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Noir Series: Quadruple Featureby Ari
While not a seminal work, I Wake Up Screaming is a highly enjoyable thriller from Fox’s vault of film noir - a taut entertainment that features some excellent performances from leads Betty Grable, Victor Mature, and Laird Cregar. Many of Fox’s classic noirs follow the conventions from that period of storytelling rather obviously, but the formula works in favor of the writer and director, who showcase sharp wit and style respectively. Specific actors love to chew on classically stylized pulp dialogue, and Cregar in particular enjoys the edge, wickedness, and manipulation his character of police inspector Ed Cornell gets to exude. Writer Dwight Taylor creates the best kind of nervous tension, the kind that provokes while thrilling.
Frankie Christopher (Mature) is a promoter. He finds talent and gets them noticed, earning them fame and fortune, and quietly enjoying the benefits outside the limelight. When he meets beautiful waitress Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis), he immediately recognizes his opportunity and makes her a promising, bright new star. Vicky’s sister, Jill (Grable) is initially wary about Christopher’s intentions, but warms up to him considerably once she lays eyes on him. Frankie is handsome and charming, an intelligent, cheerful man who knows what he is and takes pride in what he’s accomplished. His pride is why he’s so crushed when Vicky dumps his services for a chance to star in Hollywood pictures, a much greater step for notoriety than she claimed in New York City. Vicky, however, never makes it to Hollywood, murdered the day before she’s supposed to leave. The obvious suspect is Christopher, but Jill’s affection for him convinces her that something more sinister is at play, especially when Inspector Ed Cornell is so determined to see him burn. The structure is familiar, spending time with flashbacks to further develope the many characters and relationships at hand. It’s this familiarity that makes the outcome fairly obvious. But when you have expert actors like Cregar delivering a line like, “When I get all my evidence together, I'm gonna have you tied up like a pig in a slaughterhouse”, with such malice and command, it’s impossible to not enjoy. Grable is beautiful and charming, a sweeter touch for a style of storytelling that usually relies on fierce sex-appeal. Victor Mature is one of the classiest actors of his day, always a pleasure to watch, always entertaining and memorable. Their romance is softer and warmer than one might expect, focused on feeling instead of lust. I Wake Up Screaming isn’t a profound achievement, but it’s certainly one worth enjoying again and again. Kiss Me Deadly (1955) “Blood red kisses! White hot thrills! Mickey Spillane's latest H-bomb!” The poster says it all. Kiss Me Deadly is a Robert Aldrich masterpiece; a disturbing, exciting, dangerous, unpredictable and thematically powerful social commentary that does everything great cinema should do. Unforgettable in its piercing symbolism, brilliant in its style and direction, Kiss Me Deadly captures a sense of drama and fright that few thrillers have. This film is as equally intriguing as it is terrifying, an unnerving account of imminent chaos and destruction using a Pandora’s Box as a forceful narrative tool.
Los Angeles Private Eye Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) gets in over his head when he picks up a nervous hitchhiker clearly on the run and with a secret. She needs to get somewhere quickly, and he reluctantly obliges, only to be caught and knocked unconscious by mysterious, extremely threatening figures. He awakens to a nightmarish situation where is captors are torturing his hitchhiker friend for information, he fades away back into unconsciousness and the next thing he knows he’s in a hospital the following day. Once back in his usual lifestyle, he’s informed the woman he briefly met was killed, and the police and FBI are interested in gathering the facts. Hammer is naturally interested in the case himself, and decides to begins his own investigation even though he was warned otherwise. Hammer wants answers to who this woman was and why she was targeted, and his investigative work leads him to the mysteries of a particular item, one with seemingly extraordinary powers and summed up perfectly by his police acquaintance: “Manhattan Project, Los Alamos, Trinity." Kiss Me Deadly is vintage noir, dark and gritty, fueled by the violent and destructive nature of men. Aldrich’s intense sense of realism brings to mind another exceptional thriller of social commentary: Seconds. While not as upsetting as as Frankenheimer's masterpiece, Kiss Me Deadly has a similar sense of forthcoming doom. Simply put, one of the absolute best noirs. In A Lonely Place (1950) Bogart’s most underrated performance in his most underrated film. In a Lonely Place is a film by Nicolas Ray, the master filmmaker best known for Rebel Without A Cause and Johnny Guitar, and it’s arguably his most confident and profound accomplishment. This noir is focused on two extremely well-written characters, Bogart’s angry screenwriter Dixon Steele, and his sexy neighbor, Laurel Gray, played by the beautiful Gloria Grahame. Ray uses familiar thematic elements, such as fear, violence, and sex, but increases the tension far greater than most filmmakers are willing to go. A daring filmmaker, Ray creates suspense as effortlessly as film has seen.
