Science-Fiction/Film Noir

Yeah, noir definitely has its place in Science Fiction. There are a lot of films out there that people would consider Sci-Fi noir but of the ones I've seen I could recommend Gattaca, Minority Report, The Terminator, Dark City, Soylent Green, 12 Monkeys, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Strange Days, and Alphaville.

Some would disagree with a few of those as being noir but they're at least noirish. And of course all bets are off on the Godard.

The Day The Earth Stood Still surely qualifies, and Klaatu even has his Moose Malloy-like Gort to do his dirty work. He's sort of a saint and crime kingpin figure from outer space for much of the duration of the film even as the movie audience comes to know him as the hero. To earth people, he's a weird and scary dude.

Not quite Chandler or Caine, let alone Cornell Woolrich, but there are lots of noir tonalities and moods in this film, most of it, I'm guessing, from director and Val Lewton alum Robert Wise, whose Born To Kill from a few years earlier is a good example of sado-noir.

The strange noir Decoy (1946) not only contains some SF, but also has a touch of horror thrown in.

Some of the old episodes of Twilight Zone and Outer Limits are quite Noir-ish.

Check out Unearthly Stranger which comes across like a Val Lewton sci-fi film. It might apply to The Day Mars Invaded Earth, I found it too tedious under any circumstances.

Parts of Them! can remind one of the sewer chases in either The Third Man or He Walked By Night.



It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me
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Unearthly Stranger truly lived up to its title. It was the first time I saw John Neville in anything. They showed it on the late show when I was (probably) a teen, not some Shock Theater type package, and I didn't know what to expect. It's highly effective.

I got to revisit it within the last year and it holds up just fine. I wrote this for the weekly thread on the CFB:

Unearthly Stranger

It's been 49 years since I last saw this one so it was almost fresh. I recalled it as a thoughtful take on I Married a Monster From Outer Space, only this time it's the wife who is an alien and she's married to a scientist working on an astral projection program. It seems that her people don't want this project to be successful, so they've been eliminating those working closely on it. John Neville and Gabriella Licudi are just fine as the couple, but it's Patrick Newell as a security man who steals the show. A round of applause for the cinematography of Reg Wyer who also shot Night of the Eagle (aka Burn, Witch, Burn) on a shoestring budget to great success. My almost ancient recollections were not disappointed, this one is the pick of the week.


It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me
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clore_2

Late reply.

I once taped UNEARTHLY STRANGER off a local station, and I'm sure it was an edited copy. It began like a Woolrich/Hitchcock noir thriller, and that priceless downward angle of the circular staircase, presenting the noir 'man on the run' theme.

I liked how she could still see him with her eyes closed. Can't recall the ending, that long ago, but I have hazy grim memories of it. Plot similarities to I MARRIED A MONSTER & BODY SNATCHERS. Preceded OUTER LIMITS in many ways. It's drawback was the over-talkative script and the ridiculous melodramatic outbursts.

Good, haunting SF/Noir on a low-budget, but well shot.

THE DAY MARS INVADED THE EARTH was tedious and dreary, until the final reel, then it did get frightening and had a disturbing ending of that shot of the pool. Right from the old Comic Books, but in that 'adult' manner. 'Adult' can make it seem more plausible, but can risk being a bit dull.

The title was off. It promises the all-out invasion plot, but lots of luck on such a low budget. It's more of a Lewton Horror outing, with the Sci/Fi premise substituted for the supernatural.

FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH has the Sci/Fi Noir in its dark themes, which go deeper into the existential realm of our origins and evolution, and that we all have suppressed alien faculties, accounting for so much of our fears and terrors. Could be considered Lovecraft/noir. Even the ending is still unsettling. You're still left with those troubled feelings about what's happened.

OUTER LIMIT'S 'DEMON WITH THE GLASS HAND' can be seen as noirish on many levels, complete with the downbeat and disturbing ending. (Did Ellison ever write a sequel? Many felt it should have been a two-part episode.). Filmed at the Bradbury building in high contrast light and shadows. And the overwhelming sense of isolation and doom.

THRILLER's 'ORDEAL OF DR. CORDELL' is noirish, and more in vein with Science Fiction than the Supernatural, but becomes Sci/Fi/Horror/Noir. Was the ending inspired by VERTIGO? Cordell is the noir doomed protagonist (anti-protagonist).

A few of the better THRILLER Crime episodes follow many noir traditions. KNOCK 3 1 2 serves as a great example, right down to the ending. The Bad Guy Protagonist is caught in that noir dilemma, having to come up with the cash in time, and resorting to any means possible. He's a creep, but you almost are pulling for him.

CHOOSE A VICTIM was a precursor to BODY HEAT. Another variation of the DOUBLE INDEMNITY subtext, but nevertheless effective.

Sometimes, you'll know what will essentially happen, but maybe you don't yet know how it will. Like THE FUGITIVE. Highly suspenseful in the dark fashion. We always know it will end with Kimble getting away, but we don't know how he will.

THE INVADERS had very grim episodes that were noirish, Vincent constantly lives in a noir'threatened nightmare world. And it's aliens who are his antagonists.

The List Goes On