Tipping My Fedora

Today I am joined by crime author, critic, historian and archaeologist, Mike Ripley, to talk about his latest novel, BURIED ABOVE GROUND, which has just been published in paperback. A witty and clever mystery about the crime fiction industry, I quiz Mike about the sources of his inspiration and try to figure out just how realistic a depiction of the book trade this actually is. For more details about Mike and his novels, visit the official Severn House page: https://severnhouse.com/authors/mike-ripley/

Sergio is joined by Professor James Chapman, author of Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films, to look at the first 007 adaptation, the 1954 TV version of CASINO ROYALE, as well as the 1967 spoof and the 2006 Daniel Craig reboot. We then speculate about the future of the franchise under Amazon after 25 movies, wholly or partly, all overseen by the Broccoli family. To find out more about James and his many publications, please visit his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Chapman_(media_historian)

Sergio is joined by Moira Redmond, she of the mighty Clothes in Books blog, to celebrate the work of Ross Macdonald, creator of PI Lew Archer and for many the natural successor to Hammett and Chandler. We look at his books, his life with his wife, celebrated mystery author Margaret Millar, and some of the films based on his novels including HARPER (1966) and THE DROWNING POOL (1975). both starring Paul Newman, and the TV Movie THE UNDERGROUND MAN (1974) featuring Peter Graves as Archer. Here is a complete list of the Archer novels in publication order: The Moving Target (1949) The Drowning Pool (1950) The Way Some People Die (1951) The Ivory Grin (1952) Find a Victim (1954) The Barbarous Coast (1956) The Doomsters (1958) The Galton Case (1959) The Wycherly Woman (1961) The Zebra-Striped Hearse (1962) The Chill (1964) The Far Side of the Dollar (1965) Black Money (1966) The Instant Enemy (1968) The Goodbye Look (1969) The Underground Man (1971) Sleeping Beauty (1973) The Blue Hammer (1976)

Sam Spade, the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, first appeared Black Mask magazine before publication in book form in 1930. Despite being an instant success, Hammett never wrote another book about his ultra hardboiled PI, though he did appear again in three short stories published in 1932. Between 1931 and 1941, as discussed with Mark Dillon on the last episode of Fedora, Warner Bros released three films based on the novel, with a different actor playing the main role each time. However, it was on radio that Spade had his most consistent success. The Adventures of Sam Spade, as the half-hour show was called, made its debut on 12 July 1946, starring Howard Duff as Spade and Lurene Tuttle as his secretary, Effie Perrine. The show moved from ABC to CBS and then NBC, running for a total of 245 episodes. On top of that, Duff and Tuttle reprised their roles in a special 1-hour episode of Suspense, in which Sam Spade briefly met Philip Marlowe (as played by host Robert Montgomery). That episode is presented here in its entirety. Suspense / The Kandy Tooth Caper (CBS, 10 January 1948) Written by Bob Tallman and Jo Eisinger; Director: William Speir; Cast: Robert Montgomery (series host / Philip Marlowe), Howard Duff (Sam Spade), Lurene Tuttle (Effie Perrine), Joe Kearns (Casper Gutman), Cathy Lewis (Hope Laverne), Wally Maher (Lawrence Laverne), Jay Novello (Joel Cairo), Jeanette Nolan (Mrs. Julius), Jack Edwards, Jr. (Herman Julius / mortuary attendant), Sidney Miller (documentary narrator), Hans Conried (Marvin / Don Constantino), Bill Johnstone (Lieutenant Dundy).

Today’s podcast is devoted to THE MALTESE FALCON, the classic novel by Dashiell Hammett and its various film versions including the classic Humphrey Bogart version from 1941 and the two lesser-known adaptations that preceded it. My guest is Mark Dillon, the award-winning Toronto-based journalist specializing in film, TV and pop music. He is a former editor of Playback, the business publication for the Canadian media industries, and to which he still contributes. He has been writing for Hollywood magazine American Cinematographer for more than 25 years. He is author of Fifty Sides of The Beach Boys, chronicling America’s band, and co-hosts the (non-noir) podcast Surf’s Up: A Beach Boys Podcast Safari: https://soundcloud.com/user-93394161

Today I am joined by Ayesha Khan - host of the prizewinning podcast, Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* (www.everyscififilm.com/) - to talk about one of our favourite movies, Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER (1982). In addition we will also look at its sequel, Denis Villeneuve's BLADE RUNNER 2049 and Philip K. Dick's original source novel, Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? In the podcast we mention Film Noir Bingo, created by Todd Downing - you can follow him at www.todddowning.com. You can follow Ayesha at www.everyscififilm.com and listen to her podcast Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* on all major platforms.

Sergio looks at Michael Anderson's 1958 suspense drama, CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW, a clever mystery with a strong cast and memorable payoff. It stars Anne Baxter as an heiress driven to near madness when a man turns up claiming to be her dead brother and everybody but her believes him. Richard Todd is the the smooth impostor and Herbert Lom plays the understandably confused police inspector. Though uncredited, the premise of the film, and its memorable final twist on which the whole plot depends, had first been used on radio in 1946 for an episode of The Whistler: "Stranger in the House" (CBS, 2 September 1946), starring Virginia Gregg and Gerald Mohr. Script: Harold Swanton and Mark Smith; Music: Wilbur Hatch; Producer / Director: George W. Allen The radio play is included in today's podcast, which also looks at some of the many screen and stage variations that followed it. These include the following adaptations of the 1960 stage play by Robert Thomas, Piege Pour Un Homme Seul: 1965: Catch Me If You Can (Stage Play) Witten by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert Directed by Vincent J. Donehue Starring Tom Bosley, Dan Dailey, Bethel Leslie, George Mathews 1969: Honeymoon with A Stranger (TV Movie) Written by Henry Sleaser and David P. Harmon Directed by John Peyser Starring: Janet Leigh, Rossano Brazzi, Barbara Steele, Cesare Danova 1976: One of My Wives is Missing (TV Movie) Written by Peter Stone Directed by Glenn Jordan Starring: Jack Klugman, James Franciscus, Elizabeth Ashley, Joel Fabiani, Garry Walberg 1987: Vanishing Act (TV Movie) Written by Richard Levinson and William Link Directed by David Greene Starring: Mike Farrell, Elliot Gould, Margot Kidder, Fred Gwynne

