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Home , Anthony Mann, Arnold Laven, Clarence Greene, Dana Andrews, Edward Dmytryk, He Ran All the Way

July / Aug 2009 Noir City Sentinel 15

THE SENTINEL INTERVIEW TALES OF THE DARK SIDE

Arnold Laven is not typically associated with . The vet- eran director/producer/writer is probably best remembered for his thoughtful war drama The Rack (1956), starring a young , and a pair of hit television series, and The Big Country, produced in conjunction with his longtime partners Arthur Gardner and the late Jules V. Levy. Laven also directed several superior crime films, including Without Warning! (1952), Hollywood’s first contemporary-serial-killer movie, and the n

underrated Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1957). During a wide- e v a L

d ranging conversation with Alan K. Rode, Laven comes across as l o n r A

y

a charming man who, in the words of Sydney Greenstreet’s s e t r u

Kasper Gutman, “likes to talk to a man who likes to talk.” o C

Sentinel: Tell me about your early life think it paid 25 cents an hour—this at Warner Bros. He broke me in on the important. A secondary responsibility and how you got into the motion was in 1939 or 1940. My father military training films and I learned by was continuity. If someone in the picture business. insisted that I should get inside the observation. There were some fine scene was smoking a cigarette in a studio, so I took it. At Warner Bros. I directors working on these films as close-up at a certain point, when you Arnold Laven: My family moved to was in and out of the mail room. I got well as assistant directors and editors go to the master shot, you tell the in the late 1930s, during the temporary jobs in publicity sometimes, who moved up after working on the actor “Right here, you have to be Depression. My father couldn’t get but nothing of any consequence. less-complicated films. For example, smoking when he says this.” Or when work where we were living in , John Sturges was a film editor there someone takes a hat off, you need to so we packed everything we had in an Sentinel: Did you ever sneak onto the who went on to be a very distin- tell the director that so you can make old 1932 Ford and drove to Los Ange- Warner Bros. sound stages to watch guished feature film director. I wasn’t the cut from one shot to another with- les. was the cheapest movies in production? really thinking of being a director at out a hat suddenly appearing back on major city to live in at that time. The this point, but I loved film and was again. Essentially, you are responsible five of us rented a three-bedroom AL: Of course. I would go in, stand by actually studying various directors for making notes to yourself in the house in the Carthay Circle area for the door, and watch. I took great care under a microscope and subcon- script so that all the shots in a given $80 a month. not to attract any attention to myself. I sciously preparing myself for what scene will match. I was quite a film fan. I guess I was on the sound stage when they shot would come later. saw every reasonable film there was, Casablanca (1942). No one, particu- Sentinel: After World War II you con- wrote down the title and rated it from larly me, thought anything about it at Sentinel: What does a script super- tinued working as a script supervisor one to four stars. I also educated the time, but I actually watched that visor do? and did a number of pictures for myself by reading the best literature, final shot in the movie with Bogart Eagle-Lion. Was this a contractual Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, what have telling , “Louie, I think AL: It’s a hell of a job. On the hierar- relationship or did you work picture- you. I also read all of the plays from this is the beginning of a beautiful chy totem pole from one to ten, the to-picture? New York. My interest was very much friendship.” It’s hard to believe, but director is number one and the director in this direction. At the time, I was it’s perfectly true. of photography is number two, and the AL: I can’t quite remember how I got driving a truck for about $18 a week. At that time, the war in Europe script supervisor is probably number the job at Eagle-Lion, but I became My father’s business partner had was full-blown and all men of a cer- nine. But he has a very significant job. their regular script supervisor. I think a son who was an executive at Warner tain age had a draft number. The 1st He keeps track of all of the shots in that I went from picture-to-picture Bros. My father called Bobby Lord, a Motion Picture Unit was formed the script, in shorthand and with rather than a contract. producer at Warner Bros. who did One [about a year and half before Pearl sketches. In those days it was Way Passage (1932) and several other Harbor]. General Hap Arnold was the extremely time consuming for an Sentinel: Where was Eagle-Lion relatively important films. Lord evi- head of the Army Air Corps, and editor to run the film in order to keep located? dently passed the word to the man under him, the Signal Corps made all track of the different camera place- who hired people for the studio. The the training films for both the Army ments for a given scene: close-up, AL: It was a small independent studio studio called and asked me if I wanted and the Air Corps. After Pearl Harbor, dolly, what have you. The script super- on Santa Monica Boulevard. It was a job in the mail room as a messenger. when I joined the Motion Picture Unit, visor’s notes enabled the editor to under the auspices of Arthur Krim and I told them that I wanted to be a I would kibitz at the end of the day understand what coverage he had . Brynie Foy, who was in reader—I was an avid reader and with the head of the script supervisors instead of going and running the film. charge of the B unit at Warner Bros., made a couple of synopses of books— department. He was the trainer and So the script supervisor’s primary job took over as the production chief. but they only had the mail room job. I qualifier of all of the script supervisors wasn’t highly technical, but it was Eagle-Lion ran the gamut from very 16 Noir City Sentinel July / Aug 2009 low-budget films to mid-level pictures, very bad about it. Turhan Bey was a including (1948) very likeable man. I would frequently and Canon City (1948). run lines with actors—it was a second- ary feature of my job as script supervi- Sentinel: Wasn’t some of the filming of sor, since they didn’t have cue cards at Canon City done on location in Col- that time. Some actors had instanta- orado? neous recall. Mickey Rooney never read the script; he didn’t have to. I AL: It was all done at the state prison