tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53222184112406631352024-03-13T05:40:33.739-07:00Film NoirIn this blog I would like to write about the noir movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s...Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-71756725291986582212013-01-01T03:57:00.001-08:002013-01-01T03:58:41.965-08:00The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston 1950)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v5uGIEllE5U/UOGqJwCNi7I/AAAAAAAACXo/KbUtd0lseTI/s1600/The_Asphalt_Jungle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v5uGIEllE5U/UOGqJwCNi7I/AAAAAAAACXo/KbUtd0lseTI/s400/The_Asphalt_Jungle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b>Police Commissioner Hardy</b>: <i>People are being cheated, robbed, murdered, raped. And that goes on twenty-four hours a day, every day in the year... But suppose we had no police force, good or bad... The battle's finished. The jungle wins</i>. <br />
<br />
At the beginning of the movie Commissioner Hardy portrays the policemen as heroes, as the guardians of society. However as director John Huston narrates the preparations for a robbery and we sympathise with some of the thieves - especially with the lower class ones, losers with good feelings: We are told about their families and their dreams. In contrast to them the upper classes and some of the policemen are seen as individualistic and corrupt. <br />
The movie reflects one of the main themes present in W.R.Burnett novels: The city, the asphalt jungle is a place of corruption and sin whereas the country is associated with purity, with the innocence that's lost in the city. Dix Handley - a country man who is forced to rob to escape from poverty - says: <i>One of these days, I'll make a real killin' and then I'm gonna head for
home. First thing I do when I get there is take a bath in the creek, and
get this city dirt off me</i>.<br />
However the odds are against them. Our characters are doomed: <i>What can you do against blind accidents?</i> - Doc says. Things will turn out wrong, sometimes because of just bad luck, fate: Ciavelli is wounded when a gun is dropped. Doc is arrested after watching a young girl dance for too long when he was escaping. <br />
When Dix - wounded after a gun incident - reaches his farm he dies with his dream because as Dr. Swanson says: <i>He hasn't got enough blood left in him to keep a chicken alive.</i> </div>
Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-48451114686585890012010-07-27T15:10:00.000-07:002010-07-31T03:31:03.727-07:00Angel Face (Otto Preminger, 1952)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/TDefICHScAI/AAAAAAAABkA/eh5NZs0z84w/s1600/angel+face.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/TDefICHScAI/AAAAAAAABkA/eh5NZs0z84w/s400/angel+face.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5492033230956818434" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Frank</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">Well, hello!</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">You do get around fast, don’t you?</span><o:p style="font-style: italic;"></o:p><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Diane</span>:<span style=""> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">I’ve parked my broomstick outside</span><o:p style="font-style: italic;"></o:p></span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Frank</span>:<span style=""> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Beer Harry!</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">And what do witches drink?</span><o:p style="font-style: italic;"></o:p></span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Diane</span>:<span style=""> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Just coffee</span><o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">War veteran Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) has met Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons) for the second time.<o:p></o:p><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Earlier that night Frank had driven an ambulance to a wealthy mansion to find Diane’s stepmother, Mrs Catherine Tremayne (Barbara O’Neil), almost dead in her bedroom.<span style=""> </span>Her husband - a famous writer called Charles Tremayne (Herbert Marshall) – had just come in time to save her from dying <span style="">asphyxiated</span>. It seems there was a problem with the gas but the lady thinks maybe someone wanted to kill her for her money. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">When Frank was leaving the house he met Diane for the first time.<span style=""> </span>She was playing a sad piano piece and they felt an immediate attraction for each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Frank breaks up his relationship with nurse Mary Wilton (Mona Freeman) and Diane convinces her family to hire him as the family chauffeur.<span style=""> </span>From this moment on Frank will be trapped and manipulated by Diane.<span style=""> </span>He thinks he may help her to fulfil his dream of having his own garage.<span style=""> </span>However her angel face hides a troubled and obsessed femme fatale…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Angel face is a first class noir movie with suspenseful direction by Preminger, excellent performances by Mitchum and Simmons and a haunting piano song <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Catherine</span>:<span style=""> </span>“<span style="font-style: italic;">Where are the keys?</span>”<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Diane</span>: “<span style="font-style: italic;">In the ca</span>r” (she sits at the piano and plays a sad melody…)<o:p></o:p></span></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-42431749289144796192010-07-16T02:47:00.000-07:002010-07-16T03:02:15.637-07:00The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh, 1939)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/TEAru0mAk3I/AAAAAAAABkk/iVtoIqOAQLA/s1600/The-Roaring-Twenties.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/TEAru0mAk3I/AAAAAAAABkk/iVtoIqOAQLA/s400/The-Roaring-Twenties.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494439628784046962" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Narrator</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">Today, while the earth shakes beneath the heels of marching troops, while a great portion of the world trembles before the threats of acquisitive power-mad men, we of America have little time to remember an astounding era in our own recent history. An era which will grow more and more incredible with each passing generation until someday people will say it never could have happened at all.</span><br /><br />The movie - based on a story by Mark Hellinger and brilliantly directed by Raoul Walsh - opens in this documentary style which will portrait two important decades of American history.<br />War veteran Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney) finds difficulties when he returns home: he has no job, the prohibition era has started and soldiers are no longer heroes:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fletcher's Garage Mechanic</span>: (After the war Eddie is asking to get his old job back) <span style="font-style: italic;">That guy thinks he's gonna' get my job just because he's got a uniform on. He used to work here.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fletcher's Garage Mechanic</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">Yeah, those monkeys are gonna' find out what a picnic they had on Uncle Sam's dough while we stayed home and WORKED!</span><br /><br />After some frustrated attempts to get a job he enters the bootlegging business almost by chance and he meets speakeasy hostess Panama Smith (Gladys George) and former war colleague, the ruthless George Halley (Humphrey Bogart).<br />The film portrays the rise of Eddie in the prohibition and jazz age (in the soundtrack we can hear many songs of that time as <span style="font-style: italic;">My Melancholy Baby, It had to be you or Bye bye Blackbird</span>).<br />Eddie is not portrayed as an evil gangster but as a character caught between the need to survive and a good natured heart: He helps Jean (Priscilla Lane) though she will never love him: They live in different worlds and in fact she will take some advantage of his good will…<br /><br />As other gangsters Eddie Barlett was also bound to fall: After 1929 things changed deeply in the Depression era, the prohibition was over and the gangster world had changed…<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Panama</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">It's over for all of us: you, me, and George. Eddie, something new is happening, something you don't understand.