Miguel Rodriquez of Monster Island Resort  and Will McKinley of Cinematically Insane interview Clute and Edwards on the topic of TCM Presents Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir, a free multimedia online course presented by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Ball State University.  This course is the latest collaboration by the creators of the Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir podcast series and will benefit from the promotional and social media support of TCM, where Clute now serves as head of Marketing and Editorial, and the innovative multimedia course materials created by Ball State University, where Edwards is Executive Director of iLearn Research.  The course is free and open to the public, will run in conjunction with the two-month “Summer of Darkness” festival on TCM, featuring 24 hours of film noir every Friday in June and July, 2015.

Miguel Rodriquez of <a href="http://www.monsterislandresort.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Monster Island Resort </a> and Will McKinley of <a href="https://willmckinley.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cinematically Insane</a> interview Clute and Edwards on the topic of <a href="https://www.canvas.net/browse/bsu/tcm/courses/film-noir" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TCM Presents Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir</a>, a free multimedia online course presented by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Ball State University.  This course is the latest collaboration by the creators of the Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir podcast series and will benefit from the promotional and social media support of TCM, where Clute now serves as head of Marketing and Editorial, and the innovative multimedia course materials created by Ball State University, where Edwards is Executive Director of iLearn Research.  The course is free and open to the public, will run in conjunction with the two-month “Summer of Darkness” festival on TCM, featuring 24 hours of film noir every Friday in June and July, 2015.

Noircast Special 4: TCM Presents Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir 

OUT OF THE PAST is perhaps the most carefully structured of all films noir--a narrative divided (like protagonist Jeff Markum/Bailey) between an inescapable past and an impossible future, teetering on the slimmest hope for the present such that any action taken by its poor players tips them down into the abyss. Director Jacques Tourneur, cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring perfectly synchronized their efforts on this film, creating a narrative masterpiece where every image perfectly accompanies or contrasts every line of dialogue, where the whole is so self-conscious that it forces us to view each moment through every other, creating a true mise-en- abyme. It would be as impossible for the viewer to enter into such a story as it is for the characters to escape it, if it weren't for the decision to create a "Meta" narration at exactly the halfway point of the film, allowing the viewer to sort past from present in a film that constantly blurs that distinction in order to show how lives are always lived in servitude to what comes out of the past. For all of these reasons, the film is a constant source of inspiration, and a constant obsession, for those who watch it carefully. Artist and novelist Jonathan Santlofer joins Clute and Edwards to discuss how the film has repeatedly inspired his work, and Clute and Edwards consider how the case they would make for this movie is reframed each time they reopen their investigation into its means and motives.

OUT OF THE PAST is perhaps the most carefully structured of all films noir--a narrative divided (like protagonist Jeff Markum/Bailey) between an inescapable past and an impossible future, teetering on the slimmest hope for the present such that any action taken by its poor players tips them down into the abyss. Director Jacques Tourneur, cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring perfectly synchronized their efforts on this film, creating a narrative masterpiece where every image perfectly accompanies or contrasts every line of dialogue, where the whole is so self-conscious that it forces us to view each moment through every other, creating a true mise-en- abyme. It would be as impossible for the viewer to enter into such a story as it is for the characters to escape it, if it weren't for the decision to create a "Meta" narration at exactly the halfway point of the film, allowing the viewer to sort past from present in a film that constantly blurs that distinction in order to show how lives are always lived in servitude to what comes out of the past. For all of these reasons, the film is a constant source of inspiration, and a constant obsession, for those who watch it carefully. Artist and novelist Jonathan Santlofer joins Clute and Edwards to discuss how the film has repeatedly inspired his work, and Clute and Edwards consider how the case they would make for this movie is reframed each time they reopen their investigation into its means and motives.

Episode 53: Out of the Past Act II

Scott McGee

Appearances can be deceiving. On the surface, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is pure science fiction, the tale of seed pods from outer space that produce emotionless body doubles of each citizen in the small town of Santa Mira. Often read as an allegory of either Communism or McCarthyism, where every person who becomes "one of them" loses autonomy by willingly buying into the unthinking collective, the film in fact plumbs questions of humanity in the modern era with subtlety and nuance more common to films noir than to science fiction movies. As Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) and Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter) fight to remain human, they question the mass hysteria of the era, recognize that all appearances are misleading in a mass media culture, and discuss how we lose our humanity in times of social dislocation. Director Don Siegal, screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring and producer Walter Wanger draw on their extensive experience in creating iconic films noir to craft a movie that self-consciously adopts a noir style and noir thematics whenever the stakes are high, demonstrating in the process that noir is ideally suited to addressing human questions in the years following WWII, when retaining our humanity in spite of technological progress is precisely what is in question.

Appearances can be deceiving. On the surface, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is pure science fiction, the tale of seed pods from outer space that produce emotionless body doubles of each citizen in the small town of Santa Mira. Often read as an allegory of either Communism or McCarthyism, where every person who becomes "one of them" loses autonomy by willingly buying into the unthinking collective, the film in fact plumbs questions of humanity in the modern era with subtlety and nuance more common to films noir than to science fiction movies. As Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) and Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter) fight to remain human, they question the mass hysteria of the era, recognize that all appearances are misleading in a mass media culture, and discuss how we lose our humanity in times of social dislocation. Director Don Siegal, screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring and producer Walter Wanger draw on their extensive experience in creating iconic films noir to craft a movie that self-consciously adopts a noir style and noir thematics whenever the stakes are high, demonstrating in the process that noir is ideally suited to addressing human questions in the years following WWII, when retaining our humanity in spite of technological progress is precisely what is in question.

