The Maltese Falcon Directed by John Huston
1941/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing
#144 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Wilmer Cook: Keep on riding me and they’re gonna be picking iron out of your liver. Sam Spade: The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.
The third time was the charm for this outstanding adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel. Screenwriter John Huston’s first effort as a director created a classic that helped form the “new” Humphrey Bogart character and made him a star.
Beautiful Ruth Wanderly (Mary Astor) visits the offices of Spade and Archer and hires them to trace her missing sister. While Miles Archer is trailing her sister’s companion, he is shot and killed. Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) soon discovers that Miss Wanderly’s name is really Bridget O’Shaughnessy and that she is more interested in the whereabouts of a valuable ornament in the shape of a falcon. As Sam tries to discovery Archer’s killer he is menaced by other shady types searching for the same bird. With Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo, Sidney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman, and Elisha Cook Jr. as Wilmer Cook.
I’m running out of ways to describe timeless classics. Suffice it to say that I love every single aspect of this film. I’ve also seen the 1931 version of the same story and the difference that these actors make to the delivery of the exact same dialogue is amazing. Some critics cite this as the first film noir. I don’t know that I agree. True, it has the hard-boiled dialogue and some of the high-contrast lighting and odd camera angles of a noir but the tone is different. In particular, Sam Spade is a man who won’t play the sap for anyone and the noir hero is typically born to play that role.
We can all be thankful that this was Huston’s first film. The studio first offered Bogart’s part to George Raft who turned it down because he did not want to work with an untested director. Huston was buddies with Bogart and never wanted anyone else.
Trailer – oddly Bogart can’t escape his gangster past in the trailer
Double Indemnity Directed by Billy Wilder
USA/1944
Paramount Pictures
Repeat viewing
#172 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die
Phyllis: We’re both rotten. Walter Neff: Only you’re a little more rotten.
You have to hand it to Billy Wilder. He was a true original and yet his films established many new genres. Some critics believe this movie was the first “true” film noir. Wilder claimed it was intended to be a “documentary”. Whatever it is, it is a masterpiece.
Insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) spots Phyllis Deitrichson’s (Barbara Stanwyck) anklet and it is lust at first sight. Neff is trying to renew an auto policy but Phyllis convinces him that what she needs is an accident policy on her husband … and a fatal accident. But can the pair collect when Walter’s friend, claims adjuster Barton Keyes (Edward J. Robinson), smells a fraud?
Walter Neff: Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money – and a woman – and I didn’t get the money and I didn’t get the woman. Pretty, isn’t it?
This film is just loaded with everything it takes to make a movie great. The direction, acting, cinematography, screenplay, and music are all brilliant. The care with which the first few minutes are handled, with MacMurray taking his time to settle in with the dictaphone are masterful and this is before the plot starts rolling. Barbara Stanwyck is the perfect amoral femme fatal, but it strikes me that the fatal flaw here is within Walter. Once again the sin of pride rears its ugly head and Phyllis merely gives Walter the opportunity to prove he his smarter than Barton Keyes, which has been his motive all along. But Walter isn’t smarter; he is only taller.
The special edition DVD was loaded with two commentaries and a documentary. One of the folks on the documentary said that “I did it for the money and the woman…and I didn’t get the money or the woman” sums up film noir in a nutshell.
Double Indemnity was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. It failed to win any, largely because Paramount was promoting its other 1944 classic Going My Way. The story goes that Wilder was so miffed when Leo McCarey got up to claim his Best Director prize, he put his foot in the aisle to trip him.
In the Heat of the Night Directed by Norman Jewison
1967/USA
The Mirisch Corporation
Repeat viewing
#453 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 8/10; I say 9/10
Gillespie: Whatcha hit him with?
Tibbs: Hit whom? Gillespie: “Whom”? “Whom”? Well, you a northern boy? What’s a northern boy like you doing all the way down here?
