Film Noir and Jazz (3 Viewers)

[Kermit McDermott]

Big fan of the ol' Film Noir.

It's now become cliche, the rainy night, the downbeat voice over and the lonely kind of blue style jazz playing in the background.

But I can't really think of a film noir from the 40's or 50's that has a Jazz soundtrack. Is there a particular film from that era where this cliche originated?

 

[ratmonkey]

Not from that era, but I reckon Chinatown is your man. Your classic noirs predated that sound.

 

[ann post]

if this wasnt stupidly expensive i'd recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0275973018/?tag=thumpedcom-20

i havent read it though. if it was 3 euro i'd recommend it.

 

[Ferox13]

One of my faves - sleazey as hell:

 

[Vinnie]

Generally in classic film noir the only place you'll hear something resembling a jazz track is in the club where the cop first meets the dame and she sings a haunting melody or there's a big band playing a happy be-bop song completely at odds with the mood. You might get another song when he returns to duff up the club owner or set up the fix. Cool jazz was still a few years from happening so the scores are mostly a mix of sparse haunting solos and those big avant garde dramatic crecendos.

 

[Thebeard]

Haven't seen Ascenseur pour l'échafaud but my mate tells me it's pretty good. Jean Moreau is in it and the soundtrack is absolutely amazing. Miles Davis recorded it live while watching the film. One of my favorite Davis albums.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Not directly related to all this but have any of ye seen The Informer (1935) directed by John Ford. It's set during the Irish War of Independence. It doesn't have the same subject matter of the Noir films but the cinematography points directly towards the later films, it's proto-Noir if you will . I picked it up for €7.99 in Superquinn. Well worth a look.

 

[Ferox13]

Great film that....

 

[Jasper]

BBC4 had a great Film Noir series before xmas with a programme called "The Rules of Film Noir". I basically downloaded all the films mentioned and am making my way through them at the moment. You can definitely get it on torrent.

You might be interested in this - 14 tracks influenced by Film Noir.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

I did Film Noir as a module as an undergraduate. That was a great auld module. We watched a film a week.

 

[Kermit McDermott]

One of my favourites. The unfortunately titled.....