The World of Classic Noir in 5 Items
By Dave Comello
About once a week, I go to my friend John’s place. We make dinner, pour some drinks, and head into his heated garage to watch a noir film. We call it the Noir Lounge.
Every time we enter the world of classic noir, we see a lot of the same items pop up over and over again. Many are just common, everyday objects used in the background or as props, but they can also become essential elements to the stories and style of film noir.
Here are 5 of these items that best represent the genre, along with a noir film I love that features each item in some way.
Typewriter
Double Indemnity (1944)
Considering most, if not all, noir movie scripts and stories were all manually typed out, this movie deserves top billing. It has all the items on this list that you will find in almost every noir. Some hidden behind open doors, some carefully placed in office desk drawers, and some emitting the fragrant lure of the femme fatale. Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) is the dutiful insurance salesman typing up claims while confessing through voiceover throughout the movie. Barbara Stanwyck (that sweater!) and Edward G. Robinson (that cigar!) are so perfect for this film, and Billy Wilder’s screenplay and direction set the stage for more headlining noir films in Hollywood.
Cigarettes
The Asphalt Jungle (1955)
What’s a black-and-white movie without fantastic cigarette smoke and matches? My favorite match scene flashes by quickly as Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden, that voice!), an ex-con on a new caper, delivers it in his own surly way. Every time I watch this I am always hoping the heist will come off without a hitch, but everyone’s hopes and dreams get kicked to the curb, run over by a truck, or brought to a screeching halt. Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern, that mustache!) on the city’s criminals: “Oh, nothing’s so different about them. After all, crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor.”
Bonus: Murder, My Sweet (1944) - A lot of smoke and mirrors in this movie, which has private detective Phillip Marlowe (Dick Powell) trying to find a mug’s girlfriend Velma (Claire Trevor, that wardrobe!) and really taking a beating along the way.
Gun
The Killers (1946)
Two strangers from New York walk into a small-town café (or “one-armed joint”). They like their steaks sizzling hot, fast, and well done. They’ll show these bumpkins how to serve it up right… with some heat! Burt Lancaster can’t keep his peepers off Ava Gardner (those shoulders!). Edmond O'Brien, Charles McGraw, William Conrad, and Jack Lambert are just some of the amazing cast.
Bonus: Obsession (1949) - The gun is used in a prominent but surprising way in this clever noir from Hollywood exile Edward Dymtryk.
Bourbon
Out Of The Past (1947)
Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) sits in a small Mexican cantina and orders bourbon—not beer, not rum, not tequila. He sits and sips alone at a table while waiting for someone. Jeff sees her coming through the darkened doorway and throws caution to the wind: “You’re gonna find it very easy to take me anywhere.” Was it the bourbon?
Bonus: Kiss Me Deadly (1955) - You’ll find Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) where you find all private dicks or dismantled men: slouching on a bar stool ordering bourbon. Christina Bailey (Cloris Leachman) starts Mike on his journey.
Radio
Detour (1945)
Jukeboxes, record players, radios—they all send out classic ‘40s big-band sounds into the swanky nightclubs and smoke-filled bars of noir. In this movie, Al Roberts (Tom Neal) casts longing looks and plays piano in the lounge for Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake), who wants to make it big in California. She agrees to let lovelorn Al come out for a visit after she finds a new job singing. Along the way he calls frequently just to hear her voice, but then picks up a hitchhiking Vera (Ann Savage) at a roadside cafe. Now he can’t get Sue or her song out of his head and can’t seem to get Vera out of his life. A lot can happen along an unexpected detour.