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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 2h

BUT it is bloody great

Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 2h

And the Lynch thing seems to have caught on - it’s unusual for a noir of this type to have nearly 100k views on a YouTube rip uploaded 2 years ago…

But I think Lynch comparisons can be overdone. It’s neither as surreal as some viewers might claim, or as distinct from other noirs of its era…

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 2h

P.s. Barry Gifford (Lynch collaborator) for some reason didn’t include The Chase in his book of noir reviews, which is odd considering how it’s often tagged as Lynchian.

Guy Maddin apparently compares it to Lynch frequently in the commentary track he did for the film’s Blu-ray…

Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 4h

Was reminded of this 📚 today - a collection of short noir films reviews by Barry Gifford, writer of Wild at Heart and Lost Highway…

It’s a lot of fun, all the more for how subjective his takes are. But I was surprised to see The Chase (1946) isn’t included, which I’m just about to watch…

#filmsky

paperback cover for Out of the Past: Adventures in Film Noir by Barry Gifford, showing a screenshot from the film (you guessed it) Out of the Past

Some film titles included in the book, photo of contents page - sections D to K, everything from The Getaway to Kansas City Confidential and beyond…

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Reposted by Rob T

Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 3h

Just finished The Chase (1946), a remarkable film noir. It’s actually got a similar feeling to Out of the Past from a year later.

The essence of noir in its romantic fatalism - the doomed patsy and dame to match. I can’t believe I’d never seen it before…

A few thoughts 🧵 #filmsky

Screenshot from The Chase, as the patsy enters the house of the gangsters - a stucco art deco pad with classical sculptures and palms - right at the start of the film, just to return a wallet (the ultimate innocent gesture), sealing his fate

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 2h

@steadytiger.bsky.social did a great thread on the film the other day, which inspired me to watch it

He’s right about the long, dialogue-less scene in the middle. Lots of surprising restraint, time for scenes to just breath.

All in all - a big banger

/ End thread

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 6d

The Chase (1946). This is so great. There’s a weird twist, which makes it even greater, but the real gold is in how the ordinary main story is told. There's a B-movie air, but scenes of such depth, beauty, and originality that suggest auteur status for director Arthur Ripley, who I’d never heard of

Poster for The Chase. A man and a woman look frightened on a staircase looking over the rail

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 2h

Of course post-Vietnam, similar themes would be explored, a whole new generation of scarred returnees (Taxi Driver, Deer Hunter, Rambo et al)…

Anyway, back to The Chase. Steve Cochran’s performance as the mob boss is another standout. He acts primarily with his eyes. Pure menace…

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 2h

What does the demobbed serviceman represent in these films? Dislocation? Vulnerability? Idealised heroism contrast with unheroic reality?

Or a more reactionary stance. Those who fought vs those who stayed behind, the skivs who cheated the draft & now run everything. Is this what we fought for etc…

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 2h

So maybe Hitch was paying attention?

It’s also worth remarking on Cummings portrayal of a nervous, shell shocked servicemen adjusting to civilisation life

This is a frequent theme in immediate postwar noirs - Blue Dahlia from the same year jumps to mind. A comparatively under-discussed theme…

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 2h

There’s also more than a hint of Hitchcock to proceedings - Robert Cummings (of Saboteur and Dial M) but also the Cornell Woolrich source (Rear Window), the wrong man” theme, and its great use of tracking shots and suspense. The knife scene specifically is VERY similar to North by Northwest…

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 3h

This exchange between the doomed lovers in embrace sums it up:

“How much time do we have?”
“Forget time.”
“Do you think we’ll make it?”
“We’ve got to.”

There’s enough ambiguity to keep it interesting - to try and ‘solve’ what’s real and what’s fantasy is pointless. The journey matters…

Screenshot of Robert Cummings and Michèle Morgan as doomed lovers in The Chase

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 3h

Let’s see shall we

✅ Based on a Cornell Woolrich novel
✅ “Wrong man” protagonist framed for murder
✅ Psychiatry as a plot device
✅ Ambiguity as to what’s dream or reality
✅ Peter Lorre playing a tough
✅ Backlot pre-revolutionary Cuba sets
✅ Wacky gadgetry that comes out of leftfield

…

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 3h

Just finished The Chase (1946), a remarkable film noir. It’s actually got a similar feeling to Out of the Past from a year later.

