The Mask Of Dimitrios (1944)

Starting with the classic 'The Maltese Falcon', between 1941 and 1946 Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre appeared together in 10 movies, most of them a thriller of some sort. Due to their physical appearances this made them, for those few years at least, almost seem like the Laurel and Hardy of dark cinema. In 1944 they appeared together in 'The Mask Of Dimitrios', a noir spy thriller based on an Eric Ambler novel.

The titular Dimitrios is Dimitrios Makropoulos, an infamous jack-of-all-trades criminal mastermind whose dead body washes ashore near Istanbul, Turkey. Dutch detective writer Cornelius Leyden (Lorre) is in Istanbul at that time and police official colonel Haki (Kurt Katch), an avid reader of detective novels, is eager to tell Leyden about Dimitrios, and even shows him the body before its cremation. Haki explains that Dimitrios managed to escape the law for a long time, so much so that the only way they know the body is Dimitrios is because of a name tag and papers found in its clothes. Leyden's interest in this mysterious character is piqued, he sees a possible angle for a new novel. He starts to retrace the history of Dimitrios by talking to people who knew Dimitrios, such as nightclub owner Irana (Faye Emerson) and wealthy socialite Grudek (Vincent Francen), while travelling all over Europe following leads and clues. Along the way he comes into contact with a Mr. Peters (Greenstreet), who is also interested in Dimitrios, but for reasons shrouded in mystery. Leyden is puzzled by the elusive Dimitrios as well as Mr. Peters, but also intrigued, and before he knows it he is in Paris where Mr. Peters finally explains his intentions, which involves one million francs, blackmail and Dimitrios...

To me the most important thing to know about an assassination is not who fired the shot, but who paid for the bullet.

In typical noir fashion, the movie has a number of flashbacks, in which people recount their memories of Dimitrios, played by Zachary Scott. Through these flashbacks Leyden, and the viewer, gets a better idea of Dimitrios and his cunning, but dangerous and lethal, intellect. He is both charming and ruthless, suave and threatening, but always calculated and one step ahead of everybody else. Whether it involves, murder, smuggling drugs or blackmail, and being hired as a spy to steal military plans for a European country, Dimitrios rises to the occasion every single time. As long as there is a profit to be made.

The movie is a fairly faithful adaptation of Eric Ambler's spy novel 'A Coffin For Dimitrios' from 1939, the movie's title taken from the title of a chapter in the book. I read the book recently and it is a clever and fun read. Prolific pulp author Frank Gruber took a few liberties to turn the source material into a slightly more movie-like screenplay, but nothing that really alters the plot. Most notably the name and nationality of its protagonist was changed from the British Charles Latimer to the Dutch Cornelius Leyden, possibly because of Peter Lorre's accent which nobody can mistake for a British one. Not that he has a Dutch accent either, but I digress. The other big difference, but still not really changing the flow of the movie, is the story recounted by Grudek (Victor Francen). In the novel Latimer learns of this story from a letter sent by Marukakis, who is one of the first people Latimer/Leyden meets on his journey. In the novel Grudek is only addressed as G., a masterspy who employs Dimitrios to steal some military plans. The contents of this letter takes up an entire chapter in the book. Probably in an effort to make it more cinematic, this story is told by Grudek when Leyden visits him (Latimer never meets G. in the novel). But the story, both in the novel and in the book, plays out almost the same, except the roles of Grudek/G. and Dimitrios in it are reversed. While it may sound like a big change, in actuality it serves the exact same purpose in both cases without changing the course of the plot, while making Dimitrios seem like an even more cunning criminal in the movie. As a small note of interest, Colonel Haki also makes an appearance in the Eric Ambler novel 'Journey Into Fear' from 1940, which was turned into a movie in 1943, where he is played by none other than Orson Welles.

Zachary Scott made his film debut in this movie, and he is perfectly cast with his unique lizard-like look that made him perfect for this role. He would become a household name a year later in the classic noir 'Mildred Pierce' where his slimy traits are also used to maximum effect. He is solid here, and plays all sides of Dimitrios's character to a tee, making him really seem like an almost superhuman villain, but who still ends up a mere mortal in his final moments. He would appear in several more noirs, including 1950's 'Guilty Bystander' where he played opposite Faye Emerson again, who is quite the cheap-looking nightclub owner here. But despite being billed third, her role is remarkably small and one-dimensional.

