Film Noir

I am a great aficionado of Film Noir - especially from the forties - I did a search, but couldn't find a thread on the subject. Does anyone else posting here hold these types of motion pictures in as high a regard as I do? It would be great discussing it in general terms, and about specific movies, in particular ...

I love Film Noirs! and so do some other members here. So what are some of your favorite Film Noirs?

We had a film watching group for Film Noirs where everyone who joined nominated a Film Noir and we watched them all and then voted on them. Here's the link
http://www.movieforums.com/community...ad.php?t=38344

Sometime in the future there will be a part two of the Film Noir and you are welcomed to join.

I love the genre of film noir. I'd probably consider The Third Man as my favorite with Hitch's Spellbound as a closer tier.

Thanks for the link Citizen Rules - and yes, sign me up for FILM NOIR II, that sounds like a bit of fun! I'm glad that I'm in good company, where that's concerned. The 1945 thriller Detour is gripping and one of my personal favorites. 1950's Quicksand is particularly effective and memorable, for being a Mickey Rooney offering. And the ending is really great! What are some of the titles you enjoy?

Friendly Mushroom, I wasn't even aware of The Third Man, until a friend turned me onto it a few years ago - and boy, was I in for a surprise. It's really, really good! I don't know everything about the genre, but I'm so into it ... I cannot get my fill.

I see your new to the site...so a BIG WELCOME!

This is a very friendly and smart board. It's well run, and we're more like a big family here. New members are always welcome

You're a fan of Detour, cool! That's one of my all time favorites. I just love the simplicity of the story and the way it unfolds. Ann Savage has got to be the nastiest femme fatale in any film noir I've seen.

1950's Quicksand ...I had forgotten the title but not the movie. You're right Mickey Rooney is darn good in that and the ending is good as it's very different than most film noirs.

My favorites, those are two. I like anything with Dan Duryea in it, Black Angel (1946), Scarlett Street (1945), The Woman in the Window (1944), Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958) and of course anything with Richard Widmark in it like Kiss of Death (1947) and my entry into the Film Noir Hof...Pickup on South Street (1953). All the films in the Film Noir Hof were excellent.

I don't think I've ever seen a film noir that I didn't at least like on some level. There just too cool. Glad to have another fan of noir here on the site!

Thank you for the welcome, Citizen Rules! Small favor's greatly received. This forum looks just what I was looking for, with as you say, the friendly "atmosphere" and a lot of information on all kinds of movies. I'm really looking forward to getting to know this site. I'm a fan of Orson Welles, myself, but I only have a couple of his movies: The Stranger, being one of them and well-worth owning! I agree about Ann Savage in Detour - she was devastating on many levels. She was dangerous, kind of whacked out but also very vulnerable. When she dolled herself up and was feeling good about herself, for a hot minute, you could just tell she needed love, so badly ... but it was played really cool, not in a sappy way, at all. I was most impressed with her performance ....

Speaking of The Stranger (and I've talked to Rules about this before...) did you think that Edward G. Robinson's character could possibly have been the inspiration for Columbo?

If I remember, I think he wears a rumpled raincoat in parts of the film. He takes a keen interest in the hobbies of people he investigates (and asks lots of questions about them). He was a bit annoying in his dogged persistence to keep revisiting questions about his investigation and the people involved.

Hi Captain Steel - and you're absolutely right about Edward G. Robinson's Nazi hunter and his investigative style. I don't know if he inspired Columbo, or not, but it was a misstep, probably. It's very hard to know, though, what flew at the time. Maybe it made him seem very nuanced, at the time and interesting. It may even be possible that the character was a reference to someone else, in real life, that people at the time would be made to think of watching this movie. But to see it however many years later, 7 decades later, after all kinds of cop characters have come and gone, it does make him seem a little too fictional, perhaps.

I don't remember clearly, but did he seem to use his interests (and going off on seemingly unrelated tangents) kind of as a tactic to learn more about the people he was interviewing, i.e. to get deeper insight into what made them tick? (If so, that would be very Columbo-like.)

Also, when admiring an antique or something, did Edward G's character mention his wife? (Or am I just thinking of Columbo, since he almost always mentioned his wife - yet, I don't think we ever saw her?)

With all this talk about Stranger and Columbo, I decided to place them higher on my to watch list.

I watched a documentary about Orson Welles a few days ago and it said he was hard up for money,, for one of his many projects, so he took on the acting job in The Stranger. According to the documentary, Orson's most notorious character was Harry Lime in The Third Man...and that character was the best loved by audiences!

The Third Man was a strong noir in our Noir Hof. The story development, the cinematography, casting and acting were all top notch in The Third Man..but I hated that damn zither soundtrack

I loved the Zither. Sean and I were the only ones, if I remember correctly, who put it in high regard. I'm listening to it right now.

I remember that differently...I thought every one else loved the zither, except me.

That score is amazing.

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I liked seeing Edward G. Robinson in this picture, but his character wasn't as interesting to me as they tried to make him, so I'm a bit hazy on the details, unfortunately. I have to rewatch The Stranger, as it's been a while since I've seen it. What I do remember having heard a lot about was that some of the long takes had to do with Orson Welles taking some creative control from the editor, who had a say in it, even though Welles was the director. The editor even cut out entire scenes, which he felt didn't advance the story, but would've given the movie a much broader scope. I would've thought that, surely, some re-issue would've put more of that material back in, but I haven't heard of anyone doing that. The silent movie Metropolis has already been fully restored, which I wouldn't have thought possible, after the better part of a century. So, if they could do that for a forgotten silent movie, maybe The Stranger could be restored with its intended footage, some way ...

I like it

I don't even know what film noir is. Is Sin City? I saw a few Columbo episodes, though.

Beatle, Film Noir is a style of film and references both the look of the film, especially the lighting and composition and it's subject matter. People will have different opinions on what Film Noir is and isn't.

CR, are Godard and Belmondo noir?