Nov 19, 2021
For our Noirvember episode, we look at four Anthony Mann noirs, Railroaded! (1947), T-Men (1947), Raw Deal (1948), and Side Street (1950). We follow Mann as he ascends from Poverty Row to a collaboration with one of film noir's most distinctive cinematographers, John Alton, to the big-time at MGM, with his protagonists only getting more sweaty and desperate and his underworld brutes remaining just as psychotic. We discuss the scapegoating structure of Mann's noirs, their nihilism, their murder-mirror reflection of the capitalist’s bottom line and their emphasis on pain - relieved only, in the poetic realism-reminiscent Raw Deal, by some fatalistic romanticism that's nevertheless offset by relentless masochism.
Time Codes:
0h 01m 00s: RAILROADED! (1947) [dir. Anthony Mann]
0h 15m 36s: T-MEN (1947) [dir. Anthony Mann]
0h 31m 01s: RAW DEAL (1948) [dir. Anthony Mann]
0h 46m 18s: SIDE STREET (1950) [dir. Anthony Mann]
1h 10m 01s: Tout Mannsemble
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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s
* Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)
* Read Elise’s latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.
* Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!
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