Episode 52: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (with Scott McGee)

A product of Clute and Edwards' longstanding fascination with film noir and hard-boiled literature, this podcast investigates how certain mid-century visual and storytelling conventions evolved into Rockstar Games/Team Bondi's new video game L.A. NOIRE.  To some degree, noir and hard-boiled themselves evolved from a 19th-century literary tradition that involved contests of deduction and linear modes of problem-solving (a tradition established by Edgar Allan Poe), but in the wake of two world wars and other evidence of the havoc wreaked by modern "progress" those storytelling traditions evolved into something darker and more nuanced—something that offered less certain outcomes.  L.A NOIRE plays on both traditions: it is linear and problem-based in its narrative structure, yet its underlying worldview is as brooding and morally ambiguous as the finest films noir and hard-boiled novels.  Like all great digital works it is a mashup that weaves together swaths of historical events and pop culture yarns, and the result is a vast tapestry of noir at once familiar and altogether unique.

A product of Clute and Edwards' longstanding fascination with film noir and hard-boiled literature, this podcast investigates how certain mid-century visual and storytelling conventions evolved into Rockstar Games/Team Bondi's new video game L.A. NOIRE.  To some degree, noir and hard-boiled themselves evolved from a 19th-century literary tradition that involved contests of deduction and linear modes of problem-solving (a tradition established by Edgar Allan Poe), but in the wake of two world wars and other evidence of the havoc wreaked by modern "progress" those storytelling traditions evolved into something darker and more nuanced—something that offered less certain outcomes.  L.A NOIRE plays on both traditions: it is linear and problem-based in its narrative structure, yet its underlying worldview is as brooding and morally ambiguous as the finest films noir and hard-boiled novels.  Like all great digital works it is a mashup that weaves together swaths of historical events and pop culture yarns, and the result is a vast tapestry of noir at once familiar and altogether unique.

Episode 51: L.A. Noire

While many scholars have focused on noir as a dark visual style, or a worldview marked by the anxieties and stark realities of modernity, few have addressed noir's high degree of self-consciousness or its profoundly quirky humor. In their new book,The Maltese Touch of Evil: Film Noir and Potential Criticism, Clute and Edwards focus on these underappreciated characteristics of noir to demonstrate how films noir frame their "intertextual" borrowings from on another and create visual puns, and how these gestures function to generate both compelling narratives and critical reflections upon those narratives. Drawing on the on the concept of "constraint" articulated by the Oulipo (a French acronym for "Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle," or "Workshop of Potential Literature"), Clute and Edwards demonstrate that noir was the most constrained of film styles, and the constraints noir embraced gave rise to its infinite variability and unprecedented self-reflexivity--the very characteristics that have often forced scholars to bracket off noir, framing it as an exception to the otherwise tidy world of studio-era American cinema. In this video essay, Clute and Edwards use the simple constraint of run time percentage to recombine iconic moments from 31 films noir and neo-noir, and in the process create a short film that is at once a noir narrative and an investigation into the narrative constraints embraced by noir.

While many scholars have focused on noir as a dark visual style, or a worldview marked by the anxieties and stark realities of modernity, few have addressed noir's high degree of self-consciousness or its profoundly quirky humor. In their new book,The Maltese Touch of Evil: Film Noir and Potential Criticism, Clute and Edwards focus on these underappreciated characteristics of noir to demonstrate how films noir frame their "intertextual" borrowings from on another and create visual puns, and how these gestures function to generate both compelling narratives and critical reflections upon those narratives. Drawing on the on the concept of "constraint" articulated by the Oulipo (a French acronym for "Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle," or "Workshop of Potential Literature"), Clute and Edwards demonstrate that noir was the most constrained of film styles, and the constraints noir embraced gave rise to its infinite variability and unprecedented self-reflexivity--the very characteristics that have often forced scholars to bracket off noir, framing it as an exception to the otherwise tidy world of studio-era American cinema. In this video essay, Clute and Edwards use the simple constraint of run time percentage to recombine iconic moments from 31 films noir and neo-noir, and in the process create a short film that is at once a noir narrative and an investigation into the narrative constraints embraced by noir.

Noircast Special 3: The Maltese Touch of Evil Video Essay

A script by Raymond Chandler. Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, and William Bendix in leading roles.  Costumes by the great Edith Head, and cinematography by Lionel Lindon, who had been nominated for best cinematography just the year before for the Oscar sensation GOING MY WAY.  In short, THE BLUE DAHLIA seems to have everything going it’s way.  Why, then, does the film fail to deliver the emotional impact of near contemporary titles like THE KILLERS or THE BIG SLEEP?  To frame an answer to this question, we must first displace the many frames through which we have become accustomed to viewing the film—most notably Producer John Houseman’s apocryphal account of how Chandler’s alcoholism impacted the screenplay.  If we divest ourselves of these frames and really focus on the film, we see that Chandler’s script rescues, rather than compromises, this movie.  THE BLUE DAHLIA is more a victim of an identity crisis, a film unable for reasons of censorship and limited artistic vision to commit fully to the noir worldview that came home full force in 1946.  And thus, as a marginal success, it’s a film that can teach us a great deal about how noir came to be both a dominant Hollywood style and a philosophical stance.

