Glad to see the mentions of McCain who I read when I was young enough to enjoy them without getting caught up in their historicity…

And the original by Don Siegel is also great.

My favorite noir by far is Out of the Past. While recognizing all the political issues that you’ve pointed out so insightfully, I also think of the movie as akin to Sophocles. It may be old-fashioned to talk about the human condition, but there it is, my friends. Let’s not forget that existentialism blossomed along with noir; they certainly work the same side of the street. Also, if you can grab a laserdisc player, you should hear critic David Thomson’s commentary on the film (sadly omitted from the DVD). In fact, I think I just found a project for my DVR tonight.
I love Double Indemnity, though Barbara Stanwyck has little sex appeal for me, and it thus took me a long time to get into the heart of that film. Sunset Boulevard did it for me right away, not because of Gloria Swanson, but because doomed love seems almost beside the point in that film. It has other fish to fry.

I LOVE The Killers. Your commentary does it justice and I have nothing to add at this time, your honor.

Haven’t seen Criss Cross.

Asphalt Jungle is wonderful noir, as is Kubrick’s first real feature film, The Killing.

I need to buckle down with the Postmen–never given either a proper viewing.

Night of the Hunter works on 50,000 levels and is one of my all-time top twenty. Laughton refused to work with the kids–Mitchum directed them (and what a job he did). I think NotH is a major part of the Coen’s Raising Arizona, a para-noir film imo.

And what of neo-noirs? Chinatown, L.A. Confidential spring to mind. The latter takes the audacious step of making the femme fatale and the “good girl” one and the same….

Great post, Jim.

How did I know I might be speaking to the coolest cats in Vancouver? I have some pretty cool syllabi that I taught at SUNY Old Westbury a number of years back that you both might get a kick out of -I’ll post them shortly:) Mildred Pierce is one of the book/film combinations (Sonic Youth nailed that film -brilliant) as is the 1946 The Postman Always Rings Twice - an absolute masterpiece (God bless Lana Turner) that I totally forgot about. James M. Caine may have been the most important writer of the Noir genre when it comes to film. Think about it he wrote Mildred Pierce, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Double Indemnity -all gripping novels and even more amazing films. American existentialism at its best!

As for Invasion(s), I love the intra-textual film connections in those adaptations. Particularly when Kevin McCarthy seems to be running directly out of the 1956 version right into San Francisco in the ‘78 version yelling “they’re here already!” -or something similar. Great stuff, the Leonard Nimoy character may be my favorite though, the real Dr. Spock! The first conference paper I ever gave was a comparison of these two films and it was meager but a blast nonetheless -my favorite presentation to date. I might bust out a copy of that paper along with the syllabi. This might very well be a full scale filming coming out for me. Thanks for egging me on!

Maybe too much more to come…

I sent Brian off to the vid store yesterday on a mission for noir and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78). He came back with Mildred Pierce and the good news that Black Dog videos had a whole shelf of noir, most of which we hadn’t seen. We’ll head back, list in hand.

Enjoyed Invasion though not nearly as creepy as I remembered and way more funny. I love that big, sprawly, loose feel of 70’s movies and Donald Sutherland in anything.