Cult Labs

Go Back   Cult Labs > Film Discussions > Crime & Thriller

Like Tree919Likes

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #271  
Old 26th November 2015, 07:57 PM
Handyman Joe's Avatar
Active Cultist
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Default

Deadline at Dawn (1946) - Pure distilled noir from the peak period. This has sneaked under the radar and sure, it's not a perfect film the way Double Indemnity, The Killers or Out of the Past are. In a way though, it's the hidden pleasures that are sometimes the sweetest. This has the three main ingredients - wonderful shadowy cinematography, a cast of bizarre minor characters and a twisty script glittering with one liners. Plot is your basic wrong man trying to prove his innocence but it's all in the style and the mood. A great find.
Reply With Quote
  #272  
Old 28th November 2015, 07:16 PM
Inspector Abberline's Avatar
Cult Acolyte
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Blog Entries: 7
Default Marlowe (1969)

Marlowe [1969]
James Garner may not have been the most versatile of actors, but like a lot of actors of his ilk Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and such he had screen presence and more importantly there all extremely cool .James Garner plays Phillip Marlowe in version of Raymond Chandlers The Little Sister. Marlowe is a slickly made detective thriller directed by Paul Bogart, Marlowe is asked to investigate a missing brother of Sharon Farrell as Orfamay Quest .Unfortunately his first two leads are both killed with an ice pick, and like most Chandler stories the plot thickens. Again the seedy Los Angeles of the 1940s is now the swinging end of the 1960's.
It doesn't have that seedy gritty feel of a 40's film and it does on occasion feel more like a TV film than anything else. Garner is his usual affable self,he doesn't have to try to hard as Phillip Marlowe as he walks and talk the part perfectly, with wise cracks and a cool demeanour. As been previously mentioned this film also see's the first American appearance of action star Bruce Lee,he makes a great entrance as he tries to put the frighteners on Marlowe by smashing his office to pieces. You can see straight way that Lee isn't a great actor but the camera sure loves him. There's an identical scene in Revenge of the Pink Panther when Philippe Douvier (Robert Webber) is interviewing for an assassin. Unfortunately for Lee's character when Marlowe taunts him about his sexuality,Lee is side stepped by Marlowe and ends up jumping over the edge of a building. Marlowe doesn't have the grittiness of previous Chandler adaptations, and in hindsight it almost looks like a prototype for the Rockford Files. But the dialogue is pure Chandler and the plot and storyline make for a great detective thriller .

1/2 out 0f 5
Attached Images
File Type: jpg yKgaEfb.jpg (94.6 KB, 3 views)
__________________
Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much..

Reply With Quote
  #273  
Old 28th November 2015, 08:53 PM
Inspector Abberline's Avatar
Cult Acolyte
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Blog Entries: 7
Default nov

Noir November will soon be over...........



__________________
Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much..

Reply With Quote
  #274  
Old 29th November 2015, 06:01 PM
Inspector Abberline's Avatar
Cult Acolyte
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Blog Entries: 7
Default The Blue Dahlia (1946)

The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Alan Ladd as Johnny Morrison returns from the war with William Bendix as Buzz Wanchek and Hugh Beaumont as George Copeland. Ladd goes looking for his wife Doris Dowling as Helen Morrison,and finds her in her apartment having a party with her boyfriend Howard Da Silva as Eddie Harwood who also is the owner of the nightclub The Blue Dahlia . Johnny later finds out that there son was killed when Helen was drink driving and crashed the car. In a fit of rage Johnny pulls a gun on her but decides not to use it, leaving her apartment he leaves behind the gun. Next morning the cleaning lady discovers the dead body of Helen Morrison. Based on an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler and re-uniting Alan Ladd with Veronica Lake as Joyce Harwood ,Blue Dahlia is a rather cool who done it with Alan Ladd's character as the main suspect in the murder of his wife Helen. I'm not sure if its Ladd's acting style but for a man who is being accused of murdering his wife his portrayal is awfully laid back one, he never seems to break a sweat whether he's kissing a dame or punching a hoodlum, perhaps Mr Ladd is to cool for school. In fact the whole film has a languid air about it , its a fairly slow paced movie which I assume is down to George Marshall directing style, Its slow but never boring. Surprisingly for a Raymond Chandler script the dialogue isn't as punchy or as slick as some of his other novel adaptations . I'm not sure about Veronica Lake ,she's a beautiful woman that's for sure. but I'm not convinced she's that great an actress she shoes less emotion than Ladd does, and there little romantic moments seem more like who can out stare each other competition. I liked Blue Dahlia it has a decent enough story and is pretty well made, but it just lacked a certain something, recommended for noir completest's.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg The Blue Dahlia.jpg (100.0 KB, 1 views)
__________________
Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much..