Episode 50: The Blue Dahlia

Jeffrey Peters

In this episode, guest investigator Jeffrey Peters (Associate Professor of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of Kentucky), leads a panel of five undergraduate students from his Honors Program course "French Film Noir" in a discussion of Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 BAND OF OUTSIDERS (Bande à part), starring Anna Karina, Sami Frey, and Claude Brasseur.  Jeff is a specialist in early modern French literature and culture, poetics and rhetoric, and film studies, and former chair of the Division of French and Italian at UK.  He is joined by Honor students Bethany Futrell, Jesseca Johnson, Ryan Palmer, Nick Purol, and Daniel Robbins.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir at http://outofthepast.libsyn.com.

In this episode, guest investigator Jeffrey Peters (Associate Professor of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of Kentucky), leads a panel of five undergraduate students from his Honors Program course "French Film Noir" in a discussion of Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 BAND OF OUTSIDERS (Bande à part), starring Anna Karina, Sami Frey, and Claude Brasseur. Jeff is a specialist in early modern French literature and culture, poetics and rhetoric, and film studies, and former chair of the Division of French and Italian at UK. He is joined by Honor students Bethany Futrell, Jesseca Johnson, Ryan Palmer, Nick Purol, and Daniel Robbins. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 49: Bande à part (with Dr. Jeffrey Peters)

Megan Abbott

Clute and Edwards welcome guest investigator Megan Abbott , the reigning Dark Dame of Noir. Megan is the author of a superb nonfiction study of hardboiled and noir protagonists entitled THE STREET WAS MINE, and three gut-wrenching throwback crime novels: DIE A LITTLE, THE SONG IS YOU, and QUEENPIN. The first title is scheduled to be released as a United Artists feature film in 2010, with Jessica Biel in the lead role. Megan's choice for this episode is the 1950 Nicholas Ray film IN A LONELY PLACE, starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. To learn more about Megan's work, visit www.meganabbott.com. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of www.noircast.net. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir at http://outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Clute and Edwards welcome guest investigator Megan Abbott , the reigning Dark Dame of Noir. Megan is the author of a superb nonfiction study of hardboiled and noir protagonists entitled THE STREET WAS MINE, and three gut-wrenching throwback crime novels: DIE A LITTLE, THE SONG IS YOU, and QUEENPIN. The first title is scheduled to be released as a United Artists feature film in 2010, with Jessica Biel in the lead role. Megan's choice for this episode is the 1950 Nicholas Ray film IN A LONELY PLACE, starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. To learn more about Megan's work, visit <a href="http://www.meganabbott.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.meganabbott.com</a>. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 48: In a Lonely Place (with Megan Abbott)

Howard Rodman

Mike White

Howard Rodman and Mike White are this episode’s guest investigators. Rodman and White discuss Jean-Pierre Melville’s great 1956 film, Bob Le Flambeur. Howard Rodman is a screenwriter, novelist and USC film professor. His most recent screen credits include Savage Grace and August. Mike White is the publisher and editors of Cahiers du Cinemart, an obscure and obtuse film magazine from Detroit. Visit Mike’s website at impossiblefunky.com. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of www.noircast.net. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir at http://outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Howard Rodman and Mike White are this episode’s guest investigators. Rodman and White discuss Jean-Pierre Melville’s great 1956 film, Bob Le Flambeur. Howard Rodman is a screenwriter, novelist and USC film professor. His most recent screen credits include Savage Grace and August. Mike White is the publisher and editors of Cahiers du Cinemart, an obscure and obtuse film magazine from Detroit. Visit Mike’s website at <a href="http://impossiblefunky.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">impossiblefunky.com</a>. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 47: Bob Le Flambeur (with Howard Rodman and Mike White)

Eddie Muller

Thanks to listener support, Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noiris a featured podcast at iTunes, has generated nearly 200,000 downloads worldwide, and has a per-episode audience of over 4,000. With such a record of success, Clute and Edwards are now able to reach out to a wide range of noir scholars, to use the program as a forum to broaden public discourse on the enduring importance of this distinctively American film style. May's guest is the Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller. Eddie is the Founder and President of the Film Noir Foundation, and the man who organizes the Noir City Film Festival in San Francisco. He is also the author of three superlative studies of film noir (Dark City, Dark City Dames, and The Art of Noir) and two supernal throwback hard-boiled novels (The Distance and Shadow Boxer). Eddie's selection is the 1949 Jules Dassin Film THIEVES' HIGHWAY.

Episode 46: Thieves Highway (with Eddie Muller)

Each film noir weaves its own yarn of longing, corruption, and fateful decisions. In each episode of this podcast series, Clute and Edwards investigate one noir or neo-noir in detail.  Following various threads of inquiry, they attempt to unravel the vast canvas of noir. More info at www.noircast.net

WELCOME BACK and record more !!!! Great to hear the new episode. We need more !

WELCOME BACK and record more !!!!

So, did this podcast end in 2008?

