Charlie wrote:
"I would never dream of calling Hammett and Chandler noir.
THE MALTESE FALCON and THE BIG SLEEP are positive,
life-affirming romps. Noir must seep into heads of characters
and expose their fragilities. Chandler and Hammett's heros
are impermeable. They are white knights, not lost
souls."
I'm not going to argue that The Big Sleep is noir, or even
The Maltese Falcon (although it has a better claim -- stained
PI does his job, but must bust the woman he loves). However,
I would say that the streets down which Marlowe and Spade
(and the Continental Op) walk are pretty noir, even if the
hero tries (with varying degrees of sucess) to stay out of
the gutter. Perhaps they are called in by clients whose
worlds are going dark?
Mark
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