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“A Noir Mid-life Crisis”
By Raymond Benson
Fritz Lang, who emigrated to Hollywood in the 1930s after escaping Nazi Germany, enjoyed a long and productive career in the U.S. He was, of course, one of Germany’s preeminent filmmakers in the silent era, having made such dark and cynical masterpieces as Dr. Mabuse—the Gambler (1922) and Metropolis (1927), and the brilliant sound picture, M (1931). In Hollywood, Lang was adept at many genres, but his films noir stand out. His crime pictures are among the best in this movement that begin in the early 1940s and ran until the late 1950s.
The Woman in the Window (1944) was adapted by Nunnally Johnson from the J. H. Wallis’ novel Once Off Guard. Johnson made some changes to the original story and added a “surprise” ending. In 1944 the conclusion may very well have been a clever twist...
“A Noir Mid-life Crisis”
By Raymond Benson
Fritz Lang, who emigrated to Hollywood in the 1930s after escaping Nazi Germany, enjoyed a long and productive career in the U.S. He was, of course, one of Germany’s preeminent filmmakers in the silent era, having made such dark and cynical masterpieces as Dr. Mabuse—the Gambler (1922) and Metropolis (1927), and the brilliant sound picture, M (1931). In Hollywood, Lang was adept at many genres, but his films noir stand out. His crime pictures are among the best in this movement that begin in the early 1940s and ran until the late 1950s.
The Woman in the Window (1944) was adapted by Nunnally Johnson from the J. H. Wallis’ novel Once Off Guard. Johnson made some changes to the original story and added a “surprise” ending. In 1944 the conclusion may very well have been a clever twist...
- 12/19/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Director Joe Wright, who is hot off the success of his incredible film Darkest Hour, has found another film project to take on. The film is called The Woman in the Window, which is based on the novel by A.J. Finn. The story has a very Hitchcockian kind of vibe to it, and it sounds like the perfect project for Wright to take on. Here's the story description:
It isn’t paranoia if it’s really happening . . .
Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.
Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins...
It isn’t paranoia if it’s really happening . . .
Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.
Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins...
- 3/27/2018
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Fresh off his Oscar-nominated World War II movie Darkest Hour, Joe Wright has already found his next project. Wright is directing an adaptation of The Woman in the Window, a psychological thriller about a reclusive woman who witnesses something she shouldn’t. Joe Wright is directing the psychological thriller The Woman in the Window for Fox 2000, Variety reports. Tracy Letts (August: […]
The post Joe Wright’s Next Movie is the Psychological Thriller ‘The Woman in the Window’ appeared first on /Film.
The post Joe Wright’s Next Movie is the Psychological Thriller ‘The Woman in the Window’ appeared first on /Film.
- 3/27/2018
- by Hoai-Tran Bui
- Slash Film
After helming the Winston Chruchill biopic Darkest Hour, the in-demand director, Joe Wright, has announced that he's signed on to bring a big screen adaptation of A.J. Finn's bestselling novel, The Woman in the Window, to theaters. Finn's novel centers on the reclusive Dr. Anna Fox, who spends her days holed in in her New York City brownstone, fortifying herself with... Read More...
- 3/26/2018
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
The Darkest Hour director Joe Wright is attached to helm The Woman in the Window, a movie adaptation of the A.J. Finn novel, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Wright, who is also known for his adaptations of Atonement, Pride & Prejudice and Anna Karenina, will direct the psychological thriller based on a screenplay adaptation by Tracey Letts. The Woman in the Window novel portrays a young woman, Anna Fox, who lives a reclusive life in her New York City home, often spying on her neighbors, only to one night witness a crime she shouldn't have, which turns her life upside...
Wright, who is also known for his adaptations of Atonement, Pride & Prejudice and Anna Karenina, will direct the psychological thriller based on a screenplay adaptation by Tracey Letts. The Woman in the Window novel portrays a young woman, Anna Fox, who lives a reclusive life in her New York City home, often spying on her neighbors, only to one night witness a crime she shouldn't have, which turns her life upside...
