Film Noir

Film noir movies, what are they? There are a lot of answers, but some characteristics that regularly come up are:

·         Filmed in black and white, and dark with stark lighting

·         The protagonist is an anti-hero with moral ambiguity

·         The antagonist is a femme fatale

·         Taut language

Some movies you might know: The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity.

For serious film buffs – I’m not trying set myself up as a film expert, I’m just trying to set the stage for some book talk.

I interviewed Laura Lippman on Sunburn, a book in the film noir style. “Dreamers become schemers” was Laura’s take on film noir. Love it! Talk about economy of words.

Two Sides is a podcast about books and reading. What’s with the film talk?

I’m leading up to books; to books I haven’t read. It has long been on my mind to do some reading here. Arguably, the big three writers are Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain. Best I can recall, I’ve never read any of them. I’m well-aware of them but have never gotten to their books.

Here are some books on my mind:

Raymond Chandler

·         The Big Sleep

·         Farewell, My Lovely

·         The Long Goodbye

Dashiell Hamett

·         The Maltese Falcon

James M. Cain

·         The Postman Always Rings Twice

·         Double Indemnity

·         Mildred Pierce

What about you? Interested in reading these books? Already read them? Let us know at twosides2thestory@yahoo.com