remember reading a scene with him out there. Certain things I can remem- one time and then asking him, “Do ber quite well and Canon City is a pic- you want to go over the lines?” He ture that I distinctly recall. The said, “No, I know them.” And he did, weather! We left Los Angeles and cold! Dana Andrews on The Best arrived at Canon City and had to shoot Years of Our Lives (1946) was the immediately. The night we got there, same way. they wanted to make one shot that evening and it was practically zero Sentinel: Another Eagle-Lion film noir degrees! The story was that 12 men assignment was Hollow Triumph broke out of the prison, and one of (1948). them holed up at a house with a family held hostage. One of the AL: I have a silver ashtray right there hostages, a young daughter, had an on the table that is engraved from Paul appendicitis attack and the lead con- Henreid that he gave as a gift to mem- vict made the self-sacrifice. The actor bers of the cast and crew on that film, was Scott Brady and his character’s including me. I got to know Henried name was Sherbondy and I can’t tell better later on, when he directed some you why I remember that! episodes of The Rifleman and . What I remember about Sentinel: The director of Canon City Hollow Triumph is how Henreid and was Crane Wilbur, who dated back to the director Steven Sekely wanted to Pearl White silent movies and stage have a fast tempo. It was potentially a work around the turn of the 20th cen- fairly good picture, it communicated tury. He really excelled at writing and well and there was a good sense of directing prison movies. What was he how to use the camera, but the prob- like? lem—this is my sense of it—was that the increased pace didn’t vary from, AL: He was an actor and a writer, but say, a sad scene to a happy scene. So not a director. That was my impres- the tempo defeats itself. What was sion. My impression was that he was intended as a plus ended up being a not a warm personality. He wrote minus. Canon City, and it was a pretty damn good script. He was certainly not the Sentinel: I thought the ending of Top: Turhan Bey observes Lynn Bari in The Spiritualist, aka The Amazing Mr. X. worst, but he was a poor choice as a Hollow Triumph was extremely dark Bottom: LAPD swarms the sewers in search of a homicidal maniac in He Walked by Night. Both films were photographed by the legendary—and fast— director. I remember saying to myself, and well-crafted. I particularly “I could do a better job than that.” admired John Alton’s camerawork. AL: That’s right! When Alton came to crew, the gaffer and the best boy, Sentinel: Any memories of the cast? It AL: It was a good script, but let me work for Eagle-Lion, nobody had ever among others, were extremely loyal to included Scott Brady and Jeff Corey. tell you about John Alton. Obviously heard of him. When he left for MGM him. The point is that Alton made it so The latter was later blacklisted and we were trying to save money while everyone knew who he was. He much easier for the director to be cre- became a renowned acting teacher. making these types of pictures at became the cameraman of choice at ative. I also recall how Alton helped Eagle-Lion. In those days, the average Metro. He was a colorful character, Werker enormously from a budgetary AL: I became semi-friendly with Scott cameraman was the average camera- too. He wrote a book [Painting with and schedule perspective by getting Brady. Later on I became quite man; the majority of these guys would Light]. I enjoyed talking to him. I He Walked by Night done so quickly. friendly with Jeff Corey. There were a over-light to protect themselves. So remember thinking at the time, “Is this number of actors in the cast whom I Alton came in and the first thing he guy digging his own grave or what?” Sentinel: Was the finale of He Walked met and worked with over the years. I said was, “Eliminate all the overhead by Night actually filmed in the Los also remember as a very lights!” which was all the equipment Sentinel: He did it his way and was Angeles sewer system? fine actor. I even got to play a bit part up on the scaffolds. He literally cut the irreverent to boot? in the film with dialogue! There was a amount of time that another camera- AL: Yes, I remember going down to scene with a bunch of reporters talking man would take to light the exact AL: Yes, very much so. Alton was the sewers and discovering that you to the prison warden. They needed to same scene by 35 to 60 percent! Alton European and talked with a slight could almost put a house in there! I fill the shot, so Crane Wilbur asked was the fastest cameraman I ever accent. A delightful man. had no idea how large they were. Of me to step in and say hello or good- knew, and his stuff was always inter- course Alton knew how to use what- bye, I forget the exact line. We can esting. What a difference Alton made! Sentinel: Alton’s ability to get the job ever light was available. forget about that. You know they said at the time, “Wait done so much faster with fewer lights and see what happens to Alton when and fewer people probably didn’t Sentinel: You worked with two of the Sentinel: Another Eagle-Lion film you he goes to a major studio.” In other endear him to the rank-and-file union greatest of all time: worked on was The Spiritualist, also words, he won’t make it in the big members—the grips and electricians— Alton and (in The Best known as The Amazing Mr. X (1948). leagues. So he ended up going to on the set. Years of Our Lives). Which one would MGM . . . you choose if you were directing a AL: My main recollection of The Spir- AL: It made it him very unpopular movie? itualist is that Turhan Bey could not Sentinel: . . . and won the Academy among the crew, particularly the elec- remember his lines! He had a mental Award for An American in Paris tricians because he cut the electrical AL: That’s tough. Gregg Toland was block or something. It wasn’t due to (1951). staff virtually in half. You felt the the greatest cameraman who ever drinking or anything like that. He felt undercurrent of tension. But Alton’s lived, the best cameraman in America. July / Aug 2009 Noir City Sentinel 17 If you asked any cameraman who influenced them the most, they would say Toland. I could tell you Gregg Toland stories for more than an hour. He was so creative, he adapted per- fectly to what the story was and what the director wanted. You look at the revolutionary nature of Citizen Kane (1941) and then The Best Years of Our Lives, where you don’t even notice the camera. Toland wasn’t slow, but he wasn’t particularly fast. Alton was fast as lightning. was great as well. If I were directing a film noir or a low-budget film, I’d pick Alton.

