What's Your Favorite Film Noir? (with Suzanne Lummis and David Lehman]

 What is the greatest noir movie?

Suzanne Lummis:
I think Double Indemnity of 1944 is seminal, though a couple of others before it have strong noir elements. But Double Indemnity’s got it all, a terrific script and story, thanks to director Billy Wilder; smart, cracking dialog, thanks to co-writer Raymond Chandler, master of the hardboiled detective novel; and the best (worst!) crime: Two Lovers Kill Husband Then Shoot Each Other. In the annals of immortal crimes, that one’s hard to beat. However, although John F. Seitz is credited with some innovations—such as the smoky look of certain interiors—I prefer the hard, almost glossy, contrasting shadow and light of John Alton and Nicholas Musuraca.  

David Lehman:
We agree. Double Indemnity is the ne plus ultra of noir movies, and if we were to give out noir awards on the model of the Oscars I believe it would win for best picture, best screenplay, best femme fatale (Barbara Stanwyck), and best supporting actor (Edward G. Robinson). The underrated Fred MacMurray would get a nomination for best actor in a lead role but would lose to Robert Mitchum (Out of the Past). My favorite moments: Stanwyck as traffic cop, MacMurray as speeding motorist; Edward G. Robinson’s great speech on types of suicide; the movie’s last line (“I love you, too”). It’s a movie I watch at least once a year and could talk about it for an ardent hour.

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On July 7, 2019, Suzanne Lummis and I initiated a weekly dialogue on noir. We sustained the exchanges until November. This was the first in the series. Herewith from the original announcement:

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Suzanne's film noir and poetry themed series, They Write by Night, can be found on YouTube and the website poetry.la, and features explorations such as "Damaged Women," "Separating the Dark from the Light," and "Are the Femmes Fatale?"  Her essays include "The Poem Noir--Too Dark to Be Depressed" in Malpais Review and "Never Out of the Past: Noir and the Poetry of Lynda Hull" in The Los Angeles Review of Books. Her most recent poetry collection, Open 24 Hours, won the Blue Lynx Prize.

Our columns will go up on Sundays at noon -- timed to coincide with the conclusion of Eddie Muller's noir movie of the week on TCM. Eddie, I like your period-accurate ties and your taste, and this, the first of our exchanges, is dedicated to you, with thanks for today's seventy-minute feature, The Tattooed Stranger, with the shootout amid the gravestones and with the detective and his botanist lady friend in Fort Tryon Park with the GW Bridge in the background. That -- Washington Heights --is where I grew up. >> - DL

Note: On Tuesday, December 5, at 6 PM, an all-star panel will consider Crime Novels of the 1960s, the two-volume Library of America set edited by Geoffrey O'Brien. You need to register. For more info click here.  

https://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2023/12/coming-up-on-december-5th-6-pm-all-star-panel-on-crime-novels-of-the-1960s.html

For another of our noir exchanges, please use this link.

 What is the greatest noir movie?

Suzanne Lummis:
I think Double Indemnity of 1944 is seminal, though a couple of others before it have strong noir elements. But Double Indemnity’s got it all, a terrific script and story, thanks to director Billy Wilder; smart, cracking dialog, thanks to co-writer Raymond Chandler, master of the hardboiled detective novel; and the best (worst!) crime: Two Lovers Kill Husband Then Shoot Each Other. In the annals of immortal crimes, that one’s hard to beat. However, although John F. Seitz is credited with some innovations—such as the smoky look of certain interiors—I prefer the hard, almost glossy, contrasting shadow and light of John Alton and Nicholas Musuraca.  

David Lehman:
We agree. Double Indemnity is the ne plus ultra of noir movies, and if we were to give out noir awards on the model of the Oscars I believe it would win for best picture, best screenplay, best femme fatale (Barbara Stanwyck), and best supporting actor (Edward G. Robinson). The underrated Fred MacMurray would get a nomination for best actor in a lead role but would lose to Robert Mitchum (Out of the Past). My favorite moments: Stanwyck as traffic cop, MacMurray as speeding motorist; Edward G. Robinson’s great speech on types of suicide; the movie’s last line (“I love you, too”). It’s a movie I watch at least once a year and could talk about it for an ardent hour.

---

On July 7, 2019, Suzanne Lummis and I initiated a weekly dialogue on noir. We sustained the exchanges until November. This was the first in the series. Herewith from the original announcement:

<<
Suzanne's film noir and poetry themed series, They Write by Night, can be found on YouTube and the website poetry.la, and features explorations such as "Damaged Women," "Separating the Dark from the Light," and "Are the Femmes Fatale?"  Her essays include "The Poem Noir--Too Dark to Be Depressed" in Malpais Review and "Never Out of the Past: Noir and the Poetry of Lynda Hull" in The Los Angeles Review of Books. Her most recent poetry collection, Open 24 Hours, won the Blue Lynx Prize.

Our columns will go up on Sundays at noon -- timed to coincide with the conclusion of Eddie Muller's noir movie of the week on TCM. Eddie, I like your period-accurate ties and your taste, and this, the first of our exchanges, is dedicated to you, with thanks for today's seventy-minute feature, The Tattooed Stranger, with the shootout amid the gravestones and with the detective and his botanist lady friend in Fort Tryon Park with the GW Bridge in the background. That -- Washington Heights --is where I grew up. >> - DL

Note: On Tuesday, December 5, at 6 PM, an all-star panel will consider Crime Novels of the 1960s, the two-volume Library of America set edited by Geoffrey O'Brien. You need to register. For more info click here.  

https://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2023/12/coming-up-on-december-5th-6-pm-all-star-panel-on-crime-novels-of-the-1960s.html

For another of our noir exchanges, please use this link.

Comments

[Bruce Kawin]

I agree about Double Indemnity, but please consider Gun Crazy.

[David Lehman]

Bruce, I agree that "Gun Crazy" belongs in the conversation. I talked about it when Suzanne and I discussed "the sexiest film noir."
https://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2019/09/september-15-2019-11-what-is-the-sexiest-film-noir-suzanne-lummis-for-the-chemistry-between-lauren-bacall-and.html