DARK NO STOCKS KNIGHT NO SPORTS REVIEW ™ ALL NOIR www.noircity.com www.filmnoirfoundation.org VOL. 3 NO. 4 CCCC**** A PUBLICATION OF THE FILM NOIR FOUNDATION MONTHLY 2 CENTS JULY/AUG 2008 START MAKING YOUR PLANS! UNIVERSAL FIRE DATES SET FOR NOT AS DIRE AS NOIR CITY 7 FIRST FEARED Fave Frisco Fest Back At Castro Palace Jan. 23 Studio Working 24/7 to Replace Damaged Films SAN FRANCISCO — The 7th annual edition of Noir City: The San Francisco Film Noir A SENTINEL STAFF REPORT Festival will take place January 23 through February 1, 2009, at the majestic Castro UNIVERSAL CITY, CA — “Casualties” from Theater in San Francisco, hosted by the Film the June 1 fire at Universal Studios— Noir Foundation. which burned part of the studio’s main film Sentinel subscribers are getting a vault—are not as extensive as initially sneak peek at the poster (right) before it’s feared. posted on the Noir City website. Prominently Yes, numerous prints were lost, of featured is the new Ms. Noir City, Alycia contemporary and vintage titles. But Tumlin, selected as this year’s festival sources within the company, who supply femme fatale from more than 70 contenders. the Noir City festival and other festivals As savvy viewers might already have and repertory cinemas around the world, guessed, the theme of Noir City 7 is the indicate that a quickly paid insurance set- newspaper racket, and programmer and host tlement has allowed the company to work Eddie Muller discloses that “most of the virtually round-the-clock striking new films have a media theme: publishing, news- prints of all the films that were either lost papers, radio, that sort of thing.” or damaged. The full schedule of films will be Since studios make it a policy to released in the next issue of the Sentinel, and never store circulating prints and original will be posted on the FNF and Noir City elements together (a hedge against inci- websites in October. dents exactly like this), the materials need- “We’re still trying to lock down a few ed to strike new prints were not affected. really rare items,” said Muller, “but we’re Universal’s plan is to start by replac- pretty well set. It’s an eclectic line-up.” ing films that had screenings already This year’s poster is once again the scheduled, so those bookings can be met. work of the FNF’s graphics designer Bill Eventually, all the “lost” films will be res- Selby and photographer David Allen, work- urrected in new prints. ing from a concept supplied by Muller. San Especially heartening is that none of Francisco’s Mechanic’s Institute Library was the Universal-International titles scheduled enlisted to portray the 1940s-era newspaper for the next Noir City festival were affect- office. ed. One print of the five U-I selected for “There’s a storyline within the poster,” screening in San Francisco was damaged, Muller noted. “And Alycia is eager to enact but a new print will be struck in time, it. She’s a very enthusiastic Ms. Noir City, Universal sources confirmed. which makes me a little nervous.” FILM NOIR: NO LAUGHING MATTER?

An Opinion-Editorial What get the biggest laughs invariably BY ERIC BEETNER are the juiciest slices of hard-boiled dialogue. Special to the Sentinel Sterling Hayden can scarcely get a word out without being chuckled at for his rat-a-tat-tat nyone who has attended a screening of delivery and flat, tough-guy speech pattern. In a classic film noir with a modern audi- The Killing (1956) he dresses down Marie ence has experienced it. The proceed- Windsor with “You’ve got a great big dollar Aings onscreen are anything but light and yet a sign there where most women have a heart,” line of dialogue or burst of action elicits chuck- and it’s hard not to get a kick out of it—but is les, if not outright peals of laughter. At a recent it worthy of guffaws? Outrageous bon mots screening of Night Editor (1946) at the annual and double entendres are part of why we love Palm Springs Film Noir Festival, you would noir, but at their core these films are hard-

have thought the Marx Brothers had wandered boiled crime dramas. Too often, modern o k t on-screen to judge by the knee-slapping audi- moviegoers act as if they’re watching a slap- i D

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ence reaction. stick comedy. v e t

What is this phenomenon? Why are con- There are a variety of opinions as to what S

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temporary audiences compelled to laugh at sparks the laughter. American Cinematheque n o films from a different era? Or, more pointed- programmer Chris D. (who coordinates the i t a r ly—are they laughing at the films or with NOIR CITY festival in Los Angeles) believes t s u l l them? (continued on pg. 7, col. 1) I 2 Noir City Sentinel July/Aug 2008

