Cementing the Sidewalk Crew Where the Sidewalk Ends is a 1950 Film Noir starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney. The writers for the film were headed up by Ben Hecht (making his second appearance on our list after 1946′s Hitchock masterpiece Notorious). The wonderfully simmering, desperate musical score was composed by Cyril K. Mockridge, perhaps best know for his television work with the music for Lost in Space and his Academy Award nomination for Guys … Continue reading
Body and Soul is a 1947 Film Noir that portrays a boxer struggling to deal with the complications and temptations that come with great success and moreover the money that comes with fame. The film was written by Abraham Polonsky who would later go on to begin a directing career with 1948′s Forces of Evil only to have his career derailed by Hollywood Blacklisting. The film’s director, Robert Rossen is most known for co-writing, producing … Continue reading
Coen Brothers Collection Blu-ray In part two of the Coen Brothers Blu-ray Summer we take a look at the remaining films (including ) of the Coen Brother Collection Blu-ray set leading towards the final Blu-ray release of the Coens Summer Blu-rays, a 10th anniversary selection and it’s very popular soundtrack. Miller’s Crossing Blu-ray My most anticipated release on high def from the Coens has got to be the 1990 neo-noir gangster film Miller’s Crossing, starring … Continue reading
Coen Brothers – Blu-ray Summer The catalog of quality films from the Coen Brothers has always been somewhat slow to appease it’s fan-base in the non-theatrical sense. Slow to make it to DVD and in-turn slow to finally make it to HD on Blu-ray. Part of this has to do with the brothers unwillingness to visit old films and their need to control the presentation of them as well. They are very particular and given … Continue reading
In our continuing look at the 50 Gold Film Reels of L.A. Noire we now discuss 1945′s Detour, starring Ann Savage and Tom Neal. Detour is a brisk 68 minutes long and has classic elements of “B” Noir thrillers that popularized the genre. Detour was adapted by the writer of the novel of the same name, Martin Goldsmith. Austrian director Edgar G. Ulmer, born in the Czech Republic and raised in Vienna, did early work … Continue reading
Scarlet Street is a 1945 Film Noir from Austrian director Fritz Lang. Lang was a master of the dark genre of German Expressionism which lent itself so well to the Noir genre. The British Film Institute titled him as the Master of Darkness. Lang was best known for the still popular films, M and Metropolis. Films like these went on to inspire generations of filmmakers and their influences are still felt today. After emigrating from Germany, … Continue reading
Gun Crazy (originally called Deadly is the Female) is a 1950 Film-Noir from director Joseph H. Lewis and writer MacKinlay Kantor who wrote the screenplay based on his original work. An interesting side-note, Millard Kaufman received a co-credit as screenwriter. Kaufman was creator of Mr Magoo at the time and later, the popular Spencer Tracy led Film Noir, Bad Day at Black Rock. Kaufman actually had nothing to do with Gun Crazy. Kaufman “lent” his … Continue reading
Notorious is 65 years old this year (2011) and stands out to many individuals as one of Alfred Hitchock’s finest films. It intertwines multiples genre, the spy/espionage thriller and the film noir, while at the same time being the most overtly romantic of his films. In fact, though actually an extended scene of multiple kisses, in order to skirt the “Hollywood Code”, a famous scene with stars Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant has the couple … Continue reading
