The Flickr Filmnoirhomage Image Generatr

This extra was lucky as he had been assigned a cart, which he could lean on. Cloth awnings were the norm in historic photos but have been replaced by metal, plastic or wood as the cloth deteriorated under the sun.

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@2009 David Lee Guss Film homage, Ice cream vendor, "The Great White Hope" set, Globe, Arizona, 1969-2008

This is an early noir written and directed by Luchino Visconti (1906-1976) in 1942 but mutilated by the fascist Italian government. The first film, by the member of one of Italy's most aristocratic families, was an unauthorized version of James Cain's novel "The Postman Always Rings Twice." Its naturalistic setting was also an early example of the neo-realistic movement prevalent in Italy in the mid and late 1940's.

Count Visconti was an innovative opera and theater director who was instrumental in creating Maria Callas (1923-1977) into an operatic superstar.

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@2009 David Lee Guss Film noir homage, "Ossessione," Visconti, Casa Grande, Arizona, 2001

Here is a rare noir with a rural setting. Most are set in corrupt, crime breeding cities. Once again Nicholas Ray (1911-1979) is at the helm of this RKO film, made in the final death throes of that once vital studio; destroyed by Howard Hughes (1905-1976).

This film was not released until nearly two years after it was finished. Hughes held up Ray's first, another film noir, "They Live By Night" for 18 months. Hughes' record was for the Nick Ray completed "Jet Pilot," starring John Wayne. That was held up for seven years, from 1950 to 1957, so long that the aircraft, which obsessed Hughes, were dated.

Director Robert Wise (1914-2005), in his DVD commentary for the classic boxing noir, "The Set-Up" (starring Robert Ryan), was counting the days before his RKO contract ran out. Hughes was firing the artisans who had created such classics as "King Kong," "Top Hat," "Bringing Up Baby," "Gunga Din," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Citizen Kane," as the studio was bleeding money. Wise's contract lapsed and he happily fled to a more stable working environment. Wise had edited "Citizen Kane."

"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy."...William Blake (1757-1827)

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@2009 David Lee Guss After a snow storm, near Aberdeen, South Dakota, 1965

Richard Carlson (1912-1977) directed this mostly forgettable noir. He got his under graduate degree at University of Minnesota as did I. He taught there briefly after earning his M.A.

@2009 David Lee Guss Along the beach, Venice, California, 1982

This noir is the first film directed by Fred Zinnemann (1907-1997), who subsequently helmed such classics as "High Noon" (1952) and "From Here To Eternity" (1953).

@2009 David Lee Guss Downtown, across from RKO Orpheum, St. Paul Winter Carnival parade, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1967-2008

This 1955, Robert Aldrich (1918-1983) directed noir is pitiless and brutal. I am surprised it passed the Production Code then in place in Hollywood. Cloris Leachman makes her film debut and Paul Stewart, Jack Lambert and Strother Martin are also in the cast. Ralph Meeker (1920-1988) makes an excellent Mike Hammer but he remained largely a supporting character actor in his career. The sadistic doctor is played by the distinguished stage and film actor Alert Dekker (1904-1968) who was also a nasty man in another noir, "The Killers." Both Dekker and David Carradine (1936-2009) apparently both died from accidental suffocation. I'll leave it at that. Dekker passed away before his last film, "The Wild Bunch," was released.

Some French critics say this is the best ever film noir. The film's original ending has been restored on the DVD release.

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@2009 David Lee Guss Film noir homage, "Kiss Me Deadly," 24 hour mobile auto repair shop, Tucson, Arizona, 1984-2008

A necessary ingredient in most film noirs is a scheming, rotten to the core female. Remembered for such roles are Mary Astor in "The Maltese Falcon," Joan Bennett in "The Woman in the Window" and "Scarlett Street," Ann Blyth in "Mildred Pierce," Peggy Cummins in "Gun Crazy," Bette Davis in "The Letter," Ava Gardner in "The Killers," Jane Greer in "Out of the Past," Hedy Lamarr in "The Strange Woman," Ann Savage in "Detour," Liz Scott in "Too Late For Tears," Barbara Stanwyck in "Double Indemnity," Gene Tierney in "Leave Here to Heaven, Virginia Mayo in "White Heat," and Marie Windsor in "The Killing."

Angie Dickinson is barely recognizable at her spartan make up table. She appeared in two neo-noirs: Don Siegel's (1912-1991) remake of "The Killers" and John Boorman's "Point Blank;" both co-starring Lee Marvin.