Sentinel: Another question about He Walked by Night: I’ve read that Alfred Werker was the nominal director and stepped in and directed portions. What is your recollection?

AL: I worked with Tony Mann. I remember we shot at night once and I had dinner with Tony. As far as work- ing on He Walked by Night, Al Werker made the film and was a first-rate director; I believe he directed The House of Rothchild (1934) with George Arliss. I remember one occa- sion he bawled the shit out of me. That’s the one thing I hate: being yelled at for any reason. As I recall, I wasn’t out of line, I just happened to Director Arnold Laven checks a camera set-up circa mid- Courtesy Arnold Laven bother him at an inopportune time. Any rate, He Walked by Night was a came to Eagle-Lion. He was a fine cess. He was a serious director who The writers were and first-class picture. actor and an extremely likeable man. was different from many others. He Clarence Greene. really cared about his work. He was an Here’s a story. Besides my wife, Sentinel: He Walked by Night has Sentinel: Reign of Terror is a classic interesting man and extremely reward- there is only one other girl that I was been credited with establishing the example of a medium- or lower-budget ing to work with. I didn’t know him ever in love with. That was a girl that “” type of film and picture that is still a visual feast well, but we had a good professional I held hands with in first grade. Her inspiring to create , because of the huge talent involved at relationship. name was Joan Feingold. I moved first on radio and then on television. every level of the production. from New York to Florida and never Sentinel: In your opinion, was Mann saw or heard from her again. Just a AL: Webb played a police lab techni- AL: In addition to Tony Mann and more skilled at the technical aspects of memory I still have. I used to tickle cian. Eagle-Lion had an actual detec- John Alton, you had William Cameron film directing or at working with her arm. Now what does this have to tive [Los Angeles police sergeant Menzies as the producer. Menzies did actors? do with D.O.A.? I found out years Marty Wynn] on the set as the techni- the production design on Gone with later that this same girl married cal advisor and I observed Webb the Wind (1939). They did all sorts of AL: He was gifted at both and pos- Clarence Greene! And, so sadly, she having extensive conversations with creative things, like making the sessed a great deal of confidence, died young and I never got a chance to him and it stuck in my mind at the impression of huge crowds using only which is very important. Again, at that meet her again. time because I wondered what they 20 people. was the time I thought he was a very effective had in common. I knew that Jack executive producer. Unfortunately, B director who had a lot going for Sentinel: Do you have any recollec- Webb had done the radio shows up in Reign of Terror contributed to closing him. He found his niche later on with tions of Edmond O’Brien? San Francisco [The Jack Webb Show the studio down. The picture cost those terrific Westerns with Jimmy and Pat Novak for Hire] but it meant about $800,000 to $900,000. That, Stewart. AL: He was just an all-around won- little to me then. After Dragnet plus prints and advertising, put a real derful guy. When he first came out to became such a success, I recalled crimp in studio financing. [Editor’s Sentinel: You were also the script Hollywood, Eddie had a background Webb and that detective having those note: Research indicates Reign of supervisor on a renowned film noir as a Shakespearean actor. I directed in-depth chats and realized the import Terror cost $771,623 to produce. It released by United Artists, D.O.A. him in The Rack; he had a great of it. either broke even or possibly made a (1950). speech as the defense counsel for Paul little money. The Walter Wanger– Newman. He was married to Olga San Sentinel: was memo- produced Tulsa (1949) at Eagle-Lion AL: I can still remember standing on Juan—I don’t know why they rable as the killer in He Walked by was a financial disaster that cost more the streets in San Francisco improvis- divorced later on—and we had dinner Night and then played Robespierre in than $1 million and failed to recover ing a shot with the director, Rudy with them on occasion. I remember Reign of Terror (1949). What do you its negative cost.] Maté, that had Eddie O’Brien running my wife and I went to a party he remember about