Links and resources for the 7 movies in the Film Noir series I’m giving at DEAR on Tuesdays at noon, starting on January 16, 2024, and then continuing every other Tuesday from February 13.
Double Indemnity (1944)
- What Makes a film noir? Huge graphic from the British Film Institute that provides a great checklist for assessing a film’s noir level. I’ll borrow from this from time to time during the series.
- Final Script – by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. The last four pages present the gas chamber scene, which Wilder shot and then deleted as unnecessary. The footage he shot of that scene has been lost.
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Detour (1945)
The Killers (1946)
- Extensive Review – Filmsite.org review with a table that, among many other things, lists the film’s 11 flashbacks in chronological order.
The Big Sleep (1946)
- User’s Guide to The Big Sleep – Analysis of the plot and its transition from Chandler’s novel to the movie’s screenplay, with the role of the PDA in obscuring an already convoluted plot.
- Elisha Cook, Jr. in Cinemorgue Wiki – Listing of verified deaths of Elisha Cook Jr.’s characters in movies (29) and TV (8). Yes, there is a website devoted to documenting who died and how in movies and TV shows. Cook seems to be the most deceased actor in movie history.
D.O.A. (1949)
- Shooting locations – From the Reel SF website, beautifully detailed list of 16 D.O.A. shooting locations in San Francisco and LA, with stills from the movie along with then-and-now photos.
- Eddie Muller intro/outro – His comments on TCM that bookended a Noir Alley showing of D.O.A. a few years ago.
- Neville Brand in Cinemorgue Wiki – Not quite Elisha Cook Jr.’s numbers, but Brand was offed in 24 movies and 7 TV shows. His death ratio is considerably lower than Cook’s, however, as he appeared in hundreds of movies and TV shows.
Al Biles 