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Post by snsurone on Sept 10, 2018 22:17:40 GMT
I saw this excellent film noir in its entirety today.
It was great--fast-paced with not a dull moment.
The only thing I hated was the "wolf-whistle" curlicue as Frank Bigelow ogled the women in the hotel.
Y'know, I can't understand why Edmond O'Brien never became an A-list star of the likes of Bogie, Gable, Tracy, Cooper, etc.
He was a terrific actor and even won an Oscar.
But it seemed that he was mostly relegated to supporting roles in films.
D.O.A. may have been his only starring role.
Later in his career, he turned to television, starring in a short-lived lawyer series called SAM BENEDICT.
P.S. I apologize if this movie has been discussed on another thread.
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Post by mattgarth on Sept 10, 2018 22:49:33 GMT
One of my favorite films made in the Noir era.
O'Brien is terrific as the genial, slightly overweight CPA who turns into the ultimate cynical, vengeful, driven, doomed Noir protagonist.
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Post by vegalyra on Sept 10, 2018 23:01:13 GMT
Great film, I've always enjoyed this much better than the remake (although it was pretty decent too). O' Brien was in some films that are mostly forgotten now, he was the leading man in Silver City and Denver & Rio Grande which are both really fun color Westerns. Denver & Rio Grande even includes a huge train vs. train collision that had to be filmed correctly on the first take. No CGI back then!!!!
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Post by movielover on Sept 10, 2018 23:05:36 GMT
I really enjoyed D.O.A. as well. I was surprised how suspenseful it was for such an old movie.
As for the "wolf whistle" sounds, that was hilariously out of place and dated. What confused me was, were the wolf whistles supposed to be coming from a person in the hotel? or was it just dubbed in like a "womp-whaa" kind of moment.
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Post by snsurone on Sept 10, 2018 23:59:52 GMT
I really enjoyed D.O.A. as well. I was surprised how suspenseful it was for such an old movie. As for the "wolf whistle", that was hilariously out of place and dated. What confused me was, were the wolf whistles supposed to be coming from a person in the hotel? or was it just dubbed in like a "womp-whaa" kind of moment. Not only are they dated, but today they would be considered sexist! And I can't understand why Bigelow would not tell Paula what was happening with him. Was he trying to "protect" her? Or did he believe she'd go all "drama queen"? She didn't seem to be that type at all. There seemed to be a total lack of trust and communication in that relationship. I hope Paula later met a man who would treat her as an adult. |
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Post by fangirl1975 on Sept 11, 2018 0:31:21 GMT
D.O.A is the greatest film noir I've ever seen along with Double Indemnity.
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Post by them1ghtyhumph on Sept 11, 2018 3:12:50 GMT
D.O.A. was a very special movie to me when I was a kid.
Really enjoyed O'Brien in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was really skinny
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 11, 2018 5:56:37 GMT
" Relegated to supporting roles "  Oscar-winner Edmond O'Brien was one of the most-respected character actors in American cinema, from his heyday of the mid-1940s through the late 1960s. Born on September 10, 1915, in the New York City borough of The Bronx, O'Brien learned the craft of performance as a magician, reportedly tutored by neighbor Harry Houdini. He took part in student theatrics in high school and majored in drama at Columbia University. He made his Broadway debut at the age of 21 in 1936 and, later that year, played "The Gravedigger" in the great Shakespearean actor John Gielgud's legendary production of "Hamlet". Four years later, he would play "Mercutio" to the "Romeo" of another legendary Shakespearean, Laurence Olivier, in Olivier's 1940 Broadway production of "Romeo & Juliet". Although it has been stated that he made his debut as an uncredited extra in the 1938 film, Prison Break (1938), the truth is that his stage work impressed RKO boss Pandro S. Berman, who brought him to Hollywood to appear in the plum supporting part of "Gringoire" in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), which starred Charles Laughton in the title role. After returning from his wartime service with the Army Air Force, O'Brien built up a distinguished career as a supporting actor in A-list films, and as an occasional character lead, such as in D.O.A. (1949). O'Brien won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and also received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role as a drunken senator who ferrets out an attempted coup d'etat in Seven Days in May (1964). He also appeared as crusty old-timer "Freddy Sykes", who antagonizes Ben Johnson's character "Tector Gorch" in director Sam Peckinpah's classic Western, The Wild Bunch (1969) |
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Post by teleadm on Sept 11, 2018 17:10:52 GMT
D.O.A. 1949, is a great movie as I remember it, but it was rather long ago. Never seen the remake. The storyline was also used in an episode of Jake and the Fatman TV-Series, where David Paymer played the poisoned character. 
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Post by mattgarth on Sept 11, 2018 18:23:19 GMT
Visited the Bradbury Building in downtown LA several years ago. It first made an appearance in D.O.A., showing up later in BLADE RUNNER and WOLF, among others.
In the 1953 version of I THE JURY, Biff Elliott as 'Mike Hammer' has a terrific fistfight on its staircase.
