While preparing for a recent appearance on a podcast episode about John Boorman’s 1967 film, Point Blank, I thought a lot about American noir cinema of the very late 1950s and the 1960s. I find it interesting that so many of the films made during this time remain unknown and underappreciated relative to the classic film noir period, generally regarded as beginning with John Huston’s 1941 classic The Maltese Falcon and ending in 1958, and the body of American crime cinema known as neo noir, which took off in the early 1970s. My latest piece for the US site CrimeReads is on this strange, partly forgotten period of American noir cinema that came between classic film noir & 1970s neo-noir, and 10 great underrated/unknown films that were released during it. You can read it in full on the CrimeReads site here.
This is a very helpful list since I am building an all-out, meticulous top 100 of doom noir (cf. happy ending noir). The 60s is the weakest decade for sure, but I am looking for films noir with regular protagonists unable to escape a doomed end (ambiguous downbeat endings ok) that would belong in list on par with with Point Blank, Breathless, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (which could be called The Third Man II: How Trevor Howard Ends Up Doomed), Le Deuxieme Souffle, Underworld USA, Shoot the Piano Player and Le Doulos. Looks like I have to see City of Fear, Mickey One and Uptight for sure. I was actually searching for an email contact if you have one Andrew? I’m pocket99s at gmail. Sam Fuller discovered in The Crimson Kimono that the real doom is the damage done by *reverse* racism. So close, Sam. Almost.
Sean,
Glad the piece was useful.
Andrew