Film Forno

Another gem from this wonderful noir collection.

Decoy is a great little film, in a similar vein to Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour. Low budget but bursting at the seams with creativity, Decoy was recently re-discovered by a neighbor of mine, Bill Rush, who works at Warner Brothers. It hadn’t been seen since 1970 and it’s screening at the American Cinematheque Noir Program caused a sensation. Okay let’s begin at the beginning! A great weird opening! Close up on a battered, chipped porcelain sink, dirty hands come into frame, turn on hot water, steam blasts into the sink! Cold water will do, pan to a roll of paper towels suspended on a piece of twine, pan and tilt to a chunk of broken mirror revealing a disheveled zombie looking guy. We later find out he’s a dishonored doctor(Herbert Rudley).

Is this a Zombie Movie or a Film Noir?

He exits the gas station rest room, stumbling like the undead, ignoring the cheerful good morning patter from the pump jockey, Hitching a ride into the city. He goes into a snazzy apartment building , followed closely but not close enough by Sheldon Leonard who plays Sgt. JoJo Portugal. By the way Leonard looks exactly like Mickey Cohen in this movie, his hat, his suit, his manner.

Sheldon Leonard as Mickey Cohen…I mean, Sgt JoJo Portugal!

Mickey Cohen as Mickey Cohen, The Mickster

Portugal follows the Zombie but misses the elevator. When he gets off at the 2nd floor he has his gun out but he puts it away upon hearing a shot fired in a nearby apartment. Portugal busts in, the maid is crying, the zombie is finally dead and lying mortally wounded is one of the most evil females ever captured on Celluloid. Margot Shelby (Jean Gillie)

Beautiful, Ruthless, Deadly

She tells Portugal the story in flashback, a story so heartless and calculating, it makes you question your sanity. Let’s get this straight right now, this film is out there, crazy!

Let the Flashback Begin!

Margot wants money, she lives for the finer things, and she will do anything to get them, I mean anything! Her older beau is in stir, he killed a bank guard while stealing $400,000 and now he’s gonna get the big whiff! Cyanide gas up in Q.
She’s playing with the old letch, Robert Armstrong ( He was Carl Denham in King Kong!)

Trouble is he hasn’t told Margot where he stashed the loot and he won’t tell her unless he gets out. She hatches a diabolical plan with the aid of a gangster named Jimmy Vincent. But there’s a catch Vincent wants her and half the money.

Tough Guy Jimmy Vincent, just another sucker

She needs a doctor to help with her plan to spring her death row beau, Frank. They’re going to revive him after he’s pronounced dead! OK, this evil, amoral monster finds a dedicated doctor, he works in a poor neighborhood, he volunteers at a clinic. He cares about curing people not making money.

Fetishistic Detail #1 The Nurse’s Hair

But our femme fatale seduces him, not only does she seduce him, he falls so in love with her he sacrifices his ideals, his career, his life, everything for her. As a matter of fact every man in this film falls for this icy goddess of evil! They all want her for themselves and this enables her to destroy them all. Frank gets the gas chamber, the scene is shot from his point of view and the audience watching the execution looks like people in a movie theater watching a film! Maybe the director was holding up a mirror to the audience as if to say” Look at yourselves, entertained by watching a man suffer and die!”.

Mirror, Mirror

They steal Frank’s body and Dr. Craig brings him back to life.

Elements Of A Horror Film

He draws a map of where the money is hidden and then they kill him! They brought the guy back to life and 5 minutes later they kill him! Insane!

Fetishistic Detail #2- Jeweled Hands Strap A Dead Man’s Ankle To An Operating Table

They go to dig up the cash, along the way they stop for a quick bite and a drink. Dr. Craig gets drunk. Margot exits before the boys and let’s the air out of a tire. They drive a ways and it seems like they have a flat. Jimmy Vincent gets out to fix it and after he finishes, she runs him over! She’s not sharing the boodle with anyone! In the print shown at the Cinematheque she runs him over, backs up over him, then runs him over again! This is cut to just one run over in the DVD, too bad! She coldly takes the map and a gun from Jimmy’s dead body, gets back into the car where the doctor says ” I want to kill you!” She hands him the gun,but she has faith in her power over this yutz, he can’t do it!

Even Though she destroyed his life, killed a man in front of him, and will soon kill him, he can’t kill her, he still loves her and she knows it!