For this special Christmas episode, Sergio is joined by Scott K Ratner for an in-depth look at Dashiell Hammett's novel The Thin Man. We also consider the series of six movies it spawned, all of them starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles and Skippy as their pet Terrier, Asta. Here's a full list of the films in the series: The Nick and Nora Charles Screwball Mystery Movies The Thin Man (1934) After the Thin Man (1936) Another Thin Man (1939) Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) The Thin Man Goes Home (1944) Song of the Thin Man (1947) We also look at some of our favourite movie whodunits, including AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945), GREEN FOR DANGER (1947), WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1957), DEATH ON THE NILE (1978) and Rian Johnson's KNIVES OUT series starring Daniel Craig. Scott K. Ratner is a Southern-California based writer/magician/actor whose endeavours are largely rooted in his interests in Golden Age detective fiction and classic era Hollywood cinema. He has written the libretto and lyrics for two whodunit musicals (All Talking! All Singing!! All Murder!!! and Murder on the High C’s) and a one-act Agatha Christie-related comedy (Kill A Better Mousetrap), as well as several nerdy articles for such magazines as Crime and Detective Stories and Mystery Scene. His magic act was once publicly praised by no less than Harry Blackstone, Jr. and the great Dai Vernon, though the truth of that story is considerably less impressive when the details are known. His brief sojourn as a teenage actor in television connected him with a few important players of the classic Hollywood era, and he regrets that he didn’t know enough about their filmographies at the time to ask the interesting questions. As a magician and theme park entertainer, he worked over two decades apiece at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.

Sergio is joined by Luke Deckard and Matthew Booth, the hosts of the excellent Mean Streets podcast (https://meanstreetspodcast.podbean.com/) to find out what their top 10 Film Noir remakes are. The films under discussion include (in chronological order) are: THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) THE KILLERS (1964) FAREWELL MY LOVELY (1975) THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1981) NO WAY OUT (1987) NARROW MARGIN (1990) CAPE FEAR (1991) THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY (1999) CASINO ROYALE (2006) NIGHTMARE ALLEY (2021) Luke and Matt are the hosts of the Mean Streets podcast, which you can find at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/luke-deckard/. Both are published crime fiction authors. Luke's homepage can be found at: https://www.lukedeckard.com/. Details of Matthew's published novels can be found at the Crime Writer's Association website: https://thecwa.co.uk/find-an-author/booth-matthew/.

It's 40 years since Alan Plater's mellow comedy thriller THE BEIDERBECKE AFFAIR (1985), starring James Bolam and Barbara Flynn, first appeared on TV. Sergio is joined by Plater expert James Leggott to discuss the original serial and it's two sequels, THE BEIDERBECKE TAPES (1987) and THE BEIDERBECKE CONNECTION (1988). Dr James Leggott is Head of School, Design Arts and Creative Industries, at the Northumbria University. For more information about his work and publications, please visit: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/l/james-leggott/ Music credit: "Crying All Day" (1927), Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke, courtesy of the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/1927-USA-Archives-1927-10-25-Bix-Beiderbecke-Frankie-Trumbauer-Crying-All-Day

Sergio is joined by Vincent M. Gaine of Lancaster University to discuss Michael Mann's hitman neo-noir, Collateral, starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith. A thriller made on the cutting edge of digital cinema of 2004, this in-depth exploration of the film will look at the new technology used to make it, how it sits within Mann's filmography - and why Sergio really has a problem with Tom Cruise's wig in the film. Dr Vincent M. Gaine teaches at Lancaster University and is the author of "Existentialism and Social Engagement in the Films of Michael Mann". The locus of Vincent’s research is the intersection of globalisation, liminality and identity politics in media. He has published on contemporary film genres, cycles and franchises, including superhero cinema, conspiracy thrillers and James Bond, as well as contemporary auteurs including James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow and Christopher Nolan. His current research concerns nostalgic espionage, liminal superheroes and the social-anthropological representation of Boston in media. Vincent is also a podcaster, with a monthly podcast called Invasion of the Pody People, and regular guest appearances on Not Just For Kids (https://notjustforkids.libsyn.com/), The Uncut Network and There Can Be Only One. He contributes film reviews to The Geek Show (https://thegeekshow.co.uk/) and the Critical Movie Critics (https://thecriticalcritics.com/).

Brad Friedman is back to talk about Hitchcock's 1940s Noir thrillers with Sergio! This time they discuss the romantic whodunit, SPELLBOUND (1945), the spy drama NOTORIOUS (1946) and the real-time suspense thriller, ROPE (1948). Brad blogs about Golden Age mystery books and movies at Ah Sweet Mystery: https://ahsweetmystery.com/ To read "The House of Dr Edwardes" by Francis Beeding, the basis for SPELLBOUND, click here: https://freeread.de/@RGLibrary/FrancisBeeding/Novels/TheHouseOfDoctorEdwardes.html Spoiler alert: the plots for all the films discussed, including their respective endings, are explored in great detail.

Special guest Jonathan Rigby joins Sergio to discuss WOMEN OF TWILIGHT (1952), the film adaptation of Sylvia Rayman's 1951 groundbreaking all-female play. Jonathan Rigby has been writing about films for over 30 years now - and has been an actor for even longer. He is the author of several books on horror cinema, including English Gothic, American Gothic and Euro Gothic - with American Gothic 2 on the way – and Studies in Terror, and has also written biographies of Christopher Lee and Roxy Music. He has also recorded loads and loads of audio commentaries and solo video interviews for Blu-ray releases. As an actor, he's best known for playing radio comic Kenneth Horne on numerous occasions, and as a director he revived the Sylvia Rayman play Women of Twilight for the first time in nearly 60 years - and that was over ten years ago, with no further professional revival having happened since. Today we’re going to talk about that play, his revival and the 1952 film adaptation, originally released in the US as Twilight Women.

