Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL] - Games

PurpleHazel

Quote:

Most of the British ones I've seen are pretty good.

I just edited a comment about all the British films you've seen into my last post a few seconds ago. You've seen so many pre-80s British movies -- where were they shown?

Yeah, Ossessione's an unofficial adaptation of Postman. They didn't pay for the rights to adapt it -- Italy's copyright laws are very lax. I know from being a jazz fan that they've released albums of American artists that are basically bootlegs. Of course, Nosferatu's an unofficial adaptation of Dracula, though I don't know anything about Germany's copyright laws.

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

Great list HokeMoseley. Since nutso, Mercury, and a couple other regulars have gone AWOL, these movie polls could use some new faces.

You have a good one too, bobby

Very busy streak for me the past few weeks, but an end is in sight. Will try to get my list in soon.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

Most of the handful you have left I haven't seen, so can't really pass judgment on them. The Hoodlum Priest, which I have seen, is 1962, but if you want to keep it on, it's fine. I wouldn't put Witness for the Prosecution on a list -- it's more of a courtroom drama-mystery -- but it in the end it's up to you. What happened to The Big Night? That was my favorite pick of yours, because of its obscurity. It'll be on my list, though pretty far down. Ossessione's a good call -- I added it to the Non-U.S. Films list in the second post. From what I've seen online, Brighton Rock's supposed to be one of the best British noirs. Hope to watch it before the poll wraps up. You always have an interesting mix of movies on your lists. You've seen a helluva a lot of older British films -- where did you see these?

I'm not sure which specific movies you mean, but most of the old British movies I've seen I probably saw on TV or youtube. I just went through a recent phase where I tried to watch as many of those 1960s British kitchen sink dramas as I could find, and the majority of them I just found on YouTube.. and also recently I had a free trial offer to Filmstruck which has the Criterion Collection. And I watched some old British movies recently on there. I think that's where I saw Brighton Rock. Or maybe I rented it on YouTube. Which I rarely do unless I really want to see something which I can't find anywhere else. And as for old british movies like Tiger Bay, they've just been kicking around since I was a kid. I'm pretty sure I just watched it on cable TV the first time I saw it. Because I know I was really young. Fallen Idol is pretty easy to find online. I think it's on Amazon Prime. I think that's where I saw it.

Last edited by bobbyb5 on 11/15/2018 00:09; edited 1 time in total

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

Most of the handful you have left I haven't seen, so can't really pass judgment on them. The Hoodlum Priest, which I have seen, is 1962, but if you want to keep it on, it's fine. I wouldn't put Witness for the Prosecution on a list -- it's more of a courtroom drama-mystery -- but it in the end it's up to you. What happened to The Big Night? That was my favorite pick of yours, because of its obscurity. It'll be on my list, though pretty far down. Ossessione's a good call -- I added it to the Non-U.S. Films list in the second post. From what I've seen online, Brighton Rock's supposed to be one of the best British noirs. Hope to watch it before the poll wraps up. You always have an interesting mix of movies on your lists. You've seen a helluva a lot of older British films -- where did you see these?

As for The Big Night, it's a Joseph Losey movie and I really like his movies so I try to see as many as I could. He made all these cool 60s British movies that I always find very interesting and amusing. Although I think Big Night is the only one I've seen from the 50s that he did. I'm not quite sure how far back he goes. Maybe even late 40s.

PurpleHazel

bobbyb5 wrote:

I'm not sure which specific movies you mean

Guess I was thinking more of your neo-noir list, which had a lot of lesser-known 60s and 70s British films. As I write this I'm realizing that I've seen a lot of classic British films, but they're mostly the ones that have become famous in the U.S.: kitchen sink dramas, Ealing comedies (my parents were big fans of those), Powell & Pressburger, Carol Reed, David Lean, Nicholas Roeg etc. etc. It seems like there's a level of classic British film that hasn't made the transition across the Atlantic. Brighton Rock's an example of that. You saw it on Filmstruck, but Criterion never put it out on disc. It's based on a Graham Greene book, but it's not one of his best-known ones. Don't think it's available on DVD in the U.S.

Have you ever seen It Always Rains on Sunday? I've read really good things about it and it's considered noir, but I never saw it.

PurpleHazel

bobbyb5 wrote:

As for The Big Night, it's a Joseph Losey movie and I really like his movies so I try to see as many as I could. He made all these cool 60s British movies that I always find very interesting and amusing. Although I think Big Night is the only one I've seen from the 50s that he did. I'm not quite sure how far back he goes. Maybe even late 40s.

The only British movies of his I've seen are The Servant and The Go-Between. The earliest movie of his I've caught is The Boy With Green Hair (1948), a quirky movie starring a young Dean Stockwell. As the title says, it's about a boy whose hair suddenly turns green one day. Losey made three noir films: The Prowler; a remake of M that's actually pretty good (hard to see) and The Big Night. He started directing movies in England because he was blacklisted. He probably had a better European career than any other blacklisted director. Ring Lardner Jr. (MASH) was one of two screenwriters of The Big Night, but they weren't credited because they were blacklisted too.

I can highly recommend The Prowler if you haven't seen it. Van Heflin plays a cop who practically stalks a housewife and actually peeps into her window!

