I recently re-watched The Letter (1940) on what was one of the summer’s first hot nights. Actually I may make it a summer tradition, to watch on an unbearably warm night. Because noir is the genre that offers the perfect contrast to my favourite season, to the bright and euphoric summer days. Watching noir films during […]
Tag: The Lady from Shanghai
Summer is optimistic by nature. So am I. Maybe that’s why noir is my favourite film genre. Harking back to the past. The sensual, fatalistic bleakness. The subtle tone and mood. The quotable lines that float up into your consciousness and stick. The morally ambiguous hero, alienated from society, charismatic yet flawed, charting a course […]
In the first of a two-part piece Emma Simmonds examines four prototype noir villainesses from classic Hollywood cinema. Next week, she looks at the far-reaching legacy of these scintillating spider women by considering French cinema’s most memorable femme fatales. The Hollywood noirs of the 40s left an indelible impression on cinema. Their depictions of powerful, […]