Episode Details

EPISODE 78 - “FILM NOIR - Part 1 - WHAT IS NOIR?” - 3/10/2025

Have you ever wondered what exactly is film noir? TCM’s EDDIE MULLER describes it this way: “Film Noir is all about treachery, deceit, and paranoia. You’re never quite sure what is going on, who you can trust, or what dreadful pitfall waits around the corner.” This dark and twisted film genre popped up after WWII as a quiet cynicism began to creep into the national consciousness. In film noir, there is always an underbelly of darkness that comes out to play. And within the darkness, the shadows, and the neon lights, lie many stories of crime, dishonesty, adultery, murder, and mayhem. This week, we present the first in a special three-part series that delves into the darkest of genres where crooked cops, gangsters, torch singers, barflies, and other seedy character’s live, love, and kill. Join us as we discuss Film Noir! 

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources:

Film Noir (2017), by Alian Silver & James Ursini;

Into the Darkness: The Hidden World of Film Noir 1941-1959 (2016), by Mark A. Viera;

More than Night: film Noir in Its Contexts (2008), by James Naremore;

Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir (1998), by Eddie Muller;

Voices in the Dark: The Narrative Patterns of Film Noir (1989), by J.P. Telotte;

Film Noir: An Encyclopedia Reference to the American Style (1979), edited by Alain Silver & Elizabeth Ward;

Wikipedia.com;

TCM.com;

IMDBPro.com;

Movies Mentioned: 

Leave Her To Heaven (1945), starring Gene Tierney, Cornell Wilde, & Jeanne Crain;

Desert Fury (1947), starring Burt Lancaster & Lizabeth Scott;

Niagara (1953), starring Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, & Marilyn Monroe;

Mildred Pierce (1945), starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, & Zachary Scott;

Johnny O'Clock (1947), starring Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, & Ellen Drew;

Double Indemnity (1944), starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, & Edward G. Robinson;

Strangers On A Train (1951), starring Farley Granger, Robert Walker, & Ruth Roman;

The Big Heat (1953), starring Glenn Ford & Gloria Grahame;

I Wake Up Screaming (1941), starring Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Carole Landis, & Laird Cregar;

Out of the Past (1947), starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, & Kirk Douglas;

Phantom Lady (1944), starring Ella Raines, Alan Curtis, & Franchot Tone;

The Killers (1946), starring Burt Lancaster & Ava Gardner;

The Spiral Staircase (1946), starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, & Ethel Barrymore;

Suspicion (1941), starring Cary Grant & Joan Fontaine;

The Amazing Mr. X (1948), starring Turban Bay, Lynn Bari, Cathy O’Donnell, & Richard Carlson;

Two O'Clock Courage (1945), starring Tom Conway & Ann Rutherford;

The Letter (1940), starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, & Gale Sondergaard;

The Third Man (1949), starring Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, & Alida Valle;

Kiss Me Deadly (1955), starring Ralph Meeker & Cloris Leachman;

The Narrow Margin (1952),