Bonus List: Film-Noir Time

"It's there all the time, driving me out to wander the streets, following me, silently, but I can feel it there. It's me, pursuing myself! I want to escape, to escape from myself! But it's impossible. I can't escape, I have to obey it. I have to run, run... endless streets. I want to escape, to get away! And I'm pursued by ghosts. Ghosts of mothers and of those children... they never leave me. They are always there... always, always, always!, except when I do it, when I... Then I can't remember anything. And afterwards I see those posters and read what I've done, and read, and read... did I do that? But I can't remember anything about it! But who will believe me? Who knows what it's like to be me? How I'm forced to act... how I must, must... don't want to, must! Don't want to, but must! And then a voice screams! I can't bear to hear it! I can't go on! I can't... I can't..."

M (1931)

Director: Fritz Lang
Country: Germany
Genre: Crime / Film-Noir / Thriller
Length: 117 minutes



Just after the extraordinary cinematographic movement denominated "German Expressionism" was originated around the year of 1919 and flourished at its maximum expression in the decade of the 20's, Europe (Germany above all) would become one of the precursors of film-noir cinema and a great influence for the United States, subgenre that includes incomparable crime films which directors would become in legends of classic cinema, such as John Huston (The Maltese Falcon [1941]), Billy Wilder (Sunset Blvd. [1950]), Howard Hawks (The Big Sleep [1946]), Alfred Hitchcock (Notorious [1946]) and even Fritz Lang himself. Fritz Lang took the most fascinating and characteristic elements of the German Expressionism, such as the chiariscuro (Italian term for the light-dark mix) technique and the predominant tenebrism that were present in various art forms such as architecture, sculpturing, painting and the theatre, and gave them a new style in one of his best and most famous and critically acclaimed films of his entire filmography: M. Film-noir is characterized by its representation of a totally corrupt society where crime is a predominant thing in each corner of the streets. It also gets rid of the typical stereotypes that belong to the "good guy" and the "bad guy" when talking about the protagonist and the antagonist. Both the main and the supporting characters are inevitably involved in the most relevant events of the story's plot, and it resorts to the flashback technique for narrating past events, clearly indicating that the most important action of the plot has already happened, offering to the spectator a present time that can no longer be fixed. Normally, each shot of the film is wonderfully created and play with the tones of light and darkness from beginning to end, especially for adding dramatic quality and for highlighting the evilness of a particular character. It also has the participation of a femme fatale, a woman who believes that she perfectly knows her ambitions and motivations but she, in fact, doesn't, a woman that tends to be seductive and that despite her inoffensive appearance, can lead her victims towards danger and even death. The truth is that M has all of the characteristics mentioned above except maybe for the use of a femme fatale inside the plot and the flashback technique, although the main character makes references to past actions that keep haunting his mind. That is why M became in the principal and most notable influence of film-noir cinema, and I dare to say that it is even better than any film-noir movie that the United States ever made.

M has a completely original, creative and stylish plot, and depicts the story of a psychotic criminal who has been assassinating the children of a German city, and has the peculiarity of whistling the tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" while he is walking through the streets looking for more innocent children. The police start a brutal and exhaustive search which diameter of investigation increases gradually, house by house and establishment by establishment. However, this ends up being very inconvenient for the underground organized crime, complicating their operations considerably, so both the police of the city and the organized crime begin a search on their own, independently of the others. The police do it under the motive of achieving well-being for the population and that the children of the city stop disappearing. The organized crime does it under the motive of keeping the police far from their businesses and avoiding the bad reputation that the murderer is giving to them.