him? through crowds of people, most of threw, it was very fancy, I had on a Sentinel: What was your impression of whom had no idea what was going on! tuxedo. I knocked on his front door AL: Before he came to Eagle-Lion, Anthony Mann as a director? Rudy Maté was an enormously warm and he opened up wearing his Basehart had a solo role in a New and likeable man. I found he was not a bathrobe and pajamas! I had the York play called The Hasty Heart that AL: I didn’t realize that Tony was that full-blown director even though he wrong day! We had a big laugh over garnered a lot of attention. He made good. I thought he was a good director was a terrific cameraman. Ernie that. his debut in in the context of Eagle-Lion, but at the Laszlo was the cameraman on D.O.A. (1947), which was being made when I time I didn’t foresee his future suc- It was a wonderful picture to work on. Sentinel: Did the Popkin brothers 18 Noir City Sentinel July / Aug 2009 (producers of D.O.A, Impact [1949], too busy to be starstruck. I suppose if The Well [1951], The Thief [1952]) Marilyn Monroe walked down the spend any time on the set? street, a couple of people would look. That’s an exaggeration, but you get AL: We were aware of them, but they my point. I remember an exception, were not a constant presence. They though. One day walked hired Joseph Nadel as a production down the street in his uniform. I don’t manager to run things. Nadel’s son care who you were—producer, direc- became one of my dearest friends and tor, writer—we all stared. Gable in the editor of my first directorial film, uniform! Amazing! Without Warning!, and The Rifleman series. I would occasionally see the Sentinel: He really had star power. Popkins on the set but they never interfered, at least at the level I was AL: Absolutely. Like no one else. At exposed to. any rate, Jules Levy and I had known each other since the days of the Sentinel: Another film noir that you Warner Bros. mail room. We car- worked on as a script supervisor was pooled together and became very close He Ran All the Way (1951), which friends. Jules worked with Arthur was John Garfield’s last picture. Gardner on shows. I remember work- ing in the mail room and Jules telling AL: I loved the director, John Berry. John Garfield had a volatile relationship with costar Shelley Winters on his final film, me about PRC. Making a movie for He Ran All the Way, on which Laven served as script supervisor But here’s another story. There was an $18,000! Jules was always talking agent—I can’t remember his name— smile. So of course I am looking the leagues who were politically active about getting a script, raising money, who always had an ingenue or aspiring opposite way, no eye contact. It was left-wingers or Communists, or they and making a movie. Arthur worked as actress on his arm and would make the kind of an epochal moment in the his- simply signed the wrong petition. a production manager for the King rounds of the studios. I was working tory of that movie! Of course, Garfield brothers and had been an actor in on a film titled New Orleans (1947) was such a warm and charming guy. AL: Yes, to a large extent they were films. and he brought in this lady who wasn’t politically oriented, but certainly not particularly attractive, but she had a Sentinel: Garfield had that unique star Communists. When I first started Sentinel: Arthur Gardner told me that small part in the film and a voice that quality and was well thought of by his directing in 1952, there definitely was he played a scene in All Quiet on the was strongly Brooklynese. I remember peers and colleagues. a Blacklist and it went on into the Front opposite Lew Ayres showing her the script and sitting and early . I remember being a script back in 1929. talking with her. She was kind of AL: Very much so. I wanted to get a supervisor for Edward Dmytryk on interesting, but I was thinking, you script job on I Love Lucy and men- Mutiny (1952) produced by the King AL: That’s right. He eventually found know, “What are you doing here in tioned it to Garfield. Do you know, he brothers. Dmytryk was a difficult man, that he could make more money Hollywood?” She told me she was up called a top guy at Desilu—not Lucy, particularly at that time. [Dmytryk had behind the camera, struck up a rela- for a part in a film directed by George but their production head under been one of the imprisoned Hollywood tionship with the King brothers, and Cukor with Ronald Colman. To even Desi—and got me an