What I was hoping is that the various lists generated for spy noirs and for the discussion of "gendered noir" could interpolated here into material shown underneath the links to the in-depth entries.
It could be organized by the page in the Film Noir File where the lists are found.
For example:
Spy Noirs
UK Spy Noirs, per reference books:
http://www.filmnoirfile.com/spy-noirs-u-k-from-reference-books/
Date, Title & Source(s)
1934, The Man Who Knew Too Much Grant Murphy
1936, Sabotage Grant Murphy
1937, Dark Journey Murphy
1938, Strange Boarders Murphy
1939, The Spy in Black Keaney Murphy
1939, Traitor Spy [The Torso Murder Mystery] Keaney Murphy
1940, Contraband [Blackout] Keaney Murphy
1940, Three Silent Men Keaney Selby
1941, Cottage to Let [Bombsight Stolen] Keaney Murphy
1941, Tower of Terror Keaney Murphy
1942, The Next of Kin Murphy
1942, Uncensored Keaney Murphy
1942, Unpublished Story Grant Murphy
1942, Went the Day Well? Murphy
1943, Escape to Danger Keaney Murphy
1943, Squadron Leader X Keaney Murphy
1943, They Met in the Dark Grant Murphy
1943, Yellow Canary Keaney Murphy
1944, Hotel Reserve Grant Keaney Murphy
1945, Great Day Keaney Murphy
1946, I See a Dark Stranger Keaney
1946, Night Boat to Dublin Murphy
UK Spy Noirs, researched/identified by Dan Hodges
http://www.filmnoirfile.com/spy-noirs-u-k-from-dan-hodges/
Date, Title [alternate title]
1935, The Crouching Beast
1935, The 39 Steps
1936, Secret Agent
1936, The Secret of Stamboul [The Spy in White]
1937, Bulldog Drummond at Bay
1937, I Married a Spy [Secret Lives]
1937, Under Secret Orders
1939, The Four Just Men [The Secret Four]
1940, Pastor Hall
1940, Spies of the Air
1941, Freedom Radio [A Voice in the Night]
1942, Secret Mission
1943, Adventures of Tartu [Sabotage Agent]
1943, The Silver Fleet
1943, Tomorrow We Live [At Dawn We Die]
1943, Undercover
1943, Warn That Man
1944, Candlelight in Algeria
1944, Mr. Emmanuel
1945, The Man from Morocco
1945, Meet Sexton Blake!
1946, Lisbon Story
And so on for the US spy noirs.
--->Then would be the area of the site that has been identified as being in need of some additional vetting--the "gendered noir" lists. These identifications were undertaken further back in time, and are in need of re-evaluation in order to ensure that the claims made about hard-boiled ("man's noirs") vs. the "at odds with the patriarchy" ("women's noirs") in regards to where films have been categorized are vetted.
My sense from an examination of these lists is that a third category which lists films that are more balanced in terms of their presentation vis-a-vis gender and gender relations is likely to emerge from such a process. I do not think that this will weaken the overall argument, but will instead demonstrate that in terms of this issue noir is more "greyscale" than "chiaroscuro" when it comes to its presentation of gender. "Men's noirs" will actually shrink further as a result of such an exercise.
Those lists should be published as is, so that colleagues and readers can more readily examine the titles on each list and weigh in on those films that might be more accurately described as "gender-balanced." The hope would be that an ongoing discussion would also assist in creating a consistent set of principles that could be cited as support for where any individual film has been placed with respect to these gender categories.
--->After that, the discussion of the hard-boiled detective in noir could appear, as a warmup to the overall discussion of the problems with the hard-boiled paradigm. The list discriminating detectives into "hardboiled" and "not hardboiled" would be more satisfactorily presented in two lists in order to give readers a much easier sense of the percentages involved regarding the two style/personality types. Such a presentation is shown below.