external excursion, and Ejiofor’s sad eyes Mr. Modern Noir empathetically reflect the conspiratorial cir- THIS DIRTY TOWN cumstances engulfing him. Also in the cast is The Martial Art comedian Tim Allen, who at first seems cast against type when introduced during a bar- By J.J. Hunsecker Jr. Of David Mamet room brawl, but when it’s revealed he is playing a narcissistic movie star, his presence TAKING HIS CUE from classic sports noirs such makes sense. He inhabits Mamet’s hard- et’s all follow the bouncing ball of • as Body and Soul (1947) and Night and the boiled cutthroat world with impressive ease. the “new” Bad Lieutenant: First came Los Angeles residents might want to City (1950), David Mamet fashions a hard- I was rather relieved when Joe Mantegna L word that Werner Herzog was take their film noir badges to the city of hitting macho meditation on honor and showed up, since he (like William H. Macy) remaking Abel Ferrara’s 1992 bile-noir Sierra Madre to check out Earth and Sky, an betrayal with his latest film, Redbelt. Instead is to Mamet what Walter Matthau was to Neil with Nicholas Cage standing in (full intriguing new play billed by its author, of boxing or wrestling, the central physical Simon—a natural mouthpiece for a man- frontal?) for Harvey Kietel. Herzog is shoot- Douglas Post, as “a romantic film noir source of conflict here is jujitsu, but the nered but unique linguistic rhythm, which ing in New Orleans, figuring the post- thriller.” underlying theme of personal ethics versus not all actors can master so effortlessly. Katrina environment will add heft to the pro- • organized corruption is no less resonant. Mamet-speak is as distinctive as Runyonese. ceedings. Ferrara said to French reporters: “I Just how deeply is noir permeating the Directing his own script, Mamet deliv- The pivotal role of a cop who is also wish these people die in hell. I hope they’re Southern California arts community? Well, ers his trademark quick-jab dialogue within a Mike’s prize martial-arts student, unwitting- all in the same streetcar and it blows up.” dancer-choreographer Meg Wolfe’s latest bob-and-weave storyline that is less convo- ly caught up in the random whirlwind of Nothing like esprit de corps. work, Eleven Missing Days, features herself luted—and less compelling—than previous unfortunate “coincidences,” is played by a Now Herzog declares that the film is and four “movement collaborators” using walks on the dark side such as House of little-known actor with the lounge-lizard not a remake, but the first of a possible series film noir as a “starting point to explore Games (1987) and Things Change (1988), moniker of Max Martini, who reveals an of noir-style films about a corrupt cop: Bad doomed love, the femme fatale, disappear- but he manages to keep the audience fully inner vulnerability that nicely complements Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans. ance, and the creative process.” Be warned: engaged until the final bell. his stock tough-guy persona. In the lower- Herzog also bemoans the inevitable confu- The San Diego Union Tribune refers to The main protagonist, jujitsu instruc- profile female roles, Emily Mortimer ably sion that will dog his project. Werner, here’s Wolfe as a “postmodernist jokester with a sly tor Mike Terry, is portrayed with carefully plays a lawyer who is the initial catalyst for an (albeit far-fetched) suggestion: New Title. sense of humor.” controlled passion by Chiwetel Ejiofor (Talk the proceedings, and Alice Braga is stern and A funny interview with Herzog about the • to Me [2007], American Gangster [2007]). sexy as Mike’s long-suffering but somehow whole mess can be found at Defamer.com. Due in theaters this November is Dark Noir is more of an internal journey than an suspicious wife. • Streets, a musical noir set in 1930s New Redbelt ends with a TKO despite its Another reported project we’re won- Orleans with a plot about big-business cor- somewhat ridiculous (but crowd-pleasing) dering about is Black Wings Has My Angel, ruption that sounds straight out of the Enron forays into martial-arts mayhem, particularly an adaptation of Elliott Chaze’s 1953 novel debacle, if the Enron debacle had featured during the feverish but fully satisfying finale. that was announced last spring as the initial singing and dancing (which might have A few of the plot points seem slightly forced producing effort of actor Elijah Wood, in helped). The film, directed by Rachel too, especially a stunning suicide midway conjunction with Indalo Prod-uctions. We Samuels and written by first-timer Wallace through the twisting tale, but this is still The heard from writer Barry Gifford that he’d King (from Glenn Stewart’s stage musical), Karate Kid for grown-ups, and viewed as completed a screenplay in collaboration with has gotten mixed reviews on the festival cir- such, it’s a winner. director Christopher Peditto, but no further cuit, mostly of the typical “looks great, plays —Will Viharo word has come on casting. It’d be nice to see flat” variety. We reserve judgment . . . Ed: Mr. Modern Noir also weighs in on Emily Mortimer and Chiwetel Ejiofor in this done right: Chaze’s book is one of the • The Dark Knight, page 8. great unheralded works of noir fiction; in But no judgment reserved on The David Mamet’s “fight noir,” Redbelt. fact, Gifford was set to reprint the book back Dead Girl, one of the great overlooked films in the 1980s as part of his venerable Black of 2006, finally available on DVD. Writer- of the colleagues with whom he forged a cin- Lizard paperback series, but rights issues director Karen Moncrief crafts a superb ematic legacy that has been sadly forgotten. delayed things past the point when Black screenplay about the lives of various people In true noir fashion, a dreadful secret lies Lizard was sold to Vintage / Random House. entwined with a murdered girl, and her sen- buried at the core of all their lives. Thankfully a new (albeit sloppy and typo- sitive direction elicits great performances Included in the backstory is a gallery ridden) edition of the book is available from from a cast that includes Toni Collette, of intriguing characters such as Ashley www.blackmask.com, since original copies Marcia Gay Harden, and Mary Beth Hurt. NOVEL APPROACH TO Bennett Tyler, Nora Minton Niles, and of the Gold Medal paperback are now priced Highly recommended. Elizabeth Banks—composites of real-life in the $400–$600 range. • SILENT-ERA “NOIR” figures William Desmond Taylor, Mary • An interesting article in the Hindustan The Age of Dreaming by Nina Revoyr Miles Minter, and Mabel Normand. Revoyr It seems that every three or four years Times shows that the travails of preserving Akashic Press, $15.95, 327 pages renders these characters with élan, but she another fitting tribute gets paid to American films are a global issue. What particularly his wonderful novel will appeal to wisely prunes the complexity of the actual original Arthur Fellig (aka Weegee, pops out from this thoughtful piece is a refer- readers who appreciate the noir ethos, Desmond murder case down to manageable 1899–1968). The New York Times’s June 20 ence to an apparently missing 1959 Indian Tbut even more to afi- size, using it as a plot device Art and Design section ran a wonderful fea- film, The Black Cat, described as “a film noir cionados of vintage Holly- that keeps the story moving ture on the man who coined the term “the with Balraj Sahni as a Bogart-style, ciga- wood, in particular the early while she deftly explores the naked city” and whose legendary real-life rette-puffing detective.” Hmmm, that has to days of silent cinema. The manners and mores of a culture crime photography was a major influence on be found immediately. Any info out there? author fancifully entwines the that would so avidly embrace noir artists of all media. I recall enjoying— • life story of Japanese film star the Other—making a major star but not enough—Howard Franklin’s 1992 If you’re a brave and hardy soul who Sessue Hayakawa with the of a dashing and darkly danger- film The Public Eye, which was clearly can stomach the arch proselytizing of aca- sensational, still-unsolved ous Japanese actor only to inspired by Fellig (played by Joe Pesci). demics, you may find something of value in murder of 1920s film director abruptly turn him into a pariah, Weegee still deserves better. Noir fans can the following: Charles Bogle offers a politi- William Desmond Taylor, cre- forced to choose between see him in Robert Wise’s The Set-Up (1949) cally charged review of the Warner Bros. ating a narrative that hums demeaning character roles and making a cameo as the ring timekeeper. Film Noir Collection Vol. 4 at the World with the excitement of utter obscurity. Socialist Web Site, and it’s pretty much what Hollywood’s pioneer era. Revoyr is a supple and you’d expect. Revoyr sets her main well-focused writer, able to QUERIES & SUBMISSIONS If you crave balance in these things, story in 1964, depicting it as convey complexities of human check out the book Arts of Darkness: If you wish to submit an idea or a fin- the pivotal moment when the Dream thought and behavior in concise, evocative American Noir and the Quest for ished article, please email Managing Factory’s old guard surrendered its bright prose. She provides a thoroughly convincing Redemption by Baylor University professor Editor Donald Malcolm at: torch to the “new Hollywood.” An ambitious journey through the Hollywood of several of ethics and culture and National Review [email protected] young cineaste, Nick Bellinger, discovers the (continued on pg. 3, col. 4) film critic Thomas Hibbs, in which he Finished articles, no longer than 750 elderly, reserved Jun Nakayama—a major attempts to redefine the essential tenets of words, are subject to editing for space Hollywood star of the silent era—living in noir to rescue it from its (already somewhat and content. Press releases will be total obscurity. specious) roots in Marxism and nihilism and edited to conform to style guidelines. To Nakayama’s amazement, the make it safe for theocratic neoconservative Published once a month by the Film Noir The Sentinel does not pay for articles; young man has written a screenplay featur- believers. Foundation, One Sunset Drive, Kensington, CA all content is contributed. We claim no ing a role perfect for the reclusive actor. Love to hear readers’ reactions, since Senior Editor: Donald Malcolm rights on material contributed for pub- Bellinger’s persistence opens Nakayama’s I’ll be skipping both—I need to concentrate Senior Editor: Alan Rode lication or posting. personal Pandora’s Box, forcing him to Managing Editor: Lindsey Westbrook on alphabetizing my spice rack. revisit, both in memory and in person, many Send queries to [email protected] July/Aug 2008 Noir City Sentinel 3 NAZIS & COMMIES IN NOIR TAKING THE LOW ROAD OF CARICATURE AND OMISSION

