Making ‘The Killing’: An Auteur and His Writer
“Kubrick was in many ways the embodiment of a new Hollywood — brilliant, creative and perhaps a bit ruthless, words that could also be used to describe his first great film, ‘The Killing.'”
Crime Scene: ‘Pickup on South Street’ and New York Networks
“‘Pickup on South Street’ is perhaps the quintessential New York noir.”
Vagabond Noirs and Tramp Westerns: The Films of Hugo Fregonese at Il Cinema Ritrovato
“Hugo Fregonese is a director ripe for rediscovery.”
The Light of Human Love and Community: On ‘Moontide’ and ‘Port of Shadows’
“‘Moontide’ and ‘Port of Shadows’ offer a fascinating study into key differences in Hollywood and European filmmaking and storytelling during the 1930s and early 1940s, a time when the studio system reigned supreme…”
Know the Cast: ‘Detour’
‘Detour’ Cast: A Vague Visages guide for every main performer and character in Edgar G. Ulmer’s 1945 film noir movie.
The Man Who Laughs: Richard Widmark’s Early Noirs
“Widmark offers a succession of performances in ‘Kiss of Death, ‘The Street with No Name’ and ‘Road House’ that show a young actor building, then resisting, and then reconciling his own burgeoning screen persona.”
Shattering Orientalism Through Noir: Samuel Fuller’s ‘House of Bamboo’
“The gritty and hard-nosed film noir genre is rife with actors and directors that helped to not only change conversations about American cinema, but also the nation’s consciousness.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Alexander Mackendrick’s ‘Sweet Smell of Success’
“‘Sweet Smell of Success’ seems to exist somewhere beyond auteurist canonization or even the traditional Hollywood studio stock.”
War and Domestic Violence in Fritz Lang’s ‘Human Desire’
“In ‘Human Desire,’ the train tracks carry its hero into the sunny paradise of the American Dream, not the depths of noir’s endless night.”
The Uneasy Allegiances of Nicholas Ray’s ‘In a Lonely Place’
“‘In a Lonely Place’ finds Nicholas Ray still the relative newcomer to the Hollywood studio scene, yet he is already displaying subversive evidence of instilling in his work representative preoccupations.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Gilda’ (Charles Vidor, 1946)
“‘Gilda’ is one of the great examples of onscreen masochism.”