From Hitchcock to Welles: Leopold And Loeb On Film

Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were two college boys, brilliant and mad, who decided to kill a younger boy in 1924 to see if they could commit the “perfect crime.” After they were caught, their trial turned into a media circus—the “trial of the century” starring their world famous lawyer Clarence Darrow. He was a hell of a lawyer, and he saved them from the hangman’s noose. They got life, plus ninety-nine years. When one of them was murdered in prison just a few years after their incarceration, the papers mocked his passing. The other boy served thirty-plus years, got out, married, and died of natural causes as an old man.

Why are we still so fascinated with Leopold and Loeb? It’s been nearly a hundred years since they murdered a fourteen-year-old named Bobby Franks, but we’re still talking about the case. Numerous books have been written about them and nearly as many movies have been inspired by their crime. As recently as 2005 there was an Off-Broadway musical about them. What’s the appeal?

For more, read my essay over at Criminal Element.

NOIRCON 2012

I'm very excited to announce that I'll be featured on a panel at this year's NoirCon in Philadelphia. I'll be joining the writers Peter Farris, Vicki Hendricks, Jonathan Woods, and moderator Joe Samuel Starnes for a discussion of Southern Noir. Our panel, called "Good Country People: The Deranged Preachers, Crazed Cops, and Other N'er-Do-Wells of Southern Noir" will be held at 11am on Friday, November 9th at the Society Hill Playhouse.

Go here for more information about NOIRCON 2012. Hope to see you there.

Happy Birthday to the Queen

In honor of the birthday of Lizabeth Scott, the Queen of Noir, I thought I would post a link to my appreciation of her work.

So click here to read more about Queen Liz and her incomparable contribution to film noir.

Happy Birthday, Ms. Scott!

Fall Issue of NOIR CITY Arrives!

The new issue of NOIR CITY is out, and I'm in it with a couple of new essays:

Women In Trouble: A look at the "crisis pregnancy noir" that started to appear in the late 40s and early fifties. I use films like NO MAN OF HER OWN, DETECTIVE STORY, THE NAKED STREET, and many more, to examine shifting attitudes toward sex, birth control, abortion, and women's bodies--issues still clearly important today.

Children of the Night: A look at the place of children in noir. Sometimes they were just props, other times they were used as witnesses to the failures of adults. In a handful of instances they were the protagonists, and sometimes they were even the villains. Films discussed include: THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, PITFALL, THE BIG HEAT, THE WINDOW, TALK ABOUT A STRANGER and a lot more.

The whole issue is another killer production from the Film Noir Foundation. Eddie Muller interviews William Friedkin about KILLER JOE (a movie I'm still trying to wrap my head around), Imogen Sara Smith examines the life and career of the wonderful Jan Sterling, and Vince Keenan interviews photographer Jonah Samson and and filmmaker Susan Marks. Keenan also kicks off a new column that mixes two of life's great pleasures (crime fiction and alcohol) with an overview of three new Hard Case Crime books and some cocktail suggestions.

Go over to the Film Noir Foundation and check it out.

A Beginner's Guide To Japanese Noir

Want to see what film noir looked like when it hit Japan in the late fifties? (Hint: it looked awesome as hell.) I have a new essay over at Criminal Element, a primer on the down and very dirty world of Japanese Noir.

Read A Beginner's Guide To Japanese Noir.

BEAT TO A PULP: SUPERHERO

I'm thrilled to announce that my story "The Long Drop" kicks off the new e-book collection BEAT TO A PULP: SUPERHERO. These are hardboiled crime stories with a superhero spin from writers like Keith Rawson, James Reasoner, Sandra Seamans, and many more. Here's the best part, you can get these thirteen tales of tights and twists for only a buck. That's right, for less than a comic book, you get thirteen inventive takes on the superhero genre.

Go here for a free preview of my story "The Long Drop"

The Triumphs of Orson Welles

Here's a link to a fun post by Edward Benjamin called 10 Triumphs Of Orson Welles. It trumpets one of my favorite causes--the fight against the idea that Welles was some kind of one-trick pony (that pony's name being Charles Foster Kane). I've been over this ground a lot in this space, so I won't re-preach that particular gospel again, but I would like to add five favorite Welles projects to the list of his accomplishments.

 1. THE TRIAL- Welles does Kafka. The results are a hypnotic (and subtly hilarious) artistic fusion. I can't stress enough how much I love this movie.

2. F FOR FAKE- Welles reinvents the documentary as a surrealist essay on art and expertise. A bizarre film, wholly unlike anything else you've ever seen.

3. TOUCH OF EVIL His pulp masterpiece. Classic American noir never got this insane again (for that, you have to go to Japan).

4. THIS IS ORSON WELLES- His interview book with Peter Bogdanovich. Occasionally, people will ask me where they should start their reading about Welles. This book is a treasure, like sitting with the man himself while he sips wine and tells stories.

5. The closing argument in COMPULSION- Welles wasn't really needed in Richard Fleischer's haunting film treatment of the Leopold and Loeb murder case--the murderers themselves are the real show--but he's brought in halfway through as their defense attorney because someone felt the movie needed a protagonist who isn't a child-killing sociopath.  Nevertheless, Welles is absolutely mesmerizing in his final speech, a testament to what an effective screen presence he could be.