Although this is a crime film, each aspect of it is sensational, from the cinematographic aspects to the technical ones. Fritz Lang was one of the very first directors that completely understood the meaning of filmmaking and that a masterpiece can be achieved thanks to the team work of every single department, so let's start with the screenplay. The screenwriters were Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou, and both of them clearly made sure that the structure of the story was well-planned. If you allow me to be honest, M is one of my favorite screenplays in the history of cinema just after 8½ (1963). The grandiosity of its structure goes beyond what words can describe and it is extremely careful with every single detail, including the dialogues, the scene changes and the loyal representation of the nature of each group that forms part of the whole society, including the gangsters, and the common citizens and local authorities. It is extraordinary how Lang reunited these elements so he could create a society with different motivations but with a common objective. The magical editing transports us from one place to another, narrating each event, with great precision and with the necessary emphasis so the film doesn't become into something tedious and boring to watch. The most wonderful aspect about Fritz Lang's direction is the fact that although it is a crime film full of style and suspense, he put a lot of effort so the film seemed like a very realistic one, and for me, it actually is one.

The camera work is extraordinary, not only having shots with complicated angles, but also long sequences where the camera elegantly and harmonically strolls through in and out of closed spaces capturing an alive and active world. All of the personifications are magnificent, and it is here where we must make the appropriate emphasis in one of the best short performances I have ever seen in my entire life: Peter Lorre as the assassin Hans Beckert. There was not a better actor that could give so much life to such a mentally disturbed character, not only because of his acting, but also because of his physical appearance and his facial gestures. His big eyes and his expression full of terror denote his dependence towards his own insanity, an undeniable factor that is part of his own self. I had never seen a character that was so well-created and so representative of the involuntary madness of his personality. It is in the last 15 minutes of the movie when the perspective of the villain that Hollywood cinema normally tends to ignore even nowadays is shown. This is achieved through the final speech he gives in front of the spectators of the trial he is taken to which, judging by his personality, we don't even have the certainty that he is talking with the truth. It is possible that he even may not be capable of distinguishing the truth because of his low self-control that his psyche has caused in him. Peter Lorre was simply genius and it was definitely the best performance he ever achieved.

The cinematography is marvelous. Although most of the time the story takes place inside of the city at midnight, the police investigation is at some point extended outside of the city, perfectly capturing the landscapes and the cast that is found within the camera shots. The direction of Fritz Lang is extraordinary and, considering that the film was completed in the year of 1931, I seriously doubt that any director had been capable of creating a story of such caliber and quality with so much spectacularity. Also, considering that cinema was barely beginning a new era of sound in films, silences are used in a very effective way in order to add much more suspense to the atmosphere of the film and the sound effects appear when they are required.

M is, without a doubt, one of the most influential films in cinema history, not only within the genres of film-noir, crime and thriller, but also for the creation of characters, the breaking of protagonistic and antagonistic stereotypes, the handling of the camera, the editing and a new way for making films. Acclaimed films that are directed in the 21st Century frequently homage and give total or partial credit to M. Called by many as the best Fritz Lang film, it is for me also one of the best feature films created in the history of humanity. A masterpiece in both the technical and cinematographic aspects, M is and will be remembered by future generations as one of the most ambitious and best-achieved projects within the crime genre in German classic cinema.

100/100

"You were born to be murdered."

THE THIRD MAN (1949)

Director: Carol Reed
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller
Length: 104 minutes



To create a successful film-noir is a challenging task, but to duel into the vast deepness of such genre and to create one of the most intriguing and suspenseful plots in the process is a remarkable achievement. Modest director Carol Reed (The Fallen Idol [1948], Oliver! [1968]) brings to the screen a wonderful adaptation of the original crime novel that would be released until 1950 written by Graham Greene, who also wrote the spectacular screenplay, and makes the screen shake with nonstop suspense and extraordinary revelations, referencing giant films in the process such as Fritz Lang's M (1931), Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) and Michael Curtiz's Casablanca (1942). Consequently, it is the director's towering achievement. Despite its great Hitchcockian influence present throughout the development's plot, it is a benchmark in thrilling storytelling, applying a wonderful and adequate pace that prevents the film from occasionally dragging. It easily belongs to a top list of the best mystery films ever made, and thanks to the exceptional cast and one of the most famous and exciting film sequences ever shot, The Third Man has become an influential icon of classic quality cinema and a reminder of the positive effect that a great cinematography may have on the overall premise, not to mention it is a unique British masterpiece.

