Is Diabolique (Clouzot, 1955) a film noir or a thriller? We firmly assert that it is one of the most delectable, and yes, diabolical noir masterpieces to come out of the 1950s. That it manages to be thrilling as well is a testament to the deft hand of Henri-Georges Clouzot,…
It’s May again! And you know what that means around these parts – film noir. We are in our second year of the Noir City festival postponement in Austin due to COVID, but we are soldiering on with some of our favorite titles that fall under the broad heading of…
We are keeping the film noir train rolling this month, literally, with The Narrow Margin (Fleischer, 1952). This is one of my all time favorites, without a doubt. If they ever made a noir Mount Rushmore, this should be on it. It stars two fixtures of the genre, Charles McGraw…
We decided to continue our annual tradition of highlighting our favorite films noir during the month of May, even though this year’s Noir City Austin film festival is sadly postponed. I chose my very first film noir, Laura (Preminger, 1944), which weaves a magic, dreamy spell in its stylish, inimitable…
Film noir simply doesn’t get darker than Fernando Ayala’s Los Tallos Amargos (1956). And when I say dark, I mean classical tragedy dark. Dostoevsky levels of wretched darkness. I have never seen a noir quite like this. It has all the normal chiaroscuro and double cross, but it goes much…
In this special episode, we discuss the films of Noir City Austin 2019 and its theme of “It’s a Bitter Little World”, featuring a program of ten stellar examples of the progression of film noir from the end of the 1940s through the start of the 1960s. Noir City Austin…
The Hitch-Hiker (Lupino, 1953) is not officially the first noir directed by a woman, but there is no doubt that director, producer, and screenwriter Ida Lupino was a pioneer. In adapting the true crime story of murderer Billy Cook, Lupino took the opportunity to get inside the mind of a…
In this special episode, we discuss the films of Noir City Austin 2018 and its theme of “Film Noir from A to B” featuring a program of five genuine “A” and “B” double bills. We were delighted to be at Noir City Austin again this year, hosted by The Czar…
In preparing to watch In a Lonely Place (Ray, 1950) for this episode, I read the source novel by Dorothy B. Hughes, though source is a misnomer as this film adaptation kept only the main characters and modified the plot. The novel is absolutely stellar, and I highly recommend it.…
In this special episode, we discuss the films of Noir City Austin 2017 and its theme of The Big Knockover: Heists, Holdups, and Schemes Gone Awry. This is the second of two episodes devoted to covering the Noir City festival, and we hope you’ll check out the previous episode and…