- 3/26/2018
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Author: Hannah Woodhead
You might not know the name Chris Smith, but you’ll probably have seen at least one of his films. In 2004 he made the tube (even more?) terrifying with horror movie Creep, and a decade later he took on Father Christmas in the underrated Get Santa. With a varied filmography spanning horror, comedy, and historical action under his belt, Chris has gone stateside for his latest film – a neo-noir road trip movie starring Tye Sheridan, Emory Cohen and Bel Powley. We caught up with him for a quick chat about writing and directing Detour, and what he’s moving onto next.
Were there any films in particular that inspired the stylistic feel of Detour, and how much of the film did you visualise when working on the script?
That’s a very good question. In terms of the visual style, everything starts for me from the narrative style,...
You might not know the name Chris Smith, but you’ll probably have seen at least one of his films. In 2004 he made the tube (even more?) terrifying with horror movie Creep, and a decade later he took on Father Christmas in the underrated Get Santa. With a varied filmography spanning horror, comedy, and historical action under his belt, Chris has gone stateside for his latest film – a neo-noir road trip movie starring Tye Sheridan, Emory Cohen and Bel Powley. We caught up with him for a quick chat about writing and directing Detour, and what he’s moving onto next.
Were there any films in particular that inspired the stylistic feel of Detour, and how much of the film did you visualise when working on the script?
That’s a very good question. In terms of the visual style, everything starts for me from the narrative style,...
- 5/26/2017
- by Hannah Woodhead
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Ahead of the UK premiere of his latest film Detour at Horror Channel FrightFest Glasgow, Chris Smith tells us the importance of FrightFest, his love of ‘film Noir’ and his hatred of reality TV…
FrightFest has premiered all your genre movies Creep, Severance, Triangle, Black Death, except Get Santa obviously. Is this positioning an important part of the rollout process for you?
Firstly let me apologise for being away for so long and thank you for having me back. I wrote Get Santa because I’d just had a son and was feeling like I wanted to do something that he could watch in the next 15 years. I expected the film to take a year to come together but it ended up taking four years. My son was by that time old enough to come to the premiere with a few of his class mates.
Back to the question, Frightfest is extremely important,...
FrightFest has premiered all your genre movies Creep, Severance, Triangle, Black Death, except Get Santa obviously. Is this positioning an important part of the rollout process for you?
Firstly let me apologise for being away for so long and thank you for having me back. I wrote Get Santa because I’d just had a son and was feeling like I wanted to do something that he could watch in the next 15 years. I expected the film to take a year to come together but it ended up taking four years. My son was by that time old enough to come to the premiere with a few of his class mates.
Back to the question, Frightfest is extremely important,...
- 2/20/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Dana Andrews movies: Film noir actor excelled in both major and minor crime dramas. Dana Andrews movies: First-rate film noir actor excelled in both classics & minor fare One of the best-looking and most underrated actors of the studio era, Dana Andrews was a first-rate film noir/crime thriller star. Oftentimes dismissed as no more than a “dependable” or “reliable” leading man, in truth Andrews brought to life complex characters that never quite fit into the mold of Hollywood's standardized heroes – or rather, antiheroes. Unlike the cynical, tough-talking, and (albeit at times self-delusionally) self-confident characters played by the likes of Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and, however lazily, Robert Mitchum, Andrews created portrayals of tortured men at odds with their social standing, their sense of ethics, and even their romantic yearnings. Not infrequently, there was only a very fine line separating his (anti)heroes from most movie villains.
- 1/22/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Wow! Fritz Lang's second western is a marvel -- a combo of matinee innocence and that old Germanic edict that character equals fate. It has a master's sense of color and design. Robert Young is an odd fit but Randolph Scott is nothing less than terrific. You'd think Lang was born on the Pecos. Western Union Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1941 / Color /1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 8, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Randolph Scott, Robert Young, Virginia Gilmore, Dean Jagger, John Carradine, Chill Wills, Slim Summerville, Barton MacLane, Victor Kilian, George Chandler, Chief John Big Tree, Iron Eyes Cody, Jay Silverheels. Cinematography Edward Cronjager, Allen M. Davey Original Music David Buttolph Written by Robert Carson from the novel by Zane Grey Produced by Harry Joe Brown (associate) Directed by Fritz Lang
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Darryl Zanuck of 20th Fox treated most writers well, was good for John Ford...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Darryl Zanuck of 20th Fox treated most writers well, was good for John Ford...
