Film-Noir Discussion/DVD Review Thread

[dave jenkins]

I wasn't concerned with the exact line, I was trying to indicate who was speaking to whom. But I should have said "Nulty", the character played by John Ireland.

[cigar joe]

I wasn't concerned with the exact line, I was trying to indicate who was speaking to whom. But I should have said "Nulty", the character played by John Ireland.

OK 

[cigar joe]

Noir of the Week

nice site I stumbled on to:

http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2005/01/noir-of-week-list.html

[cigar joe]

Appointment with Danger (1951) Director, Lewis Allen with Alan Ladd, Phyllis Calvert, Paul Steward, Jan Sterling, Jack Webb, Stacy Harris, Harry Morgan, David Wolfe, Dan Riss, Geraldine Wall, and George J. Lewis.

Great opening sequence of a body disposal in the pouring rain I was hooked from the get go.  Also some nice railroad footage and industrial landscapes of Gary Indiana steel mills. 

Alan Ladd is Al Goddard, a USPS special investigator sent to Gary, Ind., to solve a postal detective's murder. A young nun Sister Augustine (Phyllis Calvert) is the sole witness. With her aid Ladd learns the identity of the men and uncovers the gang's plot to pull off a million-dollar mail heist. Jan Sterling plays gang leaders floozy jazz loving girlfriend Dodie La Verne. Jack Webb plays a loose cannon creep and Harry Morgan a slow witted goon. Very enjoyable 8/10.

Down Three Dark Streets (1954) directed by Arnold Laven with Broderick Crawford, Ruth Roman, Martha Hyer, Marisa Pavan, Max Showalter (Niagara), Kenneth Tobey, Gene Reynolds, and William Johnstone.

Sort of a police procedural, quasi-documentary, stars Broderick Crawford as FBI Agent John Ripley.When fellow G-man Zack Stewart is murdered, Ripley takes over the trio of cases Stewart had been working on assuming one of them will reveal his killer. This one is also entertaining but its a bit fuzzy in logic with the motives of the actual murderer the connection of why he killed the FBI man and his girlfriend? or whatever she was is never connected. Martha Hyer is a cute mobsters girlfriend.

It does have some great location shots of LA and the streetcar system and ends up at a great set piece at the base of the iconic  HOLLYWOOD sign.

Entertaining, but the lack of connection explained above drops this to a 7/10

    

[cigar joe]

Vicki (1953) director Harry Horner, with Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Elliott Reid, Richard Boone, Max Showalter, Larry Evans, Alexander D'Arcy, Carl Betz, and Aaron Spelling.

Opening sequence, a shot of Times Square with one of the giant billboards plastered with a stories high image of New York "super" model Vicki. Cut to a  seedy tenant hotel a sheet covered body wheeled out to an ambulance, a toe tag reads Vicki Lynn. Cut to Jersey Shore resort, Richard Boone, NYPD homicide detective, gets out of a taxi looking tired and in need of a vacation, he checks in and is about to go up to his room when he spots the headlines "Vicki Killed". He immediately goes ballistic and phones NY demanding to be put on the case.

Jean Peters a cute waitress working the late night shift at a typical NYC late night dinner is discovered by a Publicity Agent & Society Columnist, they proceed to make her over into the next "super" model. She becomes an overnight sensation much to the concern of her sister played by Jean Crain and gradually becomes ruthlessly ambitious.

Boone goes on an incensed investigation of Elliot Reid the Publicity Agent attempting to railroad the case upon him. This is more of a acting ensemble noir rather than visual noir focusing on relationships, and it lacks much of the stylized noir cinematography or great set pieces that I relish. Regardless if you are a Richard Boone fan you'll enjoy his portrayal of an obsessed cop. Peters is good but I still like her better in "Pickup On South Street".  All the characters in this film are revealed to be corrupt to some extent. 7/10

[cigar joe]

Sleep, My Love (1948)Directed by Douglas Sirk with, Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings, Don Ameche, Rita Johnson, George Coulouris, Queenie Smith, Ralph Morgan, Raymond Burr, and va-va-va-voom, Hazel Brooks.

Colbert wakes up on a Boston bound train with no knowledge of how she got there.

This film has almost the same premise as "Gaslight". Ameche, married to wealthy Colbert living on Sutton Place, NYC, is trying to drive her insane in order to get her out of the way so that he can access her fortune and replace her with Hazel Brooks. Coulouris is a portrait photographer posing as a psychiatrist in in cahoots with Ameche. Brooks who makes a very impressive entrance wearing a see through robe and a very skimpy outfit is Coulouris' models and Ameche's Femme Fatale. Cummings is the friend of one of Colbert's high society gal pals, who hits it off with Colbert on a plane flight from Boston and takes it upon himself to find out the truth.