And the List serves up another practically perfect movie …
Philadelphia homicide detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Portier) comes to Sparta, Mississippi to visit his mother but finds he is not allowed to leave when a major investor is murdered. First, Virgil is suspected as the murderer. Then, in spite of himself, Police Chief Gillespie (Rod Steiger) has to acknowledge that he needs Virgil’s expertise to solve the case. But in a South still transitioning from segregation, the townspeople don’t want Virgil mixing in their affairs and are a constant danger.
This movie could have easily descended into preachiness. Instead, the strong performances by the two leads and the deft screenplay make this an entertaining police procedural first and a message film second. (Does anybody else but me grin throughout most of the Portier-Steiger exchanges?) I also like the fact that Gillespie is an outsider like Virgil and that Virgil himself is almost steered wrong by his own personal feelings. And you can’t miss when the great Ray Charles is singing over the credits.
Angel Face Directed by Otto Preminger
1952/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing
#244 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Frank Jessup: I’d say your story was as phony as a three dollar bill.
This is another great noir I’m catching up on late. Not only does the female lead put the “fatal” in femme fatale, but it has a fascinating production history.
Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons) is a confused rich girl. She idealizes her father (Herbert Marshall) and hates her wealthy stepmother (Barbara O’Neill). Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) is a working stiff who can’t win. His troubles begin when the ambulance he drives is called to the Tremayne house because of a gas leak in Mrs. Tremayne’s bedroom. Frank consoles the weeping Diane and when she follows him to a coffee shop he steps out on his girlfriend Mary with her. So begins the cycle that lands Frank on trial for a murder rap and married to pathologically lovelorn Diane.
I enjoyed this very much. It features uniformly good acting, wonderful cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr., a nice pace, and an awesome ending.
I love my DVD commentaries and this one contained the very juicy back story to the film. Jean Simmons left England to be with beau Stewart Granger. Howard Hughes was smitten with her, so RKO bought up her seven-year contract with the Rank organization. Hughes was interested in more than a professional relationship and creeped Simmons out so much that she sued RKO to get out of the deal. The case settled with Simmons agreeing to make three movies for the studio. Since Hughes was famous for dragging out productions indefinitely, the settlement specified that the three movies had to be made within three years. Eighteen days were left on the settlement when production on Angel Face began.
Hughes borrowed Preminger from Fox because he was known for being able to work fast. Preminger brought the equally speedy Stradling with him. Before shooting started, Hughes attempted to change Simmons hair style so many times that she cut her hair short and wore wigs throughout the filming. There is a scene where Mitchum slaps Simmons to snap her out of hysterics. Preminger made the actors do the scene over and over until Mitchum hauled off and slapped Preminger. Preminger rode Simmons so hard that Mitchum finally had to threaten to walk off the project. The commentator opined that this conflict probably got a more engaged performance out of Mitchum. Simmons, who was only 23, gave a wonderful performance despite her travails.
Every commentary I hear about Hughes’ years at RKO makes me like him less.
Beat the Devil Directed by John Huston
1953/UK/USA/Italy
Rizzoli/Haggiag; Romulus Films; Santana Pictures Corporation
First viewing
#268 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Purser: Do you know that your associates are all in hoosegow? Oh, not that I’m a bit surprised. I put them down as thoroughly bad characters, right off the bat. But then there are so many bad characters nowadays. Take mine, for instance.
A group of scoundrels plans to smuggle uranium out of British East Africa in this noirish farce. The plot is scant and convoluted at the same time, but ultimately does not matter much. With Humprey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollabrigida, Robert Morley and Peter Lorre.
I enjoyed this film. The story is but an excuse for some charming actors to trade bon mots penned by director Huston and Truman Capote. Jennifer Jones, in particular, is delightful as an imaginative Englishwoman who gets accidentally caught up in the plot, along with her very square husband, and falls for Bogart. I have never seen her like this and she manages one of the most believable English accents I have yet heard from an American. Bogie is Bogie but he looks somehow worn out here.