- 11/1/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Exclusive: Fox 2000 is closing a deal for screen rights to The Woman In The Window, a hot new novel that was written by A.J. Finn (a pseudonym for a book editor at a major publishing house, I hear). The deal happened just as an auction for the book rights is underway. The novel has elements of The Girl On The Train and Hitchcock’s Rear Window and has a strong role for an actress. Anna Fox lives alone in the New York City brownstone that once housed her happy family. She…...
- 9/29/2016
- Deadline
The Woman in the Window
Written by Nunnally Johnson
Directed by Fritz Lang
USA, 1944
Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) is an assistant professor of psychology at a local university. While the academic’s family is away for the summer, he spends his evenings at a gentlemen’s club with fellow intellectuals, among them Dist. Atty. Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey). Just next door to the club is an art shop where, set beside the window for all to see, a portrait of a beautiful woman sits, catching Richard’s attention. Happenstance has it that the subject, Alice Reed (Joan Bennett), passes by one night and, flattered by Richard’s admiration, invites him over to view other sketches. Everything is quite innocent until a middle-aged man, an acquaintance of Alice’s, storms into the apartment and attacks Richard out of jealousy. The professor has no other choice but to retaliate and stabs...
Written by Nunnally Johnson
Directed by Fritz Lang
USA, 1944
Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) is an assistant professor of psychology at a local university. While the academic’s family is away for the summer, he spends his evenings at a gentlemen’s club with fellow intellectuals, among them Dist. Atty. Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey). Just next door to the club is an art shop where, set beside the window for all to see, a portrait of a beautiful woman sits, catching Richard’s attention. Happenstance has it that the subject, Alice Reed (Joan Bennett), passes by one night and, flattered by Richard’s admiration, invites him over to view other sketches. Everything is quite innocent until a middle-aged man, an acquaintance of Alice’s, storms into the apartment and attacks Richard out of jealousy. The professor has no other choice but to retaliate and stabs...
- 3/28/2014
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Guess what unforgettable movie about people wanting to forget is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary?
Have you ever thought about what your favorite shot from it is? Or which shot best represents the movie as a whole? Have you ever wondered how it can possibly be that the cinematographer Ellen Kuras has only done 4 narrative features in the ten years since?
You know where this is going right?!
Break out the bubbly because "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" returns on March 18th (We're moving it to Tuesdays at 9 Pm to give people the weekend to screen the movies and be ready!). If you're new to the blog or haven't yet experimented with actually participating, I guarantee a good time. Everyone who has participating religiously has said that they've gotten a ton out of it. Plus it proves the point 'the more the merrier' because the best episodes offer...
Have you ever thought about what your favorite shot from it is? Or which shot best represents the movie as a whole? Have you ever wondered how it can possibly be that the cinematographer Ellen Kuras has only done 4 narrative features in the ten years since?
You know where this is going right?!
Break out the bubbly because "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" returns on March 18th (We're moving it to Tuesdays at 9 Pm to give people the weekend to screen the movies and be ready!). If you're new to the blog or haven't yet experimented with actually participating, I guarantee a good time. Everyone who has participating religiously has said that they've gotten a ton out of it. Plus it proves the point 'the more the merrier' because the best episodes offer...
- 3/5/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
3 Notes. Oh don't click away you have time to read them. And yes I'll be live tweeting and a little light blogging tonight
01. Like The Film Experience on Facebook. Follow Nathaniel on Twitter, Pinterest? Why am I so needy? It's like this: Once Oscar night wraps up I experience something like a free fall; help me pull that parachute string.
