Those Wonderful People Out There In The Dark

We’re plowing ahead five years from last month’s pod subject but staying in the low – rent, “B” picture roots of film noir, with just a bit more polish, a little more class (because of a slightly larger budget). While last month’s Detour sticks with you, it’s because of its rough edges and the kick-in-the-gut noirness of the fated fall of the protagonist (as well as the hyper – meanness of the femme fatale --- Ann Savage indeed!). This month, we look at a film that has an incredible behind-the-camera crew, a great cast with many nice surprises, but a...

No producer or director of the 40s and 50s set out to make a film noir. They were simply trying to put together a film that would entertain and turn a profit, dammit! During the 40s and early 50s, TV was a non-entity or a new, expensive element in entertainment --- there was no competition for the 25 cents someone spent every week going to the movies. Consequently, the output of Hollywood was prodigious and many films noir, if not viewed through a modern lens, were simply “B” pictures, inexpensive work that was part of a double bill. The genre film...

The A-bomb had contributed to this soft reign of terror. It had also fired a period of excitement and fertility in the neglected field of science fiction. Before WWII, sci-fi in film was widespread, with examples such as Lang’s hallmark Metropolis, Things To Come, the silent 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, The Lost World, and serials populated by Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. The war had shifted the focus, to combat and military films, propaganda, home-front boosterism, and escapism. The war also brought awareness of the application of science to conflict. Atomic power had brought an entirely new set of...

Last month, we waltzed through mid – 19th Century Italy. Today, we jump forward a half – century --- royalty continues its decline, the middle – class and powerful industrial leaders are ascendant in Europe. It’s a new century and the dawn of a new, perhaps golden era. But is it? Where still a force, European royalty is having its last hurrah in controlling lands far beyond their borders through vicious policies of imperialism. A minor Prince in Germany (who calls himself the German language derivation of Caesar) is going to overstep his bounds and plunge Europe and some of the rest of...

Visconti has been seen in this season as the director of the searing, accusatory film of the interdependence of the industrial class with the Nazis in Germany, The Damned. But where did this European industrial class arise, when Europe was still saddled with an immense set of royalty that began with kings and queens and spread its fingers into every aspect of the lives in their respective nations or nation-states until almost 1920? How was the transfer of power and wealth from the royals to a burgeoning middle- and then upper-class of technocrats, industrialists and traders brought about? How did...

As with Django, Corbucci wrote the film with his brother Bruno, as well as Vittoriano Petrilli and Mario Amendola. He’d been deeply influenced by the recent assassinations of Che Guevara, Cuban revolutionary who had tried to spark a Communist overthrow of Bolivia, and the US’ Malcolm X, a one-time Nation of Islam leader converted to the Muslim faith and killed at a speaking engagement. As the end of the 60s approached, Corbucci felt that the era of progressive political action was dwindling, to be overtaken by fierce reactionary elements. The earlier activism seemed to him to be hurled back...

There’s a small set of seasons that lurk after the best of winter, but before spring is in the air. You’re emerging from the wonders of a White Christmas (TM) --- those beautiful, light, star-filled dustings of a snowfall, so picturesque. Then slogging into the wet, deep, and ongoing snowfalls that you shovel every day. And then --- worse! --- the melting of that semi-season into the wet, drippy, soggy next phase --- the season of mud. Both the slogging snow and mud seasons are drags on the spirit for those who live through them --- they poss...

Last season we walked through an admittedly unscientific list of the greatest character actors in recent memory --- all men and mostly known for roles as so-called bad men. But we made the promise to rebalance the favor in this season --- so here it is --- an honor roll that by definition only women fill; the femmes fatale. The direct translation is the fatal women, but above all, a female character played in predominately film noir. Part of the atmosphere, darkness, nihilism, and hopelessness of that genre is amplified by the woman who lead the protagonist (you really...

Well, Noirvember may be over, but our journey into my made-up sub-genre, atomic noir, is not. It’s a cheery continuation for the holiday season. At least the next film has some humor in it, as opposed to the sadism in November’s Kiss Me Deadly… Thanks for those memories Mickey Spillane! This month: released in 1984 by Universal, it’s Repo Man, directed by Alex Cox on a shoestring budget of $1.5M, resulting in lasting indy fame and approbation. If you look it up on Wikipedia, they label it as science fiction black comedy. Oh, but it’s so much more...

It would still prove to be the American Century, but now it was overshadowed by the threat of the atom’s power. Air raid shelters were built in public buildings. Families dug and poured concrete in their backyards to construct personal bomb shelters. Food was stocked, with water, batteries, Bibles, bunk beds and lawn chairs. The US government produced films on how to survive an atomic war, and what our duties as citizens were in that event. Don’t believe me? Find the documentary The Atomic Café and decide what the government and military were trying to sell us. I was...

