I love how maybe 10% of the responses even TRIED to address what O-Dub asked for in his initial post, and then there are 25 "THIS IS GOOD MOVIE" posts.
I love how maybe 10% of the responses even TRIED to address what O-Dub asked for in his initial post, and then there are 25 "THIS IS GOOD MOVIE" posts.
R.I.F. people. R.I.F.
I at least stated my intention to ignore his general request!
I love how maybe 10% of the responses even TRIED to address what O-Dub asked for in his initial post, and then there are 25 "THIS IS GOOD MOVIE" posts.
R.I.F. people. R.I.F.
when academia rears its ugly head, it makes GOOD MOVIES some sort of post-colonial feminist modernist audio/visual commentary on social flibbityfloo poopoo stank.
I love how maybe 10% of the responses even TRIED to address what O-Dub asked for in his initial post, and then there are 25 "THIS IS GOOD MOVIE" posts.
R.I.F. people. R.I.F.
when academia rears its ugly head, it makes GOOD MOVIES some sort of post-colonial feminist modernist audio/visual commentary on social flibbityfloo poopoo stank.
LOL - I'm down to make "Film Noir Favorites" a sticky thread... you KNOW I would be all posting up in that shit daily, but it just makes me crazy when somebody asks for something specific and everyone ignores it and starts throwing out every noir they ever seen...
I guess I have been getting a lil' salty lately. Maybe that should be my custom title: "Lil' Salty"
I can???t say I found Night of the Hunter to be very moralistic ??? guess it all depends on one???s morals! I think film noirs are about (personal) nightmares or dark fairy tales in one way or another. A dead father with a criminal past, a secret worth killing two children for, a single mother searching for love and protection, a gun-toting Lillian Gish, a little speech about love and hate and incredible set design. Not a typical film noir as far it not being urban or sexy or set in post-war US (it was made in ???55) and I do think the disillusionment is different from usual noir films; mostly because it is that of children and a fairly innocent woman (in noir terms anyway). I think it touches on those themes Oliver mentioned, just not literally, and I don???t know a better way to describe it.
I guess you're right that you can interpret some of the themes there to fit Oliver's needs, but I guess my big thing about Hunter being considered a "true" noir (which is sorta moot since it's a genre that was defined after the fact) is that there's not much gray area or moral ambiguity with the characters, which is my big thing for noirs.
Mitchum's character is undoubtedly evil and the "Devil," coming in a deceptive Preacher form. Gish's character is undoubtedly Godly and good, through and through, not fooled. The mom and dad, although painted as likable and sympathetic (the father who stole purely for his family and the vulnerable single mother who took the Preacher out of confusion, lonliness, peer pressure, and desire to give her kids a father figure), were killed/murdered for their transgressions. The kids are ultimately saved by the Godliest character, smiting the Devil. etc.
I love how maybe 10% of the responses even TRIED to address what O-Dub asked for in his initial post, and then there are 25 "THIS IS GOOD MOVIE" posts.
R.I.F. people. R.I.F.
when academia rears its ugly head, it makes GOOD MOVIES some sort of post-colonial feminist modernist audio/visual commentary on social flibbityfloo poopoo stank.
LOL - I'm down to make "Film Noir Favorites" a sticky thread... you KNOW I would be all posting up in that shit daily, but it just makes me crazy when somebody asks for something specific and everyone ignores it and starts throwing out every noir they ever seen...
I guess I have been getting a lil' salty lately. Maybe that should be my custom title: "Lil' Salty"
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
but to answer this:
I'm teaching a course on class, race, gender and popular culture this semester and wanted to include at least one class talking about film noir and its intersection with any number of social currents running through post-WWII America: the Cold War, Communist paranoia, the budding sexual revolution, etc.
The question becomes: what film BEST encapsulates this mix of anxieties?
"Pickup on South St" is indeed the film, coming right at the point where Cold War paranoia starts, yet post-war prosperity hasn't (at least not for everyone)...
a "red menace" film that's aged well b/c of the amoralness of Richard Widmark's charector...
I love how maybe 10% of the responses even TRIED to address what O-Dub asked for in his initial post, and then there are 25 "THIS IS GOOD MOVIE" posts.
R.I.F. people. R.I.F.
when academia rears its ugly head, it makes GOOD MOVIES some sort of post-colonial feminist modernist audio/visual commentary on social flibbityfloo poopoo stank.
