Empire State Building Murders (2008)
A tribute and doc-crime-drama celebrating American film noir and the icons of the Hollywood golden age. It recaptures the time and place of New York in the 30's and 40s as well as plays with the codes and references of the genre.
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Very disappointing...
Just perfect...
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
I'm still not entirely sure why this film made such an impression on me. Perhaps I'm just a bit of a sucker for film noir...Karel's mash-up mockumentary of clips from a host of classical Hollywood films and "interviews" with actors (in character) is used to tell a very noir'ish story of forbidden love, gangsters, undercover cops and lots and lots of murders.It's not a hugely surprising plot, almost cliché, but there's something about the blending of old clips and "interviews" that just plain works.I also think the decision to keep it to a fairly brief 88 minutes (well, the version I saw was actually 82 minutes, incl. credits) was the right one. Any longer and the clichés would probably have gotten too thick.
When I saw this on Aussie TV (ABC) one Sunday night I was surprised to see it had not appeared on this site and it took me a while to get the details to post it here, but it is well worthwhile because it is a fine little TV vignette to film Noir and a great chance to see some fine old actors and Cyd Charisse in her final screen appearance, along with Kirk Douglas in a strong non-speaking role and the rest of these Hollywood legends. It has echoes of Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid but without the humour. Well worth seeing as a curiosity piece and to enjoy some grand old film clips from the golden years of yore!!!I would give this an 8 out of 10