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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 17, 2023 1:49:38 GMT
Jigsaw (1962) Dir. Val Guest. Adapted from Hillary Waugh’s first police procedural novel, Sleep Long, My Love, featuring the English setting of Brighton. Jack Warner and Ronald Lewis star both playing local detectives, a film not only based on the Waugh novel, but also on the actual infamous Brighton trunk murders of 1924. Following a call to a seaside cottage, detectives discover not only burnt knives and saws in the furnace out the back, to their surprise they also discover the partially dismembered body of a woman stuffed in a steamer trunk. Methodically Wilks (Lewis) and Fellows (Warner) set about trying to solve firstly, who is the murdered woman... It’s a top notch classic British procedural noir crime film with an excellent story and cast, highly praised far and wide, highly recommended... Ronald Lewis & Jack Warner Moira Redmond
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 28, 2023 2:50:36 GMT
I feel very guilty for starting this thread with much bravado, but then allowing it to peter out, despite the loyal contributions of certain stalwart posters. The topic deserves someone more energetic than myself. As a lazy quick-fix to jump-starting it, I refer to this YouTube video by one Michael Bartlett: The 10 Essential British Film NoirsHi there london777, having had another watch of Dual Alibi just recently I am more than surprised that this bona fide UK film-noir does not top this list, or is even considered. Having just watched Brighton Rock once again I am not convinced of its inclusion, or many of the others listed, as you already have noted. Which I guess brings us back to that old debate, what exactly is a film-noir film. Brighton Rock is certainly an expressive dark (noir) drama; however, the film story is purely a crime drama, led by a repugnant psychopathic teenaged hoodlum... Dual Alibi is composed with an unsettling atmospheric tone, surprisingly similar to the background accompaniment in Anthony Mann's Raw Deal, this British production however predates the American film by a year. With an attractive and manipulative femme-fatale, unethical and exploitive, the story spirals and evolves with a tragic dimension, essential elements that I consider most important for the title of British Film-Noir...
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Post by london777 on Jun 28, 2023 17:55:31 GMT
Hi there london777, having had another watch of Dual Alibi just recently I am more than surprised that this bona fide UK film-noir does not top this list, or is even considered. Having just watched Brighton Rock once again I am not convinced of its inclusion, or many of the others listed, as you already have noted. Which I guess brings us back to that old debate, what exactly is a film-noir film. Brighton Rock is certainly an expressive dark (noir) drama; however, the film story is purely a crime drama, led by a repugnant psychopathic teenaged hoodlum... Dual Alibi is composed with an unsettling atmospheric tone, surprisingly similar to the background accompaniment in Anthony Mann's Raw Deal, this British production however predates the American film by a year. With an attractive and manipulative femme-fatale, unethical and exploitive, the story spirals and evolves with a tragic dimension, essential elements that I consider most important for the title of British Film-Noir... 1. Once I had spent time with Michael Bartlett's thread, YouTube (as it is wont to do) suggested many more threads by him. After perusing those I decided the man is a crackpot (or worse) and will ignore him in future. 2. I agree that Brighton Rock is only a noirish crime movie, but in my OP I said that few Brit Noirs are both pure noirs and entirely British. The few that are tend to be low-budget imitations of US movies. I am more inclined these days to think that Film Noir is essentially an American phenomenon and anything else is not the genuine article. (Maybe jazz is an analogous case, not that I know anything about it)? 3. You have a bit of a crush on Dual Alibi, planetx. I agree it is both pure noir and entertaining but the reason it would not be on anyone's top ten list is that it is not that good. I would particularly refer to its reliance on those tired old tropes of 'winning the lottery' and of 'we know one twin did it, but we cannot prove which'. And absurdities in the screenplay such as the manager struggling to recognize the protagonist although the latter had been his star turn only three years earlier and was the centre of a sensational court-case that would have rocked the small and intimate world of carny. 4. Curiously, in commenting on Bartlett's choices, I was guilty of ignoring one great movie that should be a slam-dunk inclusion: Odd Man Out (1947) dir: Carol Reed.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 29, 2023 23:54:35 GMT
A worthy contender... an exceptional British sexploitation thriller... Passport to Shame (1958) aka Room 43. Directed by Canadian born Alvin Rakoff, his feature film debut with a screenplay from British novelist Patrick Alexander. In the 1950’s the British Board of Film Censors somewhat reluctantly allowed producers to tackle prostitution as long as the film masqueraded with ‘awful warnings’. Passport to Shame includes a cautionary introduction from Robert Fabian, former Detective Superintendent of Scotland Yard. Showcasing fiery performances from both Herbert Lom and making the most of sultry Diana Dors, it was the first English language film for craggy-faced tough guy Eddie Constantine, Brenda de Banzie plays the malevolent brothel madam. With fabulous mod musical accompaniment, the film is swathed in moody film noir-style lighting, Nicolas Roeg was the camera operator. The story tells of a sleazy pimp who blackmails a naïve young French woman Marie (Odile Versois) into becoming a high-class London call girl. With a compelling combination of sleaze and sanctimony the film is crammed full of treachery and deceit, fierce and fiery, depicting the seamy side of life in London, noted in the opening narrative as the prostitution capital of the world... Highly Recommended !!
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