Noir is not a genre.
Corey Johnson
First-timer just added to the list... Intrigued so far, but also
somewhat puzzled by this obsession with contemporary Hollywood, at a
time when the American machine is consistently churning out the most
uninspired dreck imaginable. I was born in the 70's, but that has
only galvanized my resolve to review the past and cherish bona fide
*characters* when I find them.
So far this dinner seems overrun with boors; sculpted features and
lowbrow comedy skulk in every broom closet. And sartorial sense is
hardly germane, now is it? But that leads me back to my real topic,
Peter Lorre and Film Noir.
Peter Lorre is absolutely incredible in "Stranger on the Third Floor".
An astonishing, expressionistic B picture with no familiar faces (save
Elisha Cook, Jr. as a wrongly accused man). Relentlessly paranoid,
subjective, and frank, it is visually dazzling. What Noir is all
about. Though I cringe when people begin citing postmodern
descendants of Noir as the genuine article. "The Long Good-bye" is
Robert Altman all over, and about as far from Chandler as you can
get-- that's what makes it great, but it isn't Film Noir.
What is Noir? We could go back to the New Wave critics for a
definition, but there really isn't a consensus. Is it a style, a
movement, a sensibility? Bound by time, by country, by defining
moments in history? I wouldn't presume to say. I will make the
following recommendations for must-see films, many of which are as
good as or better than "Double Indemnity".
The Big Sleep
Dead Reckoning
Pickup on South Street
Gilda
Murder My Sweet
D.O.A.
The Naked City
Night and the City
Night of the Hunter
Scarlet Street
Criss Cross
Out of the Past
Touch of Evil
Lady from Shanghai
Sunset Boulevard
Detour
The Devil Thumbs a Ride
Born to Kill
Ace in the Hole (The Big Carnival)
Kansas City Confidential
Asphalt Jungle
The Killers
The Big Combo
His Kind of Woman
My list could go on and on, but then we'd cross over into French
Poetic Realism, Expressionism, New Wave, and Japanese Yakuza films.
I've gotta get back to work, and off the pulpit. Just do yourself a
favor and check out one of these flickers the next time you're tempted
to see Basic Instinct. These films all celebrate fatalistic
entrapment in ways which no major studio would dare approach today.
Corey
P.S. Looking for good new releases? Try "Kids", "Safe", or "Usual
Suspects". All quite interesting and original.
Sasha Stone
> --Cinephiles--
>
> First-timer just added to the list... Intrigued so far, but also
> somewhat puzzled by this obsession with contemporary Hollywood, at a
> time when the American machine is consistently churning out the most
> uninspired dreck imaginable. I was born in the 70's, but that has
> only galvanized my resolve to review the past and cherish bona fide
> *characters* when I find them.
>
Hi first timer. Were you really born in the seventies? That's a
frightening thought, to say the least. However, Hollywood has come out
with some pretty wonderful movies lately - Smoke, for one. By
'Hollywood' you mean Hollywood? The studio system? American films?
> So far this dinner seems overrun with boors; sculpted features and
> lowbrow comedy skulk in every broom closet. And sartorial sense is
> hardly germane, now is it? But that leads me back to my real topic,
> Peter Lorre and Film Noir.
>
You take the highbrow and I'll take the lowbrow.
[highbrow stuff deleted]
> What is Noir? We could go back to the New Wave critics for a
> definition, but there really isn't a consensus. Is it a style, a
> movement, a sensibility? Bound by time, by country, by defining
> moments in history? I wouldn't presume to say. I will make the
> following recommendations for must-see films, many of which are as
> good as or better than "Double Indemnity".
>
I'll have to check with my son on this one, but Film Noir isn't that
difficult to identify. In order to better understand your argument, I'd
have to ask you how you would identify the term "genre."? It won't be
too highrow for me now that I have my Web. Dic. handy.
[highbrow list of marvelously lowbrow films deleted]
>
> My list could go on and on, but then we'd cross over into French
> Poetic Realism, Expressionism, New Wave, and Japanese Yakuza films.
> I've gotta get back to work, and off the pulpit. Just do yourself a
> favor and check out one of these flickers the next time you're tempted
> to see Basic Instinct. These films all celebrate fatalistic
> entrapment in ways which no major studio would dare approach today.
>
Aw, damn. I was on my way this very instant to go rent Basic Instint.
So what are you saying...I'm going to have to visit the highbrow section?
>
> P.S. Looking for good new releases? Try "Kids", "Safe", or "Usual
> Suspects". All quite interesting and original.
Usual Suspects may be a lot of things - but 'original' ain't one of them.
Sasha
Greg Zywicki
Greg Z
(Basic Instinct Indeed.)
(oh, and I was born in the 70's. Well, 1970 to be exact. But that's still
close.)
In article <Pine.BSI.3.91.95082...@usr3.primenet.com>,
Sasha Stone <sst...@PRIMENET.COM> wrote:
>On Fri, 25 Aug 1995, Corey Johnson wrote:
>
>> --Cinephiles--
>>
>> First-timer just added to the list... Intrigued so far, but also
>> somewhat puzzled by this obsession with contemporary Hollywood, at a
>> time when the American machine is consistently churning out the most
>> uninspired dreck imaginable. I was born in the 70's, but that has
>> only galvanized my resolve to review the past and cherish bona fide
>> *characters* when I find them.
>>
>
>Hi first timer. Were you really born in the seventies? That's a
>frightening thought, to say the least. However, Hollywood has come out
>with some pretty wonderful movies lately - Smoke, for one. By
>'Hollywood' you mean Hollywood? The studio system? American films?
>
>>
>
>>