Reply With Quote
  #275  
Old 29th November 2015, 06:55 PM
Demdike@Cult Labs's Avatar
Cult King
Cult Labs Radio Contributor
Senior Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Lancashire
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline View Post
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Alan Ladd just lacked a certain something
A box to stand on perhaps?
Reply With Quote
  #276  
Old 30th November 2015, 12:20 AM
Demdike@Cult Labs's Avatar
Cult King
Cult Labs Radio Contributor
Senior Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Lancashire
Default

West 11 (1963)

A nicely gritty early crime thriller from Michael Winner. Set in a seedy corner of London populated by smoky jazz clubs and down and dirty bedsits, this tale of low morals and murder is really quite good.

Although it was only early Winner, the film features several of his directorial flourishes that would become more prominent in his later more famous works. In this case namely the music - The film has an excellent jazz score from Acker Bilk which transforms into a jarring cacophony during moments of drama and tension.

An excellent cast including Alfred Lynch, Eric Portman, Diana Dors, Finlay Currie and Patrick Wymark gives the story and characters some real emotional weight and believability in this grimy example of sixties British urban noir.

The dvd from Network looks excellent and really showcases the crisp black and white photography.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg west-11 1.jpg (69.4 KB, 2 views)
Reply With Quote
  #277  
Old 30th November 2015, 08:17 PM
Inspector Abberline's Avatar
Cult Acolyte
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Blog Entries: 7
Default The Big Steal (1949)

The Big Steal (1949)
Robert Mitchum is Lt. Duke Halliday, after having an army payroll stolen from him ($300,000 payroll ) by Patric Knowles as Jim Fiske, Halliday is pursued by Captain Vincent Blake (William Bendix),who thinks Halliday has the money. Halliday pursues Fiske into Mexico where he meets Joan Graham (Jane Greer), Fiske girlfriend who lent him $2000,and now wants it back . Basically a noir chase movie with abit of Romantic comedy thrown in for good measure. Mitchum and Greer make for a great and entertaining combo as they race across Mexico, with plenty of sharp witty dialogue they make for a great couple. The film is directed by the great Don Siegel who has so many great movies under his belt The Big Steal is an early effort that shows all the hallmarks of his later films. Mitchum throws everything he's got into the role , with plenty of fisticuffs and lots of wise guy charm. I prefer Mitchum to say Alan Ladd ,although they both have a laid back style of acting, Mitchum does know how to change gear every now and then and does seem to put allot more effort into his roles, plus he is also allot taller than Ladd as well. Jane Greer is re-united with Mitchum after appearing in Out of the Past together ,they make a great screen couple with plenty of chemistry between the pair. The only version that I have seen is in Film Noir Collection box set, the version there is a colourised print. I've never been a fan of black and white movies that have been colourised on the whole they usually look pretty terrible, but I'm sure the technology has come on leaps and bounds since those early days, As for the version I watched , It looked pretty good, better than allot of others I've seen .If the original Black and white version is available then I suggest watching that one. Definitely recommended for Noir and Mitchum fans alike.

out of 5
__________________
Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much..


Last edited by Inspector Abberline; 30th November 2015 at 08:34 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #278  
Old 30th November 2015, 08:24 PM
Demdike@Cult Labs's Avatar
Cult King
Cult Labs Radio Contributor
Senior Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Lancashire
Default

Can you do a couple of screen grabs of the colourized print please Inspector?

I've always avoided it.
Reply With Quote
  #279  
Old 30th November 2015, 10:23 PM
Demdike@Cult Labs's Avatar
Cult King
Cult Labs Radio Contributor
Senior Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Lancashire
Default

Thanks for the grabs Inspector. I really don't know.

It doesn't look like a noir, i do know that.
Reply With Quote
  #280  
Old 30th November 2015, 11:35 PM
MacBlayne's Avatar
Cultist on the Rampage
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Japan
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs View Post
A box to stand on perhaps?
Cheeky sod
Demdike@Cult Labs likes this.
__________________
"We're outgunned, and undermanned. But, you know somethin'? We're gonna win. You know why? Superior attitude. Superior state of mind."
Reply With Quote
Reply  

Like this? Share it using the links below!

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



Our goal is to keep Cult Labs friendly. If you feel discouraged from posting by certain members' behaviour then you can e-mail us in complete confidence.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
All forum posts are contributed by members of the site; Cult Labs cannot take responsibility for all content posted on the site. If you have an issue with content posted on the site please click the 'report post' button.
Copyright © 2014 Cult Laboratories Ltd. All rights reserved.