I thought it was time to watch some film noir again so I watched “D.O.A” last night.
Edmond O’Brien is a small town clerk who visits San Francisco. While in a bar talking to an attractive woman someone next to him puts something into his drink. Later that day he feels ill and consults a doctor who takes some blood samples. He is told that he has been given a luminous toxin and that he has only days left to live. The rest of the film sees him in a desperate hunt to find the man “who killed him”.
I just watched ”Detour” from director Edgar G. Ulmer. Tom Neal stars as a low life piano player hitch-hiking across the USA. He is given a lift by a fellow named Charles Haskell who seems to have some serious health problems. Neal takes over the driving so Haskell can get a nap, only problem is that he never wakes up again. Neal is now in jeopardy should he tell the police about it or should he dump the body? He decides on the latter. He steals the car, Haskell’s money and his identity papers and decides to use Haskell’s identity. At a gas station he picks up a femme fatale who as it turns out knew Haskell and therefore knows that Neal has stolen Haskell’s Car, money and Identity. On top of that she now wants to use Neal to get her hands on money Haskell was to inherit from his dad.
actors who portrayed Philip Marlowe, from my fave to least-fave;
Humphrey Bogart
Dick Powell
Powers Boothe
Robert Montgomery
Robert Mitchum
George Montgomery
Elliot Gould
James Garner
I haven’t seen Poodle Springs, with James Caan. -Ans I feel compelled to award John Payne as the best Marlowe-esque actor, who never actually played Marlowe.
[quote=“kit saginaw, post:545, topic:1786”]Director, Chuck Laughton, was a genius cinematographer. I wonder why he preferred acting to directing through-out his career?[/quote]It was Stanley Cortez, not Laughton, who was responsible for the films look. Of course it was Laughton’s idea to give the film a silent film/expressionist look. But Cortez shot it.
An actor of Laughton’s calibre, I figured that shots were ‘agreed upon’ by committee. For example; the kids-looking-up-at-Mitchum, the camera ‘looks’ upward… then downward, when Mitchum addresses the kids, etc., reinforcing submission and dominance. In lesser films, closeups of kids-and-adults-talking usually have the camera on a lateral plane. Adults addressing adults, the head-level lateral-shot works the way it should. I’m pretty sure Laughton had the final-say.
Robert Mitchum stars in this very good Noir which touches upon Antisemitism in a very slick way. Cover it up just enough to call it a crime drama. Based on a book about a homophobic attack in the armed services, producers toned it down a bit to touch on a more socially conscious issue.
Robert Mitchum stars in this very good Noir which touches upon Antisemitism in a very slick way. Cover it up just enough to call it a crime drama. Based on a book about a homophobic attack in the armed services, producers toned it down a bit to touch on a more socially conscious issue.[/quote]
I haven’t seen that yet, but Ed Dmytryk is one of my fave directors. I watched Mirage and Cornered not too long-ago… superb noir pieces as-well.
Detour (1945), directed by Egar G. Ulmer, could just as well be called “Fate” due to the film’s preoccupation with it and the way it throws up every conceivable misfortune at Al (Tom Neal), a man hitch-hiking from New York to Los Angeles to see his girlfriend in L.A.; while taking a ride with Charles Haskell Jr (Edmund MacDonald), Haskell, obviously with some type of ailment, fulls asleep during a rainstorm. When Al tries to wake him, he falls out of the car, dead. Panicking, Al takes Haskell’s money, car and ID. The voice-over, spoken by him, says he didn’t kill him, but is this a case of unreliable subjectivity? While driving, Al picks up super-slut and femme fatale Vera (Ann Savage), who knew the real Haskell and blackmails Al into giving her all his money and using him as her will dictates.
Made by cult director Edgar G. Ulmer during his time in the Z-trenches, this potent film noir was either made in six or twenty-four days and cost from $20,000 to $100,000, all depending which source you go by. Either way, it’s a Poverty Row quickie, probably the best film to come out of the Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), with leads you’ve never heard of before and never will again (Tom Neal was convicted of manslaughter, and served four years in jail). But out of straw, Ulmer weaves gold, and with the aid of some suitably dark and murky photography, courtesy of Benjamin H. Kline, he concocts a brooding, fatalistic tale of a man utterly beaten by bad luck, whose every move is counteracted by fate. The very well written narration spells it all at the end as Al bleakly walks off into to the night. The direction is faultless, and the sheer cheapness and seediness make this an overpowering film noir.
Robert Mitchum stars in this very good Noir which touches upon Antisemitism in a very slick way. Cover it up just enough to call it a crime drama. Based on a book about a homophobic attack in the armed services, producers toned it down a bit to touch on a more socially conscious issue.[/quote]
Just saw it a few hours ago. Yep, very good. Robert Young was excellent. Smoking a pipe, he seemed like an entirely different actor. Mitchum and Ryan are always utterly professional.
Watched both Night of the Hunter and The Long Night. Night of the Hunter was great. Seemed ahead of its time with the cinematography and Robert Mitchum was awesome. I really wanted to like The Long Night. I’m a huge Vincent Price fan (and who doesn’t like Henry Fonda) It looked good but I found the girl annoying and there werent really any twists. I think its safe to say not one of the top Noirs… Tonight going to see a double feature: Cry Tough and Down Three Dark Streets…Supposedly hard to find/not on DVD. Looking forward to seeing those
So I just got back from seeing Cry Tough. A newly restored 35mm print AND John Saxon was there! Sure made my weekend I couldn’t stay for Down Three Dark Streets though…
The Rhonda Fleming/Arlene Dahl combo, in Slightly Scarlet, is sensational. And John Payne was never better… as Ben Grace. -A poilitcal-gadfly, or ‘fixer’. Dahl and Fleming play ‘badgirl’ sisters, though Fleming is the ‘not too bad’ one. It’s all about taking-over a city. The sexual-undercurrent is stunning for a 1956 crime-thriller… Flaming-red hair highlights every Fleming/Dahl-scene. The illusion of deep-shadows prevents the film from being non-noirish, or splashy. Everything about this film ‘works’. Maximum re-watchability…
Great NYC Noir which shows the meticulous side of police work. Gritty yet lighthearted at times. No sets on this one, filmed entirely in New York. The city is essentially a character in the film. This movie is more than just a crime drama. It captures city life in the 40’s brilliantly. Highly recommended!