Nosferatu 1922’s reputation grew down the years, especially among film lovers. One of these was German master director Werner Herzog. As the 70s ended, Herzog determined that he wanted to remake the film --- an homage to what he felt was the greatest film ever to come from Germany. In Season 1 of the pod, we’ve looked at the scope of Herzog’s work, and up close at one of his most moving films, Fitzcarraldo. Herzog is well-known for his capture of humans surviving under trying conditions, accomplishing tasks that are seemingly impossible, or unlikely. Further, he himself filmed in loc...

For Scary Season 2024, we’re harkening back to a founding film in the genre of horror. In this era of the 21st Century, fans of horror are rich in the types of film they view to give themselves the creeps --- body horror, slasher films, psychological fear, the supernatural. But a film had to be the forerunner for Hollywood and the rest of the world to understand that the public wanted to be scared for their 25 cents (in 1931, probably now more like $25 --- Junior Mints included). Horror would put people in the seats and pay off. There’d been a fe...

Doesn’t seem like much of a bargain. An uber-being shows and coincidentally knows what you want --- merely sign away your post-existence --- usually in blood, that might be a clue! But repeatedly, people actually sign away their souls --- in the form of their pride, their morality, their sense of worth, friendships, family. Come on --- it’s an allegory! But what a tale! Why does it occur in the stories and representations of numerous cultures, religions, and nations? Perhaps because it explains away the failings of humans who make that irrational choice --- that opt to choo...

The middle and lower classes, so-called, ultimately flocked to the message of fascism, not just in Germany but even earlier, in Italy in the ‘20s under Mussolini. For a class of people who had little or less than in the past, who felt powerless, the allure of fascism was intense and compelling. But what of the intellectual class, of the already powerful capitalist members of society, what of the artists for whom fascism might lead to straited circumstances and censorship? How did they respond to a government that conceivably promised less control for them, in legislation, in industry, in th...

It’s the end of season one, or cycle one, or Earth one, whatever you want to call it, for the pod… We wanted to end the season on something special and this film is just so --- a veritable treasure chest of recognizable and quotable lines for film fans. Tight as a drum, unfolding an incredibly well-written story in less than two hours, with a cast of three memorable headliners and fantastic support. It’s definitely noir, though some reviewers characterize it as black comedy as well, but justifiably one of the career pinnacles for writer and director Billy...

You may have seen Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and if so, you know the moment in the film when Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton sees himself in a role on TV and points at the screen excitedly --- it’s a meme now. I do it all the time watching film, at least in my mind. I mentally point at the screen, and shout to myself --- “Yeah, there’s that guy! He’s great!” But who is that guy? Sometimes, I’ve seen the actor so many times I have his name committed to memory, but I’ll often h...

My top noirs are Double Indemnity and Out Of The Past, in that order, but Falcon is special. Right out of the hard-boiled school of writing, the character of the unstoppable but human private detective as a noir mainstay, one of the more fatale of the femmes in the genre, the moody lighting and framing, the inevitability of the conclusion of a twisted scheme. Hey, all it lacks is a voice-over and flashbacks! Oh well. Falcon launched from one-time Pinkerton agent Dash Hammett’s typewriter in 1930. Run as a serial in the classic Black Mask pulp magazine, it was la...

We’ve gone through quite a few pods on film, especially film noir and police procedurals, but this might be the first that has a female protagonist as the main character! More’s the pity! But what a protagonist! Perhaps to make up for the previous imbalance, we’re going to encounter one of the fiercest, most insightful, and action-oriented characters yet, regardless of gender. She has high EQ, high IQ, empathy, but she’s also tough as nails, and wise. Nicely enough, she was the character that introduced me deeply, as she did for so many people, to the wond...

When film fans speak about directors, they often go on about idiosyncratic styles or bellwether looks and techniques. You can rapidly identify a Hitchcock film. Same for something from Orson Welles. Scorsese has tendrils that can be traced through most of his films. But few directors inject themselves into the films they create to the extent that the trials and agonies of the production become legendary. Or become immortalized in a documentary. These are directors who encourage their crew to partake of the rough and tumble as well. Does this result in a film that transcends the ordinary...

Film is such a wonderful art form --- in some instances, almost the entirety of the world may be encompassed. Or the artist makes the attempt to capture the world. And thereby capture timeless subjects that are repeated down the years. Imagine developing a film that looks at the humanity of man. Classism. Racism. Antisemitism. War. The rise of fascism. Nationalism. Accomplished nearly one hundred years ago now --- and the ugly elements portrayed in the film are still around to plague us. Still relevant today.

