One should never be surprised, exactly, that a person showing talent in one field shows equal talent in another. Most creative people, after all, are individuals of restless imagination, and have no trouble imagining themselves as having the potential to create great works in music, cinema, visual art, or whatever …
When I went to sleep last night, Ferguson, Missouri was on fire. The (highly unusual) decision of a grand jury not to bring Officer Darren Wilson up on charges stemming from his killing of a young black man named Michael Brown was, while not unexpected — one could, indeed, infer …
Everybody’s got to start somewhere. Richard Fleischer, who would become a Hollywood fixture without ever reaching star status among directors, had a very curious beginning to his career: after the usual short subjects, he directed a critically acclaimed WWII documentary, a tight little noir picture written by a young Robert …
Blonde Ice announces right off the bat what kind of movie it’s going to be when we drop in on the wedding of society reporter Claire Cummings (Leslie Brooks) to well-heeled Carl Hanneman (John Holland). A handful of her male co-workers at the newspaper are wondering how a woman who was …
Portraying insanity in the movies is a pretty tricky proposition, particularly when it comes to protagonists. You want to make your characters crazy enough to be interesting to the audience, but not so vividly mad that they become impossible to identify with, or that they seem to be cruel caricatures …
Nightfall was David Goodis’ metier. It was his primary compositional material, his inspiration, his preferred period to work. Of all the noir writers of the classic period, he was perhaps the darkest; while his books didn’t feature the raw, violent edges or the grotesque details of Jim Thompson, no one …
Today’s Noirvember entry carries on a few themes from the last review of The Prowler: the presence of Evelyn Keyes (who I am assured ran a kicky newspaper column in the 1980s in Los Angeles full of takes on debauched Hollywood), the use of exotic locations (it’s the only classic-period noir …
The Prowler, a taut and cruel thriller that’s both insightful and deeply disturbing, begins with an unsettling scene that can’t help but remind viewers who have seen both of Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom: Susan Gilvray (Evelyn Keyes) is preening in front of her vanity when she spots a creep lurking outside her bathroom …
If nothing else, The Man Who Cheated Himself — released at Christmas in 1950 and capably directed by Felix Feist — is a good reminder of what, exactly, most noir films were supposed to be: cheaply made B-grade crime pictures to be stuck in second or third place before the main attraction. …
MONSTER: Dracula REAL NAME: Vladimir T. Dracula, Jr. COLLECTIVE NAME: Draculae POWERS: immortality, flight, mental domination, control over vermin, moodiness PET PEEVES: inability to eat aïoli FAVORITE WU-TANG CLAN MEMBER: RZA MOST REALISTIC FILM DEPICTION: Seven Golden Candelabras of Dracula (1958, Allied Antiques, USA) *** MONSTER: Wolf Man REAL NAME: …
One of the few pleasures of growing older, from the perspective of cultural criticism, is watching America mythologize itself. Sometimes you have the enjoyment of seeing this happen just as it develops, as H.L. Mencken spotted in his observation of the immediate aftermath of the Dempsey/Carpentier fight; other times, it rolls …
What can possibly be gained by comparing the two film versions of Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie? Beats me, but their recent and sudden appearance on Netflix streaming, combined with vague curiosity and less vague boredom, led me to find out. I’m an unapologetic booster of Brian De Palma, and a …
It was famously said by a man who had never been there that Hell is other people. Like most epigrams, it’s more clever than it is accurate. Hell is other people, yes; but not many. The energy and logistics involved in getting a dead man’s shade into Hell are so …
It is a complicated world, and today’s worker, student, and/or working student intern has to memorize more data points than ever to prove useful to his instructor/employer. In the internet age, when all data is instantly accessible to everyone at all times, you might think that rote memorization would be …
I’m a guy who likes his meat. I figure I have incisors for a reason, and if there’s a dead animal I wouldn’t enjoy eating, I haven’t encountered it yet. More than that, though, I love to cook. A vegetarian diet – or even, may the fishmongers of Seattle forgive …
