime in the Hill [1933] is that of the English village mystery)
Best Giallo or slasher film (any era)⁃ Deep Red (1975). Call me a lemming— It’s not my genre, and have only seen about three of them. So my opinion is not an educated one.
Best Screwball/comic mystery
The Thin Man (1934). Nothing comes close enough for me even to try for an iconoclastic response. It’s a lousy mystery for reasons I’ve gone on about ad infinitum, but possibly the best character comedy the cinema has ever given us.
Best Noir Mystery
What’s being asked for here? Best Noir film, or Best Noir film that’s a mystery? If it’s the former, I’ll go for good ol’ Double Indemnity (1944), if the latter I’d say The Verdict (1946), or even Citizen Kane (1941).
Best Inverted Mystery (the ol’ cat and mouse game where we know who the killer is from the start)⁃ I’d say the wonderful Dial M for Murder (1954), but just to be contrary I’ll with its precode precursor Guilty as Hell (1932).
Best twist ending
I predict Witness for the Prosecution (1957) will get a lot of votes, but I feel it tips its hand, so I’ll go with The Verdict (1946) (which also rather tips its hand, but not nearly as early).
Best adaptation of a film from a mystery play
Affairs of a Gentleman (1934). I don’t suppose I’d have gone to so much effort to track down its source play if it didn’t fascinate me. Runners up are Crime on the Hill (1933), The Ninth Guest (1934), Guilty as Hell (1932), Dial M for Murder (1954), and maybe Sleuth (1972).
Best adaptation of a mystery novel
with stiff competition from Death on the Nile (1978), I’ll go for Green for Danger (1946), with which Nile holds so many jaw-dropping parallels.
Best mystery created for the movies – The Last of Sheila (1978) (distant runner up: The Phantom of Crestwood [1932])
The book that should be adapted but hasn’t been yet
Death of Jezebel or Till Death Do Us Part. Give it to TDDUP— it will be easier to film.
Wild Card (this can be any film in any category; it’s like the free spot in the center of a bingo card!)
Love Letters of a Star (1936](Best mystery film very few people have seen)
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wow, the format sure got screwed up on that one!
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The format looks fine to me – WordPress double spaces for everything, which is obnoxious!
(See?)
I made my preliminary list yesterday and – ornery cuss that you are! – it’s amazing how much in agreement we are. The trick is that I’ll bet Sergio and Nick come up with some of the same titles, too, and the first man to play a title blocks others from playing it. We’re also considering movies that got made after 1946, so our lists will be more expansive!!! But thanks for playing!
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Hey, I’ve got Deep Red, Last of Sheila, and Benoit Blanc in there… I’m positively FUTURISTIC!!!
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🤣
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Albert Finney’s portrait of Poirot is not Christie’s character. However, it is a magnificent comic creation. Since I’m not as slavishly devoted to Christie as some people I could mention, I have no problem nominating him.
If by best you mean competent — JJ Gittes
The House of Fear (1945) This is the only mystery film series I’ve seen in its entirety.
I’m going to go with My Dear Killer (1972) I’m not sure it’s the best, but it’s damn good.
The Long Goodbye (1973) I’m not sure its comedic through and through (at the core, it’s quite serious) but it’s funny enough.
KIss Me Deadly (1955)
Dial M For Murder (1954) I remember having a “meh” opinion, but a recent viewing impressed me.
Vertigo (1958) There is not competition.
Sleuth (1972)
The Grifters (1990)
Night Moves (1975)
Goodnight Irene (2018) I’ve never read it, but I’ve heard good things.
I’m going with The Two Jakes (1990) — criminally underrated.
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