Best Ever Albums

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

PurpleHazel — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 05:08:21 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 01/15/2019 10:08

Finalized my list (P. 4):

New additions:

Champion
Woman on the Run
The Breaking Point
Nobody Lives Forever
The Crooked Way (though not the best-made film, it's genuine amnesia noir and John Alton's cinematography's spectacular)
They Won't Believe Me
The Sniper

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

glynspsa — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 07:14:15 GMT

Author: glynspsa

Posted: 01/14/2019 12:14

1. The Maltese Falcon
2. Sunset Boulevard
3. Asphalt Jungle
4. Postman Always Rings Twice
5. The Stranger
6. Strangers On A Train
7. D.O.A.
8. Blue Dahlia
9. High Sierra
10. Suspicion

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

PurpleHazel — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 21:16:27 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 01/13/2019 02:16

Champion (Mark Robson, 1949)
Champion is the best -- and probably the best known -- of the 43 films I’ve watched so far for this poll. It was Kirk Douglas’ breakthrough film. His performance and the subsequent Oscar nomination for Best Actor made him a star. The character he plays in Champion established his on-screen persona as a “hard man.” Douglas himself said, “I made a career playing sons of bitches,” and his role in Champion became the template for the bastards he played in movies like Ace in the Hole and The Bad and the Beautiful: brash, vital, ruthless. Unlike most of the noir movies I’ve seen in the last 4 years, which have mainly been lesser-known B-movies, Champion is a well-constructed A production and the cast is excellent, particularly noir regular Paul Stewart and Arthur Kennedy. At first, Douglas is admirable, looking out for his disabled brother Kennedy and battling to survive. The film opens with a group of hobos attacking Douglas and Kennedy in a boxcar, establishing how poor Douglas is. But the more successful he is, the more ruthless he becomes. The film suggests he’s trying to fill the hole poverty left in him with money, status and adulation, but it will never quite be enough. The fight scenes were the most realistic and intense ones ever filmed until Raging Bull 31 years later. Director Mark Robson would go on to make another well-known boxing film often considered noir, The Harder They Fall....

The Harder They Fall (Mark Robson, 1956)
The Harder They Fall was adapted from a novel by Budd Schulberg, and it has a similar righteous tone and moral dilemma as On The Waterfront, which Schulberg adapted from his own story. Also like On the Waterfront, Rod Steiger plays the heavy. But in Waterfront, Marlon Brando was on the upswing of his career, while The Harder They Fall was Bogie’s last role. Unlike the other boxing films usually considered noir, there isn't just one fight in which the main character is pressured to take a dive; it depicts systemic corruption in the pro boxing world. It’s also the only noir boxing film in which the main character isn’t a boxer; Bogie plays a former sportswriter turned promoter. The film’s very good, but not on the level of Waterfront.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

PurpleHazel — Tue, 8 Jan 2019 04:59:25 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 01/08/2019 09:59

badseed wrote:

How soon might the list be posted?

Probably the 16th or 17th.

The Web, one of the rarest fairly major noirs, starring Edmond O'Brien, Vincent Price, Ella Raines and William Bendix, is available to watch here:

https://m.ok.ru/video/267321739939

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

Hayden — Sun, 6 Jan 2019 19:21:50 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 01/07/2019 00:21

badseed wrote:

PurpleHazel wrote:

Deadline for this poll is 11:59 this Sunday night EST, though any updates/lists posted before you go to bed on Sunday are fine.

As long as no one else wants to host a film poll before late February, I can extend the poll if anyone needs more time.

As I've seen no objections I'm excited. How soon might the list be posted?

Regarding another poll before late Feb, I don't see why whoever (Hayden?) can't go ahead and start the 2018 poll. It would be great for those who did see a lot already to go ahead and throw some unofficial rough drafts out there or champion a few sleeper picks so those of us who are late watchers are not waiting exclusively on the major award nominees to be released for purchase/rent/streaming.

I'll open the 2018 poll the day after the Oscars. Figure that's fair. Then it'll run March. There's going to be a handful of films I'll ask around if people are cool with including or not...

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

badseed — Sun, 6 Jan 2019 18:55:28 GMT

Author: badseed

Posted: 01/06/2019 23:55

PurpleHazel wrote:

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

PurpleHazel — Fri, 4 Jan 2019 18:28:00 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 01/04/2019 23:28

A member asked me to extend the deadline, so I'm pushing it back to Sunday night the 13th.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

desh79 — Wed, 2 Jan 2019 18:13:29 GMT

Author: desh79

Posted: 01/02/2019 23:13

PurpleHazel wrote:

The foreign lists on the CriterionForum page weren't designed to be comprehensive -- unlike the American lists, they were crowdsourced -- so Murderers Among Us is fine.

