Richard Fleischer’s ‘Trapped’ Escapes from Noir Obscurity
Thanks to Richard Fleischer's Trapped, Lloyd Bridges got the chance to shine in a starring role as unregenerate slimeball Tris Stewart, among the most amoral self-centered leads in noir.
film-noir
Hitchcock Breaks the Sound Barrier in Early Films ‘Blackmail’ and ‘Murder!’
Hitchcock's motif of treacherous toying with filmgoers is intriguing to spot in his early silent-to-talkie thrillers, Blackmail and Murder!
Rivette’s ‘Paris nous appartient’ Nods to McCarthyism, Communist Witch Hunts, and Cold War Paranoia in the USA
Jacques Rivette's first French New Wave film, Paris nous appartient, is infused with the look and feel of Hollywood's more paranoid, conspiratorial and apocalyptic films noir.
Film Noir Comes with a Hint of Hitchcock in ‘The Man Who Cheated Himself’
This professional seen-it-all flatfoot believes he can orchestrate his way out of situations where a thousand fools have floundered.
The Erotic Tease in ‘Tiger by the Tail’ Turns into an Explosion of Fisticuffs
Whenever this movie threatens to get sexy or implies nudity, the story hastily goes back to two-fisted action.
‘Le Corbeau’ at the Film Forum (trailer) (premiere)
Why was Henri-Georges Clouzot's film noir Le Corbeau banned by the French film industry?
Jean-Pierre Melville’s ‘Le Samouraï’ Plays with the Perils of the Loner
Under the lens of cultural and historical context, as well as understanding the reflective nature of popular culture, it's hard not to read this film as a cautionary tale about the limitations of isolationism.
Smudge and Jury: The Punk-Noir Pulp of ‘I, The Jury’
With all the roughneck charm of a '40s-era pulp novel and much style to spare, I, The Jury is a good, popcorn-filling yarn.
‘Tharlo’ Is a Slow-moving Allegory About Innocence lost
Pema Tseden's Tharlo presents an allegory of Tibet and China in the guise of a film noir story set in Thailand
Harry Belafonte Fights Racism in ‘Odds Against Tomorrow’
By the late '50s, some Hollywood filmmakers were producing films that reflected changes in public attitudes and addressed the concerns of the nascent Civil Rights movement.
‘Gilda’ Is an Invitation to Look Deeper Into Pop Culture
Beautiful, classic, important, and thoroughly complex, Gilda is a real “aficionado” film, and yet it has an undeniable popular appeal.