The Third Man opens with the racketeer trade in the post-World War II era and the resulting predominant black market in the streets of Vienna, Austria, while the city has been quartered into sectors policed by American, English, French and Russian occupying forces. This is the economically devastated and bombed-out scenario where the American pulp writer Holly Martins arrives at the request of a long time-friend, Harry Lime. However, he soon finds out that Harry Lime has recently died in a car accident under mysterious circumstances, so he decides to start investigating his possible murder through the versions of Lime's associates and some visual witnesses, versions that do not coincide with each other. The version of the flat's porter states that two known friends of Lime carried his body with the help of a "third man", a man whose face the porter could not identify. The film received 3 Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Film Editing and Best Director, winning only the first Oscar and losing the last one against Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950). It also won the Grand Prize of the Festival at the Cannes Film Festival.

The most mentioned and discussed quality of The Third Man has been its decently developed cinematography. Although it is not as glorious and masterful as the definition of cinematography provided by classic Japanese films, it helps the streets of Vienna to shine in their most suspenseful way, like if the filming locations became alive and slowly started revealing multiple secrets that the darkest corners hide from the characters. A most genius editing is present all the way through, highlighting the suspense the movie implicitly has and strengthening the mysteriousness of the incongruence that the versions of the characters regarding the death of Lime have. The movie possesses a highly literary connotation, awarding a patient audience with the ability of decomposing the emotions and deepest possible thoughts of each character without the necessity of resorting to a deep and macabre voiceover. The masterful direction the film was subject to and the expectedly unexpected appearance of Harry Lime on screen, character played by Orson Welles, is a breathtaking moment not just because of how the film is divided into two separate and very distinct chapters, but because of the technical aspects that owe credit to a hypnotizing and balanced use of light and darkness and an extreme close-up that has no mercy towards the viewer. It is unexpected in the sense that the story and pace are handled with thrill and emotion. It is expected in the sense that Orson Welles is credited in the cast as Harry Lime, an aspect that motivates the audience to psychologically create a falsely effective sensation of surprise despite that it was meant to happen.

Slightly borrowing the narrative structure and written talent of Citizen Kane (1941), The Third Man contains every single essential element a good old film-noir requires: a grand twist, amazing visuals, a cold-blooded antagonist that disguises his personality with an empathetic charm and a great style of behaving, a Czech femme fatale and a watchable protagonist whose constant search for the truth is clouded with the maliciousness of the surrounding people. The introduction of the post-WWII era may be the excuse for justifying the dubious intentions of each and every one of Lime's acquaintances... and what a genius excuse it is! Carol Reed orchestrates a wonderful farce and the strong vibe that Welles transmits with his mere presence is indescribable. The musical score is effective enough to guarantee a mischievous cinematic ride, culminating in one of the most memorable sequences in cinema history: an endless chase through the nowadays revered sewer passages. The stupendous performances by Joseph Cotton, Anna Schmidt as Alida Valli, and Orson Welles magnify the influential proportions that the movie applied to its genres with no difficulty.

The Third Man is the breathtaking result of the work of several talented artists, from the delicate direction of Carol Reed, a director that was not very famous in the US, to Robert Krasker's multiphacetic photography. One risen hand questioning the particularly American perspective applied by Reed, not to mention the instant archetype that the film immediately meant for American cinema, is totally allowed. Nevertheless, its approach to a devastated Europe was not a subject particularly supported by the US, usually rejecting any filmic project with either partial or total neorealist depictions. Ruins and rubble are literally shown during the opening sequence, and it is the atmospheric catastrophe Europe has been recently subject to the one that offers a feeling of lack of control and goodness concerning the particular plot of the film. Charade has often been called as "the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never did". On a personal note, I would switch that movie description to The Third Man any day, especially because of the amazing early talent that UK Hitchcock films had in the 30's. The Third Man is a non-pulp fiction crime gem which story gets better with each viewing. The analysis of the context and story of it may not have a significant background mainly because of Carol Reed's mostly unknown filmography, but the power he first applied to The Fallen Idol (1948) has been maximized and taken to a definition of cool that few films of the 40's contained.

