Classic Film Noir At Twentieth Century Fox
Fox Noir: Welcome to the world of the femme fatale and multiple flashbacks. Otto Preminger’s “Laura” with Clifton Webb is the crown jewel. And Gene Tierney.
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Category: Film Noir
Chinatown (1974) Polanski’s Noir Masterpiece A+
Polanski captured the FEEL of LA better than anyone before or sense. Jack Nicholson gives his greatest performance as private dick J. J. ” Jake” Gittes.
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In a Lonely Place (1950) Queer Film A-
Bogart is superb playing a queer-coded male lead. He’s emotionally volatile, unable to be in a stable heterosexual relationship, deeply suspicious of intimacy and terrified of being “found out”.
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Niagara (1953) Film Noir A-
The buildup to Monroe’s superstardom started here. The magnificent widescreen technicolor cinematography is by Joseph MacDonald.
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Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Queer Film A+
Wood, Dean and Mineo form a nuclear family under the shadow of Griffith Park Observatory in Nicholas Ray’s masterpiece “Rebel Without a Cause.
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The Big Combo (1955) Queer Film B-
“The Big Combo” features a gay couple (played by Earl Holliman and Lee Van Cleef) whose chosen profession also adds to their fascination and their sexiness.
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Les Diaboliques (1955) Queer Film A-
By late 1956, it had become the highest-grossing French film released in the United States. It is also one of the most successful queer films of all time since, although queer coded, something is clearly going on between Christina and Nicole!
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Touch of Evil (1958) Queer Film (A)
Yes, that is Mercedes McCambridge as an unnamed lesbian gang leader getting her kicks while watching Janet Leigh getting roughed up in “A Touch of Evil.”
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The Maltese Falcon (1941) Queer Film A-
Performances to savor. Mary Astor does a superb turn as Bridget O’Shaughnessy, a Celtic Tiger avant la lettre!
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The Seventh Victim (1943) Queer Film C
Gay writer DeWitt Bodeen skillfully creates a queer subtext that is both subtle and present, reflecting themes of isolation and existential despair.
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Laura (1944) Queer Film A+
“Laura” is one of the classic film noirs. Gene Tierney is born and Clifton Webb becomes a star in his fifties. Haunting Raksin score.
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Double Indemnity (1944) Queer Film A+
“Double Indemnity” is the best of the three great film noirs of 1944, the others being “Laura” and “The Woman in the Window”. The three leads are superb as is Wilder’s direction.
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Murder My Sweet (1944) Queer Film. B+
Powell is in excellent company, and he acquits himself admirably. He also gets props for being the first to play Marlowe.
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Mildred Pierce (1945) Queer Film A+
Brilliantly filmed in high Germanic style by a wondrously talented bunch of ex-pat Viennese uber talents: Curtiz, Anton Grot and Max Steiner.
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Gilda (1946) Queer Film A-
“Gilda”: Rita Hayworth’s star-making performance, directed by Charles Vidor, with cinematography by Rudolph Mate and Jack Cole’s choreography.
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The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) Queer Film (A)
Stanwyck gives one of her most controlled, lethal performances, and Douglas’s debut is astonishing – he plays Walter as a man who has been dying for years, a man whose entire identity is built around Martha.
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Nightmare Alley (1947) Film Noir – Forget About the Remake! (A)
Working with master cinematographer Lee Garmes, director Edmund Goulding produced one of the GREAT film noirs, a genre he had never worked in before and would never work in again.
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Brute Force (1947) Queer Film B+
“Brute Force”: Our homosexual is interested in art and music. Hume Cronyn, a consummate actor, plays him to the hilt.
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