ACT OF VIOLENCE (1949) ***+

One WWII G.I. is hunted by another who thinks he was an informant in a German POW camp. Despite the cop-out ending, tight, taut film noir with great photography and tension throughout.

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Good twin, evil twin, done right. Great cast: Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward, Francis Farmer, Harry Carey.

ANGEL FACE (1952) ***+ IMDb

Another warped entry from Otto Preminger. Girl kills parents, girl meets boy, girl kills boy, girl kills self.

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The first caper flick showing the heist from the planners' point of view. Great characterizations & chemistry with this extremely seasoned group of actors. Written and directed by John Huston (with Ben Nadow), from the novel by W.R. Burnett, one of the masters of roman noir.

"People are being cheated, robbed, murdered, raped. And that goes on 24 hours a day, every day in the year. And that's not exceptional, that's usual. It's the same in every city in the modern world. But suppose we had no police force, good or bad. Suppose we had... just silence. Nobody to listen, nobody to answer. The battle's finished. The jungle wins. The predatory beasts take over."

Not nearly as exciting as the teaser blurbs made it out to be: "Beware the hunters who stalk their prey through city jungles! Human lives are offered up daily to the Beast of the City Jungle, so that scented, silken-clad women can enjoy the forbidden thrills of a modern Babylon! See this heart-wrenching drama!" A cop is out to capture a gangster however he can, with his double-crossing brother throwing a wrench into the works. Another W.R. Burnett novel adapted to the screen.

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BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1956) ***

Halliwell's says "A novelist is persuaded by a crusading newspaper proprietor to fake circumstantial evidence incriminating himself in a murder, thus proving the uselessness of such evidence. He does it so well that he is convicted...but that doesn't matter as he was guilty all the time." With Dana Andrews and Joan Fontaine, directed by Fritz Lang.

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This one begins with a great pan-shot of pre-Union Station El Pueblo Plaza. A bit melodramatic for our taste, but Bette Davis' final scenery chewing courthouse scene makes the whole thing worthwhile. Classic noir , loosely remade as "They Drive By Night."

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Chinatown is based on Los Angeles history: the Los Angeles water wars of the mid-1930's. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a private detective who finds himself neck-deep in a situation that includes every element of a noir thriller: mystery, tragedy, violence, political corruption, gangsters, and a woman in distress with a secret agenda. One of the top ten movies of all time, the best thing Roman Polanski ever made, and one of Faye Dunaway's best performances.

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

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More film than noir, this movie is mostly memorable for its late 50s Little Tokyo film locations than for the storyline, the angst of the two detectives who fall in love with their key witness in this murder mystery.

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Another great Ciodmak thriller with great Bunker Hill locations and all the classic film noir elements. Dan Duryea is his usual psycho-self. Remade as The Underneath (1995) with a better ending.

CRY DANGER (1951) ***

Dick Powell, as a lopsided, wisecracking ex-con, sets out to find the people who set him up and sent him up the river.

"You drinkin' that stuff so early?"
"Listen, doll girl, when you drink as much as I do, you gotta start early."

DARK BLUE (2002) **1/2

Given the pedigree of this movie - savvy director Ron Shelton, original screenplay by James Ellroy ("Plague Season"), and adapted with dialog by David Ayer - it's amazingly flat. Kurt Russell is one of Nocturne.com's favorite actors. In this movie, he's not bad, his performance as Eldon Perry III is solid, just uninspired. [more]

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Halliwell's says it best: "An insurance agent connives with the glamorous wife of a client to kill her husband and collect. Archetypal film noir of the forties, brilliantly filmed and incisively written, perfectly capturing the decayed Los Angeles of a Chandler novel..."

"They've commited a murder and it's not like taking a trolley ride together where they can get off at different stops. They're stuck with each other and they've got to ride all the way to the end of the line and it's a one-way trip and the last stop is the cemetery. "

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What a weird flick! Noir angles, noir characters, noir plot... or as Tim put it, "noir on steroids". But then there's that ending. How did they get there? And is this where Repo Man got its basic concept? The DVD is widescreen black & white - special features include the edited ending and the original theatrical trailer.

"Do me a favor, will you? Keep away from the windows. Somebody might... blow you a kiss."

