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“Their Love was a Flame that Destroyed!” Kicking off #Noirvember with a rewatch of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), partly because we recently covered the 1981 remake on @FatalAttractPod.
Some surprisingly racy alternative posters for The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). #Noirvember
This is odd. There are a handful of beach scenes in the film, but none of them feature these shots. Do these scenes still exist? #Noirvember
We talked about this on @FatalAttractPod, but this really is one of the all-time great femme fatale entrances. (I had to make this gif myself - you’re welcome, internets!) #Noirvember
It’s Garfield’s little intake of breath that really makes it. The full scene is here. #Noirvember
Anyway, this was a lot of fun to revisit. SO MUCH CHEMISTRY! Their love really *was* a flame that destroyed! #Noirvember
I’d forgotten that - SPOILER ALERT - the cat gets it in this version too. Incredibly, it’s even nastier here then in the 1981 version. Hayes Code clearly didn’t give a toss about animal cruelty. #Noirvember
The courtroom stuff is so much more fun in the 1946 version, especially with Hume Cronyn’s performance. #Noirvember
Love this animated gif by @adamosgood, taken from the image above. #Noirvember
LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU LOVE CATS!
The cat, getting it, as mentioned a couple of posts above. Even the 1981 version wasn’t this graphic. #deadasadoornail #Noirvember
The cat, getting it, as mentioned a couple of posts above. Even the 1981 version wasn’t this graphic. #deadasadoornail #Noirvember
Great piece on The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) here, from the Girls Do Film blog. #Noirvember https://girlsdofilm.wordpress.com/2014/04/06/the-postman-always-rings-twice-lana-turner-as-cora-smith/amp/
The piece above contains this lovely on-set photo of Turner and Garfield with director Tay Garnett. #Noirvember
The only other thing I want to flag up is how great the sound design is on the murder scene. No spoilers, but the entire sequence is here. #Noirvember
Public Service Announcement: Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 version of The Postman Always Rings Twice, is currently available on Amazon Prime. #Noirvember
One more Lana Turner gif? #Noirvember
And one more great publicity photo that, like the four at the top of the thread, doesn’t have a corresponding scene in the film. #Noirvember
So, last night, I was up till the early hours putting all the films from the book on the right (below) into this @Letterboxd list. https://letterboxd.com/filmfan1971/list/film-noir-an-encyclopedic-reference-guide/ #Noirvember https://twitter.com/filmfan1971/status/1198283785923641344
Might as well put this here, so everything’s in the same #Noirvember thread. My @Letterboxd list of 100 essential film noirs. https://twitter.com/filmfan1971/status/1322620885967245313
Public Service Announcement! D.O.A. (1949) - introduced below by Derek Malcolm - is currently available on Amazon Prime. #Noirvember https://twitter.com/FilmFan1971/status/1321004535079407616
Day 2 of #Noirvember: The Tattered Dress (1957).
Or rather, “The Tattered Dress...OF JUSTICE!”, as a line in the film has it. This is an entertaining courtroom noir, boosted by a typically superb performance from the great Jack Carson as a corrupt Sheriff, framing a lawyer out of spite. #Noirvember
Carson’s not the main character though. This is basically a not very convincing lawyer-gains-a-conscience story, with said lawyer being played by Jeff Chandler, a rather bland actor I confess I’m not really familiar with. #Noirvember
Despite sharing top billing, Jeanne Crain (one of my favourite unsung actresses) is criminally wasted as the hero’s estranged wife. The script gives her nothing at all to work with, not even an impassioned speech. #Noirvember
The other female roles are a lot more fun. Gail Russell (left) is great as the Sheriff’s “respectable” lover, reluctantly roped into the frame, while Elaine Stewart is genuinely jaw-dropping as the casually unfaithful wife whose tattered dress kicks this all off. #Noirvember
It’s 1957 so they don’t quite come out and say it, but this is her basically sleeping with her lawyer, just because she wants to. The plot, incidentally, involves Chandler angering Carson because he gets Stewart’s husband off after he shoots her lover. #Noirvember
The best bit of the film is the opening credits, which, again, are quite shocking in their depiction of Stewart’s character. The whole film is on YouTube, so you can watch them here. #Noirvember
The Tattered Dress is also notable for this rather grim bit of historical trivia. #Noirvember
Some film noir movies from this @Letterboxd list that are on Amazon Prime (UK):
Scarlet Street
Detour
The Big Combo
Shock
D.O.A.