The Fedora podcast is one year old today. And it's also my birthday! To celebrate, my awesome buddy Professor Stacey Abbott (who also just had her birthday) makes a very welcome return visit to Fedora. This time we get together to celebrate the John Wick series starring the mighty Keanu Reeves. Please note, we pretty much spoil every single one of the films. [This episode is being re-presented to correct an earlier technical problem] My very special guest is Stacey Abbott, Professor of Film at Northumbria University, where she is a member of their Horror Studies Research Group. Her research focuses on horror and cult film and television, with a particular interest in vampire and zombies. She is the author of Celluloid Vampires (2007), Undead Apocalypse (2016) and the BFI Film Classic on Near Dark (2020). She is the co-author of TV Horror (2013) and the co-editor of Global TV Horror (2021), both with Professor Lorna Jowett. She regularly writes essays to accompany DVD and Blu-ray releases, including Second Sight’s Ginger Snaps, Possessor and Blair Witch Project, as well as Eureka’s Tank Girl and The Secret of NIMH. She is currently writing a book on Horror Animation. Publication details: Near Dark (BFI Classics) by Stacey Abbott: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/near-dark-9781911239277/ Angel (TV Milestones) by Stacey Abbott: https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9780814333198 Celluloid Vampires by Stacey Abbott: https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292716964/ Global TV Horror edited by Stacey Abbott and Lorna Jowett: www.uwp.co.uk/book/global-tv-horror/ TV Horror edited by Stacey Abbott and Lorna Jowett: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/tv-horror-9781848856189/ Undead Apocalypse by Stacey Abbott: https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/19174?login=false

Today we launch headlong into the erotic thriller genre with a very deep dive into the 1992 box office smash, Basic Instinct. Starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone, written by Joe Eszterhas and directed by Paul Verhoeven, this gaudy and controversial Neo Noir has many strong links to Hitchcock's Vertigo. To discuss this film and more, Sergio is joined by very special guest, Rebecca McCallum. N.B. The podcast, recorded in February 2025, includes huge spoilers - and gives away the ending to Basic Instinct and Vertigo too! Rebecca is a writer, speaker and creator/host of Talking Hitchcock, a podcast that explores the work and the world of her favourite director. The podcast covers deep dives on Hitchcock’s films as well as topic driven discussions on everything in the Hitchcockian universe. She curates, hosts and speaks at Hitchcock screenings and festivals up and down the UK and has written about the director’s films both online and in print for many publications including Fangoria, Grim Journal, Hemlock Books and MovieJawn. She has presented at Hitch Con, the largest international Hitchcock conference of its kind and co-hosted a Hitchcock programme on BBC Radio. Talking Hitchcock Podcast: Listen to Talking Hitchcock Podcast here: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/rebecca-mccallum/ Instagram/Bluesky: @talkinghitchpod Linktree https://linktr.ee/PendlePumpkin to Read/Listen to Rebecca's Work: Rebecca McCallum | Twitter @hitch_pod Find and Follow Rebecca Instagram: @pendlepumpkin

James Harrison of Film Noir UK joins Sergio to preview the 2025 Film Noir Fest, which is taking place from 31 October to 2 November at the Plaza Cinema in Weston-Super-Mare. This year's theme is heist movies and highlights include screenings of: Kubrick's KILLER'S KISS (1955) and THE KILLING (1956), Huston's THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950), Siodmak's CRISS CROSS (1949), Dassin's RIFIFI (1955) and Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS (1992). There is also a retrospective dedicated to crime films starring Ida Lupino, including HIGH SIERRA (1941), ROAD HOUSE (1948), ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1951), BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952) and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956). In addition there will be a silent Heritage Noir double bill with a live score by Neil Brand and screenings of British thrillers courtesy of Talking Pictures TV / Renown. For full details about the festival and tickets, visit the homepage of Film Noir UK: https://ti.to/film-noir-uk/filmnoirfest2025

Sergio is joined by blogger Aidan Brack, of Mysteries Ahoy, for an in-depth look at Akira Kurosawa's classic 1963 suspense thriller, High and Low. This seems like the perfect time to look back at the film with the release of Spike Lee's remake, Highest 2 Lowest, starring Denzel Washington. Adapted from King's Ransom - the tenth volume in Ed McBain's series of police procedurals featuring the cops of the 87th Precinct - Sergio and Aidan look at the original book, its 1962 American TV adaptation and Kurosawa's extraordinary film version. Aidan Brack is a public librarian with a love of mystery fiction. He started his blog, Mysteries Ahoy! in late 2017 as a way to connect with other fans of mysteries and to catalogue his experiences with the genre. Since then, he has shared his thoughts on over 600 books, 100 film and television productions, as well as the occasional radio drama. His father is crime novelist, Graham Brack. Aidan enjoys reading and writing about many different types of mystery fiction, including works in translation. He has a particular interest in inverted mysteries - stories in which the culprit's identity is known to the reader from near the start. You can find his writing at www.mysteriesahoy.com For more info on author Graham Brack, visit: https://grahambrackauthor.com/ To watch the 1962 TV version of King's Ransom, visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5sTB0_UyEc

Following on from the first part last week, Sergio and Sheldon Hall reunite for a second bout of Film Noir scepticism. How well does Sergio stand up to Sheldon's stinging and relentless criticism? The genres being considered include Westerns, Horror, Science Fiction and the work of Alfred Hitchcock. To listen to the first part of the podcast, visit: Apple buff.ly/wDl4xnB Spotify buff.ly/34bRrLu YouTube buff.ly/QyLHaCo The titles being considered, in chronological order, include: THE SEVENTH VICTIM (Robson, 1944) WHISPERING SMITH (Fenton, 1948) ROPE (Hitchcock, 1948) WINCHESTER 73 (Mann, 1950) INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (Siegel, 1956) VERTIGO (Hitchcock, 1958) Sheldon Hall is an Emeritus Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. A former film journalist and lecturer, he is the author of Zulu: With Some Guts Behind It (2005/2014) and Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981 (2024), co-author of Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History (2010), and co-editor of Widescreen Worldwide (2010) and Film Critics and British Film Culture: New Shots in the Dark (2025). In addition, he has contributed chapters and articles on British and American film history to numerous books and journals and interviews to many Blu-ray special editions of films including, most recently, Sirk in Germany (1934-35), The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), Black Tuesday (1954), H.M.S. Defiant (1962) and Juggernaut (1974)

At the beginning of every podcast, Sergio asks his guests to give their definition of Film Noir, a notoriously difficult assignment. This week, in the first of a two-part episode, Dr Sheldon Hall, long-time friend to Sergio and the podcast, picks holes in the host's own attempts to define the term. They consider two genres, screwball comedy and the gangster movie, and look to see how well they overlap with Film Noir, along with the 1931 version version of The Maltese Falcon, starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade. The films under discussions, in chronological order, include the following: UNDERWORLD (Von Sternberg, 1927) THE MALTESE FALCON (Del Ruth, 1931) TWO SECONDS (Le Roy, 1932) THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK (Sturges, 1944) WONDER MAN (Humberstone, 1945) Sheldon Hall is an Emeritus Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. A former film journalist and lecturer, he is the author of Zulu: With Some Guts Behind It (2005/2014) and Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981 (2024), co-author of Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History (2010), and co-editor of Widescreen Worldwide (2010) and Film Critics and British Film Culture: New Shots in the Dark (2025). In addition, he has contributed chapters and articles on British and American film history to numerous books and journals and interviews to many Blu-ray special editions of films including, most recently, Sirk in Germany (1934-35), The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), Black Tuesday (1954), H.M.S. Defiant (1962) and Juggernaut (1974). Next week, in part 2 of our conversation, we look at Western, Horror, Science Fiction, and Hitchcock varieties of Film Noir.

The 1988 live action and animation hybrid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, can certainly lay claim to being the most unusual Film Noir yet featured on Tipping My Fedora. A 1940s murder mystery set in a parallel universe in which humans and cartoons co-exist, it was a huge gamble for the studio and its director, Robert Zemeckis, hot off the success of the first Back to the Future movie. The gamble paid off however, both critically and at the box office, but how well does its technical wizardry stand up today? Joining me to discuss this highly unusual Neo-Noir is my very good friend Simon Brown, an independent scholar who specialises in early film history, horror, adaptation studies and film technology. He is the author of Cecil Hepworth and the Rise of The British Film Industry (Uni of Exeter Press, 2016) and Screening Stephen King: Adaptation and the Horror Genre in Film and Television (uni of Texas Press, 2018). He is currently working on a book about director Robert Zemeckis.

The great film composer and songwriter David Shire turns 88 today. To celebrate, I am joined by film music historian John Leman Riley to look at some of Shire's classic 1970s Neo-Noir music scores, including: THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (Sargent, 1974) THE CONVERSATION (Coppola, 1974) FAREWELL, MY LOVELY (Richards, 1975) ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (Pakula, 1976) For more information about the life and work of David Shire, please visit his homepage at: http://davidshiremusic.com/ John Leman Riley’s career has embraced photography, librarianship, archiving, teaching and lecturing, academic writing and editing, as well as journalism, reviewing, exhibition catalogues, CD and DVD notes and the like. Often focusing on film and film music, classical music, and Eastern European culture, he has been published by Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh University Presses, Routledge, Greenwood, BFI, Rough Guides and others. Highlights include Dmitri Shostakovich: a Life in Film (Tauris), Discover Film Music (Naxos) for which he curated two accompanying CDs of excerpts, Sound at the Film Society, (“The Sound of the Silents in Britain”, OUP), Keeping the Icons on the Wall: Shostakovich’s Cinema and Concert Music (“Dmitrij Šostakovič tra Musica, Letteratura e Cinema”, Leo S Olschki), Soviet Cinema: Between Art and Propaganda (Cité de la Musique, Paris, and Caja Madrid), Stalin (and Lenin) at the Movies (“Contemplating Shostakovich: Life Music and Film”, Ashgate), and Live Cinema: Silent Film, Orchestral Accompaniment and the Special Event (“Archival Film Festivals”, Edinburgh UP). He regularly writes for and is Reviews Editor of the DSCH Journal (www.dschjournal.com) and was the English Language editor for Apparatus Journal (https://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus). In From the Woods to the Cosmos, on the Severin BluRay release of Viy, he discusses Russian and Soviet horror and sci-fi cinema. Commissioned by the South Bank Centre, he wrote, produced and directed Shostakovich: My Life in Film, telling the story of the composer’s film career with an orchestra playing the scores to film clips. Shostakovich was played by Simon Russell-Beale in London and, at the Komische Oper, Berlin, by Ulrich Matthes (Goebbels in Der Untergang). He writes at https://johnlemanriley.substack.com/

Film and music historian John Leman Riley is back and joins me for a discussion of some of the great Neo-Noir scores composed by Ennio Morricone, Michael Small and Jerry Goldsmith. In this episode we focus on four great films and their soundtracks: THE SICILIAN CLAN (Verneuil, 1969) - music by Ennio Morricone THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (Argento, 1970) - music by Ennio Morricone KLUTE (Pakula, 1971) - music by Michael Small CHINATOWN (Polanski, 1974) - music by Jerry Goldsmith John’s career has embraced photography, librarianship, archiving, teaching and lecturing, academic writing and editing, as well as journalism, reviewing, exhibition catalogues, CD and DVD notes and the like. Often focusing on film and film music, classical music, and Eastern European culture, he has been published by Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh University Presses, Routledge, Greenwood, BFI, Rough Guides and others. Highlights include Dmitri Shostakovich: a Life in Film (Tauris), Discover Film Music (Naxos) for which he curated two accompanying CDs of excerpts, Sound at the Film Society, (“The Sound of the Silents in Britain”, OUP), Keeping the Icons on the Wall: Shostakovich’s Cinema and Concert Music (“Dmitrij Šostakovič tra Musica, Letteratura e Cinema”, Leo S Olschki), Soviet Cinema: Between Art and Propaganda (Cité de la Musique, Paris, and Caja Madrid), Stalin (and Lenin) at the Movies (“Contemplating Shostakovich: Life Music and Film”, Ashgate), and Live Cinema: Silent Film, Orchestral Accompaniment and the Special Event (“Archival Film Festivals”, Edinburgh UP). He regularly writes for and is Reviews Editor of the DSCH Journal (www.dschjournal.com) and was the English Language editor for Apparatus Journal (https://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus). In From the Woods to the Cosmos, on the Severin BluRay release of Viy, he discusses Russian and Soviet horror and sci-fi cinema. Commissioned by the South Bank Centre, he wrote, produced and directed Shostakovich: My Life in Film, telling the story of the composer’s film career with an orchestra playing the scores to film clips. Shostakovich was played by Simon Russell-Beale in London and, at the Komische Oper, Berlin, by Ulrich Matthes (Goebbels in Der Untergang). He writes at https://johnlemanriley.substack.com/

Sergio is joined today by podcast buddy Brad Friedman to discuss two of Alfred Hitchcock's first engagements with American Film Noir: the Gothic romance Rebecca (1940) and the dark small-town psycho-thriller, Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Brad blogs about Golden Age mystery books and movies at Ah Sweet Mystery: https://ahsweetmystery.com/ Spoiler alert: the plots for both these films, including their respective endings, are explored in great detail.

Boxing features in more Hollywood movies than any other sport - and this was certainly true in the era of classic Film Noir. Where does this fascination come from - and how have Noir boxing movies rung the changes over the decades? Sergio is joined by Steve Hunt, host of the superb Boxing Movie Podcast and author of the new book, Heavyweight Title Fights of the 1980s: A Complete History. Together they look at five of Steve's favourite noir boxing films. KID GALAHAD (Curtiz, 1937) THE SET-UP (Wise, 1949) CHAMPION (Robson, 1949) KILLER'S KISS (Kubrick, 1955) THE HARDER THEY FALL (Robson, 1956) To listen to Steve podcast, please visit: https://boxingmoviepodcast.alitu.com/ You can find his homepage at this link: https://www.stevehuntboxing.com/ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-boxing-movie-podcast/id1742325024 Steve's book, Heavyweight Title Fights of the 1980s: A Complete History, is now available in paperback and on Kindle from Amazon in the UK (https://shorturl.at/h02Bc) and from McFarland (https://shorturl.at/8i5ll) in the US.

Will the real "Mr Arkadin" please stand up? For the podcast's first foray into audio noir, we tip our hat to Orson Welles - whose birthday it was this past week - and look at the strange case of his noir maudit, MR ARKADIN. Also released as CONFIDENTIAL REPORT, we will consider the many iterations of the film (following in the path of Jonathan Rosenbaum's seminal essay, The Seven Arkadins, first published in Film Comment magazine in 1992). Incredibly, the various versions - including radio dramas and novelisations as well as variant edits of the film, has now risen to a total of 10 separate Arkadins! We will also present the full audio drama from which the film was primarily derived, Man of Mystery, one of 8 (or 9) episodes that Welles was known to have written for his The Lives of Harry Lime radio series (first heard round the world from 1951 to 1952). The entire Harry Lime series of 52 half hour episodes is available for download from the Internet Archive at this link: https://archive.org/details/TheLivesOfHarryLime To read Rosenbaum's original essay, please visit his homepage at this link: jonathanrosenbaum.net/

David Fincher's seminal neo-noir thriller SEVEN is now thirty years old. A surprise commercial success and critical hit, this dark, powerful, densely-layered and genuinely scary and challenging thriller proved to be a hugely influential Neo-noir. And then, there was that box ... To celebrate, Sergio is joined by Dr Laura Mee, Principal Lecturer in Film and Television at the University of Hertfordshire. She primarily researches horror cinema and adaptation and is the author of two books: Reanimated: The Contemporary American Horror Remake (Edinburgh University Press, 2022) and a book on THE SHINING in the Devil's Advocates series (Liverpool University Press, 2017). Dr Mee has written on films including AMERICAN PSYCHO, ROOM 237, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and The Conjuring series. She is the co-founder and co-convener of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies' Horror Studies group, a UK network of horror scholars who host regular online events on a wide range of horror topics - you can find more information at baftsshorror.weebly.com. With colleagues Shellie McMurdo and Kate Egan, she is the co-editor of the Hidden Horror Histories book series from Liverpool University Press. (https://liverpooluniversitypress.blog/2023/10/27/hidden-horror-histories-call-for-proposals/) Dr Laura Mee research profile: https://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/en/persons/laura-mee

Before such monstrous miscreants as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, The Joker, Hannibal Lecter and Bellatrix Lestrange besmirched page and screen, perhaps the greatest supervillain of them all was Dr Mabuse. Hell-bent on world domination, his devilish plans were chronicled in books and movies throughout most of the 20th century. And now he's back in a brand new box set bringing together his six dastardly movie appearance from the 1960s, courtesy of Eureka video in their Masters of Cinema series. https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/mabuse-lives-limited-edition-box-set/ To celebrate I am joined by David Kalat, the world's foremost authority on the mad doctor and his schemes, in a special edition of the podcast spanning some 100 years of movie mayhem. David Kalat is a film historian and a forensic technologist. He has contributed audio commentaries to the home video editions of numerous classic movies, written extensively for Turner Classic Movies and other publications. In 1997, he founded the independent DVD label All Day Entertainment, to rescue and promote motion pictures whose artistic value, historic importance, and all-around entertainment value merit a second-chance in the commercial marketplace. David Kalat also partners with other media companies such as Eureka, Kino-Lorber, the Criterion Collection, Classic Media, and others to bring the same attention to important films from around the world. He is the author of numerous books on film history, including The Strange Case of Dr. Mabuse. https://www.alldayentertainment.com/publications

Our offices will be closed during the Easter period so we can take a small holiday and recharge the little grey cells. But we won't be gone for long and we have lots of special episodes all lined up and ready to go. To whet your appetite, here are previews from some forthcoming episodes including ones dedicated to boxing movies, Westerns and Noir scepticism, the various versions of BLADE RUNNER (and its sequel, BLADE RUNNER 2049), the radio origins of Orson Welles' MR ARKADIN ... and much more! Tipping My Fedora will be back on April 27th with an edition featuring Dr Laura Mee, who will be taking a deep dive into David Fincher's 1995 neo-noir classic, SEVEN. But until then ... take it easy and don't lose your heads down those dark streets of Noir City. And as Patrick McGoohan used to say, be seeing you!

