Daily Archives: July 5, 2014

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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Posted in 1955, Noir Month

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Crime Wave (1954)

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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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Posted in Movie Reviews, Noir Month

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