Eric Stevenson This isn't as well known or as good as something as "The Maltese Falcon", but it's still great. It seems like noir just doesn't exist anymore and the only thing left of it are parodies and tributes. I've been watching "The Twilight Zone" so much that any black and white film that isn't a comedy seems like a long episode. This movie starts with a guy going to the police saying he's already dead. No, he's not a ghost, he's just drunken this poison that will slowly kill him. The whole movie is done through flashback. A lot of the first third is actually really mundane, with him just going to a party and having fun. He then goes to these doctors after feeling ill and they say he was poisoned. The protagonist is named Frank Bigelow. After seeing Roger Ebert's review of "Deuce Bigalo: European Gigalo", it's hard for me to trust a movie with a guy named Bigelow. I really love Bigelow's relationship with his girlfriend, Paula. It makes it all the sadder when you know he's going to die from the poison. ***1/2

Samuel-Shovel D.O.A. starts with one of the coolest shots and concepts ever put to film. There's the long, foreboding walk to our destination as we follow behind our yet to be named protagonist. Not until we arrive do we discover that our endpoint is the Homicide Division. And why are we here? A man has come to report a murder. Whose? His own. How cool is that?!This beginning sequence is famous for a reason: it is simply outstanding. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie cannot live up to this fantastic introduction. The movie quickly gets bogged down in a muddled and confusing plot. I just finished the movie and I'm not sure if I could succinctly explain the overarching plot or the motivations of all the characters we meet. The movie, told in the perspective of a flashback, spends far too much time in the buildup to the actual poisoning, dissolving much of the tension and suspense built up by the initial scene. This is further compounded by this B-plot involving Frank and his secretary Paula who also seem to be lovers with a future marriage in the works. By the time Frank is finally poisoned, the movie has lost a lot of momentum.There are a few good other scenes and moments after the initial one. There's a few good noir-style one liners and I really did enjoy the scene in the raucous jazz bar. Finally when the plot and excitement begins to pick back up again, it almost goes too fast, making up for lost time. Frank is running all over San Francisco and L.A. accusing characters of who knows what. While exciting, it definitely leaves the viewer confused as they try to pick up the pieces as to what exactly is going on. The action scenes are particularly memorable and neither are any of the performances (although one henchman reminded me a lot of Gary Busey).This will probably be one I'll have to revisit, picking up more of the plot each time I rewatch. For now though, I can't say it's as spectacular a film noir as everyone makes it out to be.

Hitchcoc This is a work of film noir. It involves the sad case of a man who knows he is going to die. He also knows approximately when. He has been poisoned by someone and it is slow acting. There is no cure and he devotes what little time he has left to finding the people responsible for his "death." There is suspense all the way as he goes from place to place, running into roadblock after roadblock. He has to analyze along the way, putting two and two together, never knowing if his next breath is going to be his last. This has become a classic because we pull for a man who really has no hope. A cleverly done piece with stark images and a modest script.

Leofwine_draca The film noir genre threw out plenty of gems during its peak in the 1940s and early 1950s and this is one of them, a solid detective story with a great premise. In it, a man must discover the person responsible for his own murder, a plot point realised thanks to the presence of a slow-acting poison that gives him only a day or two to live.D.O.A. presents a bleak and icy narrative that has a strong degree of pessimism to it, thanks to that excellent premise. But there's more to it than that, as the actual detective story is compelling in itself. The protagonist finds himself drawn into a murky world of smuggling and corporate corruption, while at the same time coming into contact with some decidedly shady characters.The best thing about the film, for me, (aside from that premise) is the presence of Neville Brand's Chester, a character who could have been portrayed as an ordinary henchman but who, thanks to his psychotic nature, becomes the real highlight; Brand effortlessly exudes an air of pure evil in what was his first role. The rest is good too, of course, particularly Edmond O'Brien's tough-but-sympathetic lead, leaving this one of the highlights in a crowded genre thanks to that perfect 'ticking clock' premise.