There is a parody of this sort of scene in Altman's "The Player" (a scene
being shot on a set).  "Detour" has a couple of crummy hotel room scenes,
but I don't recall the soundtrack.

Chris Ames

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, November 12, 1999 9:14 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      QUERY: Iconic Noir Moments
>
> [please forgive cross-posting]
>
>
> help . . . i'm trapped in a generational bog and need help
> to extricate myself . . .  in talking about film noir to an intro
> to film class i tried to evoke recognition by alluding to
> an almost archetypal noir moment:
>
>    a single guy, perhaps wearing a trenchcoat, in a
>    crummy hotel room alone at night;   the hotel's neon
>    sign is just outside his window blinking on and off, the
>    light shining on him through the venetian blinds in the
>    window;  outside it is of course raining;    on the
>    soundtrack either a wailing saxophone and/or a voice
>    over narration talking, saying something bitter and
>    cynical on the order of  "everything seemed to be
>    swell,  until . . ."
>
> this iconic moment, so often parodied, seems indelibly
> impressed on my [our?] cinematic memories, but to most
> of my students it rang absolutely no bells . . . some recognized
> one or another detail, but the package as a whole meant
> nothing [and many of them didn't even know what a saxophone
> was] . . . so i determined to find one or two moments from
> classic noirs that i could show them and that would give
> them this useful touchstone . . .   but then, to my chagrin, i
> discovered that i could not off the top of my head think of
> a single moment in any film that really represented this
> scene . . . i could come up with lots of sequences that
> had one or two of the elements, but not a single one that
> gave me the whole package . . .
>
> is it possible that  there are no such moments? . . . that in
> fact this is just a parodic pastiche of elements that never
> in the original films came together in quite this way? . . . i really
> hope not  . . . . . .  so i'm asking for references to sequences
> in films, preferably [but not necessarily] films of  the forties
> and fifties, that embody all [or at least most] of these elements . . .
>
> all suggestions will be very much appreciated . . . thanks
>
> mike frank
>
> ----
> Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu

----
Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu