Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 15, 2017

The Killing There’s no doubt – is there? – that film noir contains the best lines in all of cinema. I mean, haven’t you ever been watching a noir and a character says something that is so awesome, you just have to laugh out loud with sheer delight and appreciation?...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 14, 2017

Novak and MacMurray steam up the screen in Pushover. Some may call Pushover a “poor man’s Double Indemnity” – and the label is understandable. Like Double Indemnity, Pushover stars Fred MacMurray as a respected professional man who is pulled into a web of deception and murder at the urging of...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 13, 2017

One of my most treasured movie-related books is The Dark Page, by Kevin Johnson. (And not just because its name is so similar to my film noir newsletter!) It’s an absolutely beautiful coffee table book that consists of full color pictures of novels on which film noir features were based,...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 12, 2017

Strikingly handsome with a versatile acting talent, William Holden could play everything from the charming boy next door to a psychologically damaged killer, with equal facility. During a career that spanned six decades, Holden earned three Academy Award nominations (and one win); appeared in numero   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 11, 2017

Of all my many (many!) collections, one of my favorites is my vintage magazine collection. And among the publications I’ve collected are several volumes of Confidential magazine. Confidential, which premiered in December 1952, was a notorious scandal magazine that touted the tagline, “Tells the Fact   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 11, 2017

These three. In this film, Dick Powell stars as Rocky Mulloy (how’s that for a noirish name?) who, at the start of the action, has just being released from prison after serving five years of a life sentence for a murder/robbery that he did not commit. He’s got just one...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 9, 2017

Set in post-WWII London, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands stars Burt Lancaster as Bill Saunders, a luckless drifter whose existence continues to spiral downward when he accidentally kills a bartender in a local pub. After seeking sanctuary in the apartment of a young woman, Jane Wharton (Joan Fontaine),   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 8, 2017

Waldo Lydecker. In yesterday’s Noirvember post, I mentioned a character in The Big Knife whose name has always stuck with me – not just because it was so unusual, but also because it was so contrary to his slimy personality. The memorable name of Smiley Coy gave me the idea...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 7, 2017

Not your typical noir, The Big Knife focuses on screen star Charlie Castle (Jack Palance), who’s in the center of a maelstrom – his dictator-like studio head, Stanley Hoff (Rod Steiger), is pressuring him into signing another seven-year contract; his beloved, estranged wife, Marion (Ida Lupino), wan   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 6, 2017

Today’s Noirvember post looks at my favorite noirs through the years. My original plan was to pick one favorite for each year of the classic noir era. And it was fun at first – until I got to 1944, and I realized that this little exercise wouldn’t be as easy...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 5, 2017

I remember, many years ago, a friend of mine saw Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity. She didn’t like his performance – she was unable to get past the idea that the actor she knew only as Steven Douglas on My Three Sons was committing murder and spitting out the word...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 4, 2017

Film noir features and Academy Awards don’t exactly go hand in hand, if you know what I mean. There’s never been a film noir Best Picture winner (not even Double Indemnity!! Blasphemy!) and noir performers seldom made that walk down the carpeted aisle to collect the golden statuette. But. That doesn   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 3, 2017

There’s nothing like the look of film noir. Served up by such masterful cinematographers as John Alton, Nicholas Musuraca, and John F. Seitz, the imagery from the era immediately places you in a world of cynicism, dread, and hopelessness. Today’s Noirvember celebration takes a look at 10   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 2, 2017

Watching the beginning of this Alan Ladd starrer for the first time, you wouldn’t think it has much promise. As the camera shows us the inside of a cavernous post office, the narrator extols the virtue of the postal service: “The citizens of this country own it, work in it,...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on November 1, 2017

Happy Noirvember! One of my favorite months of the year is here: Noirvember! What’s Noirvember? It’s a month-long celebration of all things noir, started by Marya over at Cinema-Fanatic.com. This is my fourth year participating, so grab yourself a stiff drink and join me for 30 days of noir. Straigh   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on October 30, 2017

It’s about that time, ladies and germs – time for another installment in my monthly coverage of the 2017 TCM Film Festival: Revisiting Adventures in Paradise. This time around I’m covering one of the many highlights of the festival for me – seeing Michael Douglas (from third row, center, mind...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on October 9, 2017

You may not know this about me, but I am no horror fan. Oh, I’ve seen the occasional horror movie – Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, and I even recently caught most of Dracula – but for the most part, no thank you. So when I looked over TCM’s pre-Code offerings for...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on September 16, 2017

“The world belongs to those who read.” – Rick Holland In keeping with this concept, the world was mine this summer, as I dove into my fifth consecutive year of participating in the Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge, hosted by Raquel of Out of the Past. As part of...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on September 10, 2017

It takes only a glance at the credits for Upperworld (1934) to know that this is a film worth seeing. It stars the great Mary Astor, a non-dancing and oh-so-adorable Ginger Rogers, and pre-Code icon Warren William. It’s based on a story by Ben Hecht, who also wrote the screenplays...   read more

Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on September 4, 2017

Now that the dates for the 2018 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival have been announced (April 26-29, 2018), I thought this was a perfect time for another installment of the 2017 TCM Film Festival: Revisiting Adventures in Paradise! My first two films of the festival – fittingly – were a...   read more