4th Luso World Cinema Blogathon–Favorite Mary Astor Performances

The Luso World Cinema Blogathon is an annual event hosted by Spellbound with Beth Ann and Critica Retro. I’ll admit that I didn’t know anything about Luso cinema, in fact, I didn’t know what “Luso” meant. Research revealed that “Luso” is a prefix used in relation to Portugal and Portuguese culture. From reading through the list of actors/actresses of Portuguese heritage, I learned that one of my favorites, Mary Astor, fits this description.

Mary Astor was born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke in Quincy, Illinois on May 3, 1906. Her father was German and her mother was American. Mary got her Portuguese heritage from her mother. Mary was homeschooled by her mother until 1919 when she sent a photo of herself to a beauty contest and became a semi-finalist. When she was 15, she began taking drama lessons and appearing in local productions. Mary submitted her photos to other beauty contests, eventually catching the attention of an employee at Famous Players-Lasky. She was then signed to a six-month contract at Paramount. Mary would eventually make her screen debut in 1921 at the age of 14.

Mary’s career in silent film had its ups and downs. In 1929, she briefly found herself out of work as her voice was deemed too deep for talkies. However, she appeared in a play with her friend Florence Eldridge (wife of Fredric March) which ended up getting her back into films. She started being cast in films again and was on her way to stardom. In 1935, Mary had an extra-marital affair and was later embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with her ex-husband. In many cases, an adulteress’ career would be over, but the scandal seemed to have little effect on her career. Mary would eventually win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1941 for her role in The Great Lie.

Mary Astor’s career reached its peak in the 1940s with her Oscar win and appearance in the film noir classic, The Maltese Falcon, as Brigid O’Shaugnessy. As what happened with a lot of actresses back then, as soon as Mary hit 40 she was seen as a “mother” figure and was often cast in more matronly roles such as matriarch Anna Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis and Marmee in Little Women. Some of Astor’s best roles however come during this time when she took on against-type parts, such as playing a prostitute in Act of Violence or a madam in Desert Fury. Mary made her final appearance in 1964 in the small, but important role of Jewel Mayhew in Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte.

Mary Astor had a lot of great roles in her long career. Here are my top 5 favorite Mary Astor performances:

Walter Huston and Mary Astor in “Dodsworth.”

#1 Dodsworth (1936). In this film, Mary plays “the other woman,” a role which typically isn’t sympathetic and is usually villainous. However, in Dodsworth, Mary’s performance as Edith Cortright and relationship with Walter Huston’s Sam Dodsworth is so beautiful that she is seen as the woman that Sam deserves. In this film, Sam and his wife Fran (Ruth Chatterton)’s daughter is all grown and married. Fran cannot accept being old enough to have a grown and married daughter. Sam retires and hopes to live a life of leisure with Fran. They’re planning on starting their retirement with an extended European vacation. While on the ocean liner, Sam meets Edith and Fran meets a young Englishman (David Niven) with whom she flirts. Sam ends up spending much of his time on the boat with Edith. While in Europe, Fran wants to be part of the jet set, spending her time living the high life while pretending to be much younger. Sam just wants to see the sights. As the Dodsworths find themselves growing apart, through a chance encounter, Sam reunites with Edith.

Mary’s performance in Dodsworth is very charming and sweet. She is what the film needs to offset the vain and materialistic Fran. While she is the “other woman” so to speak, Sam is such a nice guy and Fran is so awful, that we as the audience want Sam and Edith to be together.

Mary Astor and Joel McCrea in “The Palm Beach Story.”

#2 The Palm Beach Story (1942). Mary Astor’s performance in this film is unlike any other part that I’ve seen her play. While she doesn’t seem like the obvious choice to appear in a Preston Sturges screwball comedy, Mary is right at home. In this film, she plays the oft-married Princess Maud Centimillia. At the start of the film, she’s on her way home to Palm Beach, FL with her latest conquest, Toto. She pulls up to the dock in her yacht and immediately wants to drop Toto for Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea). Tom is in town looking for his wife, Gerry (Claudette Colbert) who has traveled to Palm Beach from New York. While on the train to Florida, Gerry meets the Princess’ brother, John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee). John is instantly smitten with Gerry and takes her back to his home to give her a place to stay.

Mary Astor’s performance as the Princess is hysterical. Even though she’s taken Toto as her lover, she wants nothing to do with him as soon as she spots Joel McCrea. Her disdain for Toto is so clear and obvious, but he’s a dope and doesn’t pick up on it. The Princess constantly has to think of errands to send Toto on so she’ll go away. She’s also very funny when Gerry introduces her husband as “Captain McGlue” in an effort to hide the fact that he’s her husband. When Tom later reveals that he is not Captain McGlue, the Princess says: “Thank heaven for some things. That name!”

Clark Gable and Mary Astor in “Red Dust.”

#3 Red Dust (1933) In this film, Mary plays Barbara Willis, the wealthy wife of Gary (Gene Raymond) who is sent to oversee a rubber plantation in French Indochina. The manager of the rubber plantation is Dennis Carson (Clark Gable). Another visitor to the plantation is Vantine (Jean Harlow), a young prostitute on the lam. Vantine is instantly smitten with Dennis and he seems interested in her until he sees Barbara. Barbara is the polar opposite of Vantine. She is brunette, more classy and ladylike. In contrast, Vantine is a bleached blonde, a brash, and outspoken. Gary ends up coming down with malaria, which puts him out of commission and more importantly, away from Barbara. Dennis spends the week of Barbara’s visit seducing her until she finally succumbs to his advances. Meanwhile, Vantine looks on with intense jealousy.

This is a very sexy part for Mary Astor. She is given the chance to have the hot and heavy affair with the hunky Clark Gable. The entire film is sweaty and it feels sweaty. At one point, Barbara is caught in the rain and is drenched. She then shares a sexy kiss with Gable.

Mary Astor and John Barrymore in “Midnight.”

#4 Midnight (1939) In this film, Mary plays the wealthy Helene Flammarion, the wife of Georges Flammrion (John Barrymore). She is very openly having an affair with ladies man, Jacques Picot (Frances Lederer). At the beginning of the film, Eve Peabody (Claudette Colbert) crashes a concert attended by members of the Parisian high society. She ends up running into Marcel Renaud (Rex O’Malley) who invites her to play bridge with himself, Helene, and Jacques. Eve introduces herself as “Madame Czerny.” Georges enters the room and sees Eve. He pretends to recognize Madame Czerny.

Georges comes up with a scheme to break up his wife and Jacques. He proposes to Eve that she try and break up Jacques and Helene. If she succeeds, Georges will give her a good payoff to reward her for her efforts. He will also give her 50,000 francs and invites her to his and Helene’s home in Versailles for the weekend. Georges also puts Eve up in a suite at the Ritz and buys her a new wardrobe, worthy of her persona as Madame Czerny. Meanwhile, cab driver Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche) is looking for Eve, having fallen in love with her while her drove her around town. When he finally finds her, he is amused that she’s taken on his surname as her fake royalty name.

While Mary Astor is more of a side character in this film, she is very funny in her part as John Barrymore’s unfaithful wife. She has absolutely no discretion in her affair with Jacques. Mary excels in these parts playing a bit of a goody two shoes, but also classy and a bit rigid. She’s also great at delivering her lines with a bit of bitterness, cynicism, while also being very funny.

Mary Astor and Humphrey Bogart in “The Maltese Falcon”

#5 The Maltese Falcon (1941). This is perhaps Mary Astor’s most famous role, that of femme fatale Brigid O’Shaugnessy in John Huston’s directorial debut and Humphrey Bogart’s breakout role. In this film, Brigid introduces herself to Bogart’s Sam Spade as “Miss Wonderly,” but he soon figures out that she’s lying about her identity. She comes to Sam wanting help in finding out the whereabouts of her missing sister. All Brigid can say is that she came to town (San Francisco) with Floyd Thursby. Sam puts his associate, Miles Archer, on the case. Miles is murdered while investigating Thursby’s whereabouts.

Sam sets out to investigate Archer’s death, but is soon thrust into an even larger (more interesting) mystery. He goes to Brigid, now calling herself Brigid having abandoned the “Miss Wonderly” moniker, to find out more information about Thursby. Brigid confesses that she made up the story about her sister and revealed that Thursby was her partner. She also puts forth the theory that Thursby probably killed Archer. When Sam returns to his office, he encounters Joe Cairo (Peter Lorre) who is wanting help looking for a statue of a black bird.

The black bird investigation proves to be a lot more interesting, especially when it turns out that Brigid is acquainted with Joe Cairo. Sam also learns that Cairo and Brigid are part of a gang led by Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet). Wilmer Cook (Elisha Cook Jr.) is Kasper’s gunsel and eventual fall guy. The ending of the film where Sam calls Brigid out and says she was responsible for Archer’s death. This is Mary Astor’s time to shine. In the scene, she is heartbroken that Sam Spade, with whom she thought she was in love, sends her up the river. She pleads with him to not turn her over to the police, but to no avail. He “consoles” her stating that she’ll probably be out in twenty years. As she descends in the elevator, Brigid’s face is covered by the shadows of bars on the windows.

3rd Annual Agnes Moorehead Blogathon: Dark Passage (1947)

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t seen “Dark Passage,” the ending will be spoiled in this article. It is impossible to talk about Agnes Moorehead’s role in this film without discussing the ending. In a happy coincidence, “Dark Passage” is scheduled to air on TCM’s Noir Alley this Saturday, May 4th at 9:15 pm (Pacific) and on Sunday, May 5th at 7:00am (Pacific).

BOB (to MADGE): Why don’t you leave people alone? You’re not satisfied unless you bother people. Either it’s your family or your friends, people you don’t know…No feelings for you. No feeling at all, except I’m annoyed whenever I see you.

Bruce Bennett as “Bob” and Agnes Moorehead as “Madge Rapf” in Dark Passage (1947)

This quote pretty much sums up every character in Dark Passage‘s relationship and feelings about Madge Rapf, portrayed by the brilliant Agnes Moorehead. She is the town busy body, known to everyone and liked by no one. She gets on everyone’s nerves with her persistence, suspicion, and tendency to insert herself into everyone’s business.

Madge Rapf is the ultimate woman scorned.