02. We're here all year -- it's not just an Oscar site so don't abandon us if you're exhausted by Oscar shenanigans. There's only one more week of it, recapping this year's Oscars, filmbitching, and we'll close out the annual festivities with that Supporting Actress Smackdown we promised (yes, the one I flubbed that you've been impatient for). After that one eye returns to brand new movies and pinch of tv and the other to occasional trips back to favored oldies in A Year With Kate, Seasons of Bette, and Hit Me.
01. Like The Film Experience on Facebook. Follow Nathaniel on Twitter, Pinterest? Why am I so needy? It's like this: Once Oscar night wraps up I experience something like a free fall; help me pull that parachute string.
02. We're here all year -- it's not just an Oscar site so don't abandon us if you're exhausted by Oscar shenanigans. There's only one more week of it, recapping this year's Oscars, filmbitching, and we'll close out the annual festivities with that Supporting Actress Smackdown we promised (yes, the one I flubbed that you've been impatient for). After that one eye returns to brand new movies and pinch of tv and the other to occasional trips back to favored oldies in A Year With Kate, Seasons of Bette, and Hit Me.
- 3/2/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Ministry of Fear is a film that wouldn't work if not for insanity. The arc of the drama would be too haphazard, the explanations too unsatisfying, and the actions of its villains (to say nothing of its hero) too wildly irrational. But this is Europe in 1944, and irrationality is the order of the day. It's in the drone of planes overhead, the casual talk of blackout time, and the suspicious glances on the street. Because the world waiting for Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) when he gets out of the mental hospital has gone just as mad as him.
A wartime thriller from Fritz Lang (let's call it a noir), Ministry of Fear is generally regarded as one of the German director's more obscure American films, a status that will hopefully shift now that it has been released, and thus quasi-canonized, by the Criterion Collection. On the face of it, this...
A wartime thriller from Fritz Lang (let's call it a noir), Ministry of Fear is generally regarded as one of the German director's more obscure American films, a status that will hopefully shift now that it has been released, and thus quasi-canonized, by the Criterion Collection. On the face of it, this...
- 5/7/2013
- by Duncan Gray
- MUBI
In Robert Wiene’s 1920 dreamlike horror classic, veteran German actor Werner Krauss plays the mysterious Dr. Caligari, the apparent force behind a creepy somnambulist named Cesare and played by Conrad Veidt, who abducts beautiful Lil Dagover. The finale in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has inspired tons of movies and television shows, from Fritz Lang's 1944 film noir The Woman in the Window to the last episode of the TV series St. Elsewhere. In addition, the film shares some key elements in common (suppposedly as a result of a mere coincidence) with Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's 2011 thriller Shutter Island. The 1920 crime melodrama Outside the Law is not in any way related to Rachid Bouchareb's 2010 political drama. Instead, the Tod Browning-directed movie is a well-made entry in the gangster genre (long before the explosion a decade later). Browning, best known for his early '30s efforts Dracula and Freaks,...
- 4/1/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Like Night of the Hunter, Tod Browning’s Freaks or Leonard Kastle’s The Honeymoon Killers, The Road to Yesterday can be ranked among the UFOs of cinema. It’s place in the heart of Cecil B. DeMille’s work proves to be in itself very distinctive. We know that, during his entire life, DeMille had virtually only one producer—Paramount (the former Famous Players Lasky)—just like Minnelli was MGM’s man and Corman American International’s. Sixty-three of his films (out of seventy) were produced at Paramount. And, oddly enough, it is among the seven outsiders, situated within a brief period from 1925 to 1931, that his best activity is to be found (I’m thinking of Madam Satan, The Godless Girl, and The Road to Yesterday)–his most audacious undertakings. To top it off, for this uncontested king of the box office, his best films were his biggest commercial failures.
- 3/18/2013
- by Luc Moullet
- MUBI
Oscar season comes to an abrupt end at the end of February which frees up our time. One of The Film Experience's most popular series, a communal viewing party of sorts, returns for another season. Byoe (Bring Your Own Eyes) to these blog-a-thon like events wherein participates choose their single favorite shot from movies from all eras. Watch, Read, Converse -- It's Edumucational!