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Post by mikef6 on Sept 11, 2018 19:06:27 GMT
BATouttaheck D.O.A. is a great film, more than great film noir. O’Brien also appeared in the 1953 film of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Although MGM used their contract players to fill out most of the cast, the attention at the time was all on Marlon Brando in just his fourth movie. Can he act Shakespeare or only modern drama? Can The Method be used in classical plays? (The answers were a big YES and YES.) Edmond O’Brien was one of many standouts among the American actors as Casca, one of the conspirators and first to stab Caesar. “See what a rent the envious Casca made” says Marc Antony in his famous speech. And thank you for mentioning Seven Days In May and The Wild Bunch. I was getting ready to do it if nobody else was. I have said many times, mostly on the old boards, about how important D.O.A. and Edmond O’Brien was to making me a Movie Maniac – so here it is again. In the Bad Old Days of the early 1950s, TV stations would “sign off” around midnight. Often, the last program they would play after the late news was a movie. Even though I was in about the first-grade of school, my Dad would occasionally let me sit up with him to watch the Late Show. The experience with D.O.A. is still a very vivid in my memory after all these years. It kept a very young me spellbound and taught me at a very early age how films can effect a person. I often think that I still watch movies because I am trying to recapture that magic. I had the pleasure of showing it to my two smart-aleck sons when they were high schoolers. I sat them down and told them they couldn’t leave so they started laughing derisively at everything, especially that wolf whistle. But when the mysterious figure fiddles with Bigalow’s drink in the night club, he goes to a doctor and runs away in panic, then another doctor turns out the lights and shows him a glowing test tube…the laughter had stopped. They sat silent as the story spiraled out of control, turning back on itself. Seeing the effect it had, I was awfully smug by the time the movie ended. In addition to the 1988 remake with Dennis Quaid – which rewrote the plot and cheated on the ending (Quaid is still presumably to die but is last seen walking into the night.) There was also a 1969 remake starring Tom Tryon called “Color Me Dead.” 
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Post by mikef6 on Sept 11, 2018 19:08:15 GMT
D.O.A. was a very special movie to me when I was a kid. Really enjoyed O'Brien in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was really skinny To me, too. See my reply to BAToutaheck just a minute or two ago. |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 11, 2018 19:17:01 GMT
mikef6 I've always enjoyed the performances of O'Brien and remember seeing him in Julius Ceasar which was my first introduction to both Bill S and Marlon B.
That story of your boys with DOA is a keeper .. thanks for sharing it.
I don't quite understand the OPs viewpoint that actors are "relegated" to supporting and character roles... there's just so many "leads" that a film can have and an actor can really shine and perhaps even steal a movie from the "lead" and become known as a great actor with nary a lead to his name! (or maybe a couple … but if they are in a B movie, that might not count with some  …. will  now
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Post by biker1 on Sept 11, 2018 19:19:28 GMT
Watch it every year..just gets better and better. It seems to have become a 1949 movie. I always thought it was a memorable addition to the mighty year of 1950. Love the Jive club scene... and psycho villain, Neville Brand is hilariously maniacal as Chester! 9/10
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Post by mikef6 on Sept 11, 2018 19:24:04 GMT
Credit also to Oscar winning cinematographer Ernest Laszlo who also photographed Inherit The Wind, Judgment At Nuremberg, Kiss Me Deadly, and many many more and to director Rudolph Maté who has more cinematographer than directing credits. Among Maté’s achievements as director of photography are Gilda, That Hamilton Woman, and Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent. Rudolph Maté   |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 11, 2018 19:28:46 GMT
mikef6 ^^^^^ more un-sung heroes of filmdom ! We tend to love their work without knowing their names !  and a thanks to them !
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Sept 11, 2018 19:42:42 GMT
Edmond O'Brien was a wonderful actor. In addition to all the films already mentioned, he was also the leading man in "Warpath". A sprawling technicolor western from 1951.
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Post by mattgarth on Sept 11, 2018 19:50:33 GMT
Also adding Dimitri Tiomkin's musical score.
Pamela Britton's secretary role is a bit too cloying -- though she does get off one zinger about Bigelow's recent travels when she refers to him as 'Sinbad.'
O'Brien did a couple of other Noirs of note about that time -- going over to the dark side as leading man villains in 711 OCEAN DRIVE and SHIELD FOR MURDER.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 11, 2018 20:15:43 GMT
I was just coming to post about Shield for Murder , mattgarth you won the race this time  Co- Directed by O'Brien. Here with Carolyn Jones in her blonde mode. 
It brings back memories because I posted quite a few of the images on the IMDb page and they kept refusing some of them and I had to send "better copies" .. which were actually the same ones that someone finally accepted. Really a pretty good film ! |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 11, 2018 20:17:46 GMT
Edmund O'Brien born September 10, 1915 ! A Happy (slightly) Belated Birthday to a Fine actor !  |
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…. 
now
