I can't believe it rates a small chapter in Selby's Film Noir.
I can't believe it rates a small chapter in Selby's Film Noir.
Thanks to a tip on this Back Alley Forum, I watched Wicked Woman on YouTube the other night. What a gas! This film completely lived up to its reputation. Great 50s sleaze. Beverly Michaels and Richard Egan looked like they walked right off a vintage Gold Medal paperback cover. And one of Percy Helton's best performances, oily to a fault. I especially liked the last scene where Beverly blows town on a Trailways bus, her plans in ruins, but wastes no time in vamping the male passenger next to her. An absolute hoot!
Today I watched:
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Really good noir though it had its flaws. I'd give it 4/5
Murder, My Sweet
It was good but I couldn't help but think that Bogart should've played Marlow. The cinematography is great but the story is a little too much all over the place for my taste. I was expecting this to be really great but I was a bit disappointed. 3/5
"Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know, if you rip off the fronts of houses, you'd find swine? The world's a hell. What does it matter what happens in it?"
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
"Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money - and a woman - and I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it? "
- Double Indemnity (1944)
I'm sorry you were disappointed in Murder, My Sweet. Bogart is a great Marlowe but I like Dick Powell's wry voice-over narration and especially his acting in the drugged out scenes. I also like his interaction with Mike Mazurki and Claire Trevor. I will say that you're absolutely right about the lenswork and lighting. They are terrific. Heavy-duty noirsville.Originally Posted by WilderIndemnity
Humphrey Bogart is great in everything, but he's always Humphrey Bogart. He's fine as both Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, but doesn't quite seem like either character as I imagine them in the novels.
Even though I think The Big Sleep is a better movie than Murder, My Sweet, as a Raymond Chandler fan, I prefer Dick Powell as Marlowe, and wish he'd played the character in more movies.
Yes, I guess that's true. The one movie that I don't think of him as Bogart though is In A Lonely Place. Acting wise, I think he plays his best role in it.
Interesting. Perhaps I had too huge expectations on Murder, My Sweet and thought that Dick Powell had too large shoe's to fill (I've only seen Bogart as Marlow before).
Anyway, I'm going to be watching some Fritz Lang noirs that I've missed soon. Just finished watching his 4 and a half hour long silent crime movie, Dr. Mabuse - The Gambler so I want to check out some of the noirs I've missed also.
"Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know, if you rip off the fronts of houses, you'd find swine? The world's a hell. What does it matter what happens in it?"
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
"Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money - and a woman - and I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it? "
- Double Indemnity (1944)
I have a buddy with this take on Bogart and The Big Sleep:
I had the same problem with The Big Sleep. I know Philip Marlowe is supposed to be a damn good private eye, but nobody is that good. Normally, there are a couple of major twists along the way (perhaps close to the end) that the smart private eye will figure out late in the film, that helps him solve everything (eg. The Maltese Falcon). But in The Big Sleep, he is ten steps ahead of everyone all the time, having one of those "major discovery" or "I knew you were lying" moments every 30 seconds. My suspension of disbelief only goes so far...
I got Selby's book recently and I was watching the few he had written essays about that I hadn't seen. Otherwise, Undercurrent probably would have been on my back burner for some time.
I just watched Pitfall on DVD-R from Amazon. When I looked at the cover and saw "Synergy Entertainment" I remembered Steve-O complaining about the awful watermarking on it. Good news- the watermark is NOT on continuously. The watermark pops up about 4 times throughout the movie for about 10-15 seconds each time. Kinda like a bit bigger (and uglier) TCM logo you see from time-to-time while watching movies there. The picture quality is fair, I suppose. Not real sharp, but definitely watchable. Have seen better and worse from MOD. Hadn't seen the movie so $9.99 and free shipping was worth it to me.
Film itself was enjoyable. Leaves some loose ends, though. It seems to want to give us a least one part of a happy ending, although they have to settle on just a possibility of that. What happens to the most morally virtuous of the main characters is very sad.