Wed March 6th The Wizard Of Oz (1939) since Oz, the Great and Powerful is about to hit and we might need this as a lovely antidote.
Wed March 13th Barbarella (1968) ...I've been itchy to revisit
Wed March 20th ???
Wed March 27th Jackie Brown (1997) Quentin Tarantino Week for his 50th birthday
...and more to be scheduled including, as ever, a mix of genres, eras, and anniversary celebrations. It's a great way to have a virtual visual conversation from other cinephiles, catch up on classics you've never seen, revisit...
Wed March 6th The Wizard Of Oz (1939) since Oz, the Great and Powerful is about to hit and we might need this as a lovely antidote.
Wed March 13th Barbarella (1968) ...I've been itchy to revisit
Wed March 20th ???
Wed March 27th Jackie Brown (1997) Quentin Tarantino Week for his 50th birthday
...and more to be scheduled including, as ever, a mix of genres, eras, and anniversary celebrations. It's a great way to have a virtual visual conversation from other cinephiles, catch up on classics you've never seen, revisit...
- 2/14/2013
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
A 'meet cute' is a plot device enabling the first meeting of a film's romantic lead characters. The rest, dear viewer, is history
Each week one reader offers up five of their favourite film clips on a subject of their choosing – and we ask you to tell us what other movie scenes should have been included. This week's is from john Carvill, who previously wrote a clip joint on taking the train.
If you've got an idea for a future clip joint, email adam.boult@guardian.co.uk.
The 'meet cute' is Hollywood screenwriters' name for a standard plot device in which a couple meet in a way that's charming, ironic, or just generally amusing.
Golden age film-makers such as Billy Wilder used to stockpile ideas for meet cutes, and Wilder was sufficiently adept at dreaming them up that he talked his way out of studio objections to his idea...
Each week one reader offers up five of their favourite film clips on a subject of their choosing – and we ask you to tell us what other movie scenes should have been included. This week's is from john Carvill, who previously wrote a clip joint on taking the train.
If you've got an idea for a future clip joint, email adam.boult@guardian.co.uk.
The 'meet cute' is Hollywood screenwriters' name for a standard plot device in which a couple meet in a way that's charming, ironic, or just generally amusing.
Golden age film-makers such as Billy Wilder used to stockpile ideas for meet cutes, and Wilder was sufficiently adept at dreaming them up that he talked his way out of studio objections to his idea...
- 1/23/2013
- by Guardian readers
- The Guardian - Film News
Dark Shadows 2012 poster Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, a film version of the popular television series of the late '60s/early '70s opens on May 11. Please scroll down for the special-effects-laden, uncontrollably campy trailer. Now, are you old enough to remember Dark Shadows? No? Neither am I. All I can tell you is that Dark Shadows has nothing to do with The Munsters or The Addams Family — though don't feel bad if you get Burton's Dark Shadows reboot confused with either comedy series. Looking at the above poster, my first impression was: "Oh, Johnny Depp will be playing Morticia … in Dark Shadows? Something is off." The white-powdered faces also made me think of the Cullen Clan in the Twilight movies. I'm assuming that was intentional, so as to make clueless moviegoers think they'll be watching a sneak spring preview of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in Breaking Dawn Part 2. Or maybe not.
- 3/16/2012
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
"The agony and perverse ecstasy of unrequited love permeate Terence Davies's The Deep Blue Sea," writes Graham Fuller at the top of his interview with the director. Also in the new March/April 2012 issue of Film Comment: Jonathan Rosenbaum remembers Gilbert Adair (plus a few online exclusives: Adair on Mae West and his "Cliché Expert's Guide to the Cinema"), Anton Dolin examines "The Strange Case of Russian Maverick Aleksei German" (see, too, J Hoberman's 1990 piece for Fc on German) and Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life tops the Reader's "20 Best Films of 2011" Poll — plus comments.
