LAURA (AND SINGAPORE SLING)

Vincent Price's Laugh

Hello again, friends, and welcome to our special Noirvember episode! We’ve got a double-header for you, starting with Otto Preminger’s 1944 film noir staple starring Vincent Price, Laura.

If you haven’t seen Laura, you should really remedy that right now. It’s a classic, a timeless mystery tale: the lovely Laura (Gene Tierney), a woman bewitching to every man she meets, is presumed murdered, and our hero detective (Dana Andrews) is tasked with solving the crime. We meet an array of suspects, including Price and the actual standout of the film, Clifton Webb as the eccentric newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker. Without giving anything away, it’s an engrossing story with an unexpected twist, and Preminger provides us with a mise en cine that begs us to watch it again and again. In the episode, we discuss our feelings on film noir and some of the troubled production of this great example of the genre.

And then, there’s Singapore Sling. At first glance, this may seem like an odd pairing, but once you’ve seen both of them, you’ll for sure understand why we put these two films together. Singapore Sling comes to us from Greece, and director Nikos Nikolaidis. Now, Nikolaidis isn’t exactly a household name in America, but he achieved moderate success in his native country, winning a few different awards, even. The themes he generally works with are sex, death, power manipulation, and just most subjects a layperson might find uncomfortable. Let’s be honest, his oeuvre takes a little getting used to. And one of his most controversial films is 1990’s Singapore Sling. In the episode, we talk about how Laura and Singapore Sling relate to one another, and then we dive into the alluring madness of Nikolaidis’s film. Trust us, it’s a real hum-dinger.

We hope you enjoy this Noirvember episode! And, as always, thanks for listening! If you would like to support us, please take a quick moment to like us on our social media sites (Facebook, Twitter), and remember to rate and review us on iTunes. You can also become a patreon patron here, or buy some cool merch designed by our very own Andrew Gimetzco at places like these: RedBubble, Society 6, Tee Public, Threadless.

The post LAURA (AND SINGAPORE SLING) by Elbee Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.