At the start of the film, Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart, whose voice is heard, but isn’t shown until about halfway through) escapes from the notorious San Quentin prison. As the audience, we only see the events transpire from Vincent’s perspective. He is picked up by a passing motorist, who soon starts to ask too many questions and is knocked unconscious by Vincent. Another motorist, Irene Janson (Lauren Bacall) picks Vincent up and smuggles him past the police roadblock and takes him to her apartment in San Francisco. Irene explains that she followed his case closely and knew who he was when she spotted him. She further explains that her father had been falsely convicted of murder, something that she believes has also happened to Vincent. Irene states that her father’s false conviction has inspired her to take an interest in instances of injustice.

Madge annoys Bob one too many times while Irene looks on.

Here’s where Madge comes into the story. Madge, it turns out, is acquainted with Irene and Bob (Bruce Bennett). Bob is a friend of Irene’s who wants to be romantically involved with her. How Madge knows Irene isn’t made clear, but she knows her, because she seems to know everyone. It is also revealed that Madge is well acquainted with Vincent and was the star witness at his trial. Her testimony, in which she claimed Vincent’s late wife had identified him as her killer, is what clinched his guilty verdict and placed him into a cell at San Quentin. Madge had made romantic advances toward Vincent, and when he rejected her, she delivered the false (but incriminating) testimony out of spite. She has resented Vincent ever since. When Madge hears about his escape and then thinks she hears his voice in Irene’s apartment, she becomes convinced that Vincent is going to murder her.

Vincent, needing to hide in plain sight from the police, takes the advice of a cab driver to visit the office of a disgraced plastic surgeon. At around 3am, Vincent arrives at the surgeon’s office and receives a “new look.” The new look is obviously the face of Humphrey Bogart, so that he can be seen in the film. There is an amusing scene earlier in the film where a photo of Vincent Parry is seen in a newspaper article. The man in the photo looks absolutely nothing like Bogart, which just goes to show how skilled the plastic surgeon is.

Bacall nurses Bogie back to health.

Before getting outfitted with a new face, Vincent had visited the apartment of his friend George, who lived near the doctor’s office. He asks George for a place to stay while he recovers from the surgery. Upon Vincent’s return, he finds George dead on the floor–a victim of murder. Vincent eventually ends up at Irene’s apartment. She assists him during his recovery and helps him with his new look and gives him a new name. Because this film stars married couple Bogie and Bacall, their respective characters start to develop romantic feelings toward one another.

Eventually, Vincent becomes suspicious of Madge, knowing that she has been hanging around Irene’s apartment. He also knows that she knows he’s around somewhere. Vincent shows up at Madge’s apartment to confront her over the deaths of both his wife and George. He presents a document outlining his accusations towards Madge and attempts to coerce her to sign it, which would serve as her confession. Madge refuses, knowing that without her confession, Vincent has no proof of his claims. Madge, still the woman scorned, is also upset that Vincent is in love with Irene.

MADGE to VINCENT: I’ve cried myself to sleep at night because of you. She’s (Irene) got you now. She wants you very badly doesn’t she? She’s willing to run away with you and keep on running and ruin everything for herself. But she wouldn’t care because she’d be with you and that’s what she wants. Well she doesn’t have you now. She’ll never have you. Nobody will ever have you! And that’s the way I want it! You’re nothing but an escaped convict. Nobody knows what you wrote down. They’ll believe me! They’ll believe me!

Agnes Moorehead as “Madge Rapf” to Humphrey Bogart as “Vincent Parry” in Dark Passage (1947)

Madge about ready to leap, she sure showed him!

Then, in the ultimate power play of a woman scorned, Madge jumps out the window and falls to her death. Vincent has a throwaway line where he tells Irene that Madge “stumbled and fell out the window,” however, it is fairly obvious that Madge jumped on purpose. Before she falls, she is seen grabbing something from the desk, presumably something with which to break the window. Then, she jumps. The window was closed and Madge wasn’t very far from it when she “fell.” There’s no way that Madge would have stumbled with such force that she would have broken the glass. The production code prohibited villains from getting away with their crime through suicide. Presumably, including the dialogue about Madge falling out the window was the film’s way of circumventing the production code.

Can you imagine someone hating you so much, they’d jump out a window to their death to avoid helping you?

The ending scene of Madge’s wrath is expertly performed by Agnes Moorehead. The contempt she feels towards Bogart’s character is so well acted and is felt by the audience. I also appreciate that she’s a bit over the top so that we can safely conclude that this woman is a bit bonkers so we don’t feel too bad for her that she dies. I love movies with scenes that come out of left field. The first time I saw Dark Passage, I didn’t expect Madge to jump. With Bogart there, it seemed like shooting Madge would be the obvious solution. For her to dramatically jump out the window instead, right after her speech where she explains that she won’t do anything to help him, was incredibly shocking and awesome.

6th Golden Boy, A William Holden Celebration Blogathon: Sunset Boulevard (1950)

My post for this event is coming a little early, as I am leaving for the TCM Film Festival in Hollywood tomorrow night! I wanted to make sure I got my article finished before I leave, as I probably won’t have time to do so while I’m in California. I hope to see William Holden in Sabrina while I’m at the festival, but we’ll see. But I digress, today I am not talking about Holden in Sabrina, I am talking about Holden in his breakout role in Sunset Boulevard.

Prior to 1950, Holden’s career was languishing. His first starring role came in 1939’s Golden Boy, co-starring Barbara Stanwyck. Despite Stanwyck’s enormous help and use of her star power to keep Holden from being fired from the production (a kindness that Holden never forgot and repaid his gratitude by sending her flowers every year on the anniversary of Golden Boy‘s first day of production), this film did not prove to be the breakout hit Holden needed to be considered a movie star. He did appear in films with A-list actors such as Humphrey Bogart, Jean Arthur, Ray Milland, Veronica Lake, to name a few, but none of these films would provide Holden with an opportunity to breakout.

William Holden at the start of Sunset Boulevard

After returning from serving in World War II, Holden was placed in a variety of smaller films, where he played what he called “smiling Jim” roles. Holden grew weary of such films and wanted something that would actually challenge his acting ability and give him a different type of role to play. He found that in 1949 when he was offered the role of Joe Gillis, a down on his luck screenwriter in Billy Wilder’s next film, Sunset Boulevard. Wilder’s first choice, Montgomery Clift, had dropped out of the film’s production. Holden wisely saw Wilder’s film as his opportunity to do something different and accepted the role.

My favorite Sunset Boulevard poster.

Sunset Boulevard was the perfect showcase for what would become Holden’s trademark onscreen persona–the handsome and charming, yet flawed man who was cynical of the world around him. His persona is similar to Humphrey Bogart’s except that Holden was classically handsome and could charm anyone with a flash of his smile. Both Bogart and Holden’s characters were often cynical, but Bogart often imbued his performances with a vulnerable quality. Holden’s characters tended to be more heroic and called upon to do the right thing, even if he himself didn’t believe in it. In ‘Sunset,’ Holden ultimately has to do what’s right for Betty Schaefer and his friend (and her fiancé) Artie–even if it’s not what he would have wanted for himself.

Wilder’s film features a very unusual and somewhat macabre framing device–the story’s narrative is told by the corpse of Joe Gillis (Holden), who at the beginning of the film, is seen floating facedown in the pool at silent film star Norma Desmond’s mansion. Wilder’s previous film noir, Double Indemnity, also used a narrator who recounted the previous events leading to that moment. Except in that film, the narrator, Walter Neff, is still alive and is dictating his story into his boss’ Dictaphone. In ‘Boulevard,’ we see the lifeless frozen in time face of Gillis as he goes into his story:

JOE: Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. It’s about five o’clock in the morning. That’s the homicide squad – complete with detectives and newspapermen. A murder has been reported from one of those great big houses in the ten thousand block. You’ll read about it in the late editions, I’m sure. You’ll get it over your radio and see it on television because an old-time star is involved–one of the biggest. But before you hear it all distorted and blown out of proportion, before those Hollywood columnists get their hands on it, maybe you’d like to hear the facts, the whole truth. If so, you’ve come to the right party. You see, the body of a young man was found floating in the pool of her mansion–with two shots in his back and one in his stomach. Nobody important, really. Just a movie writer with a couple of B pictures to his credit. The poor dope! He always wanted a pool. Well, in the end, he got himself a pool–only the price turned out to be a little high. Let’s go back about six months and find the day when it all started.

William Holden as “Joe Gillis” in Sunset Boulevard

The film then segues into the beginning of the flashback. Joe Gillis is at Paramount trying to sell a story idea he’s written, hoping that the studio will buy it and hire him to write the screenplay. A studio “reader,” Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) is already in the office talking to the studio head, advising him to turn down the story. Unfortunately for Betty, Joe overhears the conversation and is upset. Later, when returning home, Joe notices that he’s being followed by a pair of men looking to repossess his car. Trying to outrun and hide from the men, he turns into the driveway of a seemingly deserted mansion, and hides his car in the garage.

JOE: Wait a minute, haven’t I seen you before? I know your face…You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
NORMA: I *am* big, it’s the *pictures* that got small.

William Holden as “Joe Gillis” and Gloria Swanson as “Norma Desmond” in Sunset Boulevard.

However, the mansion is not deserted! It in fact belongs to former silent film star, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Norma hasn’t made a film for over twenty years, but still believes she’s every inch the major Hollywood star. She ambles around in her cavernous mansion, filled with luxurious and expensive decor. Photographs of Norma (real photographs of Swanson during her silent film career) in her heyday are prominently placed throughout the home. Evenings are filled with Norma watching herself perform in her films. Norma is determined to make a comeback, despite hating the word “comeback.” She prefers to think of it as a “return,” a return to the millions of people who won’t forgive her for deserting the screen. Norma’s comeback is set to be a new adaptation of Salome, a script that she has written for herself.

The very bizarre monkey funeral sequence.

Norma’s butler, Max (Erich von Stroheim), exists solely to feed into Norma’s disillusions about her level of celebrity. He gives into her every whim, whether it’s holding a funeral for her dead monkey or organizing a New Years Eve party, complete with an orchestra, for no guests. Max to his credit, is cognizant of Norma’s mental state and takes precautions, such as removing the door knobs so that she cannot lock herself inside when she decides to harm herself. Despite how crazy and funny Norma seems on the outside, inside this is a woman who is struggling and is in desperate need of some therapy and mental help. Norma is a tragic figure in this film.

Having heard that Joe is a writer, Norma hires him to help her with her Salome script. Joe finds the writing abysmal, but with his car about to be repossessed, and his rent in arrears, he realizes that he cannot afford to turn her offer down. Norma has Max set up a room for Joe and soon he’s part of Norma’s life. Norma is ecstatic having Joe around and treats him to champagne, and invites him to engage in one of her favorite pastimes–watching her own movies.

