Category Archives: Noir Month

Films noir watched in June and July 2013

Nightfall (1957)

Posted on July 7, 2014 | Leave a comment

Nightfall
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Written by Stirling Silliphant from a novel by David Goodis
1957/USA
Copa Productions
First viewing/Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics III

[box] Marie Gardner: Yesterday, my biggest problem was how I was going to break a date with a fellow I know for tonight. Of course I could call him up and tell him I can’t make it. I’m on my way to Wyoming in a pair of field boots, with a man that’s wanted for murder.[/box]

This is a suspense drama highlighted by the beautiful young Anne Bancroft and some equally beautiful cinematography by Academy Award winner Burnett Guffey.

Commercial artist Jim Vanning (Aldo Ray) is a man with a mysterious past who is clearly being trailed by that man at the bus stop.  He starts talking to model Marie Gardner (Bancroft) in a bar, buys her dinner, and gets her phone number and address.  Immediately upon exiting the bar, two thugs strong arm him into a car and take him to an isolated spot where they threaten to torture him until he tells him where the $350,000 is.

He gets away and, thinking he has been double-crossed, shows up at her apartment to confront her.  Marie thought the men were police.  Now they have her address, having obtained Jim’s wallet.  So Jim feels he must take her with him on his long trip to Wyoming to search for the cash.  He begins telling her his sad story …  With Brian Keith as one of the thugs, James Gregory as an insurance detective, and Frank Albertson as Jim’s hunting buddy.

The plot doesn’t bear much scrutiny and Aldo Ray is somewhat challenged in the acting department but I enjoyed this anyway.  Jim’s story comes out in dribs and drabs and keeps the viewer guessing.  This is the earliest film I have seen Bancroft in and she is beyond lovely.  Except that our hero has a Past, it’s not too noir.  No “nightfall” is involved. Much of the story plays out among beautiful daytime vistas of the snowy Wyoming Rockies.

Trailer – cinematography by Burnett Guffey

 

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The Lineup (1958)

Posted on July 6, 2014 | Leave a comment

The Lineup
Directed by Don Siegel
Written by Stirling Silliphant
1958/USA
Columbia Pictures Corportation/Pajemer Productions
First viewing/Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics I

 

[box] Julian: When you live outside the law, you have to eliminate dishonesty.[/box]

This TV-spinoff requires quite the suspension of disbelief but makes up for it with a trio of very fun hoods.

A taxi driver is shot and killed in the port of San Francisco after snatching a suitcase from an antiques dealer.  The SFPD soon discover that one of the figurines contained in  the suitcase is stuffed with heroin.  It turns out that travelers to Hong Kong are being used as unwitting mules.

Two  gangsters arrive from Miami.  They are to deliver the drugs to “The Man” by 4:30 pm the same day.  There are the brains of the outfit, Julian (Robert Keith), who is writing a book on dying words, and hit-man in training and psycopath Dancer (Eli Wallach).  On arrival, they meet dipso driver Sandy McLain.  The men have to work fast and brutally as there are three different dupes to collect from.

 

This was a spin-off from a TV police procedural of the same name.  It shows during the first 20 minutes but when the bad guys arrive the fun begins.  It’s all shot in broad daylight and there is little or no angst.  By the late 50’s it seems that any darkish crime film is considered film noir.  There’s plenty of action though and it is always nice to see Eli Wallach.  This was his second big screen performance after breaking through with Baby Doll in 1956.

The question of why any drug kingpin would trust a shipment, and of such small quantities, to random strangers is never answered nor are we told why he had to import hit men from Miami to collect.

The San Francisco police department got along with director Don Siegel so well they greeted him with open arms when he made Dirty Harry there 13 years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoiT_kLxbPs

Trailer – cinematography by Hal Mohr

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While the City Sleeps (1956)

Posted on July 6, 2014 | Leave a comment

While the City Sleeps
Directed by Fritz Lang
Written by Casey Robinson from a novel by Charles Einstein
1956/USA
Bert E. Friedlob Productions
First viewing/Warner Archive DVD

 

[box] Ed Mobely: But I didn’t do anything!

Lt. Burt Kaufman: You think if you’re drunk, it doesn’t count, huh?[/box]

Fritz Lang employs quite a cast to take a look at the dirty underbelly of the news media.

Spoiled slacker Walter Kline (Vincent Price) has inherited his father’s media empire.  He decides to create a new position to do all his work.  To spice things up, he announces he will give the job to whomever can catch the Lipstick Killer who has been preying on young women in the city.  Three top men – John Griffin (Thomas Mitchell), editor of the newspaper; Mark Loving (George Sanders), head of the wire service; and Harry Kritzer (James Craig) head of the photo service – are determined to stop at nothing to get the job.

