What classics did you see last week ? (30 Dec - 5 Jan 2019)
Jan 8, 2019 6:04:45 GMT
mikef6 likes this
Post by hitchcockthelegend on Jan 8, 2019 6:04:45 GMT
Crack-Up / Irving Reis (1946). RKO. Even though this picture has a happy ending, it is otherwise about as noir as you can get. George Steele (Pat O’Brien) is a curator of art and a popular lecturer on that subject (an unusual profession for a noir hero). One afternoon his job is threatened because his lectures are bringing just everybody into the museum, not just the elite. That night he gets a phone call that his mother is ill in a nearby town so he takes a late train which is involved in a crash with another train. The train trip and crash sequence is a marvel of directing, editing, and cinematography. When he wakes up back at the museum, his story doesn’t check out. There has been no train wreck. If that doesn’t draw you into the story, nothing will. Great supporting cast of Claire Trevor (Steele’s girlfriend who appears suspicious) and Herbert Marshall (a new guy who keeps showing up and getting attention from Trevor). In smaller parts, the always scene stealing Wallace Ford is a police lieutenant and Ray Collins (Citizen Kane, Lt Tragg on the old Perry Mason series) is a doctor who treats Steele. Highly recommended.
Behind Green Lights / Otto Brower (1946). 20th Century Fox. This film doesn’t have many noir credentials but is a fun crime film, nonetheless. A driverless car rolls downhill on a city street until it stops by banging into the police station. A dead body is inside. Lt. Sam Carson (William Gargano) is on night duty so is in charge of the investigation. He faces a lot of political pressure. There is a local election coming but the main suspect, Janet Bradley (Carole Landis), is the daughter of the candidate thought to be in the lead. Advocates for one side want Carson to delay until after the vote is in but the other side wants Janet booked immediately. The murder victim was a blackmailer who seemed to have something on every. Carson needs to clear the case that night. There is more than a little humor in the proceedings. Richard Crane (prolific ‘50s TV actor) plays a police reporter on his first day on the job. John Ireland is Carson’s number one at the station. The talented and lovely Carole Landis spent the bulk of her movie career in “B” pictures. Just a little over two years after the release of “Behind Green Lights,” she died of a deliberate overdose at age 29.
Carol Landis in Behind Green Lights
White Heat / Raoul Walsh (1949). Warner Bros. Maybe I should have waited to see this on Mother’s Day. In one of the most ferocious and graphically violent films under the Production Code, we see Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) who is a psycho gangster not above shooting down innocent bystanders who hear his name mentioned. He rules his henchmen with the always looming threat of a beating or being killed. They are loyal to him but also scared out of their minds of him. The only person who can control him is his mother, Ma Jarrett (Margaret Wycherly). She is the only one he turns to for advice (which he always takes) and when he has one of his debilitating headaches, she embraces him like an infant and rubs the back of his neck until it passes. Wycherly is great. There is a terrific scene when Ma Jarrett, even meaner and wilier than her son, realizes she is being trailed by coppers in multiple cars. Cody’s bored wife Verna (Virginia Mayo) seeks to leave him any way she can and be safe. Meanwhile, a federal officer (Edmund O’Brien) has gone into deep undercover to infiltrate Cody’s gang. Cagney is a homicidal lunatic as scary as any you have seen, even in modern movies. So many great set-pieces, the best may be the prison mess hall when Cody gets some bad news. Explosive ending and imminently quotable final line. A classic of noir and a classic transcending genre. Not to be missed.
