PARTY GIRL (Ray, 1958) - My main guideline for exploring noir has been the They Shoot Dark Pictures, Don’t They? list*. It has 250 films total. This film is one of only four in colour (the other are NIAGARA, LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN and SLIGHTLY SCARLET - I’ve seen all but the latter), and for a while in the middle, it takes a detour into melodrama, complete with a promise of miraculous recovery. The parts before and after though, bookended by two striking red dresses, are pure noir, with Lee J. Cobb chewing the scenery as a truly threatening mob boss, Cyd Charisse as a leggy showgirl with a heart of gold, and Robert Taylor** as a crooked, damaged lawyer looking for an escape hatch. It finishes well - unusual enough for noir - and it’s not just in color, it’s practically candy-colored, but the tone is nonetheless bleak, showing just how defenseless the law can be against people with no scruples or inhibitions. All that, and it even manages to give Charisse two (quite modern) dance pieces.
*I’ve now seen 124, so almost half. To see which ones, see here.
** I’ve never quite understood the appeal of young Robert Taylor, who’s much fawned over here on tumblr, but older Taylor, with that draw-on, ridiculous pencil mustache? Kind of glorious, and - in this movie - very Ray.