Margot drives gleefully to the buried treasure burial spot, paces it off, and goes crazy with gold lust, scratching at the ground and shrieking for the doctor to get something to dig with. He comes up with a huge knife, he raises it over his head, it looks like he’s about to kill her, but he drops to the ground and begins digging like a madman.

It looks like he might kill her, but no! He drops to the ground and digs like a will-less puppet!

He hits paydirt in the form of a small trunk. Margot laughs and screams like a delighted Banshee, then she pumps several slugs into the doctor. She grabs the trunk and splits, hysterically laughing in ecstasy.

The Ecstasy Of Gold

This is where we came in, the doctor wasn’t dead, he made it back town on willpower and sheer hate, and blasted Margot with his last bit of strength. The flashback ends, JoJo the cop has placed Margot on a couch. She looks up at him, flutters her eyelids. “Do you love me, JoJo?” she whispers. Jojo stops, looks at her, he does love her! He moves in for a last kiss. She laughs in his face! Makes a fool out of a man with her dying breath!

She died as she lived, laughing at foolish Men

Jean Gille gives a tour de force performance. She is incredible. This movie was made at Monogram Pictures, a low budget outfit that cranked out Bowery Boys films and some of Bela Lugosi’s final films. But the cheapness of this production actually adds something to this film. A mysterious element of inevitability, like we’ve seen it before but there’s nothing we can do about it. Jack Bernhard’s direction is top notch. Excellent understated camera moves, scenes that play in one shot. Fetishistic details that add an eerie underlying atmosphere of a Horror movie, a cross genre fertilization. The lighting is great, all broken light with shadows of leaves, venetian blinds etc., real noir touches. I also liked the props and the clothes, rings, jewelry, all felt hand picked. Once again the low budget gave the filmmakers a freedom to explore dark depths, to shed light on idiosyncratic psychology, to show us something we hadn’t ever seen before. Jean Luc Godard was a big fan of this movie and Monogram Pictures in general. He even dedicated his first film Breathless to Monogram. So once again I heartily recommend the Warner Bros. Film Noir Classics Collection, Vol.4, every film in this set is great!

Good Luck trying to see this one! I was able to see it last night at the American Cinematheque aka The Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd. next door to the famous Pig & Whistle. It was great, such a treat to see a beautifully shot Black and White movie on a big screen.

The opening is a study in economy and atmosphere as three men make a break from a prison. The image is very dark and the setting stark, a few high walls, a watch tower with spotlight, some guards walking a narrow alley between the high walls. One of the three escapees dies in the attempt. The other two make it and after running through a deserted forest board a moving freight train. the older of the two almost doesn’t make it, he’s helped by the younger guy, who pulls him onto the moving train. Gus( Lino Ventura) lies there struggling to catch his breath and we feel for the man, getting older, on the run, with nothing in his pockets. Maybe this is illustrative of the title The Second Breath or second wind, where after being exhausted one gets a renewed burst of energy. Gus will soon put this energy to use but first we are plunged into a vortex of underworld connections, deals, murder, police procedures, and in the process we meet the rest of the players in this drama.

Manouche with Inspector Blot

Manouche ( Christine Fabréga ) runs a chic Parisian restaurant, she is very concerned when she learns of Gus’s escape. Is she his girlfriend? An ex-lover? No, she is in fact his sister and their relationship is an intriguing and unique one.

The Great Melville!

In Melville by Rui Nogueria, Melville says that in French gangster slang “sister” is a term for girlfriend. I believe Manouche is really Gu’s sister but the implied incest adds a compelling dimension to their relationship and Melville says “If I’ve let it be understood that Manouche is Gu’s sister, it’s because of the Enfants Terribles part of me- or rather because of the great homonyms Pierre or the Ambiguities.”

A Great Book, Rare these days!

We also meet Inspector Blot (Paul Meurisse) a wise and very human police chief. He comes across almost as a father figure trying to understand these criminals and guide them to justice rather than smash them to bloody bits. He respects their code of ethics, maybe even admires them. He first appears in a tour-de-force scene right after a murder, where he explains how each witness didn’t see anything. It’s a long, complicated scene with a lot of movement and it’s done in one take. Brilliant!

Figures In A Landscape

Setting Up The Heist

There’s also a armored car heist, pulled off with calculated ruthlessness that includes the cold blooded assassination of two motorcycle cops. Brutal.

