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Semidocumentary
A semidocumentary is a form of book, film, or television program presenting a fictional story that incorporates many factual details or actual events, or which is presented in a manner similar to a documentary. Characteristics Stylistically, it has certain similarities to Italian Neorealism, such as the use of location shooting and employing non-actors in secondary roles. However, the viewer is not intended to mistake a semidocumentary for a real documentary; the fictional elements are too prominent. Background One of the first films of this kind was Henry Hathaway's ''The House on 92nd Street'' (1945). In the late 1940s, semidocumentary films were often associated with film noir thrillers, sharing a commitment to on-location shooting, gritty realism, and understated performances. Decline In the 1960s and 1970s, the semidocumentary style declined in feature films. The standard documentary had blurred the difference between itself and fiction so much that there was viewer confu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Film Noir
Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key lighting, low-key, black-and-white visual style that has roots in German expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and attitudes expressed in classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression, known as noir fiction. The term ''film noir'', French for "black film" (literal) or "dark film" (closer meaning), was first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, but was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era. Frank is believed to have been inspired by the French literary publishing imprint Série noire, founded in 1945. Cinema hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The Street With No Name
''The Street with No Name'' is a 1948 American film noir directed by William Keighley. A follow-up to ''The House on 92nd Street'' (1945), it tells the story of an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI agent, Gene Cordell (Mark Stevens (actor), Mark Stevens), who infiltrates a deadly crime gang. Cordell's superior, FBI Inspector George A. Briggs (Lloyd Nolan), also appears in ''The House on 92nd Street''. The film, shot in a semidocumentary style, takes place in the Skid Row section of fictional (actually Los Angeles) "Center City". Plot A crime wave, including a holdup at a nightclub that ends in a murder and a bank robbery in which a guard is killed, has hit Center City. A squad of FBI agents headed by inspector George A. Briggs meets with local FBI field officer Richard Atkins, police chief Bernard Harmatz and Police Commissioner Ralph Demory. After Briggs interrogates suspect Robert Danker, who claims he was not involved in either killing and that he has been framed, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
T-Men
''T-Men'' is a 1947 semidocumentary and police procedural style film noir about United States Treasury agents. The film was directed by Anthony Mann and shot by noted noir cameraman John Alton. The production features Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade, Alfred Ryder, Wallace Ford, June Lockhart and Charles McGraw. A year later, director Mann used the film's male lead, Dennis O'Keefe, in '' Raw Deal.'' The film was endorsed by the U.S. Treasury Department: the opening credits are displayed over an image of the department's seal, then former Chief Coordinator of the department's six agencies Elmer Lincoln Irey delivers a monologue describing the objectives of those agencies and lauding their accomplishments. He describes the movie as a composite case from its files entitled "The Shanghai Paper Case". Plot In order to convict a counterfeiting ring, two United States Treasury agents are chosen to go undercover and infiltrate the Vantucci gang in Detroit. Dennis O'Brien and Antho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Boomerang (1947 Film)
''Boomerang!'' is a 1947 American crime semidocumentary film noir based on the true story of a vagrant accused of murder. It stars Dana Andrews, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, Arthur Kennedy and Jane Wyatt, with voiceovers by Reed Hadley. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and adapted from a 1945 ''Reader's Digest'' story written by Fulton Oursler (credited as Anthony Abbot) based on an actual 1924 crime. The film was shot mostly in Stamford, Connecticut, after Kazan was denied permission to film in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the crime and trial occurred."'Boomerang!,' shot in Stamford, to be screened in Bridgeport", ''The Advocate'' of Stamford, Connecticut, October 13, 2009 The film was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival. Plot Episcopal priest Father Lambert is shot dead on a Bridgeport, Connecticut street at night. The police, led by Chief Robinson, fail to immediately find the murderer. The case soon becomes a political hot potato, with the police accused o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The House On 92nd Street
''The House on 92nd Street'' is a 1945 black-and-white American spy film directed by Henry Hathaway. The movie, shot mostly in New York City, was released shortly after the end of World War II. ''The House on 92nd Street'' was made with the full cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), whose director, J. Edgar Hoover, appears during the introductory montage. The FBI agents shown in Washington, D.C. were played by actual agents. The film's semidocumentary style inspired other films, including '' The Naked City'' and ''Boomerang''. Plot The film begins, and is interspersed with, documentary footage, and is narrated throughout. The opening footage is described as derived from FBI surveillance, showing officials at the German Embassy in Washington, and describing them as actively recruiting spies. A German spy is killed in a traffic accident; dying, he is heard to murmur "Mr. Christopher." The FBI finds a secret message among his possessions stating that Mr. Christo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway (March 13, 1898 – February 11, 1985) was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Western (genre), Westerns, especially starring Randolph Scott and John Wayne. He directed Gary Cooper in seven films. Background Henry Hathaway was born Henri Léopold de Fiennes, in Sacramento, California. Hathaway's father, Rhody Hathaway, carried the title of nobility. Rhody became a theatrical manager and married Hathaway's mother, a Hungarian, who acted under the name Jean Hathaway (some citations claim Hathaway was her maiden name). His title of Marquess, Marquis was inherited from his paternal great grandfather J.B. de Fiennes, a Belgian nobleman and barrister in service to King Leopold I of Belgium. When his great grandfather failed in his commission to secure the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) for Belgium, the disgraced elder Marquis self-exiled to San Francisco in 1850. There he established a law practice and married. Early career Juvenil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The Phenix City Story