Sudden Fear
Suddenly
The Hitch-Hiker
#Noirvember https://boxd.it/95ZES
Scarlet Street
Detour
The Big Combo
Shock
D.O.A.
Sudden Fear
Suddenly
The Hitch-Hiker
#Noirvember https://boxd.it/95ZES
And some more film noirs that aren’t on the Essential list above, but are on Amazon Prime and are still good:
T-Men
The Stranger
The Bigamist
House By The River
#Noirvember
T-Men
The Stranger
The Bigamist
House By The River
#Noirvember
I adore these illustrated film noir DVD covers from @Criterion and @Academy_Arrow. Is there an account that collects them all? Because there really should be. Please reply with your favourites. #Noirvember
Day 3 of #Noirvember: Storm Warning (1951), starring Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan and Doris Day.
Storm Warning was brilliant and, it turns out, a deeply appropriate choice for #ElectionNight 
, given that it’s about an entire town being Klan members. The one person NOT in the Klan? Ronald Reagan. #Noirvember
, given that it’s about an entire town being Klan members. The one person NOT in the Klan? Ronald Reagan. #Noirvember
Great bit of Joan Crawford trivia on Storm Warning’s IMDb page. #Noirvember
Here’s Danny Peary’s write-up of Storm Warning, from my well thumbed copy of his Guide for the Film Fanatic. “Frightening sequence” is quite the understatement. #Noirvember
And here’s a slightly spoilery trailer for Storm Warning. Critics at the time pointed out that the attempted rape scene was very similar to the one in Streetcar (same dynamic too), which came out the same year. I think this is much scarier though.
Steve Cochran (a proper scumbag) and Ginger Rogers in Storm Warning (1951). #Noirvember
Another great bit of trivia from Storm Warning’s IMDb page. #Noirvember
It’s hard to concentrate on #Noirvember today, but just a couple more things on Storm Warning. It has a very powerful and relevant central message about the dangers of staying silent in the face of evil, with Rogers intimidated into not testifying against the Klan to protect Day.
The depiction of the townsfolk, and the way they so readily, even cheerfully, join the Klan (there’s even a little girl in a white hood) is genuinely chilling. A scene where a large crowd laugh along as Cochran bullies a nervous bar-owner is deeply unsettling. #Noirvember
What’s interesting is the way that the film completely avoids any mention or depiction of racism - even the Klan’s murder victim is a white journalist. Instead they talk about how they don’t like “outsiders”. You get the point though. Seems like they intended to echo Nazism too.
I’d been spoiled for some of what happens in the finale (the film played at Ritrovato this year), but the entirety of the third act (from the attempted rape onwards) is incredibly tense and extremely dark. #Noirvember
***𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐑***
Basically, Ginger Rogers gets whipped in front of a burning cross. That’s how hardcore this movie is. #Noirvember
Basically, Ginger Rogers gets whipped in front of a burning cross. That’s how hardcore this movie is. #Noirvember
Some publicity photos for Storm Warning (1951). The one on the bottom right is hilariously cheery, given the subject matter. #Noirvember
Last one. Here’s a sweet photo of Doris Day (in one of her only non-singing roles) hanging out with Ginger Rogers on set. #Noirvember
Day 4 of #Noirvember: Cause for Alarm! (1951), starring Loretta Young. “This Girl is in Trouble!”
