Saw one of his books in an ad, and was diverted: looking him up, I see he wrote The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Rendezvous in Black, Rear Window, Vampire’s Honeymoon, Marihuana, and other promising titles. Anyone ever read him? Is he as good as his film adaptations would infer?
Woolrich. Damn. The night may have a thousand eyes, but I don’t . . .
I LOVE Cornell Woolrich. He’s among the noiriest of the noirs. Not as hollow-heavy-hopeless as Jim Thompson, but good and damn dark.
Forgot to mention: interesting article about Woolrich in the current issue of The Believer.
Somewhere in my library I have a booked called “No, But I Saw the Movie,” or something like that, a collection of short stories which were adapted into movies. It includes the source for “Rear Window.” It’s been years since I read it, but I remember liking it at the time. Not as good as the movie, but a nicely crafted little piece.
Eve - Oh, how lucky to live in New York
From this Cornell Woolrich website
They’re holding the seminar on a Friday between 2:00–5:00? I’d be an unemployed fan if I went to that.
I’d love to read some of his stuff—h.sapiens, I read that same book, it was great. I see some of Woolrich’s stuff has been reissued; I hope I can find some of his earlier work on bookfinder, too. Any recommendations?
Sorry - I should have pointed out that the person who posted the description of the Woolrich program is Francis Nevins. Woolrich had a few issues it seems. See Cornell Woolrich by William Marling
He also wrote under the names William Irish and George Hopley
But “in the middle of the night he would put on a sailor outfit that he kept in a locked suitcase and prowl the waterfront for partners.”
—Well, I mean . . . Who doesn’t?
Eve
Can recommend Phantom Lady and Night has a Thousand Eyes. He wove great plots and loved using suspense schticks (hero and heroine have until sunup to find a killer while each chapter shows the passing hours on the clock; hero slated to be executed for a crime and each chapter head reminds reader of the number of days he has left), but g**damn if they didn’t work. Once his stories got cooking, they could hold you like a bastard.
Have to say though (don’t know if I’m alone in this), but his prose always struck me as stilted and extremely hammy. (Even for the crime genre!) There are much more fluid writers, I think, line per line. But the stories rocked. He also kicked some tail with his short stories- Nightwebs is a superb anthology of his stories that was edited by Nevins.
I e’d my library and asked if they had any of his books.
Anyone else ever read Tiffany Thayer, one of my favorite forgotten noir writers?
Just picked this up at Coliseum Books. Good Thanksgiving reading.
Dig that cover.
I plan to judge the book by it.
Eve, you ever read Frederic Brown? John D. MacDonald?
. . . Big disappointment. Woolrich’s short stories are like bad Alfred Hitchcock episodes, where you see the twist enduing coming after the second paragraph, and I couldn’t even plow through “I Married a Dead Man.” Haven’t the heart to try “Waltz Into Darkness.”
Sorry to hear that.
Eve, I love the name Betty Noir. That is too awesome. Great name for a sexy and mysterious female torch singer, or a femme fatale!
. . . or a drag queen . . .
Sure, why not?