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It was with great trepidation that I went to opening night at Mann's Chinese to view this film. This second of Ellroy's novels to make it to the screen (the first one being Cop), L.A. Confidential has been the most re-read book on my shelf for many years. I could see no way in which this epic novel could be condensed to the screen and still retain it's integrity. In my first three viewings, I could do nothing but marvel at the job Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hansen had done in adapting this story for the screen: in some cases combining traits from various characters into one, using pertinent sub-plots from other novels in the L.A. Quartet to maintain continuity of plot, and introducing original material to abridge some rather lengthy sub-plots in the novel. Obviously, a film version of my favorite novel makes me a rather harsh critic: while the screenplay is an amazing feat and very well done, I find major fault with the movie itself. With the exception of the last 10 minutes, the raw edginess, the depth of irredemption, and the firecracker pace of dialog evident in Ellroy's books are missing from the movie. Whether this is the fault of the director or the editor, the movie proceeds at a stately pace, with stock neo-noir camera angles and lighting. There's nothing here to build suspense, to set your teeth to grinding, to let you relate with any of the characters. At movie's end, my foremost urge is to go directly to the shelf, turn to page 1, and start reading, to get that gritty taste back in my mouth. In Ellroy's novels, all the characters are suffused with the angst of moral ambiguity. In the movie, we just don't care.

Karen, on the other hand, has never read the books, and could view this movie from the standpoint of an Ellroy virgin, and therefore somewhat objectively. As far as she was concerned, it was just another cop flick, with few redeeming qualities. Sure, it was pretty to look at -- nice cars, nice clothes, nice retro-view of L.A. -- but as far as substance, it didn't deserve the enormous hoopla accompanying its release, nor the attendant accolades. As far as she's concerned, she'll take Chinatown for a true noir flick, and leave Confidential on the shelf.

"Life is good in Los Angeles, it's paradise on earth. That's what they tell you anyway. Because they're selling an image. They're selling it through movies, radio, and television... The L.A. Cops walk on water as they keep this city clean of crooks. Yep. You'd think this place was the Garden of Eden. But there's trouble in paradise."

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A sleeper in both senses of the word. Taking place aboard a Pullman bound from Chicago to L.A., this B-film is one of Fleischer's best. Many twists and turns await the viewer, and as always, Marie Windsor keeps the scenery interesting.

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PRIVATE HELL 36 (1954) **+

Stylish and solid, but predicatable film-noir, illustrating the thin line between cops & robbers. Notable for Ida Lupino's co-starring, co-writing, and co-producing credits. What a woman!

Fred MacMurray plays an honest cop who by degrees becomes involved with a married woman, stolen loot, and murder. Great L.A. night scenes, and reminiscent of Double Indemnity. Based on the novel "The Night Watch" by Thomas Walsh, who also wrote the novel that "Union Station" was based on.

"If you'd known where his dough came from, would you still have taken it?"
"Money isn't dirty. Just people."

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Halliwell's says, "A truck driver loses his brother in an accident and in an attempt to improve his lot, becomes involved in a scheming murderess. Solid, melodramatic entertainment, which borrows the second half of its plot from "Bordertown." Check out the cast - Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, George Raft, & Alan Hale.

Another sleazy bordertown movie, this one filmed in Venice, CA, complete with oil wells. Welles is simply amazing as actor, director, and co-writer. Rumor has it that this movie was part of a bet between Welles and a since forgotten screenwriter. Welles claimed that direction made a movie, while the screenwriter claimed it was the plot. After the two of them agreed on the worst of 500 rejected screenplays, this movie was made ("Badge of Evil" by Whit Masterson). We think Welles won his bet. The opening shot is one of the longest uncut scenes on film.

"Did you forget anything?"

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As usual, Dieterle delivers with a good punch. William Holden is the ambitious young DA going up against the crime syndicate. A fast moving docu-drama with a few good surprises.

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Apparently there was a lot of grief in getting this movie made and onto the big screen. Because of this, and because of the stature of its prequel, Chinatown, this was a much anticipated release. The rumors would circulate, then drift away, only to return again. This extended buzz may well have contributed to the critics' tepid reception. [more]

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With the March 25 2003 DVD rerelease of Who Framed Roger Rabbit we have an excuse to sit down and really watch the movie, instead of just popping it in the machine, turning up the sound, and letting it run while we putter around the house. [more]

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