Film-noir double feature event representative of classic genre

When introducing the film-noir genre to audiences, film scholar Eddie Muller typically suggests viewing two films in particular.

“I always say ‘Double Indemnity’ and ‘Out of the Past,’” said Muller, the founder and president of the Film Noir Foundation and the host of “Noir Alley” on Turner Classic Movies.

Alas, neither is part of a film-noir double feature at the Ohio Theatre on Friday.

But the films scheduled to be shown in the presentation of the CAPA Summer Movie Series — “Murder, My Sweet” (1944) and “The Narrow Margin” (1952) — have plenty to recommend in them, Muller said.

“These two are pretty darn good,” he said. “They may not be quite as definitive as (‘Double Indemnity’ and ‘Out of the Past’), but, no question, this is a dynamite double bill.”

The program is not the first film noir doubleheader featured in the movie series,

which is in the midst of its 50th season.

“A few years ago, we had ‘The Killers’ and one that is probably borderline film noir, ‘The Spiral Staircase,’” said Lance Carwile, a freelance consultant who helps plan the movie series.

Film noir — the markers of which include moody photography, unsavory characters and crime-filled plots — has been woven into the movie series’ lineup due to the popularity of similar genres.

“It’s kind of like an offshoot from the Hitchcock films,” Carwile said. “People really like those, and mysteries, and film noir takes it a little bit further in the direction where you’ve got more cynicism and double-dealing.”

Since “Murder, My Sweet” and “The Narrow Margin” have relatively low-profile casts, Carwile said it made sense to pair the two on a single program.

“The stars are not as wellknown perhaps, for example, as Humphrey Bogart would be, or Robert Mitchum,” he said.

Yet Muller gives “Murder, My Sweet” — director Edward Dmytryk’s adaptation of author Raymond Chandler’s novel “Farewell, My Lovely” — high marks for the casting of Dick Powell as detective Philip Marlowe.

“Nobody thought of him, of course, as a tough guy,” Muller said. “He was a boyish song-and-dance man.”

The cast also includes Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley and Otto Kruger.

Powell was so persuasive as Marlowe that Muller rates “Murder, My Sweet” above a subsequent version of “Farewell, My Lovely,” released in 1975 and starring Mitchum.

“I felt that Mitchum was clearly past the point that he could convincingly play Philip Marlowe,” Muller said.

Also not well-remembered by the general public are the leads in director Richard Fleischer’s “The Narrow Margin”: Charles Mcgraw and Marie Windsor.

“They’re known as fine supporting actors in most genre movies, but in the film -noir world, they’re stars,” Carwile said.

The plot of the film, revolving around a police officer (Mcgraw) entrusted with ensuring the safe passage of a gun moll (Windsor) on a train trip, makes its status as a noir questionable, the experts say.

“It is a crime film more than it’s a film noir ... because an upstanding, unbending cop is the protagonist,” Muller said. Plus, he added, “Once they’re on the train, it becomes kind of an action/thriller and a cop movie.”

No matter — the TCM host loves the film anyway.

“But, you know, what the hell," Muller said, "I find my definition of noir to be pretty elastic to begin with.”