Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic screen presence and versatility. She was a favorite of directors, including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang, and Frank Capra, and made 85 films in 38 years before turning to television.
Detour is a 1945 American independent film noir directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, and starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage. The screenplay was adapted by Martin Goldsmith and an uncredited Martin Mooney from Goldsmith's 1939 novel of the same title, and released by the Producers Releasing Corporation, one of the so-called Poverty Row film studios in mid-20th-century Hollywood.
Double Indemnity is a 1944 American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. Wilder and Raymond Chandler adapted the screenplay from James M. Cain's novel of the same name, which ran as an eight-part serial in Liberty magazine in 1936.
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a 1982 American neo-noir mystery comedy film directed, co-written by, and co-starring Carl Reiner and co-written by and starring Steve Martin. Co-starring Rachel Ward, the film is both a parody of and a homage to film noir and the pulp detective films of the 1940s. The title refers to Martin's character telling a story about a woman obsessed with plaid in a scene that was ultimately cut from the film.
The Man Who Wasn't There is a 2001 neo-noir crime film written, directed, produced and co-edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, Richard Jenkins, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub, and James Gandolfini. The film is set in 1949 and tells the story of Ed Crane, a withdrawn barber who leads an ordinary life in a small California town with his wife, who he suspects is having an affair with her boss. Crane's situation changes when a stranger comes to the barbershop and offers him the opportunity to join him as a partner in a promising new business, in exchange for an investment of ten thousand dollars. Drawn to the idea, Crane plans to blackmail his wife's lover for the money.
A femme fatale, sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to enchant, entice and hypnotize her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as verging on supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, witch, having power over men. Femmes fatales are typically villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, and always associated with a sense of mystification, and unease.
Stichomythia is a technique in verse drama in which sequences of single alternating lines, or half-lines (hemistichomythia) or two-line speeches (distichomythia) are given to alternating characters. It typically features repetition and antithesis. The term originated in the theatre of Ancient Greece, though many dramatists since have used the technique. Etymologically it derives from the Greek stikhos + muthos.
Fatal Instinct is a 1993 American sex comedy thriller film directed by Carl Reiner. A parody of the erotic thriller genre, which at the time had reached its commercial peak, as well as being a pastiche of 1940s film noir and psychological thriller genres, in particular Double Indemnity, the film stars Armand Assante as lawyer/cop Ned Ravine who has an affair with a woman named Lola Cain. Kate Nelligan stars as Ned's wife and Sherilyn Fenn stars as his secretary. It also satirizes Sleeping With The Enemy many times. The film title is a combination of Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct, both of which starred Michael Douglas.
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a 1946 American noir tragedy film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin and Lizabeth Scott. Kirk Douglas appears in his film debut. It follows a man who is reunited with his childhood friend and her husband; both the childhood friend and her husband believe that the man knows the truth about the mysterious death of the woman's wealthy aunt years prior. The screenplay was written by Robert Rossen, adapted from the short story "Love Lies Bleeding" by playwright John Patrick.
Clifford Porter Hall was an American character actor known for appearing in a number of films in the 1930s and 1940s. Hall typically played villains or comedic incompetent characters.
The File on Thelma Jordon is a 1950 American film noir drama film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey. The screenplay by Ketti Frings, based on an unpublished short story by Marty Holland, concerns a woman who pretends to fall in love with an assistant district attorney and uses him to escape conviction for the murder of her wealthy aunt.
My Reputation is a 1946 American romantic drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt. Barbara Stanwyck portrays an upper-class widow whose romance with an army officer causes trouble for her gossiping friends, domineering mother and young sons. Catherine Turney wrote the script, an adaptation of Clare Jaynes' 1942 novel Instruct My Sorrows. Stanwyck's costumes were designed by Edith Head.
Double Indemnity is a 1943 crime novel by American journalist-turned-novelist James M. Cain. It was first published in Liberty magazine in 1936 as an eight part serial, and later republished as one of "three long short tales" in the collection Three of a Kind.
Stella Dallas is a 1937 American drama film based on Olive Higgins Prouty's 1923 novel of the same name. It was directed by King Vidor and stars Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, and Anne Shirley. At the 10th Academy Awards, Stanwyck and Shirley were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
Jean Heather was an American actress who appeared in eight feature films during the 1940s.
Blonde Ice is a 1948 American crime film noir starring Leslie Brooks, Robert Paige, and Michael Whalen. Based on the 1938 novel Once Too Often by Elwyn Whitman Chambers, the B picture was directed by Jack Bernhard, with music by Irving Gertz.
Dietrichson is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Her Husband's Secret is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Antonio Moreno, Patsy Ruth Miller, and Ruth Clifford.
The depictions of women in film noir come in a range of archetypes and stock characters, including the alluring femme fatale. A femme fatale, is a prevalent and indicating theme to the style of film noir.
Double Indemnity is a 1973 American made-for-television crime film directed by Jack Smight and starring Richard Crenna, Lee J. Cobb, Robert Webber and Samantha Eggar. It was a remake of Double Indemnity (1944) based on the film rather than the original novel.
