room service ( 1938 film )
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‎room service (1938) directed by william a. seiter • reviews, film + cast • letterboxd
room service (1938) - - (movie clip) just before he ...
room service (1938) - - (movie clip) not dead, just ...
the marx brothers are three zany producers trying to extend their hotel credit until they can get a play mounted in room service (1938) .
the marx brothers are three zany producers trying to extend their hotel credit until they can get a play mounted in room service (1938). >
nikki visel, bill johns and mike spee in room service at taproot theatre. photo by erik stuhaug .
the 1938 marx brothers movie by that name, not the other way around .
with far too many drawn - out chats lacking in any wit or humor, room service is close to a total marx brothers dud .
what is missing from room service is groucho' s wit and for that reason it' s not as funny as it should be .
from left, david edwards, louis michael sacco, scott evans and fred berman in the peccadillo theater company revival of room service. 
room service was originally produced and directed by george abbott at the cort theatre in new york city on may 19, 1937. in addition to numerous revivals on - and off - broadway, the play was also adapted into a film in 1938 starring the marx brothers and lucille ball .
with the headline: the screen;' room service,' which was daffy enough even without the marxes, skips lightly into the rivoli .
“room service” continues through aug. 5 at the bank street theater, 155 bank street, west village; (212) 868 - 4444 .
groucho marx harpo marx & chico marx as gordon miller faker harry binelli film title room service directed by william a. seiter film company rko 21 september 1938 - * * warning * * this photograph is the copyright of the film company and / or the photographer assigned by or authorised by / allowed on the set by the film company at that time of this production & can only be reproduced by publications in conjunction with the promotion of the above film. a mandatory credit to the film company (and photographer if known) is required .
producers michael pressman and andrew ames have announced that they have optioned the 1937 screwball comedy room service for a broadway revival in the 2017 - 2018 season .
lucille ball guest stars in this film released in 1938. the boys are producers trying to keep their play above water and keep from getting kicked out of their hotel room. this film marked the 1st time the marxes had tried doing work they had not created for themselves. (j. bradley main )
opening with groucho as a broadway producer, alexander asro his waiter, cliff dunstan, his brother - in - law, lucille ball on the phone, in the only rko marx brothers film, and the only one not written for them, but based on a broadway hit by allen boretz and john murray, room service, 1938. >
wires visible on the turkey when it flies around the room. see more »
producer miller (groucho marx), buddy binelli (chico) and playwright davis (frank albertson) are trying to figure out how to handle their hotel bill before opening, joined by pal faker (harpo), then hitting on the idea to trick wagner (donald macbride), in room service, 1938. >
film the story of mankind released. chico, harpo and groucho appear in this film, but not together in one scene
now looking to avoid arrest, producer miller (groucho marx), pal binelli (chico), and the playwright (frank albertson), joined by faker (harpo), hatch another scheme to thwart financier wagner (donald macbride), with support from ann miller, in the marx brothers' room service, 1938. >
room service plays its final week on the following schedule: wednesday through friday at 8 pm; saturday at 3 and 8 pm; sunday at 3 and 7 pm; monday at 8 pm .
room service is an unusual picture for the marx brothers, as it contains no musical numbers (unless you count the occasional warbling of
swing low sweet chariot
during the various death scenes) .
the off - broadway revival of the 1937 screwball comedy room service will play its final performance at the soho playhouse on april 8. the play will have played 12 preview performances and 158 regular performances .
the first time i saw
room service
i figured it was going to be very funny. was i ever wrong! with the marx bros. (groucho, harpo & chico), ...
in this classic screwball comedy, an unscrupulous broadway producer tries to find a backer for his new show. holed up in a times square hotel room with 19 hungry actors and a ballooning room service bill, he tries to forestall eviction with an outlandish plan. can their new play open on broadway, or will they be evicted for their outrageous room service bill before the curtain has a chance to rise? this beloved, zany comedy about the lengths some people will go for their art is sure to have audiences laughing from beginning to end .
released by rko on 30 september 1938, room service was based on a very successful broadway play by john murray and allan boretz. the studio paid $ 255 000 for the film rights and a further $ 250 000 for the marx brothers. zeppo arranged the deal, the only he made for his brothers. groucho' s only comment on the subject was that his brother zeppo should have arranged a larger salary. the play was adapted and marxified by morrie ryskind .
room service
is the only film the marx brothers made that was not written specifically for them or their characters. it is based on a play, and it is decent... but it is less frantic and fast paced as their other films. as usual, the brothers are funny, but the film lacks the nuttiness that make their their pictures so good .
as with real room service, you don' t know until you lift off the shiny domed cover whether or not the order will match the image in your mind. this did not quite match mine, but still pleased me .
