Gene Tierney in Whirlpool

Originally uploaded by rattlingdjs

This is a lovely, moody Film Noir featuring one of my favorite Film Noir/Melo actresses. Richard Conte plays her rich and kindly (though somehow smothering and sexist in the style of the day), husband. And Jose Ferrer is her smarmy "therapist." Gowns by Oleg Cassini, her husband. I love the opening scene in the department store. The director, Otto Preminger, creates a clean, spare look especially in the beginning of the film. Playing someone who is mentally unstable foreshadows Gene Tierney's own struggles with bipolar disorder and shock treatments. It is said that she had an affair with Jack Kennedy...my that fellow did get around. This is an absorbing film with great Noir performances, cinematography, fashionable sets and costumes, and some good plot twists and turns. Just another reason to love Noir!

I Wake Up Screaming

Well here we are at last...I Wake up Screaming (alternate title Hot Spot) with Victor Mature, Carole Landis and Betty Grable, not to mention the wonderful Laird Cregar (who died young, sadly), and everyone's favorite smarmy villian Elisha Cook, Jr. This black and white proto-noir is one of my favorites because of the chiariscuro lighting, the story, the direction by H. Bruce Humberstone, and cinematography by Edward Cronjager. It was made in 1941 and is definitely a visual delight. The opening interrogation scene takes you right into the story and the very odd swimming pool scene feels like a strange dream...night club scenes are witty and amusing, with funny bits by minor characters that remind me great of the great comedic antics of the two men traveling together in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. Betty Grable may seem an unusual choice as a feminist icon who takes charge at just the right moments--it's before we saw her as the famous pinup girl in high heels. It's hard to explain the mesmerizing quality of this film....you've just gotta watch it!

The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Postman Always Rings Twice
Originally uploaded by Greenman 2008

I didn't think I liked Lana Turner until I saw this film. She was incredible in the film, and the direction, acting, lighting, storyline--everything worked beautifully. It is one film noir that I can watch over and over again. John Garfield is a sexy lout--very well matched with Lana's particular brand of incendiary blonde. And of course the inimitable Audrey Totter gives a memorable cameo performance in the film. Highly recommend the book Dark City Dames for a portrait of the real Audrey. I loved Cecil Kellaway's creepy portrayal of the husband, especially when he was singing and playing guitar--or was it a ukelele? Hume Cronyn was a young, snarky lawyer in this film. Great scenes with the car on curvy California roads--and I loved the opening scene at the gas station. Kinda the same feeling as the opening scene of Out of the Past.

Human Desire

Name that Film.
Originally uploaded by rattlingdjs

Yes, the ubiquitous cigarettes. You might want to drink whiskey just watching these characters from the days when cigarettes were considered desirable. Part of the innuendo that lies under the surface of all film noir. Femme fatales smoked--it's that simple. Or is it simple? The subtext had to do with sexuality at its most potent. These were not the women who were vacuuming in high heels and pearls. What is the cachet of the women of film noir? They were dangerous because they brought out the hidden aspect of American society: desire, decadence, and the underground thrill of bad habits!

Knitting things together

DSC03293
Originally uploaded by Andi B. Goode

Found this photo on Andi B. Goode Flickr site. She does a lot with vintage images, vintage clothes and film noir. Since I'm a huge fan of film noir, I love to check out other people who like the genre. Have also been doing quite a few new collages using vintage images. I love everything from the 40s and early 50s. Actually, I was surprised to learn that I loved The Postman Always Rings Twice with Lana Turner. I didn't like her nearly so much in later films, but she was amazing in this...it's one of those films I can watch over and over...great noir....

The curveilinear car

Yes, I've always been enamored of this shape in an automobile. Reminds me of the black Hudson Hornet that was parked across the street in my childhood neighborhood. Something terribly comforting about black, curveilinear cars. Think of the cloth upholstery (subject to moths), and large steering wheel. Look at the small back window and bumper. A black car like this looks wonderful in the rain! The arches above the car echo the shape of the car. A smell of smoke and leather
clings in the air. Makes a girl want to drink whiskey.

In the middle of the night

Clock.
Originally uploaded by rattlingdjs

This is a time I often wake up. Somehow in a noir film, the clock can be so glamorous. One of the things I love about noir films is that the industrial post Bauhaus design aspect of the 1940s is usually in evidence. How can you not love to look at this beautiful clock with perfect shadows? You can almost hear the loud ticking. What's happening just now? A mysterious phone call? Some of my favorite clocks appear in Trouble in Paradise directed by Ernst Lubitsch in 1932. A little early and not technically a noir, but the lighting foreshadows (so to speak) noir lighting. And it has one of my favorite lines in it. The brunette heroine Kay Francis says: "Marriage is a beautiful mistake that two people make together." Sweet!
Love Herbert Marshall's relaxed elegance, and the costumes and set design are flawless!