The masterstroke was to expose all of this in a story...

Many of us strive to accomplish great things in our lives. A smaller group reach the heights in terms of those dream accomplishments. Then what do you do? How do you follow that when you’ve climbed a steep hill and, perhaps exhausted, look back? Where do you go now? Some, accomplished though they are, will turn away and pursue other, but less vaunted goals. Others will try to replicate the initial success, riffing on it until it’s a pale imitation of what was once beautiful. And the smallest, most exclusive group of all will try to go beyo...

But there was the antithesis of noir as well. A small movement to capture some feelings of life, of positivity. People went to the movies weekly, and often they simply wanted one thing --- hope. That things would be better, that life would go back to normal, whatever that was. That things would work out, for society and individuals. There was a small ripple of films, also of the 40s and 50s, that took this viewpoint. And while noir went straight at the ugliness of the world, the small area of fantasy film set out to negate the ugliness...

I can see him coming out of a run-down building, into a rain-swept, darkened street. He’s wearing a fedora pulled down over his forehead, with a large, rumpled trench coat to match. He moves wearily, a big man, not plodding, but not stepping lively either. If he speaks, it’s laconic, with a somewhat slow pace to the words, seldom rising above a conversational tone. Not much bothers him. Oh, the occasional clue that’s out of place, the occasional femme who means to do him wrong. Sometimes, he has to dodge bullets or fists. Once in a great...

Sales is often spoken of as the tip of the spear for any enterprise. That’s not true --- marketing is the tip of the spear. But we’ll leave that alone. Sales is often the first time a customer or buyer experiences a company --- the ethic, the product, the approach. Sales as a career attracts a certain type of person --- driven, very focused, sometimes with big but usually at least a healthy ego. Many focused on the needs of their customers. Many focused on the bucks. Some even focused on both. Like any position, you get peop...

History repeats first as tragedy --- radio evangelism and the good, hard business sense of Christianity in the 1920s, but next the farce --- the co-opting of religion for political and financial purposes in the 21st Century. And, in both cases, railing at, to quote a fictional preacher, “Harvardism, Yaleism, and Princetonism.” The shadowy and evil elites, of course. Woops, throw in one more “ism,” Darwinism. It’s on repeat play now. And it was all seen clearly in 1926 by a guy named Sinclair Lewis. Who penned a novel that inspired a fantastic and illustrative film, 1960’s Elmer Gantry, from United...

But the way Hollywood of the classic era liked it best was for the actor to be “discovered.” That’s right. You’re sitting at Schwab’s Pharmacy on Sunset Boulevard in 1937 and the next thing you know, you’re Lana Turner and making $1000 a week. By the way, it wasn’t Schwab’s, it was the Top Hat Malt Shop. Hollywood even has a genre for this, the films of “You’re going to be a star, kid.” As an example, all twenty versions of A Star Is Born, under various titles. Singin’ In The Rain. Day Of The Locust. Hearts Of Th...

Take that impossible set of circumstances to make a film described at the top. Now, place over those hurdles the desire to change up a recognized genre. To take a fixed idea and make it new, fresh, and vibrant. Not so easy, is it? Try to make something old work in a new and exciting way in any part of life, let alone something as evanescent as film. It doesn’t happen often. When it does, it hits like an explosion. By the end of the 60s, the Western had exploded, again. It was once more in full bloom, ta...

Scary Season Part Two! The guest hosts and I spent some time last week on a true classic of the horror genre, House Of Wax… now let’s be frightened out of our wits by… well, it’s actually a Scary Season “so bad, it’s good” classic from the master of inexpensive horror, the Orson Welles of the Bs, the ne plus ultra employer of marketing gimmicks --- it’s a William Castle film! And it’s one of his greats --- The Tingler! Even the title is great! Released in 1959 and distributed by Columbia, it's a tight 80 minutes of terror...

It’s Scary Season here on the pod and we have a double feature to frighten you this year, two classics of the screen that star the inimitable Vincent Price. The first is a true classic, that helped to launch a trend in film in the 50s and Price’s career as the King of the Horror Bs. The second is so bad it’s good --- a thriller that was even more impactful in its marketing than in its making, but still a lot of fun to watch. Plus, we have guest hosts to help dissect, laugh, and scream...

Picture Show is absolutely authentic, due to two behind-the-scenes craftspeople and two actors who transform the film. The story of Picture Show began with the novella of the talented, but at the time, little-known author, Texan Larry McMurtry. McMurtry worked on the screenplay with the director, who had only released one pretty good previous film, after moving on from researching and writing about film --- Peter Bogdanovich. Bogdanovich was brilliant in utilizing the talents of two disparate actors to underline the film --- an old cowboy who’d been in the John Ford film company and never stretched as an...