Ma Jarrett shaking the coppers on her tail
The Lone Ranger. S.2 Ep. 3. September 28, 1950. “Dead Man’s Chest” When Clayton Moore died in 1999 at age 85, one commentator wrote that The Lone Ranger didn’t just restore justice, he restored innocence. He restored faith in justice. “Dead Man’s Chest” is one of many examples of this throughout the run of the show. An evil gang of robbers is rounded up, the value of reading is reinforced, and at the end The Lone Ranger and Tonto slip away when no one is looking or as one wise (fictional) character has said, “Virtue is not virtue unless it is without hope, without witness, without reward.” It is generally true with just a few exceptions that the words “The Lone Ranger” are only spoken once during course of each show as the last line of dialog. As in this story, when the sheriff and newspaper publisher realize the duo have gone, one says, “I think I know who he is.” The sheriff says, “I know, too. The Indian told me. He’s THE LONE RANGER!” Cut to the Ranger and Tonto riding fast into the distance, then to the “HiYo Silver, Away!” and then to the triumphant theme music from Rossini. For people of a certain age, this is goose-pimply stuff. Familiar western face Myron Healy plays one of the head criminal’s henchmen. Healy appeared as a Bad Guy in seven episodes of The Lone Ranger over the course of its run.
Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels in “Dead Man’s Chest”
Myron Healy
Myron Healy
Talk About A Stranger / David Bradley (1952). MGM. Family, coming-of-age drama shot in film noir style. Set in the orange groves of sunny California, young Robert (Billy Gray) really really wants a dog. He takes a stray home but in a few days the dog is found poisoned outside the house of a new arrival, a man who is extremely anti-social and rude. Robert is convinced the man has killed his dog. When the adults in his life seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it, Robert takes matters into his own hands. As the boy goes into revenge mode, the more we see noir elements in the cinematography: night scenes, plays of dark and light, odd camera angles, and extreme close-ups of faces to heighten intensity. Interesting movie with a mixture of genres and styles. Also, one of the best child performances in classic film. Gray was 13 but looks younger. More mature viewers will remember Billy Gray from the old TV series Father Knows Best (1954-1960). Former song and dance man George Murphy (later a state legislator in CA) is Robert's father and Nancy Davis (later Reagan) is his mother.
The Miami Story / Fred F. Sears (1954). Columbia. A committee of civic minded citizens in the title Florida metropolis recruits former mobster but now reformed single father Mick Flagg (Barry Sullivan) to pretend to be Cuban mob muscle coming to town to take over the rackets from Tony Brill (Luther Adler), who regular law enforcement has been unable to touch. The intent is to entrap Brill into admitting his criminal ways. Flagg and Brill, who used to know each other, engage in ploys and counter ploys. Sullivan and Adler play well off each other. Beverly Garland in an early role is an innocent caught in the middle. Well acted, well paced noir.
Madman's Holiday!
Crack-Up is directed by Irving Reis and collectively written by John Paxton, Ben Bengal and Ray Spencer from Fredric Brown's story Madman's Holiday. It stars Pat O'Brien, Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall, Ray Collins, Wallace Ford and Dean Harens. Music is by Leigh Harline and cinematography by Robert De Grasse.
Art curator George Steele (O'Brien) believes he has been in a train crash, but he's told that no such crash has occurred. Is he cracking up, or the victim of something sinister?
I'm not trusting anyone this week.
Out of RKO, Crack-Up is an above average film noir that is apparently under seen. It thrusts George Steele on a crusade to prove he is not losing his mind and on his way to residency at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital. As he trawls around the city with a foggy head, his thoughts still remembering his service in WWII, he tosses off sarcastic quips and evades tricky situations with guile and ingenuity. Who can he trust though? If anybody?
I'm outta my head. I drive around in cars picking up psychopathic killers.
His journey encompasses a number of locations that are expertly born out for noirish purpose. Smokey steam train, dimly lighted station, a ship of many murky corners, the harbour as well, a penny arcade and of course many damp streets at night that are ripe for conversations; both hushed and threatening. With Reis (The Gay Falcon) and De Grasse (The Body Snatcher) using chiaroscuro effects, the atmosphere is suitably eerie, dovetailing perfectly with George's psychologically paranoid funk.
About as smart as cutting my throat to get some fresh air!
Set to the backdrop of the art world, the narrative has an opinion on art styles and snobbery while wrapping the plot around the crooked line of forgeries. It's not wholly successful for dramatic worth or intrigue, and in fact the visual presentation and very good performances of O'Brien and Trevor deserve a more cohesive story and a motive revelation of the crimes considerably stronger in substance.