Sergio is joined by novelist, blogger and podcaster Jim Noy to enthuse about the work of writer Jim Thompson, the sui generis maestro of 50s and 60's Noir. We explore some of Thompson's major themes, his often psychopathic protagonists and his horrifying and frequently surreal endings - and look in detail at such classic books as The Killers Inside Me, A Hell of a Woman, The Grifters, After Dark, My Sweet and Pop. 1280 (all of which have been filmed) Jim Thompson's crime fiction bibliography includes the following novels: Nothing More Than Murder (1949) The Killer Inside Me (1952) Cropper's Cabin (1952) Recoil (1953) The Alcoholics (1953) Savage Night (1953) Bad Boy (1953) The Criminal (1953) The Nothing Man (1954) The Golden Gizmo (1954) Roughneck (1954) A Swell-Looking Babe (1954) A Hell of a Woman (1954) After Dark, My Sweet (1955) The Kill-Off (1957) Wild Town (1957) The Getaway (1958) The Transgressors (1961) The Grifters (1963) Pop. 1280 (1964) Jim Noy is a maths supremo and a novelist - he made his debut with The Red Death Murders, which was published during the Covid lockdown and is a highly imaginative whodunit set sometime in the past during the plague imagined by Edgar Allan Poe for his classic story, 'The Masque of Red Death.' It is available in print and e-book editions via Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Death-Murders-Jim-Noy/dp/B09SKY58WV He also blogs about crime fiction at The Invisible Event: https://theinvisibleevent.com/. He also hosts his own podcast, In GAD We Trust: https://theinvisibleevent.com/category/in-gad-we-trust/

Welcome back for the second half of Sergio's conversation with Simon Brown about the Michael Winner / Charles Bronson Death Wish trilogy - today's focus is on the first two sequels, produced by Cannon in the 1980s. We look at what the sequels added to, and detracted from, this popular cycle of revenge films extending the success of the first and most distinguished entry in the series. The first part of this podcast can be found at this link: https://tippingmyfedora.podbean.com/e/14-death-wish-1974-with-simon-brown/ Simon Brown, currently lecturing in film at Northumbria University, is an independent scholar who specialises in early film history, horror, adaptation studies and film technology. He is the author of Cecil Hepworth and the Rise of The British Film Industry (University of Exeter Press, 2016) and Screening Stephen King: Adaptation and the Horror Genre in Film and Television (University of Texas Press, 2018). Spoiler warning - we pretty much give away the endings of both the films being discussed.

Sergio is joined today by Simon Brown for the first of a two-part look at the trio of Death Wish films that were directed by Michael Winner and starred Charles Bronson. One of the key releases of the 1970s, Michael Winner’s 1974 box office smash, Death Wish, starred Charles Bronson as a man driven to murderous reprisals after a violent assault that left his wife dead and their daughter an emotional wreck. Adapted from the 1972 novel by Brian Garfield, it crystallised an emerging trend of films featuring disillusioned individuals who turn to violence as a way to deal with the chaos in which they find themselves. Joining me to discuss this seminal and highly controversial work is Simon Brown, an independent scholar who specialises in early film history, horror, adaptation studies and film technology. He is the author of Cecil Hepworth and the Rise of The British Film Industry (University of Exeter Press, 2016) and Screening Stephen King: Adaptation and the Horror Genre in Film and Television (University of Texas Press, 2018). Spoiler warning: please note, we do explore the film, and its ending, in considerable detail.

As a tribute to the late David Lynch, Sergio is joined by special guest Dr Lindsay Hallam, Senior Lecturer in Film at the University of East London to discuss his work in the Noir context. Dr Hallam is author of the books Screening the Marquis de Sade and a Devil's Advocates volume on Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and has written several articles and book chapters on the works of David Lynch. She has also contributed audio commentaries and essays for Blu-Rays released by such labels as Arrow, Severin, Second Sight, Umbrella, Eureka, 88 Films, Indicator and Vinegar Syndrome. She is also the co-host of SciFrights, a movie podcast from the Interzone where horror meets science fiction https://rss.com/podcasts/scifrights/ We explore the way that Lynch used the motifs, tropes and visual signifiers associated with Film Noir in so many of his films. Those discussed include: BLUE VELVET (1986) WILD AT HEART (1990) TWIN PEAKS (1990-91) TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992) LOST HIGHWAY (1997) MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001) For more information on Dr Lindsay Hallam, please visit: www.uel.ac.uk/about-uel/staff/lindsay-anne-hallam https://lindsayhallam5.wixsite.com/website Screening the Marquis de Sade: Pleasure, Pain and the Transgressive Body in Film www.amazon.co.uk/Screening-Marquis-Sade-Pleasure-Transgressive/dp/0786462965/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr= Twin Peaks: Fire Walks with Me (Devil's Advocates series): www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781911325642

Today’s podcast is devoted to KISS ME DEADLY, the classic Film Noir directed by Robert Aldrich from Mickey Spillane's best-seller featuring his ultra-hardboiled PI, Mike Hammer. My guest is Mark Dillon, an award-winning Toronto-based journalist specializing in film, TV and pop music. He is a former editor of Playback, the business publication for the Canadian media industries, and to which he still contributes. He has been writing for Hollywood magazine American Cinematographer for more than 25 years. He is author of Fifty Sides of The Beach Boys, chronicling America’s band, and co-hosts the (non-noir) podcast Surf’s Up: A Beach Boys Podcast Safari: https://soundcloud.com/user-93394161

Can the shadows of Film Noir retain their dark power even during the holiday season? Come and join me in front of the fireplace for a special yuletide edition of Tipping My Fedora with friends of the podcast, Simon Brown and Stacey Abbott and their devoted pooch Lilli, while they take a break from sleuthing as we look at some classic crime movies set between Christmas and New Year. The films discussed include: THE THIN MAN (WS Van Dyke, 1934) CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY (Robert Siodmak, 1944) THE RECKLESS MOMENT (Max Ophuls, 1949) BLAST OF SILENCE (Allen Baron, 1961) THE SILENT PARTNER (Daryl Duke, 1978) And of course Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1947), a classic movie with more than a hint of Film Noir magic about it. Happy holidays - thanks to all our listeners, and contributors, for their valuable support in 2024. And please don't forget to subscribe and comment wherever you get your episodes of Tipping My Fedora. The podcast will be back on 5 January 2025 with a new episode in which Mark Dillon joins me to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Robert Aldrich's classic private eye mystery, KISS ME DEADLY. See you then! Graphic by Frazer Ash Additional Music: Christmas Spirit (Top-Flow / Pixabay)

