New Year's Eve Resolution Week Twenty One: Out Of The Past

I've only seen this film once.  It was during TCM's Summer Of Darkness.  I saw so much Noir that summer.  It was FAB-U-LOUS!  Some of it was a blur though.  This film was a bit of a blur.  I remember loving Robert Mitchum.  But who doesn't?  And I remember Jane Greer was evil. And Dickie Moore, but I always remember him.  Those eyes....

I was trying to come up with dinner tonight.  I've been taking advantage of a little time off and doing just a ton around my house.  Thing are all ripped apart!  We're going through all of our storage.  How did we get so much stuff?  I swear that we're storing stuff for other people, because I don't recognize half of this crap!  So the place is in shambles.  When you go through stuff it always looks worse before it gets better.  I keep telling myself that.  On top of stuff being everywhere, I'm just filthy from going through it all, so needless to say, I wasn't terribly prepared for this one.  For some reason though, Noir always makes me think of Chinese food and beer.  Seems like in old films(unless they're fancy), when people ate out if was at diners(and I just did hamburgers), Italian restaurants for spaghetti(and I just ate pasta), or Chinese food for chop suey.  So chop suey it is!  Honestly, I've never had chop suey, so this was a first.  Seems pretty popular, so how bad could it be?  And you can order veggies only!  I also had to order egg rolls, cause you know, ya gotta.  And almond cookies, cause they're the best!  Luckily I had some non-alcoholic beer around, so I was set!

Here's my Chinese dinner and fake beer!  Ya'll knew I was going to serve it on depression glass, right?

This film is the quintessential Noir.  Watching it again brought everything back.  The use of light and shadow.  The innuendos.  The quick clever dialog.  The incredible Femme Fatale.  The "hero" trying to go straight, but trapped by his own human limitations.  It has everything Noir is supposed to be.  

Everyone's performance in this film was brilliant.  Robert Mitchum was his usual tough guy self.  You really were on his side in this one.  His acting is always so good.  And it doesn't hurt that he sure is pretty.

Even with his hair messed up, he sure is pretty.

Jane Greer.  Now I own several movies that she's in, but this is the only one I've seen.  I know, I know, I'll get to them eventually!  She was so very very good in this, that I'm inspired.  It's not just because she's lovely, she's really good at conveying who her character really is to the audience without letting the other characters see it.  Beauty really is a requirement of this role.  It's needed to cover and disarm.  It also is required to make the men stupid.  And she does, she makes all the men stupid.

This is a perfect example of seeing who she is under all the beauty.

Note the use of shadow too.

All in all it was a great night.  Loved the movie!  Got even more out of it, I won't forget it this time.  I didn't like the chop suey though.  I ate it, but it was meh.  Very plain, not much flavor.  No wonder it's considered American Chinese food!  The rice was the best part if you wanna know.  So glad I had egg rolls and cookies too!  If I had thought about it, I coulda had Mexican food, cause they were in Mexico.  ::::shrug::::  Punishment for not putting much thought into tonight.  Booooo!

Happy Sunday!

Love, 

Olive