appointment, 10, who was “reinstated” in the busi- got hired. Arthur and Jules were think that she was auditioning for which was extremely nice. I really felt ness after testifying against former always talking about making a movie. Cukor or working with Colman was that John Garfield was a warm, Communist colleagues.] Eventually they contacted a fellow ridiculous! The next thing I know, the authentic, likeable guy. named Don Weis, another close friend picture comes out with this girl in it, A Sentinel: Did you know that Hugo of mine, about a project they were put- Double Life (1947). Of course I am Sentinel: The credits of He Ran All the Butler and had written ting together. Do you know of him? speaking about Shelley Winters. Way (John Berry, John Garfield, the script for He Ran All the Way and Dalton Trumbo, Hugo Butler, Guy were being fronted by Guy Endore? Sentinel: Yes. His career paralleled Sentinel: Shelley Winters acquired a Endore) pretty much read like a yours and seemed to follow the same reputation for being difficult to work muster list for the Blacklist. Was there AL: Yes. I knew that particularly after path. He was the script supervisor on with at times, particularly with direc- any awareness of the Blacklist on the going to the preview! While we were many noirs, including M (1951), Out- tors and producers. Was that the case set? Did certain people feel that they shooting He Ran All the Way there was rage (1950), The Prowler (1951), and in He Ran All the Way? were under government scrutiny or on no sense of potential tension or any- Force of Evil (1948), and then moved borrowed time because of the Commu- thing like that on the set. Afterward, into the director’s chair. Don Weis AL: She wasn’t easy. It seemed to nist witch hunt that was convulsing all of those names involved in the pic- ended up directing a lot of quality tele- make the column in Variety or the Hollywood? ture came to mind very clearly vision. Hollywood Reporter every day, what because the Blacklist had really was happening on the set of He Ran AL: It was a left-wing, Democratic descended by that time. AL: That’s exactly right. Anyway, Don All the Way. group from top to bottom. They were said, “I’ve been up to bat too many all tremendous people, particularly Sentinel: Your partnership with JulesV. times, I’ll pass.” So Don was out and Sentinel: Was all of that publicity due Hugo Butler. I remember Gale Sonder- Levy and Arthur Gardner solidified they came to me about it. I had noth- to Shelley, or Garfield, or both? gaard and (he later when you directed your first feature, ing to lose at that point. I hadn’t come made Salt of the Earth [1954], a very Without Warning!, in 1952. close to being asked to direct any- AL: The chemistry between Garfield leftist movie) as wonderful people. I thing. So Arthur, Jules, and I got and Shelley was antipathetic; they was, well, not quite as far left. I AL: Yes, our association dated back to together. We stole material from two argued constantly. Sometimes yelling remember one time someone asked me the Motion Picture Unit during the movies to make Without Warning! and screaming. They were all people to sign a card for some cause. I asked, war. with a high level of emotion and I’m “What is that for?” They said, “Oh, Sentinel: Was The Sniper (1952) one including John Berry too. As I recall, it’s for the such-and-such crusade.” So Sentinel: There were a lot of legendary of them? though, 90 percent of the conflict was I said, “Well, I just don’t join things movie stars who served or were asso- between Shelley and Garfield. One like that.” I found out later that sign- ciated with that unit, including Clark AL: The Sniper was not one of them. night I was working late and sitting on ing this card would have gotten me Gable, , and Ronald Dmytryk made The Sniper, and actu- the sound stage, about a half-hour into a lot of trouble. Reagan. ally when he saw Without Warning! he after everyone else had gone home. thought we’d stolen from him!* We John Garfield’s dressing room started Sentinel: My understanding is that a AL: Sure, but you know, no one really actually copied He Walked by Night to rock and shake. The door finally lot of people who ended up getting cared too much about that. We were and another film that I think Joan Ben- opens and out walks Shelley, with a blacklisted merely had friends and col- all in uniform, all doing a job and just nett was in. At any rate, we decided it July / Aug 2009 Noir City Sentinel 19

