More Film Noir 2024

 

In the past few years, I have become a big fan of a certain kind of American film from the 1940s and 50s. They are primarily black and white dark crime dramas that French film makers and critics called “film-noir” when they rediscovered American films after the liberation of France in 1945. The term film-noir refers not only to the dark themes of these movies but also to the nighttime settings and the often-startling contrasts between light and dark, black and white. In my opinion, film-noir represents a short-lived American film renaissance that came to an end with the advent of television and technicolor. 

Below find brief descriptions of some of these films that I have viewed this year. Not only are they gripping, well-told stories with masterful directing and acting, but also, they bring me back to the days of my childhood. In the background I can see a world that is no more: the dark dingy streets, the small apartments, the old telephones that people always answer, and the incessant cigarette smoking. I imagine my parents sitting in crowded theaters, and I wonder what they thought as they watched these films play out on the big screen.

 

Bogart and Bacall

The Big Sleep.  Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall star in this 1946 adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s crime novel. Bogart plays Chandler’s legendary private eye Philip Marlowe on the trail of killers, pornographers, gamblers, and a bevy of beautiful young women. In this film and in the earlier Maltese Falcon Bogart created the private eye. No one else ever came close. This was the second film pairing of Bogie and Bacall and director Howard Hawks really brought out the chemistry between the famous couple.The plot is convoluted but the writing is superb. 114 minutes. CC.

Call Northside 777. James Stewart stars in this 1948 film as a Chicago newspaperman who reluctantly investigates the case of a convict who has already spent ten years in prison for the murder of a policeman. The convict, played by Richard Conte, is the son of Polish immigrants. His widowed mother has spent years scrubbing floors to raise money for a reward for information that might help free her son. Some superb character actors also appear in this very naturalistic film that was based on a true story. 111 minutes. CC.

Whirlpool. Gene Tierney, one of Hollywood’s most beautiful actresses ever, stars in this 1949 story of a woman secretly suffering from kleptomania who turns to a hypnotist to cure her condition. Soon afterwards she is found at the scene of a murder with no memory of how she got there and no way to prove her innocence. Richard Conte and Jose Ferrer co-star. In the same year Ferrer won the Best Actor award for his performance in Cyrano de Bergerac. 98 minutes. CC.

The Set Up. Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter star in this 1949 film about the dark underside of boxing. Robert Wise, who later would make West Side Story and The Sound of Music, directed this realistic, gritty drama about a washed-up fighter hoping for one last win. The fighter’s story plays out against a background of  a low-down section of a city ironically named Paradise City, crooked fight promoters, and a vicious blood thirsty fight crowd. Film critic Eddie Muller of Turner Classic Movie fame regards The Set Up as the best boxing film ever. 79 minutes. CC.

They Live by Night. Farley Granger and Kathy O’Donnell star in this 1949 film of young lovers mixed up with a gang of criminals. This film is regarded by many as the forerunner to Bonnie and Clyde. Two young lovers meet and fall in love, but circumstances force them into a life of crime. Inevitably, our hearts go out to them right until the tragic ending. This film marked Nicholas Ray’s directorial debut, and the opening scene shot from a helicopter was a film innovation. 95 minutes. CC.

Peggy Cummins

Gun Crazy.  Peggy Cummins and John Dall star in this 1950 story of two star-crossed lovers who meet in a carnival shooting contest and immediately go together like guns and ammunition. The two become bank robbers on the run who roar into movie history in a bench-mark film noir thriller. Just as in They Live by Night our hearts go out to the young couple, but things go from bad to worse. In this one film British actress Peggy Cummins became one of the top femme fatales in film history. 87 minutes. CC. 

The Brothers Rico. Richard Conte stars in this 1957 film as a successful businessman who has managed to escape his past as an accountant with the mob until his former boss calls him back to find his two younger brothers who are on the lam from both the police and the mob. Based on a story by famed Belgian crime novelist George Simenon. Anyone not familiar with Simenon’s crime novels, especially his police stories featuring Parisian Police Inspector Maigret, can look forward to years of enjoyable reading. 92 minutes. CC.

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