A few months ago The Self-Styled Siren and Kim Morgan were chatting online about how much they loved Undercurrent. I -- like you guys -- hated it. Kim mentioned that it's because I was looking at is as a noir. Which made me think she was probably right. As a noir it's a stinker. It might be a good movie but not my kind of film. I seem to remember Eddie Muller doesn't like it either. I want to watch it with a clear mind but it was so boring the first time....
That's a good point. It's more of a Gothic melodrama than a noir. (Although I found it too all over the place to even qualify as just a Gothic melodrama.)
But it might make a nice double bill with the similarly Gothic and also somewhat noirish Dragonwyck.
Last edited by Adam Lounsbery; 02-09-2012 at 09:56 AM.
I did not ready Selby's essay until AFTER watching the film so it would not interfere. Still, to be one of only 25 films he wrote about, it raised expectations. The film is on two other noir "master lists", so there was no reason to expect what transpired. For me, this film was over when my mind started wandering while waiting for SOMETHING to happen. Once a film has "lost" me, it's hard to get me back.
I've seen many noir that in my opinion were not very noir, but if they were good films, I still enjoyed them. This made me wonder if one of the issues with Undercurrent was gender appeal? Keaney classifies its noir type as "Newlywed". Some of the others that he classifies this way include : Cause for Alarm, Gaslight, Rebecca and Suspicion which all have the "woman-in-jeopardy" theme and are told from the woman's point of view. I would say that Caught and The House on Telegraph Hill are similar as well. However, I enjoyed all those films (some more than others). Maybe it IS Katharine Hepburn. I have never been a fan and any film she has ever been in, my enjoyment has pretty much depended on other strong/interesting characters around her. Robert Taylor's character is not interesting at all and Mitchum is underutilized. The jealousy of the phantom brother is not compelling. Hepburn isn't interesting enough to carry a film by herself-not to me at least.
Edge Of Doom (1951)
Bleak, dark 1950 Film Noir, nice visuals of a tenement. Review on review thread, caught it on Netflix streaming.
Just watched Drive (2011) last night, and it's easily the best film I've watched in months. I give it my highest recommendation.
I, The Jury (1953)
I watched Naked Alibi with Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame, and Gene Barry. Nice lenswork in this one, including some Mexico scenes, and GG looks great.
I just finished Night in the City with Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney and two wonderful supporting roles from Francis Sullivan and Googie Withers. A great great film and I highly recommend it.
Just finished watching the very decent print of Fear in the Night (1947) on Netflix. Very enjoyable amnesia noir, despite the fact that it looks like it had a budget of about $12 (which fortunately ends up lending it an appropriately gritty quality). However, I just read the write-up on by Renzi on NotW and was unfortunately disappointed. He spends most of his time analyzing a supposedly homosexual subtext that simply doesn't exist. It's another regrettable instance of an academic reading too much into a film and "finding" interpretations that aren't accurate (and I can say that, as I am an academic).
yeah.... I didn't get that review either. and I want a bathrobe like that!However, I just read the write-up on by Renzi on NotW and was unfortunately disappointed.
Over the weekend I caught Tiger in Smoke (see Guy's excellent piece at NOTW. I don't know the source of my copy of the film but it's a perfect transfer). I also finally got around to Hicky and Boggs! Wow. Where has this neo-noir been? Culp could direct. He should have done more.
Edit: Is that JACK WEBB doing the voice over for the trailer?
The Dark Corner (1946) a New York based PI story, Director Henry Hathaway with Lucille Ball, Mark Stevens, Kurt Kreuger, Cathy Downs, Reed Hadley, Clifton Webb and William Bendix. Great shots of the old 3rd Avenue El, Tudor's Penny Arcade, Childs Restaurant on Times Square, some nice Noir cinematography and some good lines 8/10
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