Celluloid Dirt

As we come to the end of the classic noir era, we wrap up our examination of the femme fatale through two late-career pictures from some of the best who ever did it, Fritz Lang and Otto Preminger, both no strangers to this podcast. Angel Face and Human Desire together represent an intriguing evolution of the femme fatale, right as a new wave of cultural upheaval approaches and the genre departs Hollywood for a few decades. Join us as end one age but begin another with two more women who kill. Recommendations:Tristan: Shree 420Fred: Rebecca, Seven BeautiesWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

The battle of the sexes takes on a literal dimension with these two marriage focused tales of infidelity and violence. We're heading out of the big city, first to visit a sleepy fishing town on the Northern California coast, and then across the country for the greatest honeymoon destination of them all, Niagara Falls. And we'll have none other than Marilyn Monroe along with us for the ride, so buckle up because somebody's bound to go over the waterfall before it's all said and done.Recommendations:Tristan: Nagina, Jewel ThiefFred: Eye of the Devil, Night is Short Walk on Girl, Margaret, Johnny GuitarWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

U.S. noir crashes headfirst into the burgeoning European art house in a fiery car wreck of subdued passions and bourgeois ennui. Come for the brooding car mechanics, stay for the affairs of the heart with this double feature.Recommendations:Our respective Top 10s of 2023!Written & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

Last episode, we learned what happens, sometimes, when you get in deep with the boss's wife. But what happens when that wife is played by Rita Hayworth? A whole lotta great noir, as this week's episode proves, with a double bill of Gilda and The Lady From Shanghai.Recommendations:Tristan - Late SpringFred - Next of KinWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

There's something so sturdy, so fundamental to the format: a drifter comes to town. He gets a job - and then he meets the boss's wife. And suddenly everything goes to hell. In tonight's episode we begin a double header of boss's wife stories with the first U.S. adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice followed by the ice rink noir (!) Suspense.Recommendations:Tristan - Timekeepers of Eternity, City of PiratesFred - Stop Making SenseWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

We're back from an unexpected holiday break to look at the yang to the femme fatale's yin - the patsy. We're going to examine two very different versions of the archetype filled out by classic noir actors - one a soulful sucker played by Edward G. Robinson, the other a suspicious drifter played by Glenn Ford, in our double header of Scarlet Street and Framed.Recommendations:Tristan - Center StageFred - Timekeepers of EternityWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

What happens when you take the jaded fatalism of noir and mix it with the character-first focus of classic melodrama? Two fantastic films of the 1940s, Leave Her to Heaven and Mildred Pierce, each of which involves a self-absorbed young woman destroying her family in pursuit of her own slice of the American dream. Recommendations:Tristan - Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem KahaaniFred - Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans & Earrings of Madame de...Written & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

July 1944. Los Angeles. Enter Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson, high atop a looming stairwell, clad only in a towel. Enter the femme fatale, as we know her, into classic Hollywood. Counter-balancing the icy-cold Phyllis Dietrichson is a no-less chilly, but far more sympathetic waitress named Stella, drawn from a comparatively minor Otto Preminger film. Both women slot neatly into the developing vision of women who pull over-eager protagonists into their wake, but their stories unfold in starkly different fashions. Join us as we look at Double Indemnity and Fallen Angel.Recommendations:Tristan - Thief & The Last of the MohicansFred - Electra, My Love & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant MayhemWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

Before noir reached American shores, it was festering in Europe in the shadow of fascism. The femme fatale was no different, her need for advancement intersecting with the oppressive environment swallowing the continent. Tonight we'll be looking at three different examples of the proto femme fatale as it crosses over with poetic realism and neorealism - and two of them come from that noir ur-text, The Postman Always Rings Twice. By comparing La Bete Humaine (1938), The Last Turning (1939), & Ossessione (1943) we can take a snapshot of the femme fatale right before the noir era kicks off and becomes the archetype we know and love today.Recommendations:Tristan - One Way PassageFred - BarbieWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

