Pick your #FilmNoir Fashion Mood: ✔️Casual: Lauren Bacall ✔️Dressy: Claire Trevor Key Largo (1948) with costumes by Leah Rhodes. Rhodes began working as a buyer and shopper for Warner Bros., eventually becoming Orry-Kelly's chief assistant. 📽️

#TheNoirCollective returns next Wed, as does Richard Widmark. A dedicated scientist battles government inaction, public mistrust, even threats to his life – all to stop a deadly pandemic. Only in the movies, right? 😉 @tommykrasker.bsky.social hosts PANIC IN THE STREETS. Link to watch coming Monday.

Next week, another #WidmarkWednesday, as a dedicated scientist battles government inaction, public mistrust, even threats to his life – all to stop the spread of a deadly pandemic. Yeah, I know: only in the movies, right? I’ll be hosting PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950). Join us! 😊 #TheNoirCollective

Thank you all so much for joining me for this week's live watch of #PickupOnSouthStreet for @thenoircollective.bsky.social! I adore this #filmnoir, and it was so much fun to share it with all you dames, mugs, and birds. Till next time...

Skip💘 Candy. It's a happily-ever-after #filmnoir for our couple that, admittedly, I am here for. Do you like HEA in your noirs? Do we think Skip will really change? Do we even want to know? Drop the 🫖 in comments. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Stellar sequence by Fuller and MacDonald for the climax flight scene to take down our commie villain using the gritty NYC subway tracks, sights, and sounds. Wholly unique and quite successful in its execution. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Surprise, surprise: #PickupOnSouthStreet was "remade" in 1967 as "The Cape Town Affair." According to wiki, Claire Trevor played the role made famous by Thelma Ritter. #TheNoirCollective

Now this is a fight! Do you have any favorite fights in #filmnoir? #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

And just like we started...we're back on the train. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

#PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective #FilmNoir Visual rhythms. How it started, how it’s going. They are not safe and in the clear just yet!

That shot of the dumbwaiter from below looks like a Weegee crime scene photo. #TheNoirCollective #PickupOnSouthStreet

Love this sequence. Skip is getting closer. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Good or bad, right or wrong, Candy is ride or die. As we approach some pivotal scenes, let's watch it unfold... #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

"You all right?" I find this scene has quite a bit of dimension that some look at as toxic and some look at as hopeful. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Other Fuller #filmnoir besides Pickup On South Street (1953) are House of Bamboo (1955), The Crimson Kimono (1959), Underworld U.S.A (1961), and The Naked Kiss (1965). #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

This week’s #TheNoirCollective leading men are Richard Widmark, Murvyn Vye, Willis Bouchey and Richard Kiley #PickupOnSouthStreet #RichardWidmark #MurvynVye #WillisBouchey #RichardKiley #FilmNoir #WidmarkWednesday

And our #TheNoirCollective leading ladies this week are Jean Peters and Thelma Ritter #PickupOnSouthStreet #JeanPeters #ThelmaRitter #FilmNoir

There’s also a 1954 Lux Radio show version of “Pickup on South Street”. You can listen to that for free here (youtu.be/2hYM0q5FehY?...) #TheNoirCollective #PickupOnSouthStreet #FilmNoir #OTR

Joe MacDonald’s cinematography is so restlessly inventive – crazy long takes, sudden zooms and these POV shots – I wish he were sticking around for next week’s watch party, too. Oh, wait: he is. 🤷‍♂️😅 #TheNoirCollective #PickupOnSouthStreet

Beautiful shots by our Cinematographer, Joseph MacDonald. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

In August 1952, the script was deemed unacceptable by the Production Code, for reasons of "excessive brutality and sadistic beatings". #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Tell me it's #filmnoir without telling me it's film noir. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Both Widmark and Peters are geniuses at zeroing in on the moral ambiguity. It’s incredibly impressive. 👏👏 #TheNoirCollective

