What’s not to like about film noir: it is halloween for adults. Lovely little piece this from the Guardian, link here. I’d highly recommend reading the comments for a fuller treatment of the subject. The role of gender needs to be surfaced in thinking about noir: any time smart women are automatically up to no good should set off alarm bells. In the Maltese Falcon, surely one of the best scripts EVER, Spade is clearly attracted to Ruth/Brigid, entertained by her lying and transparent attempts at manipulation. Nonetheless, he sends her to prison and possibly the gallows because of his honour code; because you can’t let your buddy’s death go without a settling of accounts, even if you have been messing around with his wife. Yet the snappy dialogue and the presentation of humans in all their flaws and confusion rescues and elevates film noir far above and beyond the tired clichés and tropes of Hollywood. In summing up, perhaps the best comment on the article is a single rhetorical question (Dataportal): “Aren’t we all weird detectives in a lonely city?”
Happy (?) Halloween!
Eamonn
eamonncmckee 