</span><br /><br />The words of Panama echo the ending of an era, the ending of gangster movies, the ending of characters like Eddie – killed on the steps in front of a church:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Panama Smith</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">He's dead.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cop</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">Well, who is this guy?</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Panama Smith</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">This is Eddie Bartlett.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cop</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">Well, how're you hooked up with him?</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Panama Smith</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">I could never figure it out.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cop</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">What was his business?</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Panama Smith</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">He used to be a big shot.</span>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-88288775579417775762010-07-09T07:57:00.000-07:002010-07-09T15:15:09.712-07:00Cornered (Edward Dmytryk, 1945)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/TDc5gGkEgVI/AAAAAAAABj4/GHJRod4V-6g/s1600/cornered.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/TDc5gGkEgVI/AAAAAAAABj4/GHJRod4V-6g/s400/cornered.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491921494282109266" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Laurence Gerard</span>:<span style=""> </span>“<i style="">I have a job to do, my wife is dead!<br /><br /></i>Former prisoner of war Canadian pilot Laurence Gerard (Dick Powell) finds out that his French wife was murdered by <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Vichy</st1:city></st1:place> collaborator Marcel Jarnac (Luther Adler).<o:p></o:p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Jarnac is reported to be dead but after finding the cover of a dossier about the criminal, Gerard is convinced he is still alive.<o:p></o:p> After following the collaborationist’s trail to <st1:country-region st="on">Switzerland</st1:country-region> he learns that Jarnac’s widow is living in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Buenos Aires</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Once in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region> Gerard meets several people:<span style=""> </span>Incza (Walter Slezak), Mrs Camargo (Nina Vale), Mr Santana (Morris Carnovsky)… but in a world of half-truths, deception and shadowy characters he doesn’t know who to trust.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The film was made one year after the same team (blacklisted Edward Dmytryk, Adrian Scott and Jon Paxton together with Dick Powell) had filmed <span style="font-style: italic;">Murder my Sweet</span>.<span style=""> </span>Both films share an atmosphere of moral decay.<span style=""> </span>The photography of this post-war noir movie is dark and full of shadows… a metaphor for the hidden faces of evil and fascism…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Jarnac</span>:<i style=""><span style=""> </span><i style="">“How many times must I tell you that our chief aim for the next five years, for the next twenty years if necessary, is complete and absolute obscurity?”</i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><i style=""> </i>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-90191080875661991022009-08-03T07:38:00.000-07:002009-08-03T07:42:59.042-07:00The Reckless Moment (Max Ophuls 1949)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/Snb2vaknA3I/AAAAAAAAA6Q/RDq7GnVs2lE/s1600-h/reckless+moment.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/Snb2vaknA3I/AAAAAAAAA6Q/RDq7GnVs2lE/s400/reckless+moment.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365747300505682802" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bea Harper</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">When you're seventeen today, you know what the score is</span>.<br /><br />Lucia Harper (Joan Bennet) is a busy mother in this blend of noir and melodramatic movie. <span style=""> </span>She takes care of her middle class family while her husband – who never appears in the film - is away on business.<span style=""> </span>Her teenage daughter Bea (Geraldine Brooks) is seeing Ted Darby (Sheppard Strudwick), an elder man of dubious reputation.<span style=""> </span>Lucia travels to LA to ask him to stop seeing her daughter.<span style=""> </span>He only agrees to do so if he is given a good sum of money, however Bea wants to see him again. <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">After Ted’s accidental violent death Lucia will handle the situation. <span style=""> </span>In a reckless moment she will get rid of the body in <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Balboa</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Harbour</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Later she will be the victim of blackmail by Martin Donelly (James Mason) who has the love letters Bea and Ted had exchanged.<span style=""> </span>Lucia tries to face the situation herself, keeping the family away from the whole affair.<span style=""> </span>Martin, who has fallen in love with her, is impressed by her efforts to protect her daughter and he is willing to stop the pressure on her, however, his boss named Nagle (Roy Roberts) doesn’t agree… <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">A remarkable performance by Joan Bennet, in a mature and maternal role, far from the femme fatale she was in some of her Lang movies. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Martin</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">She's lucky to have a mother like you.</i><br /><b>Lucia Harper</b>: <i style="">Everyone has a mother like me. You probably had one, too.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Lucia Harper</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">You don't know how a family can surround you at times.</i><br /><b>Martin</b>: <i style="">Do you never get away from your family?</i><br /><b>Lucia Harper</b>: <i style="">No.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-32090548271401609722009-07-20T09:18:00.000-07:002009-07-20T09:32:28.869-07:00Touch of evil (Orson Welles 1958)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SmSbSIba0qI/AAAAAAAAA6I/JFHVDKNj1mA/s1600-h/touch+of+evil.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 241px; height: 374px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SmSbSIba0qI/AAAAAAAAA6I/JFHVDKNj1mA/s400/touch+of+evil.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360580192280171170" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mike Vargas</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><span style=""> </span><i style="">This isn't the real <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region>. You know that. All border towns bring out the worst in a country.</i><o:p></o:p></span><p></p> In a memorable 3 minute shot we see how Mike Vargas’ (Charlton Heston) honeymoon in a Mexican border town is interrupted by an explosion that kills several people.<br />Vargas terminates his honeymoon and takes up the investigation, so does American policeman Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles).<span style=""> </span>Soon it becomes evident that their methods and personalities are completely different.<br />Things become more complicated when Vargas’ American bride Susie (Janet Leigh) is kidnapped by Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff), the head of an underground drug family.<o:p></o:p><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Quinlan’s presence dominates the movie: he fabricates evidence to frame his suspects.<span style=""> </span>His intuition (his game leg) is usually right but he achieves his goals through abuse of power and other illegal means.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Vargas exposes Quinlan’s methods and there is no way out for the has-been cop. He wants to take refuge at Tanya’s (Marlene Dietrich) brothel and the sound of the pianola but his better days have passed:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Quinlan</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">Come on, read my future for me.</i><br /><b>Tanya</b>: <i style="">You haven't got any.</i><br /><b>Quinlan</b>: <i style="">What do you mean?</i><br /><b>Tanya</b>: <i style="">Your future is all used up.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Tanya will pronounce the epitaph for the massive, vile, yet intuitive Quinlan:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Schwartz</span></span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">Well, Hank was a great detective all right.