Cool. 😄

PurpleHazel wrote:

High and Low is ineligible for the simple reason that it came out too late for this poll.

Ah ok. No problem, that's fair enough.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

PurpleHazel — Wed, 2 Jan 2019 13:22:36 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 01/02/2019 18:22

desh79 wrote:

- Not entirely sure if I consider Vertigo to be film noir, so I decided against including it.
- Murderers among us (No.12 in my list) wasn't in the Criterion list as far as I could tell, but it's a film I definitely definitely definitely consider to be film noir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RGOt8ON2Yg

Vertigo's definitely eligible to me, but it's up to you.

The foreign lists on the CriterionForum page weren't designed to be comprehensive -- unlike the American lists, they were crowdsourced -- so Murderers Among Us is fine.

High and Low is ineligible for the simple reason that it came out too late for this poll. It was eligible for the Neo-Noir Poll and placed at #16 (voted for it myself). In the case of Kurosawa, splitting up Stray Dog and High and Low feels and is arbitrary, but for most foreign films, the 1960 dividing line made sense. There's no categorical difference between the two films -- the only thing I can say is they did come out 14 years apart, which is what creates the problem.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

desh79 — Wed, 2 Jan 2019 08:26:14 GMT

Author: desh79

Posted: 01/02/2019 13:26

Here's my super late entry (bit of a Hitchcock and Kurosawa bias, but that's just how I roll):

1. The Night of the Hunter (USA, Charles Laughton 1955)
2. Drunken Angel (Japan, Akira Kurosawa, 1948)
3. Rebecca (USA, Alfred Hitchcock 1940)
4. The Third Man (UK, Carol Reed, 1949)
5. Touch of Evil (USA, Orson Welles 1958)
6. Stray Dog (Japan, Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
7. Sunset Boulevard (USA, Billy Wilder 1950)
8. Out of the Past (USA, Jacques Tourneur 1947)
9. Clash by Night (USA, Fritz Lang 1952)
10. Ossessione (Italy, Luchino Visconti 1942)
11. Strangers on a Train (USA, Alfred Hitcock 1951)
12. Murderers Among Us (orig. Die Mörder sind unter uns, Germany, Wolfgang Staudte, 1946)
13. The Maltese Falcon (USA, John Huston 1941)
14. The Big Sleep (USA, Howard Hawks 1946)
15. High and Low (Japan, Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
16. Shadow of a Doubt (USA, Alfred Hitchcock 1943)
17. The Lost Weekend (USA, Billy Wilder 1945)
18. Suspicion (USA, Alfred Hitchcock 1941)
19. Brighton Rock (UK, John Boulting, 1947)
20. The Killing (USA, Stanley Kubrick 1956)

NB:
- Not entirely sure if I consider Vertigo to be film noir, so I decided against including it.
- Murderers among us (No.12 in my list) wasn't in the Criterion list as far as I could tell, but it's a film I definitely definitely definitely consider to be film noir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RGOt8ON2Yg

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

PurpleHazel — Tue, 1 Jan 2019 21:36:01 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 01/02/2019 02:36

Deadline for this poll is 11:59 this Sunday night EST, though any updates/lists posted before you go to bed on Sunday are fine.

As long as no one else wants to host a film poll before late February, I can extend the poll if anyone needs more time.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

PurpleHazel — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 01:01:35 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 12/29/2018 06:01

StreetSpirit wrote:

Putting movie polls in a seperate subforum when there already is a Movies subforum never made much sense to me. That being said, I don't think the recent music games have affected participation that much. It would be nice if there was a stickied Current Polls & Games or Polls & Games Announcements thread (or something like that) in the Music Forum, so newer and intermittent users can find out about them.

Quote:

In order to get more participants, maybe they'll be more easily seen in the Movies Section? I think it's worth a shot.

The combining of the movie polls and the movies subforum might help a little.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

badseed — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 17:10:54 GMT

Author: badseed

Posted: 12/28/2018 22:10

StreetSpirit wrote:

I've wondered if the Games section is where these movie poll threads belong. The Games section has become very crowded lately, and it's likelier for the movie polls to go unnoticed. There is a Movies section. Shouldn't these be there? In order to get more participants, maybe they'll be more easily seen in the Movies Section? I think it's worth a shot.

