In Fairfax, VA the NRA has the National Firearms Museum. Like any other museum they bring in collections and displays from a variety of backgrounds to bring people through the doors. One of the cool things that they do is bring in collections of guns from movies.
On their website they have a series of videos called Curator’s Corner where one of the museum curator’s discusses a specific movie weapon. Over the next few days I’ll bring these video segments to you. I think it’s an interesting angle to approach crime movies from the guns that are featured in them.
These four videos highlight some of the specific weapons that appear in the classic film noirs.
After the jump check out the videos.
The first video is on the Colt Detective Special
The quintessential revolver of classic film noir detectives. John Popp and National Firearms Museum Senior Curator Phil Schreier present the Colt Detective Special on Curator’s Corner to honor November Film Noir month. Originally introduced in 1927, this six-shot revolver was produced in both .32 and .38 caliber models. Earlier versions had wooden grips, such as walnut, though plastic was introduced later in the production cycle during which nearly a million and a half of them were manufactured. These guns were carried by film noir greats from Bogart to Mitchum, and they can now be seen on display at the National Firearms Museum.
The second video is on the 1911 Colt .45
Part three of the Film Noir Series featuring this classic handgun. On this week’s special edition of Curator’s Corner, John Popp joins National Firearms Museum Senior Curator Phil Schreier for another “Phil Noir” segment in honor of November Film Noir Month. Schreier offers an overview of this dark, classic movie genre and displays a rare civilian model of the 1911 Colt .45, which features heavily in such noir masterpieces as The Maltese Falcon.
The third video is on the .455 Webley-Fosbery
4th edition of the “Phil Noir Series” featuring this famous gun. Extending November Film Noir month into December to honor more classic firearms at the National Firearms Museum, Phil Schreier and John Popp showcase the .455 Webley-Fosbery, a gun that made a notorious appearance in John Huston’s 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart. Schreier says that only 3,500 to 4,500 of these guns were made during the production period of 1901 to 1946, and he demonstrates the unique technology that allows this firearm to be an “automatic revolver.”
The fourth video is on The Thompson Submachine Gun
Part 5 of the “Phil Noir Series” featuring this classic firearm. As a continuation of November Film Noir Month, Phil Schreier, Senior Curator of the National Firearms Museum, joins John Popp to talk about “the gun that made the ‘20s roar” and the cartridge that started it all. The Thompson submachine gun, also known as the “Tommy Gun” or the “Chicago Typewriter,” was developed by Colonel John T. Thompson who helped design the .45 round in the early 20th Century. The round was an improvement on the .38 and was designed for the 1911. Thompson began producing the submachine guns, so-called because they fired pistol ammunition, in 1919, and the Tommy Gun was the first successful American design of these types of firearms. One of the most classic “neo film noir” scenes featuring this gun is in the Coen Brothers’ Millers Crossing starring Albert Finney.