These Masks will appear in Melville’s Masterpiece- Le Circle Rouge

And a torture scene, like something from Melville’s resistance film Army Of Shadows.

Give Him A Drink!

Except in this film it’s the French police doing the torturing. The censors didn’t like that so the scene fades out as the torture starts and fades in when it’s over. We have stills of the missing footage but can’t someone locate the original footage and restore it to the way Melville intended? It must exist somewhere, even just a workprint. It would be a wonderful addition to a great film.

A Still From The Missing Scene

The end of the film has an element reminiscent of Out Of The Past. When Gu lies dying, his last word is “Manouche!”. Later when Manouche asks Inspector Blot if Gu said anything, he says “No”. Trying to free her from a hopeless obsession. Like the deaf boy in Out Of The Past telling Jeff’s girl Jeff wasn’t coming back for her but was running off with the other woman when he was killed. A beautiful touch, one of the greatest endings in Cinema. This film was made at Studio Jenner. Melville’s own film studio in Paris. Unfortunately it burned a few years later and I understand there is no trace of it left today. I don’t think that Rue Jenner even exists. What a shame.

Lino Ventura, He and Melville didn’t get along but they made great films together

Le Deuxième souffle has never been released here in the USA. It’s not available on DVD here (I think it is in France). I was fortunate enough to see it through the good graces of the excellent programmers at The American Cinematheque during their French Crime Series. See it if you can. And to those that don’t think much of this film I can only say, open your eyes, you’re missing the Cinematic Part.

From the first frame of this movie you know you’re in for quite a ride, A big 40’s car hurtling through the desert night, filmed in such a way that you think it’s going to come flying off the screen into your lap.

This movie is so well directed. Raoul Walsh effortlessly takes us on an epic adventure, train robbery, prison, escape from prison,etc. It seems like so many short scenes flowing into another, fast paced full of action, tons of details, at the prison , the machine shop and mess hall all play a role in the story.

Raoul Walsh lost his eye when a jack rabbit jumped in front of his speeding car

The high tech crime fighting tricks of the G men, radio co-ordinating, these scenes remind me of Fritz Lang’s M , where he shows the technology of the police opposed to the tricks of the criminals. Walsh was a master of this fast paced action storytelling. Check out Gentleman Jim starring Errol Flynn. The scenes fly by like scenery outside a train window. Walsh was a master filmmaker. He had a lion for a house cat.

Raoul and his cat

I read Walsh’s autobiography, it’s very good.I found out we both went to the same prep school (Seton Hall). He gives a lot of credit to James Cagney for his portrayal of Cody Jarrett. When Cagney sits on his mother’s lap and when he kicks Virginia Mayo off a chair and a lot of other great bits were all Cagney’s creation, according to Walsh.

Can you shorten the sleeves a little?

This is subversive filmmaking of the highest order! Walsh and Cagney show Cody Jarrett as a psycho killer, merciless to his enemies, able to coolly blast a guy trapped in the trunk of a car, while eating a chicken leg and making a joke! “I’ll give you some air!” Blam, Blam, Blam ,Blam!!! Great!

Cagney grabs a Rat, I mean Edmund O’Brien

The feds are seen as hard working, tireless, prosecutors of criminals but Walsh has the head fed using a long cigarette holder, an effeminate if not depraved prop. Is this a dig at J. Edgar Hoover? The cross dressing tyrant of FBI fame? Later the Fed has his arm in a sling, is he less of a man? And what about undercover rat Edmund O’Brien? Infiltrating criminal gangs by pretending to be a loyal pal, a “kid brother” to Jarrett and others. Watch the way O’Brien escapes from the surrounded payroll office during the climactic end sequence. He runs out under the cover of tear gas and literally slithers on his belly like a snake or a worm to get through a narrow gap in some pipes and into the safe arms of his fed friends.

Come and get me ,copper!

Then he uses his sharpshooter skills to pump several bullets into Jarrett, who’s laughing his head off. “What’s holding him up!” O’Brien asks as he fires another round into his erstwhile friend. But Jarrett is buoyed up by his love for his mother, he’s finally fulfilled her lifelong prophecy, he’s made it to the top. “Top O’ The World, Ma!!” He yells triumphantly and he sees her watching him proudly, her eyes shining with admiration and love for a son only she can love, the flames of Cody’s immanent annihilation reflecting from those eyes that represent the whole world and everything in it to him.