Then there are the shorter bits from the issue online: Nicolas Rapold on Pablo Giorgelli's Las Acacias and Athina Rachel Tsangari's Attenberg (more from Eric Hynes [Time Out New York, 4/5], Eric Kohn [indieWIRE], Anthony Lane [New Yorker], Dennis Lim [New York Times], Karina Longworth [Voice], Henry Stewart [L] and Michael Tully [Hammer to Nail]), Phillip Lopate on Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb's This Is Not a Film...
Then there are the shorter bits from the issue online: Nicolas Rapold on Pablo Giorgelli's Las Acacias and Athina Rachel Tsangari's Attenberg (more from Eric Hynes [Time Out New York, 4/5], Eric Kohn [indieWIRE], Anthony Lane [New Yorker], Dennis Lim [New York Times], Karina Longworth [Voice], Henry Stewart [L] and Michael Tully [Hammer to Nail]), Phillip Lopate on Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb's This Is Not a Film...
- 3/7/2012
- MUBI
Ready for Season 3 of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"?
Newbies take note: each week we pick a movie and we all pick our favorite shots. Consider it a mini blog-a-thon. If you've seen the movie you might already have an idea of the image if you'd choose. If you've never seen it, here's a nudge to do so! Your "best shot" might be the image that most reminds you of the film, the one you think of as the most beautiful, the shot that's the most resonant in terms of the movies theme... anything really since "Best" is in the eye of the beholder. You can post yours and why you chose it on any of your web homes and let me know and we'll link up when we publish on Wednesday evenings at 10 Pm.
Films we've already covered in this series
1920s The Circus (1928), Pandora's Box (1929); 1930s Tarzan the Ape Man...
Newbies take note: each week we pick a movie and we all pick our favorite shots. Consider it a mini blog-a-thon. If you've seen the movie you might already have an idea of the image if you'd choose. If you've never seen it, here's a nudge to do so! Your "best shot" might be the image that most reminds you of the film, the one you think of as the most beautiful, the shot that's the most resonant in terms of the movies theme... anything really since "Best" is in the eye of the beholder. You can post yours and why you chose it on any of your web homes and let me know and we'll link up when we publish on Wednesday evenings at 10 Pm.
Films we've already covered in this series
1920s The Circus (1928), Pandora's Box (1929); 1930s Tarzan the Ape Man...
- 3/6/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Blu-ray Release Date: Feb. 28, 2012
Price: Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Kino
The classic 1945 film noir Scarlet Street remains one of legendary director Fritz Lang’s (Metropolis) finest American films.
Joan Bennett gets under Edward G. Robinson's skin in Scarlet Street.
When middle-aged milquetoast Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson, The Stranger) comes to the aid of damsel-in-distress-ish, street-walking bad girl Kitty (Joan Bennett, Man Hunt) one rainy New York night, he plunges into a whirlpool of lust, larceny and revenge–the kind that one finds in any great film noir. Chris’s obsession with the irresistibly vulgar Kitty grows as her nasty pimp boyfriend (Dan Duryea, The Woman in the Window) gets involved, ultimately corrupting and humiliating Chris and turning him into the kind of man he never wanted to be. Will justice triumph? Well, yes…and no.
Available on disc in various qualities from a handful of suppliers over the years, Kino...
Price: Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Kino
The classic 1945 film noir Scarlet Street remains one of legendary director Fritz Lang’s (Metropolis) finest American films.
Joan Bennett gets under Edward G. Robinson's skin in Scarlet Street.
When middle-aged milquetoast Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson, The Stranger) comes to the aid of damsel-in-distress-ish, street-walking bad girl Kitty (Joan Bennett, Man Hunt) one rainy New York night, he plunges into a whirlpool of lust, larceny and revenge–the kind that one finds in any great film noir. Chris’s obsession with the irresistibly vulgar Kitty grows as her nasty pimp boyfriend (Dan Duryea, The Woman in the Window) gets involved, ultimately corrupting and humiliating Chris and turning him into the kind of man he never wanted to be. Will justice triumph? Well, yes…and no.