<br /></i><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tanya</span></span><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">And a lousy cop.<br /></i></span></i><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Schwartz</span></span><i style=""><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">Is that all you have to say for him?<br /></i></span></i></i><span style="font-weight: bold;" lang="EN-GB">Tanya</span><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">He was some kind of a man... What does it matter what you say about people?<br /></i></span></i></i></i><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Schwartz</span></span><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><i style="">: <i style="">Goodbye Tanya.<br /></i></i></span></i></i></i><span style="font-weight: bold;" lang="EN-GB">Tanya</span><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><i style=""><i style="">: Adiós.</i><o:p></o:p></i></span></i></i></i></p><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""> <span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></i></i></i></i><p></p><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""> </i></i></i></i><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""> </i></i></i></i></o:p></span></p><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""> </i></i></i></i><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""> </i></i></i></i></o:p></span></p><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""> </i></i></i></i><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><span style="" lang="EN-GB">For some critics this film is also the epitaph for the classic noir era…<i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></i></i></i></span></p><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""><i style=""> </i></i></i></i>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-2940388393155689212009-06-06T16:09:00.000-07:002009-06-07T04:29:44.914-07:00The Public Enemy (William Wellman, 1931)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/Sir4iRwk20I/AAAAAAAAAn4/J8hGRpXwQDw/s1600-h/the-public-enemy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 261px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/Sir4iRwk20I/AAAAAAAAAn4/J8hGRpXwQDw/s400/the-public-enemy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344357175594900290" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mike Powers:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Do you think I care if there was just beer in that keg? I know what's in it. I know what you've been doing all this time, how you got those clothes and those new cars… You murderers! There's not only beer in that jug. There's beer and blood - blood of men!</span><br /><br />James Cagney and Jean Harlow star in this cornerstone gangster film which will influence the whole genre.<br />Tom Powers (James Cagney) and his brother Mike (Donald Cook) follow different ways from an early age. Mike, who will serve the country in the First World War, will have a daytime job and follow his studies in the evenings. Tom and his friend Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) are two young teenagers who are stepping into criminal life stealing small items. As they are getting into adulthood they become bootleggers in the prohibition era.<br />Their reckless life brings them wealth, fun and women as Kitty (Mae Clarke) or Gwen Allen (Jean Harlow).<span style=""> </span>However Tom is getting tougher – in a famous scene he squeezes a grapefruit into Kitty’s face – and he is going the hard way. He has become an evil hoodlum who even executes a horse in revenge.<br />The bootlegging business turns into gangster war with Tom falling wounded in the gutter. It seems the suitable end of the film – which would be similar to other endings in later noir movies as in <span style="font-style: italic;">He ran all the way</span>.<br />However Tom is taken to hospital and later he will “come back” home, an impressing scene with a following moral message…<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tom</span> (stumbling wounded under the rain): <span style="font-style: italic;">I ain't so tough</span>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-17986308827404564032009-03-01T10:13:00.000-08:002009-03-01T10:24:42.072-08:00White Heat (Raoul Walsh 1949)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SarSU0GBtMI/AAAAAAAAAnw/S9nGl4DpprI/s1600-h/White+HEAT.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SarSU0GBtMI/AAAAAAAAAnw/S9nGl4DpprI/s400/White+HEAT.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308286365832688834" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ma Jarrett</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><span style=""> </span><i style="">Top of the world son!<br /><br /></i>Cody Jarrett (James Cagney), a leader of a gang of robbers aims to the top of the world.<br />He is not an ordinary gangster, we see him as a tough, wild character but also as a vulnerable, psychologically unstable man: he has strong headaches and he is strongly attached to his “Ma” (Margaret Wycherly) who is also part of the gang and as ruthless as a gangster can be.<br />Cody’s femme fatale wife Verna (Virgina Mayo) is not faithful to him and she has eye for gang member Big Ed. Jarrett lives in a tough world in which few people can be trusted:<i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></span><p></p><i style=""> </i><p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Cody Jarrett</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">You know something, Verna, if I turn my back long enough for Big Ed to put a hole in it, there'd be a hole in it.</i><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><i style=""> </i><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">After being giving himself up by the police for some minor crime – an alibi for a violent armed robbery - he manages to direct his gang while he is in prison.<br />In jail he is befriended by Hank Fallon (Edmond O’Brien) – an undercover policeman who has taken the identity of Vic Pardo. Both plan a big heist and Hank will take the role of Ma Jarrett as Cody’s moral and mental support.<br />Eventually Cody will discover Fallon’s real identity but it will be too late, he will be heading towards his ending. <i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><i style=""> </i><p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Cody Jarrett</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">A copper, a copper, how do you like that boys? A copper and his name is Fallon. And we went for it, I went for it. Treated him like a kid brother. And I was gonna split fifty-fifty with a copper!</i><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><i style=""> </i><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Cody trapped in an oil refinery plant has no way to escape…<span style=""> </span>This seems the epic closing chapter to Cagney’s gangster movies of the 30s<i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><i style=""> </i><p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Cody Jarrett</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">Made it, Ma! Top of the world!</i><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><i style=""> </i><p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Philip Evans</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">Cody Jarrett...</i><br /><b>Hank Fallon</b>: <i style="">He finally got to the top of the world... and it blew right up in his face.</i><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><i style=""> </i>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-57129883819469211962008-12-28T15:23:00.000-08:002008-12-28T15:34:40.182-08:00Hollow Triumph, aka The Scar (Steve Sekely, 1948)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SVgM_a-Se2I/AAAAAAAAAm0/WlF9XTWX2Zg/s1600-h/hollow+triumph.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SVgM_a-Se2I/AAAAAAAAAm0/WlF9XTWX2Zg/s400/hollow+triumph.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284988446431148898" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Evelyn Hahn</span>:<span style="font-style: italic;"> “It’s a bitter little world…”</span><br /><br />The fatalism of a bitter little world is ever present in this movie.<span style=""> </span>Former medical student John Muller (Paul Henreid) has just been released from prison. <span style=""> </span>He has planned a robbery at a casino which turns out to be a failure.<span style=""> </span>Muller has to escape to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">L.A.</st1:place></st1:city> where he takes a job but the menace of being caught casts a permanent shadow on his life.