The End of The Hollywood Gangster Icon

Rialto Pictures has done it again! They re-released a classic film from the early 60’s. Jean Pierre Melville’s Le Doulos.

Super Cool Graphic

They resurrected Melville’s Army of Shadows last year, another gem. I really like their technique, find a super cool film that was never released here ( or minimally released) make a few restored prints and do a limited traveling theatrical exhibition. This keeps the overhead low and gives people all over the country ( at least in the big cities) a chance to see these films in a theater. Also it generates interest for DVD sales! A win/win situation.

Doulos means hat

So I went to the Friday night 10:30 pm show at the Nuart Theater in Santa Monica and it was at least 3/4 full! Right On! The movie is great , a little convoluted with a lot of characters and a big expositional flashback, probably all inherited from the Serie Noir novel it was based on but worth the effort. Jean Paul Belmondo gives an austere focused performance. He is incredible, sharp as a razor and ruthless but with a deep sense of honor.

Shooting Star Belmondo

Watching this film I was made aware of his astounding versatility. He can be very funny, ice cold, sexy, cool and pull off dangerous stunts, and his persona leaps off the screen, you want to know him, be his friend or depending on your orientation, sleep with him, in a word he is a movie star. A star of the ice blue super cool part of the Spectrum. Melville the americanophile delivers his noir take on a Hollywood Gangster Film. The Hat, the Trench Coat, symbols oF The Detective, the Lone Wolf that operates outside of the Law but is subject to his own strict moral code.

Le Car American

Characters drive around Paris in big American cars, just like Melville did. The atmosphere of this film is astounding, fog, train whistles screaming at you and hurtling out of the mist like Forces of Fate, oblivious to the lives of the insignificant men pursuing their nefarious ends under their trestles, struggling like ants over gold, jewels, money, women, power, death.

Trains Rush By like the Crushing Fates Of Greek Tragedy

Betrayal, Loyalty, Revenge, Love, Need. The pieces on the Chessboard. A man digs a hole like an animal with his bare hands and buries jewels wrapped in a handkerchief, a block of bank notes and a pistol swathed in an oil cloth. The spoils of a murder he’s just committed.

Digging Like an Animal

And the Police, doggedly pursuing the criminals who treat them with studied indifference, cooly facing long stretches in prison, The Police prying, forcing information with intimidation, blackmail, whatever it takes. Trying to turn a crook into a doulos or finger man, a rat. There is a famous scene at Police HQ where Silien (J.P. Belmondo) is being interrogated, the inspector circles Silien like a bird of prey, sniping at him , trying to trip him up, his two detectives chime in from time to time, the camera dances with them all in the confined glass enclosed space and without noticing it, a 10 minute scene has played out before you, all without cutting once! a masterpiece of camera movement, blocking, dialog, looks, sounds.

The One Take Scene
I feel it’s a direct homage to Orson Welles’ Touch Of Evil. Everyone always talks about the opening shot of that film but it’s the scene in the love nest apartment where Quinlan plants the dynamite and his partner discovers it that blows me away, and that’s the scene I think Melville is referencing. Check it out, the dialogue is so perfectly deilvered you’ll have a hard time noticing it doesn’t cut! Melville’s attention to detail is superb as well, the locations, cars , clothes, casting. This film was made at the Rue Jenner Studio. The Studio Melville owned in Paris! How cool is that the guy had his own studio! The set pieces are all excellently executed, a caper gone wrong, a sly set-up to throw blame on the wrong men, A tense scene at a nightclub where Belmondo pulls the bad guy’s girl, right from under his nose. These scenes click like clockwork.

Bad Guy’s Babe in Belmondo’s Bed

It’s also full of textures, sensual moments, tactile pleasures.

Sensual. Tactile Elements

At the end of the film there is a shot of a hat falling, rolling towards the camera. Suddenly in the middle of a camera move the image freezes. Did Melville not want us to see what the camera was panning to reveal? Why did he freeze? I think it gives a horrible finality, to freeze like that in the middle of a move.

The Final Frame
A lot of films end with freeze frames but this one had a powerful effect on me. Check it out and see if you agree now that you have the chance.

Always Adjust Your Hat

This post is about the super talented Art Director Albert S. D’Agostino. He designed the sets for some great Universal horror films of the 30’s, like The Raven with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi and The Invisible Ray also with Karloff and Lugosi.