Each film noir weaves its own yarn of longing, corruption, and fateful decisions. In each episode of this podcast series, Clute and Edwards investigate one noir or neo-noir in detail. Following various threads of inquiry, they attempt to unravel the vast canvas of noir. More info at <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>

Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir

In this premier episode, Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards discuss Jacques Tourneur's noir masterpiece "Out of the Past."  They explain why it is the first film they choose for their continuing series of podcasts delving into the history of film noir.  In the course of  a lively discussion of this film, Clute and Edwards argue that while "Out of the Past" is not an early noir, it is nonetheless a prototype that helps the viewer define just what is film noir.  As of July 15th, new episodes will be available for downloading on the 1st and 15th of each month.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com/Our program is available at these podcast sites:Rate this podcast @ DigitalPodcast.com Vote for this podcast at podcastalley.com  If you already have iTunes 4.9 installed on your computer, click on the link below:Out of the Past--Free iTunes Subscription

In this premier episode, Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards discuss Jacques Tourneur's noir masterpiece "Out of the Past." They explain why it is the first film they choose for their continuing series of podcasts delving into the history of film noir. In the course of a lively discussion of this film, Clute and Edwards argue that while "Out of the Past" is not an early noir, it is nonetheless a prototype that helps the viewer define just what is film noir. As of July 15th, new episodes will be available for downloading on the 1st and 15th of each month. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com/</a> Our program is available at these podcast sites: <a href="http://www.digitalpodcast.com/detail.php?id=2163" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Rate this podcast @ DigitalPodcast.com</a> <a href="http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=5610#" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Vote for this podcast at podcastalley.com</a> <a href="http://podcastalley.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> If you already have iTunes 4.9 installed on your computer, click on the link below: <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=74404076" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Out of the Past--Free iTunes Subscription</a>

Episode 1: Out of the Past

Robert Towne's screenplay for the 1974 film "Chinatown" tells an original story, but a story whose scope, intrigue, characters, pacing, and style owe a great debt to the work of Raymond Chandler.  That said, it would be a mistake to view "Chinatown" as a simple nostalgia piece.  In this tale of the fundamental--indeed foundational--corruption of Los Angeles, Director Roman Polanski, Writer Towne, and Cinematographer John Alonzo tell a hard-boiled tale in a modern filmic style, and this productive collision allows them to simultaneously critique and reaffirm the mythic qualities of genre literature and film.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Robert Towne's screenplay for the 1974 film "Chinatown" tells an original story, but a story whose scope, intrigue, characters, pacing, and style owe a great debt to the work of Raymond Chandler. That said, it would be a mistake to view "Chinatown" as a simple nostalgia piece. In this tale of the fundamental--indeed foundational--corruption of Los Angeles, Director Roman Polanski, Writer Towne, and Cinematographer John Alonzo tell a hard-boiled tale in a modern filmic style, and this productive collision allows them to simultaneously critique and reaffirm the mythic qualities of genre literature and film. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 24: Chinatown

In this podcast, Clute and Edwards investigate Billy Wilder's 1944 noir classic "Double Indemnity."  They place the film in its historic context and query its unusual success; it was nominated for seven Academy Awards in a year when feel-good films like "Going My Way" were the rule.  They conclude that while Wilder's direction is a masterpiece of subtlety, the film owes its enduring legacy to two factors: the strong acting of Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson and Fred MacMurray; the unsurpassed script by Billy Wilder, James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com/Our program is available at these podcast sites:Rate this podcast @ DigitalPodcast.com Vote for this podcast at podcastalley.com  If you already have iTunes 4.9 installed on your computer, click on the link below:Out of the Past--Free iTunes Subscription

In this podcast, Clute and Edwards investigate Billy Wilder's 1944 noir classic "Double Indemnity." They place the film in its historic context and query its unusual success; it was nominated for seven Academy Awards in a year when feel-good films like "Going My Way" were the rule. They conclude that while Wilder's direction is a masterpiece of subtlety, the film owes its enduring legacy to two factors: the strong acting of Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson and Fred MacMurray; the unsurpassed script by Billy Wilder, James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com/</a> Our program is available at these podcast sites: <a href="http://www.digitalpodcast.com/detail.php?id=2163" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Rate this podcast @ DigitalPodcast.com</a> <a href="http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=5610#" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Vote for this podcast at podcastalley.com</a> <a href="http://podcastalley.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> If you already have iTunes 4.9 installed on your computer, click on the link below: <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=74404076" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Out of the Past--Free iTunes Subscription</a>

Episode 2: Double Indemnity

With its throwback hardboiled script and careful restaging of iconic noir shots, Lawrence Kasdan's 1981 BODY HEAT is a noteworthy neo-noir. However, it is no mere nostalgia piece, but rather a daring updating of the tradition: Kathleen Turner's sizzling portrayal of a femme fatale inspired such diverse 1980's and 1990's classics as FATAL ATTRACTION and BASIC INSTINCT, and Kasdan's intricate plotting may even have served as the model for THE USUAL SUSPECTS. On all these points Clute and Edwards agree, but disagree on whether the 1980's were a decade capable of producing true noir--with its nuanced blend of existentialism and fatalism--or whether the fundamentally hedonistic zeitgeist of the era lead to films that simply retained the stylistic trappings of the classic period while delivering a more superficial message.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of www.noircast.net. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

