Noir Alley

[Snarky Oracle!]

It's not exactly noir, but 1956's THE BAD SEED (which I'm rewatching this morning) does a pretty good job of analyzing childhood sociopathy for a '50s movie. An "adorable" little girl (played by Patty McCormick, who would boink Mitch Cooper 25 years later on DALLAS) is a ruthless, born-bad narcissist killer.

Her increasingly-distraught mother is played by Nancy Kelly (if you doubt the validity of astrology, just watch Miss Kelly in this picture -- a Sun in Aries/Moon in Libra like Gloria Swanson, who could be her older twin sister, even down to the voice) who gradually begins to realize her precious daughter is the definition of all evil.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Oh, here's a good one -- THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1947):

 

[ClassyCo]

I like watching this guy's channel. He's good some good noir suggestions in this video, some we've already discussed.

 

[ClassyCo]

10 Film Noir Movies That Were Almost Perfect https://collider.com/film-noir-movies-almost-perfect/

 

[Crimson]

I don't know why I've never watched IN A LONELY PLACE (1950) before, especially since it stars two of my favorite actors of the era. Some years back, I think I read a middling review of the movie and it just got added to my "I won't bother" mental list.

What a shame, because the movie is great! Stylish and cynical but also a reasonable facsimile of realism, the entire film has an air of doomed romanticism and ever present threat. At no point did I anticipate the plot twists.



Next up, perhaps, is THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (1947) with Bogie and Stanwyck; I've also avoided that one for no apparent reason.