…directed the marx brothers in room service. based on a broadway farce, it was the only film in which the script was not written specifically for the popular comedy team, and the results were mixed. the colonial - era drama allegheny uprising (1939) was a box - office disappointment, despite the presence of john…
ames and pressman issued a joint statement, saying
with things so surreal in the world today, just being able to laugh can be a big relief. it beats crying. that' s one reason we think the timing is so right for this project. the marx brothers made room service famous. but it was a huge theatrical hit before that and has been in productions all around the world ever since. now, room service is more relevant—and perhaps more essential to our survival—than ever before. ”
on february 3, seattle' s taproot theatre opened its 2017 jewell mainstage season with the classic comedy room service. it sounded as appealing to me as a bowl of hot soup on that rainy, gloomy evening in this particularly dark winter, and it was. it
taproot theatre serves up this production of room service with the perfect place setting. all action happens within a single hotel room complete with just the right furnishings and multiple doors as props. much of the show' s non - stop action involves them opening and slamming shut as character find themselves locked in or out, coming, going, hiding, and escaping. it' s madcap fun .
just by way of gilding the lily, or painting a red nose on it, rko radio has turned loose the mad marxes upon the helter - skelter comedy known to broadway last season and to the rivoli yesterday as
room service .
view full article in timesmachine »
film la fiesta de santa barbara released. harpo' s wig can be seen in technicolor
room service, written by john murray and allen boretz and directed by dan wackerman, began previews nov. 17, 2006 and opened on nov. 28. the production originally started off - off - broadway at the bank street theater from july 6 - aug. 5, 2006 .
a penniless theatrical producer must outwit the hotel efficiency expert trying to evict him from his room, while securing a backer for his new play .
playbill’s complete round - up of the latest broadway rush, lottery, standing - room - only (sro), and student ticket policies .
these shows all began as movies that eventually became broadway musicals that were adapted once again for film .
audiences during the great depression and became a hit. that success led rko pictures to buy the rights in order to produce the 1938 film version, using the marx brothers. it was not as successful as other films written specifically for them, or as successful as the original play itself, which ran through 500 performances. yet, if
interesting story, and i' m not surprised by the reaction. most people i' m assuming went in expecting typical marx style comedy and instead got a restrained groucho and chico. the same way i stated a night at the opera is the best movie the marx brothers appeared in but not the best marx brothers movie, i will also state room service, with the possible exception of love happy, is the worst marx brothers movie, but not the worst movie they ever appeared in. one has to develop a taste for 30' s studio system comedy in order to appreciate room service, and those folks, like me, are an oddity .
the goal of point park university' s conservatory theatre company is to produce great works while providing an exciting atmosphere in which our students can expand their repertoire of various styles of theatre. after this season' s previous classical musical and play, the conservatory theatre company is proud to present allen boretz and john murray' s farce, room service .
you bring up good points there. it' s very hard to describe why i don' t care for this film. i guess the type of humor in this film doesn' t tickle my fancy for some strange reason .
and rutger hauer, as well as some of the most emotionally intense action set pieces ever put to film. moreover, a good portion of the film’s appeal lies in its incorporation of film noir aesthetics—shadow - filled, rainy metropolitan exteriors, a brooding yet resourceful investigator hero, retro ’40s fashion—into its dreary, dystopian setting. at one point, the film even boasted a philip marlowe - esque voiceover narration that was thankfully excised from future cuts. once regarded as a failed experiment ,
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
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this list collects every film from the starting list that became they shoot pictures don' t they' s 1000 greatest films. this…
in both quality of filmmaking and cynicism of spirit. this film not only announced hanson as a filmmaker well beyond his previous work (
warning: this photograph can only be reproduced by publications in conjunction with the promotion of the above film. for editorial use only .
i' ve regretted in print that i' ve never seen a stooge comedy in a real theater, but oddly enough, i' ve seen almost all of the marx brothers films in chronological order in a large theater with a full house for every one. this was in college, they had two weeks worth of marx movies, not animal crackers, of course, which was in copyright limbo at the time, and somehow i missed love happy. i specifically remember that after a week of nightly hilarity, boffos from the audience every night, room service got nothing. flat as a flounder. the films bounced back fairly well after that (i remember that a night in casablanca was a real surprise, big, big laughs) but room service was unmistakeably the nadir. and
jumping butterballs
got real old real fast .