We look back to the prehistory of noir and the early days of cinema to find the origins of the femme fatale on the silver screen. A tale as old as time - in this case, all the way back to Greek myth. In today's episode we delve into three films from the tail end of silent cinema and the start of the sound era - Pandora's Box, The Blue Angel, & La Chienne - to examine the fallen woman and see how she foretells the fatale's form. Recommendations:Tristan - DeadlochFred - Queen of EarthWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

The Femme Fatale occupies a titanic place in the history of cinema, especially in the first half of the 20th century. She goes by many names and takes even more forms. The Chanteuse. The Fallen Woman. The Boss's Wife. Sometimes she is wicked. Sometimes she's just in a bad way. Invariably, she is tied to the downfall, or at least temptation, of a male protagonist. In narrative terms, she is a disruptive force. Trouble with a capital T.So grab a drink and settle in. For the next twenty four weeks, we'll be examining some of cinema's grand dames, tracing the evolution of the femme fatale from silent cinema to today, looking for footprints from designer heels deep in the celluloid dirt.Recommendations:Tristan - Nausicaä of the Valley of the WindFred - The Good, The Bad, & The UglyWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

We're back with another season to tackle an additional core element of film noir - the femme fatale. Get a little taste before the new season starts in Noirvember.

As we get ready to launch our next season of noir samplings, we make a quick return visit to season 1's private eye, specifically Marlowe, as he makes his triumphant(?) theatrical return with Neil Jordan's Marlowe. We continue the old man Marlowe routine by connecting this film back to 1998's Poodle Springs, a Marlowe adaptation directed by Bob Rafelson for HBO and starring James Caan in the titular role. What else is left to say about an over the hill PI? Let's find out. Recommendations:Tristan - At LandFred - sex, lies, and videotape; Cool Hand LukeWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

Every case must come to an end, and sometimes you even get to wrap it up in a neat little bow. Over these 20 episodes and 41 movies we've tracked the private eye across decades and state lines, cultural movements and cinematic epochs. But some things have stayed mostly the same - a wrong that needs righting, a flatfoot who can't help taking the case, and a daily rate, plus expenses. And maybe that's enough, for a world gone as screwy as ours.Written & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

The deeper into the 21st century we travel, the greater the confusion grows. With so much input - from news, tv, internet, social media, youtube, tik tok, and whatever new, even faster mode will arrive tomorrow - the possibility of an absolute truth seems farther and farther away. What's a detective to do when fact has become subjective and our individual realities grown so far apart? That's one of the questions grappled with in our final two movies, Inherent Vice and Under the Silver Lake, as we close out this season of the Private Detective.Recommendations:Tristan - The Red Shoes, PathaanFred - A Serious Man, SuspiriaWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

With the new century, a certain strand of pulp films get taken along a similar development path as elements of super hero movies, another genre that got its start as cheap disposal nonsense. Just like with Nolan's Batman and Snyder's... Snyderverse, some noir started to lean in to the grim, the dark, and the gritty as a way to prove that they were serious movies and not just kids' stuff. We'll be looking at two such examples - Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, and the Liam Neeson actioner Walk Among the Tombstones. Throw some commercials in and you'd have a pretty good Sunday afternoon double bill on TNT.Recommendations:Tristan - Jaane Bhi Do YaaroFred - Before Sunrise, Hit the Road, The TrainWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

For our first directorial double feature we look at the work of buddy-comedy auteur Shane Black and his two 21st-century revitalizations of the PI story. In Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys he crafts two hyper-stylized and hyper-witty worlds of guns, girls, and guys who are in way over their heads. Oh, and did we mention its Christmas? Because of course it is.Recommendations:Tristan - Glass OnionFred - Bones and AllWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

