FNF prez Eddie Muller responds to film noir fan questions fielded by the Foundation's Director of Communications Anne Hockens. In this episode, we discuss “Oppenheimer”, why audiences laugh inappropriately at classic film screenings, how to get the most out of a NOIR CITY film festival, Fritz Lang’s “The Woman in the Window” vs. “Scarlet Street”, if either the Dick Tracy or the Charlie Chan films can be considered film noir, and more. We wind up the show with a discussion of Westerns, both noir and not. On the cat front, Charlotte is curious and Emily sleeps.
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This weekend’s questions:
1. This past Saturday night, we were in your audience at the Music Box Theater in Chicago for the screening of “Call Northside 777”. For some viewers, the 1948 dialogue seemed hopelessly funny, no matter how serious the scene, whereas for others, the same dialogue elicited no such reaction. Do you see this kind of split reaction among viewers when you present noir films across the country, and if so, what do you make of it? (Is it okay to laugh at a serious scene if/when the dialogue sounds too hokey to sustain the mood?)
-Mike
2. I am planning to attend my first NOIR CITY this year. Any suggestions for first timers to maximize the experience?
-Carlton, Atlanta, GA
3. Could you put in a plug for the downloadable back issues of NOIR CITY Magazine?
-Jerry, Burke, VA
4. What should take precedence …the music or the sound? Very often, if the sound effects are that powerful and important, they take the music out. There are directors who feel that one shouldn’t hear the music. Music can be overshadowed by horses’ whinnies, or anything the sound-effect person put into the track prior to the musical scoring.
-Alan, San Anselmo, CA.
5. I have a question concerning noir films set in England but staring American actors. In "Night and the City” Richard Widmark would not be able to obtain a work permit.
Burt Lancaster in "Kiss The Blood off My Hands” is in England illegally, having jumped ship. How does Bill Saunders not get deported at the end of his prison sentence and how does he get a legitimate job as a truck driver without a passport or work papers?
Also, there is nothing in the plot that makes it imperative that it be set in England. The story could easily have been changed to take place in the States. Why not make this change? Or am I the only one who notices or cares about such details?
-David Fishman, Chesterfield, VA
6. Curious if Eddie is familiar with a tongue-in-cheek 1954 homage to Film Noir produced as a 30-minute black and white episode of "The Adventures of Superman" TV series titled "Semi-Private Eye”.
-Brian
7. In watching TCM's marathon of Dick Tracy movies recently, it struck me how Noirish these RKO B movies were. Would these Dick Tracy movies be considered Film Noir? If so, would Eddie show them either on “Noir Alley”, or at a Noir film festival?
-Scott, Los Angeles, CA
8. Would you consider the Charlie Chan movies noir, and should they be aired regardless of the Chinese aspect of them?
-Gerard
9. It’s so interesting that Fritz Lang basically remade his 1944 film, The Woman in the Window, just a year later with “Scarlet Street”. Do you know of any other instances where a director made such a close variation on his own film? Also, which of the two films do you think is better?
-Kingpin Johnny, Doylestown, PA
10. I recently watched a batch of early 1930s Joan Bennett movies and was struck by the contrast of her wise-cracking, sassy characters in those films with the film-noir roles she would go on to play in the '40s and '50s. Can you think of any other actresses that made a similar transition?
-John from Bethesda
11. Would Eddie consider "Julie" to be Doris Day’s noir film? Maybe “Midnight Lace”?
-Pam
12. Eddie, are you a fan of Westerns and what are your favorites? Would any qualify as noir?
-Kitaman
7 сен 2023