By Marc Svetov Special to the Sentinel

irst, two questions: What did film noir Gordon Douglas’s I Was a Communist show of Nazism and Communism? for the FBI (1951), starring Frank Lovejoy, is F And what did Nazism and Com- a heavy-handed propaganda film, demon- munism stand for in these films? strating how a noir visual style could be tai- The paucity of both ideas and ideology lored to such a purpose. The story covers is immediately apparent. Most of these familiar territory—a band of criminals and movies portray a ring of conspirators spying gangsters—but they are more political than for either Germany or the Soviet Union. That Communists in other films. The Party lead- is the case with Ministry of Fear (1944), ers are so incredibly cynical about racism, Pickup on South Street (1953), Notorious union members, and anti-Semitism that it’s (1946), and The House on 92nd Street hard to see how they ever attracted follow- (1945). But these spies in action act no dif- ers. This is probably the point. Every time ferent than mobsters or common criminals. one sees the uncomfortably wooden “aver- And presenting Nazism and Communism age guy” Frank Lovejoy, thoughts stray without their underlying philosophies is like unwillingly to Richard Nixon (right down to portraying the Ku Klux Klan—see Storm the disturbingly similar hairline). Warning (1951)—without the racism. Not even a whiff of anticapitalist justi- The virulent, fervid Woman on Pier 13 fication survives in Shack Out on 101 (1949, a/k/a I Married a Communist) deals (1955), a low-rent production that is almost with Communism at home and gives a hint as Surrealist in execution, featuring the world’s to why the movement could be attractive as a most unlikely Communist agent: Lee Marvin Weltanschauung, especially to idealistic as “Slob.” young people longing for a more righteous There is a vast difference between society. It was especially seductive to those dealing with Nazis as war opponents and born on the wrong side of the tracks—like portraying Nazism as an ideology. Unlike Frank Johnson (Robert Ryan), for example, Communism, with its claim of struggling for who is now living under the name of Brad social justice, Nazism is ideologically unre- Collins, having been a radical and staunch deemable. Party member in the 1930s. In Witness to Murder (1954), Nazism Collins has changed sides. We see how plays a caricatured role. Slayer Albert he was unable to find a job in Depression Richter (George Sanders) justifies his deeds America, became angry at social and eco- via the ideology of the master race and a nomic conditions, and found a home in the bowdlerized Nietzscheanism. These ideas Party. But soon it becomes clear to him that play a pivotal role in the plot. They have The Stranger (1946) is by far the best Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler. striving for justice is only its cynical pre- since been regurgitated ad nauseam in crime film of this type, dealing with Nazism in a When he is finally captured, Kindler dissem- tense. Thomas Gomez plays Vanning, Party stories and films—the lone murderer feeling more fully dimensional way. Vital elements bles, as many high-ranking Nazis did: “It’s boss in San Francisco, who runs his empire superior to the anthill below. Here, though, of its plot touch on genocide, escaped mass not true, the things they say I did. It was all the way any gangster would and is after Sanders is a Nazi acting alone, without polit- murderers, war-crime trials, and anti- their idea. I followed orders.” Wilson coun- increased power on the docks. Unable to ically motivated cronies. Semitism. It is a true film noir with its ters with: “You gave the orders.” Here we dominate the unions by sheer numbers, the We get a hint of Nazi psychology expressionist lighting and camerawork by have accurate representations of actual Nazi Communists resort to illegitimate means to when Carl Esmond, playing Willi Hilfe in Russell Metty. And since it is directed by psychology and behavior. Welles even makes bend union politics their way. Their ruthless Fritz Lang’s Ministry of Fear, states that he Orson Welles, with his characteristic prefer- use of 1945 documentary material from the tactics are always at the expense of the union would not mind killing his own sister, to ence for baroque imagery, the visuals are Ohrdruf-Buchenwald concentration camp, in and the workers. whom he is quite close, if it will benefit the tightly linked to the film’s thematic elements. which the United States army shows the William Talman plays a cold-blooded “cause.” Later, of course, he actually Welles plays escaped Nazi master- press what they discovered when they liber- Party henchman and Paul E. Burns a attempts it. With Nazis, family relationships mind Franz Kindler. He is hiding under an ated the camp. Stalinist-style bureaucratic murderer and simply don’t count. alias: Charles Rankin, an American professor This is a singular event in Hollywood gofer. Under Vanning’s leadership, union In other spy-ring films, Nazis are por- in a small college town in New England. (It filmmaking, which was quickly overtaken by negotiations are subverted and people sus- trayed as particularly capable of cannibalis- is not explained how Kindler has managed to anti-Communist propaganda. Once the Cold pected of betraying the Party are simply tic ruthlessness, thinking nothing of dispos- lose his German accent!) We get several har- War became the dominant American ideolo- eliminated. The Party brainwashes young, ing of their own people. Claude Rains in rowing glimpses of Nazism’s aberrant psy- gy, Hollywood audiences would not be impressionable workers with lofty rhetoric Notorious—with its characteristic Hitch- chology as Rankin displays an alarming shown anything like this again. It would be and blackmails former members to coerce cockian MacGuffin of uranium ore hidden in degree of coldness—for instance when he nearly two decades before a sober, documen- subversive action that will consolidate their wine bottles—is more fearful of his Nazi disciplines the family dog “for its own tary approach emerged with Stanley power. At the film’s conclusion, Ryan kills coconspirators than he is of the Americans. good,” eventually killing it. Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). Vanning with a grappling hook, showing that Then there is his double-edged dinner- it is the working man who will take care of table talk. He seems to be making accusatory the Commies. remarks about the Germans, while in reality DREAMING (continued from pg. 2) Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South he is praising them. He justifies German Street tells us little about Communists other arrogance by claiming the German feels different eras, and an equally convincing trip than that they are a bunch of mobsters who, superior to “inferior people, inferior through the brainscape of Jun Nakayama. when crossed, do just what gangsters do. It is nations.” There’s also his matter-of-fact Especially rewarding is Revoyr’s decision to unclear what motivates them. But the com- repudiation of the idea that Germans might have the resolution of the mystery plot not plexity of lead character Skip McCoy long for social justice a la Karl Marx: “But the raison d’être of the narrative, but rather (Richard Widmark) sustains our interest. An Marx wasn’t a German. Marx was a Jew.” just a setup for the novel’s unexpected and FBI agent tries to appeal to Skip’s patriotism: This anti-Semitic remark gives him genuinely moving conclusion. “If you refuse to cooperate, you’ll be as away to Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), Revoyr, daughter of a Japanese moth- guilty as the traitors who gave Stalin the an investigator for the Allied War Crimes er and a Polish American father, is also the A-bomb.” McCoy: “Are you waving the flag office who has tracked Kindler/Rankin author of Southland, a terrific Los Angeles at me?” FBI agent: “Do you know what trea- down. As for Germany itself, he coldly sug- noir novel also published by Akashic. She son is?” McCoy: “Who cares?” gests something akin to a final solution. In has clearly established herself as one of Skip turns patriotic only after Candy his mind there is no choice but “annihilation, Southern California’s most prominent new (Jean Peters) is beaten to a pulp by the to the last babe in arms,” which, of course, is voices. The Age of Dreaming is a deep, Communist agent Joey (Richard Kiley) and alarmingly similar to what the Germans actu- graceful, beautiful book—a gift to readers police informant Moe (Thelma Ritter) is ally tried to do. and movie lovers alike. —Eddie Muller murdered when she refuses to divulge Skip’s Loretta Young and Orson Welles in the Wilson informs the audience that whereabouts. often-underrated The Stranger. Kindler was no small fish, but on a par with 4 Noir City Sentinel July/Aug 2008

SIX ACTORS IN SEARCH OF TRANSCENDENCE CASTING AGAINST TYPE By Don Malcolm Sentinel Editor In Chief

WHILE FILM NOIR HAS MANY RECURRING MOTIFS, familiar situations, and a marked tendency toward a finite set of character types, it still retains the capacity to surprise us with its range of expression. These six performers found ways to escape—and in some cases transcend—typecasting via a film noir role.

Dan Duryea, Black Angel (1946) In her lamentably brief time on-screen Those Duryea fan clubs that sprang up in Woman in Hiding, Dow makes it clear that childlike in the character as he wobbles his in response to the sneering sadism he exhib- she has what it takes to go from radiant beau- way into a relationship with dime-a-dance ited in films such as The Woman in the ty to blowtorch babe. She takes the film into girl Ruth Roman. He’s remarkably Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945) a very different and dangerous place, and we restrained, touching in his boyish ingenuous- may have been disappointed in his turn as can only wonder where she might have taken ness, with barely a trace of the patented Marty Blair. But noir aficionados know bet- her career had she not found Mr. Right and Cochran strut. He wouldn’t manage it again ter. Black Angel gave Duryea room to expand walked away from Hollywood at the age of until 1957, working with Michelangelo his already well-established persona and 23. Antonioni in Italy on Il Grido. make it work in a more encompassing (if not exactly more realistic) setting. Blair is a David Wayne, M (1951) June Allyson, The Shrike (1955) quintessential noir hero, haunted by the bad Absolutely nothing in David Wayne’s Perhaps noir’s most unlikely (and end to his marriage to a hard-core femme career could prepare us for his work in most unpopular at the time) “cast against fatale (Constance Dowling) and forced to reprising Peter Lorre’s renowned perform- type” transformation was June Allyson’s relive it in a way that proves . . . well, fatal. ance in Fritz Lang’s M (1931). A veteran of portrayal of Ann Downs in the eerie psycho- Blair’s got talent—lots of it—but he’s Carlisle might climb, there is something dark Broadway comedies, musicals, and light dra- logical noir The Shrike. The original 1952 always putting his faith in (and giving his waiting for him where he least expects it: his mas, Wayne made his on-screen break- Broadway production of Joseph Kramm’s heart to) the wrong person. It’s no wonder he double-crossing partner, Lilith. through as a wacky composer smitten by play netted acting and directing Tonys for winds up having a love affair with the bottle. Power had to fight to deglamorize the Katharine Hepburn in Adam’s Rib (1949). José Ferrer, who played a husband driven to Duryea captures the character’s anguish and character, especially in the harrowing scenes But, as a college student, he’d been trans- attempted suicide by his wintry wife. yearning in a way that transcends the murky where Carlisle hits bottom. He delivers that fixed by Lorre’s performance in the original Virtually the entire cast was reassembled in machinations of the plot (the movie is based “total character arc”—something he was film; when he heard that Joseph Losey was mid-1954 to make the film, with one key on a Cornell Woolrich novel, after all). never allowed to do again in any of his sub- remaking it, he sought out the soon-to-be- change: Allyson replaced Judith Evelyn (best Universal’s efforts to broaden sequent roles. blacklisted director and, after considerable known for her performance as Miss Duryea’s appeal weren’t successful, despite discussion, landed the role. Lonelyhearts in Rear Window [1954]) in the the quality of his performance in Black Peggy Dow, Woman in Hiding (1950) Wayne is beyond extraordinary as the “title” role. Angel. He remained a reliably enjoyable vil- Let’s face it: Unlike “Ava Gardner” or pitiable child molester who wants to be It was an astonishing stretch for an lain. It would be another decade before a role “Gloria Grahame,” the name “Peggy Dow” stopped but can’t stop himself, becoming the with similar breadth came his way: the con- is not going to catapult its owner into the object of a hysterical manhunt. M’s final flicted criminal mastermind Nat Harbin in upper reaches of screen vixenhood. scene might be the most foully feverish in all The Burglar (1957). Not that Peggy (born Margaret of noir, when an angry crowd in a basement Varnadow) didn’t have sufficient physical garage veers perilously close to becoming a charms. Her radiant beauty is dazzling on- combination kangaroo court / lynch mob. screen. In her brief Hollywood career, just as Losey later recalled the power of the noir cycle was in its most tumultuous Wayne’s performance in that final scene: phase (1949–51), she became a minor icon of “That was a triumph of acting because the purity and wholesomeness. Against all odds, camera is absolutely static, and he is the “understanding beautiful woman” (as absolutely static in it. And when David exemplified by her role in the highly lauded Wayne finished his speech, the whole cast— tearjerker Bright Victory [1951]) was not a the extras, and the crew—applauded him. contradiction in terms. It’s the only time on any stage that I’ve seen Woman in Hiding is sort of a tossed- that happen.” salad noir with all the obligatory ingredients: actress who had been a girl-next-door type flashback, nasty psychopath, woman in peril, Steve Cochran, Tomorrow Is Another Day during her days as MGM’s reigning ingenue, lunkhead would-be savior, hushed voiceover. (1951) and who’d already made the transition to Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, and Stephen No one ever questioned Steve “perfect wife” in a series of early 1950s McNally are all solid in what are by now too- Cochran’s proficiency at playing hunky, films, including several with Jimmy Stewart. familiar characters and performances. But hair-trigger thugs one wrong glance away But Allyson knew that the screenplay of The not Peggy Dow. She plays a dolled-up other from mayhem and murder, as demonstrated Shrike had been augmented by Hollywood’s Tyrone Power, Nightmare Alley (1947) woman with venom in her voice and a side- by his performances in the gangster-noir foremost female script doctor, Ketti Frings. Looking for gravitas in a world that long glance that promises a lot more than a hybrids White Heat (1949), The Damned With the addition of several key flashbacks, seemed determined not to give it to him, man might be willing to bargain for. Even her Don’t Cry (1950), and Highway 301 (1950). the role of Ann Downs had been greatly Tyrone Power came back from his service in name—Patricia Monahan—sounds like what But a tempestuous off-screen lifestyle, cou- expanded in scope and complexity. World War II looking for darker roles. He got she looks like. pled with a cluster of tough-guy roles early And Allyson is harrowingly perfect, a small taste of it in Fox’s adaptation of W. in his career, made it difficult for Cochran to playing a different type of femme fatale: the Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge achieve serious recognition as an actor. superficially supportive but actually smoth- (1946), but it wasn’t enough. Power lobbied That’s what makes Tomorrow Is ering wife, whose revenge when her desper- with everything he had to play antihero Another Day so surprising. As the film ate husband seeks solace with another Stanton Carlisle in Nightmare Alley; he was opens, he’s in jail (actually, something new woman is to lock him away in a mental hos- willing to throw his career to the wind in for him, since in his films he usually didn’t pital. “A small, innocent-looking bird that order to portray, as he put it, “someone with survive long enough to wind up in jail). The impales its victim on a cluster of thorns”— a total character arc.” warden, a kindly old buzzard, tells him to sit Allyson even modulates her voice into a Some may think that the film version down. He hesitates, and for a moment you husky, birdlike coo as she pushes Ferrer to of William Lindsay Gresham’s sinister think: OK, here we go, blood will flow. the breaking point. carny-pulp novel had far too much glossy But he sits down, and you know that Audiences and critics at the time grandiosity, but the strategy played into you’re in for a completely uncharacteristic could not accept her in such a role; today, Power’s hands. He gives us marvelous Cochran performance. His character was however, we can appreciate both her glimpses of how Carlisle dupes himself even jailed at the age of 13 for murder, and now, achievement and her desire to expand her as he makes his ascent to stardom. We 18 years later, he’s got to adjust to the real craft. It’s a performance worth seeking out. always know that no matter how high world. He manages to tap into something But brace yourself! July/Aug 2008 Noir City Sentinel 5