Last edited by PurpleHazel on 11/15/2018 06:47; edited 1 time in total

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

The only British movies of his I've seen are The Servant and The Go-Between. The earliest movie of his I've caught is The Boy With Green Hair (1948), a quirky movie starring a young Dean Stockwell. As the title says, it's about a boy whose hair suddenly turns green one day. Losey made three noir films: The Prowler; a remake of M that's actually pretty good (hard to see) and The Big Night. He started directing movies in England because he was blacklisted. He probably had a better European career than any other blacklisted director. Ring Lardner Jr. was one of two screenwriters of The Big Night, but they weren't credited because they were blacklisted too.

I can highly recommend The Prowler if you haven't seen it. Van Heflin plays a cop who practically stalks a housewife and actually peeps into her window!

No I haven't seen the Prowler. But I can't wait to.. I saw M. Of course, it wasn't the same as the old one but I enjoyed it anyway. I don't think it was bad at all. But what I really like is all his later ones like Accident and The Servant and Mr. Klein and the Go-between. I think those were just fascinating.
Van Heflin seems like he was in a lot of those noirish 50s movies. Like those ones with Joan Crawford and shit. Heh heh. Some of them I really liked too.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

Guess I was thinking more of your neo-noir list, which had a lot of lesser-known 60s and 70s British films. As I write this I'm realizing that I've seen a lot of classic British films, but they're mostly the ones that have become famous in the U.S.: kitchen sink dramas, Ealing comedies (my parents were big fans of those), Powell & Pressburger, Carol Reed, David Lean, Nicholas Roeg etc. etc. It seems like there's a level of classic British film that hasn't made the transition across the Atlantic. Brighton Rock's an example of that. You saw it on Filmstruck, but Criterion never put it out on disc. It's based on a Graham Greene book, but it's not one of his best-known ones. Don't think it's available on DVD in the U.S.

Have you ever seen It Always Rains on Sunday? I've read really good things about it and it's considered noir, but I never saw it.

I checked and YouTube is where I watched Brighton Rock. It's really good. It wasn't all that different than the American noir movies and just as good. Its the gangster kind. With some good actors too.

I'm not really sure which ones are the Ealing comedies. Is that like The Ladykillers and stuff like that? Because I love that type of stuff.

I never heard of It Always rains on Sunday but I'm going to look it up.

PurpleHazel

bobbyb5 wrote:

I'm not really sure which ones are the Ealing comedies. Is that like The Ladykillers and stuff like that? Because I love that type of stuff.

Yep, Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Man in the White Suit, Lavender Hill Mob etc.

bobbyb5 wrote:

But what I really like is all his later ones like Accident and The Servant and Mr. Klein and the Go-between. I think those were just fascinating.

Haven't seen Accident and Mr. Klein -- Accident in particular sounds really good. As you probably know, The Servant, Accident and The Go-Between were all written by playwright Harold Pinter, and that collaboration seems like a big reason Losey had such a good run in England.

Quote:

Van Heflin seems like he was in a lot of those noirish 50s movies. Like those ones with Joan Crawford and shit. Heh heh. Some of them I really liked too.

I'm fond of Van Heflin, underrated actor. Yeah, he's in several other noir movies -- Possessed with Crawford, Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Act of Violence. I highly recommend Act of Violence with Robert Ryan, an underrated noir and a very taut suspense film. You already have Strange Love of Martha Ivers on your list, but I'll throw out a general rec for it too -- with Barbara Stanwyck, a young Kirk Douglas and Lizabeth Scott.

In bigger movies, it seems like Heflin often played the slightly schlubby second male lead. But he's the star of Martha Ivers -- Stanwyck was the bigger name, but he's the good guy and focal point character -- and he's at least an equal co-star with Robert Ryan in Act of Violence, maybe more.

Fun fact: Van Heflin won a Supporting Actor Oscar for playing a witty, cynical alcoholic in Johnny Eager (1941), usually considered an early noir, though it's more of a gangster melodrama.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

Yep, Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Man in the White Suit, Lavender Hill Mob etc.

Haven't seen Accident and Mr. Klein -- Accident in particular sounds really good. As you probably know, The Servant, Accident and The Go-Between were all written by playwright Harold Pinter, and that collaboration seems like a big reason Losey had such a good run in England.

Quote:

Van Heflin seems like he was in a lot of those noirish 50s movies. Like those ones with Joan Crawford and shit. Heh heh. Some of them I really liked too.

I'm fond of Van Heflin, underrated actor. Yeah, he's in several other noir movies -- Possessed with Crawford, Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Act of Violence. I highly recommend Act of Violence with Robert Ryan, an underrated noir and a very taut suspense film. You already have Strange Love of Martha Ivers on your list, but I'll throw out a general rec for it too -- with Barbara Stanwyck, a young Kirk Douglas and Lizabeth Scott.

In bigger movies, it seems like Heflin often played the slightly schlubby second male lead. But he's the star of Martha Ivers -- Stanwyck was the bigger name, but he's the good guy and focal point character -- and he's at least an equal co-star with Robert Ryan in Act of Violence, maybe more.

Fun fact: Van Heflin won a Supporting Actor Oscar for playing a witty, cynical alcoholic in Johnny Eager (1941), usually considered an early noir, though it's more of a gangster melodrama.

I love both The Strange Love of Martha Ivers and Possessed. I think Van Heflin used to be in a lot of army movies too. Like war movies and stuff. Robert Ryan is in Crossfire too. That's one that you always see on every noir list.