Perhaps you're right. It's not really a game anyway, after all. Seems some different faces occasionally pop up in the movie section.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

CA Dreamin — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 13:51:36 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 12/28/2018 18:51

glynspsa wrote:

I was ignorant of the games section until approximately 4-6 months ago.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

PurpleHazel — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 20:06:02 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 12/28/2018 01:06

glynspsa wrote:

i didn't submit a list for this because i wasn't confident of the category.

Glynspsa, you can simply figure out whether or not you've seen enough of these films to submit a list by going through this list (the top list, ending with The Wrong Man):

Films Generally Considered Noir

If you can make a list from this 478-film list, your grasp of the category's good enough. I know you're a big movie fan, but don't know if you like pre-1960 movies that much. This genre is mostly 1940-1964 films (and a handful of 30s movies).

The previous poll was a "neo-noir" poll, which covered the more recent noir films, essentially from 1965 to the present. The poll's over now, but I'd be interested to see a list of yours anyway, if you want to throw one up. Quite a few well-known movies of the last 50 years fit this category.

This is the poll thread: Neo-Noir Poll

This is the final list: Neo-Noir List

This is an incomplete starting list of 200 neo-noir films I made: 200 Neo-Noir Films

I missed out on all of the movie genre polls too, except Westerns and the two I've hosted -- in my case because I only joined BEA a year and a half ago. Would've especially liked to participate in Comedy, but I would've probably submitted to all of them.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

PurpleHazel — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 20:14:29 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 12/27/2018 01:14

Hayden wrote:

But yeah, there's plenty I need to catch up within these period.

Really good list. Your knowledge of classic-period noir is sound.

Quote:

If you need any years/directors, just let me know

I'm set. Gonna go way out on a limb and assume that Fury is the Lang version and not the Brad Pitt one haha (which would be the sensible course of action considering it's on my list too and I didn't include the year either).

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

Hayden — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 13:55:49 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 12/26/2018 18:55

1. Double Indemnity
2. Sweet Smell Of Success
3. The Third Man
4. Touch of Evil
5. Gilda
6. The Killing
7. Strangers On A Train
8. In A Lonely Place
9. Sunset Boulevard
10. Notorious

11. The Lost Weekend
12. The Big Sleep
13. Out Of The Past
14. This Gun For Hire
15. The Asphalt Jungle
16. Scarlet Street
17. Odd Man Out
18. Night And The City
19. The Naked City
20. The Stranger

21. La Bête Humaine
22. Ministry Of Fear
23. Ace In The Hole
24. Laura
25. The Lady From Shanghai
26. The Maltese Falcon
27. Angel Face
28. The Woman in the Window
29. The Docks Of New York
30. Fury

But yeah, there's plenty I need to catch up within these period. If you need any years/directors, just let me know

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

Hayden — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 12:17:42 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 12/26/2018 17:17

PurpleHazel wrote:

I feel like the BEA forums are slowly dying -- Gowi seems to be off BEA now and several other past regular film poll participants seem to have one foot out the door -- and I just wanted this poll to work out.

Mine'll be soon.

EDIT: Up

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

glynspsa — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 16:29:41 GMT

Author: glynspsa

Posted: 12/25/2018 21:29

I was ignorant of the games section until approximately 4-6 months ago.

Re: Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL]

badseed — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 14:56:40 GMT

Author: badseed

Posted: 12/25/2018 19:56

StreetSpirit wrote:

glynspsa, we did a poll for comedy, horror, and sci-fi films.

https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14950
https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19108
https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19418

Granted, you weren't a BEA member yet at the time of the horror poll, but you were during the comedy and sci-fi polls and I don't recall you participating. I guess you missed them. Nevertheless it'd be great to hear from you in future polls. After Noir, my guess is the next one will be the Best of 2018. We do a best of the year list every Feb/Mar. Hope to hear from you then. But don't be shy about participating here in Noir.

And ditto on The Thing. Great movie (but it wasn't #1 on our horror list).

Glynspsa participated in one of the ones I hosted. Can't remember which; think it was the actors list. I think a lot of us (myself included) are relatively casual forum users and sometimes go without noticing certain threads. But yeah, we'd love to have you participate anytime. I guess it does make sense that not too many people have seen more than 20 or 30, as if you were to make a top 250 list of the most generally well regarded films of the 40s and 50s, that's about all that would be on it. The same could be said for most genres but most genres existed for longer than 25 years and a lot of people who haven't been film buffs for an extended amount of time still haven't even seen a full 100 films from those decades.