Just How Dumb Can EW ALBUM R N Y FILM NOI a Femme Fatale Be? INSPIRED B We Count the Ways with the Hick Vixen of Count the Hours

By Don Malcolm But she is, in all truth, as dumb as a Sentinel Editor in Chief rock. Lawyer Doug Madison (Macdonald Carey) is desperate to save his client from a FEMMES FATALES are supposed to be cun- bum murder rap. He knows that Max Verne ning, right? If they’re not outright psychotic (played with backwoods brio by the great (Ann Savage in Detour [1945]) or ruled by and grotesque Jack Elam) is the real culprit. the zeal of suppressed incest (Gene Tierney He’s grim-faced and at his wit’s end when he in Leave Her to Heaven [1945]) or driven to runs up against Gracie, but within less than a orgasm by the aroma of buckshot (Peggy minute he’s got a twinkle in his eye. Cummins in Gun Crazy [1950]), then they’re And it’s not because she’s the corn- ruthless schemers, both smarter and deadlier pone reincarnation of Gloria Grahame. It’s than the male. because she’s got no idea of how to use what So would it be fair to say that a “dumb she’s got to get a lot more. Madison is hard- femme fatale” is a contradiction in terms? All ly a Romeo: He’s been thrown over by his fatal ladies, at least in the classic noir era, girlfriend for being too dedicated to a hope- wind up dead through some twist of fate or less case. But after just a few exchanges, he bad luck; occasionally they slip up, but this knows he’s got more gray matter in his little really shows that they are only human. No, a toenail than Gracie has in her entire, tightly “dumb vixen” would seem to be either an toned body. oxymoron or a fatal femme who just hap- Actually, poor Macdonald Carey is pened to be a deaf-mute. hard pressed not to break character, thanks to But to every rule there is an exception. the hilariously broad portrayal of Dixie-fried And an extremely curvy one, in this case. dumbness that Adele Mara serves up. He’s as Lurking deep down in the nether amused as we are—maybe even more so. regions of the noir canon, in a film called You can tell he’s thinking exactly what we’re Count the Hours (1953), there is Gracie thinking: How can a girl who looks like this Sager. Gracie (Adele Mara) is what the many be shacked up with Jack freakin’ Elam?? Jazz Pianist Vuckovich Finds explicit-sex websites of our meta-jaded age It’s a question that would make any- identify as a “bangin’ chick.” There is literal- one’s mind go soft. But Carey keeps from ly no angle at which Gracie does not induce giggling, and takes Gracie for a ride. And, in Truth, Beauty in the Darkness weakness in the knees of men. Yes, she return, she sells out poor Jack for a new By Arthur Tashiro Art Tashiro: Were those the first moves just like a jungle cat. dress. Special to the Sentinel American movies you saw? LV: No, I saw some in Yugoslavia. I igh Wall, MGM’s 1947 film noir remember The Great Dictator [1940]. about a World War II veteran false- There’s that scene where Jack Oakie as ly accused of murder, features a Mussolini meets Chaplin and each one tries beautifulH theme by Bronislau Kaper. to raise his chair above the other—politi- Acclaimed jazz pianist Larry Vuckovich cians! Some funny stuff, man. And they believes it should be a jazz standard, like showed movies on the boat coming over, but Kaper’s “Green Dolphin Street.” That’s why no noirs, just happy American movies like he made it the title track to his new CD, High Tea for Two [1950]. Wall: Real Life Film Noir. AT: You told me you saw Kiss of This isn’t the first time Vuckovich has Death [1947] back then. Was that the first distilled new music from old. For years he’s time you heard “Street Scene”? played versions of Alfred Newman’s “Street LV: When I heard that music and on Scene,” which is ubiquitous in 20th the screen was that city with the tall build- Century–Fox film noirs. He even put togeth- ings—it was such a feeling of the loneliness er a version of the noir-head “national of someone in the city. And the story was anthem” for Sentinel editor Don Malcolm’s powerful too—Victor Mature, that soulful recent birthday party. Larry explained it guy, in an awful situation where he had no quickly to the band—“It’s ‘Black Coffee,’” choice. he told the bass player—and group played on AT: It made a big impression. and around the melody for six or seven min- LV: I bought a 45 of “Sentimental utes. Rhapsody” with Alfred Newman. That’s In the bar of the Benbow Inn, an old what it’s called on the record. The first thing movie-star haunt near Garberville, I bought when I came here was a 45 RCA California, I spoke with Vuckovich about his Victrola. Do you remember those? I bought a new CD, his love of noir, and his amazing lot of 45s, and I would go to sleep with that Crawford sings “Tenderly.” The pianist on American jazz players are portrayed as pop- life story. machine next to my bed. That was a great the soundtrack [Walter Gross] knows where eyed, leering stereotypes. Even so, Not surprisingly, since it was the title feeling. everything goes, the harmonies and so forth, Vuckovich says he’s glad that filmmakers of his last album, what came up first was AT: What makes a good movie theme? so he just keeps alternating some beautiful were hearing, and incorporating, the jazz “Street Scene.” He’s carried that tune around LV: I’d say ones that grab you right chords. sound. with him for years. He remembers it from away with a feeling of something soulful and Larry likes all types of film scores, LV: That scene in The Asphalt Jungle San Francisco in 1950s, when his family hip musically. On Dangerous Ground just as he sees the good in all sorts of movies. [1950] where Sam Jaffe watches the girl arrived from Yugoslavia and he fell in love [1952], when you hear the first notes—I He fondly remembers the trumpet solo that dance—the music on the jukebox is very with movies. think it starts with a trumpet. And the music Pete Candoli dubbed for Tony Curtis in close to bebop. A composer who knew the Larry Vuckovich: March 1, 1951, in Crime Wave [1954] is good. Kings Go Forth (1958), and Kaye Lorraine value of the current music would work it in was the date we arrived. The first house we AT: Are you listening for a jazz influ- singing from the heart for Gloria Grahame in when he could. lived in was at 18th and Taraval, and the ence? A Woman’s Secret (1949). Some background: Larry grew up in Parkside Theater was at 19th and Taraval. I’d LV: I would say anything where the We try to think of a noir with lifelike Kotor, Montenegro, first under the German go to the movies two or three times a week, music is right. For example, in Torch Song jazz musicians, but we can only remember occupation and then under the Tito dictator- whenever the program changed. [1953] I remember a scene where Joan ones like D.O.A. (1950), where African (continued on pg. 6, col. 1) 6 Noir City Sentinel July/Aug 2008 VUCKOVICH (cont’d from pg. 5) COMING ATTRACTIONS

