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Death On The Cheap: The Lost B Movies Of Film Noir

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There's a raging battle going on in the world of film noir. One camp declares that noir is a genre into itself. The opposing forces adamantly defend their stance that noir is not a genre, but a style of filmmaking that can be found in many genres including, Crime, Westerns, & Melodramas. The smart bombs hurled by film noir fans during their debates are the classic dark thrillers from the 1940's and 50's. Rare and lost films noir from obscure studios are resurrected, researched, analyzed and debated. Then ultimately offered up by both sides as evidence that the understanding and classification of classic film noir is still a work in progress.

The by-product of all this frenzy has been that the canon of noir has expanded to include many titles that haven't been seen in 50 years. 'DEATH ON THE CHEAP: The Lost 'B' Movies of Film Noir' by Arthur Lyons is absolutely the best and most up to date reference material on those obscure films that are now at the vanguard of the debate,"what is this thing called film noir". Lyons' list of movies includes dates, run times, directors, production staff as well as actors. A short review is given about each film and the author is realistic about the qualities of the B films listed in his book. He separates the gems from the turkeys and explains why. In several chapters the book follows the evolution of the "B' movie and the studios that cranked them out. This background is essential in understanding why the classic noir looks like it does.

While Lyons topic is the stuff that film academics ponder, 'DEATH ON THE CHEAP' is far from being difficult to read. This book actually is pure entertainment and Lyons' sense of humor fits right in place as he reminds us that after all, we are talking about films with titles like 'Blonde Ice', 'The Man Who Died Twice' and 'Please Murder Me' .

'Death On The Cheap' IS A MUST READ if you love vintage film noir or want to know more about it!

For film noir addicts like me who just can't get enough, this book by Arthur Lyons is a definite must for your film noir reference shelf. It is not only very informative but also humorous and entertaining. This awesome book helped me discover many forgotten film noir titles, and for that I'm very grateful to Mr. Lyons.

Both the introduction and the first chapter "Film Noir: It's All in the Story" provide the reader with the characteristics and typical themes of film noir. Private eyes, femme fatales, brave or crooked cops, psychotic killers, and tough gangsters are what make these classic movies so enjoyable today.

Chapter 2 "Roots: The Boys in the Back Room" focuses on the origins of film noir such as pulp magazines and the many crime novels by authors like James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, Cornell Woolrich, Raymond Chandler, and many others, all the way back to the first detective story, "The Purloined Letter," by Edgar Allan Poe. This chapter also explains why films noirs became so popular (and increasingly darker) in post-WW2 America.

Chapter 3 "Attack of the Killer B's" discusses the B units of the big studios that saw crime movies as the perfect choice when working on a tight budget. It also provides an overview of the history of B movies, from the first ones during the 1930's, to their peak in the 1940's, and the steady decline throughout the 1950's.

Chapter 4 "The Emergence of the B Noir" briefly summarizes early years of film noir and why during World War Two the studios turned to low budget crime movies in order to save money. It also mentions several pioneers of film noir techniques, like Orson Welles and Val Lewton, who could create unforgettable classics on very small budgets.

Chapter 5 "Poverty Row: The B Factories" provides an excellent summary of the role played by Poverty Row studios in making films noirs. These studios, Republic, Monogram, Eagle Lion, and PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation), made nothing but B movies, and surprisingly many of these are now respected classics. It was the Eagle Lion studio that released such films as "Hollow Triumph" (aka The Scar), "Raw Deal," "T-Men," "Ruthless," and "The Spiritualist" (aka The Amazing Mr. X). Edgar G. Ulmer's cult classic "Detour" was released by PRC.

Chapter 6 "The Final Decade: The Demise of the B" explains why the amount of films noirs made throughout the 1950's became less and less each year. Chapter 7 is a long filmography which gives the cast/crew info plus detailed plot summaries (including the endings unfortunately) of dozens of obscure B noirs, many that even I had never heard of.

After the filmography there's two long list of B films noirs, first listed by year and then by studio. This section is very helpful when doing any kind of research on this subject. Plus there's a section called "Film Noir Sources" that provides info on where you can find copies of very rare film noir titles. Overall, this is an excellent book on a very neglected subject, and any serious film noir buff should buy it. By the way, that's Leslie Brooks on the cover in a scene from "Blonde Ice."

While Lyons has clearly done a mind boggling amount of research, I can't help wishing he'd done a bit more. I caught a couple of big mistakes, and there may well be yet more I'm not aware of. The ones I did get: in the review of The Sign of the Ram, he claims that this was Susan Peters "first and only film." In fact she made several films and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Random Harvest! And in the review of Spectre of the Rose, Lyons misidentifies the leading actor: it's Ivan Kirov, not Michael Chekhov. (Chekhov does also appear in the film.) I found the book very interesting, but it would be a better book if Lyons had taken the time to get his facts straight.

