"Wars tend to stir the heterosexual libido. After the thirties, where Tarzan and Jane seemed to be the only ones having any fun, the finality and fatality of World War II seemed to get the public and the movies interested in the peculiar carnal desires of men and women when danger loomed -- especially when danger loomed. Thus came the birth of the Femme Fatale. Sexy, confident, sensual, dangerous... everything a man ready to die for his country could ever desire. And desire they did. Suspense and noir films carried femme fatales into the 1950s too, but there is nothing quite like a 1940s femme fatale. It's like somebody discovering for the first time that being naughty can be more fun than being nice."
- Steve Badger
pics: 1: Barbara Stanwyck from The File On Thelma Jordon. 2:The Lady Vanishes, by Hitchcock.
3: Lauren Bacall from The Big Sleep. 4: Ann Savage from Detour, by Edgar G Ulmer 5: Carole Landis
6: Detour, by Edgar G. Ulmer. 7: June Duprez from The Thief of Bagdad, And Then There Where None.
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