The Set-Up (1949)

A while ago a friend asked me about boxing and film noir. My initial response was that it didn't really have a connection outside of a few noirs like 'Body And Soul' and 'Champion'. However, the more I thought about it, the more movies kept popping up. Noirs that feature (ex-)boxers as a main character such as 'Killer's Kiss', 'The Killers' and '99 River Street', or noirs that revolve around the boxing ring such as Bogart's last movie, 'The Harder They Fall'. In terms of noirs whose main focus is boxing, 1949's 'The Set-Up' seems to garner less attention and acclaim than the aforementioned 'Body And Soul' and 'Champion', but it is a real classic in my book.

'The Set-Up' has a pretty basic plot with no real surprises, but it still manages to pack a punch and hide a few tricks up its sleeve. Bill 'Stoker' Thompson (Robert Ryan) is a boxer with a 20-year career who's well past his prime. His latest fight is against up-and-coming talent Tiger Nelson (Hal Baylor). Local promotor and gambler Little Boy (Alan Baxter) wants Nelson to win, and has paid off Stoker's manager Tiny (George Tobias) and trainer Red (Percy Helton) to have Stoker take a dive in the 3rd round. But Tiny doesn't want to tell this to Stoker as he figures Nelson will win easily anyways, so he won't have to pay Stoker his share. Stoker however feels he can take this new kid on the block. All it takes is one shot...

It is good to remember that this movie is from 1949, movies like 'Raging Bull' and 'Rocky' hadn't been made yet. Yes, Stoker does win, that should not come as a real surprise, but no, this does not mean there's a happy ending. The arena is a seedy place, the fights are for handouts, not for titles. The audience will cheer on whoever's got the upper hand in a fight, all they care about is getting their money's worth in blood, sweat and tears. After Stoker wins, the hall clears out instantly, there are no celebrations, no heroics. Hell, Stoker's fight isn't even the main bout of the evening, the main fight's pushed to an earlier spot due to the local radio station's schedule. Only the fighters themselves care, and Little Boy. Little Boy cares... It's not even about Stoker beating Tiger Nelson, it's about Stoker not doing what he's told, even if nobody told him what to do. Stoker has no control over his fate and doesn't realize it, and when he finally does, he still makes the wrong choice. That's noir.

Stoker! Stoker! Kill him! Kill him!

The main trick played on the audience is that the movie takes place in real time. Lasting 72 minutes, the whole story plays out from roughly 9.10pm to 10.22pm. This was, and still is, a rarely used device, but it works remarkably well here. The movie starts out before the fight, alternating between the locker room and Julie (Audrey Totter), Stoker's wife, then shows the fight itself, and finally it focuses on the aftermath. And unlike most boxing movies where the underdog beats all the odds and wins, Stoker's win will also prove to be his undoing.

The scenes in the lockerroom are magnificent, and have a very touching side to them. Even though most of the fighters that night are either washed up like Stoker, or just starting out, they all share the same dreams of becoming a world champion. But they're not alike, all fighters have distinct personalities in this movie. If Stoker is washed up, 'Gunboat' Thompson (David Clarke) is all dried up with too many losses behind his name to keep count of. He keeps talking about Frankie Manilla, a fighter who had a losing streak of 21 losses but still managed to become middleweight world-champion. When Gunboat is carried back into the lockerroom all beat up after yet another loss, the doctor checks up on him and asks him who he is. Gunboat mumbles 'Frankie Manilla. I am Frankie Manilla.' It's a very intense and profound moment that explains this movie better than anything else. But the lockerroom scenes also show the comradery between the fighters, how everybody's on equal footing. Nobody pays any attention to fellow boxer Luther Hawkins's skin color inside the lockerroom, played by James Edwards, until his manager comes to pick him up for his fight and calls him 'boy'.

On the other end of the first act of the movie is Julie's story, played by one of the true dames of noir, Audrey Totter. In this movie however, she's anything but a femme fatale, but a demure and loving wife who's worried about her husband's health. She can't even bear to see him fight anymore, and so she wanders around the aptly named Paradise City before and during the fight. There is a great scene on an overpass overlooking the traffic where Totter shows she could really act with her face, showing her inner struggles. But all in all, her role is fairly wasted, and Totter is not the right actress for this kind of part, some of the lines she speaks come out in an over-the-top melodramatic kind of way, as if she didn't really know how to play Julie. It's a shame because Totter is one of my favorite ladies of noir.

Robert Ryan however was made to play these kinds of complex, world-weary, tortured souls. His performance here is truly great. You can see in his eyes and his body that he knows he's over and done with, that he's reached the end of his career, but you can also see that he still has his dreams, that he truly believes he can win against Tiger Nelson and that he's only one fight away from a shot at the title. The poem the movie was based on, Joseph Moncure March's 'The Set-Up' was about a black boxer, but according to director Robert Wise there was no black actor under contract with RKO at the time who fit the boxer profile. Ryan had been a heavyweight champion during his college years and was still in great shape (so great in fact that he had to really work to fight with a scrappy, stumbling style that an over-the-hill fighter like Stoker Thompson would have), so he was the natural choice for the part.

