Last Chance...Film Noir HoF V

I like double noms....but only if everyone else agrees to it. I don't want to put anyone in a bind if they joined because it is a small HoF.

So what I can do is: after I announce the noms I'll ask if everyone wants to do double noms (assuming we only have like 6 members). If everyone wants to do it great, but if one person doesn't want to then will have to stay with just single noms. We do have a full 2 months and like you said noirs are typically short.

I agonized over two different noirs as to which one I'd pick for this, so to get the chance to nominate both would be a very happy circumstance.

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Double will make it more interesting. Although I wish there were more members involved, because I'd like more of a challenge, considering that when I won the doc HoF there were only seven participants. I like higher stakes.

I said I'd do the reveal on Dec 24th but what the hell I might be busy that day So I'm doing the reveal right now. Here they are all 5 of them. Wish there were more.

Ace in the Hole - Billy Wilder & film noir - I love Ace in the Hole already and I haven't even watched it yet. High expectations for this one.

The Breaking Point - Never heard of it before, but it looks great and sounds great after reading the IMDb's plot synopsis.

Kiss Me Deadly - I've seen Kiss Me Deadly, but it's one of those noirs I have to watch again so I understand it better and appreciate it more. Big reputation.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers - I wonder what's so strange about her love?

Sweet Smell of Success - I've seen this before in a different Hall of Fame, and absolutely love it. It's one of my two best ever Hall of Fame introductions to a movie.

I'd start right now but the next three days or so are going to be crazy busy and festive. Merry Xmas everybody.

Ace in the Hole - Love this one and have seen it several times. Kirk Douglas is balls to the wall bat ass crazy. Jan Sterling shines like a dangling silver bracelet that's poison to touch. I've seen Jan Sterling in a number of movies and she always turns in a memorable performance.

The Breaking Point - Never heard of it, never seen it, don't know nothing about it...and that's cool! It's the only noir in this HoF I haven't seen.

Kiss Me Deadly - Seen this one and also loved it, but it's been a long time, so looking forward to a rewatch.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers - My nom with a stupid title and that's why I think this solid noir with standout performances by Kirk Douglas and Lizabeth Scott isn't really better known. It should've been called something cool like Blood Money. Van Heflin who you all seen in Act of Violence plays a much different role here, and so does Kirk Douglas.

Sweet Smell of Success - This was my nom in the 26th HoF. I love it of course and it's in my top 10 profile. Dialogue that flows like butter but cuts like a razor. A great jazz score and actual on-location filming in some well known New York nightclubs. Tony Curtis deserved an Oscar and so did Burt Lancaster.

The Breaking Point (1950)

This movie would not have been made today. A common phrase often used when a film attempts to do something that wasn't PC...or was a classic. But the Breaking Point is a remake of the Bogart/Bacall/Huston classic To Have and Have Not...except it's not really a remake more an inspiration from the novel. It is Ernst Hemmingway's favorite adaptation of his work and you find that out real quick.

John Garfield plays Harry Morgan and this is a very different Harry Morgan from Bogarts. Morgan is a vet who is being squeezed by the system....he lives in a small house with his wife and two daughters and he's underwater paying for his boat. During an outing with a guy and his hooker he get's stiffed and stranded in Mexico where he ends sucked into the world of human trafficking and crime.

This isn't a long movie but it's an incredible one. Michael Curtiz gives the film a fuild feel to it. Garfield a known civil rights activist includes a supporting role from Juano Hernandez whose character Wesley Park is Harry's moral compass. Bacall's character in the original is aged up and de-glamorized by Patricia Neal. Her character is a hustler and barfly...implied to be a prostitute and she adds a layer of spice and temptation to the film.

But the art in this film is it's use of blocking. Harry's home is this claustrophobic three room place where something is always happening in other rooms. When he steps out of his home or his boat the world becomes much bigger. We constantly get powerful angle switches, mirror shots of fairly normal looking people. I won't spoil the third act of the film but it's violent, suspenseful and ends on a bittersweet and tragic note.

A

great write up, Siddon. Definitely sounds like an unknown gem that I should check out before the Countdown.

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Kiss Me Deadly

Jack Hammer was one of the first detectives in the noir scene that I actually felt a connection to, as his never-give-up personality was the best reason to watch this already fun movie. The level of tension felt all the more real because of the way Hammer interprets these situations. The real fun of the mystery was the seeming conspiracy here, but what really sticks with me in this movie is the third act act is touches on some very unique twists which, from a genre perspective feel a little out of place, but also makes logistic sense concerning its real-world influence. I mean, that climax had some major freakin' shock value to it, and it sticks with me today.





Martha Ivers

I just saw this a couple weeks ago, believe it or not. And I gotta say, I like this movie more than most people do. While I don't think Milestone's direction here was the best that it could be, considering some obvious continuity errors and some surprisingly fake acting near the beginning, everything else is pretty much freakin' brilliant. All of the characters flow so beautifully together to create a twisty and shocking story that I kind of want Nick Cave to write a concept album about. Hell, I wanna remake this movie with Nick Cave doing the soundtrack. As far as noir stories go, this is one of the best IMO and a gold star for Lewis Milestone.





Ace in the Hole

I nominated this one because it was very unique. Its story handles some different themes for noir, notably the necessity for a juicy story which was all about suffering and pity rather than the twisty political intrigue that often resides in (and occasionally plagues) noir and mystery. This is a movie all about the conscious itself being challenged rather than the law or the greater good. And with the plot development we do get, we also receive some realistic characters with excellent acting to bring out every side of them, especially on the point of Kirk Douglas who, because of movies like this, might be my favorite actor of the classic era.





But are we really only doing five movies?

I know! With all the time we have I'd love to do double noms. How does everyone else feel about that?

@Wyldesyde is the only one who hasn't responded positively....well and Raul but Raul didn't submit one nom yet

I'm going to sit out just so I can focus on 2023 films the next month or so

@Wyldesyde19 are you up for double noms? There's only 5 of us so that would make 10 noirs in 2 months.

Everybody can send double noms to me my PM with the hope we can do them. I already have a second nom from Phoenix. We'll see what Wylde says.

The Breaking Point is one my favorite Film-Noirs. Great pick!
I'll be rooting for it during the countdown. Same goes for Kiss Me Deadly!

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Am I too late? Ride The Pink Horse (1947).

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Well we have already started...and this is a long commitment of a couple months. I see you just signed up today and that was your 1st post. I hope you stick around MoFo, it's a great place. But for now why don't you just hang out and get the feel for HoFs and MoFo.

BTW Ride the Pink Horse is a solid noir, I love that one myself.

It's a great nom...but I do think The ARS sounds like an obvious fake troll name

Fair enough. I didn't know this place existed until today when I finally googled what that guy was eating out of a puddle in The French Connection and it sent me here.

Siddon, nobody is going to troll your thread with an obscure Wanda Hendrix vehicle.

BTW, Robert Montgomery was a talented director if you haven't watched his other stuff.

Let’s just keep it at one nom each.

That's what we'll do then.