Category: Film Noir Fashions
Odds Against Tomorrow: Harry Belafonte’s Heist Turtleneck
Harry Belafonte in Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
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Harry Belafonte as Johnny Ingram, nightclub entertainer-turned-bandit
Upstate New York, Spring 1959
Film: Odds Against Tomorrow
Release Date: October 15, 1959
Director: Robert Wise
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today is the first anniversary of Harry Belafonte’s March 1, 1927 birthday since the multi-talented entertainer’s death last April at the age of 96. In addition to a singing career that popularized Calypso music around the world and his tireless activism, Belafonte acted on screen in more than a dozen films spanning over 65 years.
One of Belafonte’s standout performances is also from one of the coolest movies of the 1950s: Odds Against Tomorrow. This Robert Wise-directed film noir features Belafonte as Johnny Ingram, a New York nightclub entertainer whose gambling addiction leads to his recruitment into an upstate bank heist with ex-cop David Burke (Ed Begley) and bigoted career crook Earl Slater (Robert Ryan). Continue reading
Blast of Silence: Allen Baron’s Killer Style
Allen Baron in Blast of Silence (1961)
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Allen Baron as Frankie Bono, misanthropic Mafia hitman
New York City, Christmas 1959
Film: Blast of Silence
Release Date: March 20, 1961
Director: Allen Baron
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Time to kill. 24 hours to stay faceless in the crowd. Get yourself lost in the city. Lose yourself in the Christmas spirit with the rest of the suckers.
I love Christmas movies—whether bona fide holiday classics like It’s a Wonderful Life, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, or White Christmas, schlocky made-for-Hallmark holiday romances, or among of the many great movies set at yuletide even when the holiday isn’t central to the plot (looking at you, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The Thin Man, Three Days of the Condor.)
When the Criterion Channel announced their Holiday Noir lineup this month, I was understandably thrilled. A few, like Lady in the Lake and They Drive By Night, I was already familiar with, but I had long wanted to see Blast of Silence, the stark neo-noir filmed guerilla-style on location in New York City during the 1959 holiday season, following Frankie Bono, a lonely killer working for the Cleveland mob who has returned to the Big Apple for a hit. Blast of Silence was written and directed by Allen Baron, who also starred as Frankie after his first choice—Peter Falk(!)—was hired instead for the similarly themed film Murder, Inc.
Days before Christmas, Frankie Bono steps off the train onto the platform in Manhattan, taking in his hometown through a cloud of cigarette smoke while a choir sings “Silent Night”. “The railroad company makes sure you don’t forget you’re coming to town on Christmas,” Frankie narrates. “It gives you the creeps, but that’s alright! Everyone on the goodwill kit, maybe they’ll leave you alone?” Continue reading
In a Lonely Place: Bogie’s Twill Sports Coat and Turtleneck
Humphrey Bogart as Dix Steele in In a Lonely Place (1950)
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Humphrey Bogart as Dixon “Dix” Steele, frustrated screenwriter
Los Angeles, Fall 1949
Film: In a Lonely Place
Release Date: May 17, 1950
Director: Nicholas Ray
Costume Designer: Jean Louis (credited for gowns only)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today’s post wraps up #Noirvember on what would have been the 100th birthday of silver screen icon Gloria Grahame. Born November 28, 1923, Grahame’s film noir credits include Crossfire (1947) and The Big Heat (1953), though my favorite is In a Lonely Place (1950), directed by her then-husband Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart.
Some of Bogie’s friends and acquaintances have described the character of cynical screenwriter Dixon Steele to be the closest that the actor ever came to projecting his true charismatic yet insecure persona onto the screen. Continue reading
Sunset Boulevard: William Holden’s Mini-Check Sport Jacket and “Dreadful Shirt”
William Holden as Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
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William Holden as Joe Gillis, struggling screenwriter
Los Angeles, Fall 1949
Film: Sunset Boulevard
Release Date: August 10, 1950
Director: Billy Wilder
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Noirvember continues with Sunset Boulevard, one of the great films noir that shines a light—or, more appropriately, casts a shadow—on the darker side of Hollywood, a theme popular with contemporary dramas like In a Lonely Place (1950) and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), with an added verisimilitude through mentions of real studios like 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures—who, of course, produced Sunset Boulevard—and cameos from Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper, and Buster Keaton.
William Holden stars as Joe Gillis, who describes himself in the opening narration as “a movie writer with a couple of B pictures to his credit.” On “the day when it all started,” Joe recounts living in a seedy one-room Hollywood apartment where he owes three months back rent, grinding out two original screenplays a week and fretting that he’s lost his touch. Three payments behind on his Plymouth, his screenplays aren’t selling, and his agent isn’t willing to help, instead insisting that “the finest things on the world have been written on an empty stomach,” though that may be just to get out of having to lend his client the $290 he needs to keep his car. Continue reading
Humphrey Bogart in The Desperate Hours
Humphrey Bogart in The Desperate Hours (1955)
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Humphrey Bogart as Glenn Griffin, menacing fugitive
Indianapolis, Fall 1955
Film: The Desperate Hours
Release Date: October 5, 1955
Director: William Wyler
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Noirvember continues with The Desperate Hours, a 1955 drama that was Humphrey Bogart’s penultimate silver screen performance. Bogie remains significantly associated with film noir, thanks to genre-defining movies like High Sierra (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Big Sleep (1946), Key Largo (1948), and In a Lonely Place (1950).
The New York-born actor rose to prominence playing villains, perhaps most notably his breakthrough role of snarling Dillinger-esque gangster Duke Mantee in the stage and screen productions of The Petrified Forest. As exemplified by his masterful but hardly glamorous performance in movies like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Bogart never let his popularity get in the way of darker roles—even after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for The African Queen (1951).
