Jim Doherty wrote:
> First of all, different techniques are used to
set
> atmoshpere and mood in different mediums. In
radio,
> it would be set by sound effects. In prose by
words.
> Film, being a visual medium, sets it by
images.
>
> That's why THE LITTLE SISTER is noir, while the
fairly
> faithful 1969 film version, MARLOWE, is not.
The
> former uses words to set a dark and
sinister
> atmoshere. The latter (in sharp contrast to
the
> Chandler adaptations done in the '40's) does not
use
> visual imagery to set a dark and sinister
atmosphere.
NIGHT MOVES has always been one of the films I most
considered noir. Yet from your definition as I understand it
above, it would not qualify. Well, the daytime scenes
wouldn't.
I'm not trying to be argumentative, but a definition of noir
that categorizes things by time of day or interior/exterior
doesn't serve me very well. There are scenes in the 1969
MARLOWE film that are very dark and sinister, yet most of the
film has a brightly-lit daytime quality. Even the
oft-proclaimed "quintessential" noir film OUT OF THE PAST has
plenty of bright, sunshine-y scenes. Semi-noir,
perhaps?
Jim Beaver
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