William Lundigan

Review: Follow Me Quietly

bryancyr film-noir, Movie , , , ,

Follow Me Quietly might be the freakiest classic film noir of them all! This film was made in 1949 and directed by Richard Fleischer. Noir directing great Anthony Mann helped with the story.

This story is a classic police procedural, centering around Police Lt. Harry Grant played by William Lundigan. Grant is on the case of The Judge, a serial killer who seems to attack his victims when it rains. Dorothy Patrick plays Ann Gorman, a journalist for a dirt rag. Grant is not a fan of the magazine Gorman works for and does not want to work with her. Gorman is charming and Grant finally agrees to help her as long as he is in full control of the article. When Grant can not get a decent lead on The Judge, he brings in a sketch artist to draw what they know. Then a dummy maker is brought in to do a life-size rendition of The Judge to help them identify him.

If you don’t find this kind of creepy, I don’t know what will. There is a scene with the dummy in a rain storm that will make you jump as well.

Jeff Corey is also very good in this film, playing Police Sgt. Art Collins. He is the voice of reason to Grant, as Grant starts to lose his mind with the pressure of the investigation.

This is a very good, short film noir and it is worth watching for all noir fans. It is also worth viewing to see how police procedures have changed and how they have stayed the same over the last 5 decades.  Not to mention the freaky dummy is worth the price of admission.

Review: Inferno

bryancyr film-noir, Movie , , , , , , ,

Inferno is a 3D film-noir!??!  This movie is filmed in 3D, a very popular thing in the early 50’s and 20th Century Fox was a little late to the game.  This was their first film in 3D and didn’t come out until 1953.

This has film noir great Robert Ryan playing a millionaire that is abandon in the desert and left for dead.  He has a broken leg and has to survive on his own with very little water and food.

We also have frequent femme fatale Rhonda Fleming as the wife that leaves her rich husband in the desert to die.  Her motivation for doing so, is falling in love with the desert guide 3 days before, played by William Lundigan, and a circumstance where her husband falls from his horse and breaks his leg.

This is written by Francis M. Cockrell who wrote a lot of crime and thriller stories for the big and small screen.  Inferno is directed by Roy Ward Baker who directed many crime and horror projects for movies and television.

Our hero’s thirst for survival is based on his need for revenge on his wife.  We almost have 2 films here, the survival story of our hero and out femme fatale covering up the murder she thinks she’s committed.  Both come back together for a final conclusion in the end.

This is not a traditional film-noir, being filmed in color and 3-D, with stereo sound to boot.  The effect is well done, with the beauty of the desert setting and Fleming’s red hair and blue eyes popping in vivid Technicolor.  I watched this on television so I didn’t get to watch this in 3-D.  There was a few of these 3-D noir films made in the 1950’s, it would be cool to see these released on 3-D Blu-Ray.

This is not a widely viewed film with under 600 viewer ratings on IMDb.  I actually think this would be enjoyed by a wider audience then just crime and noir fans.  I think the outdoors enthusiast as well as western fans may enjoy this as well.