Tipping My Fedora

16. The Noir books of Jim Thompson, with Jim Noy

Sergio is joined by novelist, blogger and podcaster Jim Noy to enthuse about the work of writer Jim Thompson, the sui generis maestro of 50s and 60's Noir. We explore some of Thompson's major themes, his often psychopathic protagonists and his horrifying and frequently surreal endings - and look in detail at such classic books as The Killers Inside Me, A Hell of a Woman, The Grifters, After Dark, My Sweet and Pop. 1280 (all of which have been filmed)

Jim Thompson's crime fiction bibliography includes the following novels:

• Nothing More Than Murder (1949)
• The Killer Inside Me (1952)
• Cropper's Cabin (1952)
• Recoil (1953)
• The Alcoholics (1953)
• Savage Night (1953)
• Bad Boy (1953)
• The Criminal (1953)
• The Nothing Man (1954)
• The Golden Gizmo (1954)
• Roughneck (1954)
• A Swell-Looking Babe (1954)
• A Hell of a Woman (1954)
• After Dark, My Sweet (1955)
• The Kill-Off (1957)
• Wild Town (1957)
• The Getaway (1958)
• The Transgressors (1961)
• The Grifters (1963)
• Pop. 1280 (1964)

Jim Noy is a maths supremo and a novelist - he made his debut with The Red Death Murders, which was published during the Covid lockdown and is a highly imaginative whodunit set sometime in the past during the plague imagined by Edgar Allan Poe for his classic story, 'The Masque of Red Death.' It is available in print and e-book editions via Amazon: 

www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Death-Murders-Jim-Noy/dp/B09SKY58WV

He also blogs about crime fiction at The Invisible Event: 

https://theinvisibleevent.com/.

He also hosts his own podcast, In GAD We Trust:  https://theinvisibleevent.com/category/in-gad-we-trust/

15. DEATH WISH II (1982) and DEATH WISH III (1985), with Simon Brown

Welcome back for the second half of Sergio's conversation with Simon Brown about the Michael Winner / Charles Bronson Death Wish trilogy - today's focus is on the first two sequels, produced by Cannon in the 1980s.

We look at what the sequels added to, and detracted from, this popular cycle of revenge films extending the success of the first and most distinguished entry in  the series. 

The first part of this podcast can be found at this link: https://tippingmyfedora.podbean.com/e/14-death-wish-1974-with-simon-brown/

Simon Brown, currently lecturing in film at Northumbria University, is an independent scholar who specialises in early film history, horror, adaptation studies and film technology. He is the author of Cecil Hepworth and the Rise of The British Film Industry (University of Exeter Press, 2016) and Screening Stephen King: Adaptation and the Horror Genre in Film and Television (University of Texas Press, 2018).

Spoiler warning - we pretty much give away the endings of both the films being discussed.

14. DEATH WISH (1974), with Simon Brown

Sergio is joined today by Simon Brown for the first of a two-part look at the trio of Death Wish films that were directed by Michael Winner and starred Charles Bronson.   

One of the key releases of the 1970s, Michael Winner’s 1974 box office smash, Death Wish, starred Charles Bronson as a man driven to murderous reprisals after a violent assault that left his wife dead and their daughter an emotional wreck. Adapted from the 1972 novel by Brian Garfield, it crystallised an emerging trend of films featuring disillusioned individuals who turn to violence as a way to deal with the chaos in which they find themselves.

Joining me to discuss this seminal and highly controversial work is Simon Brown, an independent scholar who specialises in early film history, horror, adaptation studies and film technology. He is the author of Cecil Hepworth and the Rise of The British Film Industry (University of Exeter Press, 2016) and Screening Stephen King: Adaptation and the Horror Genre in Film and Television (University of Texas Press, 2018).

Spoiler warning: please note, we do explore the film, and its ending, in considerable detail. 

13. David Lynch and Film Noir, with Dr Lindsay Hallam

As a tribute to the late David Lynch, Sergio is joined by special guest Dr Lindsay Hallam, Senior Lecturer in Film at the University of East London to discuss his work in the Noir context.

Dr Hallam is author of the books Screening the Marquis de Sade and a Devil's Advocates volume on Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and has written several articles and book chapters on the works of David Lynch.