Shig, I figured you were saying this half-jokingly but dude, IT'S A SOCIOLOGY CLASS, not a film studies course, not "some shit me and wifey can watch this weekend." So yeah, sorry, but given the parameters of what I'm trying to do, the ideal movie would be:
1) Something that's actually good AND 2) Touches on the themes I noted.
You may think it's played out to talk about noir in the context of post-WWII America, McCarthyism, the Cold War, sexual revolution, etc. but keep in mind: most of my students HAVE NEVER HEARD OF NOIR. (Trust me).
If I'm even going to bother to talk about the genre/style then I at least want to explain how/when/why it arises in American culture and that means *gasp* connecting it to social flibbityfloo poopoo stank. (Some of us actually LIKE all that flibbityfloo).
To everyone else: thanks for your suggestions. I'll look over reviews and see what seems to come up the best.
"Devil in a Blue Dress" is a very tempting choice...thanks for your analysis Joel. I'll give it another thought. My temptation is to avoid neo-noir just b/c these students won't have the benefit of knowing what original noir was like to begin with and I think it's good to force them to watch shit from a different era of American cultural production.
I can???t say I found Night of the Hunter to be very moralistic ??? guess it all depends on one???s morals! I think film noirs are about (personal) nightmares or dark fairy tales in one way or another. A dead father with a criminal past, a secret worth killing two children for, a single mother searching for love and protection, a gun-toting Lillian Gish, a little speech about love and hate and incredible set design. Not a typical film noir as far it not being urban or sexy or set in post-war US (it was made in ???55) and I do think the disillusionment is different from usual noir films; mostly because it is that of children and a fairly innocent woman (in noir terms anyway). I think it touches on those themes Oliver mentioned, just not literally, and I don???t know a better way to describe it.
I guess you're right that you can interpret some of the themes there to fit Oliver's needs, but I guess my big thing about Hunter being considered a "true" noir (which is sorta moot since it's a genre that was defined after the fact) is that there's not much gray area or moral ambiguity with the characters, which is my big thing for noirs.
Mitchum's character is undoubtedly evil and the "Devil," coming in a deceptive Preacher form. Gish's character is undoubtedly Godly and good, through and through, not fooled. The mom and dad, although painted as likable and sympathetic (the father who stole purely for his family and the vulnerable single mother who took the Preacher out of confusion, lonliness, peer pressure, and desire to give her kids a father figure), were killed/murdered for their transgressions. The kids are ultimately saved by the Godliest character, smiting the Devil. etc.
fair enough - i think we differ here because i rarely see people as all bad or all good and that carries to how i see characters in a film. i know that's one of the defining themes of noir, but imo any (good) movie has that ambiguity. i tend to lean more towards the look and tension of a film for it to be noir.
to be devil's advocate and because i genuinely want to hear your opinion - how would you say Phyllis in Double Indemnity is morally ambiguous?
Some 50s westerns are even clearer expressions of postwar angst than their crime-film counterparts. For heroes to disappear from this genre in particular is shocking, as producing deeply American heroes was really part of a western's function... It's no surprise that one of the best noir directors -Anthony Mann- made the most troubling westerns of the 50s. Jimmy Stewart as a rapist! Check "The Naked Spur" and "Winchester 73".
The Stranger by OW could be a decent choice, maybe? A very haunting film about a ex-nazi war criminal who arrives in Connecticut to live under a false identity.
Some 50s westerns are even clearer expressions of postwar angst than their crime-film counterparts. For heroes to disappear from this genre in particular is shocking, as producing deeply American heroes was really part of a western's function... It's no surprise that one of the best noir directors -Anthony Mann- made the most troubling westerns of the 50s. Jimmy Stewart as a rapist! Check "The Naked Spur" and "Winchester 73".
I don't disagree but I'm also interested in noir based on the visual/atmospheric style since it's something that students can see replicated in hundreds of films since then. Not to say Westerns don't have a particular aesthetic as well but it's nowhere near as pervasive as how noir has become.
Shig, I figured you were saying this half-jokingly but dude, IT'S A SOCIOLOGY CLASS, not a film studies course, not "some shit me and wifey can watch this weekend." So yeah, sorry, but given the parameters of what I'm trying to do, the ideal movie would be:
1) Something that's actually good AND 2) Touches on the themes I noted.