Adapted by Joseph Hayes from his own novel and play of the same name (itself loosely based on true events), The Desperate Hours cast Bogart as the dangerous Glenn Griffin, the leader of a trio of three escaped convicts who seek refuge by forcing their way into the suburban Indiana home of Daniel (Frederic March) and Ellie Hilliard (Martha Scott). Continue reading
Leave Her to Heaven: Cornel Wilde’s Brown Plaid Flannel Shirt
Cornel Wilde in Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
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Cornel Wilde as Richard “Dick” Harland, idealistic novelist
Northern Maine, August 1942
Film: Leave Her to Heaven
Release Date: December 25, 1945
Director: John M. Stahl
Costume Designer: Kay Nelson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I began Noirvember this month by highlighting a costume from one of the rare classic examples of “color noir”—which is exactly what it sounds like, a crime-centered drama from the 1940s and ’50s that includes many of the same themes and techniques as the shadowy film noir but photographed in full color, rather than the typical black-and-white.
Arguably the first major example of color noir is Leave Her to Heaven, widely released on Christmas 1945 and starring Cornel Wilde opposite the ravishing Gene Tierney, whose performance resulted in the actress’ only Academy Award nomination. Tierney died 32 years ago today on November 6, 1991. Continue reading
Desert Fury: Burt Lancaster’s Colorful Noir Cowboy Style
Burt Lancaster in Desert Fury (1947)
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Burt Lancaster as Tom Hanson, affable deputy sheriff
Nevada, Spring 1947
Film: Desert Fury
Release Date: August 15, 1947
Director: Lewis Allen
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
Born 110 years ago today on November 2, 1913, Burt Lancaster’s connection to film noir begins with his screen debut in The Killers (1946), followed by performances in Brute Force (1947), I Walk Alone (1947), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), Criss Cross (1949), and Sweet Smell of Success (1957)—to name just a few of his noir credentials.
While the existence of “color noir” may sound contradictory, there were a handful of films made during the ’40s and ’50s that have been qualified as such, including the 1947 drama Desert Fury which maintains its noir techniques and themes but with lush Technicolor cinematography as opposed to the shadowy black-and-white typically associated with the style.
Let’s kick off #Noirvember in post-World War II Nevada, where Lancaster’s friendly Tom Hanson takes a break from serving as deputy sheriff in the fictional town of Chickawalla to practice his equestrian abilities. Continue reading
John Garfield in The Breaking Point
John Garfield as Harry Morgan in The Breaking Point (1950)
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John Garfield as Harry Morgan, cynical charter fishing boat captain and Navy veteran
Newport Beach, California and Ensenada, Mexico, Spring to Summer 1950
Film: The Breaking Point
Release Date: September 30, 1950
Director: Michael Curtiz
Wardrobe Credit: Leah Rhodes
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of the most intense and talented actors of his generation, John Garfield was born 110 years ago today on March 4, 1913 in New York’s Lower East Side. His birth name was Julius Garfinkle, with Julius added as a middle name that resulted in his nickname “Julie” among friends and family.
Garfield delivered many excellent performances during his too-brief life and career, eventually citing his personal favorite to be in his penultimate film The Breaking Point, a more faithful retelling of Ernest Hemingway’s novel To Have and Have Not than the popular and stylish 1944 adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
Lushly photographed and set against the docks of Newport Beach, The Breaking Point stars Garfield as self-described “boat jockey” Harry Morgan, a World War II veteran who makes a living for his supportive wife and daughter by chartering his fishing boat, Sea Queen, that ferries passengers back and forth from Mexico. Continue reading
Devil in a Blue Dress: Don Cheadle as Mouse Alexander
Don Cheadle as Raymond “Mouse” Alexander in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Vitals
Don Cheadle as Raymond “Mouse” Alexander, smooth but dangerous gunsel
Los Angeles, Summer 1948
Film: Devil in a Blue Dress
Release Date: September 29, 1995
Director: Carl Franklin
Costume Designer: Sharen Davis
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As #Noirvember comes to a close, I want to celebrate one of my favorite characters from neo-noir, the trigger-happy “Mouse” Alexander in Devil in a Blue Dress, played by Don Cheadle who was born November 29, 1964 and celebrates his 58th birthday today.
Fledgling private eye Ezekial “Easy” Rawlins (Denzel Washington) calls his old pal Mouse for some high-caliber help as the stakes climb but soon regrets his decision: “You ain’t been in my house five minutes and you gone and shot somebody already, Mouse!” Continue reading
Out of the Past: Robert Mitchum’s Suede Fishing Jacket
Robert Mitchum as Jeff Markham in Out of the Past (1947)
Vitals
Robert Mitchum as Jeff Markham, aka Jeff Bailey, laconic gas station owner and former private detective
Bridgeport, California, Fall 1946
Film: Out of the Past
Release Date: November 25, 1947
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Costume Credit: Edward Stevenson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today marks the 75th anniversary since the release of Out of the Past, often considered among the best of classic film noir, the shadowy sub-genre known for its murky morals, gat-toting gumshoes, and double-crossing dames.
We begin in the small northern California town of Bridgeport, where laconic gas station owner Jeff Bailey enjoys a quiet fishing date with his girlfriend Ann Miller (Virginia Huston) until he’s silently interrupted by his deaf employee, “The Kid” (Dickie Moore), signing for Jeff to return. Back in town, Jeff is greeted by Joe Stefanos (Paul Valentine), a mob torpedo sent to invite Jeff—whom we learn is actually an ex-private investigator named Jeff Markham—to Lake Tahoe to meet a mysterious figure from… out of his past. Continue reading
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