NORMA: We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!

Gloria Swanson as “Norma Desmond” in Sunset Boulevard

Norma entertains Joe with her delightful Charlie Chaplin impression.

The deserted mansion implies that Norma is a bit of a recluse. She does have some visitors, such as “the Waxworks” i.e., her silent film friends who come by once a week to play bridge. This is such a fun sequence, if only to see Buster Keaton, who was known to be an excellent bridge player. He memorably says “Pass” twice during the game. Joe’s continued presence in the home inspires Norma to have Max dust off her old car, a 1929 Isotta Fraschini. By this point, Joe’s work on Norma’s script is long done, and he continues to live with Norma, indulging her fantasies and delusions. She’s tired of Joe’s “dreadful” shirt, his boring sports jacket, and his baggy pants. Norma takes Joe shopping for a brand new wardrobe, and this is the scene that cements Joe’s new status in Norma’s life–kept man. The salesman at the men’s clothing store has a memorable line that sums up Joe’s entire situation when he’s hesitant to allow her to buy him an expensive Vicuna overcoat over the less expensive camel’s hair:

SALESMAN: As long as the lady is paying for it, why not take the Vicuna?

This scene always makes me laugh.

Joe does take the Vicuna and with that starts the second act and one of the most memorable sequences in the film, Norma’s New Years Eve party. She has Max hire an orchestra, put together an enormous spread of food and champagne, everything that would make for a great party. Joe comes down the grand staircase in a beautiful tuxedo with tails and marvels at the scene. He takes Norma’s hand and while dancing, he innocently asks where the other guests are. There are no guests she exclaims, gleefully. Joe realizes that Norma has fallen in love with him. Hmm. Apparently he didn’t realize that when she bought him a brand new wardrobe? Then comes one of my favorite Norma Desmond quotes when she tries to offer Joe a New Years Eve gift:

JOE: Norma, I can’t take it. You’ve bought me enough.
NORMA: Shut up! I’m rich. I’m richer than all this new Hollywood trash. I’ve got a million dollars.

William Holden as “Joe Gillis” and Gloria Swanson as “Norma Desmond” in Sunset Boulevard.

Perhaps the only time we ever saw Jack Webb smile.

Joe eventually leaves and heads to the New Years Eve party of his friend, Artie Green (Jack Webb). As an side, I think this film is the most animated performance I’ve ever seen from Jack Webb. But I digress. Artie’s party is definitely a more raucous and less refined affair than Norma’s party for two. While at the party, Joe runs into Betty again and learns that she’s Artie’s fiancée. However, the two start talking “shop” and discussing Joe’s story idea. Betty comes up with a concept that works with Joe’s idea but changes the setting and characters’ occupation. The two seem to develop an affection for one another as they discuss Joe’s story and get excited by its potential. Eventually though, Joe has to leave and return to Norma.

This scene sets up the overall main conflict of the film: Norma’s obsession with Joe versus Joe and Betty’s burgeoning love affair. When Joe returns home from Artie’s, he learns that Norma attempted suicide over his leaving. Feeling guilty, Joe goes to Norma’s room and ends up wishing her a Happy New Years and kisses her. Talk about mixed signals.

Throughout most of the remainder of the film’s running time, Joe is secretly leaving Norma’s home in the evenings and meeting up with Betty at Paramount. The two are excitedly working together on a story treatment that they hope to sell to the studio. Betty tells Joe about her dreams and past which only endears her to him. She also wants to be a screenwriter and hopes this story may earn her a promotion from reader. Joe is endeared by Betty’s youth and optimism and finds himself falling in love with her. This causes him to feel conflicted, as he doesn’t want to steal his friend’s girlfriend.

JOE: How old are you anyway?
BETTY: Twenty two.
JOE: That’s it–there’s nothing like being twenty two. Now may I suggest that if we’re ever to finish this story you keep at least two feet away from me…now back to the typewriter.

William Holden as “Joe Gillis” and Nancy Olson as “Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard.

Norma returns to Paramount to see Cecil B. DeMille.

Norma’s opportunity to make a “return” seems to come when she’s contacted by Gordon Cole at Paramount. He wants Norma to come down to the studio and talk about Cecil B. DeMille’s next film. Norma had Max deliver her completed draft of her Salome script to DeMille, so naturally, she thinks that Mr. Cole wants her to come down to discuss it. Norma makes her triumphant return to Paramount, despite only being allowed in because the old studio guard recognized her. When she arrives, DeMille is in the middle of shooting a scene for his next film. He has her sit down and while she waits, the lighting man recognizes her and shines a spotlight on her. Then other employees are heard in succession, saying Norma Desmond’s name. This sets up one of my favorite lines in the movie:

PARAMOUNT SECURITY GUARD: Why I thought she was dead!

Betty and Joe start to fall in love.

The final act of the film is where Norma’s obsession with Joe and Joe and Betty’s late night story writing plot lines come to a head. Norma begins to become suspicious of Joe’s late night trips. She finds out about Betty and becomes extremely jealous and telephones her over and over. Joe overhears Norma talking to Betty and interrupts the call. Knowing that he needs to end things with Betty as to not hurt Artie, he tells her to come over to Norma’s home. When he does, he essentially explains to her that he’s the kept man of Norma Desmond and runs her out of his life by pretending to brag and gloat about the lavish lifestyle he’s living with Norma. While we’re led to believe that Joe is just saying these things to drive Betty away and back to Artie, one has to wonder if he truly believes his lie. Despite thinking Norma was nuts at the beginning and just accepting what he thought would be easy money, Joe seems to enjoy his time with Norma. He lives lavishly, enjoys nice food, champagne, her pool, she has everything he wants. It’s easy to see why Norma would be in love with him. He’s young, he’s handsome, he’s charming, he has everything an aging woman would want. I could write a whole article about how Norma Desmond is truly the victim of Sunset Boulevard, despite murdering Joe. But that’s for another day.

Norma’s 1929 Isotta Fraschini

Max finds out the truth about why Paramount wanted to see Norma on the lot. It wasn’t for Salome, but rather they wanted to use her car in a film. Upon hearing the reason, Cecil B. DeMille cannot in good faith hurt Norma’s feelings and tells Gordon Cole to find another car. Once again the people in Norma’s life protect her from the truth. Joe FINALLY grows a back bone and some self-respect and decides to leave Norma’s home. Except she’s a woman scorned and she will not let him leave. While walking past the pool, Norma shoots Joe three times and he collapses, face first into the pool. That brings us back to the beginning of the film.

JOE: Well this is where you came in. Here’s that pool again, the one I always wanted.

William Holden as “Joe Gillis” in Sunset Boulevard.

Norma Desmond’s final scene in Sunset Boulevard is spectacular. The police are on the scene, ready to take Norma in for murder. Hedda Hopper is there, wanting her paper to take her story direct, live from Norma’s bedroom. Reporters with newsreel cameras, to capture Norma’s arrest are huddled around. Every one is there, except Norma’s grip on reality. Her madness has finally reached its peak. Max, no longer complicit in maintaining Norma’s fantasy life, uses her delusions of grandeur against her to lure her into the waiting police car. As Norma’s former director, Max positions himself amongst the newsreel cameras, telling Norma that they’re here to start shooting Salome.

Norma’s descent down the stairs is completely surreal. As she makes her way to the bottom, everyone else in the scene remains completely still. Norma makes her way towards Max, arms reaching out towards the camera. She’s ready to make her triumphant return. Norma makes a speech about how happy she is to be back in front of the camera. She looks completely bonkers as she finally makes her way to her mark to start filming her scene. Reaching out one more time towards the camera she says in an oft-misquoted line:

NORMA: All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.

Gloria Swanson as “Norma Desmond” in Sunset Boulevard

My Favorite Film Discoveries of 2023

Happy Valentines Day, everyone! We’re about a month and a half into 2024 now, but I didn’t want to get too far into the New Year without having talked about my favorite new discoveries of last year. Per my Letterboxd stats page, last year I watched 397 films. I really wish I’d managed to squeeze in 3 more so I’d have an even 400, but alas. Now that’s not to say that all 397 titles were unique. I tend to rewatch movies, especially my favorites. Last year’s most watched stars were Joan Blondell, Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant. My most watched directors were Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Curtiz, Mitchell Leisen, and William Wyler.

All in all, it was a good year for movie viewing–especially since I got to attend my first ever TCM Film Festival and had the best movie viewing experience of my life–Casablanca in Grauman’s Chinese Theater. I’d seen that movie four other times in the theater, and nothing will ever top seeing it at Grauman’s. For the record, my second best movie experience of the year was seeing Barbarella in 35mm at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, OR. Seeing a campy movie like Barbarella with an audience that was completely entranced and loving every second, was fantastic. There was even a girl dressed like Barbarella, in a short silver dress, knee-high boots, and big hair–despite it being January in Oregon! Now that’s dedication!