ship. Serbians in Yugoslavia stood with the Mihailovic resistance against both Nazis and Film Noir and Neo-Noir On Screen and DVD the Tito faction. His childhood had, he remarks, “a pretty intense atmosphere.” By Anne Hockens He was studying classical piano at a Sentinel News and Events Editor school that also required the students to learn Gypsy and Balkan folk songs. American big THE PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE in Greece, with a now-famous car chase as the bands were on Armed Forces Radio and later, Berkeley, California, will screen the film centerpiece of the high-speed caper. when the Communists took the family radio series Streets of No Return: The Dark away, there were politically acceptable Cinema of David Goodis August 1–23. These Thursday, August 21 American musicals. Music students dis- screenplays written by, or adapted from sto- The Professional Man x Two (1989, 1995) cussed for days Woody Herman and the ries by, David Goodis range from classic Nicholas Kazan in person. Kazan and close-harmony singing in Wintertime (1943). Hollywood film noirs to French New Wave Steven Soderbergh directed two totally dif- Tito’s forces took not only the radio, landmarks. Goodis wrote extensively for a ferent TV takes on the same Goodis story. but eventually the Vuckovich home—putting because he remembers a lot of big lies direct- variety of pulp magazines during the 1930s the family piano in the town hall, where ed at his people. Even in his adopted home, and 1940s. The serialization of his novel Thursday, August 21 Larry still used it for practice. And they tried the authorities choose the enemies they need Dark Passage in the Saturday Evening Post And Hope to Die (1972) to execute his father. “I used to go visit him to further their aims. Serbs were labeled the led to the hit Warner Bros. film starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Robert Ryan in in jail,” he recalls. “That’s a strange feeling monsters of Yugoslavia, and there were Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart. René Clément’s study of pent-up rivalries in for a kid, to be in that kind of place. Talking excuses for Muslim terrorists killing civil- Unfortunately, Goodis’s alcoholism prevent- a claustrophobic gangland hideout. to your father through bars.” Despite the tes- ians there; after 9/11, Muslims became the ed him from parlaying this coup into further timony of some well-coached accusers, new species of not-quite-human menace. success. He died in 1967. Saturday, August 23 Milutin Vuckovich was spared. Too many But for Larry Vuckovich, film noir Visit www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film- Moon in the Gutter (1983) people came forward to speak on his behalf. fan, our bitter little world always contains series for times and more information. Introduced by Elliot Lavine. Jean-Jacques LV: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye [1950]. stories of individual decency. During the Beineix evokes Goodis’s murky and haunt- My father liked that one, first of all because war, for example, someone remembered that ed world with sinister artifice. Starring he liked James Cagney, but also he really Milutin Vuckovich spoke English and sent a Gérard Depardieu and Nastassja Kinski. liked that scene where Cagney outsmarted stranger—a downed American airman—to IN OTHER FILM NEWS the corrupt cops by tape-recording them. his house. Larry’s family hid the man in their AT: You said you remember Kansas attic for weeks while German soldiers In July and August, the Museum of Modern City Confidential [1952]. bivouacked on the ground floor. Tito parti- Art in New York celebrates jazz composed LV: Some powerful stuff, man. sans were killing Germans in Serbian territo- specifically for the cinema in its film series Boomerang! [1947], that’s another one. It ry to provoke reprisals against the communi- Jazz Score. Screenings include episodes of was pretty impressive how they did the ties there, but Vuckovich vividly remembers the television noirs Peter Gunn (1959) and research. a German soldier named Joseph Schultz who Staccato (1959) as well as several theatrical AT: And High Wall. put down his rifle and chose to die with the film noirs and neo-noirs. For complete LV: “The high wall” is the big lie hostages he’d been ordered to shoot. details on screenings and related exhibitions that’s fabricated to slander others, the excuse This is what Vuckovich sees in a film visit www.moma.org. for attacking them. That movie is about a like High Wall, as well as in real life: beauti- man trying to break through the wall. ful themes within tales of treachery. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s AT: Yet that theme music is so lovely. “The movies and jazz are where the August screenings include The Pushover LV: That’s film noir. It’s reality—peo- truth is in America,” Vuckovich declares. (1954) and Drive a Crooked Road (1954). ple of all kinds, the selfish and deceptive “Not the politics and the moneymaking and See www.lacma.org for more info. ones and the ones with soul who keep their the rest of it.” integrity. Someday we’ll see a movie about On the art-house front, two films with noir today and that will be a real film noir. Music samples from High Wall: Real connections are in general release this sum- Vuckovich expresses that sentiment at Life Film Noir are available at www. Friday, August 1 mer in Landmark Theatres. The indie neo- every gig he plays. He does it, he says, larryvuckovich.com. Dark Passage (1947) / The Unfaithful noir Quid Pro Quo (2008) revolves around a (1947) femme fatale and her erotic attraction to Introduced by Barry Gifford. With the help paralysis. In My Winnipeg (2007), legendary of Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart escapes femme fatale Ann Savage (the vicious Vera from prison and gets plastic surgery in this in Detour [1945]) plays “Mother” in Guy Palm Springs Noir Fest San Francisco film noir. / Ann Sheridan is a Maddin’s “docu-fantasia” that explores his wartime adulteress who pays the price when hometown of Winnipeg, Canada. See Posts Biggest Year Yet the troops come home. www.landmarktheatres.com for show times in your area. “The Darkness Continues” as Tribute to Saturday, August 2, and Tuesday, August 5 Shoot the Piano Player (1960) Late Fest Founder Arthur Lyons Introduced by Mike White. A brand-new UPCOMING ON DVD print of Francois Truffaut’s frolicsome yet New Line Home Entertainment will release a PALM SPRINGS, CA — The eighth annual Palm Dickinson, the noir-hungry audience did faithful genre pastiche, starring a hangdog DVD director’s cut of Alex Proyas’s stun- Springs Film Noir Festival, which took place exactly that. All of the screenings were well Charles Aznavour. ning, futuristic film noir Dark City (1998) on May 29–June 1, broke all previous atten- attended—and not just the films with guests, July 29. The film stars Rufus Sewell as an dance records. The desert fest, renowned for although the guest roster was impressive Thursday, August 7 amnesiac who wakes up next to a brutally its one-two punch of obscure film noirs and indeed: Jayne Meadows (Lady in the Lake, Nightfall (1957) / The Burglar (1957) murdered prostitute. He investigates with the notable movie-star guests, wasn’t the same 1947), Carol Lynley (Bunny Lake Is Missing, Introduced by Eddie Muller. Jacques help of his estranged wife (Jennifer without its founder and usual host, Arthur 1965), Margia Dean (Treasure of Monte Tourneur’s noir unravels fall-guy Aldo Connelly) and a homicide detective (William Lyons. But this year’s festivities would have Cristo, 1949), Karen Sharpe Kramer (Man in Ray’s paranoid past, with stunning outdoor Hurt) and uncovers a vast conspiracy. The done Lyons proud. Producer Barbara Lyons the Vault, 1956), and Billy Gray (Talk About cinematography by Burnett Guffey. / A DVD will include three commentaries, a evolved her late husband’s festival tagline a Stranger, 1952). miasma of incestuous, pulpy desire hangs making-of documentary, an introduction by “It’s all in the story” into “The darkness con- Smooth as Silk (1946), a virtually over thief Dan Duryea and his sister Jayne the director, and more. tinues . . .” as a tribute to the author and noir unknown Universal Pictures B noir, was the Mansfield. impresario. hands-down sleeper of the festival according Huge news for film noir and James Ellroy “We are going to keep this festival to host and codirector Alan K. Rode. “It was Sunday, August 10 fans! On September 23 Warner Home Video going for years to come,” said Barbara. really intriguing; sort of a noir mystery fold- Descent into Hell (1986) will release both a digitally remastered DVD “Arthur wouldn’t want people moping ed into an All About Eve motif,” he A boozehound author and his chilly wife go two-disc special edition and a single-disc around and turning this into a funeral dirge. exclaimed. “It was Arthur Lyons’s last pale- to the tropics to revive their marriage, but Blu-ray high-def version of Curtis Hanson’s He would want all of his friends and film noir ontological discovery.” Haiti becomes a stand-in for hell. L.A. Confidential (1997), starring Kevin buffs to do what they’ve always done: Have The Film Noir Foundation was well Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, and a ball!” represented by the estimable Foster Hirsch, Thursday, August 14 Kim Basinger. This exceptional neo-noir Beginning with the sold-out opening- who shared the presentation and interview The Burglars (1971) won two Oscars and was nominated for night screening of The Killers (1964), featur- duties with Rode and MSNBC movie critic Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, this French another five, and it is certainly deserving of ing an onstage interview with star Angie and Sunset Gun blogger Kim Morgan. retooling of The Burglar shifts the action to this sort of star treatment. July/Aug 2008 Noir City Sentinel 7

