These are all among my favorites! For my money, _Diaboliques_ might be one of the most frightening films of all time, even though it's one of those films that's been copied so much the effect isn't quite the same as it was when it was first released. Another really good one is _The Spiral Staircase_ (1946) starring Dorothy McGuire. It's arguably a really early slasher movie.
LOVED this! Years ago I saw a double feature of Out of the Past & Night of the Hunter which was my first viewing of NOTH. Been obsessed with both of those films and the "film noir" genre since. Both of those characters Robert Mitchum plays are so fascinating and unique performances. I saw that double feature at the Music Box in Chicago which STILL to this day currently runs noir double features quite often on weekend afternoons.
Trivia: Hitchcock actually tried to get his hands on the rights of "Celle qui n'était plus" (She Who Was No More) by of Boileau-Narcejac (the pen name used by the French crime-writing duo of Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud, also known as Thomas Narcejac) which was adapted by French director Henri-Georges Clouzot into "Les Diaboliques". However, Hitchcock adapted another novel (D'entre les morts/From Among the Dead) by the two authors into "Vertigo". The novel is set during and after World War II in Paris and Marseille.
All great picks. I love Val Lewton.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that thinks November is a good month for noir
These are all among my favorites! For my money, _Diaboliques_ might be one of the most frightening films of all time, even though it's one of those films that's been copied so much the effect isn't quite the same as it was when it was first released.
Another really good one is _The Spiral Staircase_ (1946) starring Dorothy McGuire. It's arguably a really early slasher movie.
I love the Spiral Staircase.
LOVED this!
Years ago I saw a double feature of Out of the Past & Night of the Hunter which was my first viewing of NOTH. Been obsessed with both of those films and the "film noir" genre since. Both of those characters Robert Mitchum plays are so fascinating and unique performances.
I saw that double feature at the Music Box in Chicago which STILL to this day currently runs noir double features quite often on weekend afternoons.
That's a great double feature! Love Out of the Past!
Trivia: Hitchcock actually tried to get his hands on the rights of "Celle qui n'était plus" (She Who Was No More) by of Boileau-Narcejac (the pen name used by the French crime-writing duo of Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud, also known as Thomas Narcejac) which was adapted by French director Henri-Georges Clouzot into "Les Diaboliques". However, Hitchcock adapted another novel (D'entre les morts/From Among the Dead) by the two authors into "Vertigo". The novel is set during and after World War II in Paris and Marseille.
That's so cool! Thanks for sharing!