The essence of noir in its romantic fatalism - the doomed patsy and dame to match. I can’t believe I’d never seen it before…

A few thoughts 🧵 #filmsky

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 4h

Review incoming!

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 4h

Was reminded of this 📚 today - a collection of short noir films reviews by Barry Gifford, writer of Wild at Heart and Lost Highway…

It’s a lot of fun, all the more for how subjective his takes are. But I was surprised to see The Chase (1946) isn’t included, which I’m just about to watch…

#filmsky

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 5h

Whilst it focuses on an older teenager, I’d add Louis Malle’s Lacombe, Lucien to this list re: childhood and fascism. Astonishing film

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 1d

No and I should rectify that!

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 1d

Never seen this one but it looks great

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 1d

So people have an idea of Carver - minimalism, understatement, heavy themes.

Then you read sentences like this…👀

“I got a boner thinking about the boner I would get that night.. I picked up the Bible right after and promised and swore I wouldn't do it again. But I got jism on the Bible”

#booksky

From Carver - “Will you please be quiet, please”

I would wait until night before I thought about the woman again. But right away I got a boner thinking about the boner I would get that night. Then I thought I had better stop doing it so much. About a month back, a Saturday when they were all gone, I had picked up the Bible right after and promised and swore I wouldn't do it again. But I got jism on the Bible, and the promising and swearing lasted only a day or two, until I was by myself again.

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 1d

Love Cremator (a top 10 for me), Images and Wisconsin Death Trip. Great list!

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 1d

Love that cover

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 1d

My top 6 horrors that you might not have seen for Halloween:

Variola Vera (82): Yugoslav pandemic nightmare
The Ear (69): Czech paranoia banger
Blood & Roses (60): Riff on Carmilla
Sauna (08): Finnish medievalism
Dark Waters (93): Italy, Lovecraftian nuns
Sole Survivor (83): Proto Final Destination

LesSmarberry @lessmarberry.bsky.social · 1d

My top 6 (shut up, it's my list) horrors that you might not have seen for Halloween:

Eye Of The Devil (1966)
I Saw The TV Glow (2024)
House of Mortal Sin (1976)
All You Need Is Death (2023)
The Dunwich Horror (1970)
Taste Of Fear (1961)

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Reposted by Rob T

Jesse "Pecke in the Crowne" Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · 1d

Morris Kantor, Haunted House, 1930, oil on canvas,
94.3 × 84.5 cm (37 1/8 × 33 1/4 in.), Art Institute of Chicago

"Morris Kantor drew inspiration from the material culture of historical New England—ladder-back chairs, colonial portraiture, marine painting, wallpaper—in this fantastical rendering of a supposedly haunted house in rural Massachusetts. A shadowy figure lurks at the composition’s darkened right edge, an unknown presence encroaching on the comforts of the sitting room. Kantor later recalled that such a setting, with “its peculiar moldy smell, the fading beauty of old plaster discolored by time and living … turned my imagination to the past, to the people who had lived there and gone.” A Russian immigrant, the artist engaged with the stories and objects of American history as catalysts for his Surrealist, dreamlike musings." -AIC

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 1d

I drunkenly spoke to Richard Burgon at a hardcore punk gig in Leeds (Madball) and asked if he was going to mosh. “I’m too old for all that”, he answered.

Got a papped photo of me bothering him and he doesn’t looks thrilled, which in retrospect is maybe understandable re: MP safety concerns…

Daniel @deargodwhatnow.bsky.social · 1d

What's the funniest examples of politicians and professed musical tastes - I know Gordon Brown said he was a fan of the Arctic Monkeys

Daniel @deargodwhatnow.bsky.social · 1d

Fun reminder of the time Cameron was told he wasn't allowed to enjoy The Smiths (?). Presumably because he was too left wing for Morrissey

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 1d

A great opportunity to post this video of a pre-Velvets John Cale performing Satie’s ‘Vexations’ on TV in 1963 🔥

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Rob T @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 1d

Inevitable timeline synchrony

Ray’s original post - “People who cannot help but make puns - who have to let the pun out or it will destroy them from inside - are not well”

Coincidental post below it:
“Girl, are your opinions mushrooms because that was a shiitake”

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