3 off-brand noirs from Republic Pictures; two cries, one insomnia
I was...disappointed to find that I only have like, 5 Noirs that I haven't already talked about / hinted at, and one of them is a Bogart (thus not super-suitable for the "mention some off-brand noir"-s thing I wanted to do -- but yeah, "To Have And Have Not" -- if you want more Noir that reminds you of "Cassablanca", but want some not-everyone-knows-the-plot and more grit)
And then I wanted to do a Good Job about talking about them, but that translated to Not Doing It.
So here ya go, my half-assed writeup of some Off Brand Noirs I saw a long time ago, the Republic Pictures studio series:
Cry Danger (1950): Dick Powell is a bookie who gets out of jail part-way through his sentence for a huge holdup/murder he didn't commit, when someone randomly alibies him out. He then starts wandering around town, hitting up the gangsters he knows, to find out where the money from the holdup went. Bits of it remind me of "Blue Dhalia", some good "rattling all the interested parties, see what shakes loose"
Cry Vengeance (1954): Ok, now we're getting bleak: a scarred Mark Stevens, after serving a long sentence for a crime he didn't commit, after a car bomb blew up his wife and child (writing this down it sounds stupid -- but I think it was something like, the bad guys spun it like the bomb attempt was cuz he was mobbed up), tracks the mob boss behind it all to Alaska, where he's now in hiding (oh also the mob boss also has a young child). As you can imagine, this is less fun than "Cry Danger". Will Mark go over the edge and take revenge? Will Mark get gunned down by the mob boss's Bleach-Blond Psycho Henchman (that's a good minor noir character archetype, which is also seen in "D.O.A."... actually, if you haven't seen the original "D.O.A.", forget all these movies and just see that, it's fucking phenomenal; "Can't take it in the belly! Yeah, he can't take it there")
City that Never Sleeps (1953): HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS IS BLEAK. I mean I could probably just wrap it up there, but I guess I should go on: it follows a very eventful night shift in the life of a Chicago cop, Gig Young, who wants to take a corrupt pay-out of some kind and ditch town/his job/his wife with a beautiful dance hall girl. She has a colleague at the dance hall who's also in love with her, a sad-sack whose main act is being the heavily-made-up Juggling Clown in the shady nightclub's display window ("is it a robot or a man? It juggles like clockwork so you can't tell!"). A mix-up pretty early on has Gig's mere corrupt intent leading to someone close to him being killed, so whatever he decides to do, he's knee-deep in it already -- after lots of shit-luck / shit-timing and some of the bleakest X-leads-to-Y's in the biz, this movie has a Really weird card to play near the end. (Important note: this is set in Chicago, I guess "The City that Never Sleeps" was a phrase less stapled to NYC back in the day). I wouldn't say this is a good noir, but has some memorable "holy shit, really?" moments.