You may think it's played out to talk about noir in the context of post-WWII America, McCarthyism, the Cold War, sexual revolution, etc. but keep in mind: most of my students HAVE NEVER HEARD OF NOIR. (Trust me).
If I'm even going to bother to talk about the genre/style then I at least want to explain how/when/why it arises in American culture and that means *gasp* connecting it to social flibbityfloo poopoo stank. (Some of us actually LIKE all that flibbityfloo).
To everyone else: thanks for your suggestions. I'll look over reviews and see what seems to come up the best.
"Devil in a Blue Dress" is a very tempting choice...thanks for your analysis Joel. I'll give it another thought. My temptation is to avoid neo-noir just b/c these students won't have the benefit of knowing what original noir was like to begin with and I think it's good to force them to watch shit from a different era of American cultural production.
professor dub,
but u see thats just it. every movie made during that time period can have the proverbial social studies screws put to it with the same effect. ghead, try it. its just that academia (partly due to its obsession with french film criticism) has somehow nailed noir to the cross as thee seminal genre discussing the social ills of mid 20th century americana. that is what is played out. the fact of the matter is, the hollywood film machine has always served as a sort of social barometer, no matter what the genre may be.
to be devil's advocate and because i genuinely want to hear your opinion - how would you say Phyllis in Double Indemnity is morally ambiguous?
I wouldn't. She does a bangup job of the standard femme fatale - beautiful, her manipulations/lies believable when she's seducing Walter, ultimately the deadliest character, blah blah blah. It's debatable whether it's genuine remorse for her actions after shooting Walter, I guess. I don't care much if the femme fatale character is the anti-hero or does a genuine turnaround, as long as (one of) the main protaganists is in that morally ambiguous grey area, which Walter definitely is. He starts to feel regret for murdering Phyllis' husband mainly because the plan unravels and not because he took a human life. He has no qualms murdering Phyllis since he seems both of 'em as horrible/unredeemable, and as a half-assed way to save Phyllis' daughter-in-law's relationship, despite the dude being portrayed as a potentially abusive hothead who was seduced by Phyllis. Edward G. Robinson's character seemed to be the only clean one.
Yeah but Shig, I didn't say I was doing that. You might be confusing my course with a more conventional film studies class. I'm really just plucking out noir as a case study but I'm hardly presenting it as the end-all-be-all of socially relevant filmmaking. I just think it's an important/influential genre/style to consider but it's not as if one couldn't apply the same kind of lens to any other film.
Warlock with Fonda and Quinn (and directed by Dmytryck, known for noirs as well) would also be a good choice in that vein, but would definitely be considered too boring for most college kids, I think.
no, thats exactly what im talking about. youre teaching a college course. you want to show a broad representation of 1950s american society. you go straight for the noir. it is accepted as the norm in academia. thats what im saying.
to be devil's advocate and because i genuinely want to hear your opinion - how would you say Phyllis in Double Indemnity is morally ambiguous?
Miss Bassie:
I thought Phyllis was pretty flat, no? Not a ton of nuance or depth there in terms of "moral ambiguity."
Yes, basically what I was driving at - and that it's not necessary for a film to noir - then dgriot said
I don't care much if the femme fatale character is the anti-hero or does a genuine turnaround, as long as (one of) the main protaganists is in that morally ambiguous grey area
I have mixed feelings about that one, I recognize why it's great but it doesn't appeal to me in the way that most noirs do (too much glitz and too many New York lights?). The main characters are excellent as is the dialogue, but I don't know-- the story itself didn't really do it for me.
I have mixed feelings about that one, I recognize why it's great but it doesn't appeal to me in the way that most noirs do (too much glitz and too many New York lights?). The main characters are excellent as is the dialogue, but I don't know-- the story itself didn't really do it for me.
the story does take the back seat to the rest of it, that's for sure. it is just such an exciting movie to me (i do have a life beyond movies, i swear!). the dialogue! the pace! Chico Hamilton! and everything is soooo tightly wound you can bounce a dime off it. i like the darkness in the glitz, all the glamour loses its sheen as you learn more about the people and the games they play. but yea, not as dirty as some noirs, and a lot of sharp edges, in a manner of speaking...