Belgian poster art for Without Warning and two images from the film, including Adam Williams (top)

though I felt comfortable as a director, it was stressful as hell! We had deferred our salaries and were work- ing for nothing. For the three us— Arthur, Jules, and myself—our collec- tive salaries were around $30,000. I believe the total budget was $90,000, including paying and the musicians to do the score. $60,000 was put up by a gentle- man named Auerbach and the rest was deferred. The picture got extremely good reactions in the trade papers.

Sentinel: Did you have a preview?

AL: We previewed it at one of the big theaters on Hollywood Boulevard. In those days, people would line up to see the previewed movies. When the titles came on and the audience didn’t see any recognizable names on the credits, 10 to 15 percent of them got up and walked out. So we had about a half-full house. Then, when the picture was over: applause, people standing up, cheering. would be about a serial killer and that Williams had a part about a guy who Sentinel: I enjoyed the period L.A. Sentinel: That must have been exceed- we would go out on location and get a left home, joined a circus, and volun- locations in Without Warning! like the ingly gratifying. lot of value that you can’t get by teered to jump off a tower into a water freeways under construction and the shooting on a sound stage. pool. I had a talking relationship with scenes of Chavez Ravine before AL: It was the highest moment of my Adam that eventually turned into a Dodger Stadium was built. professional life. I haven’t had a Sentinel: You pioneered a new Holly- close friendship. I thought he pro- whole lot of success. Some reasonable wood genre: the serial-killer movie. jected a Brando-esque type of persona. AL: We got approval from the Depart- measure, yes, but nothing compared to Naturally he wasn’t the actor that ment of Transportation to use the free- that moment. The picture ended up AL: Willie Raynor, who was a publi- Marlon was, although he thought so ways. At this point, none of the new getting sold to , who distrib- cist for the King brothers, contributed and it really hurt his career later on. roadways were connected; we went to uted it. We got our deferment, Mr. a first-draft screenplay. It was pretty where there was an entrance to the Auerbach got his money back, and good. I am good at rewriting. I had Sentinel: His actual name was Adam freeway that was blocked off, with no then we all split profits of an addi- gotten a job as the script clerk on Berg. I understand he was quite a pilot entrance signs. These areas were sepa- tional $60,000. Teresa (1951) (which was a wonderful in addition to being an actor. rated by small connecting roads used experience, working on location in by the construction crews. So the DOT Sentinel: Your next picture was Vice New York and Italy with Fred Zinne- AL: Adam was kind of a bullshit told me, “Just go in between them.” I Squad (1953). What was it like as a mann). I took the script for Without artist, so you really didn’t know how got to go everywhere and shoot film. young director working with a pair of Warning! and worked on it while I much to believe, but he was appar- For a good six to eight months, the authentic movie stars like Edward G. was on location. When I came back, ently decorated as a combat pilot freeways belonged to me! I would go Robinson and Paulette Goddard? the script was complete. during the war and continued working to the blocked-off entrances and take as a flight instructor out at those connecting roads when I wanted AL: Goddard was a doll! She only had Sentinel: How long did Without Warn- Airport when the acting dried up. He to use the freeway. Believe it or not, to work for a week. We had already ing! take to shoot? could be more than difficult. If a pro- no one ever stopped me. hired another actress and ended up ducer or casting director called him in having to give her a smaller part. The AL: Fifteen shooting days and three about a job and started the conversa- Sentinel: Did Without Warning! give lady we hired was good but didn’t days of second-unit work: chases, run- tion with “Well, what have you done?” you confidence that you could be an have Goddard’s pizzazz. I remember I ning through the produce market, and Adam would lean forward and effective film director? was working in the office and Jules so forth. respond, “Well, what have you done?” came in and I could tell something AL: I rehearsed about 80 percent of was brewing. He said, “Don’t get mad, Sentinel: How did you come to hire Sentinel: Most people remember Adam the show with the actors. This was a but we just hired Paulette Goddard Adam Williams, who had the lead role Williams as one of the killers in North minimum type of deal with Adam and you’re going to have to move so- as the psychotic killer? by Northwest (1959) and ’s Williams, Meg Randall, and the other and-so to a different role.” aide de camp in The Big Heat (1953). actors. Then I also had developed AL: Arthur Lubin directed Queen for sketches—my own way of storyboard- Sentinel: Did you get mad? a Day (1951) at Eagle-Lion. Adam AL: I used him in The Rack and The ing—that indicated exactly how every Glory Guys (1965). We were close shot was going to be made, because AL: A bit, but I got over it quickly. * Plagiarism is unlikely by either party: personal friends, but I found him diffi- we had 15 days. When we started I Now, Eddie Robinson was another Without Warning! and The Sniper were cult. There was a situation on location was very confident, but I didn’t sleep story. First we were going to hire Paul released on the same day, May 9, 1952. It's in Mexico, and he turned on me. I had too well at night. My hair began Douglas, but he was unavailable. His unlikely either director saw the other's film before release. Inspiration may have come always tried to support his career. Our falling out in clumps, I had bald spots. name meant something at the box from an actual serial killer, Evan Charles relationship suffered, and by the time I went to a dermatologist, who told me office. Robinson was the second Thomas, on the loose in Los Angeles during he died in 2006, we hadn’t seen each it was stress related. He said to relax, choice. preproduction and filming of both movies. other in at least 15 years. and then charged me $50! So even Vice Squad told the story of a 20 Noir City Sentinel July / Aug 2009 day in the life of a captain of detec- exactly where he is supposed to, and tives. The trick was how to manipulate exits. A perfect take. It was the end of this into a story on-screen. I was front that scene and it was never mentioned man, working