WELCOME to our first of 15 evenings of FREE double-feature film noir.
Entry is free, but first a little housekeeping. All the films are in the public domain which means they are free to watch. But they must have been uploaded for internet viewing. I have chosen good-quality prints. In some cases, that unfortunately means intrusive ads. If you find an ad-free print of equal quality of any of the films, please let me know. The film link will be at the end of the review.
The main feature – tonight Algiers 1938 – will be reviewed first and without further ado.
LET's venture back in time to the suburban cinema of 70 and 80 years ago.
The seats are long rows of canvas industrially stapled to wooden supports. Your bottom finds the seats comfortable though they are unappealing to your eye.
The projectionist, perched above in his booth, shines the reels of film onto the screen. For one silver coin, you will be treated to a newsreel of drama and comedy, a serial with a cliff-hanging ending, and two feature films. Black and white films, of course. Both noir.
In 15 screenings, I will discuss 30 noir films, all in the public domain. All free to view.
The site does not have a graphic of the cover and I copied the one above from the national library records. The publisher could update with a different cover but I am betting on the banner of the defunct Builder’s Labourers’ Federation – now part of the CMFEU – will fly on the front of this book.
As well as constituting a preview, my musings are largely based on background material and a review of a Beta copy by Wollongong academic Rowan Cahill.
I will stop the equivocations lest I start to appear as incredible as triple-speak lawyer Rudy Giuliani defending Donald Trump.
This book does not regard the Far Left as the inverse of the deservedly maligned Far Right, Cahill tells us in his review.
Book Review: Iraqi Icicle and The Second Father
Guest post by Ian Curr
WITH the current surge of audiobooks here are two unlikely bedfellows in popular writing. Both books are set in Brisbane during the bad years of the Bjelke-Petersen government. I know both the authors Bernie Dowling and Domenico Cacciola. We lived in the same district of Fortitude Valley and New Farm during some of that time.
The protagonists in the books are on opposite sides of the law. Both had fascinations for horse racing, illegal gambling, corruption, political police, sex, drugs, and prostitution. Iraqi Icicle is neo-noir fiction and The Second Father is a memoir. Step aside Andrew McGahan’s Last Drinks – they say Queensland is another country; if so, these authors help redefine the streets of your town.
MUSIC PUBLISHERS held up the release of my completed audiobook Iraqi Icicle for two months while they decided if they would approve my use of a song extract. I had approval to use the lyrics from Go-Betweens songs in the text and thought that permission would extend to a song extract and so had it embedded as a through-line throughout the audiobook. My distribution aggregator wisely suggested I should check with the copyright holder. Thus began the two-month wait.
. . . And the law won
THE TARDY REPLY was a “no”.
I went to see my Brooklyn born and raised lawyer Irma Fawda-Law in her office in a seedy alley of the Valley.
Irma had her nameplate burned into an ancient ironbark door with a branding iron. It read “I Fawda-Law –Mouthpiece”.
I entered to see Irma sitting on a one-seater sofa. She was eating popcorn and watching the Bobby Fuller Four on a large computer screen atop her desk.
ANOTHER MAN might have wondered why Irma was watching the grainy 1966 black and white video. All I said was, “Great show, Irma.
We watched the 2:22 rock epic all the way through before I unburdened my woes. Irma thought for a minute. “You wanna I should get Artichokes to tawk to them.”
No, I didn’t want Sydney Heavy, Arthur Choker, who metaphorically choked three for a dollar, to talk with the copyright holders.
“Den, we gotta replace the recawdin’s. Got anything?”
I told her about my parody of I Fought the Law.
Shootin' strangers with a big gun I fought de War and da War won I fought de War and da War won
I miss my sweetie and her smile some I fought de War and da War won I fought de War and da War won
“Parrot tawks are good,” Irma said making a pun in parodies. She likes to pun. “Parrot tawks are protected under copyright law.”
Well, everybody’s done a version of I fought the Law since it was written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets. Why shouldn’t I?
AFTER WAITING EIGHT WEEKS for bad copyright news, we arranged with Caboolture musician Maurice Hardy to record serviceable excerpts of my parody in seven days and it took less than a week and $US100 for the production house to slot the excerpts into the audiobook. We sped up the process just as the covers of the song became more frenetic.
I AM NOT SAYING my parody is as effective as the Go-Betweens The Streets of Your Town would have been but we quickly pushed aside the roadblock the copywrongsters put in our way. In this sense, I won
The proof of the pudding is, as they say, in the eating.
I HAD the most enjoyable author talk ever today before technical-college students who were disabled or immigrants studying English as a Second Language (ESL).
The teacher who invited me said the 25 disabled students each had some measure of intellectual impairment while some had physical disabilities as well. But they seemed to follow what I was saying as I explained the differences between paperback, hardback, eBook and audiobook.
Collectively they were able to tell me the word ‘genre’ meant kind, noir meant black as in night, and ‘e’ as in eBook stood for electronic. They were able to explain to me fiction, non-fiction, and back story.
I received the usual question on how long it took to write a book. I explained about re-writing or self-editing a dozen times before passing it on to a professional editor if you could afford one.
I received an unusual question about what was my favourite book and I thought the questioner meant my favorite book I had read. But he meant the favorite I had written.
I had to think about it but I I answered truthfully my novel Iraqi Icicle. I then thought how some friends have said I should concentrate on “more serious” non-fiction.
I explained why there was a clown on the front cover of my novel. I asked how many students were afraid of clowns. As I suspected about a half-dozen hands went up. But they were outnumbered by the hands which went up for those finding clowns funny. In this way I was able to explain comedy noir.
An ESL student from Serbia asked me whether I found an idea for a book or the idea found me. I have never been asked that question before but it struck me as a brilliant one. I literally had to think on my feet and I replied I leaned towards the idea finding me.
I thought these ESL students might struggle with my novel as Iraqi Icicle is in part written in Australian-English as a Third Language (AETL), Still it does have a glossary and, if they listen to the audiobook, I think they will follow my drift and get a giggle or two.
I WAS enjoying a soy latte in the canteen when a couple of the students sat beside me. “It’s good that you write books for people,” one said.
That might have been the best compliment I have ever received and a compliment received on behalf of the tens of thousands of authors throughout the world who struggle to make writing pay. The bottom line is it is good we write books for people.
HERE is our song about quaint writing. I love this clip so much.
Check out organ player John Evans making fun of the pre-recording. Pre-recorded or live, it is a two-minute minimalist rock gem.
