Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir
The first film analysis podcast
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Comment Moderation is Turned On
A note to the Out of the Past audience: Due to an increase in spam postings, I have to turn on comment moderation. It means that if you leave a comment on one of our episodes, it will not show up immediately. I have to approve each post. Thanks for your understanding. ~Richard Edwards, co-ho ...
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Episode 47: Bob Le Flambeur (with Howard Rodman and Mike White)
Howard Rodman and Mike White are this episodeâs guest investigators. Rodman and White discuss Jean-Pierre Melvilleâs great 1956 film, Bob Le Flambeur. Howard Rodman is a screenwriter, novelist and USC film professor. His most recent screen credits include Savage Grace and August. Mike White is the p ...
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Episode 46: Thieves Highway (with Eddie Muller)
Thanks to listener support, Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noiris a featured podcast at iTunes, has generated nearly 200,000 downloads worldwide, and has a per-episode audience of over 4,000. With such a record of success, Clute and Edwards are now able to reach out to a wide range of noir scho ...
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Noircon 2008: The Official Podcast Day 3: Cybernoir Panel
Shannon Clute, Seth Harwood, and Richard Edwards presented this Cybernoir panel on April 5th, 2008, as part of the Noircon Conference in Philadelphia. Clute and Edwards kick things off with a discussion of how noir style and pulp publishing models seem to provide the fundamental structuring logics o ...
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Noircon 2008: The Official Podcast Day 3: Wise Guys and Femmes Fatale
Wise guys and femmes fatale form the central focus of these next panel discussions from Noircon 2008. In the first half of the podcast, Clute and Edwards talk with authors George Anastasia and Anthony Bruno. Anastasia and Bruno are two seasoned mob-watchers who uncover life on the mean streets-Phill ...
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Noircon 2008: The Official Podcast Day 2: Editors and Publishers Tackle Noir
Clute and Edwards discuss the editing and publishing of noir fiction with three members of this Day 2 Noircon panel: Charles Ardai, Stacia Decker, and Michael Langnas. Charles Ardai is the editor and publisher of the Hard Case Crime series. Stacia Decker is an editor who has worked with such writers ...
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Noircon 2008: The Official Podcast Day 2: George Lippard and Philly Noir
Philadelphia noir is the focus of two panels at Noircon 2008. The first panel presents the historical moment, cultural milieu and writings of the 19th century Philly writer George Lippard. Ed Petit and Robert Polito make a compelling case to consider Lippard an important proto-noir author, an author ...
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Noircon 2008: The Official Podcast Day One
Day One: Opening Night. Noircon 2008 opens at the Society Hill Playhouse in Philadelphia, PA. Clute and Edwards kick off this special podcast mini-series coverage with short interviews from the opening night reception. They talk with film critic Irv Slifkin, authors Gary Phillips, Seth Harwood, Ken ...
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Noircon Announcement: April 3 to April 6, 2008
Make travel plans now to join Clute and Edwards in Philadelphia, April third to sixth 2008, where they'll be podcasting from the NoirCon conference. The hottest noir writers, screenwriters, filmmakers, scholars, webmasters, graphic artists, and publishers will attend this unique conference, which at ...
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Episode 45: Force of Evil
FORCE OF EVIL shows us that small-time graft is less dangerous than big-time rackets that have the law, the trust of the public, and the appearance of respectability on their side. Ultimately, the crime is the system itself, and the very philosophical underpinnings of capitalism are liable. And whil ...
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Episode 44: Brick
Rian Johnson's superlative 2005 debut film BRICK is neither a nostalgic tribute nor a modern reaction to noir style. But due to the conditions surrounding its production, it has more in common with classic noir than most films that play overtly with noir tradition: stiletto-tongued hard-boiled dialo ...
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Eddie Muller Interview: Noir City 6, and More!
The Czar of Noir joins Clute and Edwards to discuss the upcoming Noir City film festival, and the various fiction and film projects he has in the works.
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Episode 43: They Live By Night
THEY LIVE BY NIGHT is film noir at its best. Edward Anderson's little-known hard-boiled rural bandit novel is made into a screenplay as lean as the post-war dreams of its players. The shifty camera frames every sucker that comes its way, making them false promises then plunging each into a darkness ...
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Episode 42: The Ice Harvest
This special episode of OUT OF THE PAST is full of holiday surprises. Clute and Edwards investigate the 2005 neo-noir Christmas comedy THE ICE HARVEST, then speak with Scott Phillips, author of the 2000 hardboiled novel on which the film is based. While the book contains its share of dark humor, it ...
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Episode 41: The Glass Key and Miller's Crossing
Stuart Heisler's 1942 film THE GLASS KEY retained the personages and major plot twists of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel by the same name, but wiped the grim off the original tale. By cleaning up the characters and their motives, the film missed an opportunity to picture its stellar cast (Dunlevy, La ...
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Episode 40: Gilda
Rita Hayworth is GILDA. From the flip of her fiery hair to the reprise of her incendiary song, she sizzles the celluloid and burns herself indelibly into our collective consciousness. In fact, her presence so scorches that we are apt to miss the technical artistry of this film. Rudolph Mat??'s super ...
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Episode 39: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Shane Black's 2005 KISS KISS BANG BANG is a film of delirious contradictions. It is part comedy, part tragedy, a bawdy pulp parody and a heartfelt hardboiled homage. The mix would be too eclectic if the film didn't constantly signal its awareness that it is doing something that should be impossibl ...
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Episode 38: I Wake Up Screaming
I Wake Up Screaming was produced concurrently with The Maltese Falcon and released shortly after, and thus stands as one of the earliest examples of noir. The Maltese Falcon is the more uniform achievement, successfully coupling a consistent noir visual style with noir themes of disillusionment. But ...
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Episode 37: Body Heat
With its throwback hardboiled script and careful restaging of iconic noir shots, Lawrence Kasdan's 1981 BODY HEAT is a noteworthy neo-noir. However, it is no mere nostalgia piece, but rather a daring updating of the tradition: Kathleen Turner's sizzling portrayal of a femme fatale inspired such dive ...
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Episode 36: His Kind of Woman
"His Kind Of Woman" makes viewers aware of what they expect from noir by disappointing their expectations. The film moves quickly from the down and out digs of gambler Dan Milner (Mitchum) to a sunbathed beachside resort in Mexico. There, it takes its time setting up a complicated intrigue involving ...
Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir
