Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir

by Arthur Lyons

Robert Mitchum once commented to Arthur Lyons about his movies of the 1940s and 1950s: "Hell, we didn't know what film noir was in those days. We were just making movies. Cary Grant and all the big stars at RKO got all the lights. We lit our sets with cigarette butts." Film noir was made to order for the "B," or low-budget, part of the movie double bill. It was cheaper to produce because it made do with less lighting, smaller casts, limited sets, and compact story lines—about con men, killers, cigarette girls, crooked cops, down-and-out boxers, and calculating, scheming, very deadly women. In Death on the Cheap, Arthur Lyons entertainingly looks at the history of the B movie and how it led to the genre that would come to be called noir, a genre that decades later would be transformed in such "neo-noir" films as Pulp Fiction, Fargo, and L.A. Confidential. The book, loaded with movie stills, also features a witty and informative filmography (including video sources) of B films that have largely been ignored or neglected—“lost" to the general public but now restored to their rightful place in movie history thanks to Death on the Cheap.

Genres: Film, Noir, Nonfiction, Media Tie In

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2000

About the author

A member of the Palm Springs City Council from 1992-1995. Authored 21 books and numerous mystery novels. His 1986 novel "Castles Burning," which took place in Palm Springs, furnished the basis for the telemovie "Slow Burn" with Johnny Depp. Author of "Death on the Cheap -- The Lost B Movies of Film Noir.".

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a "B" movie and film noir buff, you should grab this book when you see it.. It can be read in one sitting or can be a "lunch" read over a few days. It is packed with information for such a short book...it begins with a brief introduction regarding "B" and noir films and how the two genres overlap. The author gives the reader an overview of the Poverty Row studios (Monogram, PRC, Mascot, etc.) and also explains the role that pulp books played in these cheaply made movies.

But the majority of this history is dedicated to a list of specific films, including the cast, credits, a brief synopsis and the author's thoughts. I was surprised at how many I had never heard of and I make a habit of searching down obscure noir films....but it also appears, at least at the time the book was written (2000), that most of them were not available on DVD. That may no longer be the case, so I will start looking for at least a couple of them.

This is a fun read but probably only for a specific audience. I am glad I am a part of that audience!

[Prima Seadiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent. Closer to 3.5 stars. The author gives some background of the how and why of the B movie, made to fill double features, like the B side of old single records. Yet again another list of films and description. Some I have seen quite a few I have not.
Many of these are are hard to come by for watching so while there are spoilers reading about them may be the best you'll get. The author did give his opinion of each film sometimes amusing. Some are so bad you may not miss sitting through them.

Even if you read about it, if you watch my favorite, Gun Crazy, it will trip you out. This B movie has risen to cult status as has Too Late for Tears and Detour.
This is a book I'd pick up second hand to check up on those late night, so bad they may be good, movies

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is required reading for film noir fans. Though some of the "lost b movies" have become available via DVD in the past few years, there are still a bunch that I am eagerly seeking out thanks for this book.

Worth the read (and purchase)...

[Michael Helm · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first part is why it deserves the rating - it is a short history largely of the first wave of films noirs, 1939-1959. Their origin in changes in detective and crime writing in the 1920's and 1930's, the changes in the movie industry that enabled making them - the need for shorter, lower cost features to round out the double bills in high demand in this period - and the changes that caused them to decline, the drop in popularity of double billed movie nights. It seems likely to me that television had to play part in this, and also attracted the kind of writing and production levels that had been used. Through the 1950's films noirs were declining in quality, being made more and more by "Poverty Row" companies, low budget, low salary, and low production values companies that lived and died on a tightrope - often bought out by TV production companies who needed the film library to fill time on TV channels.

It's a fascinating history. It complements the big picture histories of the major studios and cinematic cultural history.

Lyons names quite a few favorites and there will be many that you have not seen. At the time the book was written many of these were unavailable but more are findable now.

The 2nd half of the book is a collection of synopses and reviews of what looks like 100s of titles. You can argue that this has no purpose, but doesn't it play the same role as this site does? It's useful for someone who is a serious fan or student of these films and wants another opinion about what you're seeing.

There's a new form of this genre that would really benefit from a complementary discussion. Neo-noir films start with Chinatown and have their own characteristics - how do they build on the original movement, and what's different? One thing for sure, there's a lot more daylight in neo-noir.

[David Sterritt]

Arthur Lyons’s nicely titled “Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir” devotes its first half to a concise and well-informed history of B pictures in general and noirs in particular, its second half to an annotated filmography stuffed with plot synopses that serve no earthly purpose unless you’d rather read what happens in a movie than actually watch the movie. First part: recommended. Second part: superfluous.