LAUGHTER (cont’d from pg. 1) laughter at the wrong moment usually makes him “furious.” He concedes, however, that that while fans of all classic film genres will laughter “need not be belittling” and that laugh at older movies, “There’s a frankness “sometimes it can imply a certain engage- you sometimes find in noir that you would ment and enjoyment” of a film. not find in other films from the period. Unfortunately, incessant laughter Sometimes it is the decidedly different stan- could mean that for many viewers film noir dards of civility and propriety from that era, has devolved into camp. Sci-fi and ham- and the very dated ideas about women and handed antidrug films of the 1950s have government” that draw the laughs. already descended there, but noir still gar- Film Noir Foundation board member ners respect as serious cinema. It doesn’t fea- Alan Rode, author of Charles McGraw: ture actors in shoddy monster suits leaping Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy, out at screaming teenagers. Noir was never reminds us that “Laughter does not automat- meant to be escapist fare, especially after it ically default to disrespect. These are movies took its post–World War II turn toward real- to be enjoyed, for God’s sake. They’re not ism and moral ambiguity. Believe it or not, Greek statues.” He adds, however, that “deri- critics and audiences of that era felt the dia- sive, hyenalike laughter that is mocking in logue in crime dramas was very realistic— tone and annoying in consistency has no that by embracing the parlance of the pool place in any movie theater.” hall and the flophouse, it turned a trench- He also points out that it’s nearly coated cold shoulder on the musical-comedy impossible not to laugh at the outrageous- worldview. ness of something like McGraw in Armored The trouble is that mid-20th century Car Robbery (1950) when, after his partner realism no longer has much relevance. Few Jean Gillie and Sheldon Leonard in Decoy: some viewers find the film a gem of noir is killed, he struggles to find words of com- members of a modern audience are likely, or nihilism while others find its overcooked hard-boiled attitude hysterically funny. fort for the dead cop’s widow, only to come able, to put themselves in the mindset of the up with “Tough break, Marsha.” It’s a sure- period in which such a film was originally (Raw Deal [1948], Kid Glove Killer [1942]) big laughs—it was intended as a sex-laced fire laugh line for today’s audiences, but made and realize that now-laughable situa- attributes the laughter to the cynicism of showdown that danced around the produc- probably not one the screenwriters planned tions were then deadly serious. These are, contemporary society. “Today’s public feels tion codes of the time. Loaded? Absolutely. as comic relief. after all, films about murder, corruption, and they must be above all that. It’s part of the Funny? Not really. Great dialogue, even Even among the most hard-core noir the souring of American ideals. cynicism the public puts on to say, ‘I know when it’s over-the-top sexual innuendo, fanatics opinions differ on the laughing mat- better than that.’” draws you deeper into the film. But the ter. Film Noir Foundation founder and author “Today’s public feels they must Audiences back in the day were more moment the yahoo sitting behind you overre- Eddie Muller states, “The laughter used to be above all that. It’s part of the reverent, she notes, but not church-mouse acts with gales of laughter, the spell breaks, bother me, but it doesn’t anymore. I appreci- silent by any means. According to Hunt, even the spell cast by a film as great as ate the sound of people having a good time at cynicism the public puts on to reactions included “applause, gasps, laugh- Double Indemnity (1944). the movies. It means they’ll come back for say, ‘I know better than that.’” ter, all of the above”—but at the appropriate In attempting to rescue noir from the more. And that the idea of going to a theater —Marsha Hunt moments. She does admit, however, that clutches of camp, do we risk stifling our to see an old film, on the big screen, isn’t even during the making of the films, espe- enjoyment of it? I think not. True, laughter is dead yet or strictly the purview of cineastes. Where laughter is typically the most cially those she calls “six-day wonders” (aka probably the purest human expression of To me, laughing at a film isn’t the same as cringe-inducing is when the films are B movies), actors were well aware that they enjoyment, and isn’t that why we go to the somebody going to a museum and yelling screened with the surviving actors, actresses, were reeling off lines with a panache far movies in the first place? And, granted, ‘What a piece of s—!’ to people looking at writers, and directors in attendance. It seems beyond everyday conversation. “Raw Deal opportunities to see classic cinema—in a the art.” cruel that they should have to endure an was pretty ripe, I thought, even as we were cinema—are so rare today that any type of Foster Hirsch, a film studies professor audience’s ironic laughter. Foster Hirsch has shooting it.” audience is better than no audience at all. But and author of the books The Dark Side of the seen this happen many times, and he says he Coleen Gray (Kiss of Death [1947], the beauty of old movies is that they trans- Screen: Film Noir and Detours and Lost is always “embarrassed for the audience and Kansas City Confidential [1952]) puts no port us to a different place and time, if only Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir, says that the celebrity.” Veteran actress Marsha Hunt stock in an audience’s reaction. The only for 90 minutes or so, and for some of us, noir time she can remember being laughed at was does this better than any other genre. To fully during a preview screening of the 1957 west- enjoy that different place and time, and to be ern Copper Sky: “I was so mortified I tied a respectful to the rest of the audience, modern scarf around my head and ran out the back of moviegoers need to make concessions; we Return of the theater.” For a while she stopped attend- need to withhold our tittering judgments of ing her own films. While Hunt maintains that outdated gender roles and gutter poetry. Any she is “not insulted” by laughter at present- film historian will tell you that film noir is “The Exiles” day screenings, Gray is less ambivalent. As where American movies first turned cyni- to whether she thinks the cacklers are laugh- cal—it was still too early for the filmmakers ing at or with the films, she says, “I think to be winking at the audience and hoping for Lost Bunker Hill Docu-Noir they are absolutely laughing at them,” and laughs. Bleakness and tragedy are the hall- Gets Theatrical Release that those who do so at inappropriate marks of noir, and they are certainly no moments “should be spanked.” But, thank- laughing matter. The Exiles (1961), Kent MacKenzie’s aston- fully for her fellow filmgoers, Gray hasn’t It’s probably impossible to reason ishing blend of neorealist documentary and had much experience with laughter at her with the casual noir fan who revels more in sociologically tinged film noir, has been res- films. “No one laughs at Kiss of Death.” The camp than craft. But before noir ends up on cued from oblivion thanks to Milestone same is true of Nightmare Alley (1947)—but the joke pile of cinema like Plan 9 from Films. It will soon enjoy a limited nation- do only such A films deserve our respect? Outer Space we should take a little time to wide theatrical release and will come out on Why not their lower-budgeted cousins? consider the world in which these films were DVD in December. This is the second film As archeological entities such as the made. The artful shadows of John Alton, the featured in Thom Andersen’s 2003 video Film Noir Foundation dig deeper to unearth taut direction of Anthony Mann, the nuanced essay Los Angeles Plays Itself that has been obscure films, will the end result be more acting of Glenn Ford or Dana Andrews— restored and rereleased by the New laughter? A movie like the recently resurrect- these are nothing to chuckle about. Times York–based company. (The first, Charles ed Decoy (1946) almost dares you to take it were different then, and they sure don’t make Burnett’s Killer of Sheep [1977], appeared to seriously. And anyone who has seen the ’em like they used to. We should be celebrat- great acclaim in 2007.) MacKenzie’s use of lighting, with its films of Hugo Haas knows what incredible, ing that, not mocking it. The Exiles is set in the dying neigh- clear homage to noir, reveals a singular talent. and unintentional, comedies he made. Foster In the end the laughter will probably borhood of Bunker Hill, an iconic noir loca- Often compared with John Cassavetes’s early Hirsch goes so far as to say, “Sometimes a win out, though, which has led many lovers tion. It chronicles a day in the lives of young films, The Exiles is both more poetic and little laughter is appropriate because the of the genre, such as Eddie Muller, to adopt Native Americans who have moved away more true to life. One film critic observed: movies aren’t that good.” a diplomatic, almost philosophical, attitude. from their reservation and are experiencing “In 72 minutes, MacKenzie altered how I per- It’s true more often than not: The “I love the fact that these films elicit not only total dislocation as they struggle to adjust to ceive night.” lower the budget, the louder the laughs. But laughter—be it genuine or specious—but the meanness of urban life. MacKenzie was FNF’s monthly news updates will fea- some undisputed classics draw big chortles, real gasps and enthusiastic applause,” he fascinated by Bunker Hill. One of his short ture screening information as it becomes too. Fred MacMurray and Barbara says. “Accept one reaction, accept them all. films, made prior to The Exiles, is also set available. See www.exilesfilm.com for up-to- Stanwyck’s famous tête-à-tête about the People have visceral responses when they there and will be one of the extras in the the-minute screening information. Don’t miss “speed limits in this town” wasn’t written watch a movie in a public venue. And I dread DVD release. this one in the theater! —Don Malcolm (by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler) for the day we can’t experience that anymore.” 8 Noir City Sentinel July/Aug 2008 WHY SO SERIOUS?

