Daily Archives: July 9, 2014

Deception
Directing by Irving Rapper
Written by John Collier, Joseph Than and Louis Verneuil
1946/US
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Alexander Hollenius: She tells me you’re some sort of a genius, if such a term can be applied to a mere performer.[/box]

For me, this Bette Davis vehicle actually belongs to Claude Rains and to Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s beautiful score.

Christine Radcliffe (Davis) is a classical pianist.  She accidentally stumbles upon her lost love Karel Novak (Paul Henreid), a cellist, playing at a college concert.  They became separated during the war, she returning to the U.S. and he suffering some unstated horrors in Europe. They have an emotional reunion and decide to marry at once.

Novak senses there is something amiss with Christine’s lavish apartment and possessions but Christine cannot bring herself to admit that she was the protegee and mistress of famous composer Alexander Hollenius (Rains) during the war.  Hollenius does not react well to Christine’s marriage announcement.  He keeps needling her in a semi-threatening manner to tell Novak the truth.  Then suddenly he decides to hire Novak as the soloist for the premier of his cello concerto.  But Hollenius keeps the nervous and sensitive cellist so off balance that he can scarcely play.  To Christine, this all seems to be heading to a dramatic revelation by her temperamental and imperious ex-lover.

This is basically a  “woman’s picture”  that shades into noir in the last ten minutes.  I found Davis’s and Henreid’s characters almost insufferably neurotic.  I had a hard time feeling any sympathy for Christine’s crazy making deception.  That said, Claude Rains has a big part and is fascinating throughout.  There’s a lot of humor in his characterization that makes the stock “genius” character very human.  The other strong point is the wonderful score.  Korngold wrote a cello concerto for the movie that is now played in concert halls.

The DVD had a very nice commentary.  The film historian kept asking the audience to watch how the Martha Graham-trained Davis moved.  She really is wonderful whether she strides into a room or runs up a flight of stairs.  I’m taking note of that for the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmBvAR7ArRU

Trailer – cinematography by Ernest Haller

Crossfire
Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Written by John Paxton adapted from a novel by Richard Brooks
1947/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant Video

[box] Ginny: [to Mitchell’s wife] Okay, where were you when he needed you? Maybe you were someplace having beautiful thoughts. Well, I wasn’t. I was in a stinkin’ gin mill, where all he had to do to see me was walk in, sit down at the table and buy me a drink.[/box]

Excellent performances by three Roberts and a Gloria highlight this pre-Gentleman’s Agreement treatment of Antisemitism.

A group of Army buddies meet a Jewish man and his girlfriend in a bar.  The man strikes up a conversation with Mitchell, a lonely troubled sort, and invites him to his apartment and then to dinner.  The other soldiers follow and force their way into the apartment for some free liquor.  An argument erupts started by the belligerent and very bigoted Montgomery (Robert Ryan).

The next we see the apartment is filled with military police headed up by Capt. Finlay (Robert Young).  Montgomery soon shows up saying he is looking for Mitchell who left the gathering feeling sick and failed to return.  The search is on for the missing Mitchell.  Finlay turns to Keeley (Robert Mitchum), Mitchell’s closest friend, for help.

When Mitchell is finally located, he says he was so drunk he can remember hardly anything about the evening, in particular the time anything happened.  He does remember that he picked up a bar girl called Ginnie (Gloria Grahame) and waited for her for some time in her apartment.

The rest of the film is taken up with establishing Mitchell’s alibi and laying a trap for the killer.

The movie’s message about the dangers of bigotry and hatred was perhaps not best served by putting a long speech on the subject into the mouth of Robert Young but that is only a few minutes of this otherwise nuanced film.  I think that the film has at least as much to do with the disorientation and fears of men being discharged after their wartime service, and that is done without any speechifying.  Famously, the source material was about the murder of a gay man.  I wish they could have made that story in 1947. The exploration of the villain’s motivation could have been more searching.

I generally find Robert Young terribly bland.  His portrayal of the cynical and laconic detective really suited him.  Robert Ryan is perfect at both acting innocent and being explosively violent.  Robert Mitchum doesn’t have enough to do.  Grahame is always good. Recommended.

Crossfire was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; Best Supporting Actor (Ryan); Best Supporting Actress (Grahame) and Best Writing, Screenplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJDXyr2HFW0

Clip – Gloria Grahame – cinematography by J. Roy Hunt

Trailer