We’ll put the embalming machine right there.

Then he moved over to my favorite studio, the crazy house RKO. Here he worked on some more masterpieces of supernatural atmosphere, all of Val Lewton’s classics- The Cat People, The Leopard Man, I Walked With A Zombie, Curse Of The Cat People.

The Cat People

Who ordered The Zombie?

While at RKO he was made head of the Art Department and he is credited on hundreds of films including some incredible noirs like Out Of The Past, The Spiral Staircase andClash By Night.

One Of My All Time Favorites

And Howard Hawk’s The Thing From Another World! His credits are mind boggling. I’m attaching a scan of an article from the summer 1971 issue of Cinefantastique by Gary D. Dorst written at the time of D’Agostino’s death. If anyone has any more information about him or knew him please let me know, I’d love to get more information on Mr. D’Agostino.
Here’s a link to a great article about him:http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ch-De/D-Agostino-Albert-S.html
And here is the scan of the CineFantastique article

Albert D’Agostino – CineFantastique

p.s. Our last names are very similar, I always wondered if we might be related.

A limping figure comes out of the fog

Wow! I just watched an incredible film! Act of Violence directed by Fred Zinnemann, superb cinematography by Robert Surtees, excellent music by Bronislau Kaper, and magnificent performances by Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, and Janet Leigh. This film falls into that sub genre, Screwed Up Veteran Noir. A guy who got his mind bent by WWII tries to fit into his home life back here in the States but he can’t! When we first see Robert Ryan he’s just a shuffling silhouette coming out of a pre dawn NY cityscape, we follow him into a crummy Brownstone and up the steps to his apartment. The camera tracks following him in and tilts down as he opens a dresser drawer revealing the 45 automatic he pulls out from under his undies. Then it tilts back up showing his face for the first time.

A genius at portraying the dark and twisted

Zinnemann has defined this character with two elements , his limp and his gun, before showing us his face, Brilliant! Let me take a second to talk about Robert Ryan. He looks like a grown up Howdy Doody but grown up twisted, dark. American as apple pie but the apples are rotten, there’s a worm eating at the heart of them. Ryan portrayed racists, psycho veterans, Anti- Semites, Gay bashers, and he did it in a way that allowed you to see his humanity, he wasn’t ever a stereotype, he was always real. This was at a time when very few films took on these controversial subject matters. Not only did it take guts for Ryan to play these parts it also took a hell of a lot of talent! He exposed the dark underbelly of the American psyche, when everybody was blowing the happy horns of victory after the war, Ryan and some dedicated filmmakers(like Zinnemann ,Wyler, Dymtrk) dared to talk about the problems the returning Vets faced. And dared to portray some Vets as something less than heroes. Here he’s an obsessed veteran charged with a holy mission, to avenge his comrades savagely cut down in a P.O.W. camp during an escape attempt. He is like Ahab stalking the white whale Van Heflin, relentlessly pursuing him, the sound of his dragging foot striking fear into the hearts of those who hear it and realize it’s significance.

The Hero with a Terrible Secret

We first see Van Heflin at an awards ceremony, this brings to mind the scene in Rolling Thunder where William Devane, a returning POW is honored in his small town. Van is married to the delicious Janet Leigh, they have a darling tow headed son, they live in a Craftsman house in a picturesque small town.

The Beautiful Dream of the Returned Veteran

They’ve got it all until Ryan shows up , an evil reminder of a dark deed , a mortal sin Van committed in a POW camp.

Once Upon A Time they were Friends

The issues in this film are so real it elevates the story from the genre to a lofty psychological plane. Once it starts I dare you to try and stop watching it! Noir was a B genre, they were made fast, a lot of the conventions of noir , the stylish shots were partly created to save time as for example when you have two characters talking to each other but both facing the camera, this saves the time of doing reverses, moving the camera, relighting, etc. There is an incredible shot early in the film. Robert Ryan has just arrived in California, he gets off the bus and starts to cross the street, a cop stops him because a Veterans parade is coming by, he waits but cuts through when there’s an opening, the camera pans with him revealing that it was in a hotel lobby shooting through the picture window, it catches Ryan coming through the entrance and tracks back with him to the desk where he checks in. This is all in one amazing shot! Yet done in such a natural way that you might not notice it. Check it out!

