Movie

Review: The Secret Fury

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The Secret Fury is a little known film noir from 1950 directed by Mel Ferrer. It is based on a story by Jack Leonard, Leonard wrote a handful of stories for noir films in the 1950’s. He’s best known work today is The Narrow Margin. Here is a look at my review of The Narrow Margin:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/03/20/re-watching-the-classics-the-narrow-margin/

The Secret Fury revolves around our main two characters, Ellen R. Ewing played by Claudette Colbert and David McLean played by Robert Ryan.

This film starts with David trying to get into a party of which he does not have an invitation. On the third attempt he gets in, only to get pulled aside by somebody that notices he does not fit in. The lady of the house brings David upstairs to change, because he is the groom at the wedding going on at the house. He soon changes into his tux while his lovely bride is on the other side of the door getting into her wedding gown.  This film starts out with a bit of a slap stick comedy feel to show off the happy couple.

During the wedding ceremony, when the priest asks if anybody has a reason for these two not to be wed, a man jumps up. He states the bride is already married to another man! When a quick phone call is made to the marriage office of the county in which she is supposedly married, it proves to be true. The couple goes to investigate the marriage in which the bride has no memory. As they show up to this town, everybody remembers her as the happy wife of another man. Her and David soon find the first husband. When Ellen and her supposed first husband meet alone in a different room, we hear a gun shot. As David and the rest of the people flood into the room, we find Ellen standing over her first husband’s dead body and a gun at her feet.

Is Ellen crazy? Is she hiding something? Is she being framed? Does she have amnesia? Will David be able to figure out what is really happening?

This is an interesting film as it starts out as a happy feeling film and slowly gets darker and darker. Robert Ryan shows this change the most throughout the film as he goes from happy groom to an amateur hardboiled P.I.. Colbert is also very good as she goes from the happy bride to a mental case. I don’t know how any Robert Ryan film noir went under the radar for me, but it seems to have flown under the radar for a lot of fans. This is worth watching for film noir fans and Ryan fans especially. It may not be as great as some of Ryan’s other classics, but still worth a viewing.

Article: 50 GREATEST FILM NOIR POSTERS FOR NOIRVEMBER

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Sometimes we forget that not all the art on noir came from the cinematography of film noir or the cover art of pulp magazines and books. Take a look at this article over at Rotten Tomatoes for a look at what they consider the 50 best posters from film noir. Did they forget any? Here is a link to the full list worth looking through:

http://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/gallery/50-greatest-film-noir-posters-for-noirvember/

Review: Hunt the Man Down

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Hunt the Man Down is a film noir from 1950 directed by George Archainbaud and is some B-noir brilliance! This film starts out with a dish washer and a waitress counting the money after closing. A man breaks in to rob the two and turns out to be The Paper Bag Hold-up Man.The piano playing dish washer played by James Anderson dodges a few bullets and takes down the gunman, killing the robber and becoming a hero. When our hero is photographed, against his will, his photo is in the newspaper. He is wanted on a 12-year-old murder case and sent to Los Angeles to stand trial! When he gets to L.A. he tells the Public Defender Paul Bennett, played by Gig Young, the way he escaped during first trial, when things were not looking to good for him. He also tells Bennett that he is innocent and what really happened in flashback form. From this story we learn there are 7 witnesses to the murder and Bennett tracks them down to find the real story.

Bennett soon recruits his father to help with tracking down the witnesses. His father is a one-armed ex-police officer played by Harry Shannon. As the seven witnesses are found and interviewed we learn their lives have changed for the worse since the first murder trial. Will the truth be found? Is our accused man innocent or guilty? If he’s innocent who did it?

The beginning of this film reminded me of the beginning of The History of Violence. Though the starting point of the two films are similar, nothing else is. I still wonder if this film inspired John Wagner and Vince Locke when they wrote the original graphic novel.

So if a B Noir with a one-armed detective, a dish washing piano player who has been running from the law for 12 years and a crazy array of witnesses to work through to find the truth sounds like a fun ride to you, it is. This is a film worth seeking out for noir fans looking for a hidden gem. It is a short film and would have benefited from a little longer run time, so we could have enjoyed the search for the lost witnesses a little longer, but then it wouldn’t be a B-Noir would it?

