The Losers of Film Noir
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Stay up-to-date with The Losers of Film Noir substack blog by Carol Saint Martin. Relive and enjoy engaging discussions, thoughts, and opinions on some golden movies, characters, and stories from the Noir genre. Carol is a screenwriter, playwright, and full-time blogger.
The Losers of Film Noir
8M ago
Image from classicfilmnoir.com
Some of the most brutal noirs of the 1940s came from the man who would go on to win Best Director Oscars for West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965), a fact that amazes me every time I think about it. Much like Anthony Mann, who went from noirs to Westerns, Robert Wise went from noirs to dramas and musicals, and is undoubtedly more celebrated for the latter two, but there is something to be said for his noirs. Born to Kill (1947) is one of the few I can barely sit through, due to its immensely evil nature, I Want To Live! (1958) is equally devastat ..read more
The Losers of Film Noir
9M ago
Image from the AvaGardnerMuseum page
Who killed the chauffeur? Why isn't Kansas City Confidential (1952) called Tijuana Confidential? How come Dan Duryea always managed to open every door despite the fact that he couldn't possibly have had the keys to any of them? These are questions we have all asked ourselves at some point in our lives... at least, I have. And maybe three other people. Well, you can add 'why didn't the Swede fight back?'. The answer may or may not lie with Kitty Collins.
Based on the Ernest Hemingway short story of the same name, which I've actually read, The Killers (1946 ..read more
The Losers of Film Noir
10M ago
Image from classicfilmnoir.com
Much like Dix and Laurel from In A Lonely Place (1950), Keechie and Bowie from They Live by Night (1948) belong somewhere other than the dirty streets of film noir. Nicholas Ray evidently liked his couples desperately in love and essentially doomed. Come to think of it, that's perfect for film noir.
Based on the Edward Anderson novel ‘Thieves Like Us’, They Live By Night starts off noir-ish enough: Arthur 'Bowie' Bowers (Farley Granger) has just escaped from prison with the help of two bank robbers, Chicamaw, played by the always great to watch Howard da Silva ..read more
The Losers of Film Noir
11M ago
Image from dvdbeaver.com
All of the losers featured here, Sam Masterson is the only one who isn't really a loser. In fact, the only reason I chose him over Kirk Douglas' Walter or Barbara Stanwyck's Martha, is because he represents one of my favorite tropes in film noir: going back to your hometown and regretting it. And because Van Heflin is fantastic as usual.
Pennsylvania, 1928. A young Martha Ivers (Janis Wilson) tries to run away with her friend Sam Masterson (Darryl Hickman), but she's captured and returned to her mansion, under the watchful eye of Mrs Ivers (Judith Anderson). Later th ..read more