LA Film Noir: The capital of Hollywood's most pessimistic era
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- Film noir describes a kind of movie dealing with crime, private eyes, plain clothes policemen, hapless grifters, law-abiding citizens lured into a life of crime or simply victims of circumstance and often in the presence of a "femme fatale".
The term "film noir" was originally coined by the French film critic Nino Frank and taken from "série noir" which was a popular collection of detective stories in France. Film historians still argue whether there is such a genre. It occurred mainly in the 40s and 50s with a revival in the 70s. The first true film noir is supposed to be the Maltese Falcon (1941). Others think it was Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1943) or even Josef von Sternbergs Underworld (1927).
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Film noir is inspired by writers such as Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler. The low key black-and-white visual style obviously had its roots in German Expressionist cinematography. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari immediately comes to mind. There were also the theories of Freud and psychoanalysis which pictured humans suffering from amnesia, tortured souls, people haunted by their past or craving for an identity of their own. All these features can be found in the anti-heroes of the film noir. They also reflected the fears and preoccupations of the Americans at the time.
Original title: Los Angeles Film Noir
Directed by Clara & Julia Kuperberg
Produced by Wichita Films
Licensed by Poorhouse International 
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A Canadian transplant, I've deplored the lack of subtlety in American film. Who knew I'd find it here!
What a beautifully narrated analysis, with insights of analysis and of nuance found nowhere else.
To have late in life discovered a treasure-trove in film that I'll not live long enough to exhaust - what a gift!
Thank you for this fantastic documentary.
Keep trying before the Big Adios!
As an American, I have deplored the lack of subtlety in the singing of Canadian Celine Dion 🤣🤣😳😂😂🥱🥱
One of the most, to the point Film Noir documentaries. Recommended to everyone who wants to gain valid insight into the genre.
Noir was the best. Born in the early 50s I grew up on these and they were always my favorite.
And they looked great on B&W tv.
I forgot how nutso Ellroy is. "I want to go to the gas chamber for a woman." "I like the GOOD girls in film noir." A walking case of No-Filter. Anyway, interesting take by Muller about working women being the heroes of these movies - not the PIs, not the wanna-be housewives, but girls with real jobs. Also, film-kids, do take note how "The Big Combo" - with its "Mr. Brown" and torture scene - heavily influenced Quentin Tarantino.
Mr Brown was a back-door man, as the name implies. He broke his two women with it, with the shame of it. Eddie Muller almost got there by saying that scene depicted "oral sex" when it was clearly analingus Mr Brown was after.
Hey, nice connection to Tarantino!
"A walking case of no-filter" yeah so what?
Oh look, we found a typing case of douche bag.
Ellroy is a typical unhinged boomer.
Interesting observation. I've also read how Tarantino was influenced by Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" and its innovative use of a non-linear timeline.
What a fantastic doc! I was thoroughly entranced. Thank you for this. Film noir has always been my favorite genre
Ellroy is both repulsive and fascinating at the same time. He's got to be at least half nuts. At least. Read Black Dahlia years ago and it was one of those books I read in no time at all. He gives me the creeps. And you can't help but be enamored of him.
Glad to see the title score from one of BEST Noir masterpieces, The Big Combo. Seen it over 100 times
Read 'My Dark Places', he is indeed damaged and has big mental health issues to say the least, he wouldn't write the way he did if he didn't. Reading MDP I came out thinking "thank goodness he had writing as an outlet". At one stage he's sleeping in the park, eating asthma inhalers and convinced some ivy is talking to him.
His mother was murdered when he was 10 years old. She was found on the grounds of Elroy's elementary school. Don't believe they ever found the murderer.
His honesty is at it's best, in his book "My Dark Places"- just riveting, his life read like LA noir. I visited the city of El Monte after reading his book, and was blown away by the locations when his mother was murdered there in 1958- they we're almost all there, and looked like they did in 1958. Incredible detail- he's a master.
Black Dahlia not his best work- too creepy and soul destroying. LA Confidential much better if you ask me.
"On June 22, 1958, when Ellroy was ten years old, his mother was raped and murdered. Ellroy later described his mother as 'sharp-tongued [and] bad-tempered', unable to keep a steady job, alcoholic and sexually promiscuous. His first reaction upon hearing of her death was relief: he could now live with his father, whom he preferred. The police never found the perpetrator, and the case remains unsolved."
Ellroy did it, dude seems creepy enough to have done some super sketchy shit when he was young.
@@joebauers3746 He raped his mother when he was 10?