NOTE: An archival, signed, limited edition, matte C-print is available for sale in my eBay gallery store-
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@2009 David Lee Guss Angie Dickinson, Old Tucson, Arizona, 1968

Alice Faye (1912-1998) retired after making this Otto Preminger (1906-1986) directed 1945 film noir. She returned to the screen in the dreadful remake of the musical "State Fair" (1962), in which Tom Ewell (1909-1994) sings to a pig.

@2009 David Lee Guss Film noir homage, "Fallen Angel," 1945, cemetery, ghost town, Dawson, New Mexico, 1972-2008

If any motion picture could be considered a "sleeper" and a sadly neglected work of art it would be this film. It marked the first musical to be shot on the MGM sound stages since the 1950's. "Pennies" is set in the Great Depression of the 1930's, based on Dennis Potter's mini-series originally done for the BBC; with a new screenplay by the author. The film has many high points, but one of the best is Christopher Walken's solo dance number, which garnered praise from both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Walken rehearsed two months on it, while Astaire would rehearse all his dance routines in his RKO films from six weeks to two months with his alter ego Hermes Pan (1909-1990).

The look of the film is remarkable, based partly on the photos of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange discussed in my first essay on photography. Production designer Ken Adam was also inspired by the look of Edward Hopper paintings. (Hopper is looked at in my essay on art.) And "Pennies" was shot by that modern master of brooding light Gordon Willis.

The singers mouth the lyrics from original '30's songs, including "The Street Singer" Arthur Tracy (1899-1997) title tune, lip-synched by dancer Vernal Bagneris as golden pennies cascade from above. The cheery lyrics and the often bleak look of the film caused some critics to complain.

@2009 David Lee Guss Neo-film noir, "Pennies From Heaven," 1981, lightning, monsoon summer storm, Casa Grande, Arizona, 2004

Another 1949 released noir; this RKO production stared the delightful child actor Bobby Driscoll (1937-1968). He won a special Aademy Award for "the outstanding juvenile actor of 1949." His end was tragic, too sad to talk about here.

"The Window" was directed by former cinematographer Ted Tetzlaff (1903-1995) who did such a memorable job on Sir Alfred's 1946 RKO noir "Notorious." "Window" was based on a story by Cornell Woolrich (1903-1968), the eccentric loner whose works were the basis for many noirs. Nobody attended his funeral.

NOTE: An archival, signed, limited edition, matte C-print can be purchased at my eBay gallery store-

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@2009 David Lee Guss Film noir homage, "The Window," 1949, Eloy, Arizona, 2004

Edmund O'Brien (1915-1985) began his acting career appearing in three distinguished Shakesperean productions: Mark Anthony in Orson Welles' Mercury Production of "Julius Caesar," the Gravedigger in John Gielgud's "Hamlet" and Mercutio in Laurence Olivier's "Romeo and Juliet." His first film was a plumb role in RKO's 1939 "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

Other film noir roles of his are in "A Double Life," "The Hitch-Hiker," "The Killers," and "White Heat."

Late career roles include his old timer in "The Wild Bunch" and a reunion with Orson Welles in "The Other Side of the Wind." O'Brien acted with Duke Wayne in John Ford's final masterpiece, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." (1962)

"D.O.A" was partly shot on location in San Francisco. One scene where O'Brien runs madly (after learning he would be dead shortly from poison) through the streets looks so real it must have been shot with a hidden camera in a moving vehicle. The film also shot in the ornate Bradbury Building (1893) In Los Angeles, as was Billy Wilder's famous film noir "Double Indemnity." The Bradbury was redressed and used in the futuristic "Blade Runner." The Bradbury has intricate lacework (made in France of wrought iron) and a fabulous skylight filling the interior with glorious sunshine. Most late 19th century buildings were gloomy inside.

@2009 David Lee Guss Film noir homage, "D.O.A." 2, Black Canyon, Arizona, 2004-2008

Another film based on a Cornell Woolrich literary work.

@2009 David Lee Guss Film noir homage,"Night Has a Thousand Eyes," Tombstone, Arizona, 2004

This is another vintage Richard Widmark noir; shot in the bombed out rubble of post war London. Black listed director Jules Dassin (1911-2008) also shot "The Naked City," "Brute Force," and "Thieves Highway," all classic film noirs.



@2009 David Lee Guss Johnny Gibson Health and Gym Equipment window, downtown, Tucson, Arizona, 1982-2008

"Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) disturbed some critics because the Arthur Penn directed film romanticized killers. Clyde Barrow (1909-1934) was a ruthless psychopath, much worse than his contemporary John Dillinger (1903-1934) 1968-2008

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@2009 David Lee Guss "Bonnie & Clyde" poster, Death Valley California, 1968-2008

Similar in theme to William Wyler's "Desperate Hours," but a much better film from the husband and wife team of Andrew and Virginia Stone. The auteur John Cassavetes (1929-1989) wrote and directed his first independent film, "Shadows," four years later in 1959.

