“Three miles out of town and six feet down. All alone. With nobody to lie to.” Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950). Michael Atkinson called Barbara Payton childlike, yet “the most chillingly dangerous of noir actresses.” You can see what he means. She’s fragile as glass until she isn’t. Then she’s lethal

There's confidence, then there's thinking you know more about looking good than Gene Simmons

Deadline at Dawn (1946), is another Criterion Blackout Noir. A dizzying New York story with a maze of characters and an unguessable ending. Everyone talks like a philosopher, and no one seems quite real, but it is very assuredly done, and it works like a dream

#Noirvember challenge: Favorite #FilmNoir duo is Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. They were in nine movies together. A favorite is Three Strangers (1946) with Geraldine Fitzgerald. They share a lucky lottery ticket. One person places their plans to get rich quick in peril. Warner Bros.

Compulsion (1959), The Boston Strangler (1968), & 10 Rillington Place (1971), 3 true(-ish) crime dramas from prolific director Richard Fleischer All graced by brilliant central performances, all slightly lopsided plots-wise & collectively a portrait of what does & doesn't date a movie 1/15

Gloria Grahame by Otto Ludwig Bettmann (1940s)

The Lamps of DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) 💡 #NoirLamps

a few brief thoughts on Roberto Rossellini's Fear (1954) letterboxd.com/jamesewand/f...

“Only a moment of bliss? Isn't such a moment sufficient for the whole of a man's life?" White Nights (1957). A fairytale of love and loneliness, hopelessly romantic, but with a foot in the gutter. The story is familiar, but told in a way that makes no sense at all unless you give in to dream logic

On a Saturday night like this six months ago The Holy Smokes played their last ever show. We weren't the tightest band in the world, but we had beans

#NoirvemberChallenge Mount Rushmore of #FilmNoir

If you, like @criterion.bsky.social, are searching for more #BlackoutNoir this #Noirvember, we’ve got a doozy of a scene breakdown for you! shotzero.substack.com/p/putting-us...

Is anything noirer than a blackout? Than not knowing what you’ve done, or what you’re going to get for it? Blackout Noir is a brilliantly conceived programme on Criterion, thanks to @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social & @glennkenny.bsky.social. And Black Angel (1946) is aces, it really sucker punched me

Gene Tierney photographed by John Rawlings for VOGUE (1946)

Got a tenner on this cat being the 29th incarnation of Buddha

Giving a lecture on the drafts of The Waste Land tomorrow and all the strange and haunting lines that Eliot and Pound decided to cut

Sleuth (1972) & Sleuth (2007) The original adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's hit black-comedy/thriller play, & the re-make of that adaptation One's good, one's godawful Michael Caine's in both 1/11

#NoirvemberChallenge Favorite Gloria Grahame #FilmNoir Naked Alibi (1954) Well, I don't know that it's my very favourite, but it deserves a mention. She does something to Sterling Hayden in this that just about sets the celluloid on fire

Whirlpool (1950). Sigmund Freud was unwittingly responsible for a lot of the half-baked story ideas in mid-20th century Hollywood and this is one of them. The setup is intriguing, the second act keeps you guessing, then it crashes under the weight of its own preposterousness

#Noirvember Day 10 Favorite Gloria Grahame #FilmNoir “The Big Heat” from 1953. Glenn Ford searches for thugs who killed his wife. Gloria Grahame is a moll for a guy he’s after. She’s the movie’s real star. Horrifically hurt, she’s determined to get the gangsters. Thanks @ladykdesigns.bsky.social

This Korean book of horror stories for kids goes pretty hard

Olivia de Havilland by Bob Landry for LIFE Magazine (1942)

Plein Soleil on EBS. Never seen this before!

