Lloydville of mardecortesbaja.com has posted a good review of these two noirs: Trapped (1949) and Crime Wave (1954)

Filmsquich.com has posted an interesting review of the Akira Kurosawa noir Drunken Angel (1948) aka Yoidore Tenshi. Kurosawa’s other noir feature is the excellent High and Low (1963) aka Tengoku To Jigoku.  Both movies star the uber cool Toshiro Mifune.

Filmquish has also reviewed another early Kurosawa drama as noir: Stray Dog (1949) also starring Mifune.
Full list Filmsquish noir reviews:

13 Tzameti (2006)
Ace In The Hole (1951)
Angel Face (1952)
Angel Heart (1987)
Big Sleep, The (1946)
Blade Runner (1982)
Drunken Angel (1948)
Element Of Crime, The (1984)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
M (1931)
Man Who Knew Too Much, The (1934)
Man With the Golden Arm, The (1955)
Notorious (1946)
Reckless Moment, The (1949)
Rififi (1955)
Se7en (1995)
Shadow Of A Doubt (1943)
Sin City (2005)
Stage Fright (1951)
Strangers On A Train (1951)
Stray Dog (1949)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Third Man, The (1949)
Wrong Man, The (1956)

September is Film Noir Month at the The Cerrito Speakeasy Theater in the Frisco Bay area: 10070 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, 94530.

Catch these classic noirs on the big screen:

THE BIG SLEEP (1946) - Saturday, Sept 1, 6PM, Sunday, Sept 2, 5PM

OUT OF THE PAST (1947) - Saturday, Sept 8, 6PM, Sunday, Sept 9, 5PM

GILDA (1946) - Saturday, Sept 15, 6PM, Sunday, Sept 16, 5PM

DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) - Saturday, Sept 22, 6PM, Sunday, Sept 23, 5PM

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957) - Saturday, Sept 29, 6PM, Sunday, Sept 30, 5PM

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I caught up with Detour (1945) today, and must say I think director, Edgar G. Ulmer, is taking us for a a ride.

The whole affair is hard to take seriously. The story of a guy so dumb he blames fate for the consequences of his own foolishness. Though fun to watch is Anne Savage, as the street-wise dame, who incredulously falls for the sap.

A camp oddity, but hardly serious noir.

Leonard Quart in an article, Noir in New York, on the recent New York City Noir festival for the Berkshire Eagle, has made an interesting observation, which is also my take on film noir (my emphasis):

Both these films [Taxi Driver and Klute], despite utilizing some of noir’s imagery and stylistics, explore their central characters in greater depth and depict a city much more particular and less formulaic in its rancid corruption and violence than traditional film noir. Emphasizing the psychological and aesthetic, neither film ever makes grand political and social statements. And despite the tendency of some critics to write about the genre itself as a mirror of the bleakness of life in a postwar urban America burdened by the oppressive weight of a Depression, WW II, and the Cold War, the fact was that American cities were generally prosperous and safe in those postwar years. In the words of “Taxi Driver” scriptwriter, Paul Schrader, film noir was “more a creation, rather than a reflection.” … Obviously, some noir films could be wonderful, and others dreadful. But they were films that always should be understood on their own terms, rather than mined for portentous subtexts. At their best they were well-wrought, atmospheric, suggestive entertainments.

To my mind, films noir are first and foremost entertainment, and any film must be first understood simply from what is on the screen.

This line from Siodmak’s Out of the Past (1947) says it best: “All I can see is the frame … I’m going inside to look at the picture”.

San Francisco’s Bay Area Reporter has published a good article, Double-crossed in the City of Lights, on French noir director Herman Melville, centered around his film Le Doulos (1962), playing August 17-23 at the Castro.

I am ambivalent about Pickup On South Street. Somehow the gestalt is off: the whole is not greater than the sum of the parts.

A weak story is propped up by Sam Fuller’s spirited direction and strong performances from the two female leads. Thelma Ritta received a deserved Academy Award Nomination for her role as the bag lady with soul. Jean Peters is great as the gutsy B-girl, and Richard Widmark makes the sparks fly in his scenes with Peters. The repartee in Fuller’s script is great and adds to the enjoyment. But I was left flat by the pat resolution and feel-good ending.

While Pickup On South Street is not readily identifiable as a noir as it does not follow the genre’s conventions, there is a noir sensibility. Flawed characters are portrayed sympathetically and redeemed by their essential humanity. As Fuller said in a 70s interview, he is not really concerned with the wider “reds under the bed” plot, but with how the drama of the lives affected plays out.

But the flaws in the film are there and limit its impact. The strongest scene in the film should have been when the bag-lady, Moe, confronted late at night in her apartment by the commie stooge, goes into a relatively long monologue on her fate. An excellent performance by Thelma Ritta is undermined by an unconvincing delay, as the stooge waits for her to finish her story (which he is patently not interested in) before plugging her.

Recommended but over-rated.