Haggai
01-27-2010, 02:31 PM
The John Garfield double bill at Noir City began with a special message to San Francisco filmgoers from his daughter Julie, in a letter that Eddie read onstage. She detailed some of the indignities and maltreatment her dad was subject to under the blacklist--constantly hounded by the FBI, pressured to name his friends and his wife, unable to work in film for 18 months--and she expressed pride in him for holding out until his tragically early death.
Garfield and Lana Turner burned up the screen in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, with hoots and whistles from the audience for her scintillating intro scene. Audrey Totter got a big cheer for her pithy line in her short appearance: "It's hot, that's a leather seat, and I'm wearing a thin skirt." But the biggest applause came for Hume Cronyn as the diabolically cynical defense lawyer, running circles around his clients and the DA as he manipulates everyone to his advantage. Old-time slang sometimes gets a rise out of modern movie audiences, as per the uproarious reaction to Cronyn's line about his tough guy assistant, an ex-private eye: "He used to be a dick, but he's not a dick anymore."
The program continued with Garfield's last film appearance, as a mixed-up hood on the lam in HE RAN ALL THE WAY. The excellent print on the huge screen highlighted the withering tension in the hostage scenes between Garfield and the unfortunate family of Shelley Winters, brilliantly staged and filmed by director John Berry and cinematographer James Wong Howe. Dependable character actor Wallace Ford had perhaps his finest role as the anguished father, torn between defending his family and his near fatal suspicion of his daughter's feelings toward their captor. Garfield's whirling array of moods range from brutal violence to gentle affection, especially with the scared and frustrated young son of the family. The audience was hooked to the drama and cheered the final release of tension in the sad denoument.
Overall, it was not only a tribute night to the great range and talent of one of noir's finest leading men, but also to the versatility of the classic style itself. Hot dames, woeful chumps, and other noir iconography were all on display in the first film, followed by a remarkably affecting and disquieting set of emotional choices facing the all too ordinary characters in the nightcap.
Garfield and Lana Turner burned up the screen in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, with hoots and whistles from the audience for her scintillating intro scene. Audrey Totter got a big cheer for her pithy line in her short appearance: "It's hot, that's a leather seat, and I'm wearing a thin skirt." But the biggest applause came for Hume Cronyn as the diabolically cynical defense lawyer, running circles around his clients and the DA as he manipulates everyone to his advantage. Old-time slang sometimes gets a rise out of modern movie audiences, as per the uproarious reaction to Cronyn's line about his tough guy assistant, an ex-private eye: "He used to be a dick, but he's not a dick anymore."
The program continued with Garfield's last film appearance, as a mixed-up hood on the lam in HE RAN ALL THE WAY. The excellent print on the huge screen highlighted the withering tension in the hostage scenes between Garfield and the unfortunate family of Shelley Winters, brilliantly staged and filmed by director John Berry and cinematographer James Wong Howe. Dependable character actor Wallace Ford had perhaps his finest role as the anguished father, torn between defending his family and his near fatal suspicion of his daughter's feelings toward their captor. Garfield's whirling array of moods range from brutal violence to gentle affection, especially with the scared and frustrated young son of the family. The audience was hooked to the drama and cheered the final release of tension in the sad denoument.
Overall, it was not only a tribute night to the great range and talent of one of noir's finest leading men, but also to the versatility of the classic style itself. Hot dames, woeful chumps, and other noir iconography were all on display in the first film, followed by a remarkably affecting and disquieting set of emotional choices facing the all too ordinary characters in the nightcap.