Available on disc in various qualities from a handful of suppliers over the years, Kino...
- 2/8/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
In the Hit Me With Your Best Shot series we all chime in on what we think of as the best shot from a pre-selected movie. Last week 19 partipicants looked at Moulin Rouge!. This week, it's Fritz Lang's...
The Woman In The Window (1944)
We begin with a great moment in Art Direction. The most curious attribute of The Woman in the Window is it's sexlessness. Despite having all the trappings of a traditional film noir including the femme fatale (Joan Bennett as "Alice Reed" pictured above) there's no sex in the movie, not even the implied offscreen kind. Naturally then, it has to be abstracted so how better to do so than placing a nude statue in Alice Reed's (Joan Bennett) apartment. It keeps her in the room even when she wanders out of it. It also gets framed between her and the three doomed men who want her...
The Woman In The Window (1944)
We begin with a great moment in Art Direction. The most curious attribute of The Woman in the Window is it's sexlessness. Despite having all the trappings of a traditional film noir including the femme fatale (Joan Bennett as "Alice Reed" pictured above) there's no sex in the movie, not even the implied offscreen kind. Naturally then, it has to be abstracted so how better to do so than placing a nude statue in Alice Reed's (Joan Bennett) apartment. It keeps her in the room even when she wanders out of it. It also gets framed between her and the three doomed men who want her...
- 6/9/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
In the Hit Me With Your Best Shot series we look at pre-selected movies and name what we think of as the best (or at least our favorite) shot. Anyone can play along and we link up. Next wednesday's topic is Fritz Lang's noir "The Woman in the Window".
But tonight, we celebrate Baz Luhrmann's "Spectacular! Spectacular!" which went wide on Us screens ten years ago on this very day.
Moulin Rouge!
She's Confesssssssiiiiinnnngggg!
She suddenly had a terrible desire to go to a priest."
We begin with a confession.
Though I was an early veritably possessed cheerleader for Moulin Rouge! since I beheld its genius on opening night at the Ziegfeld theater in NYC, though I saw it five times in the movie theater (a post '80s personal record), and though I named it Best of the Aughts when the decade wrapped, I hadn't actually sat down and watched Moulin Rouge!
But tonight, we celebrate Baz Luhrmann's "Spectacular! Spectacular!" which went wide on Us screens ten years ago on this very day.
Moulin Rouge!
She's Confesssssssiiiiinnnngggg!
She suddenly had a terrible desire to go to a priest."
We begin with a confession.
Though I was an early veritably possessed cheerleader for Moulin Rouge! since I beheld its genius on opening night at the Ziegfeld theater in NYC, though I saw it five times in the movie theater (a post '80s personal record), and though I named it Best of the Aughts when the decade wrapped, I hadn't actually sat down and watched Moulin Rouge!
- 6/2/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
An exciting special episode of this series is coming up on Wednesday night! But until then, let's look ahead. If you're a new reader the concept of this series is that we choose a movie and anyone with a web home can post their choice for "best shot" with or without explanation and we link up. Complete List of Previous Episodes. It's like a tightly focused mini blog-a-thon. Some of the titles readers have been suggesting we'll get to eventually, some never and some I'm purposefully saving for later for various anniversary or other project reasons. [Please note: Somewhere (2010), previously announced, was cancelled due to highly annoying studio contract finagling spoiling our group play experiment. Studios have just started this one-month delay thing where certain titles are only available for purchases for the first 30 days, making for confusing DVD release calendars. If you've already written something up let me know...]
Summer Schedule
May 4th Eraserhead (1977) David Lynch
Netflix, Quickflix, Blockbuster, GreenCine, LoveFilm
May 11th Matador (1986) And/Or Law of Desire (1987) [Pedro & Antonio Double Feature]
The Cannes film festival kicks off on this day. Let's celebrate by honoring the reunion of Pedro Almodóvar and his only true male muse Antonio Banderas in The Skin I Live In. For this...