Post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it

Senso (1954). For these two hours, Alida Valli is the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen, and that splendidly sculpted, infinitely mobile face goes on a hell of a journey. Farley Granger too is very interesting in Italian. It really unlocks the devil in him

Day 8: Favorite Line in a Film Noir #NoirvemberChallenge - You won't get into any trouble, will you? - I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Posh rabbit food 넘넘

Can't believe they gave The Greasy Strangler zero stars. Preachy self-righteous middle class bastards www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

First watch: Stromboli (1950). Ingrid Bergman famously approached Roberto Rossellini to work together on the strength of his War Trilogy. In some senses, they met half way, with a film that combines documentary elements with something more heightened and stylized, even melodramatic. 1/4

A sneak peek at the cover of next week’s issue, which celebrates Zohran Mamdani’s historic win. #NewYorkerCovers https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/451hFM

Fallen Angel (1945). Starts out great in Jim Thompson territory, a penniless grifter washed up in a small town gets tangled up with a phony clairvoyant act and an on-the-make hash house waitress. I love it when that happens

Watched this last night, and it was terrific! Sam Fuller’s PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET. As James says, it’s lean, mean and sassy - and the chemistry between Richard Widmark & Jean Peters is off the chart. 🔥 Highly recommended! #FilmSky #Noirvember #Noir

These Halloween-themed photos were some of the first studio promotions that Ida Lupino did for Paramount after arriving in Hollywood in September 1933 at age 15.

Taste of Fear (1961). Thanks to @lessmarberry.bsky.social for recommending this tasty Halloween chiller. A really taut and atmospheric 80 minutes that riffs nicely on Les Diaboliques. Coolly ruthless direction, twisty script, and ace cinematography that is more shadowy than Hank Marvin

Without either of the leads, the film would possibly have been just a footnote in movie history. With them, it continued Hammer’s soaring rise and entered the culture, perhaps not in the same way as Whale’s film, but on another level. My review of THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN boxd.it/bxGtuX #FilmSky

Got my Halloween decorations up

"There ain’t a woman in this town ain’t lost a husband, a boy, or someone" Deep Waters (1948). Being a Maine lobsterman is not the safest job but what if it’s in your blood? What if you’re 12 years old and Jean Peters cares only for your safety? This is a really good story of well-meaning conflict

Vicki (1953) Remake of I Wake Up Screaming (1941), which is a stone classic in my book. This version is not in the same league but is a solid adaptation of a good story. Jean Peters is terrific, though her character doesn’t get nearly enough screen time. Richard Boone too is really good

Dracula's Daughter (1936) isn't great cinema, but inside it hides something quite unique.. just out of its reach. It goes from the sublime to the ridiculous in less a time it takes to do one of its many goofy double takes, but it's also eerie, pro-science and oddly progressive. 🖤 #filmsky #halloween

Ida Lupino and Errol Flynn in “Escape Me Never” (1947)

Teorema (1968). The title suggests a film of ideas, philosophical or political, and it is, but it is also a painterly work of art. Pasolini’s camera is transformative. It can make anything appear numinous: a factory; a volcanic wasteland; above all, a human face

Mamma Roma (1962). Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! Anna Magnani larger than life in a tale of motherly love and fatalism. She’s balanced by a delicate, naturalistic turn from 16 y.o. Ettore Garofolo as her son, struggling with manhood, his jackets too big for him - a fine debut

Sherlock Holmes: Sit down, old fellow. Judge Brisson has decided not to shoot us. Dr. John H. Watson: Oh, very kind of him. Basil Rathone's Sherlock Holmes's Wicker Man film.

First watch: The Spiral Staircase (1946). Robert Siodmak brings German expressionist visuals to this gothic-tinged proto-slasher about a killer who stalks women because of their disabilities. Cue Dorothy McGuire as Helen, who has been left mute since her parents died in a fire. 1/3

Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary (1953). It was Diana Dors’s birthday yesterday and I missed it. So… She’s flawless in this, a good old-fashioned bedroom farce, the spirit that fuelled British sitcoms right up to the mid-80s. No story at all but a barrage of gags, about one lol every 10 minutes

Drumming diary: I am now learning how to twirl a stick between my fingers like a massive wanker. I recommend safety goggles for this activity

a few thoughts on Breakfast at Tiffany's, which I enjoyed a little while back letterboxd.com/jamesewand/f...

The Dark Mirror (1946). Olivia de Havilland as twins, one's a killer, the cops don’t know who to arrest. (I’m not a lawyer but I reckon they could nab them both on conspiracy). Intriguing set up but quickly turns out to be a corny old good/evil twin story. Twins in real life must have hated these!

The local Commissioner tells Charlton Heston that there’s something nasty in the jungle, something 20 miles long and two miles wild, unstoppable, brutal, and they’d all better get the hell out of the way. My review of 1954's sometimes laughably preposterous THE NAKED JUNGLE - boxd.it/braT6J #FilmSky