It's a new millenium, and a new generation of flatfoots are hitting the streets. Precocious and jaded, wise beyond their years but in over their heads, these kid detectives show no matter how far along we get from the original noir era, there will always be someone willing to stick their neck out and find the truth in a world of shades of gray.Recommendations:Tristan - Trouble in ParadiseFred - Bicycle Thieves, The Rules of the GameWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

As we near the end of the millenium, a new influence takes hold of noir - Sundance-era American indies. Comedy, absurdism and heightened worlds begin to intersect with tales of crime and desperation. Our two films tonight both came out in 1998, and both show that influence. Zero Effect updates Sherlock with a post-Tarantino vibe, while The Big Lebowski sees the Coens set their own inimitable, endlessly quotable course.Recommendations:Tristan - Banshees of InisherinFred - Charlotte Wells: Laps, Blue Christmas, & AftersunWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

It's time for another round of retro-noirs as two 90s star-vehicles send us to the 1948-heyday of pulp cinema. First it's the return of Jack Nicholson and Jake Gittes in the Chinatown sequel The Two Jakes, and then Denzel Washington appears as Easy Rawlins in the 1995 adaptation Devil in a Blue Dress. Together these two films make a study in contrasts - with their stars, their stories, and their approach to the material - even as both try to pack us off in a celluloid time machine.Recommendations:Tristan - Mock Sight & Sound BallotFred - Mock Sight & Sound BallotWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

While it's been mostly life and death around here, with the arrival of the more commercially-minded 80s the noir took a turn towards the funny. We're looking first at Steve Martin's 1982 parody Dead Men Won't Wear Plaid, followed by Zemeckis's glorious 1988 cartoon mash-up Who Framed Roger Rabbit.Recommendations:Tristan - Youth of the Beast, HarakiriFred - Flux GourmetBrandon - PearlWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred Pelzer. Featuring guest host Brandon Shockney.A Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

After checking in on a second set of lesser Marlowe flicks, it's back across the Pacific Ocean to visit two more evolutions of the P.I. film comingled with a diverse array of other inspirations. First Satyajit Ray's The Elephant God from 1979, followed by 1981's Yokohama BJ Blues, directed by Eiichi Kudo.Recommendations:Tristan - Chungking ExpressFred - Irma Vep, We're All Going to the World's FairWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

We wrap up our examination of Marlowe adaptations with the arrival of a noir titan we haven't seen yet on the podcast - Robert Mitchum, but Mitchum in his 60s, which is a very different vibe. First we discuss 1975's Farewell, My Lovely and 1978's The Big Sleep and Mitchum being the only actor to play Marlowe twice. Then we perform the most important function of film critics everywhere and rank all the entries!Recommendations:Tristan - MemoriaFred - Identifying FeaturesWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

We're taking another road trip out of LA - this time to a sweat-soaked south as two Californian shamuses follow their cases past state lines. The Drowning Pool and Night Moves each help solidify the new normal of neo-noir while also broadening the geographic boundaries of the private eye film. Plus, a double shot of Melanie Griffith!Recommendations:Tristan - Only Murders in the BuildingFred - Strange VictoryWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

The promise of the 60s has died, giving way to a new, distrustful era - fertile ground for a new noir movement to take root. Two films stand at forefront of a new era of hardboiled crime movies, each with their own idiosyncratic take on the private detective. The Long Goodbye and Chinatown reinvent noir and show new depths to the cynicism that can be found in its shadows. Welcome to the end of the dream. Recommendations:Tristan - RRRFred - XWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

We're giving a preview of Noir City: Chicago 2022. This is the 12th go round with the Chicago edition of Noir City. The 21 films will be presented by Eddie Muller, Film Noir Foundation founder and host of TCM's Noir Alley, and Foundation board member Alan K. Rode, author of Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film. The festival runs from August 26 to September 1 and features quite a few movies.And please support our beloved Music Box Theatre! Recommendations:Tristan - Daughter of the NileFred - Crimes of the Future, NopeWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