the peccadillo theater company has its very entertaining production of the 1930’s comedy “room service” revved up to warp speed, and by the end you have a new appreciation for that disclaimer often seen on car commercials: “professional driver; do not attempt. ” in amateur hands speed can mean recklessness, sloppiness, catastrophe. only professionals, like the ones at work here, can maintain a frenetic pace while remaining completely in control .
room service is unique for other reasons as well. it was the only picture the brothers did for rko, making it while they were under contract to mgm. it is also the only film that wasn' t written specifically for them. as a matter of fact, the movie was taken from a successful play at the suggestion of zeppo, and tailored by the ever - present morrie ryskind (who had to invent a part for harpo) for the marxes. this movie was remade as a musical called
step lively
in 1944, starring frank sinatra .
like a fast - paced burner. it’s not fincher’s most famous film, but it’s absolutely one of the most underrated thrillers since 2000. —
aestheticizes violence without fetishizing it. bullet holes and knife wounds help color the film in dark brushstrokes—such is the coens’ wont—and careful attention to shot composition ratchets the film’s morbid elements to almost intoxicating heights. you’ll want to look away, but the coens keep your eyes glued to their somber fatalism. —
treats redemption as a cruel joke, a spell of relief that lasts only long enough for us to view its obsolescence. the film takes jabs at
the play tells the story of a broke broadway producer who needs to stay in his hotel room so he can impress a backer for his surefire - hit next play, while dodging hotel management that is determined to evict him .
highly enjoyable from the marx brothers. unlike many of their other films ,
room service
has a relatively coherent and followable story (instead of just
random
gags and musical numbers) and i liked that. harpo has a pretty big role in this, and overshadows groucho. perhaps groucho' s less prominent role can explain why it' s not one of their best, seeing that we miss many witty commentaries from groucho. a must watch for the fans nevertheless .
forty years before the blair witch project popularized the idea of a film being told from the camera’s perspective, actor / director robert montgomery gave this radical idea a spin with lady in the lake, his adaptation of one of raymond chandler’s philip marlowe detective stories. ultimately, the case proves to be minor marlowe and the first - person gimmick does eventually wear thin over the course of the film’s runtime. putting aside these reservations, however, the film is most certainly worth a watch if just to witness montgomery’s sheer audacity and inventiveness. it’s the textbook example of a film being ahead of its time. — m. r .
and los angeles, thus necessitating some creative uses of lighting. this commitment to realism would help perfect the film noir style we all know and love. —
was a rarity in its heyday, though if you didn’t know lupino held the reins, you might not guess the film was directed with a feminine touch .
one of the scary movies that lindsay wallace watches on tv is the 1951 version of the thing (a. k. a. , the thing from another world). carpenter would later remake the thing in 1982, though his version is more heavily based on the source material: a 1938 novella by john w. campbell jr. called “who goes there? ”
the idea was supposed to be that he is taken in by god - like entities, creatures of pure energy and intelligence with no shape or form. they put him in what i suppose you could describe as a human zoo to study him, and his whole life passes from that point on in that room. and he has no sense of time. it just seems to happen as it does in the film .
plays with noir tropes more than he plays to them, deflating film noir’s inherent machismo by revealing the chief heavies of his cast as scrabbling cowards. depending on your mood ,
michael myers was primarily played by actor nick castle, who was carpenter’s friend from usc film school and who would go on to co - write carpenter’s 1981 film escape from new york, but was also played by production designer tommy lee wallace whenever needed. when myers is unmasked at the end of the film, he is played by actor tony moran who would go on to appear in guest spots on tv shows like the waltons and chips. moran was paid $ 250 for a day’s work and a single shot in halloween .