Kritzer doesn’t think he has to work at it very hard though since he is having an affair with Kine’s wife (Rhonda Fleming).  Loving plots strategy with gossip columnist Mildred Donner (Ida Lupino).  The person with the actual inside scoop on the story is not interested in the job.  TV commentator Ed Mobly (Dana Andrews) used to work the crime beat and is close friends with Lt. Burt Kauffman (Howard Duff), who is in charge of the investigation.  He decides to use his influence to benefit Griffin.  He’s even willing to use his fiancee as bait to trap the killer.

This movie reminded me a bit of The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) set in a newsroom instead of a Hollywood studio.  There is the same soap opera flavor and ruthless ambition. Even the “hero” is highly flawed.  Aside from the seriously pessimistic view of humanity, I have hard time seeing this glossy film as film noir.  While the City Sleeps is far from the best thing I’ve seen from Lang but worth one watch.

Clip – cinematography by Ernest Lazlo

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The Desperate Hours (1955)

Posted on July 5, 2014 | 3 comments

The Desperate Hoursdesperate hours poster
Directed by William Wyler
Written by Joseph Hayes from his novel and play
1955/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Warner Bros. Home Video DVD

 

[box] Glenn Griffin: I got my guts full of you shiny-shoed wise guys with handkerchiefs in their pockets![/box]

Bogie comes full circle from a career-making performance as hostage-taker Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936)  to a similar role in The Desperate Hours, one of his final films.

Banker Dan C. Hillyard (Fredric March) lives an idyllic upper-middle class life with his Norman Rockwell perfect wife Ellie (Martha Scott) and two children, twenty-something Cindy and 10-year-old Ralphie.  Drawn by the bicycle lying on the lawn, prison-escapees Glenn Griffin (Bogart), his brother Hal and dim-witted tough guy Kobish terrorize the family into giving them haven until Griffin’s girlfriend can deliver the cash necessary to get the trio to Mexico.

desperate hours 2

Hours stretch into days when the delivery is delayed and fraying nerves threaten to convert the uneasy truce between Griffin and the family into a bloodbath. The normally forceful Hillyard must use every bit of restraint at his command to keep the situation under control. With Gig Young as Cindy’s boyfriend and Arthur Kennedy as the town Deputy Sheriff.

desperate hours 1

It was a joy to see two of our greatest cinema actors, March and Bogart,  go at it in this gripping story.  Both were superlative.  Bogie had reached the point in his life where there was a deep and moving sadness in his eyes that belied the tough guy surface.  Wyler keeps the suspense high and the action moving in what could be a claustrophobic setting. There are few traces left of the story’s stage play origins.  Recommended.

Trailer

 

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Crime Wave (1954)

Posted on July 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

Crime Wave (AKA “The City Is Dark”)
Directed by André de Toth
Written by Crane Wilber, Bernard Gordon, and Richard Wormser based on the story “Criminal’s Mark” by John and Ward Hawkins
1954/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Warner Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4

[box] Steve Lacey: Once you do a stretch, you’re never clean again! You’re never free! They’ve always got a string on you, and they tug, tug, tug! Before you know it, you’re back again![/box]

This is a good-looking police procedural featuring Sterling Hayden on the side of righteousness for a change and an early performance by Charles Buchinsky, soon to be known as Charles Bronson.

Ex-convict Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson) has gone straight and now lives a quiet life with his wife Ellen (Phyllis Kirk) and works as an airplane mechanic.  Their domestic bliss is shattered when a hood turns up wounded in a gas station robbery and looking for Steve’s assistance. He dies before Steve can help or get rid of him and the couple has no choice but to call Steve’s parole officer.  Lt. Det. Sims (Hayden) of homicide, called in because a police officer was killed in the robbery, had figured out that the robbery was done by a trio who had served time with Steve and was already on the way over.

Sims hauls Steve into jail and pumps him for information.  He gets none but releases him anyway. The couple’s luck turns from bad to worse when the remaining two thugs (Ted De Corsa and Bronson) move in on them and force Steve to participate in a bank robbery. With the very weird Timothy Carey chewing the scenery as a psycho thug.

What was it about Sterling Hayden?  He is as stiff and monotone as can be and yet is so oddly compelling as an actor.  He certainly dominates this film with his strong-arm tactics and the toothpick constantly protruding from his mouth.  Song-and-dance man Gene Nelson (Oklahoma) gives a nice performance as the trapped Steve.  De Toth reportedly was given the opportunity to have Bogart in the lead and a 35-day shooting schedule.  He agreed to make the movie in 15 days if he could have Hayden and made the movie in 13 days.  It worked out to be a superior “B” noir with some beautiful nighttime cinematography by Ford-favorite Bert Glennon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3BTKD5t6ZY

Trailer – cinematography by Bert Glennon

 

 

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The Big Heat (1953)

Posted on July 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

The Big Heat
Directed by Fritz Lang
Written by Sydney Boehm based on a Saturday Evening Post serial by William P. McGivern
1953/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Repeat viewing/Columbia Film Noir Classics I
#279 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Debby Marsh: [to Bannion] Well, you’re about as romantic as a pair of handcuffs.[/box]

The Big Heat is the pinnacle of Fritz Lang’s films noir.

