The Locket
Written by Joe D on August 26th, 2009
The Locket is a wonderful psychological noir featuring Robert Mitchum playing a Greenwich Village artist. It’s directed by John Brahm, a German ex-pat who learned his stuff at UFA then came over here to avoid the Nazis and made some great films. I got turned onto him through the 20th Century Fox Horror Classics dvd collection, featuring three films directed by Brahm- The Undying Monster, The Lodger, and Hangover Square. These are all great and definitely worth watching.
German Genius- John Brahm
A little research led me to The Locket, an RKO gem lensed by one of my favorite cameramen, Nicholas Musuraca (the original Prince Of Darkness). Brahm also directed a Raymond Chandler based film, The Brasher Doubloon, aka The High Window, a Vincent Price vehicle The Mad Magician, and the super groovy Hot Rods To Hell! He then directed a lot of cool TV, Outer Limits, Man from U.N.C.L.E. etc. An interesting note, Brahm directed some episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he directed a version of The Lodger years after Hitchcock did and Hitchcock’s Marnie is very similar to The Locket, but in my opinion inferior to the earlier B&W noir. The Locket is not on dvd but you can watch it as I did on YouTube.
The Locket- Part1
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AM
My father was John Brahm and I’m very glad you like some of his work. Hot Rods to Hell he fully admitted was a terrible film but it’s nice you think it’s cool. It was one of Lux and Ivy’s (of The Cramps) most favorite films. Thanks for posting such nice stuff here.
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AM
Your dad was a Master Filmmaker, an incomparable stylist who got great performances and really knew how to tell a story. He is one of the cream of the Germanic crop that came to the USA to escape persecution and revitalized American filmmaking by injecting German Expressionism, and Fantasy into our culture, thus bring about the birth of Film Noir. His use of music is also groundbreaking. Bravo John Brahm! And thank you Sumishta for writing in, it means a lot.