EPIC “BAT-NOIR” IS NO JOKE

By Will “the Thrill” Viharo

“Superman is how America sees itself, and Wales, and Heath Ledger is Australian) gives it an unusual every frame of this film. Ledger’s untimely demise also Batman is how the rest of the world sees ring of authenticity and clarity of subtext, just like it took the imbues the Joker with a pathos this gleefully amoral charac- French to discover Hollywood had “accidentally” created the ter may not actually deserve. This Joker is much more in the America.” self-effacing and self-revealing subgenre of film noir. The tradition of noir psycho-killers like Richard Widmark’s —Michael Caine phenomenon of this movie goes beyond its record-breaking Tommy Udo and James Cagney’s Arthur Cody Jarrett than box office success. Its influence will be felt for a long time, in Jack Nicholson’s broader and dare I say more conventional ways we can’t really predict. All academic mumbo jumbo take on the character in the 1989 film. But in the end, this is et’s not mince words: Its comic-book origins notwith- aside, it’s a kickass piece of entertainment. a singular acting achievement with no obvious precedent. standing, The Dark Knight is a masterpiece of crime The fantastic score (by Hans Zimmer and James Dispensing with the traditional comic-book explana- L cinema. Several set pieces boast a cool, pulsating Newton Howard) has a driving urgency, combining a bom- tions, the murky and ever-morphing mystery of this Joker’s intensity and vivid immediacy a la Michael Mann (especially bastic yet chilling sense of dangerous dread with a brooding origins and motivations only add to his unpredictable and the opening bank robbery sequence), while the fluid camera- melancholia, much like Bernard Hermann achieved with his unsettling madness. As long as people like him exist, you can work and staccato editing are reminiscent of Scorsese. The Hitchcock pieces. Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman once again never totally relax in this world—and people like him will grotesque pop art grandeur of Tim Burton and bright, surreal, makes this larger than life (but empathetically human) char- always exist, despite all desperate countermeasures. over-the-top landscape of Joel Schumacher aren’t even refer- acter credible, from the inside out, skillfully swerving The Dark Knight will also go down as the culture’s enced. Ultimately, director Christopher Nolan has a signature between his dual identities with graceful conviction. Bale is most ironically popular Post-9/11 allegory. The Joker is obvi- style all his own, established in smaller but equally dark and also adept at conveying Nolan’s point that Batman’s self- ously a renegade terrorist rather than a simple crazy crook, intricate films such as Memento (2000) and Following (1998). financed war on crime is a personal vendetta, an unending because he operates totally outside the realm of mainstream This stunning sequel stands alone by delivering on all campaign of vengeance seemingly justified by the murder of Reason. As much as his rants of antisocial rhetoric freak us the promises made by Nolan’s premiere Bat-flick, 2005’s his parents, with dubious side effects. out, they also make sense in the scheme of things, at least revisionist Batman Begins, which rebooted the franchise from his twisted but compelling point of view. Unlike Muslim much like Casino Royale rejuvenated the stale 007 series. fundamentalists, or for that matter trigger-happy Christians, Nolan’s interpretation of Batman’s universe (he cowrote the he has no religion to support his violence—only a nihilistic screenplay with his brother Jonathan) is more akin to the grit- philosophy that justifies his sick need to blow shit up for the ty, graphic crime dramas of Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams hell of it. in the DC comics of the ’70s than the more stylized, punk- Ledger’s Joker will no doubt enflame existing feelings dystopian work of Frank Miller in the ’80s, and that realism of alienation and angst amongst the multitudes of audience works to its favor, without diluting the escapist fantasy of the members who feel powerless to change anything, even if it’s source material. This is Batman for grown-ups—very cynical just for the sake of challenging the status quo. Ledger’s cast- ones, at that. ing as the Joker, and his unexpected death, are a cultural con- As much as I love the campy Batman TV series of the fluence that comes perhaps once in a generation. It’s one for 60s, this is about as far West of Adam as you can get, and still the zeitgeist. As the Joker himself would say: You can’t plan call it “Batman.” But like that classic TV show, it’s a perfect- these things, they just happen. ly realized product of its era: a very specific (if diametrically Ledger’s performance was lauded even before the film opposed) conceptualization of a uniquely American but uni- was released to massive acclaim. It’s gratifying to have these versally beloved mythology that has deep roots in the same lofty expectations met, but it’s no big surprise, especially tainted soil that yielded film noir. given his previous transformation into the star-crossed gay It’s all here: split personalities, societal decay, the cor- Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as cowboy of Brokeback Mountain. The revelation for me was ruption of the ruling class, the destruction of the idealist, the Lucius Fox again have Batman’s back, adding much appreci- Aaron Eckhart as crusading DA Harvey Dent. His gradual seduction and slaughter of the innocent, and the inescapable ated maturity to the material, and well-grounded sanity to the then sudden conversion into the disfigured “villain” Two- conflict between traumas of the past, struggles of the present, spectacular excess. Gary Oldman is quietly intense as (newly Face is both credible and carefully calculated. Unlike other and aspirations for the future. And yes, there are grown men appointed) Commissioner Gordon. The Scarecrow (Cillian comic-book movies that shoehorn an assortment of villains playing with toys, blowing stuff up, and running around in Murphy), underused in the first film, makes a brief cameo into the plot solely to sell toys and fast food tie-ins, the inclu- costumes and garish makeup. It’s still an exemplary exponent here as well, but as we all know, this installment belongs to sion of Two-Face into the operatic proceedings is integral to of modern noir. that death-dealing doppelganger, the Joker. the overall theme of Chaos vs. Control, his raison d’etre The fact that this familiar story, featuring icons of our The sadness I felt watching the late Ledger perform his meshing perfectly with the Joker’s own twisted pseudo-ideol- pop culture, is told from a foreign perspective (Nolan and already legendary, anarchistic version of the Joker abetted the ogy. Eckhart is upstaged by Ledger through no fault of his much of the cast are British, Christian Bale was raised in ambience of hopelessness and impending doom that pervades own—his performance is equal to the part as conceived (and, July/Aug 2008 Noir City Sentinel 9 unlike Tommy Lee Jones’s regrettably car- toonish portrayal of Two-Face in Batman REMEMBRANCE Forever, quite faithful to Bob Kane’s cre- ation). The central story of Harvey-Dent / Two-Face is likewise noir to the bone, with echoes of other compromised champions of the law like Glenn Ford in The Big Heat JOSEPH PEVNEY (1953) and Orson Welles in Touch of Evil (1958). As literal as Two-Face’s moral choic- es are—decided by chance, the flip of an Last Man Standing ironically scarred coin—the symbolism and metaphorical power of this imagery are just as memorable and impressive as the more (1911–2008) flamboyant antics of the Joker and athletic heroics of the Batman. “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become By Alan K. Rode become and wanted me to appreciate his had no problems with him. “Tierney was the villain” is the key quote from this film, Sentinel Senior Editor development as a person, a human being. He very moody and the things they said about and it doesn’t only apply to Harvey. had just married, and he invited me to dinner him were probably true. I didn’t know. I did- “Good” and “bad” are indeed flip sides When Joseph Pevney died on May 18 at 96 at his new apartment. He was trying to n’t care. As far as I was concerned, he was a of the same coin. While this isn’t a new con- years of age, it rang the curtain down on a impress me. I tried to act impressed.” likeable guy. He didn’t have that many lines, cept, the exploration and presentation of this life well lived. His distinguished career Pevney couldn’t recall a lot of details but he was fine in the picture, easy to work age-old notion is so dynamic it almost seems spanned three-quarters of the last century. about his truncated screen-acting career, with.” fresh—and particularly resonant in today’s Pevney’s screen acting credits were pure probably because he logged too many Shakedown launched Pevney into a noir, and his directorial résumé included decades working (and thinking) as a direc- position as a contract director at Universal such gems as Shakedown (1950), tor. His acting credits are confined entirely International for the next eight years until the Undercover Girl (1950), Six Bridges to to noir: Nocturne (1946), Body and Soul studio, bought out by Music Corporation of Cross (1955), and The Midnight Story (1947), The Street with No Name (1948), America (MCA), terminated most of the con- (1957). Thieves’ Highway (1949, featuring a com- tracts it had with long-term talent. Pevney I first got acquainted with Pevney last pelling sequence where Pevney zips his was one of the last of the studio-system year when I interviewed him by phone for jacket while standing before a burning truck directors. He directed 25 features for my book on Charles McGraw. I was reward- containing the actor Millard Mitchell), Universal in all different genres and worked ed with vivid recollections dating back to Outside the Wall (1950), and a cameo with nearly every major star in Hollywood. 1937 when the two young actors appeared in appearance in Shakedown (1950). The high point of his career came in 1957, a play together—“Charlie got into a fistfight Shakedown was also his directorial when he had three pictures in theaters simul- with another actor in the company and got debut. “The opening sequence had Howard taneously: Man of a Thousand Faces, a his clock cleaned . . .”—to tales about the Duff running down a long sloping street. We tremendously popular biopic starring James challenges of directing the rough-hewn shot it and I said, ‘I’m not crazy about that. Cagney as Lon Chaney; Tammy and the tough guy in a couple of Universal features Can we do it once more?’And [the assistant] Bachelor, a lighthearted comedy with Debbie in the 1950s. Joe Kenney took me aside and said, ‘You Reynolds; and The Midnight Story, a crime- “I have very little memory left, let’s don’t need to do that. Just cut in anytime you noir filmed on location in San Francisco with face it,” said Pevney, when we met again at want.’ And I thought, ‘My God, I am direct- Tony Curtis and Gilbert Roland. his Palm Desert home the following year. ing motion pictures! You can cut and cut and Reminiscing about his Universal I took his disclaimer with a grain of cut!’ I learned my principal lesson as a direc- years, he extolled the virtues of his stars, salt. Sure enough, when I brought up his tor from that very first moment.” including Joan Crawford (“I loved her; she screen debut in Nocturne (1946) and showed Matters became stickier when he met was the consummate professional.”) and Jeff Christian Bale and Heath Ledger as the him a still of himself playing the piano Brian Donlevy, Duff’s costar in the picture. Chandler (“Sweet, simple, wonderful, no Batman and the Joker: a dynamic—and alongside George Raft, he grinned and “He was terribly short. He wore lifts in his problems. We did eight pictures together. I scary—duo. remembered: “Raft was a nice guy, a very shoes. Rock Hudson was the nightclub door- enjoyed him as an actor and close friend.”). nice guy. He couldn’t act, though, and he man, and he was six foot four, and Donlevy He particularly remembered Charles increasingly antagonistic, splintered world, knew it. He hated to memorize dialogue, so was about five foot two! It was a horrible sit- Laughton from The Strange Door (1951). with all points of view vying for attention, he actually gave up lines to me and others in uation. I had to show Rock how to open the Laughton took overacting to unparalleled validation, and dominance. Batman likes to the cast. He would tell the director, ‘Have door and how to stand so the height dispari- heights and Pevney let him run wild. believe his better nature dictates his deci- Joe say this instead.’” ty wasn’t so obvious. Donlevy was a good “At that time, Charles Laughton was sions, separating and elevating himself above After starting out in 1924 as a vaude- actor, very professional, but you wouldn’t preparing a four-person routine (Don Juan in the element he’s attempting to eradicate, but ville boy soprano in his native New York, believe how short he was.” Hell) that he was going to take on the road. he questions the sincerity of his crusade, and Pevney went on to Broadway to act in Home Pevney had been warned about anoth- So he only wanted to have fun with our pic- the validity of its outcome. At one point he of the Brave, Battle Hymn, The World We er of the film’s actors, the infamous ture, and did he ever! Universal thought they engages in a clear case of Bush-era surveil- Make, and Native Son. He disliked the Hollywood bad boy Lawrence Tierney—but (continued next page) lance, sacrificing personal rights for the sake vaudeville circuit but loved working of his self-righteous agenda. Redemption, as onstage. He remembered the lean days that such, is achieved only via self-sacrifice, and nearly made him quit the production of though the motivations for it may be pure, the Native Son, despite having Orson Welles as results are ambiguous at best. the director. “After the first or second The finale suggests while humanity is rehearsal, I walked out. Orson grabbed me in basically resilient, i.e “good,” it will be con- the hallway and said, ‘Where are you tinually challenged by contrary forces, which going?’ I told him, ‘I can’t live on this $40 a we deem to be “evil,” both internal and exter- week that you pay your actors, I’m sorry.’ nal, and the ultimate victory will go to Welles asked, ‘How much do you want?’ I whichever can go the distance. Like the Joker told him that I was going to need $100 a says to Batman, “we’re destined to do this week. So I ended up getting $100 a week. I forever.” (Although the finality of Ledger’s played Canada Lee’s trainer, I had a bandage premature death in “real life” is a noirish on my head, it was a good show.” asterisk in itself.) During his stage period, Pevney After the dust has settled, the disturb- began a fruitful working relationship with ing dénouement is pure and simple textbook John Garfield that culminated in 1947 with noir. I won’t give it away, of course, though Body and Soul. His recollections of the film, by now chances are you’ve seen the film sev- in which he played John Garfield’s sidekick, eral times. Suffice to say, The Dark Knight Shorty Polaski, included one of the classic lives up to its ominous title, and then some. laments of the film actor: “I had a really a This is film noir for the masses, and the fact good sequence in Body and Soul, a long that its uncompromisingly bleak vision is speech, that got cut out of the picture.” wrapped in a summertime action blockbuster, Pevney appreciated Garfield’s talent like a deceptively packaged booby trap, is a but wasn’t in awe of his mental prowess. subversive sucker punch of which the Joker “He wasn’t that intelligent, you know. He Pevney had one of his biggest roles in RKO’s Nocturne (1946) in which he costarred himself would be proud. wanted to boast about how important he had with (left to right) Virginia Huston, Lynn Bari, and George Raft. 10 Noir City Sentinel July/Aug 2008 OBITUARY