All One Shot

Zinnemann is an actors director. 16 vastly different performers got Academy Award nominations for their roles in his films. Van Heflin is great in this film, the best work I’ve ever seen him do. I think Gregory Peck is excellent in Zinnemann’s Behold A Pale Horse , the list goes on and on. Another interesting aspect of Film Noir, for that matter any B genre film. Due to the lower budget, their was less risk for the studio. The filmmakers could try things they wouldn’t dare on A pictures, like the subject matter of this film. It’s only by taking chances that you reach the stratospheric heights. Compared to Act Of Violence Zinnemann’s From Here To Eternity is a soap opera. Don’t get me wrong it is a very good film but the studio is making a huge investment in that project, they can’t take chances, they have to make it appeal to as many people as possible.

Taking Chances on a Noir Track

The locations are great, at one point Van flees to Los Angeles to escape Ryan. Ryan tracks him and almost gets him, Van runs into the streets and passes the touchstone of great LA noir, Angel’s Flight! I didn’t know this was in there, what a great surprise!

The Quintessential Noir Landmark, The Train To Nowhere

Later Van is running from himself, he enters the 2nd street tunnel. He’s flashing back to his men in the POW camp trying to escape through a tunnel they dug. The entire flashback is executed with voices ringing in Van’s head as he runs, stumbles through the tunnel. It works amazingly well! Another noir budget cutting device, a creative solution to the flashback needed at this point in the film, it’s better than showing the Stalag, the dead men, the SS officer! It’s great! Also pay attention to the editing, jump cuts bringing us closer and closer to Van as he cracks apart, forced to face what he’s kept hidden inside. This is 1948 years before the French New Wave.

Flashback in a tunnel

The 2nd Street Tunnel

By the way I used this same tunnel as a location in my film One Night With You. Van goes down the mean streets of LA stumbling into a bar where he meets Mary Astor, an aging hooker, looking for kicks. She is incredible, the real deal, a woman pushing 40, not an ingenue with a wig. She’s terrific!

Mary Astor, once she chased the Maltese Falcon

The end of the film is sort of played out like a noir Western, with a shootout at the train station, it’s very good , maybe not up to the incredible heights of the rest of the film but very well done. The train station location if I’m not mistaken is the Glendale station dressed to be Santa Lisa, the fictional small town of our story. That station still exists, it’s a beauty, used in many films, even a silent Buster Keaton opus.

Next Stop, Glendale!

So please check this film out. I love stories about problems from out of the past showing up and haunting guys, about the problems of returned Veterans, about obsessed, relentless pursuers, about people trying to run away from themselves on the dark streets of a dirty noir city.

Down these mean streets…

Obsessee, obsessor

I worked on restoring Fritz Lang’s Woman In The Window a few years ago with my friends over at Triage Motion Picture Services. For some reason or another ( probably an idiotic executive decision) the original negative had been destroyed. “Abernathy, what are all these old cans taking up all this valuable space at our studio?” “Those are the original negatives of the films the studio produced in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, sir” ” Get rid of that trash!” Anyway in the case of Woman In The Window all that was left was a Fine Grain made in the early 60’s and a nitrate release print from the original 1944 run. I compared the two elements and picked whatever shot was best to create a new negative.

Joanie B. and Eddie G.

Edward G. Robinson is a college professor who sees a portrait of a woman in the window of a store next to the club where he hangs out with his buddies.

Fritz Lang in a publicity still from Le Mepris, that’s Godard working the clapper

The woman in the window is the lovely Joan Bennett, she was married to producer Walter Wanger, but I guess he wasn’t wanging her enough so she had an affair with her agent, Jennings Lang. Wanger found out about it and waylaid the two, waiting for them outside their trysting place, Marlon Brando’s Beverly Hills apartment! Walter blasted the agent with two bullets one of which nicked Jennings nutsack. Wanger later said he was aiming for JL’s gonads, he wanted to make him a castrato!

Herr Lang, Joan Bennett, Walter Wanger

But enough digressions. Woman In The Window is an excellent film, it’s beautifully made and the scene in Joan Bennett’s apartment where Eddie G. kills Bennett’s older jealous sugar daddy is a tour de force, powerful as a nightmare from which you can’t wake up. I’ve often wondered if this scene is so strong because Fritz Lang has been accused by one of his biographers of murdering his first wife in an apartment in Berlin. Is he wrestling with his own demons? His own guilt?

