Hulu Plus subscribers can see, as I did last night, Ulmer's STRANGE ILLUSION (45) and DeToth's DARK WATERS (44) in clean prints held by the UCLA Film Archive. Just don't get sore at the raw deal HP gives you: 8 x 30-second spot ads (about one every 10 minutes). Like watching the Million Dollar Movie on TV circa 1962, only now on the tubes of the internets.
It gets better each time I see it. Doom-laden for sure.Originally Posted by Adam Lounsbery
Just watched Born to Kill for the first time last night. I guess my expectations were too high, because I left it feeling underwhelmed. Too much melodrama for me.
I agree Nighthawk, but at the same time there is something about this film that really resonates with me. I watched the movie this past Sunday, and am still thinking about that film. Like I've said before I am know scholar, just a fan, and for some reason all the problems the scholars point out just don't matter, this film just really hit me. I think the scene where Tierney commits the double murder is one of the best; the way it is choreographed, lit, shot I just love it. Esther Howard is great, her "iceberg line" is delivered perfectly, and the spitting curse! Man, I never saw that coming! I think I cheered! lol. And don't get me started on Walter Slezak awesome!
I think Born to Kill might be one of those movies where the good parts stay with you and the bad parts kind of fade away. Every time I watch it I'm disappointed, but there are many sequences and performances that I can recall with chilling fondness.
The murder committed by Tierney that opens the film is one of the most memorable and powerfully staged sequences in all of noir. Its mundane kitchen setting, its suddenness, its randomness, and its brutality all feel really true to life.
I would have to agree that Born To Kill is not particularly great, but just having Tierney in it makes it worth a look.
That was excellent! Easily the best part of the film.The murder committed by Tierney that opens the film is one of the most memorable and powerfully staged sequences in all of noir. Its mundane kitchen setting, its suddenness, its randomness, and its brutality all feel really true to life.
Well Nighthawk I finally got to The Narrow Margin last night, and I can add it to my favorite list as well. All you comments are spot on, and as for the twist? I never saw it comming lol! Also, your appreciation wouldn't have anything to do with Marie Windsor in the black negligee would it
Watched "Pushover" last night & i just LOVED this film !! one of the better one's i have seen in months , The Realtionship , the Cop gone bad ...... very well done , Really had me on the edge of my seat , i was not expecting much from this one , but was Very surprised how much i liked it A++++
So far these Columbia sets Deliver .
Clash by Night - A good movie, with a far better second half than first. A bit heavy on the melodrama for my taste, but the performances of the three leads were excellent.
Agreed Davidmk, I enjoyed both Pushover, and the entire set.
I like this film a lot, but what it's lacking is a good murder and I believe I read somewhere that the source material - Odet's play - had just such a finish. On the other hand, the emotional and psychological violence on display in this flick create enough of a sense of menace that I can accept it as Noir. Whatever you want to call it, though, you're absolutely right that the performances (all of them, IMO) are top-notch.
Last edited by Arthur Bannister; 02-03-2012 at 02:28 AM.
The first time I saw Born to Kill (which was on DVD) I was definitely underwhelmed. I was going to trade it away but thought I'd look at it once more before doing so. On second viewing I couldn't believe that I'd so discounted it initially - this time the whole thing clicked. Claire Trevor's attraction to the thuggish, obviously no-good Lawrence Tierney is fascinating and really quite perverse. The whole film is filled with bizarre characters and murky, peculiar relationships, in fact. And it looks great.
Fritz Lang's House by the River - my thoughts here.
Riding the High Country - My movie blog
I recently watched Brainstorm, no, not the Natalie Wood flick, but a 1965 version produced and directed by William Conrad. This one gets a mention in Selby as a "post-noir black and white" and gets a longer treatment in Nicholas Christopher's Somewhere In The Night. Innovatively directed, this is an anxiety-producing unsettling film. Jeffrey Hunter is a brilliant scientist carrying on an affair with Anne Francis, who is married to his evil boss, Dana Andrews. When Andrews gives them an ultimatum, Hunter decides to fake insanity so he can take matters into his own hands. Viveca Lindfors is his hard-to-read psychiatrist. Well-lensed, this is noir all the way with a frenetic 60's touch. It would make a good triple feature with Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor and The Snake Pit. Check it out on an empty stomach.
I finished up the Film Noir Classic Collection 2 this weekend with Dillinger and Crossfire. Dillinger really didn't strike me a noir material in any way and I figure it was included because it was an RKO picture like the others in this set. Crossfire was a great movie the first half but the second half dragged on for me. The police detective's sermon inparticularly. Has anyone ever noticed that while Robert Ryan is reading the newspapers after the second murder one of the headlines reads something Set-Up? Just sayin!!
The Crooked Way great visuals another John Alton must see (see review in review section).
Watch The Sniper yesterday. I liked though I thought that it could've focused more on "the sniper" than the police work. After all, he's the one who's interesting. 3+/5
"Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know, if you rip off the fronts of houses, you'd find swine? The world's a hell. What does it matter what happens in it?"
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
"Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money - and a woman - and I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it? "
- Double Indemnity (1944)
Undercurrent (1946) Meh. Not a Katharine Hepburn fan. Took too long for this film to get interesting.
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) Enjoyable Cagney performance as a charming, psychotic, opportunistic escaped criminal looking to make some big scores.
I hated Undercurrent too
Yeah, Undercurrent is pretty lousy. I wrote a review of it a year ago. Here's my lede: "The next time you and a friend see a turgid, overlong thriller with too many twists and turns, bogus storytelling, and good actors wasted, and your friend says, 'They don't make 'em like they used to,' you can show your friend Undercurrent and prove that they make 'em exactly like they used to."
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