<br />He comes to know by chance that he looks almost exactly like psychiatrist Victor Bartok. He sees a chance of escaping his fate if he can impersonate the doctor:<span style=""> </span>He has a good psychiatry practice and a nice secretary (Joan Bennet).<br />This becomes Muller’s objective and he plans carefully how to “become” Dr Bartok. <span style=""> </span>To make this resemblance more likely he manages to reproduce a facial scar and later he kills and gets rid of the doctor.<br />When Muller has succeeded impersonating Dr Bartok he suddenly has to face the troubles of the dead man.<span style=""> </span>Muller will be a victim and pay, not for his crimes but for the doctor’s past troubles… His fate was following him all the way…<br />This is not one of the great films of the noir style (it is not usually in the top lists), however it has the essence of the genre… there is a fatalistic quality in the movie with a menacing shadowy photography (great work by John Alton).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">John Muller</span>: “<span style="font-style: italic;">It’s too late and what’s the use?</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">You can never go back and start again… You don’t see what’s happening to you.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">It just happens</span>”<o:p></o:p><p></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-81214142680070350112008-11-30T14:13:00.000-08:002008-11-30T14:58:08.581-08:00The Big Heat (Fritz Lang 1953)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/STMZ8totLwI/AAAAAAAAAU8/yeTKU0FtYnk/s1600-h/big+heat.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/STMZ8totLwI/AAAAAAAAAU8/yeTKU0FtYnk/s400/big+heat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274588119414157058" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Debbie Marsh</span><span style="font-style: italic;">: The main thing is to have the money. I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, rich is better.</span><o:p></o:p><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">This sentence, spoken by street wise Debbie Marsh (maybe the best performance by Gloria Grahame) tells about a society in which rotten rich people have the power and influence over all institutions.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby) is the syndicate boss of this corrupt city.<span style=""> </span>Even the police are part of this system and they receive “orders” from the crime mob.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Lt. Ted Wilks</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i style="">It was bad judgment to bother a cop's widow about the love life of her husband.</i><br /><b>Dave Bannion</b>: <i style="">Good or bad, it was my judgment.</i><br /><b>Lt. Ted Wilks</b>: <i style="">You're missing the point. I'm the one that gets the pressure calls from upstairs. I'm the one that has to explain. You don't keep an office like this very long stepping on a lot of corns.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Policeman Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) wants to fight this corruption. <span style=""> </span>However he loses his wife – killed by Lagana’s right hand, Vince Stone (Lee Marvin).<span style=""> </span>Lang portrays a society in which ethics has a high price – Bannion’s quest for justice will cause the death of several innocent women.<span style=""> </span>So there is a pessimistic message lying under the heroic story.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Bannion, angry with the police department loses his job and becomes an isolated figure seeking for revenge and justice – in a role that would be developed later by actors like Clint Eastwood.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Bannion can only rely on his relatives and friends to protect her young daughter.<span style=""> </span>This seems to be the main message of a great movie with unforgettable sequences – like the scalding coffee scene (though it happens off screen)...<o:p></o:p></span></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-91893704309240173152008-10-12T15:47:00.000-07:002008-10-12T15:50:52.287-07:00Ascenseur Pour l’Échafaud (Louis Malle, 1958)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SPJ-tx0WYAI/AAAAAAAAAU0/F-IBG-ZAmSA/s1600-h/ascenseur.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SPJ-tx0WYAI/AAAAAAAAAU0/F-IBG-ZAmSA/s400/ascenseur.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256403040026910722" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Florence</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">“Je t’ai perdu dans cette nuit Julien… Mais il faut que tu reviennes. Il faut que tu sois là, vivant, à côté de moi… Julien… il faut, il faut…"</span><br /><br />Florence (a gorgeous Jeanne Moreau) is walking alone along the half deserted Paris boulevards. We can hear Miles Davis trumpet. Its sound is cold, somewhat distant, cutting the Paris night. She walks the dim-lit, damp streets from café to café in search of his lover who will not appear.<br />Florence is looking for Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet). Julien has killed his employer – and Florence’s husband - Simon Carala (Jean Wall). <br />The two of them had planned the perfect crime making it look as if it was a suicide. But Julien gets caught in an elevator and his car is stolen by a young dissatisfied couple who want to live fast… (this film was made just two years before Godard filmed “<span style="font-style: italic;">À Bout de Souffle</span>”).<br />The “nouvelle vague” directors were admirers of the American film noir and they created some gems of the genre with some “European” touches. Louis and Véronique, he young couple, remind us of those doomed fugitives in the movies of the 30s and 40s but with something of an existentialist emptiness.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Louis:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">“Reveille-toi, on se’n va…”</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Véronique:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">“Mais Louis, tu es fou?”</span>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-21496650869824515012008-09-11T10:30:00.001-07:002008-09-11T10:44:07.751-07:00The Third Man (Carol Reed 1949)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SMlXrcojkmI/AAAAAAAAAUs/rhFS-EC2ras/s1600-h/third_man1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SMlXrcojkmI/AAAAAAAAAUs/rhFS-EC2ras/s400/third_man1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244819644981940834" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Harry Lime:</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Oh, I still do believe in God, old man. I believe in God and Mercy and all that. But the dead are happier dead. They don't miss much here, poor devils.</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Pulp western writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives to post war Vienna to meet his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles).<span style=""> </span>Just after his arrival he is told that his friend has died in an accident.<span style=""> </span>The police also tell him that he was a racketeer (dealing with diluted penicillin).<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The film is about friendship, loyalty, treason.<span style=""> </span>However it is also about good and evil, power, ambition… As Harry points out from the top of the Prater wheel:<span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style=""> </span>Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?</i></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">While inquiring about Harry’s death Holly falls in love with Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), Harry’s girlfriend.<span style=""> </span>But Martins fails, as a lover and maybe as a friend too (he betrays Harry and reports him to the police).<span style=""> </span>As the film progresses Holly becomes a sort of pathetic hero while Harry is a fascinating villain.</span></p></span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Filmed in deep black and white – with an unforgettable score by Anton Karas - in a war scarred Vienna the movie leaves little room for hope: The pessimistic film ends with Anna walking along the deserted tree-lined cemetery road after Harry’s funeral.<span style=""> </span>It’s autumn and the leaves roll on the ground, Holly is waiting for her.<span style=""> </span>However she passes by him without a look or a gesture…</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Harry Lime:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly.</span></span><b><br /></b></p><p></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-58634835984568505512008-08-07T11:15:00.000-07:002008-08-07T11:19:12.387-07:00Fury (Fritz Lang, 1936)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SJs8Jm3_bZI/AAAAAAAAAUc/X1uuZHmEZn8/s1600-h/fury.