I have mixed feelings about that one, I recognize why it's great but it doesn't appeal to me in the way that most noirs do (too much glitz and too many New York lights?). The main characters are excellent as is the dialogue, but I don't know-- the story itself didn't really do it for me.
the story does take the back seat to the rest of it, that's for sure. it is just such an exciting movie to me (i do have a life beyond movies, i swear!). the dialogue! the pace! Chico Hamilton! and everything is soooo tightly wound you can bounce a dime off it. i like the darkness in the glitz, all the glamour loses its sheen as you learn more about the people and the games they play. but yea, not as dirty as some noirs, and a lot of sharp edges, in a manner of speaking...
Cinematographers don't come better than James Wong Howe. Guy was a genius.
If you're using the movie as a period piece from the post-war period then use an actual noir made during that time.
Double Indemnity is my all time fav of the genre and includes one of the classic femme fetales. Its on VHS and just got a DVD release.
If you want to talk about the Cold War then use Kiss Me Deadly. It's good and the guy is running around with some radioactive material in a suitcase (that for trivia buffs was the inspiration for the suitcase in Pulp Fiction). It should be easy to find on VHS, don't know about DVD off the top of my head.
If you just want a period movie/non-Noir about the Cold War then obviously the Manchurian Candidate would be a great choice as its about communist Chinese brainwashing American soldiers during the Korean War. You might also think of Invasion of the Body Snatchers as communists infiltrating the heartland of America with emotionless automotons.
If you just want to talk about noir in general, and would like something more contemporary than I'm telling you Devil In A Blue Dress is right up your alley in a class about "class, race, gender and popular culture."
It's no surprise that one of the best noir directors -Anthony Mann- made the most troubling westerns of the 50s.
I don't think we're going to convince O to use them, but co-sign on the Mann Westerns - and Boetticher, mentioned earlier - I'm a big fan of Bend in the River, where you get Stewart and Arthur Kennedy doing the buddies/enemies routine to the fullest. Another great Western noir is Lang's Rancho Notorious - although the Noir tag only really comes from Lang's style/absurdity and expressionist roots. Still, Rancho Notorious is a blast, without the sometimes oppressive tension of Mann/Boetticher/Daves, etc.
I saw Boetticher's Ride Lonesome in a restored CinemaScope projection a couple years back - that was an experience.
And how about Mann's Noir? The scene in T-Men where undercover agent Genaro is killed in front of Dennis O'Keefe is one of the more hauntingly brutal sequences of the era. Mann is probably second only to Joseph Lewis as my preferred visual stylist and storyteller. And they both had the good sense to work with John Alton - Alton worked on a number of the Westerns with Mann as well.
Double Indemnity is an all-time classic. I'm not sure how it would fit in with the cold war tension (maybe the life insurance angle?), but it is a beautiful film.
Another favorite noir of mine, one that doesn't get mentioned often, is "The Glass Key." Believe it or not, The Glass Key provided some significant source material for another of my favorite films: the Coen Brothers Miller's Crossing.
Although it's not really noir, a film that deals with the post-war climate in the U.S. IMMEDIATELY after the war is "The Best Years of our Lives." This Oscar winning film is simply incredible. Three veterans of WWII return home (one lost his hand in the war) and realize that everything is different than before they went off and killed a bunch of people. Films like this are simply not made in this country any more. You probably don't want to use it in your class though because a) it's not technically a film noir; and b) it's about 3 hours long.
Shiggy: If you're challenging the convention of equating post-WWII, Cold War anxiety with noir, name another popular, influential genre of film that would be equally rich. I can appreciate if you find that to be a narrow lens but that doesn't make it un-useful or illegitimate. Just to look at another example, hip-hop's hardly the only musical genre that's reflective of post-industrialization in America...but it's still not a bad way to go if you want to look at the relationship between society and culture.
I'm just saying dude - don't throw the baby out with the bathwahwah.
Joel: It's not crucial that I focus on films out of the 40s/50s. Last semester, when I first touched on this, I talked about the origins of noir in the mid-century but I ended up showing "The Last Seduction" instead because there were some neo-noir issues I also wanted to touch on. However, I just want an excuse to watch some stuff I haven't seen before and if that means going in classic films of the period, that's fine by me. We'll be covering enough contemporary cinema elsewhere in the course.
Comments
I like Coleen Gray
'Niiiiiiiiiiiiiight traiiiiiiiin to Muuuuuuundo Fiiiiiiineeeeeee....'
address what O-Dub asked for in his initial post, and
then there are 25 "THIS IS GOOD MOVIE" posts.
R.I.F. people. R.I.F.