with Larry Roman on again. the script. Larry had never done a film Getting along with Robinson before, but we hit it off and he was worked out very well. I was tipped to good. We went down and met with a some things that he liked. Other things captain of detectives at the Los Ange- I had to pick up. One time there was a les Police Department. We expected to guy telling him dirty jokes just before hear something from a public-relations we were going to roll. I go up to the standpoint. Instead we got about a guy and say, “Don’t bother Mr. Robin- half-dozen insights on how the detec- son, we’re ready to shoot.” And tive bureau actually operated. For Robinson says, “No, I like it, it relaxes instance he told us that a policeman is me.” So of course I say, “Great, go only as good as his information. right ahead.” Therefore, a lot of the arrests of prosti- Now we come to the scene with tutes have nothing to do with prostitu- Paulette Goddard and they both favor tion; it’s to squeeze them for informa- the left side of their faces. So I design tion. Remember an early scene where it so that they walk around the desk in the police captain leaves his office, a a way that supports their best sides pickpocket is in the outer office, and and also supports their relationship in Robinson is making a deal to let him the film. It played very well. I patted go in exchange for information? myself on the back for that one. Usu- ally at the end of every day Robinson Sentinel: Yes, I do. What was Robin- would give me one of his cigars—I son like to work with? smoked then—and I looked forward to it because it meant that it had been a AL: This is the point of the story that I good day. This time Robinson walks am getting to. Robinson was very right by me. No cigar. I say, “Eddie, reluctant at first to participate; the what’s the problem? I thought the time and budget were far below what scene went pretty good!” He says, he was used to. I think we had 20-plus “Pretty good? You shot her face and days to shoot. But he was on the my ass!” How he got that impression “graylist” at that time and he needed I’ll never know, but I never forgot the work. William Allenburg, the head that. “Her face and my ass.” I guess he of William Morris, tells us that Robin- meant that there was a brief second son wants to meet with Art, Jules, and when his back was to the camera. me. So we go to his house after dinner Sol Lesser looked at the finished to discuss the script. Robinson says, film and told us, “You win some, you “Well, this one scene you have get rid lose some,” but Vice Squad was a rea- of.” This is the sequence between him sonably successful picture. and the pickpocket that I just described. Robinson declares, “If I Sentinel: I watched Down Three Dark was a captain of detectives, I would Streets (1954) on television recently. It squish him like a bug under my foot. omitted scene. Just shoot the movie was the first movie that featured the I am not going to wheel and deal and per the script. Hollywood sign in a principal bargain. No way.” We explain to sequence. Robinson that this is the hub of the Sentinel: In other words, don’t rub whole script, that the police captain it in. AL: The interesting thing about Down has to be different things to different Three Dark Streets was that the pro- people. Robinson finally says, “Either AL: Exactly. Now we get to the actual ducer, Eddie Small, did not give us the eliminate the scene or forget it.” Art, shooting of that scene. It’s at Los final cut. The original premise was Jules, and I look at each other and I Angeles Police headquarters and the that the three stories would intertwine. am sure that Arthur and Jules—who police have given us X amount of We would be halfway through one have a personal relationship with time, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. or something story and then we would go to another. Robinson through Robinson’s son— like that, to use the office and corridor. Small decided that we had to redesign will say something like, “Well, surely This is where Robinson will walk the cutting to make the stories to run we can work something out.” Instead from his office down the corridor, the scene. He doesn’t stop where he’s consecutively so viewers wouldn’t get they both look at me and I shake my open the door, and talk to the guy supposed to and goes past the right confused. I said that the whole essence head no. It’s about 1:30 or 2:30 in the playing the pickpocket. The interior door. So I say, “OK let’s do it again.” I (which also gives it that extra little morning by this time. So we shake will be on the sound stage, but the ask his personal assistant, “Harlan, pizzazz for a low-budget movie) is hands with Robinson and say we’re point is that these are the only two maybe you get him to stop and sign that the audience follows one story, sorry and then good night. The point is doors available to shoot this sequence. the paper where the door is?” Now I then loses it, then catches up with it that Arthur and Jules never hesitated So I say “Let’s rehearse,” and am looking at my watch and sweating. later. The structure keeps their atten- for one second in backing me up. So incidentally we now have about 10 Robinson senses something isn’t right tion. we go out and sit in a coffee shop talk- minutes before we’re going to be and comes up to me and asks what’s ing about what’s next. We have no kicked out and this is the last shot of going on, what’s the problem. I say, Sentinel: Eddie Small was going to other choice for the lead role. We have the day. Robinson is good on his lines “Eddie, we’re committed to doing it make the movie over in his own image. no money. Sol Lesser was paying for and doesn’t need a lot of rehearsal. We this way because the police will only our office. Lesser ends up meeting rehearse, set up the dolly tracks, and let us use this door, et cetera.” He AL: It was going to be in the image of with Allenburg and word comes back get ready to go. Robinson comes out, says, “Why didn’t you tell me that?” I Eddie Small, which was very basic that Robinson has agreed to do the he’s very brisk and he has to walk tell him I wanted him to have his free- and very simple. That wasn’t the picture, including that scene he’d down the corridor, pause to look at a dom of expression, I didn’t want it to movie I directed. The movie that I objected to. But he has requested that paper that an underling shows him, be mechanical. He says, “OK, let’s thought it would become . . . Well, I’ll there would be no mention of that and enter the other door. And we miss shoot it.” He comes out the door, stops never know. July / Aug 2009 Noir City Sentinel 21