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SJs8Jm3_bZI/AAAAAAAAAUc/X1uuZHmEZn8/s400/fury.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5231841527872843154" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Joe Wilson</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i>I'll give them a chance that they didn't give me. They will get a legal trial in a legal courtroom. They will have a legal judge and a legal defence. They will get a legal sentence and a legal death.</i><o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p><br />Innocent Joe Wilson wants to have his revenge after he has almost been killed by an angry mob.<span style=""> </span>The jury doesn’t know he’s still alive so the rioters may be sentenced to death… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">At the beginning of the movie Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) is driving across the country to meet his girlfriend Katherine Grant (Sylvia Sidney).<span style=""> </span>He is wrongly arrested as a kidnapper and held in a provincial town prison.<span style=""> </span>Word spreads around town (its inhabitants are portrayed as greedy, intolerant hypocrites) that the criminal is in jail and an angry mob tries to lynch him and burn down the building.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Lang shows the people actually enjoying violence, burning the jail… It’s the hysterical mob that has escaped control… - it’s certainly an expression of the troubled times in the thirties… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">However Joe’s girlfriend persuades him to show up in court: <o:p></o:p></span><br /><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Katherine</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: [<i>to Joe</i>] <i>If those people die, Joe Wilson dies too; you know that, don't you? Wherever you go, whatever you do.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Critics state the MGM imposed a happy ending with Joe showing up and therefore the condemned mob avoided punishment.<br />However there seems to be no mercy for the villagers the from Lang.<span style=""> </span>They don’t seem to have learned any lesson – the only relief when they see Joe alive is the relief of knowing they will not be condemned…<o:p></o:p></span></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-82916606726590179612008-07-25T09:04:00.000-07:002008-11-12T19:30:10.012-08:00House of Bamboo (Sam Fuller, 1955)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SIn6J_hUtgI/AAAAAAAAAUU/2wbudWDBnQc/s1600-h/house+of+bamboo2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SIn6J_hUtgI/AAAAAAAAAUU/2wbudWDBnQc/s400/house+of+bamboo2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226983892117140994" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Sandy Dawson</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i>Who are you working for?</i><br /><b>Eddie Kenner</b>: [pretending to be Eddie Spanier] <i>Spanier. </i><br /><b>Sandy Dawson</b>: <i>Who's Spanier?</i><br /><b>Eddie Kenner</b>: <i>Me.</i><br /><b>Sandy Dawson</b>: <i>Who else you working for?</i><br /><b>Eddie Kenner</b>: <i>Eddie.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Sergeant Kenner - posing as Eddie Kenner (Robert Stack) - tries to become a member of Sandy Dawson’s gang.<span style=""> </span>Dawson (a role played by Robert Ryan who has a strong presence in the film) is the head of a violent gang formed by expatriate war veterans. Kenner is helped by Mariko (Shirley Yamaguchi);<span style=""> </span>eventually he will win Dawson’s confidence (some critics see a hint of homosexuality in their relationship) and will try to warn the police about the gang future crimes.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">This is an unusual film noir (a loose remake of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Street with no Name</span>).<span style=""> </span>It was filmed in Technicolor and the setting was Japan.<span style=""> </span>There are stills with Mount Fuji, the Kamakura Buddha;<span style=""> </span>Tokyo is the real stage where most of the action takes place.<span style=""> </span>From our perspective the Japanese background may seem a little exotic and stereotyped but there are very beautiful stills (in fact the setting is one of the strong points of the movie) and there is also some hint of American violence towards Japanese society - the ending in the amusement park reinforces this idea.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The final climax on the bizarre park tower may have some resemblance with <i>White Heat</i>.<span style=""> </span>Some gangsters may reach to the top but they are bound to fall… </span></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-21271609584973628542008-07-17T14:31:00.000-07:002008-11-12T19:30:10.219-08:00Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SH-6k_R3HWI/AAAAAAAAAUM/euvGmsGcAhY/s1600-h/little+caesar1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SH-6k_R3HWI/AAAAAAAAAUM/euvGmsGcAhY/s400/little+caesar1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224099237397470562" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Caesar Enrico Bandello</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">:<span style=""> </span><i>Mother of Mercy! Is this the end of Rico?</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p><br />These are the famous last words spoken in this milestone of gangster movies (the seeds of film noir had been planted).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Rico or “little Caesar” (Edward G Robinson) is a small-town gangster (the opening scene with a robbery at a gas station is one of the best moments of the movie). He ambitions to become a big racketeer:<span style=""> </span></span><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">I could do all the things that fella does, and more, only I never got my chance.</span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span></span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">And when I get in a tight spot, I shoot my way out of it. Why sure. Shoot first and argue afterwards. You know, this game ain't for guys that's soft!</span></i><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">He decides to move east with his colleague Joe Massara </span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">(Douglas Fairbanks Jr).<span style=""> </span>However Joe doesn’t want to follow Rico’s footsteps the crime league and his ambition is to become a professional dancer together with his loved Olga (Glenda Farrell).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Rico will continue his rise to become a big racketeer - a memorable scene is the killing of gang member Tony on the church stairs (it reminded me of Eddie Bartlett’s death in <i>The Roaring Twenties</i>).<span style=""> </span>The will to have former colleague Joe by his side – seeking true loyalty - will lead to Rico’s downfall.<o:p></o:p></span></p> The rise and fall of Rico Bandello is narrated using the technique of early cinema (for example with the use of written “tableaux”).<span style=""> </span>There are clear references to the Italian American world (as in the 1Club Palermo). <i>Little Caesar</i> became an iconic film and E.G. Robinson would also become one of the references in gangster film and later in noir movies.Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-72290850366107783022008-07-12T04:32:00.000-07:002008-11-12T19:30:10.381-08:00I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (Mervyn LeRoy 1932)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SHiW8wMhPzI/AAAAAAAAAUE/t12ATOFoXmY/s1600-h/I+am+a+Fugitive+From.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SHiW8wMhPzI/AAAAAAAAAUE/t12ATOFoXmY/s400/I+am+a+Fugitive+From.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5222089738409819954" border="0" /></a><br /><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Helen</span></b>: <i>Jim, why haven't you come before?</i><b><br />Jim</b>: <i>I couldn't, I was afraid to.</i><b><br />Helen</b>: <i>But you could have written. It's been almost a year since you escaped.</i><b><br />Jim</b>: <i>But I haven't escaped. They're still after me. They'll always be after me. I've had jobs but I can't keep them. Something happens. Someone turns up. I hide in rooms all day and travel by night. No friends. No rest. No peace.</i><o:p></o:p><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><br />…</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><br />Helen</span></b>: <i>How do you live?</i><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><b><br />James Allen</b>: <i>I steal.