Anyway, without further adieu, these are all my new watches of 2023:

• The Apple (1980)
• Appointment with Danger (1950)
• Arsene Lupin (1932)
• Ask Father (1919)
• Barbie (2023)
• Because of You (1952)
• Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
• Big Business Girl (1931)
• Big City Blues (1932)
• Billy Blazes Esq. (1919)
• Black Angel (1946)
• Born to Be Bad (1934)
• Born to Kill (1947)
• The Boy and the Heron (2023)
• Brute Force (1949)
• Captain Carey, USA (1949)
• Carnal Knowledge (1971)
• The Children’s Hour (1961)
• China (1943)
• Cops (1922)
• Deadline at Dawn (1946)
• Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982)
• Deception (1946)
• Deep Valley (1947)
• Desert Fury (1947)
• The Desperate Hours (1955)
• The Doctor and the Girl (1949)
• Dragonwyck (1946)
• Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
• An Eastern Westerner (1920)
• Enter the Dragon (1973)
• Experiment Perilous (1944)
• Fallen Angel (1945)
• The Famous Ferguson Case (1932)
• Father Goose (1964)
• Female on the Beach (1955)

• The Five Pennies (1959)
• Flaming Star (1960)
• Flaxy Martin (1949)
• Footlight Parade (1933)
• Framed (1947)
• A Free Soul (1931)
• The Gilded Lily (1935)
• Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)
• Grand Slam (1933)
• The Great Moment (1944)
• Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 3 (2023)
• Harvey (1950)
• High and Dizzy (1920)
• High Pressure (1932)
• Honky Tonk (1941)
• Houseboat (1959)
• The Iron Mistress (1952)
• I’ve Got Your Number (1934)
• King Kong (1933)
• Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)
• Ladies in Retirement (1941)
• The Lady in Question (1940)
• The Lady is Willing (1942)
• Larceny, Inc. (1942)
• Life Begins (1932)
• The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933)
• Love Has Many Faces (1965)
• Love Me Tender (1956)
• Make Me a Star (1932)
• The Man I Love (1946)
• The Mask of Dimitrios (1946)
• Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk (1935)
• Mr. Soft Touch (1949)
• Mrs. Parkington (1944)
• Naughty But Nice (1939)
• The Navigator (1924)
• Night Editor (1946)

• One Week (1920)
• Passion Flower (1930)
• The Petrified Forest (1936)
• Play Girl (1932)
• The Princess Comes Across (1936)
• The Purchase Price (1932)
• Race Street (1948)
• Red Light (1949)
• Rio Bravo (1959)
• Romancing the Stone (1984)
• Search for Beauty (1934)
• Second Honeymoon (1937)
• Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
• Shakedown (1950)
• Shane (1953)
• The Silver Horde (1930)
• Singapore (1947)
• The Sky’s the Limit (1943)
• Stand-In (1937)
• Strange Bargain (1949)
• That Touch of Mink (1962)
• There’s Always a Woman (1938)
• Tight Spot (1955)
• Traveling Saleslady (1935)
• The Unfaithful (1946)
• The Unguarded Hour (1936)
• Union Depot (1932)
• Week-End Marriage (1932)
• Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)
• Whiplash (1948)
• Wild in the Country (1961)
• Woman in Hiding (1950)
• A Woman’s Face (1941)
• A Woman’s Vengeance (1948)

That was a lot of new movies last year, 108 in fact. I discovered a lot of new favorites and discovered some films that I never want to see again (The Apple, I’m looking at you). I’m not going to include the new films I saw, but I want to go on the record to say that Barbie, The Boy and the Heron, and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story were awesome.

Here are my Top 5 favorite new discoveries:

This is an incredibly misleading poster.

#1 Ladies in Retirement (1941). In September, Criterion Channel featured a series called “Gaslight Noir” which I took to mean film noir that took place during the Victorian era, but I think Criterion stated that it was “dark and moody film noir.” This film stars Ida Lupino, and was a movie that I’d heard about, but had never seen. I wasn’t even aware it was a film noir, the title makes it seem like it is a light-hearted film about rich women who live a life of leisure. However, that is definitely not what this movie is about. Ida plays spinster, Ellen Creed, who works as a housekeeper and live-in companion to her wealthy friend, Leonora Fiske. Ellen has two eccentric sisters who are about to be evicted from their apartment due to their behavior. Not wanting her sisters to be homeless, Ellen takes them in and convinces Leonora to let them stay. The sisters quickly wear out their welcome and Leonora demands that Ellen force them to leave. Not wanting her sisters to end up in an institution, Ellen takes matters into her own hands.

I did not expect the turn that this movie took and I absolutely loved it. I loved the setting of this remote English home that seems perpetually encased in fog. This movie had a spooky vibe to it and I just loved it. I wish that someone would put it out on blu ray.

#2 A Woman’s Face (1941). This is a Joan Crawford film noir that TCM played earlier this year. I’d heard of this film, but had never seen it scheduled. In this film, Joan plays blackmailer Anna Holm, a woman who bears a large, disfiguring scar on her face. Because of this disfigurement, Anna carries a lot of resentment and hostility towards others, which is why she has no empathy or remorse for carrying out her blackmail scams. Eventually, she gets plastic surgery from Dr. Gustaf Segert (Melvyn Douglas) to cover the scar. Without the scar to hide behind, Anna is forced to confront her insecurities, her anger over her past, and her current life of schemes and crimes.

Most of the plot unfolds through a series of flashbacks, told through witness testimony in a court trial, where Anna is being tried for murder. Joan Crawford’s performance is fantastic as her character evolves throughout the film. Melvyn Douglas is great as the doctor who provides emotional support and sees Anna for whom she really is. Conrad Veidt as an excellent villainous role as the wealthy Torsten Barring, her partner in crime as well as her lover. The ending of the film is exciting and memorable.

#3 Harvey (1950). This was a discovery for my husband and I at the TCM Film Festival. I’d heard of this film, but I just hadn’t gotten around to seeing it yet. We absolutely loved it. In this film, James Stewart plays Elwood P. Dowd, a man who by all accounts is eccentric. His best friend is an imaginary friend, a 6’3.5″ rabbit named Harvey. His sister, Veta (Josephine Hull), is absolutely embarrassed and horrified by her bother’s behavior. Elwood doesn’t see anything wrong with his behavior and insists that Harvey is real. Veta eventually is so fed up that she goes down to the sanitarium to have Elwood committed and she ends up being committed herself. Harvey is expertly crafted to make the audience wonder if Elwood really is delusional and Harvey isn’t real, or is Harvey real and only Elwood can see him?

Josephine Hull won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in the 1950 Oscars race and while I don’t know that she deserved to win over Nancy Olsen for Sunset Boulevard or Thelma Ritter for All About Eve, Hull is hysterical as Veta. She very much seems like her character from Arsenic and Old Lace, except without the murder aspect. James Stewart is the true standout performance (aside from Harvey, of course) in this film. He expertly plays Elwood P. Dowd to be friendly and likeable, there isn’t really any reason to distrust or dislike him. He seems content with his life and best friend. Peggy Dow is also a lot of fun as the nurse at the sanitarium, she’s also gorgeous as well.

#4 Shakedown (1950). Speaking of Peggy Dow, she’s in this film as well. In this movie, Howard Duff plays a cock-of-the-walk photographer, Jack Early, who will do anything to get a great photo. He manages to use these tactics to score a job at a prominent San Francisco newspaper, headed up by Ellen Bennett (Dow), the photography editor and David Glover (Bruce Bennett), the editor-in-chief. David is unimpressed by Jack’s somewhat questionable methods for getting the photos, but hires him anyway. He gives Jack the impossible assignment of getting a photograph of the face of local gangster, Nick Palmer (Brian Donlevy), a man who notoriously does not want his picture taken. Jack easily scores the photo by appealing to Nick’s ego. Appreciating Jack’s nerve, Nick takes him under his wing and tells him that the head of the rival gang, Colton (Lawrence Tierney), is planning a job. He gives Jack the time and location. He easily gets the photo and brings it back to David. Colton gets wind of Jack and hires him to pull one over on Nick. Jack continues playing both gang members against each other, all while David and Ellen start becoming more and more skeptical as to how Jack keeps scoring these amazing photos. Eventually Jack gets in over his head.

This was such a great movie. I didn’t know what to expect from it and was so impressed by all the twists and turns that the plot took. I highly recommend this film to anyone who loves a good film noir.

#5 Shane (1953). I’m not a big westerns fan, but I watched this one because I’ve recently been on an Alan Ladd kick and I’d never seen what is probably his biggest, most well known role. Ladd plays the titular Shane, a drifter who arrives at a small town in Wyoming. Most of the town is comprised of homesteaders who moved west, taking advantage of the government’s offer to give free land to people wishing to move west of the Mississippi and set-up their own homes, farms, ranches, etc. Upon arriving in town, Shane encounters Mary and Joe Starrett (Jean Arthur and Van Heflin), a couple living off of the land they received from the government. Mary and Joe also have a young son, Joey (Brandon DeWilde) who immediately admires Shane. The main conflict of the film is a ruthless cattle baron wants to use force to push the Homesteaders off their viable land, so that he can take it over and grow his cattle empire.

This is such a beautiful film. Alan Ladd was great as the mysterious stranger who comes into town, helps out some of the folks, and leaves just as mysteriously as he came. His scenes with Joey are adorable and he’s great with Jean Arthur as well. Jack Palance was great as one of the cattle baron’s men, Jack Wilson, and he has a fun showdown with Ladd at the end of the film.

Honorable Mentions: Dragonwyck (1946), Enter the Dragon (1973), Larceny, Inc. (1942), Experiment Perilous (1944), and Deep Valley (1947).

The Party Like It’s 1899 Blogathon–James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart

Happy New Year, everyone! Another busy holiday season has passed. So that I didn’t miss yet a second blogathon (I’ll get back to the Warner Bros one, even though I am way past the date to turn in my post), I wanted to get my post about two of my faves–James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, finished. 

Cagney and Bogart have a lot in common:

• Both born in 1899 (Cagney on July 17th and Bogart on December 25th).
• Both were born in New York City.
• Both started their careers on the New York stage.
• Both were Warner Brothers contract players.
• Both were known for their gangster films.
• Both won their respective Oscars playing non-gangster characters (Cagney for Yankee Doodle Dandy and Bogart for The African Queen).
• Both are iconic stars of Classic Hollywood.

James Cagney in 1930.

However, Cagney and Bogart’s childhoods couldn’t be more different. Cagney was born into a lower-class neighborhood and grew up in a tenement. His father was a bartender and his mother was the daughter of a barge captain. Eventually Cagney was forced to drop out of school and support the family financially when his father succumbed to influenza during the 1918 epidemic in the United States. Cagney held a variety of odd jobs before finding work in the theater. He worked as a junior architect, a copy boy, book custodian, bellhop, draughtsman (doing technical drawings–I looked it up), and a night doorkeeper. As a child, Cagney also took tap dancing (which would serve him well in Yankee Doodle Dandy) and also was a skilled street fighter (which I’m sure served him well in his films). In 1919, Cagney’s dancing ability earned him a spot in the New York stage production of Every Sailor. He would continue performing on the stage until 1930 when the stage production of Sinners’ Holiday brought he (and co-star Joan Blondell) to Hollywood for the film adaptation.

Humphrey Bogart in The Petrified Forest (1936)

Bogart’s upbringing couldn’t be more different than Cagney’s. Born into an affluent family who owned an apartment on the classy Upper West Side of New York, Bogart was not suffering. In addition to their apartment, the Bogart parents also owned a lake home on 55 acres. Rare for the time, Bogart’s mother was an extremely successful commercial artist who did illustrations for companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Ivory Soap, and Metropolitan Life Insurance. Despite the legend that baby Humphrey served as the Gerber Baby model, this is not true. The famous Gerber baby logo was not designed until Bogart was an adult and his mother did not design it. Mrs. Bogart did use an illustration of baby Humphrey for Mellins Baby Food. For the record, the original 1926 Gerber Baby was Ann Turner Cook. She was born in 1926 and just passed recently–2022. The sketch was drawn by Cook’s neighbor, Dorothy Hope Smith, who submitted the drawing in response to Gerber’s contest looking for their new logo. Smith’s successful illustration earned her $300 (or $5386 in 2023).