Out of the Past Directed by Jacques Tourneur
1947/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing
#198 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 8.1/10; I say 10/10
Jeff Bailey: You can never help anything, can you? You’re like a leaf that the wind blows from one gutter to another.
This visually beautiful film has a classical film noir plot involving a protagonist who is doomed by his obsession with a femme fatale and haunted by an inescapable past. The laconic Robert Mitchum is perfect as the fatalist hero of the tale and Jane Greer is one of the most perfidious shady ladies in all of noir.
I love this movie and have seen it at least ten times. With the last viewing I think I have at last figured out the confusing second half of the movie. This only added to my enjoyment but folks that have not seen the movie may not want to know the part between the spoiler alert notices.
The rather mysterious Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) runs a gas station in a small town in the Sierra Nevada. He is in love with a local girl named Ann. One day, a thug named Joe Stephanos comes looking for Jeff. Joe’s boss Whit Sterling wants to see him. Jeff and Ann drive to Lake Tahoe. On the way, Jeff tells Ann his story. The first part of the picture is thus one long flashback with voice-over narration.
Jeff – real name Markham – used to be a private detective. Whit (Kirk Douglas) hired him to find Kathie Moffet, a woman that shot Whit and made off with $40,000 of his money. Whit wanted Kathie back, with or without the money.
Jeff trailed Kathie to the Mar Azul cafe in Acapulco and was immediately obsessed with her to the exclusion of his job or the consequences. They began an affair and Kathie agrees to go away with him. She admited shooting Whit but denied taking his money. The couple returned to the U.S. and begin living in San Francisco. Whit hired Jeff’s partner Jack Fisher to track them down. When Fisher caught up with them, he attempted to blackmail the couple. Kathie shot Fisher dead and fled in Jeff’s car. A bank book she left behind showed that she had a balance of $40,000.
SPOILER ALERT
Segue to the present, a few years later. Jeff arrives at Whit’s mansion at Lake Tahoe. Kathie has returned to the fold. Whit tells Jeff that an accountant named Leonard Eels is blackmailing him with records that will show Whit owes the IRS $1 million. Whit asks Jeff to go to San Francisco to retrieve the records. Jeff is suspicious but agrees.
Jeff goes to see Eels’ secretary and girlfriend Meta Carson (Rhonda Fleming). The plan is that Jeff will pose as Meta’s cousin and meet her at Eels’ place after which they will steal the records from the office. Jeff senses a frame up and attempts to tip off Eels that he is in danger. He follows Meta and sees her steal the records from the office. When Jeff returns to Eels’ apartment, he finds Eels murdered. Jeff hides Eels’ body in an empty apartment.
He returns to Meta’s apartment and overhears Kathie calling Eels’ building and asking the superintendent to check on Eels. Kathie is shocked when the superintendent does not find a body. Jeff confronts her and she says she is afraid of Whit and acting under his orders. Jeff tells her Eels escaped. She says Whit made her sign an affidavit saying that Jeff killed Fisher. The affidavit is now locked in Eels’ safe. She says she still loves Jeff and tells him where he can find the tax records so that they will be able to blackmail Whit into giving them money and letting them go off together. Jeff melts.
Jeff finds the records and mails them somewhere. In the meantime, Kathie learns from Joe Stefanos that he did kill Eels. Jeff finds Joe and Kathie together. He reveals that he has the records in a safe place and says that he will hand them and Eels’ body over in exchange for the affidavit and $50,000. Whit’s henchmen are now very suspicious as it looks like the only way Jeff could have found out about the affidavit was from Kathie. Kathie and Joe say they are going to get the affidavit but instead give Jeff the slip.
Jeff takes a deaf-mute kid that works for him and goes fishing in the High Sierras. Somehow Joe and Kathie locate the kid and get Jeff’s whereabout’s from him. Joe goes off to shoot Jeff but the kid sees him first and causes Joe to falls into the river and be killed.