</i><o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">In the famous last scene of this film James Allen (excellent acting by Paul Muni) appears from the shadows of the night to bid farewell to her lover before disappearing in the dark<span style=""> </span>The prison system hasn’t given him any chances and has broken his life and respectability.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Allen, a war veteran had refused to work in a routine factory job because he wanted something else in life: “</span><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">I don't want to be spending the rest of my life answering a factory whistle instead of a bugle call… I want to do something worthwhile</span></i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">… <i>life is more important than a medal on my chest or a stupid, insignificant job</i></span><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">”</span></i><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">His ambition was to build bridges as an engineer, however he had a difficult start and in the south he was involved in a crime.<span style=""> </span>In spite of being innocent he was sentenced to ten years of hard labour.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">After some months of harsh conditions he manages to escape with the help of some inmates and later moves to Chicago where he finds a good job and respectability.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">But Marie (Glenda Farrell) - a primitive femme fatale – blackmails him and he returns to the south to serve for some weeks to get his pardon.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">However the southern justice doesn’t keep its promise and he is confined for years in a tougher camp.<span style=""> </span>Eventually he manages to escape together with inmate Bomber (Edward Ellis) but he will be a chased character, forced to live in the shadows…<o:p></o:p></span></p> The film (based on an autobiographic novel by Robert Elliot Burns was controversial at the time of its release – especially in the Southern States - and it contributed to the abolition of forced labour in the US.<span style=""> </span>As one of the tagline of the film reads:<span style=""> </span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">"</span><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Six sticks of dynamite that blasted his way to freedom...and awoke America's conscience!</span></i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">"</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"> </span>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-42760572058019667782008-07-10T14:57:00.000-07:002008-11-12T19:30:10.655-08:00Call Northside 777 (Henry Hathaway, 1948)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SHaGMMlt3oI/AAAAAAAAAT0/MWh5rwUMqcg/s1600-h/call+northside.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SHaGMMlt3oI/AAAAAAAAAT0/MWh5rwUMqcg/s400/call+northside.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221508362078641794" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Laura McNeal</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i>What's the matter, won't the pieces fit together?</i><br /><b>P.J. McNeal</b>: <i>Some of them, but they make the wrong picture.<br /></i><b>Laura McNeal</b>: <i>Pieces never make the wrong picture. Maybe you're looking at them from the wrong angle.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><br />Reporter P.J. McNeal (James Stewart) tries to match the pieces of a crime that was committed in Chicago in 1932. An advertisement - <i>call Northside 777</i> - on the newspaper offering a reward for information on a murder had put him in contact with convicted Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte) and his mother who is working hard to get her son out of prison.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Stewart (who never looks too comfortable in his role) is impressed by the woman determination and decides to write about Wiecek case.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">As the story progresses McNeal – who was sceptical about the case - gathers evidence that Wiecek is innocent and will fight to prove his innocence.<span style=""> </span>We are told at the beginning of the movie that it is based on a true story.<span style=""> </span>In fact the documentary style is present all along the film – it was popular at that time.<span style=""> </span>Besides, <i>Call Northside 777</i> was also filmed on location (Chicago) giving an air of realism to this interesting – though in some aspects dated – movie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-17794632918975712972008-05-25T13:56:00.000-07:002008-11-12T19:30:10.781-08:00The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SDnS3PEiKtI/AAAAAAAAATs/p-78wz5NgRU/s1600-h/maltese+falcon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SDnS3PEiKtI/AAAAAAAAATs/p-78wz5NgRU/s400/maltese+falcon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204422690783505106" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Spade</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i>We didn't exactly believe your story, Miss O'Shaughnessy, we believed your 200 dollars. I mean you paid us more than if you had been telling us the truth, and enough more to make it alright.</i><o:p></o:p> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Sam Spade’s words to Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) are an example of the tone of this hard-boiled detective story.<span style=""> </span>There is an atmosphere of moral emptiness surrounding the main characters.<span style=""> </span>Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) is investigating the murder of his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) and will find himself involved in a dangerous quest for a precious ancient statue of a falcon.<span style=""> </span>Several double-faced, weird characters are after the “bird”:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Detective Tom Polhaus</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: [grabs<span style=""> </span>the falcon] <i>Heavy. What is it?</i><br /><b>Sam Spade</b>: <i>The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The artists playing the roles of the intriguing characers are big names too:<span style=""> </span>Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo, Elisha Cook Jr as Wilmer Cook or Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman.<span style=""> </span>It’s a film with great performances, witty dialogues, an iconic gem of early film noir.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The movie – based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel - would also be a turning point in Bogart’s career: he had mainly been given roles of gangster until this film.<span style=""> </span>In The Maltese Falcon he became a hard-boiled, cynical, individualistic character.<o:p></o:p><br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <b>Sam Spade: </b><i>I hope they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck. Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means if you're a good girl, you'll be out in 20 years. I'll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I'll always remember you.</i>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-63111319093361323632008-05-10T15:07:00.001-07:002008-11-12T19:30:10.850-08:00Force of evil (Abraham Polonsky, 1948)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SCYc0vQsIDI/AAAAAAAAATk/R-T4IkiLPiI/s1600-h/force+of+evil.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SCYc0vQsIDI/AAAAAAAAATk/R-T4IkiLPiI/s400/force+of+evil.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198874512211058738" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Joe Morse</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: “<i>I found my brother's body at the bottom there, where they had thrown it away on the rocks... by the river... like an old dirty rag nobody wants.<span style=""> </span>He was dead - and I felt I had killed him.”</i><o:p></o:p><br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Joe Morse (John Garfield) descent to reality – to find his brother dead on the rocks under Manhattan Bridge – makes him aware of a bleak world.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Force of Evil – narrated in a documentary style - is a noir film with a social background and a dark view of capitalism and democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Joe Morse is a successful lawyer for a big lottery racket – Tucker enterprises – which manipulates the lottery results for their own benefit. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Joe Morse</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: “…<i>the enterprise was slightly illegal. You see I was the lawyer for the numbers racket”.