I love this part of Casablanca, I never tire of it.

But enough about the Gerber Baby, back to Bogart. Despite his privileged childhood (with Bogart’s parents earning a combined $70,000 annually, a huge sum for the 1900s-1910s), Bogart was not an academic scholar. He attended numerous fancy pants private schools, eventually ending up in an esteemed boarding school–of which he was kicked out. Mr. and Mrs. Bogart had hoped their son would attend Yale, but that was pretty much off the table once he was kicked out of school. In 1918, Bogart joined the Navy and enjoyed his time after the Armistice ferrying soldiers back from Europe. In 1921, Bogart made his stage debut in Drifting. In 1928, Bogart appeared in a short film, The Dancing Town, and in a 1930 short, Broadway’s Like That. Also in 1930, the same year Cagney was making his screen debut, Bogart secured a contract with Fox and appeared in his first film Up the River, with soon-to-be lifelong friend, Spencer Tracy.

However, unlike Cagney, Bogart’s Hollywood stardom wasn’t instant. Despite having appeared in a series of films for Fox, there was no single breakthrough role for Bogart. Cagney shot to super stardom in his sixth film, The Public Enemy (1931). He was unstoppable after that and appeared in a series of successful gangster films. Cagney also regularly waged wars with Jack Warner, head of Warner Brothers, demanding more money after each successive hit film. Unfortunately, Bogart was not in the same position to make such demands, having not appeared in a hit film. After a couple false starts in Hollywood, Bogart finally got the role he was hoping for when he appeared in 1936’s The Petrified Forest. ‘Forest’ was a Broadway play that featured Bogart and Leslie Howard. Warner Brothers bought the rights to the story and brought Howard out to Hollywood to reprise his role. However, they wanted their star, Edward G. Robinson to appear in Bogart’s role, Duke Mantee. Howard responded to Warners’ request by sending a telegram stating “No Bogart, No Deal.” Warners acquiesced to Howard’s demands, and Bogart’s star was finally on the ascent. He would finally become a bona fide superstar, achieving Cagney’s level of stardom, with a series of hits, one after another–High Sierra (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Casablanca (1942).

Cagney and Bogart appeared in three films together: Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), and The Oklahoma Kid (1939)

These are my Top 5 Favorite Cagney and Bogart Films:

(Please excuse me if some of your favorites aren’t listed, either I haven’t seen it, I haven’t seen it for a long time and can’t remember it, there wasn’t enough room in my Top 5, or maybe I loved something else more!)

JAMES CAGNEY

1. White Heat (1949) This is probably my favorite Cagney film. His portrayal of the vile Cody Jarrett is captivating. He is a terrible person, but in some ways, you can’t help root for him. He’s the villain of the story, but he’s complicated and has some good points, especially where his mother is concerned. There’s also no denying that the ending of White Heat is one of the all-time most iconic scenes in cinema history.
   
   
2. The Public Enemy (1931). There’s no denying that Cagney’s break-through role isn’t one of his best. This film features the iconic scene of Cagney smashing Mae Clarke’s face with a grapefruit. It also features future stars Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell. What more could you want? Cagney screams star quality even in the opening credit sequence where he makes a little punching motion and raises his eyebrows.
   
   
3. Footlight Parade (1933). This film features Cagney tap dancing and hoofing his way through multiple numbers as he plays a producer trying to save his career by producing a series of prologues. He is once again paired with Joan Blondell who plays his secretary who is in love with him and horribly jealous of Cagney’s interest in Claire Dodd. The trio of prologues at the end of the film is the highlight. Also a highlight? Cagney trying to teach Frank McHugh how to move like a cat.
   
   
4. Picture Snatcher (1933). In this film, Cagney plays a “picture snatcher,” the 1930s equivalent of paparazzi. Cagney is an employee of editor, Ralph Bellamy, who is reluctant to hire him. However, Cagney soon wins his place on the team by using rather unscrupulous methods to obtain hard-to-get in demand photos for his newspaper. Eventually, Cagney’s ethics are put to the test when he is admitted to an execution at Sing Sing, where one of the rules is “no pictures.”
   
   
5. Taxi! (1932). Cagney is paired up with Loretta Young in this film where he plays a scrappy taxi cab driver in New York City. Loretta’s father, cab driver Guy Kibbee, is facing pressure from a rival cab service who wants his primo location. The rival cab service is using force to try and dominate the entire cab industry in New York City. Loretta appeals to Cagney to encourage his colleagues to fight back against the rival cab company (aka the mob).

HUMPHREY BOGART

1. Casablanca (1942). It’s cliche, but this is probably my favorite Bogart film and my second favorite film overall (after The Long Long Trailer). Every piece of this film is iconic, from the score, to the dialogue, to the actors’ performances. Even though I’ve seen it a million times, Bogart’s iconic “hill of beans” speech to Ingrid Bergman at the end of the film still gives me goosebumps. I never tire of it.
   
   
2. The Maltese Falcon (1941). Another cliche choice, but film noir was born with this film and Bogart’s Sam Spade was pretty much the archetype for the film noir detective. The entire cast is fantastic and initiated another great partnership–between Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. This film is also notable for being John Huston’s directorial film debut.
   
   
3. Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1947). Not a deep-cut but it’s hard to find one in Bogart’s career when he made so many hit films. Bogart’s run of films in the 1940s might be the most successful run of films anyone has ever had. An actor would probably be happy just having a Casablanca as part of their resume. However, Bogart has not only Casablanca, he has ‘Falcon,’ High Sierra, To Have and Have Not, Key Largo, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, and Treasure of the Sierra Madre. After Rick Blaine, Bogart’s most famous character might be Fred C. Dobbs. Bogart turns in an excellent performance where he starts out as a desperate man just looking to survive in Mexico. He is given a chance to make a bunch of money mining for gold, eventually succumbing to the greed and desperation that motivates his need to get as much money as possible–at whatever cost is necessary.
   
   
4. To Have or Have Not (1944). This is the film that introduced Bogart and Lauren Bacall to not only audiences, but to each other! Bacall was a discovery of director Howard Hawks’ wife, who spotted her on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. Despite their 25 year age difference, Bogart and Bacall’s chemistry is off the charts and they steal the show. Bacall has one of the all-time greatest screen debuts, where not only is she an instant star, she also became half of an indelible part of Classic Hollywood history–the legendary Bogie and Bacall romance. Bacall also delivers the iconic “you do know how to whistle don’t you? You just put your lips together and blow” line.
   
   
5. In a Lonely Place (1950). This is an absolutely spectacular film noir directed by Nicholas Ray and co-starring Gloria Grahame. Bogart’s son, Stephen, stated that In a Lonely Place is the closest depiction to the real Bogart that was ever captured on film. Bogart’s character is a complicated man. He is capable of love, empathy, loyalty, romance, etc. as depicted in his relationship with Grahame. However, he is also shown as being capable of violence, through depictions of his explosive temper causing him to engage in a serious road rage incident with a fellow motorist. The conflict of the entire film is that a woman who was last seen with Bogart is murdered, but he is cleared as a suspect with Grahame providing an alibi. However, as more and more of his personality and temper is revealed, the film begins to question Bogart’s innocence. This is a fascinating film.

Bogart and Cagney in The Roaring Twenties.

#Noirvember 2023

Another Noirvember is upon us. I’ve been pretty spotty in trying to take part in these online events, so once again I’m going to try my best to participate. #Noirvember is an ode to all that is film noir that was started a few years ago by @oldfilmsflicker on Twitter. It’s become a highly anticipated event that has taken on a life of its own and is now promoted by everyone from film fans to movie theaters.

Anyway, because I can’t just simply watch film noir in November, I have to make myself some sort of challenge. One reason is that it makes it more interesting and forces me to check out films, actors, directors, etc. that I may not have otherwise, or it would have taken me longer. While deciding what to do for my challenge, I wanted to make sure that I allowed myself to watch old favorites like Double Indemnity (1944). However, I want to make sure that I also watch some new titles–if only to get through some of the blind buys that I’ve purchased throughout the year. I don’t want to force myself to only watch “new” films, because then I’ll be sad that I can’t watch my favorite Alan Ladd film noir (e.g.). While I did this challenge in the past and ALMOST finished it, I am going to give it another go this month–I am going to follow-up my next film noir with a film that has an actor in common with the film that preceded it.

I’m also not going to limit myself to just one film per day. Some days I can fit in only one film, other days I can fit in 2-3. Due to my regular Monday night board game group, I may not be able to get a film noir watched every single day; but I’ll do my best. I’m also hoping that I can finagle it where the last film I watch connects to the first film. We’ll see what happens as my movie watching will be organic. I do not have it planned out in advance! Just to keep myself on my toes.

Without further much ado. These are the films watched for #Noirvember. Click on the link to view more information about the film and to see what connected it to the previous film!

EDIT: Woo! Did it. The final film, The File on Thelma Jordon, connects to the first film, Double Indemnity, using the Queen of Film Noir, Barbara Stanwyck.

November 1st- Double Indemnity (1944)

November 1st- Singapore (1947)

November 2nd- The Killers (1946)

November 3rd- White Heat (1949)

November 4th- Red Light (1949)

November 5th- Race Street (1948)

November 5th- The Glass Key (1942)

November 6th- Shakedown(1950)

November 7th- Brute Force (1947)

November 8th- Mildred Pierce (1945)

November 9th- The Unfaithful (1947)

November 10th- The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

November 12th- Gilda (1946)

November 14th- Human Desire (1954)

November 14th- In a Lonely Place (1950)

November 15th- Dark Passage (1947)

November 16th- Key Largo (1948)

November 17th- Murder, My Sweet (1944)

November 19th- Pitfall (1948)

November 25th- Too Late for Tears (1949)

November 26th- Desert Fury (1947)

November 29th- Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

November 30th- The File on Thelma Jordon (1949)

The Linda Darnell Centennial Blogathon–“Hangover Square” (1945)

[Spoilers re: Hangover Square ahead]

As the title of the blogathon suggests, October 16th, 2023 would have been Linda Darnell’s 100th birthday. Linda isn’t an actress that is well known today, except in circles of more devoted fans of Classic Hollywood. While she appeared in many big projects at the time (The Mask of Zorro, My Darling Clementine, A Letter to Three Wives, to name a few), she never had a Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz or Gone With the Wind-type film that would make her a household name. In film noir circles, what Linda is known for is being a sultry, smoldering femme fatale in 1940s noir such as Fallen Angel and Hangover Square, both released in 1945. The latter film is what I will be discussing in this article.