News: A long-lost film noir gets a second look

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The Hollywood film noir re-make of the classic German film “M” has a unique history. I have never seen this film, but after reading this article, I will be on the look out for this film. Anybody out there seen this film? What are your thoughts on it? Read and listen to the full story over at The Frame here:

http://www.scpr.org/programs/the-frame/2015/11/04/45109/a-long-lost-film-noir-gets-a-second-look/?slide=4

News: Dragon Tattoo Sequel May Have Found A New Lisbeth Salander

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Though I’m sad to hear the original cast and director David Fincher may not be back for the sequel to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, at least a worthy replacement for Rooney Mara is being considered.

Alicia Vikander is the current top choice for the role. I’ve enjoyed her work in a number of films, including my review of Son of a Gun here:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/03/28/review-son-of-a-gun/

You may have seen her in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and her best performance so far, Ex Machina.

Now who are they going to replace Daniel Craig and David Fincher with? Read the entire article on this over at CneBlend.com here:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Dragon-Tattoo-Sequel-May-Have-Found-Lisbeth-Salander-92577.html

Re-Watching the Classics: Rebecca

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Rebecca is a classic film by anybody’s standards. This is Alfred Hitchcock’s first Hollywood film and his only film to win an Oscar. The film is based on the now classic novel by Daphne Du Maurier of the same name. This film stars Laurence Olivier, one of the greatest actors ever to be filmed and a fresh face yet to be a big name on the silver screen, Joan Fontaine.

Fontaine was not the first choice for this starring role, with  Margaret Sullavan, Loretta Young, Maureen O’Hara, Anita Louise and Anne Baxter all being considered as well as Olivia de Havilland, Fontaine’s older sister, who was producer David O. Selznick’s first choice. When Fontaine was chosen, it did not make everybody happy. Olivier wanted his then girlfriend and future wife, Vivien Leigh to get the part. Olivier reportedly treated Fontaine horribly for this reason, Hitchcock used this and told Fontaine everybody on the set hated her. This helped with Fontaine’s performance of always seeming on edge and scared.

Fontaine plays a young women who has lost her parents and is working as a companion for a wealthy woman. She does not come from wealth and from the very start of the film she has a hard time learning the manners of the rich. Olivier plays Maxim de Winter, a wealthy widower. The first time we see him, it appears he is depressed and about to commit suicide, when his future wife, Fontaine seems to stop him. When Fontaine’s boss falls ill, this opens up some time for Fontaine to get to know Maxim. They soon wed and move back to Maxim’s estate Manderley.

As the new Mrs. de Winter learns the ways of her new home, she soon finds the shadow of the first Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca is still present. Though Rebecca is not a ghost, her presence haunts the new Mrs. de Winter. The head of the house staff, Mrs. Danvers, played by Judith Anderson, helps keep Rebecca’s presence known.

Will Rebecca’s past drive this new marriage apart? Was Rebecca what she seemed?

After watching this film, I was debating on posting a review on my site. Is this a Film Noir? That question can probably be asked of most movies classified as film noir. I have heard arguments for and against this one. I would say this is a suspense film with film noir aspects. A Gothic tale with some scenes of noir.  1940 being just the beginning of film noir you can see why this film was influential on films to come. For one thing in order to maintain the dark atmosphere of the book, Alfred Hitchcock insisted that the film be shot in black and white. He also used deep focus photography throughout the film, something Citizen Kane would use to great effect in the next year and would be found in many films noir after. Hitchcock also made good use of shadow, a staple of noir.

He also did a fair number of shooting at night, with rain and fog used to great effect, another staple of noir.

That being said, is the story noir? I would say it definitely has noir elements. Our main protagonist is put into a world and situation she is trapped in. She must fight to keep what she wants, the love of her husband. This story isn’t as gritty as some noir, but, without giving away any spoilers, this film gets pretty dark in the last third of the film.

Whether you consider this film a film noir or not, you must admit it is worth watching and is a classic either way. I would say this film has noir elements that would go on to influence future films and is worth watching for the film noir aficionado. I am by far not the expert to classify this one way or another, but it is currently the 4th most popular film classified as film noir as well as the 6th highest rated film noir on IMDb.