''The Phenix City Story'' is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Phil Karlson for Allied Artists, written by Daniel Mainwaring and Crane Wilbur and starring John McIntire, Richard Kiley, and Kathryn Grant. It had a triple premiere held on July 19, 1955 in Phenix City, Alabama, Columbus, Georgia, and Chicago, Illinois. Plot In a corrupt Alabama town near the Army's Fort Benning, the law can do little to stop the criminal activities of Rhett Tanner, particularly in the wide-open "red-light district" area known for prostitution, taverns, and crooked gambling. Most of the police do not even try, since they are on Tanner's payroll. Local attorney Albert "Pat" Patterson, initially neutral and complacent, is urged to run for State Attorney General and clean up Phenix City, but he wants no part of a thankless, impossible job. He is content to welcome home his son John from military service. However, soon violence breaks out trying to silence the reform-minded citizens c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Dragnet (1954 Film)
''Dragnet'' is a 1954 American crime film directed by Jack Webb and written by Richard L. Breen. The film stars Webb, Ben Alexander, Richard Boone, Ann Robinson, Stacy Harris, Virginia Gregg and Vic Perrin. The film was adapted from the radio series of the same name, and is part of the wider ''Dragnet'' media franchise. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 4, 1954. Plot The film uses the inverted detective story format. Los Angeles police detective Sergeant Joe Friday hunts down the killer of a mobster, Miller Starkie, focusing on West Coast mafia second-in-command Max Troy (played by Harris). The vendetta between Friday and Troy becomes increasingly bitter and personal as the film proceeds, leading to a brawl at a private card game between Friday, Frank Smith, and several of Troy's henchmen. A policewoman (Robinson) infiltrates Troy's nightclub and is able to obtain vital information on the Starkie killing; Friday then gets additional evidence when an accom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The Hitch-Hiker
''The Hitch-Hiker'' is a 1953 American independent film noir thriller directed by Ida Lupino, who co-wrote it with her former husband Collier Young, and starring Edmond O'Brien, William Talman and Frank Lovejoy. Based on the 1950 killing spree of Billy Cook, the film follows two friends who are taken hostage by a murderous hitchhiker during an automobile trip to Mexico. ''The Hitch-Hiker'' was the first American mainstream film noir directed by a woman. It was selected in 1998 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." Plot In the early 1950s, a hitchhiker robs and kills motorists who offer him rides. A suspect, Emmett Myers (Talman), is publicized in newspaper headlines. In California, two friends, Roy Collins (O'Brien) and Gilbert Bowen (Lovejoy), are driving to a planned fishing trip in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico. In Calexico, California, they pick up Myers, who pulls a gu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Armored Car Robbery
''Armored Car Robbery'' is a 1950 American film noir starring Charles McGraw, Adele Jergens, and William Talman. Directed by Richard Fleischer, ''Armored Car Robbery'' is a heist movie, which tells the story of a well-planned robbery of cash from an armored car when it stops at a sports stadium. The theft goes awry and a tough Los Angeles cop sets off in determined pursuit of the culprits. Plot In Los Angeles criminal mastermind Dave Purvis devises a scheme to rob an armored car on its last pickup of the day. He recruits scuffling Benny McBride, who brings in fellow low-level professional crooks Al Mapes and Ace Foster to complete the gang. Benny needs money to feed his hopeless plan to win his wife Yvonne back, a gorgeous blonde stripteaser who lost interest in him and is seeing another man. Unbeknownst to him, it is Purvis. The robbery at minor league Wrigley Field begins as planned but goes wrong when a passing police patrol car intervenes. Purvis kills one of its off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Walk East On Beacon
''Walk East on Beacon'' is a 1952 American film noir drama film directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring George Murphy, Finlay Currie, and Virginia Gilmore. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was inspired by a May 1951 ''Reader's Digest'' article by J. Edgar Hoover entitled "The Crime of the Century: The Case of the A-Bomb Spies." The article covers the meeting of German physicist and atomic spy Klaus Fuchs and American chemist Harry Gold as well as details of the Soviet espionage network in the United States. Gold's testimony would later lead to the case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for treason. The film substitutes real atomic spying with vague top secret scientific programs. Extensive location shooting was done in New England, around Washington Union Station and in FBI laboratories. Plot Federal agent Belden is assigned to locate the communist mastermind behind the leak, and to trace all avenues of informational access utilized by the Communists. Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
On Dangerous Ground
''On Dangerous Ground'' is a 1951 film noir directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino, and produced by John Houseman. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides based on the 1945 novel '' Mad with Much Heart'' by Gerald Butler. Plot Police detective Jim Wilson is known for beating information out of suspects and witnesses alike. After Wilson ignores his chief's warnings, he is relegated to a case up-state to cool off. He joins a manhunt pursuing the murderer of a young girl and teams up with Walter Brent, the father of the victim. After they spot a man and chase him, Wilson and Brent get separated from the rest of the manhunt. They track the suspect to a remote house where they find a blind woman, Mary Malden, by herself in the house. She tells Wilson and Brent that she lives with her younger brother, Danny. Wilson learns that Danny is the killer and that he is mentally disadvantaged. Mary asks Wilson to protect her brother, and he agrees to captu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