Today, Hangover Square doesn’t typically rank on many “top film noir of all time” lists; it doesn’t seem to be well known. Despite having seen dozens of film noir, I’d never heard of it until I saw it included in one of Kino Lorber’s quarterly sales. I purchased it as a blind buy and absolutely loved it. It was so different than other noir that I’d seen prior. Linda Darnell is the femme fatale of the story and despite leaving the film about 2/3 the way through, her presence and effect on the protagonist are felt through to the film’s fiery conclusion.

In Hangover Square, Laird Cregar plays George Harvey Bone, a composer working in a home on Hangover Square in Edwardian London in 1903. George has been working so intensely and hard on his concerto that he is overworked and stressed. Because of the stress, George is prone to blacking out and bouts of amnesia. George’s blackouts are triggered whenever he hears discordant sounds, such as the crash of metal piping falling off a wagon. At the beginning of the film, George is in the middle of one of his amnesiac episodes, where he stabs a shop owner to death.

From the get go, the audience knows that George is a murderer. He confides in his literal girl next door girlfriend, Barbara (Faye Marlowe), that he cannot remember his actions the night prior. She refers George to the doctor at Scotland Yard, Dr. Allan Middleton (George Sanders). While talking to Dr. Middleton, George tells him about how unpleasant sounds triggers these blackouts where he cannot remember his whereabouts and actions for a period of time. From this point in the film, Dr. Middleton’s character somewhat disappears from the story; but he will be back. It’s time for Linda Darnell to enter the fray.

Linda plays singer Netta Longdon. Netta is not very talented. Her act consists of a bad song, which doesn’t matter because she flashes her legs a lot at the male audience. One night, George goes to see her sing at a “smoking concert” in a local saloon. I researched “smoking concerts” and learned that they were live performances put on for a male-only crowd. While listening to the live entertainment, the men would engage in “manly pursuits” like smoking and discussing politics. Obviously an environment too sensitive for women, but not too sensitive for women to entertain the men with raunchy (for Victorian era) dancing. Anyway, George is captivated by Netta and wants to meet her.

The sultry Linda Darnell charms Laird Cregar into writing an arrangement for her.

Upon meeting George, it’s obvious that Netta is uninterested in him. However, she perks up when she learns that he’s a composer and seems to have an ear for writing catchy music. With help of a mutual acquaintance, Mickey, Netta learns that there’s a song with lyrics that would be more suited for her “talents,” but she needs an arrangement, which she decides George should compose. Because he’s enamored with the beautiful, sultry Netta, George sets his major composition aside to work on her arrangements.

Netta continues to string George along, letting him wine and dine her and perform other favors. He’s basically become her sugar daddy, with nothing in return. Despite supposedly dating Barbara, George is smitten with Netta. Linda Darnell’s portrayal makes it easy to see why. She plays Netta to be sultry, with a bit of an aloofness–much like her “Stella” character in Fallen Angel. However, the aloofness all but disappears when she learns of George’s composer background. Netta is the perfect femme fatale here, as she all but disrupts George’s life, because he has mistaken her coy behavior and flirting for interest. This is never more telling than in the scene when she and George kiss, and Netta opens her eye that faces the camera. This is not a woman who is in love. This is a woman who knows that she’s just sealed the deal on getting this man to punch her ticket out of Hangover Square.

Laird Cregar and his cat.

Eventually, as one can suspect, George catches onto Netta’s deception when he spots her leaving her apartment. She had just feigned a headache and ended their evening prematurely, due to having received a more appealing offer. He is incensed about her betrayal and ends up strangling her to death during the annual Guy Fawkes Night. At the centerpiece of the evening’s festivities is an enormous bon fire. In a rather gruesome scene for 1945, George puts a Guy Fawkes mask on Netta’s face, to hide that she’s a real dead body, not a dummy, and places her corpse on the top of the bonfire.

Laird Cregar, George Sanders and the gas lamp in “Hangover Square.”

This serves as the final piece of inspiration that George needed to finish his composition. The composition is unveiled at a performance to be attended by the elite. By this point, Scotland Yard is onto George. The walls are closing in. As George starts his performance, the events of the previous 60 minutes flash by, accompanied by George’s concerto. Barbara’s scenes are more relaxing, except for the scene when George almost strangles her during one of his blackouts. The music swells and gets more intense. However, when he gets to the Netta section of the composition, the notes become more dramatic, more angry. There is a lot of hurt in this section. The pain is evident on George’s face and he really goes off the rails during this section. He goes so far off the rails in fact, that he has to stop and has Barbara take over and finish the performance.

The film ends in really the only way it can. George starts a fire with a gas lamp. The entire building goes up in flames. The audience and orchestra rush out before the room is consumed in flames. All of this happens as George stands in the middle of the room begging people to stay so that they can hear the end of his concerto. His masterpiece. The people rightfully look at him like he’s nuts. George resumes his place on the piano bench and plays his heart out, finishing the concerto while he is consumed by fire and smoke.

While Hangover Square is Laird Cregar’s film, there is no denying that Linda Darnell plays a pivotal role. Her character’s betrayal is what finally causes George to lose his remaining grasp on reality. He is a shell of the shell of a man he was before. However, it is easy to see that George’s murder of Netta gave him the inspiration for the final portion of his concerto. Their relationship and her murder is the most dramatic portion of the concerto. This woman affected him deeply during life and even more so after death.

Linda Darnell shows off her gams during the “smoking concert.”

The Celluloid Road Trip Blogathon: Int’l Edition–“Gilda” (1946)

GILDA: “You do hate me, don’t you, Johnny?”
JOHNNY: “I don’t think you have any idea of how much.”
GILDA: “Hate is a very exciting emotion. Haven’t you noticed? Very exciting. I hate you too, Johnny. I hate you so much I think I’m going to die from it. Darling…”
[GILDA and JOHNNY kiss passionately]
GILDA: “I think I’m going to die from it.”

Rita Hayworth as “Gilda” and Glenn Ford as “Johnny” in Gilda (1946)

It is said that there is a fine line between love and hate. The above quote between the two central characters in 1946’s Gilda perfectly illustrates this phrase. At the beginning of the film, our anti-hero Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is shooting craps in an alley in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He wins handedly using a pair of loaded dice. When his opponents realize they’re being cheated, Johnny’s life (and winnings) is at stake. He is saved by a mysterious stranger, Ballin Mundson (George Macready). Ballin tells Johnny about a nearby illegal high class casino, but warns him against cheating. Johnny doesn’t heed Ballin’s warnings however, and is caught cheating at Blackjack. He’s brought in front of the owner who turns out to be Ballin. Johnny turns on the charm and smooth talk and convinces Ballin to hire him. He soon becomes Ballin’s casino manager.

“There NEVER was a woman like Gilda.”

Time passes and Ballin leaves for a trip. When he returns, he announces to Johnny that he’s married and wants to introduce his new wife, Gilda. Cue one of the most famous film entrances of all time–Rita Hayworth’s “Gilda.” With a flip of the hair and a seductive, “Me?… Sure I’m decent,” Gilda enters the fray. Johnny’s face transforms into a scowl as he spots the new Mrs. Mundson. Gilda also appears simultaneously angry and surprised. It is obvious from Johnny and Gilda’s reactions that these two have a past–an unhappy past, at that. The circumstances of their previous relationship are never made clear; but it would seem that Johnny hurt Gilda deeply. She still loves him, but he harbors some type of resentment towards her. Ballin seems clueless to Johnny and Gilda’s body language and assigns Johnny to watch over her. This ignites a vicious game between Gilda and Johnny where she, out of anger towards Johnny, cavorts with other men at all hours to make him jealous. Johnny, out of loyalty to Ballin, does all he can to break up Gilda’s dates and cover up her supposed affairs.

JOHNNY: “Pardon me, your husband is showing.”

Glenn Ford as “Johnny” in Gilda (1946).

The type of relationship Ballin and Johnny have with one another is up for debate. On the surface, it would appear that Johnny is fiercely loyal to his employer. However, other classic film fans and experts have found homoerotic subtext in the Ballin/Johnny relationship. I am not well-versed in this subject and honestly never considered this angle; however, having seen the film multiple times, I understand this interpretation. Not being an expert, I am not going to analyze the film from this viewpoint. In the spirit of this blogathon’s theme of an “international road trip,” I want to discuss Johnny and Gilda’s relationship and how it unfolds against the Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay setting.

One of the most famous film entrances of all time.

Gilda was originally supposed to be a gangster film set in the United States. It was decided to switch the setting to Argentina. During the 1930s and 1940s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt promoted the “Good Neighbor Policy,” as a means to improve the United States’ relationship with Latin America. Hollywood was encouraged to set films in Latin America and depict the countries and people in a positive light. The Latin America in Gilda is depicted as a tropical, fun, sexy, romantic, wealthy, cosmopolitan city inhabited by people from all walks of life. Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, is often promoted as “the world’s most beautiful city.” This seems the perfect setting for the gorgeous Rita Hayworth, whose luminous face shines in this film and makes it completely believable that all the men in this film are so preoccupied with her.

JOHNNY: “I hated her so I couldn’t get her out of my mind for a minute. She was in the air I breathed–and the food I ate.”

Glenn Ford as “Johnny” in Gilda (1946)

Gilda and Johnny at Carnival.

One of the highlights of Gilda is the annual Carnival celebration, which takes place during the summer in the Southern Hemisphere in February. Carnival is an annual celebration that takes place in Roman Catholic countries in the three days leading up to Lent. This celebration allows communities to dress in costumes, play music, eat delicious food and drink, and basically lose their inhibitions and deal with the consequences later. In the film, Gilda is celebrating her first Carnival. She dons a gaucho costume, complete with an eye mask. Johnny is much less festive, as he simply puts on an eye mask with his tuxedo. During Carnival, Gilda allows herself to let go of her contempt for Johnny and embrace her love of him. She becomes nostalgic for their former relationship and reminisces about dancing with him. Gilda dances closely with Johnny, completely losing herself in the moment. He remains standoffish towards her and refuses to get caught up in the spirit of Carnival. Johnny won’t throw caution to the wind and rekindle things with Gilda. He pushes her away when her passion starts getting too intense.

