Hell is a City

Though Hammer films is best known for its horror movies, this 1960 urban crime procedural from that studio is a fantastic picture that any noir fan will enjoy.

First Look: Dark Pages latest issue

hot off the presses is the latest issue of the bi-monthly noir publication…

The Long Arm

This 1956 British crime movie (Alternate title The Third Key) begins as a burglar alarm goes off and we watch someone with very soft soled shoes emptying a safe at Stone & Co.

Jean Gillie

Jean Gillie, a radiant, redheaded British actress, gave a delightfully wicked performance as Margot Shelby in Decoy (1946) and made that movie a minor noir classic.

The Frightened City

This is a good 1961 British gangster movie that relies on basic and predictable but solid formulas and conventions and is worth watching mainly because of the presence of two greats, Herbert Lom and Sean Connery.

Payroll

Who doesn’t love a heist movie? You? Very well, you better leave now then. I love them and this one a UK production from 1961, is a good one.

First Look: Dark Pages Special Nightmare Alley issue

Dark Pages’ year end extravaganzas have been big deals in the past, but I dare say this time DP founder/editor Karen has really outdone herself! She kindly let me choose the featured movie for this year’s theme issue and I went with one starring one of my favorites, NIGHTMARE ALLEY. We were so lucky to have tons of interest which resulted in fantastic contributions, more than enough to make this issue a big 40-page collector’s item full of history, background, analysis,opinion, trivia, biography and great photos. Here are just some of the articles you’ll find in this issue (with links to those that have blogs):

I write on Tyrone Power’s performance and about director Edmund Goulding

review by Jacqueline of Film Noir Blonde,

A Rose Isn’t a Rose (or “The Contrarian’s View”)

The Doppleganger Effect by Rebecca of  Classic Becky’s Brain Food

Barbara McLean, film editor –  Jo of The Last Drive In 

Coleen Gray Interview by Laura of  Laura’s Misc Musings

Dark Corner Performers (Ian Keith and Taylor Holmes)

Helen Walker by  Danny Reid of Can’t Stop the Movies

Joan Blondell by  Cliff from Immortal Ephemera

Linda Christian

Mike Mazurki   by  Dorian from Tales of the Easily Distracted

Nightmare Alley and Psychoanalysis by  The Nitrate Diva 

Noir in 1947 by  Aurora of Once Upon a Screen

Script to Screen, aka the adaptation

Things I Love About Nightmare Alley

Top Six Great Moments by Jennifer of  Dereliction Row

Where’s the Gun? aka unconventional noir

William Lindsay Gresham,  the source novel’s author

plus loads of trivia, factoids and quizzes… I hardly need to sell this one any further, so if you have any interest at all in this fabulous film and this issue and all those great writers, then click right here to learn more about subscribing to DARK PAGES !  thanks everyone for contributing and making this a big success, and something special for the readers! cheers

(picture source)

Virginia Mayo

Virginia Mayo was so much more than just a blonde bombshell; in fact she wasn’t even that in real life. She was a welcome presence in any film, a great singer, dancer and comedienne, and especially fun in the crime films she made, because she was so good at being bad.

Must See: The Unsuspected

From each writer of source novels adapted to film, you get a signature and recognizable style, even when their material is reshaped by Hollywood. From W.B. Burnett (Little Caesar, High Sierra, Asphalt Jungle) you get rugged and realistic hardened criminals, gritty underworld settings and machine gun dialogue. From Raymond Chandler you find the creeps often live in the most opulent mansions. From Charlotte Armstrong, whom some called Queen of suspensers, you get unseen horrors hidden beneath a highly dusted and waxed veneer of domestic life, a juicy hot evil center baked right into the familiar conventions of a regular women’s novel of the time, something writer Ariel Swartley nicely describes as being trapped in a Doris Day movie gone bad.

Must See: The Mask of Dimitrios

Question: what do you get when you mix The Usual Suspects, The Third Man and The Maltese Falcon? A good evening of viewing, not to mention a cast of characters making for a highly memorable if slightly dark and frightening dinner party, you might also get something along the lines of this fantastic film.