Art Lyons has written an informative, entertaining book exploring the seldom-entered realm of "B" film noir. You won't find DOUBLE INDEMNITY, OUT OF THE PAST, or LADY FROM SHANGHAI in this book. Instead you'll read about SCREAMING MIMI, SO DARK THE NIGHT, WHEN STRANGERS MARRY, BLONDE ICE and many other "B" films that showed the gritty noir milieu their "A" production counterparts often smoothed over. The author has an obvious love of his subject and has taken the time to research the films, actors, actresses, directors and cinematographers that produced this most neglected segment of the film noir cycle. Some of the film could compete with "A" productions; one or two could better them; but few authors could write about them as well as Art Lyons has. And he's included a generous filmography, which will simultaneously make your mouth water while frustrating your efforts to find on video.

This is a workmanlike history, survey and listing of second-tier noir films for film nuts who have exhausted the A-list. There is a very annoying quirk in this book's layout: after listing the credits (cast, director, etc.)of each film the designer or editor (I presume not the author) has opted not to begin a new paragraph before beginning the synopsis of the film. The eye has to sift through the small print to find the beginning of the film description. One can only assume this was done to save space. How many pages were saved to justify the use of this awkward format? This is a bad precedent; are publishers now going to do away with paragraphing, punctuation, etc., in order to trim a few pages from a books? Nonetheless, a necessary volume for the noir-obsessed.

This is an exceedingly brief, but nonetheless entertaining book about the film noir genre. Art Lyons opted to concentrate on the "B" films produced at Hollywood's Poverty Row Studios, so many of the major films in the genre are mentioned only in passing in the text and not at all in the summaries. Neglected film offerings from Allied Artists, Columbia, Eagle-Lion, Monogram, Producers Releasing Corporation, Republic Pictures and other lesser outfits are on full display here. A handful of films from the middle tier studios like RKO and Universal are also covered.

The book contains lists of film noir pictures produced by all of the studios during the classic period and amusing and succinct summaries of a variety of lesser known films. Lyons eschews the graduate school approach to film noir that is the bane of many fans who choose to watch these films for simple pleasure rather than to prepare for the defense of a Ph.D. dissertation.

I have only two minor complaints. First, I wish that this enjoyable book was a little longer. Secondly, where do I obtain a copies of "The Night Editor" and the other obscure low rent flicks that Art Lyons has so eloquently praised? I really like these small gems that deliver some suspenseful thrills in slightly more than an hour.

What a shame it is that the "B" film industry ground to a halt. The independent film movement has not been able to completely fill the void created by the demise of double features.

DEATH ON THE CHEAP: the Lost B Movies Of Film Noir by Arthur Lyons is
a paperback original about many of the forgotten movies that are usually categorized as fim noir films and also known as "B' movies.

"B" movies are generally cheaply made second feature halves of a double bill. Sometimes it seems they were poorly made just to encourage audience turnover and keep those ticket counters clicking.

But often, directors, writer and producers used a "B" programmer to try something new, or use someone who looked or acted slightly different. Or film a story that was a little left of the mainstream for a main feature but would do okay as an somewhat experimental second feature.

And in the case of "film noirs," although they weren't known by that title when they wee made, film makers could employ VERY unusual methods or situations sometimes "just to see what would happen." Often the results were quite interesting and that what "Death On the Cheap" is about.

The author, Mr. Lyons, describes many different types of noir, police procedurals, PI's, innocents snared in traps, etc in illustrating what
types of situations have been filmed and describing either why they work or why they don't.

My only complaint about the book is that it is so interesting that it could've been much longer and more detailed. On the whole, however, I give this book the highest rating possible because it is about as good as a reader is going to get on the subject of film noir "B" pictures.

And, if nothing else, "Death On the Cheap" is useful as a checklist of obscure but interesting "B" noirs to view on DVD.

Ever heard of the films Bad Blonde, The Come-On and The Mysterious Mr. Valentine? No...? Well then get into the car Punchy, we're going for a ride into dark and dank world of film noir. Thanks to Arthur Lyons' book 'Death On The Cheap', obsure film noir is back!

This book wisely steers clear of the usual suspects (the classic films noir that everyone has written about) and stakes out new territory. I discovered a lot of promising B films to pursue. If you want something different to read about film noir, and something not overblown with pretension, don't miss this book. Excellent.

I am a fan of noir, but it looks like I was focusing on the A Movie Variety. So I picked up this book to see what the B-side had to offer.

Overall, it was an okay read in that it introduced me to some noir titles I was not familiar with. However, it lacked the depth that I am used to in reading film anthologies. The author chose to drop as many titles as possible in the book without more than a generalized plot summary in the filmography section. I would have preferred a good discussion about a few notable titles. To that point, the placement of the summary of films also perplexed me. I did not even realize there was an epilogue until this morning when I decided I had my fill of the book and flipped through the remaining pages.

These criticisms aside, I am glad I read the book since now I have a starting point to explore this side of noir further. In the end, maybe that was the point of the book?

P.S. It was fascinating to discover that Hugh Beaumont (aka Ward Cleaver) played the hard-boiled type in some B movies.