Category Archives: Noir Month

Johnny Eager
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by James Edward Grant and John Lee Mahin
1941/USA
Loew’s/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Warner Archive DVD

John ‘Johnny’ Eager: Oh, now don’t turn ordinary on me. I get tired of ordinary dames. And I don’t want to get tired of you.

Something about the title of this early film noir told me I might love this movie.  I was so right.

Spoiler alert:  The plot is full of great twists and turns and it will not be possible to do any kind of synopsis without revealing at least some of them.  If you think you might see this and such things matter to you, I would recommend going in cold as I did.

We meet our (anti-) hero Johnny Eager (Robert Taylor) as he is getting out of a cab he is driving and reporting to his parole officer.  During his amiable chat with the officer, two sociology students show up and sit in.  The parole officer describes Johnny as the ideal ex-con.  Later, one of the students comments about how handsome he is and the other, Lisbeth (Lana Turner) says that he looks as if he might beat a woman if she crossed him. This actually seems to be a selling point for poor Lisbeth.

After meeting with his parole officer, Johnny heads directly to the vaguely shady dog-racing track he wants to open and changes into a $500 suit.  It soon becomes evident that Johnny runs an illegal gambling racket on top of that and is not averse to ruthlessly neutralizing anyone who crosses him. One night he is visiting a gambling club to give some associates a talking to and runs into Lisbeth, who has been left holding the bag for a date who owes the owner plenty.  At once, he knows he must have her.  He offers to take her home and after some steamy talk in the car finds himself facing her stepfather Special Prosecutor John Benson Farrell (Edward Arnold), his arch nemesis.

Clever Johnny figures out a way to put Lisbeth, who adores him, and Farrell in his pocket for good.  Unfortunately, the method he selects drives Lisbeth straight into a nervous breakdown, sickens his only friend, alcoholic cynic Jeff Hartnett (Van Heflin), and seals his own doom.

Where to start?  Robert Taylor finally proved that he could be much more than just a pretty face.  He is great both as the star parolee and has the hard and heartless Johnny.  Lana Turner spells “dangerous” from the first moment she is on the screen and also gradually reveals hidden depths.  And Van Heflin, early in his career, delivered a touching performance as a man stuck by loyalty in a situation he cannot stomach and drinking through his pain.  The script is fantastic.  Just as you think you know where the story is going it takes you somewhere else entirely.  Highly recommended.

This viewing convinced me I am overdue for Noir Month II, which I intend to begin on July 1.

Van Heflin won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Johnny Eager.

Re-release trailer

Stranger on the Third Floor
Directed by Boris Ingster
Written by Frank Partos
1940/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing/Streaming on Amazon Instant Video (free to Prime members)

The Stranger: I want a couple of hamburgers… and I’d like them raw.

This odd little “B” movie may have very well have been the very first film noir.  I found it interesting if not great.

Reporter Mike Ward scored a coup and earned a raise by being the eye-witness to a murder, or at least its aftermath.  He had seen Joe Briggs (Elisha Cook Jr.) in a heated argument with the victim and later saw him standing over the body.  He is elated because the extra money will allow him to marry sweetheart Jane.  But when Jane attends the trial at which Mike testifies she cannot believe that the young defendent could have committed the crime and he loudly protests his innocence.

Mike returns home to his bachelor quarters in a rooming house and is deeply troubled.  He sees a stranger (Peter Lorre) creeping through the house and chases him when he runs. He is then disturbed that he does not hear the usual snoring through the walls.  Mike sinks into a nightmare in which he sees himself framed for the murder of Albert Meng, his highly unpleasant, meddling next-door neighbor.  Naturally, this is just what happens.  Mike discovers Meng’s body with its throat slashed just as the other victim’s had been.  Mike is now convinced that both were murdered by the mysterious stranger.  His task is to convince the authorities.   Jane’s is to track down the stranger.

This has some really interesting “German Expressionist” chiaroscuro lighting and camera angles, particularly in the dream sequences.  Lorre’s performance is reminiscent of his work in M.  Although there is no first-person narration, there is a long (and faintly ridiculous) interior monologue.  It is easy to see why critics might have singled out this fairly obscure little picture as the first film noir. It certainly fits in with noir’s “B” roots.  Most of the acting, dialogue, and general histrionic flavor are strictly “B” stuff.  The movie is fun even if the plot makes little sense.

Ingster directed only 3 films but went on to some success as a film and TV producer. He hailed from Latvia and had worked with Sergei Eisenstein in Russia.  Lorre appeared in three of the films prominently mentioned as the “first” film noir: this one, M, and The Maltese Falcon.

I notice that the complete film is currently available on YouTube.

Clip