With its throwback hardboiled script and careful restaging of iconic noir shots, Lawrence Kasdan's 1981 BODY HEAT is a noteworthy neo-noir. However, it is no mere nostalgia piece, but rather a daring updating of the tradition: Kathleen Turner's sizzling portrayal of a femme fatale inspired such diverse 1980's and 1990's classics as FATAL ATTRACTION and BASIC INSTINCT, and Kasdan's intricate plotting may even have served as the model for THE USUAL SUSPECTS. On all these points Clute and Edwards agree, but disagree on whether the 1980's were a decade capable of producing true noir--with its nuanced blend of existentialism and fatalism--or whether the fundamentally hedonistic zeitgeist of the era lead to films that simply retained the stylistic trappings of the classic period while delivering a more superficial message.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 37: Body Heat

When "The Big Lebowski" was released in 1998, Ethan and Joel Coen claimed its "episodic" narrative structure found its source in the work of Raymond Chandler.  In this super-sized double-feature podcast, Richard and Shannon examine "The Big Lebowski" against Howard Hawks's 1946 noir "The Big Sleep," and both films against Chandler's 1939 novel "The Big Sleep."  Beyond their similar narrative structures, these works all present consummate dialogue, a panoply of memorable characters, and crimes and anxieties impossible to imagine outside Los Angeles--the city of angels, and noir.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com/

When "The Big Lebowski" was released in 1998, Ethan and Joel Coen claimed its "episodic" narrative structure found its source in the work of Raymond Chandler. In this super-sized double-feature podcast, Richard and Shannon examine "The Big Lebowski" against Howard Hawks's 1946 noir "The Big Sleep," and both films against Chandler's 1939 novel "The Big Sleep." Beyond their similar narrative structures, these works all present consummate dialogue, a panoply of memorable characters, and crimes and anxieties impossible to imagine outside Los Angeles--the city of angels, and noir. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com/</a>

Episode 11: The Big Sleep and The Big Lebowski

The most famous texts of any canon are rarely the most typical; rather, they push the limits. The fame of Billy Wilder's 1950 masterwork "Sunset Boulevard" is of this problematic sort. The film plays on all the usual themes of noir: mysterious deaths; a male protagonist doomed by a single bad decision; a femme fatale who twists his hopes to resemble her own, and slowly trims away his universe until she is the sole star guiding his fateful journey. But these themes are absurdly exaggerated. The first death is of a pet monkey. The narrator is telling his story from beyond the grave. The female star has imploded under her own gravity, and becomes something of a tragicomic black hole that pulls in the entire constellation of poor players. More than noir, the film is a self-conscious staging of the crime that is Hollywood.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

The most famous texts of any canon are rarely the most typical; rather, they push the limits. The fame of Billy Wilder's 1950 masterwork "Sunset Boulevard" is of this problematic sort. The film plays on all the usual themes of noir: mysterious deaths; a male protagonist doomed by a single bad decision; a femme fatale who twists his hopes to resemble her own, and slowly trims away his universe until she is the sole star guiding his fateful journey. But these themes are absurdly exaggerated. The first death is of a pet monkey. The narrator is telling his story from beyond the grave. The female star has imploded under her own gravity, and becomes something of a tragicomic black hole that pulls in the entire constellation of poor players. More than noir, the film is a self-conscious staging of the crime that is Hollywood. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 21: Sunset Blvd.

Postman

In this double-feature podcast, Clute and Edwards investigate Tay Garnett's 1946 "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and the Coen brothers' 2001 "The Man Who Wasn't There"--considering their merits as films, and as adaptations of the novels of James M. Cain. While Garnett makes noir acceptable mainstream fare, with high production quality and glamorous stars like Lana Turner and John Garfield, his film loses the hauntingly arid psychology of Cain's novel. Conversely, the Coens decide not to adapt any one Cain story, but opt instead to recapture the tone of Cain's work; and Cain's heartache seen through the Coens' lens is the very picture of a radically new noir zeitgeist.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

In this double-feature podcast, Clute and Edwards investigate Tay Garnett's 1946 "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and the Coen brothers' 2001 "The Man Who Wasn't There"--considering their merits as films, and as adaptations of the novels of James M. Cain. While Garnett makes noir acceptable mainstream fare, with high production quality and glamorous stars like Lana Turner and John Garfield, his film loses the hauntingly arid psychology of Cain's novel. Conversely, the Coens decide not to adapt any one Cain story, but opt instead to recapture the tone of Cain's work; and Cain's heartache seen through the Coens' lens is the very picture of a radically new noir zeitgeist. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 30: The Postman Always Rings Twice and The Man Who Wasn't There

Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 film "Detour" is commonly lauded as a B-noir that overcame production limitations with artful minimalism. In this context, instances of obtrusive lighting and camerawork are viewed as minor blemishes--the best quality that could be expected from a poverty row feature. Clute and Edwards argue that the film should be granted a far greater measure of technical mastery, that the so-called flubs purposefully call attention to the very cinematic means used to construct the narrative.In this optic, the film is not good despite its "flubs" but great because of them; they render it a self-conscious noir meta-narrative--a film about the making of noir films. These qualities combine with a great script and superlative acting, by Tom Neal and Ann Savage, to create the template for all noir post-1945.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 film "Detour" is commonly lauded as a B-noir that overcame production limitations with artful minimalism. In this context, instances of obtrusive lighting and camerawork are viewed as minor blemishes--the best quality that could be expected from a poverty row feature. Clute and Edwards argue that the film should be granted a far greater measure of technical mastery, that the so-called flubs purposefully call attention to the very cinematic means used to construct the <a href="http://narrative.In" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">narrative.In</a> this optic, the film is not good despite its "flubs" but great because of them; they render it a self-conscious noir meta-narrative--a film about the making of noir films. These qualities combine with a great script and superlative acting, by Tom Neal and Ann Savage, to create the template for all noir post-1945. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 29: Detour

This episode examines the classic "The Maltese Falcon."  Based on a book by Dashiell Hammett, starring Humphrey Bogart, directed by John Huston, it is generally considered the first "film noir."  As Richard and Shannon examine this landmark film, they discuss film noir's debt to hard-boiled fiction, Huston's inventive camerawork as the beginning of a visual style, and Bogart's portrayal as the prototype for noir tough guys.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com/Our program is available at these podcast sites:Rate this podcast @ DigitalPodcast.com Vote for this podcast at podcastalley.com  If you already have iTunes 4.9 installed on your computer, click on the link below:Out of the Past--Free iTunes SubscriptionThis is a link for claiming my Odeo feed. Please visit Odeo and subscribe to this show.My Odeo Channel (odeo/1e72186612f60313)

This episode examines the classic "The Maltese Falcon." Based on a book by Dashiell Hammett, starring Humphrey Bogart, directed by John Huston, it is generally considered the first "film noir." As Richard and Shannon examine this landmark film, they discuss film noir's debt to hard-boiled fiction, Huston's inventive camerawork as the beginning of a visual style, and Bogart's portrayal as the prototype for noir tough guys. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com/</a> Our program is available at these podcast sites: <a href="http://www.digitalpodcast.com/detail.php?id=2163" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Rate this podcast @ DigitalPodcast.com</a> <a href="http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=5610#" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Vote for this podcast at podcastalley.com</a> <a href="http://podcastalley.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> If you already have iTunes 4.9 installed on your computer, click on the link below: <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=74404076" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Out of the Past--Free iTunes Subscription</a> This is a link for claiming my Odeo feed. Please visit Odeo and subscribe to this show. <a href="http://odeo.com/claim/feed/1e72186612f60313" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">My Odeo Channel</a> (odeo/1e72186612f60313)

Episode 5: The Maltese Falcon

Orson Welles's 1958 "Touch of Evil" is considered the last film noir of the classic period. Clute and Edwards investigate why it deserves this designation, arguing that it uses the conventions of noir in such a self-conscious manner that henceforth it will be impossible to tell a straight noir tale. Indeed the film is so self-conscious that it is no more a narrative than it is a demonstration of how to create film narrative. It is considered a great film for this reason, but also because it features myriad strong acting turns, stages Welles's dramatic demise as a Hollywood player, and contains story and character seeds that will come to fruition in films as different as "Psycho" and "Miller's Crossing."  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Orson Welles's 1958 "Touch of Evil" is considered the last film noir of the classic period. Clute and Edwards investigate why it deserves this designation, arguing that it uses the conventions of noir in such a self-conscious manner that henceforth it will be impossible to tell a straight noir tale. Indeed the film is so self-conscious that it is no more a narrative than it is a demonstration of how to create film narrative. It is considered a great film for this reason, but also because it features myriad strong acting turns, stages Welles's dramatic demise as a Hollywood player, and contains story and character seeds that will come to fruition in films as different as "Psycho" and "Miller's Crossing." This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 31: Touch of Evil

Shane Black's 2005 KISS KISS BANG BANG is a film of delirious contradictions.  It is part comedy, part tragedy, a bawdy pulp parody and a heartfelt hardboiled homage.  The mix would be too eclectic if the film didn't constantly signal its awareness that it is doing something that should be impossible.  Black's self-conscious screenplay uses the generic traits of hardboiled to examine the status of hardboiled stories and characters today, poking fun at itself all the while.  In this vein, it could be likened to BRICK and THE ICE HARVEST, which similarly find comi-tragic inspiration in a literary tradition while largely abandoning the classic noir visual style.  While noir fans may be tempted to track down the movie's numerous references to other novels and films, the greater payoff comes from simply appreciating Black's superb writing and the sublime comic acting of Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of www.noircast.net. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Shane Black's 2005 KISS KISS BANG BANG is a film of delirious contradictions. It is part comedy, part tragedy, a bawdy pulp parody and a heartfelt hardboiled homage. The mix would be too eclectic if the film didn't constantly signal its awareness that it is doing something that should be impossible. Black's self-conscious screenplay uses the generic traits of hardboiled to examine the status of hardboiled stories and characters today, poking fun at itself all the while. In this vein, it could be likened to BRICK and THE ICE HARVEST, which similarly find comi-tragic inspiration in a literary tradition while largely abandoning the classic noir visual style. While noir fans may be tempted to track down the movie's numerous references to other novels and films, the greater payoff comes from simply appreciating Black's superb writing and the sublime comic acting of Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 39: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

