“Despite all its formal virtues, ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ seems to exist somewhere beyond auteurist canonization or even the traditional Hollywood studio stock.”
“Film noir is all about questioning assumptions, and several of such films that feature portraits of women do nothing less.”
“Lang’s film becomes a committed act of social justice advocacy, raging against its enforced limitation, and striving to break the formal apparatus that could often be employed to constrain Classic Hollywood cinema.”
“‘Human Desire’ points a hopeful, if naïve, way forward for men returning home from war.”
In the Vague Visages Writers’ Room on Facebook, freelancers were asked to comment about their favorite film noir moments in celebration of #Noirvember.
“In both ‘T-Men’ and ‘Raw Deal,’ Alton and Mann take what is already a heightened genre and somehow intensify its formal qualities.”
Interview by Demi Kampakis
“Movies aren’t neutral vessels that we can stuff with our cultural baggage.”
“In regards to modern day politics, ‘Cat People’ captures the anti-immigration fervor of the 2016 American presidential campaign and election.”
“While Lang never fully embraced socialist principles over the course of his career, he always seemed to have a violent distaste for the men who stood on the shoulders of those who were less fortunate, knowing full well that social class does not correlate a strong moral conscious.”