Det. Sgt. Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) is an honest homicide detective on a corrupt force.  He is in love with his sassy wife Katie (Jocelyn Brando) and little daughter and enjoys a comfortable middle-class existence thanks to Katie’s economizing.

One day, he is called into investigate the suicide of a fellow officer.  His widow is properly grief-stricken with Bannion but the audience has already learned that she pocketed a letter her husband left that was written to the D.A.  Soon Bannion gets a call from the girlfriend of the officer.  She is convinced it could not have been suicide. When she is promptly tortured and strangled, Bannion starts digging deeper despite being warned off by his superiors. His investigation takes him into the world of city boss Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby) and his thug in chief, the vicious Vince Stone (Lee Marvin).

When all verbal threats and warnings fail, Bannion’s wife is killed by a car bomb meant for him.  Bannion is converted into a fearless angel of vengence.  He receives help from an unexpected quarter.  With Gloria Grahame in a superb performance as Vince’s bitter, wise-cracking moll.

Lang pulled out a taut, fast-paced masterpiece from the story of an honest man who is unable to settle for  a safe suburban life in a corrupt world.  The performances are all career highlights for the actors involved.  Grahame in particular provides great wit and intelligence to the sort of seductive yet vulnerable role that Marilyn Monroe would later fill. There are few frills in the visuals.  Every frame is dedicated to moving the story inexorably to its tragic finish.  One of those films that really should be seen before one dies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNyD7EncPR4

Trailer – cinematography by Charles Lang

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Movie Reviews, Noir Month

The Sniper (1952)

Posted on July 4, 2014 | Leave a comment

The Sniper
Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Written by Harry Brown, Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt
1952/USA
Stanley Kramer Productions/Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics DVD

 

[box]Tagline:Hungrily, he watched her walk down the street…and then he squeezed the trigger![/box]

Returned war vet Eddie Miller (Arthur Franz) is one sick puppy.  By day he is a mild-mannered delivery driver for a San Francisco dry-cleaning company.  By night, he obsesses over the wrongs done to him by women and the high-powered rifle he keeps locked in his bureau drawer. He knows he is twisted, even holding his right hand over a hot plate to prevent himself from using the rifle.  His efforts to get caught and get help come to nothing however.

Then Eddie begins shooting brunettes.  The ironically named Police Lt. Frank Kafka (Adolphe Menjou) is on the case but the killings continue despite the best efforts of the police department.  Can Eddie be stopped? With Frank Faylen as a police inspector, Richard Kiley as a police psychiatrist/profiler, and Marie Windsor as one of the victims.

The film begins with a title card explaining the research done into the social problem of the sex criminal and urging understanding to combat its growth.  It is a mixture of a psychological thriller with a police procedural.  Unfortunately, the story grinds to a halt during many of the police segments.  There is one particularly ludicrous lineup parading offenders from peeping toms to poison pen writers before the eager press.  The officer resembles no one more than Howard Cosell!  All the writers can come up with to “solve” the problem is to lock up any one exhibiting signs of perversion in an asylum for life.

That said, the negatives are overcome by the very strong and suspenseful scenes with the sniper. The location photography in San Francisco is also quite evocative and beautiful. On balance, I would recommend the film.

Menjou appears clean-shaven and in a rumpled suit.  If not for his voice, he would be unrecognizable.  One of the little ironies in the back story of the production is the pairing of director Dmytryk, one of the Hollywood Ten, with Menjou, one of the foremost red-baiters in Hollywood during the McCarthy era.

Edna and Edward Arnhalt were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Story.

Trailer – cinematographer Burnett Guffey

 

 

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Detective Story (1951)

Posted on July 4, 2014 | Leave a comment

Detective Story
Directed by William Wyler
Written by Philip Yordan and Robert Wyler based on the play by Sidney Kingsley
1951/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Instant Video

 

[box] Detective James McLeod: I built my whole life on hating my father. All the time he was inside me, laughing.[/box]

The movie portrays one day in the life of a city precinct, a little like a very dramatic “Barney Miller”.  Several suspects are brought in including: a shoplifter (Lee Grant), a war hero who embezzled from his employer and the girl who tries to help him (Cathy O’Donnell), and two burglars, one of whom is about to become a four time loser.