NOTE: An archival, signed, limited edition, matte C-print is available for purchase in my eBay gallery store-
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A 200 year archival matte or canvas wrapped print, unframed or framed, is available for purchase in my deviantART galley: fav.me/d2ktalx

@2009 David Lee Guss Minnesota State Fair Midway, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1966-2008

"The Big Sleep" is one of the defining film noirs, starring Bogie and his new bride Lauren Bacall. There are two versions of this film, the second added some William Faulkner (1897-1962) written repartee. Director Howard Hawks hired the Nobel Prize winning writer when they both needed each other. Their last collaboration, "Land of the Pharaohs," was so ill received that Hawks retired from filming until he returned four years later with the classic "Rio Bravo" starring Duke Wayne and a surprisingly effective Dean Martin (1917-1996).

Humphrey DeForest Bogart (1899-1957) died in his sleep of throat cancer. John Huston in delivering the eulogy at the funeral said that, "He is quite irreplacable. There will never be anybody like him."

@2009 David Lee Guss Film noir homage, The Big Sleep, skull radio, Jerome, Arizona, 1968-2008

The man in black, in a trench coat, is on a dusty street in Old Tucson, Arizona at dusk. It looks like a 1940's era coat worn by Robert Mitchum in his many RKO Radio film noirs. The reclusive Josef Sudek (1896-1976), the poet of Prague, shot few people, but he would have been fascinated by the late afternoon melancholy light. It was quite chilly, on that dead of winter January day.

NOTE: An archival, limited edition, signed matte C-print can be purchased at my eBay gallery store-
stores.ebay.com/David-Lee-Guss-rare-photos-gallery__W0QQ_...

A 200 year archival matte or canvas wrapped print, unframed or framed, is available for purchase in my deviantART gallery: fav.me/p10949838

@2009 David Lee Guss Homage, Josef Sudek 2 , Johnny Cash, Old Tucson, Arizona, 1971-2008

The man in black, in a trench coat, is on a dusty street in Old Tucson, Arizona at dusk. It looks like a 1940's era coat worn by Robert Mitchum in his many RKO Radio film noirs. The reclusive Josef Sudek (1896-1976), the poet of Prague, shot few people, but he would have been fascinated by the late afternoon melancholy light. It was quite chilly, on that dead of winter January day.

@2009 David Lee Guss Homage, Josef Sudek 1 , Johnny Cash, Old Tucson, Arizona, 1971-2008

The film noir "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" was Kirk Douglas' first film. He played the spineless husband of predator Barbara Stanwyck. A year later he was cast as the brutal criminal in "Past." His final noir was Billy Wilders' heartless noir "Ace in the Hole," also known as "The Big Carnival" (1951).

@2009 David Lee Guss Film noir homage, Kirk Douglas, close-up, Old Tucson, Arizona, 1971-2009

Film noir, or dark film, is characterized by brooding, contrasty light with expressive shadows, rain splattered streets, flashing neon signs, and flawed anti-heroes in trench coats who are fated to fail, often ensnared by duplicitous women. Classic noir lasted from 1940 to 1960, although scholars differ on the exact years. It reached its high point from 1946 to 1950, as America was in a numbed state of post WW2 cynicism. Neo-noir (in color) is still with us.

Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan and Richard Widmark are the actors most associated with noir. Both Mitchum and Ryan appeared in 13 noir and post noirs, many at RKO Radio which specialized in the (black and white) noir style.


QUOTES FROM HIS FILM NOIRS:

"Cape Fear"
Barry Chase: What do you know about scenery? Or beauty? Or any of the things that really make life worth living? You're just an animal-coarse, muscled barbaric."
Robert Mitchum: "You keep right on talking honey. I like the way you run me down like that."

"The Big Steal"
Jane Greer: "Stop calling me Chiquita. You don't say that to girls you don't even know."
Robert Mitchum: "Where I learned Spanish you do."
Jane Greer: "What I like about you is that you're rock bottom. I wouldn't expect you to understand this, but it is a great comfort for a girl to know that she could not possibly sink any lower."

NOTE: An archival, limited edition, signed, matte C-print can be purchased at my eBay gallery store-
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As well as from page 11 in my Etsay shop: www.etsy.com/shop/davidleeguss

@2009 David Lee Guss Robert Mitchum, noir icon. Old Tucson, Arizona, 1968-2008