Review of Kansas City Confidential (1952) by Alex C — 28 Sep 2011

3: A nice little noir, but it also comes equipped with one of the happier endings I can remember in the genre. However, despite the hard-edged nature of much of the film, this doesn't seem entirely out of place.

The wide-eyed romance and hints at seeking a better life provide the film's darker aspects with a veneer of hope. Solid performances, filmmaking, script, etc. It certainly drew me into the story, no matter how transparent and predictable it was.

It reminded me of pictures like Key Largo and The Petrified Forest a bit too. It's hard to imagine actually being in a resort hotel like this, but they sure seem fascinating in classic Hollywood pictures.

Noir seems to have been made for the B-movie era, as the success and quality of a picture didn't necessarily hinge on the production values or the stars. This can, of course, be said of other genres as well, but I think it's most true of noirs.

It's a rather democratic genre as it were.