James McLeod (Kirk Douglas) is a by-the-book detective who hates crime and criminals.  He is actually intolerant of all human weakness or softness.  He has been pursuing Dr. Karl Schneider (George Macready) for months for performing some sort of unnamed surgery that has killed mothers and their babies.  The wily doctor and his lawyer are always one step ahead of him.  As he is closing in, the lawyer accuses McLeod of persecuting Schneider due to a personal vendetta associated with his wife Mary (Eleanor Parker). McLeod’s reaction to this news threatens to destroy his marriage and life.  With William Bendix and Frank Faylen as detectives.

I generally love Wyler movies but, for me, most of the acting comes off as if the performers were playing to the cheap seats on Broadway and spoils the experience. Joseph Wiseman as Charlie the three-time loser is especially egregious but even Douglas and Parker stray over the top at points.  I did appreciate the struggle of Lt. McLeod and his wife.  I only wish it had been more nuanced.  I realize I am in a distinct minority here with regard to this highly rated film.

I was surprised at the amount of strong-arm tactics used by the police almost as a matter of course.  Things certainly have changed – or at least this behavior is no longer accepted or condoned.   I didn’t see the ending coming.  It would be good to go into this one spoiler free.

Detective Story was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress (Parker), Best Supporting Actress (Lee Grant), Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay.  Parker has the distinction of having the least screen time of any Best Actress nominee.

Trailer – cinematography by D.P. Lee Grimes (John F. Seitz uncredited)

 

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The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Posted on July 4, 2014 | 4 comments

The Lady from Shanghai
Directed by Orson Welles
Written by Orson Welles from the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King
1947/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#220 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Michael O’Hara: Everybody is somebody’s fool.[/box]

The Lady from Shanghai leaves me as at sea as the characters.  If not for the sometimes awesome visuals, it would entirely escape me.

It is love at first sight for seaman Michael O’Hara (Orson Welles) when he rescues beautiful Elsa Bannister(Rita Hayworth)  from some muggers in Central Park.  Elsa apparently likes Michael too because she begs him to join her and her husband Arthur (Everett Sloane) on their yacht.  Michael demurs but a ruse by Arthur gets him aboard and he is soon way over his head.

Arthur’s law partner George Grigsby soon makes the party complete.  The “friends” are all at each other’s throats like sharks in a feeding frenzy that begin to devour themselves. The bewildered Michael is the only person left with a shred of humanity.  His love for Elsa makes him greedy, however, and he gives in to temptation when Grigsby offers him $5,000 to help him fake his death.  After this the only thing certain is that Michael will be the fall guy, no matter who is double-crossing whom.

Welles’s noir classic has me completely disoriented from the word go.  In the end, I could write a plot summary but still feel like I missed a lot.  Between that and Welles’ on-again-off-again Irish brogue, I can’t give this noir classic a lot of love. On the positive side, Rita Hayworth looks fabulous (I think the short blonde hairdo really suits her) and gives the strongest performance I have seen her in.  I love the trial scenes and their wicked skewering of the justice system.  And the justly famous scenes in the fun house are mind-blowing.  It’s hard to imagine how they got those shots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBsF4TimNF8

Trailer – cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr.

 

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Noir Month

D.O.A. (1950)

Posted on July 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

D.O.A.
Directed by Rudolph Maté
1950/USA
Written by Russell Rouse and Clarence Green
Cardinal Pictures
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime Instant Video

 

[box] Dr. MacDonald: Of course, I’ll have to notify the police. This is a case for Homicide.

Frank Bigelow: Homicide?

Dr. MacDonald: I don’t think you fully understand, Bigelow. You’ve been murdered.[/box]

If they could only have left the girlfriend out of this movie …

The story takes place in flashback as accountant Frank Bigelow tells the police about his last three days.  He runs a business in Banning and decides to take week-long vacation in San Francisco without office manager and girlfriend Paula.  She personifies the needy, suffocating woman, calling him constantly and asking over and over for reassurance. But Frank forges on.  The first night there he hits a jazz club and has a few drinks.  The next morning he wakes up feeling rotten.

He visits a doctor who tells him he has been fatally poisoned with a “luminous toxin” and has at most a week or two to live.  Frank goes on a mission to find out who murdered him. His first lead is a man from Los Angeles named Phillips who was trying to reach him. He discovers that he notarized a bill of sale for Phillips several months previously. From here, Frank gets entangled with an iridium smuggling operation and thence with some very nasty thugs.  With Neville Brand as a psycho.

If I had been Frank and been saddled with Paula, poisoning may have seemed like a relief! But, 1950’s style, Frank’s ordeal only makes him appreciate the domesticity Paula offers.  I can’t help it, she wrecks every scene she is in for me.  All the parts with Frank running around solving the mystery are very suspenseful.  I like Edmund O’Brien as an ordinary guy whose immanent demise has made extraordinarily fearless.

Clip – inside the jive bar – cinematography by Ernest Lazlo

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Posted in 1950, Movie Reviews, Noir Month