We're back, people.
Before starting in on another series, writer and cultural critic Leonard Pierce stops by to talk to us about Film Noir. It's a story of blacklisted working class and communist writers, near-bankrupt studios and b-list actors trying to pull something off with nothing to lose, and getting sex, contempt for cops, and a lot else past the red scare-era censors in the process.
Pierce gives us a masterclass in the work in the Noir period as a filmed worldview animated by the struggles and doomed reality of working class life in America, it's entanglement with Italian Neorealism and its continued relevance today.Then we talk about some more of the movie pictures.
Special Thanks: To Leonard Pierce, you can find Leonard's books If You Like the Sopranos..., and Moods from Marbletown here:https://www.amazon.com/If-You-Like-Sopranos-Oddities/dp/0879103906https://www.amazon.com/Moods-Marbletown-Leonard-Pierce-ebook/dp/B008A9LV3IAlso check out Leonard's article that we reference a lot in the show:https://jacobin.com/2020/10/working-class-film-noir-cinema
Music: As always thank you to Komakino for our opening/closing theme, you can find their music here: https://www.youtube.com/@komakinojoydivisiontribute4531The opening clip is from the classic Dalton Trumbo horny heist flick Gun Crazy.The interlude music is "Vandredi Noir" by artist Manet, along with a clip of Sterling Hayden in The Asphalt Jungle.
Bonus: The Big Combo, here is it's 100% legal entirety complete with torture-by-hearing aid, hypnotic lighting, gay hitmen, and the scene that almost got the director prosecuted by congress:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIkCXF9Y4ow&t=657s
MORE ON OUR PATREON PAGE: https://www.patreon.com/aPeoplesHistoryofViolence
