Post by london777 on May 17, 2020 15:49:29 GMT
Last night watched a movie I had never heard of: Mr. Soft Touch (1949) dir: Gordon Douglas & Henry Levin. It was in a genre I normally despise, comedy/thriller (except of course unless the comedy is black comedy). Worse, it was infested with "cute" kids. But I found it very watchable and that was down to Glenn Ford. He really is relaxing to watch.
The tone of the move was odd. Mostly the usual Hollywood saccharin but there were a few very dark notes not normally encountered in such fare. We were told that the hero's best friend had been fed through a rock-grinder and now formed part of the freeway foundations. Evelyn Keyes, the leading lady, was hit on the head by her father as a child and now has to wear a hearing aid (and they were not inconspicuous in those days). While at the very end, when Ford has almost evaded the pursuing assassins by slipping past them dressed as Santa Claus, his girlfriend calls after him by name causing him to be shot three times at short range. A real Film Noir twist.
Funny how film posters were designed to mislead. This one suggests a hard-boiled thriller rather than a (mostly) romantic/comedy. And Evelyn Keyes never appears like that. She is prim, proper, and morally and physically upright throughout.
The tone of the move was odd. Mostly the usual Hollywood saccharin but there were a few very dark notes not normally encountered in such fare. We were told that the hero's best friend had been fed through a rock-grinder and now formed part of the freeway foundations. Evelyn Keyes, the leading lady, was hit on the head by her father as a child and now has to wear a hearing aid (and they were not inconspicuous in those days). While at the very end, when Ford has almost evaded the pursuing assassins by slipping past them dressed as Santa Claus, his girlfriend calls after him by name causing him to be shot three times at short range. A real Film Noir twist.
Funny how film posters were designed to mislead. This one suggests a hard-boiled thriller rather than a (mostly) romantic/comedy. And Evelyn Keyes never appears like that. She is prim, proper, and morally and physically upright throughout.