MANN/DiCAPRIO TO DEVELOP L.A. NOIR (HOW AWESOME)

Is there any film genre better -- no, make that cooler than "L.A. Noir?"

The Lounge loves it since it oozes with hepcat '30s and '40s atmosphere. A great time period for films or books -- men were men and the dames who wore cocktail dresses didn't show off their tramp stamps.

People, even the schlubby ones, got dressed up to perform the most menial of tasks.

There were milkmen.

Big band, swing, jazz and jump blues were all in the air. The cars were sweet, large masses of chrome and steel. Palm trees everywhere.

The City of Angels was an untapped land of promise. L.A. - its diverse, lush cityscape and various ethnicities was the newfound promised land that people flocked to in order to start over. Pre-Vegas.

It was the land of 'The Pictures," their studios, and a plethora of flavorful characters both on-celluloid and off. Chandler knew it. And no, I don't mean Mathhew Perry's prissy bastard from "Friends." If you have to ask "Chandler who?," Hemingway's Lounge is perhaps not for you. Of late, scribe James Ellroy hold the patent on "L.A. Noir" and has written mucho prose with it as a backdrop.

So, I'm jazzed whenever a new L.A. Noir flick comes out. Last year gave us "The Black Dahlia" and the awesome "Hollywoodland."

Here's the great news, however: Variety reports that director Michael Mann recently delivered a pitch for his next film, an L.A. Noir. It's to be written by "Gladiator" and "The Aviator" scribe John Logan and takes place on the old MGM backlot circa 1930s.

Now ... one of my favorite thesps, Leonardo DiCaprio, is said to play its main character, a shamus -- or rather, a P.I. -- that studio chiefs once relied on to clean up the scandals created by its stars. The rags today are NOTHING compared to the scandal sheets of yore.

Anyway, Leo's snoop is hired to investigate whether a starlet murdered her husband. One highlight of the film has a shootout unfolding in the Trocadero nightclub on Sunset Boulevard with such yesteryear celebs showing up like Judy Garland and Bugsy Siegel. How cool? Although, it's my belief there's never really been a good Bugsy on screen. Ray Sharkey came close in "The Neon Empire" but it wasn't Bugsy, just a character based on him. I digress...

New Line is said to have made an offer for $100 million, but Sony, Paramount and Fox are said to be circling like vultures. Cameras are set to roll next February.
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If you want to brush up on your L.A. Noir, the feel of the era or just cool Cali period films, check out some of these benchmarks:

"Sunset Blvd."
"Chinatown"
"Maltese Falcon"
"Ask the Dust"
"The Bad and the Beautiful"
"Barton Fink"
"The Last Tycoon"
"Mullholland Falls"