Film noir, in the narrow margin...

Folks might get the idea that Don Calhoun only loves cowboy pictures. Not so.

During our recent interview (read the printed edition at www.ShopperNewsNow.com this week), the B-Western historian also mentioned that he loves film noir.

Talk about some great flicks.

In its classic sense, film noir refers to pictures released from the early 1940s through the late 1950s, mostly crime dramas, that were quite stylistic and often dealt with sex and moral ambiguity. They were always filmed in an understated black-and-white, which added to the film's overall mood.

When asked for examples, Don named one of my favorites, "The Narrow Margin," which I reviewed on this blog in the April 14, 2008, entry. Other titles from the classic period Don named as favorites include "Detour," "Murder, My Sweet," "The Hitchhiker" and "Out of the Past."

"A lot of these were basically B films," Don says. "But they work with a limited amount of money and get good people and do what they can with them."

Don says that RKO Studios produced the best film noir pictures as a whole.

These days, the definition of "film noir" has expanded to include several Humphrey Bogart films (most notably "The Maltese Falcon") and stretches forward as late as 1970.

But, the best by far are the classics from the '40s and 50s. For the record, my favorite is "Laura," a film I consider to be one of the best movies period.

Check back tomorrow for a review of the film Don Calhoun says nearly drove director John Ford nuts...

Intrigue on a train, in glorious black-and-white

The April rain turned the baseball diamond into a mud puddle Friday night, so I grabbed a burger and headed home. Plopped down in front of the TV and enjoyed a great little film noir classic from 1952 called "The Narrow Margin."

Tightly directed by Richard Fleischer (who would later go on to helm the Disney version of "20,000 Leagues under the Sea"), the action takes place on a train headed from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Detective Sgt. Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) is assigned to escort a mobster's wife (Marie Windsor) to testify before a grand jury. Oops, but his partner gets killed and the bad guys know that Mrs. Neall is on the train, too.

But as is the case with these kind of films, nothing is quite what it seems. I should have seen the proverbial twist coming from a mile away, but I didn't.

McGraw is excellent as the sterotypical police detective and Windsor shines in her surprising role. "The Narrow Margin" is a very simple film in terms of plot. What makes it enjoyable is the atmosphere and the characters -- highlights of any good film in this genre.

The film also rekindled my passion for passenger trains, which have as you know all but vanished from the United States, other than in the northeast. I drove to Nashville earlier in the year to attend a baseball banquet and wished so much that I could have driven to the L&N and hopped a Pullman to the Music City. (Now that gas is $3.16 a gallon it makes me really wish I could do so.)

Ahh, well. I guess that's what old movies are for. If you could do it in real life, it wouldn't look near as romantic in glorious black-and-white.