Well, it was bound to happen. After nine weeks of forty people gathering in a tiny Zoom room to marvel over all the 1940’s films noir that our instructor Elliot Lavine has shared with us, he finally presented a double bill of films that were, each in their way, so extreme that they managed to divide us. … Continue reading UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 9 – The Great Schism
Film Noir
UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 8 – Mid(century) Evil Woman
Most of the time it’s easy to kick back and enjoy an old movie for its story, its performances, and – as often happens in the case of film noir – its distinctive look. But sometimes, like when you’ve been sitting isolated for over fourteen months and you’ve been forced to watch one major political party do … Continue reading UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 8 – Mid(century) Evil Woman
UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 7 – Battle Noir Didactica
If you sit down to watch a film noir, you can expect to be both shaken and stirred. You might have to turn your head away a few times at the violence (or you might find yourself staring agog at the screen, baffled by what this sub-genre of film got away with in the mid-20th century.) You’ll certainly feel … Continue reading UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 7 – Battle Noir Didactica
UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 6 – The Champagne of Noir
The French didn’t so much invent film noir as identify and elevate it. They took genre more seriously than the American film industry, which saw golden financial returns for movies that were cheaply made. The studios were all about the almighty dollar. When Hitler was on the rise, Hollywood was reticent about taking a stand for an … Continue reading UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 6 – The Champagne of Noir
UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 5 – Do Lang Do Lang Do Lang
We’re halfway through my film noir class with instructor Elliot Lavine. This week’s trio of films gave me the chance to revisit four old friends: Joan Bennett with Jonathan Frid Meet Joan . . . I first met Joan Bennett in the drawing room of Collinwood, a stately but troubled mansion on the hills overlooking the Maine … Continue reading UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 5 – Do Lang Do Lang Do Lang
UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 4 – Woe is Woolrich
Cornell Woolrich is like one of those old friends from school who you run into on the street after thirty years and you stop for coffee and he looks like he hasn’t washed thoroughly in a year and there’s something horribly wrong with his leg and he tends to mutter and he literally creeps you … Continue reading UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 4 – Woe is Woolrich
UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 3 – The Wide Swath of Warner Brothers
Mystery is my genre of choice, but my first love was the musical. Picture a kid of seven, reclining on his tummy in front of my parents’ enormous wi-fi stereo console. There I wore down the few cast albums we owned: Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza in South Pacific, Judy Holliday and Sydney Chaplin in Bells Are … Continue reading UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 3 – The Wide Swath of Warner Brothers
UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 2 – Film Noir Lite?
Warning: SPOILERS ahead!! Not all noir films are whodunnits, but I Wake Up Screaming and Laura most definitely are. If you haven’t watched either film yet . . . well, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!!? Put this down, and go watch these films immediately. Then we’ll talk! The two films we watched for our second Film Noir class with Elliot Lavine through Stanford University … Continue reading UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Week 2 – Film Noir Lite?
UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Notes on Film Noir – Week 1
Here’s what I think I know about film noir. It’s a style that nobody set out to invent. There was no meeting of minds that said, “Let’s invent a new genre.” Instead, directors – a great many of them expatriates from Europe, allowed the surreal visuals and dark mood of German Expressionism to affect the look … Continue reading UN VOYAGE DANS LES TENEBRES: Notes on Film Noir – Week 1
Ah Sweet Mystery! 