Reading comments on the Internet last weekend, I got to thinking about film noir, how it serves a function similar to blues music in that -- while some dark, or sad, or fatalistic elements are contained in it, you somehow feel better, or happier, after experiencing this art. It lifts us.
Turn your lamp down low
Turn your lamp down low
I beg you all night long, baby, please don't go
-------------------------- "You can stand here with me if you want, but you'll have to agree not to talk about the heat."
----------------------
------------------ PHYLLIS:
Mr. Neff, why don't you drop by tomorrow evening about eight-thirty. He'll be in then.
NEFF:
Who?
PHYLLIS:
My husband. You were anxious to talk to him weren't you?
NEFF:
Sure, only I'm getting over it a little. If you know what I mean.
PHYLLIS:
There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour.
NEFF:
How fast was I going, officer?
PHYLLIS:
I'd say about ninety.
NEFF:
Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket.
PHYLLIS:
Suppose I let you off with a warning this time.
NEFF:
Suppose it doesn't take.
PHYLLIS:
Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles.
NEFF:
Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder.
PHYLLIS:
Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder.
NEFF:
That tears it.
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"Film noir has a mood that everyone can feel. It's people in trouble, at night, with a little bit of wind and the right kind of music. It's a beautiful thing."
~ David Lynch
Back in 2013 when I was blogging the movie Body Heat, I made a list of 10 great films noir. It's only a little different from a list I made about a week ago.
The 2013 list:
The Big Sleep
Body Heat
Double Indemnity
The Killers
Lady in the Lake
Laura
The Maltese Falcon
Out of the Past
Sweet Smell of Success
The Third Man
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List made in March of 2022:
Out of the Past
The Third Man
Double Indemnity
Body Heat
The Postman Always Rings Twice
(1940s version; 1980s version)
Sweet Smell of Success
The Big Sleep
The Maltese Falcon
Scarlet Street
March 2022 list of great movies that include some noir style (visual and dialogue and atmosphere / tone)
Casablanca
Gaslight
Sunset Boulevard
Strangers on a Train
Notorious
Key Largo
Laura
Shadow of a Doubt
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"The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them."
~ Alfred Hitchcock
-30-
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