I at least stated my intention to ignore his general request!
when academia rears its ugly head, it makes GOOD MOVIES some sort of post-colonial feminist modernist audio/visual commentary on social flibbityfloo poopoo stank.
LOL - I'm down to make "Film Noir Favorites" a sticky thread...
you KNOW I would be all posting up in that shit daily, but it
just makes me crazy when somebody asks for something specific
and everyone ignores it and starts throwing out every noir they
ever seen...
I guess I have been getting a lil' salty lately. Maybe
that should be my custom title: "Lil' Salty"
I guess you're right that you can interpret some of the themes there to fit Oliver's needs, but I guess my big thing about Hunter being considered a "true" noir (which is sorta moot since it's a genre that was defined after the fact) is that there's not much gray area or moral ambiguity with the characters, which is my big thing for noirs.
Mitchum's character is undoubtedly evil and the "Devil," coming in a deceptive Preacher form. Gish's character is undoubtedly Godly and good, through and through, not fooled. The mom and dad, although painted as likable and sympathetic (the father who stole purely for his family and the vulnerable single mother who took the Preacher out of confusion, lonliness, peer pressure, and desire to give her kids a father figure), were killed/murdered for their transgressions. The kids are ultimately saved by the Godliest character, smiting the Devil. etc.
D.O.A. on archive.org
If you're going for the Cold War Paranoia as the main theme, I gotta 2nd (or is it 3rd already?) Kiss Me Deadly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_Me_Deadly
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
but to answer this:
"Pickup on South St" is indeed the film, coming right at the point where Cold War paranoia starts, yet post-war prosperity hasn't (at least not for everyone)...
a "red menace" film that's aged well b/c of the amoralness of Richard Widmark's charector...
Shig, I figured you were saying this half-jokingly but dude, IT'S A SOCIOLOGY CLASS, not a film studies course, not "some shit me and wifey can watch this weekend." So yeah, sorry, but given the parameters of what I'm trying to do, the ideal movie would be:
1) Something that's actually good AND
2) Touches on the themes I noted.
You may think it's played out to talk about noir in the context of post-WWII America, McCarthyism, the Cold War, sexual revolution, etc. but keep in mind: most of my students HAVE NEVER HEARD OF NOIR. (Trust me).
If I'm even going to bother to talk about the genre/style then I at least want to explain how/when/why it arises in American culture and that means *gasp* connecting it to social flibbityfloo poopoo stank. (Some of us actually LIKE all that flibbityfloo).
To everyone else: thanks for your suggestions. I'll look over reviews and see what seems to come up the best.
"Devil in a Blue Dress" is a very tempting choice...thanks for your analysis Joel. I'll give it another thought. My temptation is to avoid neo-noir just b/c these students won't have the benefit of knowing what original noir was like to begin with and I think it's good to force them to watch shit from a different era of American cultural production.
fair enough - i think we differ here because i rarely see people as all bad or all good and that carries to how i see characters in a film. i know that's one of the defining themes of noir, but imo any (good) movie has that ambiguity. i tend to lean more towards the look and tension of a film for it to be noir.
to be devil's advocate and because i genuinely want to hear your opinion - how would you say Phyllis in Double Indemnity is morally ambiguous?
I thought Phyllis was pretty flat, no? Not a ton of nuance or depth there in terms of "moral ambiguity."
I don't disagree but I'm also interested in noir based on the visual/atmospheric style since it's something that students can see replicated in hundreds of films since then. Not to say Westerns don't have a particular aesthetic as well but it's nowhere near as pervasive as how noir has become.
professor dub,
but u see thats just it. every movie made during that time period can have the proverbial social studies screws put to it with the same effect. ghead, try it. its just that academia (partly due to its obsession with french film criticism) has somehow nailed noir to the cross as thee seminal genre discussing the social ills of mid 20th century americana. that is what is played out. the fact of the matter is, the hollywood film machine has always served as a sort of social barometer, no matter what the genre may be.
