Mike doesn't seem to be around to explain/defend this post as we revisit it, but we'll just say that the noir-o-meter agrees with him in the case of the early Clouzot film (first of two films covered): it grades L'ASSASSIN HABITE...AU 21" at a crisp 94/200, which makes it noirish, but not really noir (at least if you go for the greyscale over the black-and-white). I think Suzy Delair is a great, sexy music hall performer, but my affinity for her cools markedly when I contemplate her acting.

And of course LE CORBEAU took Clouzot out of his Inspector Wens phase and led to a totally different (and much darker) career arc. The two 50s thrillers Mike mentions at the close of his Clouzot commentary make up 82% of the votes cast for Clouzot films in the IMDB ratings, while L'ASSASSIN's vote total represents just 2%. I think we can say that Clouzot's fan base has not really seen fit to fully explore his filmography...

I will leave it to ChiBob, connoisseur of the more scantily-clad sub-species of (not quite) noir, to weigh in on HIDEOUT IN THE SUN--or is that HIDE OUT IN THE SUN??

They're not all noir: "L'assassin habite...au 21" (1942) and "Hideout in the Sun" (1960)

Posted by Solomon on 8/13/2017, 4:33 am
The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942) aka L'assassin habite...au 21" is not a noir. It's a comic mystery, with the emphasis on light comedy. Killings are occurring by various means and calling cards are being left behind with the name "Mister Durand", taunting the police. Pierre Fresnay, well-known from such films as "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934), "The Last One of the Six" (1941) and "The Grand Illusion" (1937), is the detective on the case. A humorous sequence of buck-passing in the official bureaucracy lands him the job. He lives in with mistress Suzy Delair, who is a raucous comic presence. Voluble female sidekicks are common in the 1940s comic mysteries, but I personally find them awfully irritating and disruptive of the story. A far more thoughtful and helpful type is played by Lucille Ball in "The Dark Corner" (1946) and Myrna Loy's Nora Charles is very easy to take.

As boarding house mysteries go, this one is satisfactory, but it lacks tension and suspense until the closing sequence which is darker. For serial killer movies with less comedy, greater visual delight and verve, there are many Italian giallos that have this beat. This delights Clouzot fans, but its character differs greatly from Wages of Fear (1953) and Les Diaboliques (1955).

AND

Two brothers rob a bank and hide out at a nudist club
4/10
Author: msroz from United States
12 August 2017

Hideout in the Sun (1960) is an apt title to this picture. I watched the 70-minute version. Two brothers rob a bank, but they're quite different. The more aggressive (Greg Conrad) pulls along the more reluctant (Earl Bauer). They end up stealing the car of Dolores Carlos and take her along, gaining entry to a nudist club from which they hope to meet a boat and make good their escape with $100,000.

I've never been to Miami but I loved the color photography of it, the cars, the highways, the hotels, and so on that occupies the whole opening of the film. It's like old picture postcards come to life. The movie has a decent plot for the most part, only losing credibility toward the end. In return, the film's ending uses a "serpentarium" as location and that's well worth seeing.

In the middle, Bauer and Carlos find themselves attracted to one another, and this sets up conflict with the untrusting and violent Conrad. The middle features the frolicking of nude people in the nudist colony, which looks like a lot of clean fun, forgetting about sunburn.

The budget is clearly tiny. The film editing is rough. Sometimes footage is repeated. The sound track seems distant from the video, even when they are synchronized.

This film is actually memorable.