The Asphalt Jungle

John Huston - 1950
Using a depth of depth, big faces in the foreground, and darkish rooms (never outside), does not necessailly make a good noir. This is too late for real noirs, and is really just annoying. Huston is as utterly humourless as ever. The cars are way too shiny, way too light reflecting off black, though the effect is a little spectacular.
Monroe comes in and can't act (neither can anyone else except Hayden and a couple of exceptions), though she eats the screen. Portentous and dull. The caper is not convincing in the slightest, no sense of effort (someone watch 'Le Trou', 'Le Cercle Rouge'), and the moral lessons are rubbish.