GILDA: “You’re out of practice aren’t you–dancing I mean. I can help you get in practice again, Johnny–dancing I mean.”

Rita Hayworth as “Gilda” in Gilda (1946)

Gilda with Ballin and Johnny

Ballin’s presence and influence looms in the background, both literally and figuratively. The Carnival celebration is both the turning point in the film and in Gilda and Johnny’s relationship. It reignites their formerly red-hot relationship, as well as confirms third-wheel Ballin’s suspicions that there is more to his wife and employee’s relationship than it seems. Ballin’s hunch is confirmed after he walks in on Gilda and Johnny kissing. Too bad he missed their first kiss. His anger over seeing his wife and employee smooching serves as the impetus for Ballin’s actions in the second and third acts of the film.

JOHNNY: “I thought we agreed that women and gambling didn’t mix.”
BALLIN: “My wife does not come under the category of women, Johnny.”

Glenn Ford as “Johnny” and George Macready as “Ballin” in Gilda (1946)

Gilda and Johnny’s intense love-hate relationship continues to heat up as the action shifts to Montevideo, Uruguay. By this point, Ballin is presumed dead after crashing his plane into the ocean. Johnny and Gilda marry. However, Johnny decides to use his marriage to Gilda as a means to punish her for supposedly betraying Ballin. Johnny conveniently seems to forget that he actually betrayed Ballin by hooking up with Gilda. He treats Gilda so cruelly, she escapes to Montevideo. To showcase Rita Hayworth’s dancing ability, Gilda gets a job as a singer and dancer at a nightclub. She performs a sexy song and dance number, wearing a gorgeous two-piece dress while crooning “Amado Mio.”

Gilda in her “Amado Mio” costume.

Later, to escape Johnny, Gilda returns to Buenos Aires and resumes her singing and dancing career. Fed up with Johnny’s treatment of her, Gilda decides to be the tramp he thinks she is. In the famous “Put the Blame on Mame” number, Gilda performs a one-glove striptease. Before she can unzip her strapless black dress, Johnny sends in his goon to stop Gilda and bring her to Johnny. Their love-hate relationship reaches its peak when Johnny slaps Gilda to punish her for her behavior. Gilda is distraught that the man she loves so intensely would hurt her.

GILDA: “Would it interest you to know how much I hate you, Johnny?”
JOHNNY: “Very much.”
GILDA: “I hate you so much that I would destroy myself to take you down with me.”

Rita Hayworth as “Gilda” and Glenn Ford as “Johnny” in Gilda (1946)

Gilda in her famous black dress

Gilda also features a plotline about Ballin being involved in a tungsten cartel with some Germans, but frankly, NOBODY cares about this plot point. Does anyone even remember the tungsten thing? No. Because this movie is all about Gilda and Johnny’s intense love-hate relationship. Are Gilda and Johnny truly in love with each other? I think they love each other, but for some reason, Johnny has some sort of issue with Gilda. Johnny’s dismissive attitude towards her causes Gilda intense hurt, leading her to torment him any way she can.

Despite being included on many “Best Film Noir Femme Fatale” lists, I don’t think Gilda is a femme fatale. In many ways, she’s the victim of this film–tormented by the two men in her life, Johnny and Ballin. Gilda’s intense love and subsequent hurt (caused by Johnny) drives her motivation to make Johnny jealous and unhappy. She wants him to feel what she feels. Johnny seemingly hates her for her actions, but his love for her motivates his jealousy. It’s a vicious cycle, one that Johnny and Gilda seemingly overcome at the somewhat contrived ending.

JOHNNY: “I want to go with you, Gilda. Please take me. I know I did everything wrong.
GILDA: “Isn’t it wonderful? Nobody has to apologize, because we were both stinkers, weren’t we? Isn’t it wonderful?”
JOHNNY: “Wonderful.”

Glenn Ford as “Johnny” and Rita Hayworth as “Gilda” in Gilda (1946)

Do we really think Johnny and Gilda will continue to be happy after the film ends?

Shades of Shane Blogathon- “The Glass Key” (1942)

It’s the 70th anniversary of Shane, a western widely considered one of the best of all time–it’s even one of the movies on my scratch-off poster, “100 Essential Films.” However, I’ve never seen it. It’s definitely on my list though. I recently discovered Alan Ladd over the past year or so and I love Jean Arthur. Shane is her last film. Anyway, when I saw this blogathon, and saw that the objective was to discuss anyone associated with Shane, a la Alan Ladd, I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about my favorite Ladd collaboration with frequent co-star, Veronica Lake–The Glass Key.

Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd in The Glass Key.

The Glass Key is based on the 1931 Dashiell Hammett novel of the same name. I haven’t read Hammett’s novel, so I am not going to attempt to compare and contrast the film and book. In the film, Alan Ladd plays Ed Beaumont, the right-hand man for the corrupt politician, Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy). Madvig is presented as being arrogant and full of bravado, when he really doesn’t have room to do so. He also fancies himself as a ladies’ man and has his eye on Janet Henry (Lake), the daughter of gubernatorial candidate, Ralph Henry (Moroni Olsen). Janet finds Paul repulsive and crass, but she puts up with him for the sake of her father’s political campaign. Paul is very influential and is working tirelessly to get Ralph elected, no matter how sketchy the tactics.

One evening at the Henry estate, Paul is having dinner with Janet, Ralph and her brother Taylor (Richard Denning). Paul and Janet are engaged, despite Janet’s distaste of Paul’s crude manner. Ed shows up at the home because he distrusts Janet and Ralph, thinking that they’re using Paul, and he wants to protect his boss. Janet is instantly attracted to Ed (because duh, Alan Ladd is hot). Ed is also attracted to Janet, but keeps the relationship platonic out of loyalty to his boss. Meanwhile, Paul’s sister, Opal (Bonita Granville), is dating Taylor, despite his constant gambling and drunkenness. Paul is against his sister’s involvement with this ne’er do well and Ralph is exasperated by his son’s behavior as it could negatively impact his political campaign.

Veronica wears a couple different hats with fabric that covers her hair in this film.

Finally, if all this plot weren’t enough, Paul has also angered the local mob, led by Nick Varna (Joseph Calleia) and his henchman, Jeff (William Bendix). Paul informs Nick that he’s trying to clean up the city and will no longer help protect Nick from the police. When Ed overhears Paul’s threat, he is concerned about what type of revenge Nick and his boys will seek against Paul. Meanwhile, Paul catches Opal with Taylor and is incensed. He leaves his and Opal’s apartment in a rage. Later, Taylor’s body is found lying on the side of the road and Paul is the main suspect. Ed then takes it upon himself to investigate Taylor’s death and help exonerate his boss.

William Bendix beat the crap out of Alan Ladd in The Glass Key. It’s not often you see the attractive lead look so horrible.

I think The Glass Key is a great movie–full of twists and turns. The story definitely didn’t resolve in the way that I thought it would and the answer to the murder mystery isn’t clear at first. There is a shocking brutal scene where Nick Varna has his boys rough up Ed after he refuses to join their gang. William Bendix beats the pulp out of Alan Ladd and the makeup artists did not mess around when it came to making Ladd look like he had his face beaten in. Normally in these movies, the director/studio doesn’t want their attractive lead to look bad, so they’ll have them be beat up and then be seen later with a tiny band-aid above one of their eyes. Not in this movie. Alan Ladd’s face is swollen, bruised and bloodied.

I loved the scene when Ed shows up to the newspaper editor’s home and crashes a party that the local newspaper editor is holding. Ed swiftly reveals that the editor is about to be ruined when news gets out that he has accepted bribes from the mob. With just a few words, Ed deftly ruins a marriage and the man’s wife, Eloise, moves on instantly…with Ed. In a rather bold scene, it is implied that Ed and Eloise have sex on the couch. They are then seen drinking and making out on the couch, all while Eloise’s now-estranged husband watches from the top landing on the stairs. The first time I saw this film, I was actually pretty shocked how salacious and straight-forward this scene is, what with the production code and all. We don’t see Ed and Eloise have sex, but it’s pretty obvious–much more obvious than some other implied sex scenes I’ve seen.

Eloise gives Alan Ladd the come hither look and I don’t blame her for a second.

Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake are often held up as one of film noir’s great romantic couples. I’m always surprised in their films how long it takes for them to actually be romantic. The Glass Key has a bit of a “will-they or won’t-they?” type vibe, but ultimately the film resolves in the way that you would want, after so much brutality. Poor Alan Ladd really runs the gamut in this film, from having the snot beat out of him by William Bendix, to having sex with a stranger on the couch. However, I absolutely love this movie. The story is compelling and the cinematography is excellent. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see a great film noir or great movie in general!

I love the use of shadow in this scene with Brian Donlevy and Alan Ladd.

National Classic Movie Day! Four Favorite Film Noir

Tomorrow, May 16, is National Classic Movie Day. Even though for me, everyday is National Classic Movie Day, tomorrow is “official.” It would be wonderful if the spotlight on classic film brings about a new crop of fans. While classic films still seem to be a bit of a niche interest, at least on Twitter, it feels like new classic film fans are made every day. I have always loved classic film, and it makes up about 90% of my “new” movie viewing. After all, on TCM’s Private Screening series, Lauren Bacall was quoted as saying, “It’s not an old movie if you haven’t seen it.”

This year, the wonderful host at the Classic Film and TV Cafe, has asked bloggers to discuss four of their favorite film noir. Along with musicals, pre-code, and melodrama (“weepies” if you will), if there’s another type of movie I love, it’s film noir. While many film noir may have a formulaic plot, it is the combination of actors, director, cinematography, music, editing, etc. that can set one movie apart from another. It is always so satisfying to discover a “new” film noir, or any classic film really, and be surprised by a plot twist or ending. Narrowing my list down to four will be difficult; but I will try. I definitely have dozens of film noir that I absolutely love.

In no particular order:

#1 Detour (1945)
Starring: Tom Neal and Ann Savage
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Studio: PRC Pictures

Synopsis: The film opens with Al Roberts (Neal) hitchhiking. He ends up at a diner in Reno where he drowns his sorrows in a cup of coffee. It is obvious that something is bothering Al. Al’s disturbed mental state becomes further evident when another customer plays a song on the jukebox that reminds Al of his former life in New York City–a life that while not great, must have been better than whatever he is going through now. Al’s voiceover serves as the device that brings the audience back to the beginning of Al’s story.