@@joebauers3746 Sounds plausible, but nah. He went off-the-rails after the shocking and tragic event happened.
Poor Guy Elroy, To Have A Mother Like That, Thank God He Did Not Become Like The Boston Strangler Or A Serial Killer Of Women
@@rameshbhattacharjee4374it's not what happens to us but what we do with it. I was raised in the House of Horrors and there are no excuses in life. I am the only Kid made it out of there. It doesn't have to Define us at all. Coping mechanisms, knowledge acquisition, networking, and healing.
The sound mixer on this should have gotten an award.
When I was 18 I got a job in downtown L.A. as a messenger. I also moved to an old hotel off of Wilshire Blvd. As I kid I drove around the same area with my father. Today when I drive around Los Angeles I don't get a good vibe. When I was 18 theere was an elegance with men wearing suits and hats. Many women wore gloves. I am also aware if you were not white your life would be much harder. Noir movies help to live the good memories of Los Angeles. DOA is one of my favorites with a very under rated actor: Edmond Obrien.
That dude's not completely underrated. He won the BSA oscar for 1954's Barefoot Contessa.
Absolutely enjoyed every minute! Brilliant in all respects - narrative, visuals, detailed analysis... I'll be recommending this presentation to fellow film noir aficionados.
D.O.A., one of my best films of all time, saw it as a kid and have loved it since.
Excellent. Discovered some films I will now watch because of this program.
Yes, and most if not all are now probably in the public domain on RUclips.
Goddam, James Ellroy is awesome.
Ellroy's MY DARK PLACES is one of the best books of non-fiction I've ever read.
totally agree- made a point when in the vicinity (I live in Las Vegas) not long after reading the book (1996), and visited the locations in El Monte, where his mother was murdered (1958)- blew me away- they're almost all still there, and for the most part, everything is almost the same. Years later he undertook an incredible search (half a century later?), with a retired detective from the time the murder took place, the resources and time and effort he put in, blew me away. Nothing but respect for him- both for the best noir writer of the last fifty years, but that effort to find out about his mother's murderer, who was never caught.
I am a great great fan of Raymond Chandler. Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye is one of my favourite films. And one of Robert Altman's favourite films, also one of mine, , is Carol Reed's The Third Man. So much so that he uses The Third Man's closing shot, as the final one in The Long Goodbye (and alters the plot from the novel to mirror the plot of the Third Man)
The Third Man is amazing
How could you forget "Farewell, My Lovely" with Mitchum?
The music copyright gods murdered this video.
Thumbnail: “Barbara Stanwyck’s head is only one of many grocery staples you’ll find in our store.” 😄
Wash and rinse daily.🐥
The music comes from “The Big Combo” where we are introduced to Mr. Brown. Great movie.
Great documentary... quite the ride.
Incredible doc. Thanks so much for posting.
Fantastic! The Big Sleep trailer. Never saw that before. What a nice treat.
Very informative and useful.
Regardless how successful one becomes in LA there comes a pivotal moment when a man knows if he refuses to leave he will die.
I’ve seen LA chew up and spit into an eternal hole the baddest ass partiers from coast to coast.
After 18 years in Los Angeles, 16 of them in film production and 3 waiting tables in Beverly Hills-returning home each night to 1825 N. Kingsley (my home 45 years after it was Walter Huff’s exterior in Double Indemnity)-watching these type docs hits a bit too close.
And my second most important priority is to get to bed tonight sober.
You should've written a book !!
I would never think or know of Fred McMurray playing a "bad guy" after seeing "The absent minded professor" and "My three sons".😊
Yes I couldn't take him seriously in 'double Indemnity".
He embodied the banality of evil.
He wasn't the bad guy in just Double Indemnity. He was also an excellent villain in Pushover, The Caine Mutiny and The Apartment. All brilliantly played by Fred, and he may have played other evil characters that I'm not aware of. His character in The Apartment was absolutely despicable. He was a great, versatile actor.
@@RodericSpodeAfter The Apartment he got such critical fan mail that he decided it was his last bad guy. I agree, he was an actor of great depth when given the chance.
Really good shit James. Keep it coming!
super documentary! thanx.
Fabulous doc, and wonderful commentary. Couldn't have been better. I wish the notes had a better list of all films, mentioned, maybe even in the order of most-recommended.
Yes, I jotted the names down as it went along.
Silver, get it right "But down these _mean_ streets a man must go who is not himself mean"
Love Film Noir…it’s inspired all of my filmmaking!
He's right, "Sunset Blvd." is the perfect movie- maybe my favorite of all time. Eric Von Stroheim, Hedda Hopper, Jack Webb- Schwabs on Sunset.
