He let go of my hand and passed me an oar, the oracle of the Maritimes

[sovay]

I tried to give myself a quiet day after this very crowded week. I stayed mostly off the computer except for some comments and posting cat pictures. I curled up on the couch with the The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (2007) while Autolycus alternately dozed on my lap or competed for my attention. I cleaned the refrigerator. I took down the recycling. I walked my DVDs back to the library—Richard Quine's Drive a Crooked Road (1954) and David Goodis and Paul Wendkos' The Burglar (1957), both part of a box set of Columbia Pictures noir of which I would probably have watched more if it hadn't been recalled—and braved the miserable Sunday bus schedule in order to meet spatch in time for dinner on his break, which we got in the form of khao na ped and drunken noodles from Kor Tor Mor. I watched Moran of the Lady Letty (1922), a silent adventure-romance starring Rudolph Valentino as a California playboy knocked into maturity after he gets shanghaied by pirates and Dorothy Dalton as the title character, a tough seafaring girl who if she has a first name the intertitles never bother to mention it. The film eventually fades out on them in a clinch, but before then they call one another "mate" like comrades, not like the Monster demands a. They have each other's backs in a fight; when they're separated in the melee, Valentino's Ramón snaps her out of her battle frenzy when they meet again (and she tries to deck him) with the heartfelt "Moran—Moran—it's your mate!" I have been reminded that this month is Noirvember to a lot of people, which I think with me is kind of like every month being Halloween; I am hoping it does not bore people. I worry. No matter what, I have to sleep. Autolycus is sitting beside my computer looking very sincere. This week will also be crowded.

Comments

[lemon_badgeress]

You and what you love are never boring.

[sovay]

You and what you love are never boring.

Thank you. For whatever stupid but persistent reason, the fact that so few people commented on the most recent review has made me worry for a week that I've just become tedious to people, oh, look, they watched more noir, whatever. Nothing new here, and I'd thought it extraordinary. It makes me worry that either what I'm talking about just does not interest other people or I'm talking about it in especially uninteresting fashion.

[pameladean]

When I don't comment it's sometimes because I'm hopelessly behind but more often because I am just stunned. Those reviews were stunning. I don't even really like movies and I find the way you write about them as absorbing as a thriller and almost enough to make me watch some. (I have a little list of things that never should be missed. One day.)

I'll try to at least post "stunning" in the future, as I know from experience that it is no fun feeling that you are speaking with all your force and grace into a void.

P.,

[sovay]

When I don't comment it's sometimes because I'm hopelessly behind but more often because I am just stunned. Those reviews were stunning.

If it helps, I still don't have a good response to that kind of compliment. Thank you.

I don't even really like movies and I find the way you write about them as absorbing as a thriller and almost enough to make me watch some. (I have a little list of things that never should be missed. One day.)

I am really, really glad. (What's on it?)

I'll try to at least post "stunning" in the future, as I know from experience that it is no fun feeling that you are speaking with all your force and grace into a void.

Thank you.

[pameladean]

The List (which is highly dependent on mood and probably missing vital things):

The Moon Is Down
On Approval
They Live By Night
Tension
Way Out West
Moana
The Last of England
Beggars of Life
99 River Street
Gun Crazy
Private Hell
The Heart of New York
Victim
God's Own Country
Persuasion
In the Family
I Don't Want to Be a Man
Heat lightning
Outrage

I understand about having no ready response to certain kinds of compliments.

P.

[sovay]

The List (which is highly dependent on mood and probably missing vital things)

It makes me very happy that these films have stuck with you.

[selkie]

*gently disentangles Tiny Wittgenstein from your hair and drops him into a bottle of brandy to see if he turns into a pear or a plum or something nice*

You and what you love are never boring, I will second.

I'm sorry my meatsack has had a highly exasperating week and change; my commenting often depends on my personal worthlessness level. *hugs*

[sovay]

*gently disentangles Tiny Wittgenstein from your hair and drops him into a bottle of brandy to see if he turns into a pear or a plum or something nice*

Oh, is it still the season of bobbing for apples?

You and what you love are never boring, I will second.

Thank you.

I'm sorry my meatsack has had a highly exasperating week and change; my commenting often depends on my personal worthlessness level.

I wish your meatsack had had a much better week, but you should still remind it that its functionality has nothing to do with your worth.

*hugs*

[thisbluespirit]

I was also going to say that you are never boring! (See? two of us. Must be true. *nods*)

Moran of the Lady Letty sounds like fun, and I'm glad you had some good things to relax with - good luck with the rest of the week!

[sovay]

I was also going to say that you are never boring! (See? two of us. Must be true. *nods*)

Thank you. Data point so noted.

Moran of the Lady Letty sounds like fun, and I'm glad you had some good things to relax with - good luck with the rest of the week!

And thank you! It's mostly the holiday this week, but it's a fairly major holiday and it warps the schedule around it. At this point I fantasize about getting a couple of days back-to-back when I don't have to go anywhere or do anything but my job. (Not this week.)

[gwynnega]

Nope, never boring!

[sovay]

Nope, never boring!

Okay, okay!

[kathmandu]

I always enjoy your analysis, even when it is movies that I would never watch directly. Reading critiques is like getting the 'good parts version': all the things that stood out to an intelligent and thoughtful viewer.

Plus, as you yourself have pointed out, these noir films contain many elements of social relations, class and gender and racial constructs' effects on people, and offer views into what was seen as A Thing and A Story in bygone decades. It's the world in a bottle, or anyway selected views thereof.

[sovay]

I always enjoy your analysis, even when it is movies that I would never watch directly. Reading critiques is like getting the 'good parts version': all the things that stood out to an intelligent and thoughtful viewer.

Thank you. That's a really lovely comparison, and I'm glad.

Plus, as you yourself have pointed out, these noir films contain many elements of social relations, class and gender and racial constructs' effects on people, and offer views into what was seen as A Thing and A Story in bygone decades. It's the world in a bottle, or anyway selected views thereof.

It's a lot of what I'm interested in!

[dhampyresa]

Not boring! I enjoy reading your reviews, even if I know pathetically little about noir and have nothing to say.

[sovay]

Not boring! I enjoy reading your reviews, even if I know pathetically little about noir and have nothing to say.

Thank you! I do not require everyone I know to know a lot about noir!

[thawrecka]

I'm quite happy that every month is Noir month for you! It's always entertaining.

[sovay]

I'm quite happy that every month is Noir month for you! It's always entertaining.

Thank you! That's good.