For our final 1950’s film noir class, our teacher Elliot Lavine handed us three films, and all I can say is . . . nobody said making it to the end in a noir world would be easy. First of all, these films are not all late examples; rather they span most of the decade, from 1953 – 1958, so you … Continue reading “Inhuman, indecent, and the quintessence of gruesomeness . . . “Our Final Noir Triple-Bill

It takes a special person to write noir . . . a bitter, lonely person plagued with disease and/or mental illness, awash in booze and/or drugs, who somehow manages to produce these dark nuggets of gold before dying in some horrible, lonely, bitter fashion.  Ah, the life of a writer! Don’t you wonder how Dashiell Hammett, Raymond … Continue reading AS GOODIS AS IT GETS: The Burglar and Nightfall

We’re almost halfway through my 50’s film noir class, and one major theme has emerged, that of the great number of directors and screenwriters, their Hollywood careers shut down by the Communist blacklist, who flocked to noir as an outlet to both make money and vent their feelings about our troubled country. Some of them, like writer Dalton Trumbo, … Continue reading BLACKLIST BLUES: Two by Losey, One by Dassin

For my second week in Elliot Lavine's 50's film noir class, we're presented with a dynamic double-bill: a film full of women where few hold any power, and a film with only men - and, for once, a woman in charge. Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker) enters prison Before the “women in prison” film devolved into … Continue reading LES FEMMES FORTES: Caged and The Hitchhiker