Alan Reed, who played an uncredited detective, is better known as the cartoon voice of Fred Flintstone. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Thelma Ritter was nominated for an Oscar here, her 4th consecutive year with a nom. She would recieve two more but never won a statue. She did win a Tony in 1958 for New Girl in Town. An absolute treasure. #thenoircollective

How does Candy's dress stay so clean? At this point in the adventure, the stains of NYC would be prominent. 😆 #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Would you do it to help save Skip? #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Candy really melts Skip, and now he knows she's on the level. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

It turns out Moe is more noble and brave than anyone in this scene, she's elevated from her meager surroundings. It's a thing of beauty. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

"It's in the papers." #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Ferrying the dead out of Manhattan was common in early 20th century as burial space was scarce & cemeteries lay across the river or Potter’s Field. Undertakers moved coffins after dark to avoid daytime traffic. By the 50s, when the film was made, the tradition was already fading, #TheNoirCollective

Quite apart from Ritter’s genius, is Moe’s death the noir-iest death ever? I mean, early on, we got used to people accepting their fate: in Double Indemnity, Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The Killers. But did anyone ever say their killer was doing them “a big favor”? #TheNoirCollective

Skip is gonna do right by Moe. Widmark plays the morally ambiguous pick-pocket so well. These are the characters in #filmnoir that I find so interesting. He's not good, but he's not bad either. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Many critics see Moe’s death as the movie’s emotional center, capturing the loyalty, quiet self-respect, and tough moral choices faced by people living on the fringes of society. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Thelma Ritter's hat from #PickupOnSouthStreet should be in the Smithsonian. #TheNoirCollective

“Listen, Mister. When I come in here tonight, you seen an old clock runnin’ down. I’m tired. I’m through. Happens to everybody sometimes. With me, it’s a little bit of everything. Well, what am I gonna do, knock it? I have to go on makin’ a livin’… so I can die.” #TheNoirCollective

This moment is widely considered one of the film’s highlights—and a defining scene in Samuel Fuller’s career. Thelma Ritter’s performance is so moving it earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. “Mam’selle” is playing on Moe’s phonograph. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

One of the most devastating scenes in #filmnoir and in my opinion, film in general. Thelma plays this to utter perfection. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

The way Fuller handles the close-ups and editing of this reveal scene... 💯 #TheNoirCollective #PickupOnSouthStreet

Moe is always hustling. This scene, where she is pushing ties at night, is so brutal and raw. Absolutely brilliantly constructed by Fuller and played by Ritter. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

"Ah, don't be dore, they'd caught up with you in a couple of days anyway." Moe and Skip are two I would love to have coffee with. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

"He's as shifty as smoke, but I love him". #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

You did it @tommykrasker.bsky.social! #TheNoirCollective #PickuponSouthStreet

"How did I get to be a pickpocket? How'd you get to be what you are? Things happen. That's how." Love Widmark’s sudden, brutal, violent response. It’s like he knows he’s living in a noir: one where the events of his past have already dictated his future. #TheNoirCollective #PickupOnSouthStreet

"I know you're getting paid to take care of him." This scene didn't really strike me on my first few watches, but it's powerful in its implications and feels even more so with the current state of affairs and how things often shake down from the top. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

Terrific shots! #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

The Red Scare was a time of intense fear in the U.S. that communism was secretly spreading within the government, entertainment, and everyday life. It was a time when being labeled a communist could ruin careers, friendships, and lives. #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

"Why the pitch?" "Cause I really like you." "Ya talkin like ya got a fever." #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

"You got fingers like an artist." "When they stay empty, they get nervous." #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective

There is no #filmnoir without the writing, and what makes noir so unique are the words taken directly from the streets, shadows, and underbelly. "Well, I'll tell ya, baby, when I'm caught it's always an accident, like I'm not feeling so good." #PickupOnSouthStreet #TheNoirCollective