Summer Schedule
May 4th Eraserhead (1977) David Lynch
Netflix, Quickflix, Blockbuster, GreenCine, LoveFilm
May 11th Matador (1986) And/Or Law of Desire (1987) [Pedro & Antonio Double Feature]
The Cannes film festival kicks off on this day. Let's celebrate by honoring the reunion of Pedro Almodóvar and his only true male muse Antonio Banderas in The Skin I Live In. For this...
- 4/24/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
One of the downsides of going to the Rotterdam Film Festival (more on which next week) was having to miss a whole week of Film Forum’s essential “Fritz Lang in Hollywood” retrospective which continues through February 10th. To search through Lang’s American posters (and the foreign posters for his American films) is to skulk through a world of fisted revolvers, prison cell bars, street corner shadows, knives, nooses, and dames in various stages of manhandled distress; a world of heightened emotions and febrile desperation with barely a smile to be seen.
While the foreign posters are often the most striking (like the French poster, above, for one of my very favorite American Langs, You Only Live Once), what many of the original American posters have going for them are their lurid taglines which up the ante of Langian doom another notch or two. Rancho Notorious: “Where anything goes ...for a price!
While the foreign posters are often the most striking (like the French poster, above, for one of my very favorite American Langs, You Only Live Once), what many of the original American posters have going for them are their lurid taglines which up the ante of Langian doom another notch or two. Rancho Notorious: “Where anything goes ...for a price!
- 2/6/2011
- MUBI
Fritz Lang’s taut 1941 thriller Man Hunt is given a new outing on DVD courtesy of Optimum Releasing through their Classics label. Starring Walter Pidgeon as big game hunter out to prove he can assassinate Adolph Hitler for the sport of it, the film’s sentiment and anti-Nazi message is still pretty blunt to this day.
Co-starring the excellent George Sanders – who appears to have modelled his villainous character on Lang himself (check out the monocle) and the great Joan Bennett, Man Hunt isn’t one of Lang’s masterpieces but ranks well enough.
Before the director left Nazi Germany he was film-making royalty but once he hot-footed it away from the Third Reich he re-invented himself as director for hire in Hollywood, even becoming a Us citizen. At the forefront of the film noir era Lang also directed the occasional thriller, of which, Man Hunt is one. Lang was...
Co-starring the excellent George Sanders – who appears to have modelled his villainous character on Lang himself (check out the monocle) and the great Joan Bennett, Man Hunt isn’t one of Lang’s masterpieces but ranks well enough.
Before the director left Nazi Germany he was film-making royalty but once he hot-footed it away from the Third Reich he re-invented himself as director for hire in Hollywood, even becoming a Us citizen. At the forefront of the film noir era Lang also directed the occasional thriller, of which, Man Hunt is one. Lang was...
- 1/29/2011
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
1938 was a year of mistakes and misunderstandings. Many people believed in the Munich settlement, and the public thought Bringing Up Baby was stupid. The film lost around $300,000 and helped edge Katharine Hepburn closer to the category of "box-office poison". When you walk under the ladder of history, expect the whitewash to fall on you.
That's about the only mishap that doesn't hit Cary Grant's David Huxley as he bumps into Susan Vance (Hepburn). The sequence I want you to look at is the extended second meeting of this demented couple made in heaven (or is it hell?).
The encounter is an extraordinary sequence of physical comedy, one calamity adding to another until the finale where, in a crowed clubhouse of American sophisticates, David (in tatters) has to step so closely behind Susan to get away that he uses his top hat to mask the fact that her derriere is...
That's about the only mishap that doesn't hit Cary Grant's David Huxley as he bumps into Susan Vance (Hepburn). The sequence I want you to look at is the extended second meeting of this demented couple made in heaven (or is it hell?).
The encounter is an extraordinary sequence of physical comedy, one calamity adding to another until the finale where, in a crowed clubhouse of American sophisticates, David (in tatters) has to step so closely behind Susan to get away that he uses his top hat to mask the fact that her derriere is...
- 10/18/2010
- by David Thomson
- The Guardian - Film News
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