Steele is a struggling screenwriter with a dark mood and a short temper. A violent rage stirs within, and it seems like only a matter of time before it releases in all its fury. Steele is a Hollywood loser, considered for a writing gig by executives pressuring him for a solid, accessible, and ultimately successful screenplay. Steele happens to meet a pretty hatcheck girl that evening, and takes her home to discuss ideas for his adaptation of a trash novel he has no particular interest in writing. Later that night, the girl is found dead, and all directions point to Steele as the murderer. Luckily for him, his neighbor Laurel (who Dixon hardly knows) provides an alibi, convinced he’s innocent of such a brutal crime. This clears him from trouble, and a relationship blossoms. They fall in love, a new motivation for Dixon’s writing and personal security. His artistic sensibilities are reinvigorated because of her, and he seems happier and move alive than ever. The audience has no idea whether he’s innocent or not. We believe Laurel’s alibi and Dixon's innocent claims, but when his temper and anger return, new questions arise. She begins to think twice about his innocence, descending into a place of fear and panic at his violent possibilities. Their relationship gradually crumbles as his condition gets worse and worse, and her constant state of horror only punctuates their demise. She believes his violent anger will turn against her, and director Ray and screenwriter Edmund North let that feeling of uneasiness and dread slowly rise and unnerve. It’s powerful filmmaking, even more impressive on subsequent viewing. The crisp photography, sharp dialogue, and mesmerizing performances are what make In a Lonely Place a definitive classic. Bogart’s thunderous work is the stuff of legend. Imagine the charm and wit of his Marlowe or Spade, mixed with the ferocity of Commander Queeg in The Caine Mutiny. That’s Dixon Steele. A masterpiece. The Killers (1946)
Robert Siodmak was a great filmmaker. His range was vast, from the escapist joy of The Crimson Pirate to the horror/suspense of The Spiral Staircase to the hard-boiled thrills of his finest work, The Killers. Many people consider Double Indemnity to be the essential noir. Some will point to The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, Laura, or Out of the Past. Undeniable masterworks and absolute high-points of noir’s prime era. The Killers is my favorite noir, a momentous accomplishment that represents everything I find so appealing about the style. Using flashbacks to tell a story can be dangerous territory for lesser filmmakers, but Siodmak and writer Anthony Veiller (adapting Ernest Hemingway with uncredited work by John Huston and Richard Brooks) use the structure with expert precision, carefully revealing each important detail for the best possible effect. This is a taut and compelling noir presentation, a triumph of tone, atmosphere, and character. The Killers captivates from the very outset, with arguably the single best-written opening sequence of any thriller. And from there on, Siodmak takes you on one hell of a ride. When professional hitmen kill a man called ‘The Swede’ in a small town, an investigator takes on the case despite the fact that it’s been deemed unimportant by his superiors. The case leads him to piecing together the life of Swede Anderson (the invaluable Burt Lancaster in his first role) a former boxer who becomes involved with criminal activity and a dangerous femme fatale played by the exquisite Ava Gardner. Her introduction has her singing “The More I Know of Love” with an absorbed Lancaster (and us, the audience) struck by her beauty and elegance. What follows is a story of deception and violence, as Siodmak cuts back and forth between the investigation and the flashbacks, weaving together a gripping entertainment of crime, love, and loss. Burt Lancaster (my favorite actor) clearly displays why he was a born star with his debut performance. He can be charismatic. He can be dangerous. He can be tragic, intimidating, romantic, and humorous. Lancaster had the ability to portray any character, rising to the challenge of a complex role. He and Gardner create something beautiful on-screen, a chemistry, sexiness, and realism that immediately engrosses the audience. These were classical movie stars, glamorous and talented. The Killers is essential viewing. |
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