Peter Lorre, oddly enough billed fourth despite being the movie's protagonist and central character, and Sydney Greenstreet are both simply great here. The two had a lot of chemistry together and this is exploited to the fullest here. Both actors also had distinct ways of speaking that, combined with their non-average physical appearances, made them in a sense character actors rather than leading actors, despite both being very good at their trade. Lorre plays Leyden the way Latimer is described in the book, as someone who might know how to write about a murder but who is quite naive when it comes to criminal reality. Conversely, Greenstreet embodied Mr. Peters perfectly with a tone of voice and glint in his eye that always makes everything he says seem somehow suspect.

Murder, treason, and betrayal... that's the finishing touch.

Jean Negulesco directed the movie, which was his first of several noirs, which also included 'Three Strangers', again with Lorre and Greenstreet, and 'Nobody Lives Forever', both from 1946. For all these movies, Arthur Edeson was behind the camera. Edeson had already worked as a cinematographer with Lorre and Greenstreet on the classics-among-classics 'The Maltese Falcon' and 'Casablanca', as did composer Adolph Deutsch. They all deliver solid work here, turning an intriguing but fairly static and dialogue-heavy novel/screenplay into a brisk-moving and exciting thriller which feels more action-filled than it really is, and it has some beautifully shot scenes as well. It is a really good and fun movie that will no doubt please any lover of film noir and black & white spy/crime thrillers in general. Recommended, as is the novel!

8/10

Notice how in the trailer Lorre and Greenstreet are referred to as 'The Little Man' and 'The Fat Man'.

Laura (1944)

In 1946, after WWII, French movie critics were exposed to a new wave of US crime/drama movies that were made during WWII and never made it out to Europe until then. They noticed many similarities between these movies that made them stand out from their 1930s counterparts and used the term 'film noir' to describe them. One of those movies was 'Laura' from 1944, which also included 'The Maltese Falcon' and 'Murder, My Sweet'. It is one of the most stylish noirs of the 40s and is still considered a classic. This movie was the love-child of Otto Preminger ('Fallen Angel', 'The 13th Letter'), who made sure it was made and who kept a tight reign on the production, both as the movie's producer as well as, later on, its director. Joseph LaShelle ('Dangerous Crossing', 'The 13th Letter') did the cinematography and it would win him an Oscar, the only of 5 Oscar nominations this movie received. The movie's music & theme was composed by David Raksin ('Where The Sidewalk Ends', 'The Big Combo') and it would prove to be his big breakthrough.

'You better watch out, McPherson, or you'll end up in a psychiatric ward. I don't think they've ever had a patient who fell in love with a corpse.'

The movie was based on a play by Vera Caspary called 'Ring Twice For Laura'. She turned this play into a successful serial for Collier's magazine in 1942, and it was consequently published as an even more successful novel in 1943. She also adapted it again into another play, this time together with George Sklar. After the movie became a box office hit this second play would appear in theaters in 1946/1947. The adaptation into the movie's screenplay was done by Jay Dratler and Ring Lardner Jr. (one of the Hollywood Ten), with Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt helping out with the final version. Of these, only Jay Dratler is interesting from a film noir point of view, as he also (co-)wrote the story and/or screenplay for others noirs such as 'Call Northside 777' and 'The Dark Corner'. The main difference between the novel and the movie is the narration/point of view of the movie. In the novel the story is told from the point of view of all the main characters, whereas the movie simplifies this by using Waldo Lydecker as the focal point, as well as the narrator, of the movie's first half and Mark McPherson that of the second half. The screenplay was also nominated for an Oscar.

