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Day 20 of Noirvember: Neville Brand’s Road to Noir
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 21, 2015
Neville Brand was once told that his face looked as though the entire Russian Army had conducted a three-day battle on it in their mountain climbing boots. The actor with the craggy kisser and villainous reputation wasn’t offended. “Guys like me will be around this town a lot longer than the pretty read more
Day 19 of Noirvember: My Top 25 Noirs
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 20, 2015
Thanks to a recent comment from fellow blogger Carol over at The Old Hollywood Garden, I was reminded of a list I wrote last year that consisted of my top 25 classic movies. It includes all types of films, from Gaslight to It’s a Wonderful Life to All About Eve — and six noirs! But I’ve read more
Day 18 of Noirvember: Confidential Trivia
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 18, 2015
New York Confidential (1955) is one of my favorite lesser-known noirs. It stars Richard Conte – and that fact alone is worth the price of admission – who’s ably backed by a stellar line-up that includes Broderick Crawford, Anne Bancroft, J. Carroll Naish, Marilyn Maxwell, and Mike Mazurki. read more
Day 17 of Noirvember: Fun with Tommy Udo
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 17, 2015
Did you catch Kiss of Death on TCM the other night? You know, the one where Richard Widmark rolls a wheelchair-bound Mildred Natwick down a flight of stairs, and then cracks up laughing? (Yikes.) For today’s Noirvember post, here’s one of my favorite lines from the film, delivered by Wid read more
Day 16 of Noirvember: Remembering Barbara
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 16, 2015
Barbara Payton’s life was more noirish than the noiriest noir. But that’s not the story we’re telling today. (Some snowy night, in front of the fire, as Margo Channing would say.) Instead, we’re simply remembering this lovely but tragic actress on the occasion of her birth, N read more
Day 15 of Noirvember: Noir Observations
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 16, 2015
Film noir is not the easiest era of moviemaking to describe or define. It disdains absolute definitions, flaunts exceptions, and welcomes interpretations. Interestingly, as difficult as noir is to clarify, one can glean an understanding of the period by examining the titles of the films themselves. read more
Day 16 of Noirvember, Part 2: The Trials of Tom Neal
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 16, 2015
Tom Neal’s life was like a movie. A tragic one. He was born with the proverbial “silver spoon,” received a quality education at the nation’s finest schools – he was the All-American boy. When he decided to pursue an acting career, he had little trouble getting started, and while his films read more
Day 14 of Noirvember: Femme Fatale Faves
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 14, 2015
There’s a whole lot to love about film noir. The oh-so-quotable dialogue. The shadowy urban locales. The edge-of-your-seat plot twists. But one of the best things about noir is the femmes fatales. Beautiful, mercenary, conniving, intelligent, sexy, and always out for number one, the femmes of read more
Day 13 of Noirvember: Notes on Nora Prentiss (1947)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 13, 2015
Ann Sheridan was known during her career as the “Oomph Girl.” It was a label that she reportedly despised, but one look at this sultry dame certainly lends an understanding to the designation. Sheridan demonstrated her comedic chops in films like I Was a Male War Bride (1949) opposite Cary Grant, read more
Day 12 of Noirvember: Anthony Mann’s Desperate (1947)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 12, 2015
It’s a typical noir storyline – a regular Joe gets in dutch with the law, a gang of hoods, or both, and before you can say “Bob’s your uncle,” he’s in over his head. Way over. That’s the basic premise of Desperate (1947), starring Steve Brodie, Audrey Long, and Raymond Burr. But in the read more
Day 11 of Noirvember: Top 5 Things I Love About The Killers (1946)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 11, 2015
Based in part on a short story by Ernest Hemingway, The Killers is about a former boxer known as “The Swede” (Burt Lancaster) who is murdered by two hitmen because, in his words, he “did something once.” The rest of the film shows the efforts of an insurance investigator to unearth the circumstances read more
Day 9 of Noirvember: A Word to the Wise
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 10, 2015
(NOTE: My Day 9 Noirvember post was delayed by real life – for nearly 24 hours, I was stranded at the airport in Atlanta, suffering the ignominious, rather noirish experience of having my flight delayed six times and cancelled twice. The post-that-should-have-been is below.) “The biggest mistake read more
Day 10 of Noirvember: Trivial Siodmak
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 10, 2015
Robert Siodmak (pronounced See-ODD-mack) was one of the most prolific directors in film noir, helming no fewer than eight features from the era. He also directed what were, arguably, some of film noir’s best, including Phantom Lady (1944), The Killers (1946), and Criss Cross (1949). Without question read more
Day 8 of Noirvember: Favorite Obscure Noirs
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 8, 2015
Everybody’s heard of – and most classic film lovers have seen – such noir staples as Out of the Past, Double Indemnity, and The Postman Always Rings Twice. But what about those great, unheralded noirs? There are countless first-rate pictures from this dark and shadowy era that fly so far under read more
Day 7 of Noirvember: The Fall and Rise of Lawrence Tierney
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 8, 2015
Lawrence Tierney was once likened to the renowned fictional character Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde. “When he’s sober, he serious, thoughtful, ambitious,” the 1951 newspaper account revealed. “When he’s drunk, he’s close to crazy.” With his portrayal of Depression-era gangster John Dillinger in read more
Day 6 of Noirvember: Remembering Tierney
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 7, 2015
Like many a Hollywood glamour girl, Gene Tierney was beloved by fans and praised by critics more for her radiant green eyes and luminescent skin than for her dramatic talents. But no amount of glamour could cloak Tierney’s failed marriages, the tragedy of her first-born daughter, and the mental illn read more
Day 5 of Noirvember: Noirish Scandals
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 5, 2015
Joan Bennett was the youngest child of a family renowned for its dramatic accomplishments. She began her lengthy career in the shadow of her famous father and her flamboyant sister, Constance, but she would ultimately emerge to become a star in her own right. While she is perhaps best remembered by read more
Day 4 of Noirvember: Femme Noir Discoveries (Or, How I Got My Big Break)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 4, 2015
A petite brunette with soulful blue eyes and a wide, genuine smile, Ann Blyth enjoyed a performing career that spanned more than a half century. During the height of her fame, she held her own opposite such stars as Joan Crawford, Mickey Rooney, Claudette Colbert, and William Powell, and she deliver read more
Pre-Code Crazy: Private Lives (1931)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 3, 2015
My Pre-Code Crazy pick for the month of November is Private Lives (1931), starring the totally awesome Norma Shearer and the always fantastic Robert Montgomery. In the interest of full disclosure, I have already written about this film on my blog, and under normal circumstances, that fact would auto read more
Day 2 of Noirvember: Remembering Burt Lancaster
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 3, 2015
Lancaster and Gardner in The Killers He began his career as a circus acrobat, became an Academy-Award winning star of the silver screen, and helped launch one of the most successful independent production companies of his time. And he was the star of seven first-rate examples of the classic noir per read more