Then the ultra slimy ( and I mean that as a compliment) Dan Duryea shows up and begins blackmailing Bennett. These scenes are great as well, the beautiful, sexy Joan B. forced to be nice, to pretend she’s attracted to a man she hates, it’s cheap, degrading, sleazy. You’ll love it! The only thing that hasn’t stood the test of time is the ending, I don’t want to give it away but all it needs is a trombone going “Wahhh Wahhh” to really make it bad. In defense of Lang I guess it was a new, novel idea in 1944 and the technique used in the transitional shot is amazing. Without giving it away totally , Edward G. is sitting in a big overstuffed chair in an apartment, the camera tracks in to a tight close up of his face, then it tracks back revealling him in an entirely different location. There’s no dissolve so you know the crew was flying walls in and out, changing furniture, replacing props, all in a few seconds. Really a great effect.

The Magic Close Up

Back in the mid 70’s I was in LA, I went to UCLA to see a program of Fritz Lang’s American films. It was hosted by the distinguished film critic Charles Champlin. Introducing The Big Heat he made a comment that Lang’s American films were his best work. I took exception to that, Metropolis, M, these are towering giants of world film, among the greatest films ever made! I like Lang’s American stuff but come on! How could this clown say such a thing! Was it American chauvinism or what. So I spoke up and told him what I thought, he tried to dismiss my comments in a rude “you don’t know what you’re talking about” way. Well, Mr. Champlin you were wrong and you’re still wrong.

I’ll kill you, Charles Champlin

Albert Dekker plays Dr. Cyclops , only not in this film

Lazy Eye poster boy Jack Elam is here, he’s one of the gunslingers laying for Charles Bronson at the begining of Once Upon A Time In The West.

He started in the movies as an accountant

Strother Martin , the Southern Gothic slimy wierdo who had a failure to communicate with Paul Newman shows up here.

Strother, Baby

Great Los Angeles 1950’s locations ( I think this movie was one of the reasons I wanted to move here ), It even features Angel’s Flight , the super cool little funicular railway that went up Bunker Hill! This groovy trolley is in several excellent noirs , like Criss Cross for example.

A sure sign of a cool LA noir

This movie was shot by B-movie maven Robert Aldritch in 3 weeks! Due in no small part to the excellent screenplay by the legendary A.I. Bezzerides ( there’s a documentary about A. I. out , check it out).

Buzz Bezzerides at 90
The movie’s MacGuffin is a mysterious box that emits a blinding light and Banshee scream when opened, a direct antecedent to the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

Aldrich directs Gaby Rodgers

Kiss Me Deadly, the chicks are hot, the gansters grotesque, the hero’s handsome, the cars Cool, and the locations are outstanding. So please, if you haven’t seen it, rent or buy or borrow a copy and check it out. Then stroll down to your nearest dive bar, drop a quater in the jukebox , play a Sinatra tune , order a whiskey and think about Velma.

Atom Age Pandora

Is this the end of Mike Hammer?

Here is the trailer for Jacque Becker’s classic noir Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (Don’t Touch The Grisbi). Grisbi is french gangster slang for treasure and this movie is just that. Incredible locations, atmosphere, and cinematography, great performences, excellent direction all add up to a top notch french Film Noir.

Jean Gabin was past his prime, washed up, a has-been. Nobody gave him a second thought anymore, word on the street: He’s through! Becker brought him back big time! After this film he was back on top and coasted through his golden years a renascent star. Lino Ventura was a pro wrestler, he had been injured so he was managing wrestlers. Someone suggested him to Becker for the part of a gangster. Becker approacher Ventura, he hadn’t ever acted, he said “No Dice!”, Becker persisted and thus one of the greatest Cinema actors of all time was born! If you don’t believe me check out Melvilles L’ Armée des ombres (Army of Shadows).

Jesse’s Uncle

Not only that but I believe this was Jeanne Moreau’s first screen appearence. You can’t beat this pedigree with a stick!

Moreau in The Middle

You can’t lose, put both of these films in your Netflix cue. You’ll be picking your feet in Poughkipse with delight. The only caveat, Gabin is a pretty old guy, he’s cool but he’s gotta be 65 or so and all of these stunning young babes are throwing themselves at him. I mean if that’s how it really was in Paris circa 1954 then get me a time machine! Also my pal Guillaume has a cat named Grisbi, I asked him what does that mean? He told me about this film, one of his all time favorites. I had it on my Netflix cue for years and about 6 months ago they got it! So sit back, uncork a nice Chateau-Neuf-de- Pape (French gangster’s favorite Red), smear some pate on toast, hole up in your hideout, and have a picnic with Gabin, Moreau, Ventura et al.

