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Movie Review:
11/15/2008
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Film Noir Worthies for dark days
With the clocks turned back, and the days getting shorter, there is a little less sunlight each day as the Winter Solstice approaches. The time is perfect to enjoy film noir. Literally, dark or black film, the French critics coined this term for the American genre of rampant shadows, crooked heroes, as well as villains, femme fatales, and fatalistic plots. Critics and film enthusiasts remain divided as to whether this genre applies only to those films made between 1942 and 1958, when the genre emerged and became formulaic, or whether true film noir could still be produced after this period. Whichever side of the fence you’re on, or if you have yet to decide, here are a few film noir classics, as well as some more recent offerings, to help you ponder. So open those venetian blinds and let in the dark as you enjoy these classic films. Out of the Past (1947) Director Jacques Tourneur’s film noir masterpiece stars Robert Mitchum as a man out to make a fresh start. Jeff Bailey (Mitchum) is the owner of a gas station in a small town, and dating the angelic Ann Miller (Virginia Huston), when his shady past catches up to him. This past includes a former mistress (Jane Greer), and a ruthless and slick crime boss (Kirk Douglas). From Jeff Bailey’s flashbacks, it is clear that he deserves being blackmailed and framed for murder, but he holds on to his futile hopes for a happy ending until the bitter end. Double Indemnity (1944) Director Billy Wilder puts an insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) in league with an irresistible housewife (Barbara Stanwyck) in a scheme to murder her husband and reap the insurance rewards. Unfortunately, this femme fatale turns out to have more skeletons in her closet, and a naive insurance salesman’s misstep to the wrong side of the law proves doubly fatal. Chinatown (1974) Though out of the official timeline of film noir, Roman Polanski’s tragic, disparaging, and ironically colorful, dark film, is the best example of post 1958 film noir, if you believe it exists. Jack Nicholson stars as the morally inept PI, who, in a change from his work snapping pictures of affairs for jealous wives, hooks a live one when he gets involved in a case of yet another jealous wife (Faye Dunaway). Murder, incest, and municipal corruption paint a very dark portrait of urban society, indeed, but make for great cinematic drama. Reservoir Dogs (1992) Director Quentin Tarantino’s film hosts an ensemble cast, playing criminals hired for a high scale jewel heist when the police show up, leading the thieves to suspect one among them is a cop. Full of typical Tarantino gore, this film still uses those classic film noir elements: criminality, corruption, distrust, and of course the flashback. Body Heat (1981) Director Lawrence Kasdan follows in the footsteps of Double Indemnity with this film about a discontented wife (Kathleen Turner) turning to a mediocre lawyer (William Hurt) for a steamy affair and an accomplice in her husband’s murder. This film contains overtly adult content, unlike the much subtler inferences in the films of the ‘40s and ‘50s, yet still continues in the film noir tradition of characters motivated by desires that overpower their sense of what is right. It also favors dark and shadowy scenes that amplify the demoralized content and characters, and ends in a similarly dark fashion. Email: mirandadodson@kenwoodpress.com |
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Featured Events |
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GP2020 Housing Element Hearing 11/20/2008 |
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Oakmont Current Events Forum 11/21/2008 |
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Hike Annadel 11/22/2008 |
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Annadel Hike 11/22/2008 |
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Public solar and night observing 11/22/2008 |
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55th Annual Free Thanksgiving Dinner 11/27/2008 |
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Oakmont Current Events Forum 11/28/2008 |
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25th Annual Holiday Open House 11/28/2008 |
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25th Annual Holiday Open House 11/29/2008 |
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Kenwood Community Club Dinner Dance 12/06/2008 |
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Hanna Boys Center holiday bazaar 12/07/2008 |
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Oakmont Concert Series: Axel Strauss and Friends 12/11/2008 |
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Big Heart Luncheon 02/11/2009 |
