As I found myself in Connecticut this weekend, I stopped off at the Hill-Stead Museum to visit the exhibit Radical Spirits: Tarot, Automatism, and Feminist Histories put together by the collective Hilma’s Ghost (named of course for Hilma af Klint): Hilma’s Ghost, named after af Klint, is a feminist artist collective consisting of Brooklyn-based artists and…
Surreal Noir is back!
Back from our summer break it’s SURREAL NOIR crossing your airwaves once more at No Bounds Radio. Another jam-packed episode airs tonight, this time skewing more noir than surreal as most of the recent episodes have veered the other way. Tonight’s episode dwells on Letty Lynton, which you may recall is a film, a novel…
Carmilla (2019)
I feel perpetually late to the party on just about everything these days; mirroring real life I suppose as I am always late to any party (because who wants to be first? Unless it’s a good friend and then I get there early to make sure I can talk to them before the party starts…
The Falcon Takes Over (1942)
A loose adaptation of Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely with George Sanders as the Falcon instead of Marlowe, which more or less means the same plot but instead of Marlowe muttering we have Sanders kissing all the girls — almost literally! And he swans about in his white tie and tails about which I’ve no complaint….
That Uncertain Feeling (1941)
Stumbling across this yesterday I wondered why I hadn’t seen this film. Apart from the stellar cast, it’s directed by Ernest Lubisch and scripted by Donald Ogden Stewart (from the French play by Victorien Sardou, whose works include the drama that became Tosca the opera and dozens of other plays). But surely I had…something about…
Murrain (1975)
By the by: if you’re on Letterboxd, let’s connect: I’m here. Sometimes you just need a nudge to get something done. Andy Miller tweeted that he wrote about the challenge of ‘getting back to normal’ for the NYT and about heading to London to celebrate Kneale’s centenary. He’s come to same conclusion as many: ‘normal’…
Memoria (2021)
I am so glad pal Stephanie urged me to go out and see this when I was feeling tired and dispirited and short on time between returning from Scotland and heading to Michigan. Apparently writer/director Apichatpong Weerasethakul intends to only play this in theatres on tour (though the good news is it’s also described as…
The Screaming Mimi (1958)
I’m not sure why I never got around to seeing this until now — I blame No Context Noir for posting screenshots. I have had the Frederic Brown novel in a glorious paperback that I paid too much for to Hal the Bookie (RIP) because he could be so persuasive and because it was supposed…
In the Howff
Hares or rabbits? You tell me. I’m guessing from the white tail, rabbits. Seagulls a plenty, starlings, a magpie I couldn’t quite capture with the phone. I was struck by their proximity to the grave of a veterinarian. Wee daisies. And unexpected augmentation of a cherub. Such a peaceful oasis in central Dundee.
The Big Clock (1948)
THE BIG CLOCK (1948) is another John Farrow-directed noir(ish) and quite a bit snappier overall than NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES, though less interesting beyond that slick surface — but what a surface! Milland and Laughton of course, and a criminally underused O’Sullivan, but the shine is in the supporting cast who really give the…
K. A. Laity 