. soon after, wagner, who is furious at gribble for apparently allowing gordon to escape without paying, inspects gordon' s room and discovers that the producer and binelli are still there. in spite of gordon' s promises that money is on the way, wagner orders the duo to pay their bill or be arrested. while wagner is alerting the hotel bouncers, simon jenkins, the investing agent of an unnamed wealthy man, comes to the room and tells gordon that his employer will invest $ 15, 000 in
the broadway play
room service
opened at the cort theater on may 19, 1937 and ran for 500 performances (without the marx brothers). cliff dunstan, donald macbride, philip wood and alexander asro originated their movie roles in the play. also in the opening night cast was eddie albert as leo davis, betty field as hilda, teddy hart as faker, sam levene as gordon miller and philip loeb (also in the movie) in a role cut from the screenplay. the play was revived in 1953 with jack lemmon as leo davis .
i believe i read, maybe a year ago, about a revival, maybe not on broadway, but in some fairly prestigious venue, of the original broadway play room service, in other words, not the movie rewrite. it is apparently still a riot, quite a bit bawdier and more profane than the sanitized marx version. not that more profanity (meaning in this case no more than the occasional
goddammit
) makes anything funnier, necessarily, it' s just that the original is just much funnier than the rewrite, which should surprise nobody .
is the coolest melville film of them all; odds are, it’ll land upright, because that’s an impossible distinction to make. melville films pulse with ineffable cool. in the case of
film too many kisses is released with harpo in a supporting role. details are lacking of how he came to be in this, which even seems to pre - date their first real broadway play
for the lowly protagonist, david mann, spielberg hand - picked character actor dennis weaver because he loved his performance as the jittery and feeble hotel night manager in orson welles’s 1958 film touch of evil .
, alex proyas’ 1998 magnum opus serves up a cerebral sci - fi extravaganza as filtered through the visual tropes of film noir and german expressionism. the result is a staggering achievement in imagination that, like
obviously, that’s a lot to take in, but it jives with what arthur c. clarke wrote in the 2001 book, both of which were developed at the same time. in the book’s ending, astronaut dave bowman is very obviously on display in an artificial environment, which resembles a swanky hotel room. only this room is furnished with dummy drawers that can’t open, ornamental books that are simply attached to shelves, and hollow televisions, much like an ikea showroom; the zoo connection is much clearer as a result as clarke walks readers through this strange, faux - human habitat .
the only film the marx brothers made at rko. during salary negotiations with the studio, erstwhile member zeppo marx represented the marx brothers, threatening to rejoin the group if their demands weren' t met .
over the years people have discussed possible alternate casting options that might have made the film more characteristic, like bringing in zeppo as the playwright, sig ruman as wagner, margaret dumont as the potential backer, etc. another suggestion has been to put zeppo or a zeppo substitute as gordon miller, the producer; this also fits well for making chico and harpo his primary allies. groucho then would be plugged into the role of the hotel manager, miller' s brother - in - law, who has been reluctantly providing cover for the company. this would have done a better job of sustaining the marxes' characterizations even if it meant more changes in the original play. room service was effectively musicalized in 1944 as step lively starring frank sinatra. putting the marxes with ol' blue - eyes in a combined movie would also have been interesting .
is a masterpiece. funny to think that american critics looked down their noses at the film at the time of its release. maybe they took offense at the inescapable scent of welles’ passion for rita hayworth, his wife at the time and his ex shortly after production wrapped. he captures her in close - up with a hungry, enraptured eye, the most coherent image in a film that’s built on logical incoherence .
shows up at the hotel, penniless and owing money on his typewriter. with no place to go, he stays in a room shared by others who will exploit him in several ways, stealing the typewriter to buy food, and having him fake a serious illness to prevent their expulsion from the hotel .
this is very stagy, and although there are a handful of funny moments (the aforementioned turkey in what is one of the dopiest special effects of all time, a bit involving poisoning), you really have to wait a while to get to them. there' s actually very little interaction between the
brothers
and none of them seem particularly inspired in this one. there' s no cutting loose, so it' s like the marx brothers in a box. i really doubt any single moment in room service will be brought up in a discussion about class marx moments. it' s disappointing because there was potential with the story .
from the dizzyingly psychedelic “ stargate sequence ” to the strange hotel room and the appearance of the nebulous star baby, 2001 signs off with far more questions than answers—questions that have been discussed and dissected for 50 years. but now we might have a concrete explanation of just what was going on from kubrick himself .
the only film the marx brothers made at rko. during salary negotiations with the studio, erstwhile member zeppo marx represented the marx brothers, threatening to rejoin the group if their demands weren' t met. see more »
probable the least funny marx brothers film of the 1930s. mostly due to it not being original marx bros material. only later adopted for them, compared to their other films which was writing taken from their own stage shows .
