My theory is that everyone is a potential murderer

[I was writing this post at four in the morning and my brain fell over. I finished it just now. Please enjoy several thousand words on film noir. I don't know why I bothered setting myself a minimum wordcount with this project.]

My sleep schedule is a disaster. Tonight rushthatspeaks and I reorganized half the kitchen shelves and then went out for dinner. I am very tired, but I am also very tired of not talking about movies.

The great thing about seeing Strangers on a Train (1951) on the same bill with Double Indemnity (1944), as I did last night at the Brattle with jinian and Rush-That-Speaks, is that as a double feature they deliver two complementary portraits of very different modes of sociopathy. I am not talking about Barbara Stanwyck.

( And now I suppose I get the big speech, the one with all the two-dollar words in it. )

I am afraid this is the somewhat cut-down version of the compare-and-contrast I wanted, but Phantom Lady (1944) and Black Angel (1946) are playing at the Brattle in about an hour and I can't guarantee I won't be thinking about them by the time I come home. I had never seen Strangers on a Train and I thought it was terrific; I had seen Double Indemnity once about eight years ago and I was delighted to see it again. I did not expect the thematic link between the movies, so good job there, Brattle programmer. This dual review brought to you by my perfectly stable backers at Patreon.