100/100

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

SUNSET BLVD. (1950)

Director: Billy Wilder
Country: United States of America
Genre: Drama / Film-Noir
Length: 110 minutes



Billy Wilder had always been a very prolific director. From tense thrillers to romantic comedies, the main characteristic of his filmic style was that it gloriously portrayed, in a joyous way, the American lifestyle. Such elements would be irremediably exalted through plots regarding deception, malice, crime and the exquisite cinematic film-noir genre. With Sunset Blvd. he managed not only to create one of the best and most glorious American classic masterpieces with some of the most memorable, dramatic and stylish one-liners, but also to reveal what had been by then a possible myth of the obscurity of Hollywood. As scandalous and possibly offensive this timeless and dark masterpiece may have been for some people in particular, especially those belonging to Hollywood stardom and eternal egoism, Sunset Blvd. is arguably the best American film-noir ever made as well as an unforgettably compelling drama based on the typical behavior of the characters popularized by the media.

In the unparalleled tradition of Citizen Kane (1941) without equaling it, the film opens with a floating corpse in a pool with his eyes wide open, staring at the deepness of the water. Resorting to a voiceover narrative structure that relies on a predominant flashback as dark as the streets of Sunset Boulevard during the night, the main character, movie screenwriter Joseph C. Gillis, slowly and wisely narrates his romance with an exceedingly egomaniac and undeniably gigantic bitch silent-movie star named Norma Desmond, who asks him to write a screenplay for her new film under the incredibly blind conviction that life, unexpectedly, is about to reward her with a big screen-comeback. Being selected as one of the twenty-five landmark films of all time by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1989, as the 12th greatest film of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time by the American Film Institute in 1998 and as the 16th Greatest Movie of All Time by the American Film Institute in 2007, the movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, which are Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, two for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Film Editing, Best Director and Best Picture. As beautiful and brilliant as the old classic Hollywood times may have been for cinema, it is clearly that a peaceful audience was not yet ready for this kind of dark meta-Hollywood film-noir, since the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences ended up mistakenly choosing All About Eve (1950) as the best motion picture of the year with Joseph L. Mankiewicz as the best director, and Judy Holliday as the better actress for her fairly decent performance in Born Yesterday (1950), directed by George Cukor. All of these awards, including the one for best cinematography, were obviously stolen from the film.

The screenplay elaborated by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman Jr. demanded a great complexity and constant strokes of genius. Creating an obscure Hollywood story and merging it with reality may seem as a fun challenge and an entertaining game for the screenwriters to show their knowledge about cinema, but it is ultimately a difficult task. Counting with several outstanding cameos such as of the prolific composers of the film Ray Evans and Jay Livingston (Rear Window [1954]), The Godfather [1972]), actresses Anna Q. Nilson (Adam's Rib [1949], An American in Paris [1951]) and Hedda Hopper (Wings [1927], The Women [1939]), actor H.B. Warner (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington [1939], It's a Wonderful Life [1946]), actor, director, screenwriter, producer and editor Buster Keaton (Sherlock Jr. [1924], The General [1926]), and director Cecil B. DeMille (King of Kings [1927], The Ten Commandments [1956]), who actually plays a rather relevant role within the film, Sunset Blvd. has daringly ventured into a desperate downward spiral of psychological doom and soul abomination through the famous world of Hollywood, creating a believable atmosphere. What the cinematography accomplished to create is a darker and more vertiginous atmosphere where arising emotions culminate in tragedy and total madness, thanks to its dusty giant scenarios and its perfectly captured frames.