Jeff goes back to Tahoe and confronts Kathie. He finds out Whit knew nothing about the plot for Joe to kill him and that Kathie told Whit that he killed Fisher. Jeff again agrees to turn the records over to Whit for money and the affidavit. When Whit and Kathie are alone, Whit becomes furious, hits Kathie, and threatens to kill her if she does not do exactly what he says.
Jeff returns to Bridgeport and sees Ann. He again professes his love for her. Later, Jeff goes to Tahoe to finalize the deal and finds that Kathie has murdered Whit. Kathie wants Jeff and herself to have a fresh start in Mexico. This time, she will be in total control. She is willing to threaten Jeff with being framed for the murders of Fisher, Eels, and Whit to get what she wants. While Kathie is finishing her packing, Jeff calls the police. Kathie shoots Jeff when their car runs into a police roadblock and dies herself when the car crashes during a shoot-out with the police.
END SPOILER ALERT
Clearly, I had been missing a lot for a long time! This viewing made Kathie seem much more evil than before and Whit not quite so bad. I was wondering whether Whit would have gone after Jeff at all if he had known Kathie killed Fisher.
Probably 75% of my enjoyment of this film lies in it exquisite compositions and chiaroscuro lighting. I don’t seem to have the words to explain the shots but I know that I am enraptured by them. The music is also very beautiful and the dialogue is a kind of hard-boiled poetry.
The Phenix City Story Directed by Phil Karlson
1955/USA
Allied Artists Pictures
First viewing
#297 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Albert L. Patterson: Rhett, I’m not stickin’ my neck out. Why should I? Phoenix City has been what it is for 80, 90 years. Who am I to try to reform it?[/box]
This semi-documentary film tells the story of a crusade to fight a vice racket that had run Phenix City, Alabama for the better part of a century. While it is well-regarded, I could not get past some pretty bad acting and overblown writing.
The film was made during the murder trial for the assassination of Alabama Attorney General-elect Albert Patterson. The version I watched began with a segment in which newsman Clete Roberts interviews many of the real participants in the events portrayed. Rhett Taylor (Edward Andrews) is the boss of an organized crime racket that runs gambling, prostitution, and other criminal activities in Phenix City, which is near a U.S. Army Base. He holds on to power through brutal strong arm tactics, including open murder, while the police look the other way. Former Senator and local lawyer Albert Peterson (John McIntyre) is content to defend Taylor’s men in court, figuring that nothing can be done about the situation. Peterson’s son John (Richard Kiley) comes home from service as an Army lawyer in Germany and soon is determined to fight the mob, spurred on by the violence and injustice he sees. After several more murders, Albert is persuaded to run for Alabama Attorney General on a reform ticket.
The Man from Laramie Directed by Anthony Mann
1955/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation/William Goetz Productions
First viewing
#295 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Will Lockhart: You’re just a hard, scheming old woman, aren’t you? Kate Canady: Ugly, too.
This is a Technicolor Cinemascope Western set in the wide open spaces of New Mexico. Its “noir” elements come from the revenge obsession of its protagonist and a psychopathic bad guy.
Will Lockhart (James Stewart) rides into town with a mule train bearing supplies from Laramie. His secret mission is to avenge the death of his brother, a cavalryman who was killed in a massacre by Apaches armed with repeating rifles. Will suspects that the rifles were supplied by white men.
On his way out of town, Will decides to load up his empty wagons with salt from a lagoon. He is soon set on by Dave Waggoman (Alex Nichol) of the Barb Ranch, who believes he owns everything within a 300 mile radius. Dave takes sadistic glee in hog-tieing Will, burning his wagons and shooting his mules. He is only restrained by the arrival of ranch foreman Vic Hansbro (Arthur Kennedy). Dave is the son of patriarch Alec Waggoman (Donald Crisp) and Vic has been raised as his brother and charged with responsibility of keeping crazy Dave under control.
Each attack on Will makes him more determined to stay in town. The rest of the film follows Will’s revenge quest, his numerous reverses, and the Cain and Abel struggle between Dave and Vic. With Cathy O’Donnell as Vic’s fiancée, Aline MacMahon as a neighboring rancher, and Jack Elam as the town drunk.
There were several moments during this movie when I had to scratch my head as things just did not compute. It seemed like portions were cut out and there was no exposition to prepare for some of the plot developments. This also featured more gratuitous and graphic violence than the modern-day noirs I have been viewing. There was nothing wrong with any of the performances or the directing but it wasn’t a comfortable experience for me. The music is very nice except for the truly lame theme song.
The Asphalt Jungle Directed by John Huston
1950/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Loew’s
Repeat viewing
#224 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Doc Riedenschneider: One way or another, we all work for our vice.
This is the granddaddy of all caper films and an essential film noir. The excellent ensemble cast is matched only by the outstanding cinematography, screenplay and direction. A true classic.
Courtly master safecracker Doc Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe) has just been released from prison and has a plan for a “perfect” jewel heist that should net half a million dollars. He just needs $50,000 to pull off the crime. He goes to bookmaker Cobby who connects him with corrupt attorney Lon Emmerich (Louis Calhern). Emmerich agrees to front the capital needed to hire a robbery team and fence the jewels. The team consists of “box man” Louis (Anthony Caruso), driver Gus (James Whitmore), and hooligan/gun man Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden). Everybody involved has a dream or vice to motivate them to participate. Needless to say, film noir is short on fairy tale endings, unless, of course, you are a police commissioner. With Jean Hagen as Dix’s girl and Marilyn Monroe as Emmerich’s mistress.
I just love this movie. I really enjoy seeing the mechanics of a well planned heist and this is one of the best. I also like the economical way Huston gives us the back stories of not one but about six doomed noir protagonists. Although our heroes, including many of the police, are flawed they are mostly sympathetic on some level. This makes the movie’s ending a bit sad but not depressing or dispiriting to me.
This was probably the role of Louis Calhern’s career and one of Sterling Hayden’s best. It also contains my favorite Sam Jaffe performance. If you have never seen Jean Hagen in anything other than Singin’ in the Rain, this will show you her excellence in a dramatic role. The cinematography is fantastic with lots of shiny city streets and unique camera angles. Highly recommended.
Force of Evil Directed by Abraham Polonsky
1948/USA
Enterprise Productions/Roberts Pictures, Inc.
First viewing
#204 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Wally: What do you mean “gangsters”? It’s business.
This dynamite noir was the only film directed by screenwriter Abraham Polonsky before he was blacklisted by the Hollywood studios when he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Joe Morse (John Garfield) is a corrupt Wall Street lawyer. His client Ben Tucker is a crime lord who seeks to organize the numbers racket into a combine by breaking the many small “banks” that take bets. At the same time Joe is trying to cash in, he is also trying to protect his brother Leo, who runs one of the very banks that will be put out of business. Along the way, Joe befriends and attempts to seduce Leo’s sweet young secretary, Doris. Joe rapidly finds out that business and family loyalty do not mix. As this is a noir, he also learns that he is not as smart or in control of the situation as he thinks. With Thomas Gomez as Leo Morse, Roy Roberts as Ben Tucker, Marie Windsor as Ben’s wife, and Beatrice Pearson as Doris.
This indictment of greed has a lot going for it. The screenplay is very literate, though the romantic bits are perhaps a bit cute for their own good. The ending monologue as Joe walks down the stairs to the river is almost poetic. The cinematography by sometime Hitchcock D.P. George Barnes is wonderful. There is a gunfight in a darkened room that is just exquisite. All the actors acquit themselves well. Recommended.
In 1994, Force of Evil was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Trivia: Beatrice Pearson shares my own maiden name. This is one of only two films she made.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
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