

Ok, the nw year has started better than the previous one. When I woke up I actually felt good, and I ended rewatching three classic noir films (all of them favorites of mine) with a couple of guys who where watching them for the first time, and were at least as thrilled as me. 
Now its four in the morning, but James Browns tribute to life is playing through the speakers, and honours the death of yet another american icon. I feel good - hopefully for the rest of the year. 

Unfortunately our guys in the movies rarely get to feel this way. 

The first one was a remake, The Maltese Falcon from 1941, which proves that trying your hand at another ones material can be the best thing that could happen to you. At least for John Ford it was, but with such a tremendous start, how will one ever be able to repeat it? Huston who wrote his screenplay for his film worked wonders. When I saw the film for the first time, some six or seven years ago, it was my entry to "film noir", and I loved it. Nevertheless I had forgotten much of the thrill rather quickly, and not having seen it again in such a long time, I was taken by surprise when I discovered that the whole movie, complete with every character and the dialogue plays perfectly on a second level, where the characters symbolise Hustons many personas via Freud. No wonder he would later make a film on him. An intellectual treat, similar to Hitchcocks Rear Window, but more refined, and with the grace of a greek tragedy which Euripides couldnt have planned better, nor Angelopoulos transferred with more honest inner pathos onto the screen. A monument to the art of film to function on various levels while retaining an elegant simplicity. And what sex appeal Mary Astor had. Almost a christ-like figure, she is oozing with it in a performance that is completely her own. 
Chinatown (1974) must have been a remake of this. And although Faye Dunaway may prove to be closer to Lauren Bacall she is still acting like Marey Astors character. Polanski watched the right one. 
100/100

Second was Sunset Blvd. (1950), Billy Wilders ultimate expression for his love of Cinema itself and his disgust with everything that has to surround it - at least in Hollywood. An ode to human fantasy, it nevertheless doesnt have quite the belief in itself than Hustons debut. But then. Wilder was already well-established when he realized his self-criticism. Although losing something of its edge through the last monologue by Gloria Swanson in the last scene of the film, still a great effort. Swanson and von Stroheim steal the Show completely, she with one of the best performances ever captured on screen with him not far behind. + you discover that movies were smarter when they were young. Naivite as a grace and a gift of the enlighted. Death as the consequence of our society.
88/100

The last one was one of my absolute favorites, Hawks The Big Sleep (1946) which I had laready watched about four times. The fifth viewing wasnt so kind to it. Watching it after two impressive outings, it paled in comparison. The chemistry is there, but while I was for the first time actually able to follow the story (thanks to my co-viewer attention to verbal information ), I ended up not caring much about it any more. Humphrey Bogart seems like a predecessor of both James Bond and Bruce Willis, as woman after woman falls to his feet while he is churning out one-liners like he was fed with them. Hawks didnt care much about the construction and the logic behind it. 
65/100

Unfortunately Jean-Luc Godard had The Big Sleep in mind when he made Alphaville in 1965. Though he didnt create another masterpiece like Polanski, he intensified the love scenes of the original and improved upon the muddled intrigue, by enhancing its social relevance. But instead of deadpan, Godard prefers pathos. Youll have to decide for yourself, but I like both. Its also funny to see how future directors copy certain scenes almost frame by frame including (with little updates) the dialogue. Chabrol must have also been thinking of The Maltese Falcon when he directed Rien ne vas plus (1997). 
Nevertheless it is interesting how our perception of films can change over the years, and its funny what experience can bring. Usually its not what you would expect.