I like this way better than "Gaslight". It was all shot in studio so it has some nice stylized noir sequences, I especially like the seedy pseudo NYC neighborhood where Coulouris has his shop off of an El stop, the photographer studio set, and the final denouement on the four story stairwell. This film also has an unexpected sequence of a peek at a delightful Chinese wedding, cool. Raymond Burr plays a Police Lieutenant investigating Colbert's disappearance.

Only complaints neither Burr or Brooks were showcased enough. Entertaining 7/10

[dave jenkins]

Vicki (1953) director Harry Horner, with Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Elliott Reid, Richard Boone, Max Showalter, Larry Evans, Alexander D'Arcy, Carl Betz, and Aaron Spelling.

Opening sequence, a shot of Times Square with one of the giant billboards plastered with a stories high image of New York "super" model Vicki. Cut to a  seedy tenant hotel a sheet covered body wheeled out to an ambulance, a toe tag reads Vicki Lynn. Cut to Jersey Shore resort, Richard Boone, NYPD homicide detective, gets out of a taxi looking tired and in need of a vacation, he checks in and is about to go up to his room when he spots the headlines "Vicki Killed". He immediately goes ballistic and phones NY demanding to be put on the case.

Jean Peters a cute waitress working the late night shift at a typical NYC late night dinner is discovered by a Publicity Agent & Society Columnist, they proceed to make her over into the next "super" model. She becomes an overnight sensation much to the concern of her sister played by Jean Crain and gradually becomes ruthlessly ambitious.

Boone goes on an incensed investigation of Elliot Reid the Publicity Agent attempting to railroad the case upon him. This is more of a acting ensemble noir rather than visual noir focusing on relationships, and it lacks much of the stylized noir cinematography or great set pieces that I relish. Regardless if you are a Richard Boone fan you'll enjoy his portrayal of an obsessed cop. Peters is good but I still like her better in "Pickup On South Street".  All the characters in this film are revealed to be corrupt to some extent. 7/10

Joe, you should have mentioned that this is a remake of the much superior I Wake Up Screaming (1941).

[dave jenkins]

Sleep, My Love (1948)Directed by Douglas Sirk with, Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings, Don Ameche, Rita Johnson, George Coulouris, Queenie Smith, Ralph Morgan, Raymond Burr, and va-va-va-voom, Hazel Brooks.

I like this way better than "Gaslight".

Sorry to keep coming off as a nitpicker, but are you comparing this with the American remake of Gaslight (the one with Ingrid Bergman) or the British original?

[cigar joe]

Joe, you should have mentioned that this is a remake of the much superior I Wake Up Screaming (1941).

It's been while since I watched it, I didn't make the connection, but your right Laird Cregar was a better unstable police detective, and Victor Mature was superior also,  but I just don't remember any of the women in the first version, I'll have to revisit.

[cigar joe]

Sorry to keep coming off as a nitpicker, but are you comparing this with the American remake of Gaslight (the one with Ingrid Bergman) or the British original?

The one with Bergman & Charles Boyer, I wasn't aware of the other.

[dave jenkins]

The Warner Archives released Marlowe today: http://www.wbshop.com/Marlowe/1000203135,default,pd.html?cgid=
If you follow the link you'll be able to see a fun clip of Bruce Lee destroying Marlowe's office.

[cigar joe]

I wonder how the image quality is 

[dave jenkins]

Watch the clip.

[cigar joe]

Watch the clip.

Yea it does look good.

[cigar joe]

The Scarf (1951) Directed by Ewald André Dupont, with John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge, James Barton, Ezra Thompson, Emlyn Williams and Lloyd Gough.

Ireland escapes from a metal hospital where he's been confined for killing a girl friend, but he doesn't remember doing it. Desert Rat turkey farmer Thompson takes him in, skeptical at first but eventually believing his story. A hitchhiking McCambridge (who actually doesn't look too bad in this film) gets picked up by Ireland on his way to town. A scarf she's wearing triggers a memory in Ireland and sends him of a search for his best friend Williams, who had witnessed the murder and who's testimony sent Ireland to the mental hospital. Prison psychiatrist Gough,  Thompson, and McCambridge eventually trick Williams into revealing his complicity.

Cheap and not very stylish Noir, and McCambridge's singing waitress outfit is atrocious. 6/10