The person of Orson Welles is a loaded one for an observer of film --- he was so many things in his lifetime, he wore so many hats. Welles had incredible triumphs and unbelievable lows in his chosen work. He was such a consummate actor that it was hard to tell when he was serious and when he was still acting, when seen outside a theater, radio studio or soundstage. If you ask him to be recalled by people in the 21st Century, many will be able to cite two aspects, at polar opposites of his life and story...

It’s a small, grimy, smoky, desperate film, just like the arena in which much of the action takes place. It’s either a prime example of film noir, or some form of noir with boxing and drama  thrown in. It has the heroic performances of two noir stalwarts who were more often cast as the miscreants in their films. It has a director who was successful in almost every genre and honored by his peers, but near the start of his directing career. Plus, a wonderful cast of supporting characters, the kind that the meme of Rick Dalton, point...

The films I talk about on the pod are usually ones that I saw when I was younger and then returned to over and over because they struck an emotional chord with me. A very few are films that I’ve heard about due to their impact and finally got around to watching when I was middle-aged (or older!). Today, allow me to wander around a film that, while we may in 2023 need to interpret the effectiveness of the silent film actors, plus a certain admitted goofiness of the story, will allow us to recognize elements and genre of fi...

I’ve made fun of film sequels, universes, and series on the pod, accusing Hollywood of taking anything that’s successful and knocking it off repeatedly, for the dollars. As well as the yuan; many of the cinematic universes are action/hero/comic book films, which are short on plot and long on thrills and special effects, thus not needing extended passages of subtitled exposition. Which is not to excuse Hollywood, don’t get me wrong! It’s a lousy use of film, talent, and time, but I suppose an adequate way to make money. But allow me --- I’d like...

When I saw Yojimbo, at last, from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, I thought, this is the greatest samurai film ever. But, I thought, he stole it all from Sergio Leone and A Fistful Of Dollars. Boy, was I naïve. That was backwards, of course, if I’d cared to check the dates of release. But the story was even more layered than that. Kurosawa, Leone, Sergio Corbucci, they were all swimming in a beautiful blue sea, not only of water, but of time and history. They conjured up one of the greatest stories that ever hit the screen of...

In the glorious days of the 70s and early 80s in the US, there was a birth of auteurs and a move towards independent films and away from huge legacy studio systems. Just a few of the names associated with this movement, captured controversially by author Peter Biskind in his book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, were Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas. All have made film that is memorialized as some of the finest or most ground-breaking in history. All have had, not only success, but their share of misses, as one...

I’ve seen The Music Man at least once a year, since age ten, usually around the 4th of July, which is when the story takes place and is the holiday it embodies so well --- the All-American, fireworking, head-back-looking-up-at-the-sky, patriotic singing holiday of holidays. And all due to the enthusiasm, good-old American stick-to-it-iveness and talent of Meredith Wilson. The entertainment industry doesn’t produce people like Wilson anymore. Born at the turn of the century in Mason City, Ioway (the real River City), he was a musician, composer, playwright, radio star, bandleader, and author. He grew up in Iowa...

The Asphalt Jungle came out of MGM (yeah, MGM. Not exactly a wonderful musical as we shall see) in 1950, the classic era of film noir in the US. But Jungle might also be pegged with a label that someone walking down the street would now recognize: it’s a heist film. The story comes from the wonderful author of crime, W. R. Burnett, and his 1949 novel. Burnett came up the hard way, working as a night clerk in a hotel while learning writing, exposing him to all sorts of characters and situations, seedy or not. His first novel, Little Ca...

I can count on one hand the number of films whose introductions startled or entranced me. Citizen Kane, yes, 2001, sure. But one that fascinated me was at a free showing (thanks student ID) during grad school. The film was Aguirre, The Wrath Of God. Besides an interesting title, the opening sequence showed a trail of people traversing a huge, verdant mountain, surrounded in deep, then evaporating fog; conquistadors in heavy breastplates and helmets, indigenous natives impressed into service carrying immense loads, priests, elegant women, horses, donkeys. On the soundtrack, incredible music was describing this journey, as the camera hove...

In the film Ed Wood, Wood is speaking in a hospital waiting room to the woman he’d marry, Cathy. She asks him what he does for a living, and he says he’s in movies --- as a writer, producer, director and actor. Awww, no one does all that, she replies. Yes, two people do, says Wood, he and Orson Welles. But there was an individual who did all that and went some better, helping to compose the music for his films and the editing. And from the 19-teens to the 1950s. It was Charles Chaplin, Knight of the...