NOT HARDBOILED (19) [13] <12>
Grand Central Murder, 1942, Rocky Custer (Van Heflin), not hardboiled
Quiet Please, Murder, 1942, Hal McGuire (Richard Denning), not hardboiled
[Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, 1942, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone), not hardboiled]
[The Falcon in San Francisco, 1945, Tom Lawrence/the Falcon (Tom Conway), not hardboiled]
The Spider, 1945, Chris Colton (Richard Conte), not hardboiled
Accomplice, 1946, Simon Lash (Richard Arlen), not hardboiled
The Dark Corner, 1946, Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens), not hardboiled
The Mysterious Mr. Valentine, 1946, Steve Morgan (William Henry), not hardboiled
Blackmail, 1947, Daniel J. Turner (William Marshall), not hardboiled
The Brasher Doubloon, 1947, Philip Marlowe (George Montgomery), not hardboiled
High Tide, 1947, Tim Slade (Don Castle), not hardboiled
Lady in the Lake, 1947, Phillip Marlowe (Robert Montgomery), not hardboiled
[My Favorite Brunette, 1947, Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope), not hardboiled]
[Philo Vances Gamble, 1947, Philo Vance (Alan Curtis), not hardboiled]
Riff-Raff, 1947, Dan Hammer (Pat OBrien), not hardboiled
Behind Locked Doors, 1948, Ross Steward (Richard Carlson), not hardboiled
I Love Trouble, 1948, Stuart Bailey (Franchot Tone), not hardboiled
[Return of the Whistler, 1948, Gaylord Traynor (Richard Lane), not hardboiled]
The Fat Man, 1951, Brad Runyan/The Fat Man (J. Scott Smart), not hardboiled
HARDBOILED (15) [15] <16>
The Maltese Falcon, 1941, Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), hardboiled
Time to Kill, 1942, Michael Shayne (Lloyd Nolan), hardboiled
Murder, My Sweet, 1944, Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell), hardboiled
The Tiger Woman, 1945, Jerry Devery (Kane Richmond), hardboiled
The Big Sleep, 1946, Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart), hardboiled
The Dark Corner, 1946, Stauffer (William Bendix), hardboiled
The Last Crooked Mile, 1946, Tom Dwyer (Don Barry), hardboiled
Mysterious Intruder, 1946, Don Gale (Richard Dix), hardboiled
Out of the Past, 1947, Jeff Markham/Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum), hardboiled
(Born to Kill, 1947, Albert Arnett (Walter Slezak), hardboiled)
Guilty Bystander, 1950, Max Thursday (Zachary Scott), hardboiled
I, the Jury, 1953, Mike Hammer (Bill Elliot), hardboiled
World for Ransom, 1954, Mike Callahan (Dan Duryea), hardboiled
Kiss Me Deadly, 1955, Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker), hardboiled
My Gun Is Quick, 1957, Mike Hammer (Robert Bray), hardboiled
For the purposes of demonstrating this approach, I've annotated a few of the entries and made one addition that came to mind off the top of my head (Slezak in BORN TO KILL--more about him in a minute). I would throw out period noirs and mystery serials from such a discussion, as these films either contain cultural assumptions that pre-date any standard definition of "noir" or are parodies (MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE) or represent an earlier form of the "genteel detective" and wear all of their noir elements/attributes lightly.
The numbers next to the headers represent the results of two adjustments. The first was just described above (films that can be successfully seen as outside the encompassing parameters of noir). The second adjustment pertains to possible disputes about whether a detective is hard-boiled or not. For the purpose of this discussion I've only listed Marlowe in LADY IN THE LAKE as a character in dispute. This point, along with others on the "not hardboiled" list, could be discussed by colleagues and readers to better define the points of separation/difference that would result in such a classification.
Doing this will make the list more accurate and more defensible against those who haven't taken the time to engage in such a nuanced discussion.
While such a process will likely swing a few more characters into the "hardboiled" category, it will not invalidate the idea that the paradigm is far from monolithic in nature. A tally of 16 hardboiled/12 not hardboiled, as arrived at above, is hardly an endorsement for the continuation of a heedless stereotype.
And finally, to Slezak's character in BORN TO KILL. We must recognize that "hardboiled" is not simply the existence of a tough demeanor. Cynicism, resignation to a corrupt world, and clear examples of expressiveness that acknowledge the foibles of human nature--all of which are fully manifest in the Slezak character--are also a part of the hardboiled worldview. Such considerations might tend to move several more of the detective characters currently shown as "not hardboiled" onto the "hardboiled" list: that's for others to consider and discuss as they see fit.
--
So, organizing and presenting the films referenced on the site with respect to various categorizations in a linear way here would make for a way to see the scope of the research in these various areas in a continuous scroll, as opposed to the "hunt and peck" of jumping from link to link. It would be the "short form" of the site, and in each of these areas links back to the extended discussions of the issues could be provided.
While that might still seem daunting, I think it's worth a shot. Once I finish up with the French noir book and several other matters pertinent to ongoing programming plans, I may sit down and put something together on this myself if it hasn't happened already. THE FILM NIR FILE has a lot of great material and some interesting (if as yet not totally vetted/verified) ways of breaking down the American noir canon to reveal more of its true nature is a bit too locked away in how the site is organized; this is a way to help people by giving them another way into the material...
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