@@remmymafia3889I agree. It is perfect, one of only a few. In my top 3 always.
@@harveycan5820 Wow!! Thanks.
Ellroy's MY DARK PLACES is one of the best works of nonfiction I have ever read. I cherished every paragraph of it.
Nice, I will check it out. Pardon the pun.
Love Billy Wilder's comment about Barbara Stanwyk's platinum blonde wig. He said we hired Barbara and I got George Washington!
James Ellroy is rather a berk. I quite enjoyed his LA books, but he should do himself a favour and let the books do his talking. He comes across as so babyishly self absorbed without the offsetting sense of humour.
Agree
Excellent commentary on Film noir. You should do some more. What is the music motive that you are using in this video? It starts at the very beginning of the video.
Should Film Noir have a government health warning???!!! (You try giving up smoking whilst watching film noirs!!!!)
This is one of the most incisive documentaries on (Los Angeles) film noir that I have seen. James Ellroy is one of the most repellent and mordant authors -- and he is fascinating at a safe distance. If there is such a thing as a safe distance....
Great job, thanks for the memories 😎 From old New Orleans
I love this documentary, thank-you*
Im new to this genre and elroy as well. Not sure i like him but the genre is fascinating.
“My dad was going in to see one of his numerous bitches” 😂 I love Ellroy
Too much reliance on James Ellroy's input spoiled what could have been a tremendous documentary look at film noir.
100%. I am only four minutes in and this dude seems super creepy.
Seriously got issues.
He's the only one with real personality in the whole goddamn documentary. Pearls before swine
Totally agree. I can't stand him.
I used to love James Ellroy back when I first saw LA Confidential. Then I read his book about the Black Dahlia and his autobiography, My Dark Places, and realized he personified the worst aspects of SoCal culture. Also at a certain point I matured and moved past James Ellroy-like obsession with hipster lifestyle and murders, but he stayed the same. He’s trying so hard to be cool that he’s a massive dork.
whew , this fella has baggage. great film though.
I read these cynical comments about Ellroy, and they are baseless.
LOL he epitomizes 'cynicism' but their comments not really.
He's intensely unlikable.
@@MothGirl007 We tend to have a very dark sense of humour in my culture so I find him hilarious, lol. Plus he hams it up for storytelling value because he's a master with words.
He made this more about himself than necessary.
wocomoCULTURE, could you turn on closed captions? thank you.
I think 'realistic' or 'existential' is more accurate than "pessimistic". These movies simply acknowledge the darker side of human activity that goes on every single day, pretty much everywhere. Film noir is also greatly about style. And while L.A. was the epicenter of film noir - greatly out of convenience - there are a number of excellent S.F. and N.Y. film noirs. "D.O.A." is as much an S.F. noir, as it is an L.A. one. Perhaps "Naked City" isn't considered film noir (I think it is a noir), it's still an excellent crime and police procedural drama that was filmed on location in N.Y. "Concrete Jungle" takes place in conservative Cincinnati! "Out of the Past" happens in various locations including S.F., but very little in L.A. Heck, a number are even centered in (then) exotic Mexico.
Cynicism is better than pessimism.
La confidential was.great even when they stole the story and made it season 2 of true detective, not As good.
I think you meant to write "The Asphalt Jungle" which is set in Cincinnati. There is also Ida Lupino's "The Hith-Hiker" which traverses the Mexi-Cali border lands and is based on the true story of the Billy Cook murder spree which was also immortalised in the lyrics of the The Doors "Riders On The Storm". Some of my favourite noirs based in San Francisco are "Woman On The Run" and "The Sniper" whose executions deaths are the most realistic I've ever witnessed in a film noir. Immediate drop to the ground or in one case, swinging in the air. Also, "Murder by Contract" which tells the tale of a midwestern assassin coming to LA for a hit job - a deeply funny film that obviously inspired the heck out of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
The Bradbury Building mentioned in this documentary is a beautiful building. It is also the home of the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Division. Most LAPD officers find this to be the single most depressing building in the entire City of Los Angeles. The general view is that it is the home of the lazy, incompetent, and dishonest but upwardly mobile element of the LAPD. Internal Affairs personnel are the cops who ignore major misconduct committed by the highest ranking members of the Department while severely punishing the most minor peccadillos of low ranking officers. At least, such is the general view of things.
Depending upon your perception of the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Division and the personnel assigned there, you might find this as being completely in keeping with the building’s role in film noir or completely counter to its role in such movies.
