Revelations, Remembrance and Film Noir

For those of you looking for upcoming film noir, scroll to the end for information on TMC’s March line up.

For some, living through a year-long pandemic will cause one to reevaluate certain aspects of their life. Social mores, political views, health habits. Rethinking the importance of things, such as the appreciation of friends and what we do to help others. To say that we took much for granted and made assumptions about our life paths would be an understatement.

With Paul D. Marks at The Open Book in 2016. Photo credit: Amy Marks

In my last newsletter, I mentioned an author-colleague of mine and lauded his newsletters. Alas, my assumption that those entertaining missives would keep coming was wrong. Paul D. Marks – who recently wrote to congratulate me on my newsletter – lost his battle with cancer barely a week ago. As sad as that is, I know Paul would not want us to dwell on that sadness; rather, he would want us to carry on and keep the discussions he started and participated in alive. Keep watching noir films on TCM and AMC, talk about the Golden Age of Hollywood, and discover/share nostalgic tidbits of Los Angeles’ storied past.

Here’s a story Paul may or may not have read, but in either case, he would have soaked it up. Elijah Chiland put together this great overview for Curbed Los Angeles, a publication owned by Vox, “How the LA landscape shaped film noir.” In it, Chiland summarizes many great films shot in and around the confines of Los Angeles, among them Double Jeopardy, one of Paul’s (and my) favorites. If so inclined, take a read.

The *Double Indemnity* house is located on Quebec Drive in Los Angeles, California.

I would love to be able to write in this dark, slanted point of view, to give the reader that same response they get from film. According to Roger Ebert, “Film noir is…

1. A French term meaning “black film,” or film of the night.
2. A movie which at no time misleads you into thinking there is going to be a happy ending.
3. Locations that reek of the night, of shadows, of alleys, of the back doors of fancy places, of apartment buildings with a high turnover rate, of taxi drivers and bartenders who have seen it all.
4. Cigarettes. Everybody in film noir is always smoking, as if to say, “On top of everything else, I’ve been assigned to get through three packs today.”
5. Women who would just as soon kill you as love you, and vice versa.
6. For women: low necklines, floppy hats, mascara, lipstick, dressing rooms, boudoirs… high heels, red dresses, elbow length gloves, mixing drinks […]
7. For men: fedoras, suits and ties, shabby residential hotels with a neon sign blinking through the window, buying yourself a drink out of the office bottle, cars with running boards, all-night diners […]
8. Movies either shot in black and white, or feeling like they were.
9. Relationships in which love is only the final flop card in the poker game of death.
10. The most American film genre, because no society could have created a world so filled with doom, fate, fear and betrayal, unless it were essentially naive and optimistic.”
https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/a-guide-to-film-noir-genre

Can these elements be written with any degree of authenticity? Of course, because words came before film. Think Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain. But filmmakers have their own set of cinematic tools that bring noir full circle. Most obvious, chiaroscuro, a high contrast/juxtaposition between light and dark used as a lighting technique originated with German Expressionist films.

But before I get off on a film history lesson, suffice to say that I’m glad the great noir films are still fairly easy to find and dig into. Those who will miss Paul’s updates can find some information here on upcoming films on the small (TMC) screen: https://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/news-tv.html

Before I go, here are some suggestions: