The Aging of Mysteries

For the sake of a short post title I have lumped the genres of film noir and mysteries together. Both genres are about crime, figuring out who a killer or thief was, and bringing the viewer through a maze of plot twists, turns, and red herrings. The difference is that film noir typically puts all of these elements in the dark. The stories are in the shadows and behind bars, the women have no qualms about killing for their own good (unique to this genre), and there are never happy endings (often because of a martyr).

Film noir, for the most part, hit its peak in the 1940s and 50s. Some of the greatest movies ever have come from this genre, including The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd, The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil, The Third Man, and that scene replayed a thousand times during The Shawshank Redemption from Gilda (where Rita Hayworth flips her hair). These films, when still watched today, grip the viewer until the last scene.

I try to watch old movies that aren't classics so I can have an appreciation for the gems that remain. Yesterday I watched I Wake Up Screaming, a 1941 film with a 7.4 rating on IMDb. Not bad, right? The only problem is that films like these, the ones that don't hold up well over time, have become the cliches. They aren't subtle enough, don't have enough twists, or are just plain lethargic.

I don't think anyone reading this is planning to go out and rent I Wake Up Screaming, so I won't bother avoiding spoilers.

When Betty Grable needs to pack up her things from her room, the downstairs clerk Harry Williams already has them packed. Right there, in that instant, I knew he was the killer. I would have liked to be proven wrong, but I wasn't. The problem was that this was maybe, maybe at the end of the first act. It's not that this is a bad film. In 1941 I'm sure the film was received very well. But today audiences are so stuck on plucking out the twists for themselves and claiming, afterward, that they "called it."

I try to avoid those "called it" situations. It's hard to avoid with bad movies, easy with good ones. If a movie is intelligent it will always be one step ahead of the viewer and they won't have time to figure it out -- if they pause to think they'll miss something that could either prove them wrong, or readjust their course. The Prestige was a good one. Ocean's 12 and 13, not so much (though fun movies).

What I'm trying to say is that there are two real distinctions in older films: those that hold up extremely well, and those that crumble. The middle ground is a small island. And it's not because of movie quality, but viewer expectations.