To celebrate what would have been the 131st birthday of Hollywood icon Edward G. Robinson, Sergio is joined by Craig Ian Mann to provide an overview of the many gangster roles he played during his career, examining how they transitioned from Depression-era tragedies of men who took the wrong path to fame and fortune to Noir-era sociopaths of the 40s and 50s who no longer have a place in society. Films discussed include: Little Caesar (1931) Bullets or Ballots (1936) The Last Gangster (1937) I am the Law (1938) Night has a Thousand Eyes (1948) Key Largo (1948) Black Tuesday (1954) Craig is a film historian, freelance writer and home video producer who works closely with Eureka Entertainment and their Masters of Cinema series. He is the author of Phases of the Moon: A Cultural History of the Werewolf Film, published by Edinburgh University Press in 2020, and has written for the BFI, Eureka, Second Sight Films, Indicator and Arrow Video amongst others. His latest writing appears in the Second Sight releases of The Hitcher and The Blair Witch Project and Eureka's Masters of Cinema edition of Hugo Fregonese’s Black Tuesday, previously previewed here at Fedora. Forthcoming is Mabuse Lives! - a set bringing together six of the Mabuse crime films made in Germany in the 1960s. For further details, visit: https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/mabuse-lives-limited-edition-box-set/

A look back at Kenneth Branagh's box office hit, Dead Again (1991), a highly imaginative valentine to classic Film Noir co-starring Emma Thompson and Andy Garcia that daringly combines a murder mystery with the supernatural. Sergio is joined by writer and actor, Nick Cardillo. A lifelong fan of mystery and detective fiction, Nick is the author of several Sherlock Holmes pastiches for MX Publishing and Belanger Books. These were collected in The Feats of Sherlock Holmes (2018) and The Improbable Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (2021). He is the author of “The Devil’s Book,” published in The Novellas of Solar Pons; the first collection of longer stories based on August Derleth’s pulp detective to be authorized by the Derleth Estate. When he’s not writing, Nick is an actor in the Philadelphia region and has been involved in productions of such diverse playwrights as William Shakespeare, Terrence McNally, Paula Vogel, and, of course, Agatha Christie. Nick is currently at work on his first novel. Find out more on his website, nickcardillocreative.com

Sergio is joined by film and music expert John Leman Riley to provide an overview of some of the film scores written for Film Noir in the classic 1941 to 1959 period. The films explored in this podcast include: THE MALTESE FALCON (John Huston, 1941) - music by Adolph Deutsch THE BIG SLEEP (Howard Hawks, 1946) - music by Max Steiner SUNSET BOULEVARD (Billy Wilder, 1950) - music by Franz Waxman A PLACE IN THE SUN (George Stevens, 1951) - music by Franz Waxman ON DANGEROUS GROUND (Nicholas Ray, 1951) - music by Bernard Herrmann THE BIG COMBO (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955) - music by David Raksin ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (Robert Wise, 1959) - music by John Lewis John’s career has embraced photography, librarianship, archiving, teaching and lecturing, academic writing and editing, as well as journalism, reviewing, exhibition catalogues, CD and DVD notes and the like. Often focusing on film and film music, classical music, and Eastern European culture, he has been published by Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh University Presses, Routledge, Greenwood, BFI, Rough Guides and others. Highlights include Dmitri Shostakovich: a Life in Film (Tauris), Discover Film Music (Naxos) for which he curated two accompanying CDs of excerpts, Sound at the Film Society, (“The Sound of the Silents in Britain”, OUP), Keeping the Icons on the Wall: Shostakovich’s Cinema and Concert Music (“Dmitrij Šostakovič tra Musica, Letteratura e Cinema”, Leo S Olschki), Soviet Cinema: Between Art and Propaganda (Cité de la Musique, Paris, and Caja Madrid), Stalin (and Lenin) at the Movies (“Contemplating Shostakovich: Life Music and Film”, Ashgate), and Live Cinema: Silent Film, Orchestral Accompaniment and the Special Event (“Archival Film Festivals”, Edinburgh UP). He regularly writes for and is Reviews Editor of the DSCH Journal (www.dschjournal.com) and was the English Language editor for Apparatus Journal (https://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus). In From the Woods to the Cosmos, on the Severin BluRay release of Viy, he discusses Russian and Soviet horror and sci-fi cinema. Commissioned by the South Bank Centre, he wrote, produced and directed Shostakovich: My Life in Film, telling the story of the composer’s film career with an orchestra playing the scores to film clips. Shostakovich was played by Simon Russell-Beale in London and, at the Komische Oper, Berlin, by Ulrich Matthes (Goebbels in Der Untergang). He writes at https://johnlemanriley.substack.com/

Sergio previews the UK Blu-ray release of the 1954 drama Black Tuesday, which is being released today by Eureka in their Masters of Cinema series. He is joined by Barry Forshaw, Craig Ian Mann and Sheldon Hall - who all provided new extras for this release - and together they explore the contributions of stars Edward G. Robinson, Peter Graves and Jean Parker, director Hugo Fregonese, writer Sydney Boehm and cinematographer Stanley Cortez. Here are the full details of the Blu-ray extras: A new audio commentary with film noir expert Sergio Angelini, host of the Tipping My Fedora podcast From Argentina to Hollywood – a new interview with film historian Sheldon Hall on director Hugo Fregonese No Escape – A brand new video essay by Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City A new video interview with Ehsan Khoshbakht, critic and co-director of Il Cinema Ritrovato Theatrical trailer A collector’s booklet featuring new writing on Black Tuesday by critic Barry Forshaw and film writer Craig Ian Mann Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/black-tuesday/ The latest books by this episode's guests include: Barry Forshaw: Simenon: The Man, The Books, The Films: www.oldcastlebooks.co.uk/bookpage.php?isbn=9780857304162 Sheldon Hall: Armchair Cinema: A History of feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-armchair-cinema.html To receive a 30% discount on Sheldon Hall's new book, enter the code NEW30 at the checkout. Craig Ian Mann: Phases of the Moon: A Cultural History of the Wewolf Film: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-phases-of-the-moon.html

Sergio is joined by author and critic Mike Ripley to look at a tale of two tigers, or rather, two versions of The Tiger in the Smoke: the original 1952 novel by Margery Allingham, featuring her sleuth Albert Campion; and its film noir adaptation from 1956 that, despite being mostly very faithful, chose to completely eliminate her recurring protagonist. We also look at the BBC TV series Campion (1989-1990), based on Allingham's novels and starring Peter Davison in the title role (and Mike's "controversial" contribution to that show), which is currently available to view in the UK on BBC iPlayer: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0hqd8lh/campion In addition, Mike tells us about his Campion continuation novels, authorised by the Allingham estate, to coincide with the release of his twelfth book in the series, Mr Campion's Christmas. Here are the details of Mike Ripley's series of Campion continuation novels, all published by Severn House: https://severnhouse.com/ Mr. Campion's Farewell (after P. Youngman Carter) (2014) Mr. Campion's Fox (2015) Mr. Campion's Fault (2016) Mr. Campion's Abdication (2017) Mr. Campion's War (2018) Mr. Campion's Visit (2019) Mr. Campion's Seance (2020) Mr. Campion's Coven (2021) Mr. Campion's Wings (2021) Mr. Campion's Mosaic (2022) Mr. Campion's Memory (2023) Mr. Campion's Christmas (2024)

