Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been on a noir spree. It began when I saw Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. Confusing as f-ck, but it has some great lines in it. To wit,
Femme Fatale: I don’t want to die!
Detective: Neither do I baby, but if I have to die, I’ll die last.
After the Mitchum flick, I reread James Cain’s Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, as well as re-watched the films. I bought two of my favorite films—Chinatown and Sweet Smell of Success—and a film noir collection with 10 movies in it. Of those, I hadn’t seen four because they were so obscure: The Hitchiker, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Detour and one in which normally wholesome Mickey Rooney is transformed into a crazed lunatic—Quicksand.
Why do I love these films so? Let me count the ways.
I love the sharp and sassy dialogue. I love the deep shadows and high contrasts in the lighting. I love the economy of storytelling (Detour is only 67 minutes long!). I love that the stories teeter on the edge of melodrama. I love the sexy dames, the bitter broads. I love the tough guys and the rich crooks. I love the clothes—especially the hats. I love the inexpensive sets. I love the cars, the crimes, the comebacks.
But I think most of all, I love that if you freeze a good noir film, the frame is a piece of art in itself. As I understand it, this is because after the war (WWII), many German expressionist artists made their way to Hollywood and influenced the look of these films as directors and cinematographers.
On my office wall, I actually have framed stills from films that I love, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Used Cars, Goldfinger, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Natural, and The Empire Strikes Back. I know it’s a little geeky, but it’s my only geek vice, I swear.
Well, inspired by all of this noir stuff, I decided to do some screen captures from films I’ve enjoyed so I could show you what I mean by each frame being a piece of art. So, without futher ado, here are some stills from movies I’ve enjoyed. (In some cases, I’ve used someone else’s still because I don’t have it or it’s better than my own.)
Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer in Out of the Past.
Peggy Cummins and John Dall in Gun Crazy.
Peggy Cummins’s marvelous backside in Gun Crazy.
Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success.
Lana Turner and her legs in the original The Postman Always Rings Twice.
Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity.
The two of them almost caught by Edward G. Robinson.
Stanwyck and MacMurray in a famous scene in a grocery store.
A still from an unknown noir film.
A still from Fallen Angel. I love the composition of this shot.
The end scene in The Big Combo.
And if you’re interested, here’s a mini-”movie” of the above photos, set to theme from Cape Fear. It may take a moment to load, so be patient.
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I liked your discussion of narrative drive. In fact I used it in all three of my blogs. It seems to me that narrative drive is important for the real estate agent and for the entrepreneur as much as it is in fiction writing.
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.