However, with its technical attributes most positive, some very well constructed scenes (the train crash sequence is excellent) and noir staples in place (amnesia, shady characters, sleuthing for truth et al), Crack-Up is well worth checking out. 7/10
White Heat. It's one of the reasons to fall in love with classic cinema, a powerhouse pic, 10/10 all the way for me >
I told you to keep away from that radio. If that battery is dead it'll have company.
White Heat is directed by Raoul Walsh and adapted by Ivan Goff & Ben Roberts from a story suggested by Virginia Kellogg. It stars James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Steve Cochran & Margaret Wycherly. Music is by Max Steiner and photography by Sidney Hickox.
Cody Jarrett (Cagney) is the sadistic leader of a violent and ruthless gang of thieves. Unnervingly devoted to his mother (Wycherly) and afflicted by terrible headaches since childhood, Cody is one bad day away from being a full blown psychotic. That day is coming soon, and everyone in his way is sure to pay.
Around the time of White Heat being released, two things were evident as regards its star and its themes. One is that it had been a long time since a gangster, and a truly vicious one at that, had thrilled or frightened a cinema audience. The Production Code and a change in emotional value due to World War II had seen the genuine career gangster all but disappear. Second thing of note is that Cagney was stung by the disappointing performance of Cagney Productions. So after having left Warner Brothers in 1942, the diminutive star re-signed for the studio and returned to the genre he had almost made his own in the 30s. He of course had some say in proceedings, such as urging the makers to ensure a crime does not pay motif, but all told he needed a hit and the fit with Raoul Walsh and the psychotic Jarrett was perfect. It may not be his best acting performance, but it's certainly his most potent and arguably it's the cream of the gangster genre crop.
The inspiration for the film is mostly agreed to be the real life criminals: Ma Barker, Arthur "Doc" Barker and Francis Crowley. A point of worth being that they were all 30s criminals since White Heat very much looks and feels like a 30s movie. Cagney for sure is older (he was 50 at the time) and more rotund, but he and the film have the presence and vibrancy respectively to keep it suitably in period and in the process becoming the last of its kind. White Heat is that rare old beast that manages to have a conventional action story at its core, yet still be unique in structure and portrayal of the lead character. Neatly crafted by Walsh around four Cody Jarrett "moments" of importance, the Oedipal tones playing out between Cody and his Ma make for an uneasy experience, but even then Walsh and the team pull a rabbit out the hat by still garnering sympathy for the crazed protagonist. It sounds nutty, but it really is one of the big reasons why White Heat is the great film that it is. Another reason of course is "those" special scenes, two of which are folklore cinematic legends now. Note legend number 1 as Cody, incarcerated, receives bad news, the reaction is at once terrifying and pitiful (note the extras reaction here since they didn't know what was coming). Legend number 2 comes with "that" ending, forever quotable and as octane ignited finale's go it takes some beating.
As brilliant and memorable as Cagney is, it's not, however, a one man show. He's superbly directed by Walsh, with the great director maintaining a pace and rhythm to match Cody Jarrett's state of mind. And with Steiner (Angels With Dirty Faces/Casablanca/Key Largo) scoring with eerie strands and strains, and Hickox (The Big Sleep/To Have and Have Not) adding noir flourishes for realism and atmosphere, it's technically a very smart picture. The supporting cast in the face of Cagney's barnstorming come up with sterling work. Wycherly is glorious as the tough and tetchy Ma Jarrett and O'Brien is needed to be spot on in the film's second most important role; a role that calls for him to not only be the first man Cody has ever trusted, but also as some sort of weird surrogate mother! Mayo isn't called on to do much, but she's gorgeous and sexy and fatalistic in sheen. While Cochran holds his end up well as the right hand man getting ideas above his station.
White Heat is as tough as they come, a gritty pulsating psycho drama that has many visual delights and scenes that are still as powerful and as shocking some 60 odd years since it first hit the silver screen. What is often forgotten, when yet another clip of the brilliant ending is shown on TV, is that it's also a weird and snarky piece of film. All told, it is blisteringly hot. 10/10
Behind Green Lights and The Miami Story not seen but duly noted. Landis, yes very sad, she should have had a better career and sadly left the mortal coil way too early. Poor girl.