They don’t make ’em like Samuel Dashiell Hammett (1894 – 1961) anymore. A veteran of both world wars AND a Pinkerton Agent, Sam wrote what he knew. And what he knew was far more interesting than your average person. A product of the D.M.V. (D.C., Maryland, Virginia NOT the Dept. of Motor Vehicles), Hammett was… Continue reading Dashiell Hammett: Pinkerton Detective Turned Hardboiled Writer
Tag: Film History
Why We Love Film Noir
I once made the acquaintance of a man who told me he never watched a movie that was made before 1977 (because Star Wars debuted in ‘77). This shithead went to film school and he just wrote off everything made during the Golden Age of Hollywood. There’s a word that describes that kind of person,… Continue reading Why We Love Film Noir
Orson Welles, Fritz Lang and the Art of Cinematography and Film Editing (as well as the recipe to Fritz’s Blue Martini)
I was going to write an article about how influential Orson Welles and Fritz Lang were for us and many other people in our industry and then the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences went and pissed a lot of people off with their decision to present the awards for makeup and hairstyling, live-action… Continue reading Orson Welles, Fritz Lang and the Art of Cinematography and Film Editing (as well as the recipe to Fritz’s Blue Martini)
Influences of Film Noir
We’re gonna take a deep dive into Film Noir. It’s an aesthetic that’s as American as apple pie, meaning it was shaped in America but influenced from people elsewhere as well. I’m gonna break this down to a few categories. 1.) The content, the story 2.) The cinematography, what is the look. 3.) The sound. I’ll… Continue reading Influences of Film Noir