The movie starts out as an ordinary murder case. Police lieutenant Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is put on the case of the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). She was found murdered in her apartment, her face maimed beyond recognition by a shotgun blast. McPherson does what every detective would do in such a case, interview Laura's close friends. In this case the circle of friends is fairly limited with only 3 persons of interest. There's the popular and haughty columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) whose tongue is razorsharp and acerbic. Lydecker took an interest in Laura when she was still working for an ad agency, and became her mentor, introducing her into the high-society circles of Manhattan and teaching her how to act and behave. Because of Lydecker's interest in Laura she also climbs the ranks of the ad agency. Then there's her aunt, Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson), who's a wealthy middle-aged woman and supports Laura financially. And lastly Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), a dimwit born into money, who is Laura's fiancee but is also Ann's pet toy. As McPherson interviews these people, with Lydecker tagging along and giving McPherson a glimpse into Laura's past, seen from Waldo's point of view, he becomes more enthralled by her, also due to the painting of Laura that hangs over her fireplace. When he spends the night at her place, going through her things to get a feel for who she was, he falls asleep and is woken up by Laura entering her own apartment. Laura is as surprised as he is, she explains she away up-state for the weekend, to think over her impending marriage with Shelby. It is quickly established that the real murder victim is Diane Redfern, a model working at Laura's ad agency, who was Shelby's lover. But now McPherson has a new suspect, the woman from the painting he's fallen in love with, and who is also his previous murder victim, Laura...

'I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom.'

As mentioned before, 'Laura' was Preminger's love-child. Initially, Robert Mamoulian ('Blood And Sand') directed 'Laura' and Lucien Ballard ('The Killing') was the cinematographer. After disputes and struggles, also with studio executive David Selznick, Mamoulian was fired. Preminger took over directing and also brought in a new cinematographer, Joseph LaShelle. Preminger also made sure that as little as possible of the material already shot by Mamoulian/Ballard was used. The now iconic portrait of Laura hanging over mantelpiece was not the one used under Mamoulian's guidance, which had an actual painting, painted by his wife. Preminger replaced it with an enlarged photograph of Gene Tierney, which was painted over to make it look like a painting.

Raksin, who was appointed as Laura's composer by Alfred Newman, the head of the music department who was too busy to take on yet another movie, felt Preminger's original choice, a Duke Ellington song, wouldn't fit the movie. He was given a weekend to come up with something better. He received a break-up letter from his girlfriend at the time, and it inspired him to write the theme to 'Laura'. The theme would be used in several variations in the movie, and become as famous as the movie itself. After the movie became a hit, Johnny Mercer was brought in to write lyrics to the theme, and this version became a hit in and of itself, it would be re-recorded/covered over 400 times.

Dana Andrews plays his stock noir character for the first time here, the understated, calm tough guy. In this case, he uses a small toy to keep himself composed. Andrews has the perfect face and voice for this kind of character, and he does a solid job. The same goes for Gene Tierney. She was one of the classic unattainable beauties of the era along with actresses like Jeanne Crain and Hedy Lamarr. Hedy Lamarr was actually offered the role of Laura but she declined, feeling there was too little screentime for her character (and thus, more importantly, herself). Tierney was not the most gifted actress, but she does a good job here. She does have the easiest role in this movie however, looking pretty is the main thing about Laura, but Tierney could do looking pretty better than almost anybody.

'Murder is my favorite crime. I write about it regularly, and I know you'll have to visit everyone on your list of suspects. I'd like to study their reactions.'
'You're on the list yourself, you know.'
'Good. To have overlooked me would have been a pointed insult.'

Something Tierney lacks in this movie however is chemistry with Clifton Webb, when they're supposed to be very close, lovers even... Which is maybe not too surprising and not entirely her fault when he was over twice her age in real life, not to mention very, very homosexual and effeminate, which he carried over in his portrayal of Lydecker. Webb had been in a few silent movies and had appeared in a talkie in 1930 before going back to the theater again, where he thrived. Laird Cregar had originally been cast, and even announced, for the part of Waldo Lydecker (his big frame was a much better fit for the character as described in the book) who was supposedly based in no small part on the real life vitriolic columnist Alexander Woollcott. Preminger however wanted Webb and his natural grandiose way of acting and wow, he is almost perfect here, taking over the screen in every scene he's in. It won him an Oscar nomination. His Lydecker is an arrogant debonair man whose only purpose in life seems to be to degrade everybody around him, either verbally or in his columns, except Laura who he obsesses over. His columns are so well-read he has the power to destroy somebody's reputation purely through his writing, and he has no qualms in doing so, as he does with an early rival for Laura's affection. Clifton Webb is a good enough reason to watch this movie.