In New York City, Al worked at a nightclub playing piano. He laments wasting his talents playing in a shabby club; however he puts up with it because he’s in love with the club’s singer, Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake). One evening, she announces that she’s quitting her job and moving to Hollywood to try and make it in Hollywood. Al is depressed about Sue’s departure and eventually decides to drive to California to propose to her. However, not having any money, Al has to resort to hitchhiking across the country.

While in Arizona, Al meets Charles Haskell, a bookie on his way to Los Angeles. On their way to the City of Angels, Haskell ends up dying. Not knowing what to do, Al ends up taking Haskell’s identification and car and continues his trip. After crossing over the California border, Al stops for gas. It is at the gas station when he meets the amazing Vera (Savage). At this point, Vera’s in charge and Al’s just along for the ride.

Why I Love Detour: I love Detour purely because of Ann Savage’s performance. Her performance is absolutely amazing. I love how she is onto Al from the get-go and she will make sure to take advantage of him every opportunity she gets. Al is complete mincemeat after Vera gets done with him. Another reason I love this film is because we really don’t know Al’s story. Is he truly innocent of all the events in the film? Or is he just trying to convince himself that he is? For a film that is barely over an hour long, it is a trip from start to finish. There is not a wasted moment. This film is also very low budget which I think adds to the entire aesthetic and feel to the movie.

If you are not familiar with Tom Neal, I highly recommend reading about him. He was 1/3 of the infamous love triangle involving girlfriend Barbara Payton and her fiance, actor Franchot Tone. Despite her relationship with Tone, Payton and Neal carried on their affair for months in the early 1950s. It came to an end briefly when Payton became engaged to Tone, but then she quickly resumed her affair with Neal. It all came to a head on September 14, 1951 when Neal and Tone got into an altercation over Payton. To say that Tone lost the fight would be a gross understatement. Neal pulverized Tone. Tone suffered a smashed cheekbone, a broken nose, and a concussion which resulted in his hospitalization. Despite this, Tone inexplicably still married Payton. Their union lasted a whole 53 days when Payton left Tone for Neal.

I feel like knowing this drama surrounding Tom Neal really lends to his performance as the unreliable narrator, Al Roberts, in Detour. I also really wish we had a prequel just about Vera. I would love to know about her life leading up to the events of Detour.

My queen, Ann Savage, and Tom Neal in Detour

Favorite Quote:

VERA: “Say, who do you think you’re talking to… a hick? Listen mister, I’ve been around, and I know a wrong guy when I see one. What’d you do, kiss him with a wrench?

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#2 The Locket (1946)
Starring: Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, Robert Mitchum, Gene Raymond
Director: John Brahm
Studio: RKO

Synopsis: The Locket is a film with a very interesting flashback within a flashback within a flashback narrative structure. The film starts with a wedding. Nancy (Day) is set to marry her second husband, John Willis (Raymond). Before the ceremony starts, Dr. Harry Blair (Aherne) arrives at the Willis home, requesting to speak with John. John acquiesces and the two men retire to another room. Alone, Harry tells John that he is Nancy’s first husband. He warns John that his bride is a kleptomaniac, murderer, and chronic liar. She has never been punished for any of her crimes.

The film then segues into a flashback featuring Nancy as a child. As a child, Nancy lived with her mother in the Willis estate. Her mother worked as a maid for the Willis family. Nancy’s best friend, Karen Willis, has a birthday party one afternoon, and her snooty mother does not invite the “low class” Nancy. Karen, feeling bad for Nancy, opts to gift her a locket. Mrs. Willis is outraged, stating that the locket was expensive and it wasn’t Karen’s place to give it away. Mrs. Willis takes the locket back. Later, the locket goes missing and Nancy is accused of its theft. Insulted, Nancy’s mother sticks up for her daughter. This leads to Mrs. Willis firing Nancy’s mother. She and Nancy move out. This incident is a formative event in Nancy’s life. From here on out, she steals anything she wants, rationalizing that it doesn’t matter because she’ll be blamed regardless.

Subsequent flashbacks involve Nancy’s relationship with an artist, Norman Clyde, and her marriage to Harry, and the events leading up to her wedding to John.

Why I love The Locket. This film has such an unusual narrative structure. I’ve read complaints about the complicated plot, but I like it. It’s such a unique film and I love seeing Laraine Day as an absolute sociopath. I love the ending scene. I felt that this film was adept at showing how childhood trauma can affect a person well into adulthood. I also love the vibe of this movie. What’s also fascinating about this film is that Nancy is set to marry into the Willis family–the very same family that treated her so horribly when she was a child and were the root cause of her childhood trauma. It’s never explained in the film whether this was a calculated movie on Nancy’s part, or just a coincidence. It’s another interesting layer to the film’s plot line.

This screenshot perfectly captures the character of Nancy

Favorite Quote:

NANCY: How could I ever have liked you, Norman? Arrogant, suspicious, neurotic…
NORMAN: It isn’t neurotic to be jealous.
NANCY: It’s worse than neurotic to be jealous of a dead man.

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#3 Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Starring: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Ed Begley Sr., Shelley Winters, Gloria Grahame
Director: Robert Wise
Studio: United Artists

Synopsis: Burke (Begley Sr.) is a former policeman who was fired from his job when he refused to cooperate with state crime investigators. Desperate for money and wanting to stick it to his former employers, Burke comes up with a plan to rob a bank upstate (New York). If pulled off successfully, Burke stands to make a mint. To help him, he recruits ex-con and racist, Earle Slater (Ryan). Burke promises Slater $50,000 if he helps pull off the heist. Slater’s incentive for helping is his pride. He is unemployed and living with his girlfriend, Lorry (Winters). Lorry works as a waitress and is supporting herself and Slater financially. Living in the same apartment building as Slater and Lorry is Helen (Grahame), who tempts Slater in to a tryst while his girlfriend is out. Finally, in addition to Slater, Burke recruits Johnny Ingram (Belafonte), an African-American jazz musician who is also in hock to bookies for about $7,000. Despite being an all-around decent man, Ingram is desperate for money. It is explained that his wife divorced him and he lost custody of his daughter due to his gambling. Burke, Ingram and Slater work out the details for the heist. They work through every detail. However, threatening to undermine the entire venture is Slater’s absolute contempt and bigoted attitude toward Ingram.

Why I Love Odds Against Tomorrow: This film has an amazing message without being preachy. The ending is absolutely fantastic, I don’t want to say too much more about it, at the risk of ruining it. But it is well worth the 95-minute investment to get to this point. I also love the on-location cinematography. The grittiness of the New York City streets works perfectly with this very gritty film. Robert Ryan’s performance as the disgusting racist Earle Slater is fantastic. You absolutely despise him throughout the entire film. He is such a worm–even Shelley Winters (who plays a disgusting racist in A Patch of Blue) doesn’t deserve him. Gloria Grahame’s part isn’t really consequential to the overall plot, but she’s always a nice on-screen presence in a film noir. Harry Belafonte was fantastic in this film. I wish he’d made more movies. I especially love the cool jazz song that he performs. This film has an overall cool jazz score as well.

Robert Ryan, Ed Begley Sr., and Harry Belafonte during the COVID pandemic–err, pulling off the heist in Odds Against Tomorrow.

Favorite Quote:

SLATER: What you doin’ with such a big ol’ dog in New York?

BURKE: Never had a wife

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#4 Jeopardy (1953)
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Ralph Meeker
Director: John Sturges
Studio: MGM

Synopsis: Doug (Sullivan) and Helen Stilwin (Stanwyck) and their son Bobby, are on a road trip driving to Baja California, Mexico. They are planning on traveling to a remote fishing spot on the coastline and will camp while there. Shortly after arriving, Bobby decides to venture out onto a derelict jetty that juts out into the water. His foot becomes caught in some of the planks and Doug rescues him. While walking back to the beach, the jetty collapses, causing the wood piling to fall on Doug’s leg. Making matters worse is that the tide is starting to come in. Doug will drown if he can’t free his leg. Helen and Bobby try a variety of tactics, including a car jack, to free Doug, but to no avail. Estimating that he has about four hours before the tide fully comes in, Doug sends Helen into town for some rope and/or help.

Helen leaves in the car, leaving Bobby and Doug on the beach. Helen finds the gas station that she and Doug passed earlier and tries to get help or a rope. She manages to get some rope. She also comes across a hunky man, Lawson (Meeker). She explains her predicament and he gets into the car. Thinking that he’s accompanying her to offer to help Doug, she has no qualms about letting this stranger, albeit a hunky stranger, into her vehicle. It quickly becomes clear that Lawson is a dangerous escaped convict and he’s using Helen as a means to escape. At one point during their “trip,” Helen tells Lawson that she’s willing to do anything to save Doug.

Why I Love Jeopardy: First off, Ralph Meeker is hot hot in this movie. I wouldn’t have blamed Barbara Stanwyck for one second if she’d abandoned Barry Sullivan to run off with Meeker. This isn’t as well known a film noir title, but it is well worth a watch. Stanwyck always plays the tough as nails woman so well. I actually really like Barry Sullivan, especially in film noir. He’s fantastic in Suspense (1946) and Tension (1949). Ralph Meeker is excellent in this film. I can’t describe what it is that I find so appealing about Meeker. He has this primal quality about him and he always sounds like such a thug when he talks. I loved him in Kiss Me Deadly (1955).

Barbara Stanwyck and Ralph Meeker in “Jeopardy.”

Favorite Quote:

HELEN: I’ll do anything to save my husband…anything!

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10 Honorable Mentions (I know this is cheating, lol):

• The Hitch-Hiker (1953) Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman. Dir. Ida Lupino
• DOA (1950) Edmond O’Brien, Pamela Britton. Dir. Rudolph Mate
• Angel Face (1952) Jean Simmons, Robert Mitchum, Mona Freeman. Dir. Otto Preminger
• Phantom Lady (1944) Ella Raines, Franchot Tone, Elisha Cook Jr. Dir. Robert Siodmak
• The Spiral Staircase (1946) Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore. Dir. Robert Siodmak
• Lured (1947) Lucille Ball, George Sanders, Charles Coburn. Dir. Douglas Sirk
• Deadline, USA (1952) Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, Kim Hunter. Dir. Robert Brooks
• In a Lonely Place (1950) Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy. Dir. Nicholas Ray
• Too Late for Tears (1949) Lizabeth Scott, Dan Duryea, Arthur Kennedy. Dir. Byron Haskin
• Cry Danger (1951) Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Erdman. Dir. Robert Parrish