We celebrate Halloween with a close look at Kathryn Bigelow's classic noir-western-horror hybrid, Near Dark. My very special guest is Stacey Abbott, Professor of Film at Northumbria University, where she is a member of their Horror Studies Research Group. Her research focuses on horror and cult film and television, with a particular interest in vampire and zombies. She is the author of Celluloid Vampires (2007), Undead Apocalypse (2016) and the BFI Film Classic on Near Dark (2020). She is the co-author of TV Horror (2013) and the co-editor of Global TV Horror (2021), both with Professor Lorna Jowett. She regularly writes essays to accompany DVD and Blu-ray releases, including Second Sight’s Ginger Snaps, Possessor and Blair Witch Project, as well as Eureka’s Tank Girl and The Secret of NIMH. She is currently writing a book on Horror Animation. Publication details: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/near-dark-9781911239277/ Angel (TV Milestones) by Stacey Abbott: https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9780814333198 Celluloid Vampires by Stacey Abbott: https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292716964/ Global TV Horror edited by Stacey Abbott and Lorna Jowett: www.uwp.co.uk/book/global-tv-horror/ TV Horror edited by Stacey Abbott and Lorna Jowett: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/tv-horror-9781848856189/ Undead Apocalypse by Stacey Abbott: https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/19174?login=false

Today we explore the late William Friedkin's 1985 dark and dazzling neo-noir, To Live and Die in LA, which stars William L. Peterson, Willem Dafoe and John Pankow, features stunning cinematography by Robby Müller and a killer soundtrack by British new wave band, Wang Chung. My special guest is writer and filmmaker Liam Dunn, who is also co-host of Sci-Frights, the film discussion podcast from the interzone where horror meets sci-fi. https://rss.com/podcasts/scifrights/ He is currently the co-programmer of the community cinema project the Distorted Frame Film Club in London, which conducts regular screenings of films which celebrate the unique qualities, flaws and possibilities of the digital camera. Their next event will be a screening of the 2007 film [REC] on Tuesday 29 October at The Castle Cinema, Clapton / @thecastlecinema Distorted Frama Film Club [email protected] For more information about Gerald Petievich, ex US Secret Service agent, co-screenwriter and author of the original novel on which the film is based, visit his homepage at: https://petievich.com/ In the UK the films is available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video: https://www.arrowfilms.com/

Sergio chats to James Harrison, co-founder of Film Noir UK and director of its first festival, Film Noir Fest 2024. The event will take place in Weston-Super-Mare from 1 to 3 November and this year's theme is Dangerous Divas. We preview some of the main screenings, which include: Lee Marvin Centenary The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953) Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967) Lauren Bacall Centenary To Have and Have Not (Howard Hawks, 1944) The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) Dark Passage (Delmer Daves, 1947) Key Largo (John Huston, 1948)​ 1950s Mexican Noir Aventurera (Adventuress) (1950) starring Ninón Sevilla Víctimas del Pecado (Victims of Sin) (Emilio Fernández, 1951) starring Ninón Sevilla El Bruto (The Brute) (Luis Buñuel, 1953)​ starring Katy Jurado Llévame en tus Brazos (Take Me in Your Arms) (1954) starring Ninón Sevilla Dangerous Divas Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) starring Barbara Stanwyck Scarlet Street (Fritz Lang, 1945) starring Joan Bennett ​Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946) starring Rita Hayworth ​Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947) starring Jane Greer ​Don't Bother to Knock (Roy Baker, 1952) starring Marilyn Monroe Human Desire (Fritz Lang, 1954) starring Gloria Grahame ​Body Heat (1981) starring Kathleen Turner The Last Seduction (John Dahl, 1994) starring Linda Fiorentino We also touch on the new animated series, Batman: Caped Crusader, Robert Zemeckis' Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Sergio reminisces about the LaserDisc format. For full details about the festival and tickets, visit the homepage of Film Noir UK.

For the first episode of Tipping My Fedora (TMF), Sergio is joined by crime fiction critic and historian, Barry Forshaw (www.barryforshaw.co.uk). They look at a selection of some of the home video releases on which Barry has worked, spanning 25 years of Film Noir. Titles discussed, include: This Gun for Hire (Frank Tuttle, 1942) starring Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd. Available on Blu-ray from Eureka Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak, 1949) featuring Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo and Dan Duryea. Available on Blu-ray from Eureka Private Hell 36 (Don Siegel, 1954) starring Ida Lupino (who also produced), Howard Duff and Steve Cochrane. Available on Blu-ray from Imprint The Scarface Mob (Phil Karlson, 1959/62) - the film that launched The Untouchables with Robert Stack. Available on Blu-ray from Arrow (US) Lady in a Cage (Walter Grauman, 1964) - a shocker in which rich invalid Olivia de Havilland gets stuck in an elevator and James Caan torments her. Available on Blu-ray from Imprint Madigan (Don Siegel, 1968) in which Richard Widmark's eponymous cop gets unglued when he meets his big boss, Henry Fonda. Available on Blu-ray from Indicator We also discuss the politically incorrect 'Parker' novels by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake), the fascism of Dirty Harry and Coppola's Godfather trilogy and the charges of "nepo baby" casting that affected the final instalment. Barry is the editor of the Crime Time online journal and his books include: Crime Fiction: A Reader's Guide, Simenon: The Man, The Books, The Films, and his series on Noir, including: Brit Noir, American Noir, Euro Noir, Nordic Noir and Historical Noir (click here for further details). ** Listen out for an easter egg in which we refer in passing to a film that we will be discussing in the podcast dropping on 18 November.

What is this thing called Film Noir? It's time to buckle up your trenchcoat and don your fedora. Join host Sergio Angelini and his guests every 10 days as they uncover the secrets behind 100 years of crime movies, radio dramas, hardboiled fiction and thousands of television episodes. Launching on 4 October 2024 ...