Tag: film-noir

I’ve Got a Noir a Day Habit

by James Wallace Harris, 7/9/26

I went for years not being able to sit through a movie or television show by myself. My mind would just feel restless after ten minutes, and I couldn’t continue. I guess I felt guilty, thinking I should be doing something more productive with my time. But being retired, I have all my time free, so why did it make me feel uneasy about frittering away a bit of it?

Then I discovered my mind would latch onto certain old movies, and I learned to relax and go with the flow. Oddly, these were mostly film noir movies. I’ve never been big on mystery or crime fiction. I just never cared whodunit. Evidently, there are aspects to film noir that calm my restless mind.

Today’s film was Flaxy Martin (1949), starring Virginia Mayo, Zachery Scott, and Dorothy Malone. I was inspired to select this movie because of The Stiletto Gumshoe’s essay, “Meeting Flaxy For The First Time.” I had no memory of seeing Flaxy Martin before, but as I watched, I realized I had.

I instantly picked Flaxy Martin for today’s dose of noir because of this photo. I’m a big fan of Elisha Cook, Jr. He’s most famous for playing the gunsel, Wilmer, in The Maltese Falcon. But Cook shows up in countless old movies and old television shows. He plays a very similar character in both Flaxy Martin and The Maltese Falcon – a bantam rooster with a rod.

I’ve never thought of myself as a fan of Virginia Mayo, but I might need to rethink that. Flaxy is a femme fatale and quite evil, and I love a good evil woman character. My friend Mike and I have been keeping a list of evil women in movies since we saw Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Flaxy is not up to the evil of Ellen Berent Harland, but she’s dangerous enough. I see that Mayo was also in two other 1949 films admire, Colorado Territory and White Heat.

I wish Flaxy Martin had been the main character in Flaxy Martin; unfortunately, she’s not. She’s AWOL for most of the middle of the film. The movie is really about Walter Colby (Zachery Scott), a lawyer for crime boss Hap Richie (Douglas Kennedy). Quite a lot happens to Walter in the flick, which is why the story moves so fast.

At the beginning of the film, Walter is in love with Flaxy, not knowing that Flaxy is two-timing him with Hap. Of course, Flaxy plays both ends against the middle, and neither the audience nor Walter nor Hap knows where she stands until the end of the film. For each man, Flaxy acts as a spy on the other, but lets the audience ponder whether she’s a double agent for which one.

Flaxy Martin lacks the style of true noir, so it’s really just a good, fast-action B-movie thriller. There are noirish scenes. The movie would have been hardcore noir if the story had been told entirely from Flaxy’s perspective. We see Flaxy set up Walter, and then for the middle of the film, he goes off and falls for Dorothy Malone. The film moves fast, with several twists, but the subplot with Malone feels tacked on. That middle part does give Elisha Cook, Jr. a lot more to do, and I appreciated that.

It’s just a shame that Flaxy wasn’t the main character. Femme fatales seldom get to be the main character. It would have been great to see Flaxy manipulate all the men all the time, for the entire show.

I don’t think the production code would have allowed this, but I would have loved to see Flaxy manipulate all the men and get away with it.

The weird thing about being retired is having all this time to fill. I’m never bored, but neither am I fulfilled. I’m well occupied by a series of entertaining diversions. Watching a film noir each day is becoming as regular as lunch. I assume I’ll burn out on them one day. I wish I knew why my brain likes them now.

Eddie Muller will convince you to watch Flaxy Martin.

JWH

DARK CITY: THE LOST WORLD OF FILM NOIR by Eddie Muller

by James Wallace Harris, 7/8/26

Anyone who frequents Noir Alley on Saturday nights on TCM should find Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir by Eddie Muller to be Noir Metropolis. However, a tip about where to place your bet.

I bought the hardback edition because I knew I’d want to linger over the beautiful photos. Noir is very visual. And the book is laid out in landscape to showcase those photos. But when I went to read the book, I discovered that reading a landscape volume was a pain in the ass while sitting in my La-Z-Boy. The tiny type was also a hindrance.

Luckily, the audiobook of Dark City went on sale, and I snagged a copy. Listening to the book is like listening to 12 hours and 19 minutes of Eddie Muller on Noir Alley. Muller is one of the audiobook’s narrators. The book is written in the same style he uses to narrate his introductions on TCM. Muller’s nonfiction prose is like reading Raymond Chandler novels.

I’m glad I got the hardback with pictures, but I wish I had the Kindle edition too, so I could enjoy reading and studying Dark City with my eyes. I have to read Dark City at my desk using a book holder. That’s only comfortable for short periods.

However, I never need to read for long. That’s because when Muller describes a movie, I often jump up to go watch it. I haven’t gotten far in the hardback, but I have with the audiobook. And it might not be a book I can ever finish reading. It makes me want to watch too many noir films.

For example, I read this and immediately wanted to watch it.

After you watch the show, read about the 1947 smallpox outbreak on Wikipedia. While watching the movie, I thought some of the events were too fantastic to believe, but they happened.

Luckily, I found The Killer That Stalked New York (Frightened City) on YouTube right away.

A word of warning. A large percentage of the films Muller mentions are on YouTube. But I’m not sure if everyone can see them for free. I subscribed to the light version of YouTube Premium, which gets rid of commercials, for $8.99 a month. That fee might get me extra movies. Just check. Often, when using the JustWatch app on your phone to see where a movie is playing, it will say it’s not available to stream. Then check YouTube. It often has movies that aren’t streaming anywhere else.

Here’s Muller’s old introduction to the film on Noir Alley.

Muller tends to call every black-and-white movie from the 1940s and 1950s film noir if it involves crime. The Killer That Stalked New York lacks the visual and narrative style of The Maltese Falcon or Double Indemnity. Nor does it have the gonzo edginess of Gun Crazy or Kiss Me Deadly. It’s just a gripping story.

And that’s my problem with film noir. Hundreds of films get the film noir tag, but is that fair? I’ve looked for all kinds of rubrics to categorize a film as noir, and nothing works consistently.

One thing I have noticed is that some of my friends who claim to hate old movies will watch and praise a classic noir film. I’m wondering if most old films just seem hokey to them, and noirs are old movies with a story they can handle. Maybe crime stories just seem more realistic. And is this related to why every TV show on BritBox seems to be a police procedural? Are crime stories some kind of lingua fraca among moviegoers? Or do tales about criminals just have wide appeal?

If you’re not familiar with film noir, look at this list on Rotten Tomatoes. If you watch a few of them and like them, you might want to get Muller’s book to look for all the forgotten films. I’m addicted to them.

JWH