Orson Welles at 100: THE STRANGER (1946)

Over at Criminal Element I have a new installment up in my series on the centennial of Orson Welles. This time around I'm talking about THE STRANGER, which is widely acknowledged as one of Welles's failed films. Welles himself treated the film like an unloved child because it was the one that he "did for the studios." It was the one time he tried to make a Hollywood film in a way that would impress the studios. The funny thing, of course, is that the film is entertaining from beginning to end. I never tire of watching it. So if it is a failure, then we have to say it's a failure that only Orson Welles could have made. Which, I suppose, is another way of saying that it's a failed experiment which shows us exactly why Welles was never a good fit for the Hollywood system.

Click here to read my piece on THE STRANGER.

Orson Welles At 100: CITIZEN KANE (1941)

I'm over at Criminal Element with the new installment in my series on Orson Welles At 100. Time to tackle the big one: CITIZEN KANE.

NOIR CITY: The Comix Issue

The new issue of Noir City is here, and it is a beauty. Great contributions from Steve Kronenberg, Imogen Sara Smith, and Eddie Muller--and some really standout work from art director and designer Michael Kronenberg. The focus of the issue is comix and noir, and features a big interview with Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, the team behind the brilliant series THE FADE-OUT.

The book also features a couple of articles by yours truly: first up,  a piece on BATMAN: YEAR ONE which might be the most noir Batman story ever. 

My other article is the newest installment in my series on Poverty Row Professionals: a career overview of director W. Lee Wilder. Wilder was the older brother of Billy Wilder, and he's been overlooked for years, but he's a really fascinating figure. He stayed an independent on Poverty Row his entire career, and while his films are bargain budget productions, they have a theme so unified that it counts as an obsession: the predatory older man who stalks an impressionable young woman.

Check out Noir City Spring Issue 2015.

Nice review of THE BLIND ALLEY

Scott Adlerberg has written a really smart review of THE BLIND ALLEY for the great new website The Life Sentence. Check it out. While you're there, you should also read Lisa Levy's insightful interview with Laura Lippmann. No one is better that Lippmann, and this is one of the best interviews I've ever read with her.

Letter From Lyon

above: A Couple of Goons

I wrote about my adventures with Benjamin Whitmer​ at the Quais Du Polar​ in Lyon, France.

You can read "Letter To Lyon" over at Criminal Element.

Noir At The Bar: CHICAGO

I lined up some kick ass talent for the newest edition of Noir At The Bar Chicago. If you're in Chicago or a surrounding area, make sure to come out for booze and crime.

Report From France PLUS A Great Article In The Arkansas Times

We're having an incredible time in France. I've done a few events with the great Ben Whitmer (PIKE and CRY FATHER), who, it turns out, is as cool as he is talented. We did an event at a Paris bookshop, then I headed to Montpellier to do some presentations while Whitmer was dispatched to some other town to do the same. Then we met up in Lyon for the huge Quais Du Polar festival where we got to meet readers and hobnob with literary lights from around the world. I sat on a panel discussion, had a solo event that was shockingly well attended, and signed books. Then we headed back to Paris for a party with booksellers last night. The level of organization here between publishers, booksellers, and readers is incredible. I know of nothing like it in the states. The reception that I've gotten here quite frankly has me stunned. It's been so warm and effusive. We sold out of my books at the festival, and I found out that I'm on the bestseller list for independent bookstores. I mean, what the hell is going on?

I'll report back and post some more pictures here when I get back to Chicago. For now, though, I wanted to post the OTHER best thing that's happened to me in the last week, this great article in the Arkansas Times ("Jake Hinkson's Arkansas Noir") by Matt Baker. I've never gotten much coverage in my home state, so it's really exciting to get such a nice write up.