A couple of alternate posters for Cause for Alarm! (1951). They all keep that tag-line though. #Noirvember
A couple of coincidences, right off the bat. I didn’t plan it this way, but Cause for Alarm! has the same director as The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett) and came out the same year as Storm Warning (1951). #Noirvember
Here’s the synopsis and write-up for Cause for Alarm from Silver & Ward’s Film Noir Encyclopaedia. #Noirvember #CauseForAlarm
*Amazing* trivia from the IMDb page for Cause for Alarm! You do NOT want to mess with Loretta Young. #Noirvember
Here’s a short but great piece on Cause for Alarm! by Margaret Talbot in the @NewYorker. https://www.newyorker.com/recommends/watch/cause-for-alarm-a-film-noir-that-feels-accidentally-feminist/amp #Noirvember
There’s lots to enjoy here, although I think the frankly terrifying, pathologically-jealous-paranoid-and-ultimately-murderous-husband section is much stronger than the must-stop-that-letter section. Barry Sullivan is properly good as Young’s psychotic husband. #Noirvember
The @NewYorker piece I linked to above (“Cause for Alarm!, a Film Noir That Feels Accidentally Feminist”) flags up an interesting point, that Young’s perception is so warped by her husband’s madness that she feels trapped, even though she’s surrounded by kindness. #Noirvember
One source of kindness, Margalo Gillmore’s Mrs Edwards (pictured, left) gets to deliver the film’s best line: “A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.” #Noirvember #CauseForAlarm
Here’s a few publicity shots. The flashback sequence that briefly details their courtship (with Sullivan basically nicking her off his best friend) is really good too. #Noirvember #CauseForAlarm
I won’t spoil the details of it, but this is a *very* odd scene from the flashback. You can already tell that Sullivan is a wrong’un. #CauseForAlarm #Noirvember
Anyway, the whole thing is on Amazon Prime and YouTube. The quality is a bit dodgy because it’s in the public domain, but it’s perfectly watchable. Here’s the trailer. Sullivan’s last line in it is super scary and film noir at its nastiest. #Noirvember
Four more gorgeous illustrated film noir DVD covers from @Criterion (see above for first set). Some day I’d like to meet whoever came up with this idea and shake them warmly by the hand. #Noirvember
And four more here. The one for Mildred Pierce is just *stunning*. Exceptional work, @Criterion. #Noirvember
(Foreign Correspondent and Leave Her to Heaven aren’t quite traditional noir, but the covers are too gorgeous to be left out).
(Foreign Correspondent and Leave Her to Heaven aren’t quite traditional noir, but the covers are too gorgeous to be left out).
Day 5 of #Noirvember: Hugo Haas’ Bait (1954).
Haas’ Pickup was one of the highlights / discoveries of last year’s #Noirvember for me, so I’m really looking forward to Bait. I’ve got The Girl on the Bridge lined up for tomorrow too. https://twitter.com/filmfan1971/status/1195634563428552704
Haas’ fascinating story deserves repeating from last year’s #Noirvember thread. #Bait https://twitter.com/FilmFan1971/status/1195856193203425286
Bait was great. I wasn’t familiar with Cleo Moore’s work, but she’s wonderful in this. However, although she is technically the BAIT in the MAN-TRAP, as this poster suggests, she is by no means a femme fatale figure, as this poster also suggests. #Noirvember #Bait
Instead, that MAN-TRAP has been set by her older, prospector husband (Haas), who has married her just so he can catch her alone with his younger prospecting partner (John Agar) - they share a cabin all winter - and shoot him, thereby keeping all the gold for himself. #Noirvember
Far from being a femme fatale, Moore is completely loyal to Haas, seeing him as the only man who never tried to seduce her (even after they’re married). She repeatedly rejects Agar’s advances, despite their attraction. #Noirvember
As with Pickup, Haas is unflinchingly realistic about the harsh realities faced by beautiful women. Labelled a "bad girl" because she has a baby (supposedly out of wedlock), Moore is repeatedly hit on by scumbags like this guy (who's only in this one scene). #Noirvember #Bait
This particularly sleazy incident proves the final straw, and one of the reasons she marries Haas. (The old guy runs the store she works in and has given her a place to live and work). #Noirvember #Bait
Moore’s acceptance of her (unfair) bad reputation is heartbreaking. She says, “I had so much trouble when I tried to defend myself so I gave up”, a line that can be read both ways, seeing as it comes right after the attack scene above. #Noirvember
Agar and Moore’s relationship is interesting too, especially when he almost bursts into tears because of how much he loves her (when Haas clearly doesn’t, and isn’t worthy of her faithfulness). He’s quite sleazy early on though, pulling off a “Yeah, what lovely...eyes” bit here.
The film never quite explains why Haas doesn’t want to touch his own wife - it’s suggested that he believed the rumours (he’s religious) and married her just to use her in his plot. Hence this comical and quite sexy moment. #Noirvember #Bait
That bathtub scene was clearly a bit of a thing back in 1954. Moore did this photo shoot to promote the film that clearly refers to it. #Noirvember #Bait
Here’s Danny Peary’s entry on Moore from Cult Movie Stars, one of my favourite books. #Noirvember #Bait #CleoMoore
I nearly forgot! By far the weirdest thing about Bait is the bizarre prologue that features Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the Devil, signing autographs (!) and ushering the audience into his private screening room to show us a story about how he gets into our brains. #Noirvember #Bait
In fact, it’s so good, I’m going to put it on YouTube. Here are some more stills and publicity shots from Bait in the meantime. #Noirvember #Bait
Here's the bizarre prologue scene for Hugo Haas' Bait, in full. #Noirvember #Bait
