What classics did you see last week ? (9Feb - 15 Feb 2020)

hitchcockthelegend

Deadline At Dawn

Susan Hayward is very good and very lovely.

Backfire

First picture. Ed Begley tells the other cop, “Don’t shoot. You might hit a taxpayer.”

I like the suit and glasses look on Dane Clark.

Although Gordon McRae is the main character, he is fourth billed in the title cards behind Clark, Virginia Mayo, and Viveca Lindfors.

The movie was filmed in 1948. That date can be seen on the copyright notice during the credits. It was not released until 1950.

The Phenix City Story

The violence shocked me, esp. the shot of the murdered child with dead eyes open. That probably wouldn’t have been surprising in any movie made since about 1970, but turning up this early it brought me up in my seat.

If I remember my reading about “Phenix” the introductory documentary short was cut when first released in 1955 but had been put back during the film’s restoration.

Saw Straw Dogs at its first release in 1971. The controversy and commentary was fierce. Pauline Kael called it, “The first fascist masterpiece.”

I don’t think I have ever seen Ulzana’s Raid (which I may have to remedy soon) but I am fond of another gritty Lancaster western from the previous year, “Valdez Is Coming.”