She has also contributed audio commentaries and essays for Blu-Rays released by such labels as Arrow, Severin, Second Sight, Umbrella, Eureka, 88 Films, Indicator and Vinegar Syndrome. She is also the co-host of the upcoming podcast SciFrights, a movie podcast from the Interzone where horror meets science fiction

 

We explore the way that Lynch used the motifs, tropes and visual signifiers associated with Film Noir in so many of his films. Those discussed include: 

BLUE VELVET (1986)

WILD AT HEART (1990)

TWIN PEAKS (1990-91)

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992)

LOST HIGHWAY (1997)

MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)

 

For more information on Dr Lindsay Hallam, please visit:

www.uel.ac.uk/about-uel/staff/lindsay-anne-hallam

https://lindsayhallam5.wixsite.com/website

Screening the Marquis de Sade: Pleasure, Pain and the Transgressive Body in Film www.amazon.co.uk/Screening-Marquis-Sade-Pleasure-Transgressive/dp/0786462965/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=

Twin Peaks: Fire Walks with Me (Devil's Advocates series): www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781911325642

 

12. KISS ME DEADLY (1955), with Mark Dillon

Today’s podcast is devoted to KISS ME DEADLY, the classic Film Noir directed by Robert Aldrich from Mickey Spillane's best-seller featuring his ultra-hardboiled PI, Mike Hammer.

My guest is Mark Dillon, an award-winning Toronto-based journalist specializing in film, TV and pop music. He is a former editor of Playback, the business publication for the Canadian media industries, and to which he still contributes. He has been writing for Hollywood magazine American Cinematographer for more than 25 years. He is author of Fifty Sides of The Beach Boys, chronicling America’s band, and co-hosts the (non-noir) podcast Surf’s Up: A Beach Boys Podcast Safari: https://soundcloud.com/user-93394161

11. Christmas Noir, with special guests Simon Brown and Stacey Abbott

Can the shadows of Film Noir retain their dark power even during the holiday season?

Come and join me in front of the fireplace for a special yuletide edition of Tipping My Fedora with friends of the podcast, Simon Brown and Stacey Abbott and their devoted pooch Lilli, while they take a break from sleuthing as we look at some classic crime movies set between Christmas and New Year.

The films discussed include: 

THE THIN MAN (WS Van Dyke, 1934)

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY (Robert Siodmak, 1944)

THE RECKLESS MOMENT (Max Ophuls, 1949)

BLAST OF SILENCE (Allen Baron, 1961)

THE SILENT PARTNER (Daryl Duke, 1978)

And of course Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1947), a classic movie with more than a hint of Film Noir magic about it. 

 

Happy holidays - thanks to all our listeners, and contributors, for their valuable support in 2024.

And please don't forget to subscribe and comment wherever you get your episodes of Tipping My Fedora.

The podcast will be back on 5 January 2025 with a new episode in which Mark Dillon joins me to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Robert Aldrich's classic private eye mystery, KISS ME DEADLY. See you then!

 

Graphic by Frazer Ash

Additional Music: Christmas Spirit (Top-Flow / Pixabay)

10. Edward G. Robinson's gangsters, with Craig Ian Mann

To celebrate what would have been the 131st birthday of Hollywood icon Edward G. Robinson, Sergio is joined by Craig Ian Mann to provide an overview of the many gangster roles he played during his career, examining how they transitioned from Depression-era tragedies of men who took the wrong path to fame and fortune to Noir-era sociopaths of the 40s and 50s who no longer have a place in society.

Films discussed include:

• Little Caesar (1931)
• Bullets or Ballots (1936)
• The Last Gangster (1937)
• I am the Law (1938)
• Night has a Thousand Eyes (1948)
• Key Largo (1948)
• Black Tuesday (1954)

Craig is a film historian, freelance writer and home video producer who works closely with Eureka Entertainment and their Masters of Cinema series.

He is the author of Phases of the Moon: A Cultural History of the Werewolf Film, published by Edinburgh University Press in 2020, and has written for the BFI, Eureka, Second Sight Films, Indicator and Arrow Video amongst others.

His latest writing appears in the Second Sight releases of The Hitcher and The Blair Witch Project and Eureka's Masters of Cinema edition of Hugo Fregonese’s Black Tuesday, previously previewed here at Fedora. Forthcoming is Mabuse Lives! - a set bringing together six of the Mabuse crime films made in Germany in the 1960s. For further details, visit: https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/mabuse-lives-limited-edition-box-set/ 

9. DEAD AGAIN (1991), with Nick Cardillo

A look back at Kenneth Branagh's box office hit, Dead Again (1991), a highly imaginative valentine to classic Film Noir co-starring Emma Thompson and Andy Garcia that daringly combines a murder mystery with the supernatural. 

Sergio is joined by writer and actor, Nick Cardillo. A lifelong fan of mystery and detective fiction, Nick is the author of several Sherlock Holmes pastiches for MX Publishing and Belanger Books. These were collected in The Feats of Sherlock Holmes (2018) and The Improbable Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (2021).

He is the author of “The Devil’s Book,” published in The Novellas of Solar Pons; the first collection of longer stories based on August Derleth’s pulp detective to be authorized by the Derleth Estate.

When he’s not writing, Nick is an actor in the Philadelphia region and has been involved in productions of such diverse playwrights as William Shakespeare, Terrence McNally, Paula Vogel, and, of course, Agatha Christie. Nick is currently at work on his first novel.

Find out more on his website, nickcardillocreative.com