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">His brother Leo (Thomas Gomez) owns a small lottery company which will be destroyed (along with many other small companies) by the racketeers.<span style=""> </span>It’s part of a plan to make Tucker’s gambling businesses legal.<span style=""> </span>Symbolically enough the date chosen to perform this deed is 4<sup>th</sup> of July – Independence day – using lottery number 776 (from 1776, when the US declared their own independence).<span style=""> </span>Joe tries to convince his brother to close the business at least for one day – and thus avoid bankruptcy but Leo doesn’t want to let his costumers down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The two brothers are at different ends of a corrupt system, though they have different views: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Leo Morse</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i>The money I made in this rotten business is no good for me, Joe. I don't want it back. And Tucker's money is no good either.</i><br /><b>Joe Morse</b>: <i>The money has no moral opinions.</i><br /><b>Leo Morse</b>: <i>I find I have, Joe. I find I have</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> Force of Evil was the only film directed by Polonsky before being blacklisted (both Polonsky and Garfield were later accused for their political views)Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-21176666453719983322008-04-27T12:49:00.000-07:002008-11-12T19:30:11.014-08:00Scarface (Howard Hawks 1932)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SBTZFisyShI/AAAAAAAAATc/JLFbEJyAEVI/s1600-h/scarface.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SBTZFisyShI/AAAAAAAAATc/JLFbEJyAEVI/s400/scarface.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194014959502248466" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">'Johnny' Lovo</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i>Hey, stop him somebody!</i><br /><b>Tony Camonte</b>: <i>Get out of my way Johnny, I'm gonna spit!</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Violence is a ever-present element in this Hawks masterpiece.<span style=""> </span>The film, made in the early thirties, is a gangster movie with some noir elements:<span style=""> </span>Though most critics agree that “true” noir starts in the early forties the treatment of light and shadow is very special in some of the scenes.<span style=""> </span><i>Scarface</i> would provide the tone for many movies made later.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">This portrait of the gangster Tony Camonte (Paul Muni) had some problems with the censorship – it was accused of glorifying gangsters;<span style=""> </span>a long disclaimer had to be added at the beginning of the movie: <i>…the purpose of this picture is to demand of the government: 'What are you going to do about it?' The government is your government. What are YOU going to do about it?</i>.<span style=""> </span>Besides the subtitle “<i>Shame of a Nation</i>” was also added to the original title.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Camonte is portrayed as a ruthless gangster who stops at nothing to reach his goals:<span style=""> </span>bootlegging, murders (“x” marks the spot in some memorable cuts – as in the bowling scene).<span style=""> </span>As Tony says: “</span><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Listen, l'il Boy, in this business there's only one law you gotta follow to keep out of trouble. (He pats his gun in his coat pocket and cocks his thumb and finger - and fires.) Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doin' it.”</span></i><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Therefore the film has a grim, raw mood with only some funny moments with Camonte’s secretary Angelo (Vince Barnett).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Camonte’s story is one of a rise and fall; Tony’s insane jealousy of his sister Francesca (Ann Dvorak) – there is a Borgia quality in the treatment of these two characters - will lead him to his own destruction.<span style=""> </span>After killing his sister’s husband, Guino Rinaldo (George Raft), he is surrounded by the police and finally killed under the sign:<span style=""> </span><i>The World is Yours</i> – something which reminds of Cody Jarrett’s (James Cagney) final words: “<i>top of the world</i>” in White Heat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-28841709675375572862008-04-20T13:10:00.001-07:002008-11-12T19:30:11.157-08:00Human Desire (Fritz Lang, 1954)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SAujbWgC6lI/AAAAAAAAATU/Cen7We3q_GU/s1600-h/human+desire.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/SAujbWgC6lI/AAAAAAAAATU/Cen7We3q_GU/s400/human+desire.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191422685766412882" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Viki Buckley</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">:<span style=""> </span>“<i>When I first came to live here I thought I’d never get used to the trains…”</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The sound of passing trains, a maze of railroad tracks (entwining, separating… just like people’s lives),<span style=""> </span>steam coming out from engines.. (the heat of desire…) are always present in this bleak movie.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The cold, gloomy railway stations are the setting for this destructive love story.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Human desire - a melodrama with noir aesthetics and pessimism - is based on a novel by Émile Zola which had already been made into a film by Jean Renoir.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Viki (Gloria Grahame) is a femme fatale who drags Corea war veteran Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford) to a passionate love affair.<span style=""> </span>She plans the murder of her violent jealous husband Carl (Broderick Crawford) – a fact that may remind us of Double Indemnity. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">In this movie Columbia was taking advantage of the success of the couple Ford-Grahame in “The Big Heat” (also directed by Lang); the chemistry between the two stars is still there but not as thrilling as it was in the former film.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> All in all Human desire is a good Lang film in a period when the German director made a series of remarkable films.Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-72577705305698117592008-03-29T12:50:00.000-07:002008-11-12T19:30:11.415-08:00Brute Force (Jules Dassin, 1947)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/R-6eMNfew5I/AAAAAAAAATM/h8wTjaiDEnI/s1600-h/brute+force2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/R-6eMNfew5I/AAAAAAAAATM/h8wTjaiDEnI/s400/brute+force2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183254153767338898" border="0" /></a><br /> <b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Dr. Walters</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">::<span style=""> </span><i>What makes you drunk? Power?</i><o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">A world of brute force is portrayed in this violent film.<span style=""> </span>Westgate prison and the will to escape of prisoners Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) and Gallagher (Charles Bickford) are a metaphor of society – we should remember the social commitment of director Jules Dassin.<span style=""> </span>In fact the prisoners are portrayed as victims of an oppressive system (a few of them are there for romantic reasons) that won’t give them any chance.<span style=""> </span>As Gallagher states:<span style=""> </span><i>Those gates only open three times. When you come in, when you've served your time, or when you're dead!</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">On the other hand nazi-like prison guard Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn) is a portrait of fascist ambition for power and rebellion against him and the system seems the only way to escape from that nightmare.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Gallagher</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i>That's cemetery talk.</i><br /><b>Joe Collins</b>: <i>Why not, we're buried, ain't we? Only thing is, we ain't dead.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The apocalyptic final attack against Munsey and the tower is a symbol of rebellion against a rotten form of power (a few of the artists who participated in this film would become later victims of the McCarthy campaign).<span style=""> </span>Captain Munsey will be killed (as Dr Walters had told him: <i>Force does make leaders. But you forget one thing: it also destroys them</i>) but the system will remain…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The prisoners remembering their past lives (with a series of flashbacks) was the only way to escape from that world.