I’m writing about a little known but great movie, Andre de Toth’s Pitfall. A noir gem, hard to see but worth the effort! I got a laser disc copy, I don’t think it’s on DVD yet. It features great performences by Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Raymond Burr ( in his first meaty role), and Jane Wyatt ( who steals the show!). There’s something about these European directors that came here in the 40’s, like Billy Wilder. They could see through all the moralistic bullshit and make films that dealt with emotional realities, truths, not whitewashed happy ending sentimental dreck. Pitfall delivers, it’s a classic noir tale, we start with a happy American family, Dad, Mom, and Junior.

The American Dream

Dad is an insurance investigator, one of his operatives is Raymond Burr, a creepy simian in an oversized suit.

The Look OF Lust For Lizabeth

They investigate sexy model Lizabeth Scott, (who we first see in revealling short shorts). It seems Scott’s husband embezzeled funds from his employer so he could keep Scott in minks and speedboats and other luxurious items. Now investigator Dick must reclaim said booty. Unfortunately for him he is mesmerized by Scott’s booty and after a hair raising ride in her speedy motorboat he’s hooked like a Marlin off Mexico. The first phase of the Film Noir Formula, Femme Fatale in need attracts chump with a lot to lose.

Dig those noir Venetian blinds

But don’t forget about dear old Raymond Burr, he’s got the hots for Lizabeth himself, he even warns Dick to keep away. But maybe this fans Dick’s flame even more! Liz tells Burr she wants nothing to do with him but that doesn’t stop him, he stalks her, follows her, waits for her on her doorstep. He’s like a large drooling chimpanzee ogling her everywhere she goes. He even shows up at her work (she’s a department store model) and insists to the madam, I mean matron that she model a dress for him, it’s a creepy degrading scene, you’re going to love it!

The Shining Object Of Desire

Burr kicks the shit out of Dick, waylaying him as he’s parking his car in his garage! The low down lily livered skunk! But Dick gets revenge, once Jane has healed him up, he heads over to Burr’s apartment and as soon as Ray opens his door, Dick coldcocks him! Very satisfying!

Director de Toth shows Dick Powell how to slug big bad Burr

Also Burr rats on Dick, working up Lizabeth’s husband who’s rotting in jail! Burr plays Iago to Liz’s husband’s Othello. When the guy gets out he’s ready to kill! He attacks Dick’s home late one night! I won’t reveal how it all turns out, you have to see this for yourself but I will say that Jane Wyatt, the mom from Father Knows Best delivers a rare true performence, like what a real woman would do if she finds out the man she loves had an affair. It’s beautiful just like her.

How could anyone cheat on a wife like this?

Also this movie has some of the best noir dialouge of all time! There are some great lines in here. I’d rate it just under Out Of The Past for noir dialouge excellence. Andre de Toth, the one-eyed Hungarian has served up a delicious dark noir, flecked with Americana and accented with European worldliness. Uncork some Tokay, drink, watch, enjoy.

I’m posting scans of an article from the July 8th, 1999 LA Times that comemorated the 25th anniversary of Roman Polanski’s Chinatown. The article talks about the locations used in the film and why Dick Sylbert chose them. It’s interesting for several reasons, you get to see where the actual locations are or were in 1999. Go out and look them up, drive around LA on your own Chinatown tour. Also you get a glimpse into why Sylbert made certain creative decisions, that Jake Gittes had to constantly go up to a location, it was an uphill climb, a struggle, a pursuit. The psychology of a courtyard bungalow apartment complex. The thought behind the choice. Dick was an intellectual and a lot of thought and personal logic, creative interpretation went into his designs. I read an article on the designs he did for Francis ( the film about Frances Farmer starring Jessica Lange), Dick had created a visual equivalent to certain classical music forms that he felt played like the emotional arcs of the story. Incredible stuff. Polanski said about Chinatown, “Robert Towne had this thing about Los Angeles, about the history of the city, and that’s what makes it so profound. Without that, you would just have another detective thing.” And Dick Sylbert found the places to make it work. He made Los Angeles a character in Chinatown. Below is a .pdf of the entire article.
sylbert-articlesmaller.pdf