Review: The Drowning Pool

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The Drowning Pool is the sequel to Harper, both starring Paul Newman as our lead detective. This film was made in 1975, 9 years after the original. I recently reviewed Harper here:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/11/02/re-watching-the-classics-harper/

Where Harper was a commercial success, The Drowning Pool was a box office failure. I’m not sure why this was, as Paul Newman was coming off of two of his biggest hits, The Sting and The Towering Inferno. Some of the reasons I would say this film didn’t do as well as Harper are:

  1. The supporting cast on this film are nowhere near as strong as the first. Harper had Lauren Bacall, Janet Leigh, Shelley Winters and Robert Wagner, while The Drowning Pool’s supporting cast had Newman’s wife Joanne Woodward as the only real standout at the time of release. Melanie Griffith has a pivotal role, but being only her second film after Night Moves, she wasn’t a box office draw yet.
  2. For some reason they moved the location to New Orleans. As the original book and first film take place in Los Angeles, I’m not sure why they moved it to New Orleans. Though I liked some aspects of the film for this reason, I miss the flash and style of Los Angeles. This may have kept some Lew Archer fans away from the film.
  3. 9 years may have just been too long to wait for this film for the movie going audience at that time. Now with cable, DVD, On Demand, Netflix, etc. a film can live a lot longer in the people’s conscious. Harper was probably out of circulation quite awhile after 9 years, with a possible viewing on television every few years.

Just because this film was a flop back in the 1970’s doesn’t mean neo noir fans won’t enjoy it today. Like the first film, this is also based on a Ross Macdonald book.

We also still get Paul Newman playing the same Harper we loved in the first film. The story is good and well executed. Harper is brought out to New Orleans on a case, when he is hired by an old girlfriend. She asks for his help because she is being blackmailed. She has married into a wealthy family and when her mother-in-law is found dead, the case really takes off.

Though this sequel maybe inferior to the first film in a number of ways, it is still a good film worth watching. It is a bit darker than the first film with some grittier story points, making it more interesting in some ways. I watched this and Harper back to back and feel they do make a great double feature on a weekend afternoon. This movie is worth watching for fans of Newman and fans of Harper.

Favorite Tidbit: This is Melanie Griffith’s second film at only 17. Here first film released earlier in 1975 is also a classic neo noir, Night Moves. I reviewed this film earlier here:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/05/07/review-night-moves/

Re-Watching the Classics: Harper

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Harper is a neo noir from 1966 directed by Jack Smight. When a producer asked writer William Goldman to find him a script with a harder edge, Goldman recommended Ross Macdonald’s Archer books. He was asked to write a screenplay and choice the first book in the series “The Moving Target.”

This movie was Goldman’s first solo screenplay writing credit and started the career of one of the greatest screenwriters in history.

So why is this movie called “Harper” and not “The Moving Target” or “Archer”? Well I have found three possibilities for this change of title in my research. I will call these theories since I do not know which one is right. One is Paul Newman wanted the name change to continue his streak of hits starting with H, including The Hustler and Hud, Hombre would come out a year later. The second theory is the film rights were for the story only and the rights to the Lew Archer name was not included in the deal. The third is the Macdonald estate was not pleased with the idea of a film and would not allow the use of the Archer name. Hard to say what really happened here, but I suspect theory two or three is true and they named it Harper because of theory one.

Either way, we got a throwback film in the vain of a classic film noir revolving around a private eye. This must have been an exciting film for fans of noir that didn’t really have a lot to choice from in the 1960’s. Fans of film noir also got to see some familiar faces from some of their past favorites. They got three of the best actresses from the classic film noir era making appearances in this film, Lauren Bacall, Janet Leigh, and Shelly Winters.

Paul Newman plays Harper as a wise cracking, tough as nails, street smart private detective, just like we like them. Harper is a little more wise than some of our detectives in the past, for instance all three of our female legends try to use their feminine ways on our hero in various ways, but all fall in the end. In fact he uses his charms on them to get what he wants more than the other way around. Harper may not have a lot of money, but he does have great taste. For instance I think his car tells much about the man. He has a Porsche, but it is a little beat up and in need of a tune-up and he has no money to do the proper repairs.