Los Angeles a true character and set piece in Film Noir. The dark side of human nature. Great documentary and commentary. Ellroy is an interesting spokesperson and teacher and writer.
This documentary is somewhat inaccurate as Raymond Chandler wrote from the 1940's into early 50's. And World War II vets is a theme in some of his books and even the homosexual undercurrents between straight men - read "Farewell My Lovely". Often the women are far more powerful and in control in the narrative although Raymond teases the reader along to think otherwise.
Yes ! I'm always surprised that
Chandler's thinly veiled homo eroticism isn't mentioned more often. ? Marlowe's horror at the prospect of sexual intercourse with a woman is glaringly obvious..!!
There's nothing like a good noir film. Kind of makes you want to drink scotch and smoke unfiltered cigarettes. Later you feel like you need a shower.
The Bradbury even shows up in Blade Runner a cyberpunk noir.
This was a great watch. Thanks.
I’d say it was the most realistic era. The most pessimistic era of Hollywood is now.
Great. Thanks.
Seeing a young Lee Van Cleef in "The Big Combo" blew my mind. I thought he was always middle-aged.
Yeah, and to add to that, maybe they should have named that famous spaghetti western 'The Good, the Gay and the Ugly'
This was fantastic!!
25:40 Funfact. There is a "Remake" of Laura. As an episode in the first season of "Magnum" from the 1980s.
This documentary is SO damn good.
Sometimes a salami is just a salami
Great documentary, most enjoyable.
Excellent documentary
The believe The Big Sleep is perfect Film Noir ! I am fascinated y the Black Dahla Case and the books about it !
Of course Elroy explains why LA is considered the noir capital- it's simple geography. Location, location, location- everything was filmed on the streets there- no need to go anywhere. Then on the realism side of crime, NOTHING can top the Tate murders- that to me is the top of the mountain for true crime, with the Black Dahlia close behind. Both were off the charts scint !
I love the sound of Ellroy's voice.❤🙂👍
IDK, he's kinda creepy.
That makes one of you 😂
@@mangos2888
???
@@johna.4334 You think, kind of a John Malkovich vibe?
Superb. Thanks!
What's the name of the song during the shots of the city? That violin is hauntingly beautifull.
Hollywood used to be so imaginative creative and entertaining , now it's all remakes , comic book adaptations and woke boring rediculous moralising , what happened ?
Good question.
To be fair, it always had remakes and moralizing films lol. There were silent films, then the talkie remake, then the technicolor remake, then the “hip” remake in the 80s/90s, etc. Don’t get me started on sentimental moralizing films 🤣
ahhhhh the woke is calling from inside the house ahhh
Thank you! Everybody thinks they are living in the “end times” of art. There’s always good work being done you just have to get of your sorry ass and find it. Stop letting Hollywood spoon feed you
@@matthewgabbard6415exactly if you brand everything that makes you think deeply as woke moralizing you’re never gonna engage with any art that has jack shit to say. There is no story without a moral. People are just expecting high art to find them. Sorry but that is not the industry.
once again, a little Ellroy goes a real long way....
jeez elroy loves the sound of his own voice
Yeah. He's clearly an expert on the subject but he still manages to make this documentary less enjoyable than it should have been.
He does indeed. In fact, believe it or not,, compared to other documentaries and film commentaries by JE, he is relatively restrained here.
Yes....obnoxious
And you know that how?
@@steveculbert4039 he was my uncle
The booze and the cooze.......priceless!!!!
I love LA Confidential, the movie, but Ellroy seems like a creep... confirmed by the comments
James Elroy is full of it
I was born in 1948 in superior (i.e. northern) California. The movie that needs to be made is about how everyone saw L.A. as a terrible place to live. Doubt it? Just listen to any evening talk show host describe the smog and traffic.
is that from robert ryan
I grew up in NorCal (1956) as well. Although people in the north are taller, more sophisticated and better educated and the people in SoCal are...well...peasants, this didn't stop me from migrating to Tinseltown; better weather, warm ocean, more restaurants, non-stop entertainment and a home in a nice neighborhood for half the price.
When I lived in LA from 1976--88, it seemed like the most frequent topic of conversation with people I knew was regarding how fed up they were about the city and when they were going to leave.
I will say this about the city though, and that is where I learned about film noir from frequent Film Noir Weeks at revival cinemas such as the Nuart in West LA and the Fox Venice.
Nothing quite like seeing these marvelous films shown the way they should be seen.
@@judypratt2868
???
@@deirdre108 Oh, the same conversations now..........
