"Reality is a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there." -John Barth
by Various Authors, Lawrence Block (Ed.) “He came from Albany, and people who come from there get what they deserve.” -Stephen King, “The Music Room” We’ve all seen Edward Hopper’s art, whether we’ve sought it out or not. There’s a subtly sad, understated despair in much of it. Sometimes it’s the perspective, evoking loneliness from... Continue Reading →
by Fritz Leiber The first book in the revered series is, like the rest of the books, actually a collection of shorter works. This one consists of one short story, “Induction,” two novellas, The Snow Women and Ill Met in Lankmar, and the novelette The Unholy Grail. "Induction" serves as the briefest of overviews, introducing... Continue Reading →
by Charles G. Finney "The world is my idea," he said. "The world is my idea; as such I present it to you." In a bizarre tale, a circus arrives in the small Arizona town of Abalone. Over the course of a single afternoon the townsfolk witness the arrival of the three wagon circus, the contents... Continue Reading →
by William Lindsay Gresham “I've given ‘em mentalism and they treat it like a dog walking on his hind legs. Okay. They're asking for it. Here it comes." As a young man, Stan finds himself joining a carnival. He begins learning the ropes of selecting marks, prying money from their hands, and finds himself a... Continue Reading →
In the age of science there lived a small boy, trapped in the body of an oafish man. The boy read like a wolf howls, like a moon beams, but one day his attention was caught by another interest, as so often happens with small boys. The boy went on an epic quest through film noir,... Continue Reading →
Directed by George Marshall, written by Raymond Chandler “You got the wrong lipstick on, Mister.” Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd), a solider dismissed from the war, returns home with two of his buddies to find his harlot of a wife (Doris Dowling) cheating on him with a local club-owner and gangster Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva).... Continue Reading →
Directed by Fritz Lang, written by Sydney Boehm (screenplay), William P. McGivern (Saturday Evening Post serial) “The coming years are going to be just fine, Mr. Bannion.” “There aren’t going to be any coming years for you.” Noir is black, but black isn’t necessarily noir. Even though the translation is literally the same. (That old... Continue Reading →
Directed by Rudolph Maté, written by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene (story and screenplay) “I don’t think you fully understand, Bigelow. You’ve been murdered.” At the outset a man walks into a police station to report his own murder. While half of everyone he met has lied to him, our womanizing anti-hero has hurled himself around... Continue Reading →
There have been disagreements on whether or not this film can be considered ‘film noir’, with the majority against its inclusion. But the movie is lit properly for the theme with its shadows and angles, the timing is right, it’s soaked in cynicism and despair, it’s got a small but murderous body count, it’s got... Continue Reading →
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.