has enormous ambitions that belie its tight running time, the end result of odious studio interference that nonetheless fails to impede the viewing experience. come for hayworth and welles, stay for the film’s dizzying hall of mirrors shootout. —
as the truck rams the car over the cliff and falls off in the final film, there is a low roar sound effect that the filmmaker included to emphasize the death of the truck. spielberg, who wanted the truck to seem
production code couldn’t handle it either, mandating changes in service of propriety, i. e. , social conformity. (had will hays, joseph breen, and their censoring kind not been around, noir would’ve been an even more nihilistic realm .) in any case, the m. o. was linear: talk it out, trace the clues, tell us about it with a voiceover .
leave it to the master of suspense to meld docudrama realism with the melodrama of film noir. “ alfred hitchcock ’s powerful portrait of a man … drawn from life! ” the wrong man ’s original trailer proclaims. it’s to the film’s credit that hitch doesn’t screw around here, telling in full the story of a man falsely convicted for robberies he never committed. unsurprisingly, hitch is every bit as interested in the effects of the outrageous miscarriage of justice that befalls manny balestrero as he is in the lasting trauma his detention inflicts on him and his family. the wrong man puts a high premium on claustrophobic camerawork—we feel like we’re as confined as poor old manny—but the film’s greatest impression is left in its aftermath. — a. c .
they choose this room, which is a very inaccurate replica of french architecture (deliberately so, inaccurate) because one was suggesting that they had some idea of something that he might think was pretty, but wasn’t quite sure. just as we’re not quite sure what do in zoos with animals to try to give them what we think is their natural environment .
, however, lynch took his fascination with the subgenre to a whole other level, depicting a world where a character’s interior life influences not only the film’s visual style but its narrative structure as well. in the first great performance of her illustrious career ,
the basic plot has groucho playing broadway producer gordon miller, trying to find backing for his play after running up an enormous tab at the hotel where he and his cast are staying –  $ 1, 200, which was a huge amount back in 1938. the play is ready to open in a day. if they can avoid getting thrown out of the hotel first, they will be able to pay off their bills. to complicate matters, the author of the play comes in. just as groucho, chico, and harpo are about to skip out on the hotel bill .
jamie lee curtis was initially interested in the role because she loved carpenter’s 1976 film assault on precinct 13 and went on to audition for the part of laurie strode three separate times. carpenter initially wanted actress anne lockhart for the role, but cast curtis after her final audition, where she nailed the scene of laurie looking out her window to see michael myers in her backyard. curtis has reprised her role as laurie several times in the near - 40 years since the original film' s release, and also lent her voice in an uncredited appearance as a phone operator in halloween iii: season of the witch (the pseudo - sequel that did not feature the michael myers storyline). in 2018, she' ll play laurie again when david gordon green will add yet another film to the franchise .
quite a letdown from the first two films the brothers did for mgm. don' t know why zeppo negotiated this film with rko. they would return to mgm for the remainder of their films. this is the only one of their films that was not designed specifically for their talents, being adapted from a broadway play. humor is much below par, although it gets better as the film progresses. the two main female characters, played by lucille ball and a precocious 15 year old anne miller, are barely in the film. for those who prefer their marx films with a minimum of musical interruptions, this fills the bill. even chico doesn' t play the piano nor does harpo play the harp. however, harpo does accompany the singing of
swing low, sweet chariot
with harmonica .
“a beautiful femme fatale saunters into an unsuspecting man’s life and entices him into committing murder for her. ” this logline could be used to describe any number of classic film noirs. most of this can be traced back to author james m. cain, who wrote two books—
one thing leads to another. they decide to pretend that the author has contracted measles, to keep from being thrown out of the hotel. this leads to one of the madcap moments in the film. harpo spits iodine through a strainer to cover the author with spots for his “measles”. they can’t be thrown out, but they aren’t getting any food, either. o ne attempt has harpo winning a turkey in a drawing. only to have harpo bring a live turkey to the hotel room, and have the turkey “fly” out the window. with wires manipulating the puppet turkey to fly – a very funny moment, with the wires being so obvious that they’re hilarious .
eagle - eyed viewers will catch the word “flammable” scrawled across the back of the truck, yet when it careens off the cliff at the end of the movie it doesn’t go boom. the studio wanted a big explosion, but the director wanted a slower demise for his film’s villain .
film noir or horror—which category does charles laughton’s night of the hunter belong in? frankly, all such quibbles are needless. the film fits snugly beneath either appellation, for one thing: it’s a hybridized version of both. (let’s call it “film noirror. ”) for another, it’s a masterwork, so fie upon labels. night of the hunter lurks in shadows and revels in misogyny. whether you’ve seen it or not, you probably have the image of robert mitchum’s tattooed knuckles imprinted upon your brain thanks to pop culture osmosis. reverend harry powell is quite the villain, a man as quick to distort the truth with honey - coated lies as laughton is to distort reality through oblique perspective, unnerving use of shadows and light, and a dizzying array of camera compositions that make small - town west virginia feel altogether otherworldly. — a. c .
donald pleasence’s character, dr. sam loomis, was named after the character of the same name from alfred hitchcock’s psycho. curtis’s mother, janet leigh, appeared in psycho as sam loomis’s girlfriend marion, and was killed in the film’s famous shower scene. for the loomis character in halloween, carpenter originally wanted either peter cushing or christopher lee, but both passed on the film because the pay was too low. pleasence would go on to appear in four halloween sequels, concluding with halloween 6: the curse of michael myers, which was released after his death in 1995 .
it doesn' t matter how many times you' ve seen it; john carpenter' s halloween, which was released nearly 40 years ago, will always be required viewing for the holiday for which it' s named. here are 15 things you might not have known about the film .
, which centers on two treasury agents who must go undercover to infiltrate a notorious counterfeiting ring. while not boasting any big - name actors or even a particularly novel story, the film is noted for its inventive cinematography, with mann and cinematographer john alton deciding to shoot several scenes on location in
the snakerama gas station seen in the film also appears in spielberg' s 1979 world war ii comedy, 1941, with actress lucille benson again appearing as the proprietor. the two elderly people weaver tries to flag down in a car also appear as helpless motorists in close encounters of the third kind .
park chan - wook’s oldboy makes the smart choice most genre homages don’t: the film relegates reference to the soundtrack titles, some of which crop up elsewhere on this very list. it takes more than a few hat tips to tourneur, hawks and ray to make a noir, but oldboy boasts the lion’s share of noir’s best trappings in its story of long - term revenge and dirty family secrets. the film is probably best revered for a single fight scene, one of only a handful to occur throughout its two - hour running time. admittedly, that hallway scrap is pretty glorious, but park boils his protagonist hard, and spoken from beneath star choi min - sik’s grizzled mane, the film’s dialogue crackles with beefy, unhinged ennui. years from now when the next big international neo - noir import arrives stateside, don’t be surprised if you see oldboy ’s moniker on its ost. — a. c .
the silent movie humorisk is made with money raised by a friend. director is jo swerling. it was made in two weeks at fort lee, nj. studios and in a studio at 49th st. and 10th ave. in new york. no copy exists of this (unfinished ?) film .
the panaglide was a competitor to the now - ubiquitous steadicam, which allowed the camera to be fitted to a camera operator for far - ranging and smoothly unbroken shots. carpenter loved it because he could shoot copious amounts of footage in one day to make up for the film’s minuscule $ 300, 000 budget .
lucille ball, who has a supporting role, would later buy the studio that made this film, rko pictures. she and desi arnaz purchased it during the height of their success on i love lucy (1951) and renamed it desilu studios, now best known as the sponsorship of star trek (1966) .
we’ll start with the following 100 titles. some 70 years after the term “film noir” was first uttered, take a trip through the screwed - up terrain of the mid - century psyche, with all its sex, lies, and crime scene tape. let’s get going—don’t say we didn’t warn you. — amanda schurr
placed next to the rest of his filmography, jules dassin’s the naked city feels somewhat rote. if you’ve ever watched a single episode of law and order, or if you have a distinct fondness for procedural fare at large, then you really owe a debt of thanks to dassin’s stripped - down work here. unlike so many other noirs, the naked city aims for realism over stylish melodrama. that verisimilitude has kept the film from aging well, but dassin’s commitment to authenticity lends a great deal of heft to his story of brute violence in new york city, even if the plot runs pretty much by the numbers. that’s sort of the point, of course: to showcase the way that law operates in service to justice. the results might be flat, but their influence and dedication to purity call for our acknowledgement. — a. c .