Arnold Laven Directs Small Screen Classic “THE RETURN OF VERGE LIKENS” e d First broadcast October 3, 1964 o R . K n a l he town in which Verge Likens was raised—a scruffy A y s Appalachian hamlet eerily similar to the territory described in e t r u The Night of the Hunter (1955)—is at the total mercy of Riley o

C T McGrath, who runs the town like a cornpone Hitler. He thinks nothing Dan Duryea and Charles McGraw square off in a courtroom scene from the Laven- of killing Verge’s father Stoney when he makes the mistake of talking directed feature Slaughter on Tenth Avenue back after McGrath insists that he take, yet again, the short end of the Sentinel: Small edited the film and The Man Who Rocked the Boat. stick in a business transaction. you, the director, had no say at all? The producer, Albert Zugsmith, The sheriff, in McGrath’s pocket, tries to cover up the crime, call- was quite a character. He was from a ing it an accident, but Verge has had enough, and the tension begins to AL: I was out of it. As a matter of different world. He was a tasteless build. McGrath tries to buy off Verge; his goons rough up Verge’s fact, I was so upset that I took an man, a newspaper publisher or some- “simple” brother Wilfred; and after a series of altercations Verge is opportunity to go to and visit thing. Hedy Lamarr. Somehow he met forced to leave town, vowing to return when he has concocted a plan to some relatives. I walked away from Hedy Lamarr and imposed her into the avenge his father. the cutting of the film. movie. In one of his earliest and most successful appearances, a young Peter Fonda, playing Verge, displays a large dollop of his dad’s steely Sentinel: How was Broderick Craw- Sentinel: Hedy Lamarr is in Slaughter screen persona. He’s assisted by the fact that the backwoods town and its ford to work with on that film? He on Tenth Avenue? I don’t remember citizens have been conjured up by Davis Grubb (author of The Night of usually projected the force of a bull that at all. the Hunter, in fine form here). Robert Emhardt, the personification of elephant on-screen. obese, malevolent corruption, is squarely in his element. AL: She had a bit part. Lamarr’s role The brilliant twist in the denouement is a perfect combination of AL: He was clearly an alcoholic, but had no meaning. I think a scene was noir and Hitchcock, and it’s played to the hilt by director Arnold Laven, other than that he was OK. Knowing written for her, she worked one day, whose staging for the climactic encounter between Verge and McGrath that about him, I had a sense of how I and it had no relation to the story. I includes a bravura editing sequence that ratchets tension at a breakneck might relate to him when the alcohol am 99 percent sure she was in the pace. McGrath has a weakness, and each change in the camera’s point of was more controlled than he was. I got final cut, but she might have been cut view brings us a step closer to the payoff that Verge is slowly, painstak- though the picture OK and I thought out subsequently. ingly—one could say almost surgically—effecting. When the police Crawford was extremely good in the finally intervene, their hands are tied; Riley McGrath hasn’t a scratch on picture. As far as I was concerned, we Sentinel: How did the title get him. were lucky to get him. He drank and changed? Among the many minor treats in this masterful backwoods noir is we accommodated it, but I don’t think the appearance of George Lindsey, best known as the rube Goober on it had a negative impact on the picture AL: I told you about the producer The Andy Griffith Show, playing a Southern thug with just the right or anyone else. being from another world. He had amount of good-ole-boy menace. bought the song and the music for Sentinel: Was Slaughter on Tenth “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” so that —Edward Burma Avenue a major step up for you? It became the soundtrack theme and the was filmed in 1957 at Universal-Inter- title. I had to shoot an insert scene of national and had a formidable cast. Tenth Avenue. OBITUARIES by Alan K. Rode AL: I had made The Rack, and it Sentinel: I talked to about earned me a certain stature. As a this film. She remembered being Jane Randolph, 94, one Randolph also co- matter of fact, the problem with astounded at how good Walter of the last of the great hor- starred in several of the Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is that Matthau was and what he became. ror and noir actresses of Falcon series. She was was a marvelous guy, How did you cast him? the , died in Gstaad, accused of killing her but the film needed Bob Mitchum. I Switzerland, on May 4. alcoholic husband in the forget why we couldn’t get him. Egan AL: I used an experienced casting Randolph was born in Dalton Trumbo–scripted was wrong for the part. It was a pretty director who told me that there was Youngstown, Ohio, and Jealousy (1945) and good movie, and I had a great rela- this actor in New York who was came to Hollywood in attempted to frame Hugh tionship with Egan. You know, one exceptionally good. He told me, “I 1939. She met her first Beaumont for murder in has a tendency when you’re working suggest—if you don’t mind, we don’t husband, Bert D’Armand, Anthony Mann’s B noir with someone to think it was a good have any film on him—that he would at Max Reinhardt’s re- Railroaded! (1947). decision that they were cast in the be great for the part.” He assured me, nowned acting school, After appearing in film. I never could work with an actor and I trusted his judgment. where he was the man- Abbott and Costello if I was conscious of them having ager. After several bit parts at Warner Meet Frankenstein (1948) Randolph been miscast. I’ve worked with actors Sentinel: Were you pleased with Bros. she landed an RKO contract and retired from acting, married a wealthy who required a little more work than Matthau in the film? appeared in a pair of ’s dark Spanish real estate magnate, and lived others, but looking back and being fantasy films, Cat People (1942) (in the majority of her life abroad in honest, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue AL: Yes, he was superb. We got along which she was memorably menaced in Europe. Her first husband later married suffered because of Egan. The original fine. He was warm and cordial and a a swimming pool) and Curse of the Cat actress Ann Savage, with whom he title of the film came from the book great poker player. n People (1944). remained until his death in 1969.