Mel Brooks Blogathon: High Anxiety

What's a gal who loves Mel Brooks but writes a film noir blog to do when Cinematic Frontier announces the 2016 Mel Brooks Blogathon? To quote the master:   I love Mel Brooks' films. My three absolute favorites are Young Frankenstein (1974), The...

If not for noir #1: Richard Widmark

I've decided to try out a new regular feature: "If not for noir." In each post, I'll be discussing someone or something I wouldn't have appreciated as much as I do now (or at all, in a few cases) if...

Best Noir Poll Round 5

All righty, the choices are getting slimmer, and we're all watching our favorites vanish as well as seeing a few triumph. In Round 4, the biggest winner was Out of the Past which took 100% of the vote over Detour. And The Killers...

Screening Round-up Catch-up

Getting caught up on some viewings for the past few weeks means covering mostly noir but a few others as well, including an old film I saw anew and a flick with an amazing cast that I didn't finish! Border...

Jeepers I love you, Johnny: Sex, Violence, and Scarlet Street

For MovieMovieBlogBlog's second annual Sex! Blogathon, I had many possible choices, for there is ample sexual desire in noir, and passionate embraces and secret affairs are certainly attention-getting in many a noir picture. There is a lot of love-hate passion...

She Couldn’t Take It (1935): A Screwball-Gangster Delight

  I kinda have a thing for George Raft. I love his combination of toughness and sweetness, his sexy eyes, slender frame, and elegant body language. And he sure knows how to wear a hat. Raft's a man who started out...

Best Noir Poll, Round 4

Wow, it's getting really tough. Round 3 had 33 participants, 1 tie, and 3 winners by a single vote: Out of the Past beat The Maltese Falcon by a single vote. Night and the City beat Touch of Evil by a single vote....

Delightful 1947 Movie/Star Fan Books

The image above is of two books, both published in 1947, intended to spread the love of classic film and actors of the era. The paperback on the left is a novelization of the George Cukor noir A Double Life which...

Reel Infatuation: My Gilda Crush

Font and Frock and Silver Screenings have offered bloggers of film, literature, and television the opportunity to share their character crushes in the Reel Infatuation Blogathon. I could find no better invitation to wax bittersweetly poetic on the subject of my...