THEY LIVE BY NIGHT is film noir at its best. Edward Anderson's little-known hard-boiled rural bandit novel is made into a screenplay as lean as the post-war dreams of its players. The shifty camera frames every sucker that comes its way, making them false promises then plunging each into a darkness more than night. Rookie director Nicholas Ray mercilessly rolls rising stars Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell in the existential muck, but manages nonetheless to show us the ethereal gold that lines their hearts and dreams. Beyond the sublime writing, acting, and directing, what truly sets the film apart is its ruthless humanity, its unwavering determination to show the full spectrum of good and bad in everyone—the shades of gray that haunt the war-battered world of black and white. It is as poignant now as it was upon its release sixty years ago.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of www.noircast.net. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

THEY LIVE BY NIGHT is film noir at its best. Edward Anderson's little-known hard-boiled rural bandit novel is made into a screenplay as lean as the post-war dreams of its players. The shifty camera frames every sucker that comes its way, making them false promises then plunging each into a darkness more than night. Rookie director Nicholas Ray mercilessly rolls rising stars Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell in the existential muck, but manages nonetheless to show us the ethereal gold that lines their hearts and dreams. Beyond the sublime writing, acting, and directing, what truly sets the film apart is its ruthless humanity, its unwavering determination to show the full spectrum of good and bad in everyone—the shades of gray that haunt the war-battered world of black and white. It is as poignant now as it was upon its release sixty years ago.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 43: They Live By Night

Kubrick's "The Killing" weaves the narrative threads of each character's story into the complex yarn of a heist.  Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" ties references to numerous films into a dense knot.  The pleasure of watching, and difficulty of discussing, Tarantino's work arises from having to pick at, and follow, seemingly infinite threads to their points of origin.  Text is henceforth hypertext.  As Clute and Edwards follow the many links from Tarantino back to Kubrick, they investigate what's at stake when the canvas of noir is stretched to drape a corpus like Tarantino's.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Kubrick's "The Killing" weaves the narrative threads of each character's story into the complex yarn of a heist. Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" ties references to numerous films into a dense knot. The pleasure of watching, and difficulty of discussing, Tarantino's work arises from having to pick at, and follow, seemingly infinite threads to their points of origin. Text is henceforth hypertext. As Clute and Edwards follow the many links from Tarantino back to Kubrick, they investigate what's at stake when the canvas of noir is stretched to drape a corpus like Tarantino's. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 20: Reservoir Dogs

Stuart Heisler's 1942 film THE GLASS KEY retained the personages and major plot twists of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel by the same name, but wiped the grim off the original tale. By cleaning up the characters and their motives, the film missed an opportunity to picture its stellar cast (Dunlevy, Ladd, and Lake) in a noir light. Instead, for much of its running time it looks and feels like the glamour whodunnit pictures, or populist clean-government reform films, of the 1930's. Hammett's novel finally received proper treatment in the Coens' 1990 masterpiece MILLER'S CROSSING. Though filmed in color, this movie borrows heavily from classical noir, and gives us characters as complex and morally flawed as any envisioned by Hammett. This podcast—the third double-feature of "Out of the Past" to examine how the Coens' films have been inspired by the fiction of Cain, Chandler, and Hammett, as well as previous film adaptations of these masters of hardboiled—is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Stuart Heisler's 1942 film THE GLASS KEY retained the personages and major plot twists of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel by the same name, but wiped the grim off the original tale. By cleaning up the characters and their motives, the film missed an opportunity to picture its stellar cast (Dunlevy, Ladd, and Lake) in a noir light. Instead, for much of its running time it looks and feels like the glamour whodunnit pictures, or populist clean-government reform films, of the 1930's. Hammett's novel finally received proper treatment in the Coens' 1990 masterpiece MILLER'S CROSSING. Though filmed in color, this movie borrows heavily from classical noir, and gives us characters as complex and morally flawed as any envisioned by Hammett. This podcast—the third double-feature of "Out of the Past" to examine how the Coens' films have been inspired by the fiction of Cain, Chandler, and Hammett, as well as previous film adaptations of these masters of hardboiled—is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 41: The Glass Key and Miller's Crossing

Dick Powell was cast as Philip Marlowe in the 1945 film "Murder, My Sweet." Was it a stroke of genius to allow a song and dance man to reinvent himself in this role, or the desecration of a literary icon? Clute and Edwards are deeply divided on this issue, but find many topics on which they agree: whether the viewer considers Powell's performance a triumph or a tragedy, it is evident that the tension between the two strong female leads (Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley) is a fundamental driving force of the film; with numerous deft touches director Edward Dymytrk pulls the audience into Marlowe's point of view, and demonstrates the investigator's inner turmoil; Chandler is the fulcrum on which post-war film and literature teeter because Philip Marlowe is the perfect embodiment of the psychologically-scarred modern Everyman.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Dick Powell was cast as Philip Marlowe in the 1945 film "Murder, My Sweet." Was it a stroke of genius to allow a song and dance man to reinvent himself in this role, or the desecration of a literary icon? Clute and Edwards are deeply divided on this issue, but find many topics on which they agree: whether the viewer considers Powell's performance a triumph or a tragedy, it is evident that the tension between the two strong female leads (Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley) is a fundamental driving force of the film; with numerous deft touches director Edward Dymytrk pulls the audience into Marlowe's point of view, and demonstrates the investigator's inner turmoil; Chandler is the fulcrum on which post-war film and literature teeter because Philip Marlowe is the perfect embodiment of the psychologically-scarred modern Everyman. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 26: Murder, My Sweet