I wouldn't. She does a bangup job of the standard femme fatale - beautiful, her manipulations/lies believable when she's seducing Walter, ultimately the deadliest character, blah blah blah. It's debatable whether it's genuine remorse for her actions after shooting Walter, I guess. I don't care much if the femme fatale character is the anti-hero or does a genuine turnaround, as long as (one of) the main protaganists is in that morally ambiguous grey area, which Walter definitely is. He starts to feel regret for murdering Phyllis' husband mainly because the plan unravels and not because he took a human life. He has no qualms murdering Phyllis since he seems both of 'em as horrible/unredeemable, and as a half-assed way to save Phyllis' daughter-in-law's relationship, despite the dude being portrayed as a potentially abusive hothead who was seduced by Phyllis. Edward G. Robinson's character seemed to be the only clean one.
Yes, basically what I was driving at - and that it's not necessary for a film to noir - then dgriot said
and i better understood where he was coming from.
Thoughts on Sweet Smell of Success?
I have mixed feelings about that one, I recognize why it's great but it doesn't appeal to me in the way that most noirs do (too much glitz and too many New York lights?). The main characters are excellent as is the dialogue, but I don't know-- the story itself didn't really do it for me.
the story does take the back seat to the rest of it, that's for sure. it is just such an exciting movie to me (i do have a life beyond movies, i swear!).
the dialogue! the pace! Chico Hamilton! and everything is soooo tightly wound you can bounce a dime off it. i like the darkness in the glitz, all the glamour loses its sheen as you learn more about the people and the games they play. but yea, not as dirty as some noirs, and a lot of sharp edges, in a manner of speaking...
Cinematographers don't come better than James Wong Howe. Guy was a genius.
If you're using the movie as a period piece from the post-war period then use an actual noir made during that time.
Double Indemnity is my all time fav of the genre and includes one of the classic femme fetales. Its on VHS and just got a DVD release.
If you want to talk about the Cold War then use Kiss Me Deadly. It's good and the guy is running around with some radioactive material in a suitcase (that for trivia buffs was the inspiration for the suitcase in Pulp Fiction). It should be easy to find on VHS, don't know about DVD off the top of my head.
If you just want a period movie/non-Noir about the Cold War then obviously the Manchurian Candidate would be a great choice as its about communist Chinese brainwashing American soldiers during the Korean War. You might also think of Invasion of the Body Snatchers as communists infiltrating the heartland of America with emotionless automotons.
If you just want to talk about noir in general, and would like something more contemporary than I'm telling you Devil In A Blue Dress is right up your alley in a class about "class, race, gender and popular culture."
I don't think we're going to convince O to use them, but
co-sign on the Mann Westerns - and Boetticher, mentioned
earlier - I'm a big fan of Bend in the River, where
you get Stewart and Arthur Kennedy doing the buddies/enemies
routine to the fullest. Another great Western noir is Lang's
Rancho Notorious - although the Noir tag only really
comes from Lang's style/absurdity and expressionist roots.
Still, Rancho Notorious is a blast, without the sometimes
oppressive tension of Mann/Boetticher/Daves, etc.
I saw Boetticher's Ride Lonesome in a restored
CinemaScope projection a couple years back - that was
an experience.
And how about Mann's Noir? The scene in T-Men where undercover
agent Genaro is killed in front of Dennis O'Keefe is one of the
more hauntingly brutal sequences of the era. Mann is probably
second only to Joseph Lewis as my preferred visual stylist and
storyteller. And they both had the good sense to work with John
Alton - Alton worked on a number of the Westerns with Mann as well.
thaaaa
man from
laramieeeeeeeee!
Another favorite noir of mine, one that doesn't get mentioned often, is "The Glass Key." Believe it or not, The Glass Key provided some significant source material for another of my favorite films: the Coen Brothers Miller's Crossing.
Although it's not really noir, a film that deals with the post-war climate in the U.S. IMMEDIATELY after the war is "The Best Years of our Lives." This Oscar winning film is simply incredible. Three veterans of WWII return home (one lost his hand in the war) and realize that everything is different than before they went off and killed a bunch of people. Films like this are simply not made in this country any more. You probably don't want to use it in your class though because a) it's not technically a film noir; and b) it's about 3 hours long.
Good luck with your quest, Oliver.
JRoot
I'm just saying dude - don't throw the baby out with the bathwahwah.
Joel: It's not crucial that I focus on films out of the 40s/50s. Last semester, when I first touched on this, I talked about the origins of noir in the mid-century but I ended up showing "The Last Seduction" instead because there were some neo-noir issues I also wanted to touch on. However, I just want an excuse to watch some stuff I haven't seen before and if that means going in classic films of the period, that's fine by me. We'll be covering enough contemporary cinema elsewhere in the course.