Vincent Price's Shelby Carpenter also has some rather gay-ish undertones, but more importantly, Price uses a strange Southern accent (Shelby's from Kentucky) and an almost weasel-like way of acting to make Shelby come off as both creepy and spineless at the same time. Shelby is almost broke and butters up both Ann and Laura, as there's money where they are, or in their vicinity at least. Shelby's character is best defined during the party scene where McPherson announces he'll reveal who the killer is. As he approaches Laura and tells her she's coming with him for questioning, Shelby stands up for her. But when McPherson gives him a punch in the stomach and marches off with Laura, Ann is quick to comfort him and Shelby switches allegiance again, back to Ann. Ann Treadwell is a wealthy cougar who loves nothing more than to attend parties and wrap Shelby around her finger, played very well by Judith Anderson. As she tells Laura, Shelby is much better suited with her than with Laura: 'We belong together because we're both weak and can't seem to help it.'

 

Besides the 5 main characters, there is a nice role for Bessie, Laura's loyal maid, played by Dorothy Adams. As she tells Mark McPherson when they first meet, she was brought up to spit at cops. When McPherson casually replies she can do whatever she feels like doing and that he's only interested in finding Laura's killer, she warms up to him. Bessie's role is small but she comes across as a very real and caring character, and whenever she is in a scene, the room lights up.

Otto Preminger would direct Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews in several noir(-ish) movies afterwards as well, 1945's 'Fallen Angel' (Andrews), 1947's 'Daisy Kenyon' (Andrews), 1949's 'Whirlpool' (Tierney) and 1950's 'Where The Sidewalk Ends' (Tierney & Andrews). David Raksin would be composer on all of these movies, except 'Where The Sidewalk Ends'.

'Good-bye, Laura... Good-bye, my love.'

What sets this movie apart from other 40s noirs, and especially the early formative noirs, is that this noir is set in the upper class of 40s Manhattan, and bears very little of the grittiness usually associated with noirs. It is also a highly stylish movie, reflected in the elaborate sets and very modern and classy wardrobes for Laura Hunt and Ann Treadwell. The interior art direction would earn an Oscar nomination. LaShelle's cinematography is exquisite here. It's not the type of look you would normally associate with film noir, with its characteristic chiaroscuro lighting, but he does use shadows very effectively whenever necessary. Where 'Laura' is decidedly noir is in the characters, Waldo, Shelby and Ann are all predators and in the twisty and perverse plot. If you do decide to check out this movie, please do yourself a favor and get the Fox Film Noir DVD version, it's got 2 extremely informative commentary tracks, not to mention that the image quality is outstanding. 'Laura' is a classic noir and while it's not a personal fave, it is a really good and effective noir which stands up really well to repeat viewings. Recommended.

8/10

Murder, My Sweet (1944)

'Murder, My Sweet' is a 1944 adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel 'Farewell, My Lovely' from 1940, and is the first movie with iconic private detective Philip Marlowe as the main character. It wasn't the first time the novel had been made into a movie however. The first version was called 'The Falcon Takes Over', but it took elements from the novel and the Marlowe character was replaced with a different one, the at the time popular 'Falcon' character. This movie however stuck closer to the novel, and as mentioned was the first time Philip Marlowe appeared on the white screen. Edward Dmytryk ('Cornered', 'Obsession', 'Crossfire', and who directed another 'Falcon' movie a few years prior actually) directed this movie and Harry Wild ('Pitfall', 'Cornered') did the cinematography. In 1975 the novel would be made into a movie once again, called 'Farewell, My Lovely', starring film noir icon Robert Mitchum.

This version however stars Dick Powell, who was primarily known for light-hearted song and dance type movies at the time, and wanted a change of character (apparently he signed to RKO with that wish as a stipulation). He sure managed it with this movie! He would star in a number of film noirs afterwards ('Cornered', 'Pitfall', 'Johnny O'Clock') as well as other less light-hearted movies. He was also the reason the movie was renamed from 'Farewell, My Lovely' to 'Murder, My Sweet', as the original title in combination with Dick Powell's name and reputation might lead casual viewers into believing they were going to see a typical Powell movie.