, an adaptation of novelist / screenwriter scott b. smith’s 1993 thriller about three working - class men who end up stumbling upon a crashed plane filled with millions of dollars in cash. seeing this as the answer to their financial woes, the men divvy up the money only to quickly find their close - knit group torn apart by greed and paranoia. while not ostensibly film noir in its construction, the story nevertheless touches upon classic noir themes—namely, the corruptive power of greed and the folly of man in attempting to control life’s chaos. whatever its designation, the film presents an absorbing, if unmistakably devastating, modern - day morality tale. —
lawrence kasdan’s directorial debut remains, to this day, one of the sexiest movies ever to grace the big screen—not to mention, the rare occasion where the phrase “erotic thriller” can be appropriately uttered without the slightest hint of a snicker. boasting a star - making performance by kathleen turner, the film takes the standard double indemnity / the postman always rings twice premise (femme fatale hires lover to kill husband) and grafts it onto the humid nightmare that is florida in the midst of a heat wave. memorable sex scenes aside, however, the film is also a master class in how to build suspense and escalate tension. — m. r .
carl franklin’s excellent early ’90s neo - noir walks a razor - thin tightrope of suspense: you get the sense from one minute to the next that any step out of place could send the entire narrative into violent anarchy. franklin’s film has great aspirations, delving into the complexities of modern american race relations just a few years after
although she seems much older and mature, ann miller was actually only 15 years old when she made this film. she had lied about her age and obtained a fake birth certificate when she was about 14 years old, which stated that she was 18. she was so tall, poised and beautiful that she pulled it off .
, flopped at the box office only to be revived later as a beloved cult classic. the film casts rufus swell as an amnesiac who wakes up one night to discover that his city is (quite literally) being manipulated by a band of mysteriously pale men in jet - black trench coats and fedoras. along for the ride is
to brilliantly deconstruct traditional cinematic storytelling, toggling between chronological black - and - white vignettes and full - color five - minute segments that unfold in reverse order while shelby frantically searches for his wife’s killer. the film is jarring, inventive and adventurous, and the payoff is every bit worth the mind - bending descent into madness. —
plays a wide - eyed actress newly arrived in hollywood who stumbles upon a beautiful young woman who can’t remember who she is. that pithy logline only touches the tip of the iceberg, as the film delights in throwing numerous other subplots and mysteries at its audience only to violently pull the rug out from under them in its latter half .
frequently cited as an example of when film noir, to appropriate a tv idiom, “jumped the shark, ” kiss me deadly long ago overcame its initial bad press to become one of the most beloved and influential examples of the subgenre and its ability to tell dark, controversial stories. in that regard, director robert aldrich’s kiss me deadly wears its insanity like a badge. ralph meeker stars as a hard - boiled private eye who ends up bearing witness to the brutal torture and murder of a young hitchhiker (cloris leachman in one her first film appearances). he decides to pursue her case, which results in the discovery of one of film’s all - time great macguffins—a mysterious piece of luggage that emits intense heat and a bright light when opened. (this visual went on to inspire the glowing briefcase in pulp fiction .) this all leads to one of the craziest, most jaw - dropping final sequences you’re likely to see in any american movie made during the hays code era. —m. r .
a favorite of martin scorsese, force of evil centers on a lawyer who finds himself involved with an influential gangster looking to take over all smaller rackets in town. the problem? one of those desirable rackets is run by the lawyer’s older brother. like t - men, the film makes great use of shooting on location. moreover, at times, the film’s familial themes and stylized writing help elevate the conflict to near shakespearean levels (or biblical levels, considering how frequently it alludes to the story of cain and abel). though relatively small in scale, force of evil finds greatness in its aim to convey grandiose, large - scale ideas. — m. r .
.) kubrick’s work here is no - frills and elegantly straightforward: sterling hayden plans one final holdup before retiring and settling down with coleen gray. no twists and turns, just good old - fashioned theft at the racetrack. the film revels in the gray morality of hayden’s good intentions. crime pays, at least until it doesn’t. —
does any psychopath in film noir’s rogues gallery strike quite as much immediate, stomach - churning terror as tommy udo? the man’s got a leering, sunken visage only a mother could love, provided she keeps her eyes closed tightly and doesn’t give him reason to shove her down the stairs. richard widmark’s wolf grin might be the only thing about kiss of death that matters. bereft of him, of course, henry hathaway’s film remains solid, but widmark’s oscar - nominated performance makes the entire enterprise feel vital. he’s a villain for the ages, perhaps robbed of his due by hathaway’s need to architect a happy ending. such is life working with production codes. — a. c .
