The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

1 for 2. Haven't seen Criss Cross. I don't think I've ever heard of it either but it sure sounds like something I'd enjoy. Added to my watch list.

I have seen The Narrow Margin and it's my #19 pick. You can't go wrong with Marie Windsor. She was outstanding in The Killing. And I recognized her immediately when she was on a couple of episodes of Cheyenne. Charles McGraw was an unsung supporting actor specializing in no-nonsense, tough guy roles. Border Incident and Spartacus. And according to IMDb he played Rick Blaine in a Casablanca TV series in 1955. I just can't picture that.

31 of 58 seen.

The Narrow Margin was my #3. Placed it extra high on my ballot for guaranteed placement but I see now that wasn’t really necessary. Nice to see it has more than enough fans on MoFo. I like the 90s remake as well and also considered it for my neo-noir ballot. Seen Criss Cross recently and liked it, loved the musical sequence in the bar scene.

SEEN 26/58
BALLOT 6/25

Does Criss Cross have the funicular in it? If it does, then I have seen it. But it's not on my list. I have never seen The Narrow Margin.

Well, now we're getting into the good stuff!..

Both Criss Cross and The Narrow Margin are great noirs.

Criss Cross is an iconic film directed by the great Robert Siodmak. Burt Lancaster is impressive as the chump, Duryea is at his slimiest best, and the gorgeous Yvonne De Carlo plays a rotten femme fatale.

I also really enjoyed the L.A. settings, showing the famous historical Bunker Hill section of downtown, along with the celebrated Angel's Flight incline, and the vintage Union Station.

The Narrow Margin may be my favorite "B" noir. Despite its small budget, perfectly cast are the granite jawed Charles McGraw, and the "Queen of the B's" Marie Windsor (one of the best in noir).

Robert Fleischer's direction is flawless. The tension is continuous in this picture, and it features a surprise twist that I never saw coming. It has continued to impress me on subsequent viewings. Credit is due to George Diskant (They Drive By Night; Kansas City Confidential) for impressive noir photography in such confined sets.

I love this picture, and recommend it to any who haven't seen it.

I've had a copy of Criss Cross laying around for ages. Now I guess I have more reason to check it out.

Seen both, barely remember them but I do remember liking The Narrow Margin quite a bit.

I'm almost certain it doesn't, which probably means it does

If you mean this scene, it's from Act of Violence, which came up at #61

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If this is what you mean, then yes, through a window:



It was the only image I could find on short notice. Hope that helps.

Wow, believe it or not, I watched Criss Cross for the first time just last night! Burt Lancaster is totally believable as the lovelorn sap who can't get ex-wife Yvonne De Carlo out of his system. And boy is she beautiful here. I knew she was a looker from old pictures of her, but seeing her in a film young like this made me realize just how good-looking she was back then. You can't blame Burt for being hung up on her. Dan Duryea played the Dan Duryea we've all came to know and love to hate. Special mention has to be given to Stephen McNally as Burt's old friend who happens to be a Police Lt. now, who tries to talk Burt out of pursuing Yvonne because he knows her true character, only Burt ain't listening. This all leads to tragic consequences. The ending just blew me away. I knew I was watching Noir but I was pretty stunned. I loved it.

The Narrow Margin is on my list at #23. Tight action with even tighter corridors on the train, brittle dame Marie Windsor, tough-as-nails Charles McGraw (this guy is awesome!), affable portly man Paul Maxey, and the gang of pursuers just waiting for the chance to rub out the gangster's widow. Throw in the lovely Jacqueline White with a bratty son in tow and you've got a winner. I loved the dialogue, as when McGraw and his detective partner have a bet on what the widow they'll escort looks like and the conversation goes like this:
"A dish"
"What kind of dish?"
"Sixty-cent special, cheap, flashy, strictly poison under the gravy."

And Maxey, after squeezing his heavy frame past people in the train corridor:
"Nobody loves a fat man, except his tailor and his grocer."

And McGraw putting down sassy Windsor:
"Sister, I've known some pretty hard cases in my time, but you make 'em all look like putty."

Add several twists to cap it off and you've got a hell of a Noir thriller.

#4 The Big Combo List Proper List Proper #52
#6 Kansas City Confidential List Proper #53
#14 Kiss of Death List Proper List Proper #59
#15 He Walked By Night List Proper #88
#16 The Naked City List Proper #60
#22 This Gun For Hire List Proper #78
#23 The Narrow Margin List Proper #43
#25 Crossfire List Proper #51

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

And I'm sure you spotted an unbilled Tony Curtis in the dance scene? Eight years before Lancaster & Curtis were paired in The Sweet Smell of Success.




In addition to Criss Cross and Act of Violence the Angels Flight Funicular is also featured in Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948), The Turning Point (1952), Cry of the Hunted (1950), The Unfaithful (1947), Hollow Triumph (1948), the American remake of M (1951), and later films including The Exiles (1961), The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964), The Muppets (2011), (500) Days of Summer (2009), and La La Land (2016)

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

How is this not a euphemism?

I've not seen any since my last post.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Baloney Pony.

It's also the setting of a key murder in one of the seasons of the TV series Bosch, which one could say has some neo-noir leanings.

The new and grisly and very Noir "Perry Mason" on HBO uses Angels Flight in its first season opening, involving a dead infant in a kidnapping gone horribly wrong!

#42 Rififi (1955)

Director: Jules Dassin
Production: Pathé Consortium Cinéma
Cast: Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Robert Manuel
117 Points, 7 Lists

#41 Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

Director: Louis Malle
Production: Nouvelles Éditions de Films
Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly
119 Points, 9 Lists

Didn't see that coming did ya? A pair of French noirs.

Rififi (1955)

Rififi reminded me of John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing. I'm sure I'm not the first to compare those three film noirs.

It was great seeing Paris in the 1950s and very interesting watching the master mind criminals plan and then execute their caper. Of course there was an even nastier gang afoot and that spelled trouble for them. I liked the musical number and the way it was staged:

Rififi was #52 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1950s and #78 on the MoFo Top 100 Foreign Language Films.

If I'd remembered Rififi I would have had it on my list. Superb film.

Elevator to the Gallows was my number 4. It is absolitely scintillating and superbly shot. Tense too. I'd say this film along with 'Charade' are the most Hitchockian of all films ever made that were not directed by Hitchcock.