Every Orson Welles film demonstrates the great director's ability to work with and against filmic tradition. "The Lady from Shanghai" is a compendium of noir conventions: it tells a tale of post-war greed, of Americans willing to tear each other asunder for a dollar; it is the story of an irresistible dame and the smart guy who becomes a chump the second he lays eyes on her; it uses A-stars against type so as to bring out their blemishes and inner demons (even daring to cut and dye Hayworth's famous hair!). It is thus a classic noir tale, but it is executed with such self-consciousness that the viewer is left to wonder if it isn't the beginning of the end for noir--an elaborate staging of the demolition, the shattering, of the film noir universe.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Every Orson Welles film demonstrates the great director's ability to work with and against filmic tradition. "The Lady from Shanghai" is a compendium of noir conventions: it tells a tale of post-war greed, of Americans willing to tear each other asunder for a dollar; it is the story of an irresistible dame and the smart guy who becomes a chump the second he lays eyes on her; it uses A-stars against type so as to bring out their blemishes and inner demons (even daring to cut and dye Hayworth's famous hair!). It is thus a classic noir tale, but it is executed with such self-consciousness that the viewer is left to wonder if it isn't the beginning of the end for noir--an elaborate staging of the demolition, the shattering, of the film noir universe. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 15: The Lady From Shanghai

Rian Johnson's superlative 2005 debut film BRICK is neither a nostalgic tribute nor a modern reaction to noir style. But due to the conditions surrounding its production, it has more in common with classic noir than most films that play overtly with noir tradition: stiletto-tongued hard-boiled dialogue, razor-sharp editing, on-location shooting, the creative use of ambient sound, and narratively-rich canted angle shots and high-contrast lighting allow BRICK to overcome the pitfalls of a small budget and limited crew–just as these same techniques allowed classic films such as DETOUR or THE HITCH-HIKER to do. In fact, financial constraints lend BRICK an artistic coherency it might otherwise lack, for Johnson was forced to write, direct, and edit the entire picture, and to use family to finance and score it. The resulting work is as disarmingly familiar as classic noir and as surprisingly fresh and inventive as its creator, who clearly understands how to borrow from the past where appropriate and innovate whenever possible. Like the work of all great artists, BRICK demonstrates that aesthetic leaps forward find their surest footing in the past.This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of www.noircast.net. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com.

Rian Johnson's superlative 2005 debut film BRICK is neither a nostalgic tribute nor a modern reaction to noir style. But due to the conditions surrounding its production, it has more in common with classic noir than most films that play overtly with noir tradition: stiletto-tongued hard-boiled dialogue, razor-sharp editing, on-location shooting, the creative use of ambient sound, and narratively-rich canted angle shots and high-contrast lighting allow BRICK to overcome the pitfalls of a small budget and limited crew–just as these same techniques allowed classic films such as DETOUR or THE HITCH-HIKER to do. In fact, financial constraints lend BRICK an artistic coherency it might otherwise lack, for Johnson was forced to write, direct, and edit the entire picture, and to use family to finance and score it. The resulting work is as disarmingly familiar as classic noir and as surprisingly fresh and inventive as its creator, who clearly understands how to borrow from the past where appropriate and innovate whenever possible. Like the work of all great artists, BRICK demonstrates that aesthetic leaps forward find their surest footing in the past.This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards, of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com</a>.

Episode 44: Brick

As they discuss "The Third Man," starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, Shannon and Richard debate whether film noir is a "style" or a "genre."  As a style many of its visual features can be adapted to other genres (war films, westerns).  If it is a genre such adaptations are problematic, for "noir" has recognizable themes.  Richard and Shannon have a lively debate over these definitions, and the question, "is 'The Third Man' a film noir?"  Their different answers lead to very different assessments of the film.  This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net.  To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at outofthepast.libsyn.com/Our program is available at these podcast sites:Rate this podcast @ DigitalPodcast.com Vote for this podcast at podcastalley.com  If you already have iTunes 4.9 installed on your computer, click on the link below:Out of the Past--Free iTunes Subscription

As they discuss "The Third Man," starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, Shannon and Richard debate whether film noir is a "style" or a "genre." As a style many of its visual features can be adapted to other genres (war films, westerns). If it is a genre such adaptations are problematic, for "noir" has recognizable themes. Richard and Shannon have a lively debate over these definitions, and the question, "is 'The Third Man' a film noir?" Their different answers lead to very different assessments of the film. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of <a href="http://www.noircast.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.noircast.net</a>. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" at <a href="http://outofthepast.libsyn.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">outofthepast.libsyn.com/</a> Our program is available at these podcast sites: <a href="http://www.digitalpodcast.com/detail.php?id=2163" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Rate this podcast @ DigitalPodcast.com</a> <a href="http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=5610#" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Vote for this podcast at podcastalley.com</a> <a href="http://podcastalley.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> If you already have iTunes 4.9 installed on your computer, click on the link below: <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=74404076" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Out of the Past--Free iTunes Subscription</a>

Episode 4: The Third Man

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