On to the story... In typical Raymond Chandler fashion, the plot of this movie is complex, convoluted and might leave the viewer with some questions about events that are never answered. Chandler didn't worry too much about tieing up loose ends, creating atmosphere and interesting characters was his main goal. The movie starts with Marlowe (Dick Powell) being interrogated by cops while being blindfolded. It isn't clear right until the very end of the movie why he's blindfolded. The rest of the movie is a long flashback sequence as Marlowe tells the entire story, in narration ofcourse, of how he got involved in 2 cases which were linked in more ways than one. The first case happened when a big guy called Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki) hires Marlowe to find his old sweetheart, Velma Valento, whom he hasn't seen since he went to jail 8 years before. Marlowe doesn't have much to go on, as Malloy cannot even supply him with a pic of Velma. But Marlowe obtains a pic of Velma when he visits the wife of the former owner of a nightclub Velma was working at last time Malloy saw her. So that would be good start... But the next day, a well-off man named Lindsay Marriott (Douglas Walton) hires Marlowe to do a quick and easy job for him. He wants Marlowe to accompany him to a drop-off where Marriott is supposed to pay off some robbers to buy back a jade necklace that was stolen from a friend of his. Marlowe doesn't trust it, but figures that as long as he gets paid, it's an easy way to earn some money, and he can get right back to looking for Velma the next day. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite go that way, as Marlowe gets knocked over on the head at the drop-off. 'A black pool opened up at my feet. I dived right in. It had no bottom.' When he wakes up, a young woman asks him if he's all right, and then runs off. And to top it off, Marriott is dead. Marlowe explains everything to the cops, at least what he knows, who let him off, for now. The next day, Ann Grayle (Anne Shirley) is sitting in his office, who turns out to be the woman at the drop-off, but Marlowe doesn't realize this until much later. It was her father's jade necklace that Marriott wanted to buy back. Marlowe and Grayle go to her father's mansion, where Marlowe meets the father (Miles Mander) and his much younger wife Helen (Claire Trevor), who implicates a doctor, or a quack as Mr. Grayle calls him, called Jules Amthor (Otto Kruger). Marlowe is then hired by Mr. Grayle to find the jade necklace, and he gets dragged deeper into its murky waters, and the search for Velma seems unimportant. But eventually it becomes clear that the two cases are linked together tighter than hairs in a hairball.

The movie moves at a fairly rapid pace courtesy of the convoluted plot and tight screenplay, and especially in the second half of this 90+ min movie the amount of twists and doublecrosses that occur are enough to fill 3 feature-length movies. It can become quite dizzying, I have to say. Let's just say that in good film noir fashion, almost everybody gets doublecrossed and/or doublecrosses somebody else several times in this movie. Gotta love it.

Dick Powell does a pretty good job at playing Marlowe, although his Marlowe isn't as hardboiled as one would imagine. Maybe it's Powell's past as an actor, but at times his hardboiled one-liners seem more comical and out of place, solely because it's Powell reciting them. Overall tho, great job, and judging by the movies he did afterwards, people seemed to be into Powell's change of character, so good on him. There is a drug-induced, nightmare-ish dream sequence where Powell does over-act a bit, as well as in the following scene where he confronts the doctor who kept him drugged. The dream sequence is pretty decent however and has a few interesting effects. But the change between Marlowe the cool detective and Marlowe the delirious, emotional patient is a bit too much really.

Anne Shirley and Claire Trevor as the two leading women do great jobs. It is pretty clear that Shirley/Ann Grayle, is more on the up-and-up than Trevor/Helen Grayle who is the femme fatale here, but there are a few curveballs here and there as to who Helen really is and what her intentions are. Solid performances, and the same can be said for Mike Mazurki as the not so clever, but humungous, Moose Malloy who gets used by Amthor to do his dirty work for him.

In terms of directing and cinematography, the movie's done in a clean and effective manner. It's definitely noir in look, feel and lighting. But it doesn't stand out in this respect. The scenes at the beach house are definitely the ones which stand out the most here for their lighting and cinematography as there's a good use of light and especially darkness to create a tense atmosphere. But it also felt at times that Dmytryk, or maybe it was RKO, wanted to show glimpses of Powell's light-hearted past to keep his old fans entertained, for instance when he jumps around on the floor of the entry hall (or mausoleum as he calls it) of Grayle's mansion.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, it's got pretty much everything you'd expect to find in a film noir. Powell did a great job at shaking off his stereotypical type of role and entering a new phase in his career. Make no mistake tho, he's no Humphrey Bogart or Alan Ladd in terms of being a tough hardboiled character actor, at least not yet. But I'm definitely going to check out the film noirs he did later on to see how he evolved.

Here's the trailer for it. Notice how it mentions the 'amazing new type of role' for Dick Powell.