It's the 70s, and we're finally starting to see some new faces in our noir-inflected pictures. For today's episode that means Shaft and Mr. T, a pair of early Blaxploitation heroes who help reframe noir, centering the narrative on a community that had been rendered invisible throughout classic Hollywood. And as Shaft and Trouble Man show, just because you're taking on the man doesn't mean you can't do it with a great soundtrack and a great sense of style.Recommendations:Tristan - Petite MamanFred - Bells Are RingingWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

The detective has arrived in the 60s, and he might not survive the culture shock. What chance does a private dick have up against teeny-boppers, new age cults, and Bruce Lee? We'll find out as we look at Paul Newman in Harper and James Garner in Marlowe.Recommendations:Tristan - Kuch Kuch Hota HaiFred - Practical MagicWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

Fasten your seatbelts. Tray tables in an upright, locked position. It's high time the private detective went international. We're visiting Japan and France with Private Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! and Made in U.S.A.Recommendations:Film Crit Hulk on RRRTristan - Uncut Gems, First CowFred - The NorthmanWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

It's all punching hoods and kissing dames in this week's episode as we follow the detective into the 50s with a series of Mike Hammer adaptations. It's another super-sized edition as we cover I, The Jury, Kiss Me Deadly, My Gun Is Quick, and The Girl Hunters.Recommendations:Tristan - XFred - Turning RedWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

Bogart wasn't the only Marlowe running around LA during the 1940s. In tonight's episode we look at five other Marlowe adaptations and discuss how they stack up - or don't - against the icon. We're talking Falcon Takes Over, Time to Kill, Murder My Sweet, Lady in the Lake, and Brasher Doubloon.Recommendations:Tristan - Band Baaja Baaraat, Journey to ItalyFred - MishimaWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

It's Bogie, baby! We kick off the noir era of the detective in proper style with the icon himself, Humphrey Bogart, and two of his most enduring and definitive performances - The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep.Recommendations:Tristan - Police StoryFred - Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a TimeWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

Before noir and the pulp detective, we had the gentleman detective. Urbane, witty, often an amateur, he drew from literary sources like Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie. And few embodied him with as much verve and charisma as William Powell, the star of our first two movies for the season - Private Detective 62 and The Thin ManRecommendations:Tristan - Parallel MothersFred - Funeral Parade of RosesWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

Welcome to our first season - The Private Eye! We kick things off with a broad look at what we expect to find and what we're looking forward to watching this season.Recommendations:Tristan - Doom PatrolFred - Spider-man: No Way HomeWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

You can't rob an armored car - except when you can, like in these two tales of action packed heists - 1949's Criss Cross, and 2021's Wrath of Man.Recommendations:Tristan - Train to Busan, Crimes of the FutureFred - Fire IslandWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

A little update on our upcoming season.Music by Scott Buckley

Let's hit the highway and ride. We're checking out two tales of heists gone wrong in Detroit - 1978's Blue Collar, and 2021's No Sudden Move.Recommendations:Tristan - EncantoFred - PlaytimeWritten & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

We return! This time we're breaking into your homes and threatening you with the violence of cinema, looking at two home invasion flicks - 1955's The Desperate Hours, and 2022's Windfall.Recommendations:Tristan - Om Shanti OmFred - Sherlock, Jr.Written & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

For the first movie pairing, Fred & Tristan take the obvious route of looking at the two Nightmare Alleys - Edmund Goulding's 1947 adaptation, followed by Guillermo Del Toro's 2021 adaptation. Together they demonstrate the many ways adapters bring themselves to the work they are changing for a new medium, each version boasting its own particular strengths.Written & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

The inaugural episode! Fred and Tristan discuss their experience and background with noir, their favorite films of the genre, and what they're looking forward to discussing on the show.Written & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred PelzerA Strange Phantom ProductionMusic by Kevin MacLeod.Learn more about us or follow us on LetterboxdJacobin Article on Noir