We do have a femme fatale or two in this film. Our first femme fatale is played by Pamela Tiffin who is a bit of a Lolita to Harper’s friend and the lawyer who got him this job, played by Arthur Hill.

Tiffin’s character also has a thing for pretty boy Allan Taggert, played by Robert Wagner. The thing is Taggert already has a femme fatale that is revealed later in the film.

This film is a twisted kidnapping case where Harper is hired by Bacall’s character to find her missing husband. As Harper tracks different leads, he discovers more strange characters. Will Harper find the kidnap victim before it is too late?

The first time I seen this, I was already a huge fan of Bacall and Newman and found the film good, but not great. On watching this again, I really found I enjoyed it much more. The wise cracking humor is very good and not over the top, especially Winters’ character. I think if you are a fan of hardboiled P.I.’s like Marlowe, Spade and Hammer you should give Archer…I mean Harper a try.

Favorite Tidbit: Frank Sinatra was offered the lead, but turned it down.

Review: A Wolf at the Door or O Lobo atrás da Porta

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A Wolf at the Door is a film written and directed by Fernando Coimbra. This is his first full length film and I look forward to seeing more from him.

This story starts with Sylvia, played by Fabiula Nascimento, going to pick up her daughter at school. She is told by the teacher that Sylvia called earlier and her neighbor has picked up her daughter. Of course Sylvia did not call and has no idea who has picked up her daughter.

Soon Sylvia’s Husband, played by Milhem Cortaz, is brought into the police station. His mistress, played by Leandra Leal is also soon brought in for questioning. From here we get a he said, she said story. Our husband tells his story and how he has left his mistress, but she did not take it well. Then we get the mistress’ story about how she didn’t know her boyfriend was married with a family and was betrayed by her boyfriend.

Which one of these two are telling the truth? Did either one have anything to do with the kidnapping? This movie is a bit of a slow burn, but it is worth the payoff in the end. This is a he said/she said with unreliable narrators and a crazy ending. The film is from Brazil, but shows a domestic life similar to anywhere in the world, showing fears and realities of mentally unstable people and of course the dark side of affairs. Is our mistress a femme fatale or is she a victim of circumstance? This film is worth watching for fans of world cinema and neo-noir.

Review: The Curse of the Cat People

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The Curse of the Cat People is the sequel of The Cat People, both produced for RKO by Val Lewton. This film is directed by Gunther von Fritsch (as Gunther V. Fritsch)  and Robert Wise. This is Wise’s first film and of course went on to direct some great films noir as well as a few classic musicals and throw in some sci-fi and horror favorites. Our three main characters are the same as the first film and we throw in a creepy little girl for an added twist.

This film was released in 1944, two years after the first film. Over this two years, our happy couple at the end of the first film has married and has a 7 to 8-year-old daughter named Amy, played by Ann Carter. If this time frame doesn’t make sense, well I think your right. Not only do we have a little girl 6 years older than possible, her father played by Kent Smith, thinks she has a little of her deceased first wife in her, someone who has died a year or so before she was born. Well who said a good film has to make total sense, especially a horror noir.

The film starts with a class of kids out playing, we soon learn Amy is a little different then the other kids. She starts to chase a butterfly and a boy helps her catch it. The boy accidentally kills the butterfly and Amy slaps the boy. Her father and mother played by Jane Randolph, meet with her teacher. When the teacher tell the parents it was nothing, only a slap. Her father is concerned with his daughter and how she is acting. The teacher reassured the couple that Amy is fine and it’s just kids being kids(Wow! how things have changed! can you imagine a girl slapping a boy in class today and the parents being worried about her actions and the teacher saying not to worry about it?)

As the film goes on Amy is alienated from the other kids more and more, but she finds a new friend in the ghost of Irene, her fathers first wife, played by Simone Simon, who has died in the first film. Things continue to get creeper and creeper from here.

Even though a lot of this film takes place during the Christmas Holiday, I think it is safe to say, this and the first film would make for a great Halloween double feature. Here is my review of the first film:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/09/23/re-watching-the-classics-cat-people/