: at first confused, then maybe a little angry, but then ultimately delighted by how fooled they’d just been. perfectly paced, brilliantly scored by director bryan singer and editor / composer john ottman—the film never lets the marks know they’re being conned by the irresistible ensemble or christopher mcquarrie’s dark, mischievous script. and then like that … it’s gone… —
get carter director mike hodges’s last great film was budding star clive owen’s first. in fact, even now more than 15 years after its release, croupier may be the best thing owen has ever done, playing a struggling novelist who takes a job at a casino, looking for inspiration but finding mostly trouble. watch this film now to be reminded where the actor first prompted speculation that he’d make a great james bond: his character jack manfred isn’t a super - spy, but he’s got the jet - black suaveness, lady - killing panache and dry wit we associate with 007. croupier is a movie attracted to the sleazier side of life, and owen’s antihero was the perfect tour guide. — tim grierson
miller, the part played by groucho marx in the film version, is not groucho, nor does he need to be. without the cigar, monotone voice, and animated eyebrows, this very experienced actor did a fine job of creating his own unique version of a lively character who will do anything to produce the play, even if that involves shenanigans .
kind of funny, but this movie is so unusual that i almost feel like i had a break for one week reviewing the marx brothers. i sometimes accidentally think of at the circus being the follow up to a day at the races, this film seems so non - marxian. it' s just a fun 30' s studio system comedy to me .
only a master like fritz lang could take a trope as hackish as “it was all just a dream” and turn it into nightmare fuel. then again, only a master like lang could surreptitiously flip the board at censors by tacking a happy ending onto a tragedy. the woman in the window isn’t just one of lang’s best films, it’s one of noir’s greatest gifts to cinema, a taut psychological mindscrew about the nature of taking life. when is it okay to take a life? when is it not? by the film’s own standards, lang’s protagonist, professor wanley, kills the jealous lover of young alice reed in self - defense, which puts him in the clear from our standpoint. but wanley winds up falling further and further into hot water, and we start to question the lesson he teaches his students at the woman in the window ’s commencement. it’s such a juicy, complex film, made impeccably and with unshakable style, that there’s no need to wonder at its role in validating cinema as art and causing a sea change in film criticism as a discipline. — a. c .
the plot thickens as the author of the play, leo davis (frank albertson), shows up from oswego to see how the production is going. while he' s not looking, banelli, faker, and miller steal various possessions from him to hock so they can get some food. when the food finally does arrive, it makes for the funniest scene in the film .
ingrid bergman won her first oscar for playing a vulnerable young woman slowly being driven insane by her charismatic husband in gaslight. and while certainly well earned, bergman’s award - winning portrayal is but one reason to catch this exceptional 1944 psychological thriller. for one, unlike other noirs, gaslight is a period story, set in the edwardian era, and reiterates the frightening notion that evil can emerge not just from the corrupt city setting inherent to the genre but from a domestic context, as well. as the film’s villain, charles boyer delivers a hypnotic, chilling performance that perfectly matches bergman’s volatile characterization. if all that weren’t enough, murder, she wrote fans will be delighted at the feature film debut of an 18 - year - old angela lansbury. — m. r .
since its coining in 1946 by french critic nino frank, who observed from afar something dark, quite literally, going on at the american cinema, the term “film noir” has been debated and debated and debated some more. is it a genre? a subgenre? a movement? a trend? a commentary? a style? for the purposes of this introduction, let’s call it a response .
unlike so many of its peers on this listing, edward dmytryk’s obsession doesn’t lean on violence in its plotting and scheming. but the film isn’t gentle by any stretch. in fact, obsession is one of the more gruesome classic noirs, a slow - burning bit of nastiness that could give breaking bad a run for its money in the body disposal department. dmytryk rides on the strength of great work by robert newton, here playing a psychiatrist who determines to kill his wife’s lover, an american diplomat played by phil brown. (obviously, because everybody knows that all psychiatrists secretly harbor homicidal urges .) newton’s a creepy hoot, and dmytryk has such a good handle on his suspense that even the tonal dissonance of unwelcome comedy doesn’t break the film’s insidious spell. — a. c.
room service is a 1938 rko film comedy starring the marx brothers and based on the 1937 play of the same name by allen boretz and john murray . it also features lucille ball , ann miller , alexander asro , and frank albertson . 
room service is a 1938 rko film comedy starring the marx brothers and based on the 1937 play of the same name by allen boretz and john murray. it also features lucille ball, ann miller, alexander asro, and frank albertson.
room service is a 1938 rko film comedy starring the marx brothers and based on the 1937 play of the same name by allen boretz and john murray. it also features lucille ball, ann miller, alexander asro, and frank albertson.