EVELYN KEYES velyn Keyes, 91, one of the most Todd a “husband,” although the marriage radiant if underrated actresses of was never official. Her numerous love affairs E Hollywood’s Golden Era, passed were recounted, quite candidly, in her two away July 4, in Montecito, California. She bestselling autobiographies: Scarlett lived the last few years in an exclusive assist- O’Hara’s Younger Sister and I’ll Think About ed living facility, coping with Alzheimer’s That Tomorrow. She also has to her credit the disease, and, more recently, uterine cancer. critically acclaimed novel I Am a Billboard. The latter was listed as the official cause of Keyes abandoned Hollywood in the death. mid-1950s to live in Spain with Shaw, a Keyes is best remembered for her role union that lasted 11 years, a record of as “SueEllen,” Scarlett O’Hara’s younger longevity for both of the much-married sister in the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind. spouses. In the early 1970’s, after splitting She spent all of the 1940s under contract at from Shaw (they were never officially Columbia Pictures, where she displayed nat- divorced), Keyes resurrected her show busi- ural charm and abundant talent in both come- ness career with a long-running touring show dies and dramas, starring in such films as of No, No Nanette. She also became a fea- Here Comes Mr. Jordan, A Thousand and tured columnist for the Los Angeles Times, One Nights, The Jolson Story, The Mating of penning remembrances under the banner Millie, and Mrs. Mike, all hits for the studio. “Keyes to the City.” Some of her best performances were in film Author Eddie Muller, who profiled noir: Face Behind the Mask, Ladies in Keyes in his book Dark City Dames: The Retirement, Johnny O’Clock, The Killer That Wicked Women of Film Noir, recalled her as Stalked New York, 99 River Street, and her “One of the smartest and most brutally hon- own favorite among her films, The Prowler. est people I have ever known. Her BS detec- During her heyday in the 1940s and tor was finely tuned and went off with great 1950s, Keyes was as renowned for her per- regularity.” sonal life as for her movie roles. Her hus- He added that “She could have had a bands included directors Charles Vidor and much more accomplished career—if she was John Huston, and famed bandleader Artie only less interested in living such a rich, Shaw. She also considered producer Michael exciting life.”

PEVNEY (from previous page) were making a horror movie. Not Laughton. For him it was camp! He also insisted on doing his own stunt work at the end where he dies in the moat with the waterwheel. He got right in the water and loved it. Laughton just loved being a ham actor.” Although Pevney enjoyed directing features, working for a major studio was not without its frustrations. “They would answer my request to cast Jeff Chandler with Tony Curtis in Six Bridges to Cross [1955] or with Rock Hudson in Twilight for the Gods [1958] with a great big WHY? ‘We can get two pic- tures out of them—one from Tony and one from Jeff—you don’t need to put them together.’ I told the studio, ‘But if you put two of the studio’s biggest stars together you’ll make twice as much money!’ They would never believe me and never go along In a career that spanned 35 years, with me.” Pevney directed 31 feature films and Pevney began directing television in hundreds of hours of episodic television. 1959 as the studio system was falling apart and discovered that he was temperamentally thing else simultaneously. I did, and never well suited to the small screen’s tight sched- directed any more of his shows. There was ules. He helmed more than 150 TV episodes something very strange about him.” before retiring in 1985; his résumé is a veri- Pevney’s work in the original Star table history of the medium’s first quarter- Trek series between 1967 and 1969 remains century. his principal legacy. He directed a total of 14 He recalled the early episodes of episodes, many of which are now revered for Mission Impossible with Steven Hill: “Talk their originality and humor. about mission impossible! Steven Hill was “I had a great cast. I really liked an observant Jew and had to quit at 5 p.m. on Leonard Nimoy. I wasn’t crazy about Friday and I had to finish the show!” There William Shatner. I was the one who found were also 11 episodes of The Munsters: Walter Koenig, who played Chekov. The kid “Fred Gwynne had good makeup and heels had a terrible Russian accent, but he was a to build him up to seven feet. He was as gay hit; audiences loved him. The shows I liked as a $3 bill, but who cared! He had a ball most were the ones that [writer] Gene doing that show.” Roddenberry said were too funny, like ‘The Pevney did a lot of shows for produc- Trouble with Tribbles.’ I told him that in the er Jack Webb, including 11 episodes of future, people will still behave normally and Adam-12 and seven of Emergency! “Webb be funny. I loved ‘The Trouble with was a horror! He had a rule that a director Tribbles.’ It was my favorite.” couldn’t direct one of his shows and some-