[Joe Nicholl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great review of "B" film-noir...lot's of hidden gem films I have never heard of...it's my companion when I watch to Eddie Muller's Ask Eddie Film-Noir Foundation show...only take back is there constant spoilers through-out the book so I'm careful how I read each entry if I haven't seen the film,

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir (2000)

Arthur Lyons wrote this book, which has fifty or sixty pages of film theory and history and a 100 page filmography of plot synopses and commentaries on films that, for the most part, are forgotten for a reason. But he knows his stuff and this is a lot of fun to read. Lyons sort of makes the same claim that Eddie Muller makes in his book on film noir: that this genre about society’s losers, turns out to have had, behind the scenes, lots of losers making the films. Certainly this is even truer of these low budget films. I still feel like no one has really defined film noir; it’s like the one about the judge ruling on obscenity; he doesn’t know what’s dirty but he knows what he likes.
But this book is a joy to read just for writing like this: “The studio was taking a big chance , as the film was directed by William ‘One Shot’ Beaudine, who earned his nickname by filming virtually every scene in his more than 150 films in one take. It didn’t matter if the corpse moved or somebody answered a phone that didn’t ring; One Shot would print the scene anyway. The director of such epics as Get Off My Foot, Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, Billy the Kid Versus Dracula, and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein, Beaudine is probably most famous for the remark he made while working on a Bowery Boys movie at Monogram: ‘You’d think someone out there was really waiting to see this.’ Fortunately for Monogram, this was one of Beaudine’s better efforts.”

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great selection of films for the noir enthusiast - as
Robert Mitchum says "Hell, we didn't know what noir was...
..the big stars got the lights, we lit our sets with
cigarette butts!!" Of course the selections are personal choices
of the author and he has given detailed synopsis, credits and
a summing up to tell what he liked or didn't like about a
particular film. A lot of the time the films I had seen I
didn't agree with him about their merits (or more often
demerits!!) but that was okay because for every film I had
seen there were two or three that had me vowing to track them
down.
This is a book where Hugh Beaumont gets more of the limelight
than Humphrey Bogart and Hillary Brooke gets more attention
than Lauren Bacall. Starting with "Blind Alley" (1939), the
astonishing little B that started the whole noir cycle, among
others are "Blind Spot" (1947) again with Chester Morris,
"Decoy" (1946) with the much acclaimed performance of Jean
Gillie, a pretty concise view of most of the Whistler series,
as well as a big selection of 1950s noir including the good
("Split Second" (1953)), the bad ("Jail Bait" (1954)) and the
British who had a very creditable noir industry going during
the 50s.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the introduction Lyons argues for an alternate definition of Film Noir: “The only factors that unite all of these films under the film noir heading is their hard-bitten, cynical tone and their thematic content.” [8] And then goes on to link its origins to pulp crime fiction noting that many of those authors later ended up writing screenplays for both A and B movies. Lyons follows with excellent chapters on the formation of the “B” units at major studios - and later independents - to support the rise of double bills at theaters, and goes on to show the reasons behind the growth of the B noirs and their eventual decline. After this introductory material the bulk of the book consists of mini-articles on 141 B film noir movies with production details and credits, plot summaries, and in many instances interesting side notes on the actors or directors. There is a comprehensive appendix listing B noirs by year of release and by studio. Only knock on the book is the extremely low-quality of the photos, which are grainy, low-DPI reproductions. So a half-star demerit for that.

[Adam]

Apparently I am the only person still alive on planet earth who has actually read Brett Halliday's first two Michael Shayne mysteries and seen the film series with Lloyd Nolan. On page 32 of this otherwise enjoyable book, Arthur Lyons repeats the oft-repeated but false statement that the 1940 film Michael Shayne, Private Detective was based on the first Shayne novel, Dividend on Death. It was not. It was based on the second Shayne novel, The Private Practice of Michael Shayne. This is not my opinion, it is a fact, but unfortunately every "source" I've ever found has this information wrong, including the IMDb page for the film and the experts in the supplemental documentary features on the DVD. (There are other problems with this book, such as actors' names that are spelled wrong.)

[I'm not done with the book, so this isn't a review, just an irritating mistake I felt like sharing. I'll review the entire book when I'm finished with it.]

[Glen Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were dozens of Film noir movies made in the 1940s and 50s that really have been forgotten about and that's a shame. I'd love to see some of these films. B grade Sci-Fi and horror were often cheap and cheesy but B grade film noir and crime thrillers had a bit of grit and toughness and that's what made them interesting. This is a great reference for film fans hoping to seek out these films. It has a list of films by studio, an index and a small selection of photos.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is informative and entertaining in equal measure. The film summaries alone (which are often hilarious in their plot twists) make the book a must-buy. Lyons has searched high and low for some excellent (and not-so excellent) film noir entries and gives us the lowdown on them all. Outstanding reference book with some great extras in the appendices. No film noir fan should be without it.

[Alex Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a noir junkie, so I thought this was a really good book. Well written with lots of fun facts and tidbits, and it'll give you tons of ideas for your Netflix queue.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting more of a historical analysis and discussion, or at least lots of juicy info, but the book is 4/5 movie summaries. It's exhaustive but kind of depressing in that I will never get the opportunity (nor will many others) to see 95% of them due to limited viewing availability.