TRES Cool/Heavy Noir
I’ve never heard of James Ellroy. The way he speaks, I thought he was a Director but googling him I see he is an author. I wonder if he wrote any screenplays? Creepy vibes though. I much preferred the comments of the other main narrator, the guy in the blue shirt and jacket. Does anybody know his identity/credentials?
I believe you’re referring to Eddie Muller. He is a noir historian and hosts screenings on Turner Classic Movies.
Love Eddie Muller his commentary is sublime. He is the epitome of clarifying film noir, making us understand all of its extraordinary complexities! Love his demeaner.
I found Eddie Muller projected his own biases a little bit too much during his segments. My background is Croatian and we tend to have a very dark sense of humour so for me, I found James Elroy not only hilarious but poetically insightful. He likes to poke the bear but his insights were razor sharp and grounded in the reality of life in Los Angeles - a city I lived in for many years and knew intimately from the gutter up. The ones who talk like tend to be more straight-laced than they care to admit though Elroy himself did admit that very same thing, lol.
super interesting . cool .
Very interesting.
the pointy building downtown!
Elroy’s brilliant as is Muller. But I disagree with him on one point. Noir was our way of digesting the immense evil that was revealed by the Nazi experience, in the intimate way that only film, not sociology or political science, can do.
We should be getting a motherlode of crime fiction out of the Trump era.
@@mannacler Yes, I suppose that is true but it's the Golden Age of Conspiracies Trump helped unleash. I wonder whether there is a type of noir that can address it, since conspiracists are so cynical.
@@doniphandiatribes Trumpanzees are minority of the general population. Conspiracies are great fodder for novelists and screenwriters and few figures in literature are more cynical than the protagonists in noir, e.g. Gittes, Marlowe and Spade.
I think that Film Noir is to film what existentialism is to philosophy.
What a delight....
The Big Heat ?? Glenn Ford / Lee Marvin both in peak form and a sizzling
script.!!
Criminals dressed better in those days.
injoyed it.
The postman always rings twice was my wife and mine favorite film noir.
Love the original with Lana Turner.
34:00 - Completely neglecting that violence against men was always vastly higher in this period than it was against women (as it is in all eras), not to mention violence against a woman is hardly by definition "misogyny." You'd like to think a writer would do quite a bit better in this regard.
Ellroy just seems like such a creep.
French Noir is great also
Jean-Pierre Melville's especially.
Well another problem with the filmThe Long Goodbye is that it hardly follows the novel at all.
Actually it does, except for the ending. Elliott Gould represents the 40s Chandler hero set in 1970s LA. A deliberate cognitive dissonance.
Ellroy is the classic example of the Geek who metamorphosed into a " tough guy "
through his writing . Chandler did something similar : his Marlowe being the
idealised projection of himself . In " Real Life " Chandler was a rather nondescript ,
petulant fusspot . I suspect that's why Marlowe's Sir Galahad chivalry shtick
begins to get irritating eventually and becomes almost a parody. Chandler had
Zero experience of Women....
Eras have capitals?
*It seems I'm having trouble distinguishing actual documentaries with mockumentaries like this one.*
Love film noir
I wonder what they think of LA now?
To see the James Ellroy the man who wrote "LA confidential " in full, cogent and optimistic spate and having. the sexual antics of. "Gilda " explained in one documentary. is enough, but the whole thing is bursting with information. I often wondered if Film Noir was produced by WWII, apparently not . It makes sense that is an outreach from the Depression and the Thirties.
You wield a crazy period baby.
Where film noir does explicitly nod to WWII is the growth into location shooting being a common thing, as many of the men who worked in film during the war for the armed forces brought this style of realism orientated shooting back with them when they started working in Hollywood. WWII is also explicitly nodded to in the narrative of films like "The Blue Dahlia" dealing with PTSD. Another theory is veterans bringing back their quick maturing into more pessimism regarding life, death and destruction with them so, discarding WWII as an influence on the genre I think is somewhat dishonest.
Somebody come get grandpa....he's traveling back in mind again.
Nurse !!! He's woken up again..!!
What's the title of the track starting at 2:58?
Sounds like a John Barry composition, but can't be sure.
Sunset blvd. Was billy wilders big f.u. To Hollywood
hot diamonds / cold hard cash clean getaways / dirty coppers stand up guys / low down rats two - timing dames / only one way out This is film noir. What's your angle sister ?
nice job
Speaks in Waits….
Don't get much better, bleaker or darker than that. Enlightenment only appears when you leave the dark end of the alley. And everyone knows it's a phoney ending ❤
Olivet and Sinai!