I'll dedicate an exclusive paragraph for the acting. William Holden offered a brilliant personification of the typical American and romantic detective of predominant stylish, with one minor detail: he's not a detective, but a credited screenwriter. His perfect love complement is interpreted by Nancy Olson, another romantically confused screenwriter named Betty Schaefer, who would only be the drop that would overflow the glass and unleash chaos. Erich von Stroheim (Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages [1916], La Grande Illusion [1937]) portrays a rather macabre character that, at first glance, seems to be hiding an extraordinary amount of secrets, and a psychological disorder and a dependent weakness. The whole show is, naturally, stolen by Gloria Swanson, who ironically was also an acclaimed silent-film actress. She is the ultimate reincarnation of the (unfortunately) typical film star who has already faded into the empire of goods abundance, an increased feeling of ownership of the world as being the reason of the creation and existence of cinema, and the creation of a powerful and greedy empire by an irremediably lost-in-life upper class. Her exceeding sensation of false despotism can be deliciously contrasted with the artistically awesome mansion scenario with an organ that constantly plays thanks to light wind gusts, like a human's soul harmonically tossing desperate screams of impossible freedom, concluding with hundreds of photos of an army of Norma Desmonds and a big movie screen where she can contemplate her own films, showing the real-life feature film Queen Kelly (1929), starring the real Gloria Swanson and directed by the real Erich von Stroheim.

Is this Hollywood's most audacious classic? Perhaps it is, but it is undeniably the best and most ambitious and visionary masterwork of Billy Wilder. Poetically speaking, the film is absolutely grandiose, from the literarily inspired script to the hypnotic black-and-white photography and an unforgettable and unequalled female leading performance. Myths and truths behind the scenes revealed, Sunset Blvd. is an American masterpiece released at the exact time, a period where American films reached a beauty that rarely is accomplished nowadays, but that it is not supposed to be remade for any reasons, not even for financial ones, but to be worshipped and admired as a source of true cinema landmarks.

98/100

Review coming someday...

99/100

Superb, and totally awesome and well-directed masterful thrilling film-noir, of course, starring Orson Welles and directed by him, with (A definitely unappropriate and funny Mexican) Charlton Heston performing a role genuisly.

95/100

Way to go, Paul Muni! The film that has become an already universal, powerful Hollywood cult classic, several times better than the remake. Great indeed.

94/100

An exquisite American noir gem with top notch performances.

94/100

Breathtaking and excellent film-noir of Howard Hawks. Complex, but masterful even so.

93/100

A contender for the greatest horror movie ever. It is certainly among that rating, as well as one of the best shot noirs.

89/100

Unbelievably awesome American Hitchcock film-noir with a breathtaking climax.

89/100

Spellbinding Hitchcock noir. Left me with no words.

87/100

Stylish, original and cruel noir plot, worth a watch. You won't be disappointed at all.

85/100

Stunning direction and a suspenseful story in this awesome Orson Welles' film-noir.

85/100

Undervalued noir with an intense climax and good development. I'm glad I found this.

84/100

Awesomely directed film-noir with a valuable and important lesson to learn and think about. Thanks, Curtiz.

83/100

I enjoyed this thrilling film-noir, but I was greatly surprised by the awesome performances, specially Garfield's, perhaps since this is my first Garfield film.

Very well done, overall.

82/100

Outstanding original Fritz Lang film-noir and a wonderful Spencer Tracey.

81/100

Cute and sweet mysterious Hitchcock noir romance. It also has that old, classic charm.

82/100

Good and well built film-noir full of suspense and a superb plot and acting. Way to go, Burt Lancaster.

78/100

A good and clever film-noir with a cruel but sweet acting.

77/100

Good American film-noir by Fritz Lang. Very good story; had everything to be one of the greatest of the genre, but I still liked it a lot.

76/100

Decent Bogart film-noir. Liked his acting also.

73/100

A good suspenseful film-noir with a perfectly acted bad guy named John Baron thanks to the great Frank Sinatra. Good plot and background, OK script and a fine climax. Recommendable.

72/100