A Reel Education: Noir

In this week’s episode, we go back to our Robert Mitchum well with a screening of the original Cape Fear!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because Robert Mitchum demands it. This film can currently be rented from Amazon, YouTube, and iTunes.

Please join us again on December 7th when we follow up with Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake of Cape Fear!

The post Episode 37: Cape Fear (1962) appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.

In this week’s episode, we watch a film that made a star out of Bob Hoskins: The Long Good Friday!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because it’s amazing and it has Helen Mirren in it. This film can be a challenge to find right now, since the Criterion Collection DVD has long been out of print (spine #25!), but DVDs and Blu-Rays from various other publishers can be found on Amazon for a reasonable price. (Stray illicit streaming copies can also be found around the internet, but we didn’t see any right now that were of good quality.)

Please join us on November 21st when we visit the original Cape Fear!

The post Episode 36: The Long Good Friday appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.

In this week’s episode, we get our James Mason on with a viewing of Odd Man Out!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because this film is fascinating. This film can be rented on Amazon Prime, and is available on DVD.

Please join us on November 7th when we continue forward in British film history with a film that made a star out of Bob Hoskins: The Long Good Friday!

The post Episode 35: Odd Man Out appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.

In this week’s episode, we look at William Friedkin’s 1970s remake of Wages of Fear, Sorcerer!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because this is a film to be experienced. This film can be rented in HD on Amazon Prime, and is available on DVD and Blu-Ray in all its restored glory.

Please join us on October 21st when we go back into the world of British film noir with Odd Man Out!

The post Episode 34: Sorcerer appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.

In this week’s episode, we take a look at Henri-Georges Clouzot’s masterpiece of tension, Le salaire de la peur, aka The Wages of Fear!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because this is a film you have to witness. This film is part of The Criterion Collection, so it can be found streaming on Hulu Plus, iTunes, and Amazon Prime, as well as on an excellent two-DVD/Blu-Ray set.

If you are interested in how nitroglycerin actually explodes (or just what a nitroglycerin explosion looks like in slow motion), here’s a nice little YouTube video.

Please join us on October 7th when we visit John Frankenheimer’s 1970s remake of The Wages of Fear: Sorcerer!

The post Episode 33: The Wages of Fear appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.

In this week’s episode, we welcome playwright/actor Kelvin Hatle to our table as we discuss what happens when Fritz Lang directs a western: Rancho Notorious!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because you really must witness at least the drinking game scene. This film is available on DVD from Amazon and can probably be found a few other select places. (Beware of the streaming copy on DailyMotion, which is missing scenes.)

Please join us on September 21st for an episode about the French masterpiece of tension: The Wages of Fear!

The post Episode 32: Rancho Notorious appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.

In this week’s episode, we have a grand time talking about all that cake in Fritz Lang’s Ministry of Fear!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because it’s loads of fun and we don’t want to spoil it for you. This film is available on DVD from Amazon and elsewhere, and if you’re lucky, there might still be an illicit copy of the whole film hanging out on YouTube.

Please join us on September 7th for the third and final movie in our Fritz Lang triple feature: Rancho Notorious!

The post Episode 31: Ministry of Fear appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.

In this week’s episode, we thoroughly enjoy a movie banned personally by Joseph Goebbels: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because the second part of the episode will probably make no sense whatsoever if you don’t. This film is easily available via a great 2-disc set released by Criterion, and is also currently available streaming on Hulu Plus.

Please join us on August 21st for second movie in our Fritz Lang triple feature: Ministry of Fear!

The post Episode 30: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.

In this week’s episode, we take a long look at the only film ever directed by Charles Laughton: Night of the Hunter!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because we not only discuss spoilers, but we talk about them at length. This film is easily available on DVD, and is also available on many rental streaming channels (Vudu, Amazon, Google Play, etc.)

We apologize for the late delivery of this episode, once again. When you hear our audio on this episode, you’ll understand why. We wound up recording outside the Trylon Theater, so we were plagued by road noise and questionable acoustics unique to the interior of a Honda Civic. We did a lot of cleanup on the audio, but the results are less than perfect. But we had a really great discussion about the film, so we hope the quality of our discussion makes up for the quality of the audio. It will be better next time!

Please join us on August 7th for one of the amazing pre-Noir films of Fritz Lang: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse!

The post Episode 29: Night of the Hunter appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.

In this week’s episode, we revisit Samuel Fuller’s filmography with a viewing of The Naked Kiss!

We highly recommend you watch the film before listening to the episode, because we dive straight into discussion. This film is available on Hulu Plus, Amazon, and iTunes.

We apologize for the late delivery of this episode. Scheduling issues and a computer changeover are to blame. But fear not! The next episode will arrive on July 21st, just a few days from now. Please join us then for the only film directed by acting legend Charles Laughton: Night of the Hunter!

The post Episode 28: The Naked Kiss appeared first on A Reel Education: Noir.