<span style=""> </span>But in fact they were all doomed… <o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Dr. Walters:</span> <i>Nobody escapes. Nobody ever really escapes</i>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-33830103061514674832008-03-16T15:50:00.000-07:002008-11-12T19:30:11.561-08:00Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak, 1949)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/R92kkXWE3MI/AAAAAAAAARc/NCs2GKmegHw/s1600-h/criss-cross.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/R92kkXWE3MI/AAAAAAAAARc/NCs2GKmegHw/s400/criss-cross.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178476091194793154" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Steve Thompson</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB">: <i>She's all right, she's just young.</i><br /><b>Mrs. Thompson</b>: (about Anna) <i>Huh! Some ways, she knows more than Einstein.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) comes back to LA.<span style=""> </span>He had left some months ago after divorcing Anna (Yvonne de Carlo).<span style=""> </span>She is now involved with the gambler and gangster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Steve, who has got back to his job as an armoured-car payroll guard, is still in love with Anna and realises that he can get her away from Slim if he manages to make a lot of money from a bank robbery.<span style=""> </span>So taking advantage of his job he plans a hold-up together with Slim only to betray him later.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">In “<a href="http://classicnoirmovies.blogspot.com/2008/03/killers-robert-siodmak-1946.html">The Killers</a>” - also directed by Robert Siodmak - Burt Lancaster is hopelessly waiting for some gangsters who will come and kill him.<span style=""> </span>The scene is somehow repeated in Criss Cross.<span style=""> </span>In the robbery, Steve (Burt Lancaster) tries to double-cross Slim to get away with Anna afterwards.<span style=""> </span>However his obsession with this femme fatale will lead to his own destruction.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">He is wounded in the heist and Slim gets to know about his plans and sooner or later he will get the couple.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> The robbery sequences, the scenes at the hospital and the final ones (shot with a powerful use of dark and light) are film noir at its best – with a sense of tragedy in the final embrace of the two lovers.Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-27737330914714706042008-03-15T23:50:00.000-07:002008-11-12T19:30:11.672-08:00Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/R92yi3WE3NI/AAAAAAAAARk/jeQaRTijVpY/s1600-h/Double-Indemnity.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/R92yi3WE3NI/AAAAAAAAARk/jeQaRTijVpY/s400/Double-Indemnity.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178491458587778258" border="0" /></a><br /><p><strong><span style="">Walter Neff</span></strong><span style="">:<span style=""> </span><em>Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money - and a woman - and I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it?</em></span></p> <p><span style=""> </span></p> <p><span style="">Walter Neff<span style=""> </span>(Fred McMurray)</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><em><span style="">"insurance salesman, 35 years old, unmarried, no visible scars… until a while ago, that is</span></em>"<span style=""> confesses his crime.</span></p> <p><span style="">In a flashback – the plot is told </span><span style="">in voice-over</span> -<span style=""> we are shown his meeting with Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck).<span style=""> </span>Fred feels an irresistible sexual attraction for her, for her blond hair (Stanwyck was actually wearing an ordinary wig), for her </span><gold ankle=""><span style="">. </span></gold></p> <p><strong><span style="">Phyllis</span></strong><span style="">: <em>There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour.</em><br /><strong>Walter Neff</strong>: <em>How fast was I going, officer?</em><br /><strong>Phyllis</strong>: <em>I'd say around ninety.</em></span></p> <p><span style="">So he is seduced by her and he gets into a murder trap: <em>How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?</em></span></p> <p><span style="">Phyllis wants to get rid of her husband and earn a lot of money.<span style=""> </span>Walter has been in the business for eleven years so he knows all about life insurances and about the usual mistakes people make.<span style=""> </span>So they plan to get Pyhllis’ husband killed on a train accident which would entitle them to double indemnity.</span></p> <p><strong><span style="">Phyllis</span></strong><span style="">: <em>We're both rotten.</em><br /><strong>Walter Neff</strong>: <em>Only you're a little more rotten.</em></span></p> <p><span style="">Walter’s office colleague and friend, Barton Keyes (E.G. Robinson) is an expert claim manager.<span style=""> </span>Although he has a big intuition – his “little man” he calls it – to discover false plots, he is unable to find the truth about this case.</span></p> <p><span style=""> Double Indemnity is one of the greatest film noir of all time.<span style=""> </span>It is based on a novel by James M. Cain the screenplay was written by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. The movie has witty dialogues, great performances and a special use of light and dark scenes by John F. Seitz.<span style=""> </span>A masterpiece…</span></p>Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322218411240663135.post-69437326308259911212008-03-15T04:31:00.001-07:002008-11-12T19:30:11.852-08:00Laura (Otto Preminger 1944)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/R9uzunWE3LI/AAAAAAAAARU/6iHUQbhmkWM/s1600-h/laura.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4GQK-ZNTc2Y/R9uzunWE3LI/AAAAAAAAARU/6iHUQbhmkWM/s400/laura.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177929810009447602" border="0" /></a><br /><p><strong><span style="">Waldo Lydecker</span></strong><span style="">: <em>I shall never forget the weekend Laura died. A silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. It was the hottest Sunday in my recollection. I felt as if I were the only human being left in New York.</em><br /><br /> </span></p> <p><span style="">The narration of egocentric columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) introduces us to the memory of Laura (Gene Tierney) – an elegant publicist who has been killed recently.</span></p> <p><span style="">Lieutenant Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is in charge of the investigation of her murder.<span style=""> </span>Following his investigations the story is narrated in flashback.<span style=""> </span>Laura may be dead but her spell is still haunting and fascinating us – and McPherson too - through a melody, a portrait, her friends’ descriptions…</span></p> The dream-like almost ethereal presence of Laura Hunt sets the tone for what is maybe the most elegant noir film ever made.<span style=""> </span>The atmospheric David Raskin theme, the soft black and white colour, all can give an impression that we are in Mark McPherson’s dream:<em> </em><br /><br /> <strong><em><span style=""></span></em></strong><strong><em><span style="">Laura</span></em></strong><em><span style="">: What are you doing here?</span></em><span style=""></span><strong><span style=""><br /> McPherson</span></strong><span style="">: <em>You're alive.</em></span><strong><span style=""><br /> Laura</span></strong><span style="">: <em>If you don't get out at once, I'm going to call the police.</em></span><strong><span style=""><br /> McPherson</span></strong><span style="">: <em>You are Laura Hunt, aren't you? Aren't you?</em></span><strong><span style=""><br /> Laura</span></strong><span style="">: <em>I'm going to call the police</em>.</span><strong><span style=""><br /> McPherson</span></strong>: I am the police. <span style=""><em></em></span> In fact some critics argue that the second part of the film – after Laura’s arrives while McPherson is sleeping could be his own dream…<br /> This thrilling whodunit movie is also a remarkable character study:<span style=""> </span>Together with Laura and McPherson the caustic, self-centred Lydecker<span style=""> </span>(<em>In my case, self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention</em>) , the broke playboy Shelby (a young Vincent Price), the jealous mature Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson) set an elegant puzzle of characters not to be forgotten.Classic Noir Movieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07720319190132827751noreply@blogger.com2