There's no percentage in smartening up a chump.

The fight, which takes up roughly 20+ minutes of the movie, is shown from start to finish, every second of it, and it's quite the slugfest. Johnny Indrisano was hired as a consultant for the fight, a retired pro-boxer. It also didn't hurt that not just Ryan but also Hal Baylor (still working under his first acting name here, Hal Fieberling) had extensive boxing experience. Baylor was a recently retired pro-boxer with a 15-8-2 career (and close to 60 amateur fights). All that experience makes the fight painful to watch because they really do slug it out. Because of them really going for it with constant barrages of hits, the fight does become unrealistic as well, because in reality somebody would've gone down way quicker. But that minor quibble aside, it's a really gritty and brutal fight to watch.

Robert Wise ('Odds Against Tomorrow', but also 'The Sound Of Music'!) directed the movie, which was based on a screenplay by Art Cohn, based on the aforementioned poem. Milton Krasner ('No Way Out', 'House Of Strangers') did the cinematography which really shines during the third part of the movie with the aftermath of the fight, which sees Stoker's last shred of a boxing career destroyed by Little Boy and, ironically, Tiger Nelson. There is no music in the movie except for some music being played in a penny-arcade and a club next to the arena, which adds to the overall grittiness of the movie. All in all 'The Set-Up' stands out in the boxing movie pantheon for more than one reason, and should not be overlooked.

8/10

I Wake Up Screaming (1941)

1941 was an important year for film noir. It is often seen as the year film noir came to life, where a lot of things like German expressionism, the gangster movies of the 30s, a growing sense of disillusionment and fear due to World War II, and other factors, came together in a much darker, grittier and bleaker style of movie, which we now call film noir. 1941's 'The Maltese Falcon' is commonly seen as the first prime example of this new style, and it is indeed an awesome movie, but visually it is still clearly rooted in the 1930's way of shooting crime movies. If 'The Maltese Falcon' is the first film noir, then surely 'I Wake Up Screaming', which was released only a few months later, can lay claim to being the first film noir that also has the dark, chiaroscuro look so closely associated with the style. And like 'The Maltese Falcon', it also has a pulp novel background. The source novel, also called 'I Wake Up Screaming', was written by Steve Fisher, who might not be as widely remembered as Dashiel Hammett, but who was a prolific writer with over a dozen novels to his name as well as several screenplay credits including 'Lady In The Lake' and 'Dead Reckoning'.

'I Wake Up Screaming' was directed by H. Bruce Humberstone who had directed some of the 30s Charlie Chan movies but never really did any noir after this movie. The cinematographer was Edward Cronjager ('House By The River', 'Desert Fury') who came from a family of cinematographers, including his dad, brother and an uncle. There was no music composed specifically for this movie, but it does use 2 popular tunes, Alfred Newman's theme from 'Street Scene' and Harold Arlen's 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow', more about that later. Steve Fisher's novel was turned into a screenplay by Dwight Taylor ('Conflict', 'Pickup On South Street'), who would also write the screenplay for the 1953 remake 'Vicki'. The movie was originally called 'Hot Spot', for marketing reasons, the studio thought would better attract the audience that would go watch it for its lead actors, Victor Mature and Betty Grable. But before the movie was released, and after a lot of promotional material had already been made using the 'Hot Spot' title, the cast and crew convinced Fox to go with 'I Wake Up Screaming' instead.

'I'll follow you into your grave. I'll write my name on your tombstone.'

Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) is a sports promoter in New York City. One evening he spots a beautiful waitress, Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis), and decides she's to be his next new pet project. He introduces her to his friends and the socialites of NYC and in no time Vicky is the talk of the town. Vicky loves her new life, but her sister Jill (Betty Grable) whom she shares an apartment with, is less enamored and has her reservations about Frankie's intentions. But Frankie also sees things go sour when Vicky announces she's been invited to do a screentest and plans to move to Hollywood, all without Frankie's knowledge. Soon after this announcement, Jill comes home to find Frankie crouching over Vicky's dead, murdered, body. Frankie denies everything of course, but police detective Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar) doesn't believe him. Even after another suspect pops up, the apartment building's switchboard operator Harry Williams (Elisha Cook Jr.), who's not been seen or heard off again since the murder, Cornell keeps hounding Frankie. He even sneaks into his bedroom at night, hoping Frankie might talk in his sleep and subconsciously mention something incriminating. Things don't get any easier when Harry returns to work, he'd only been out of town visiting his parents. Jill, who's initial apprehension towards Frankie had turned into a romantic interest, doesn't believe Frankie did it and together they set out to find the real killer, still with Cornell trying to pin the murder on Frankie. And there's also an angry letter Frankie wrote to Vicky after she told him about Hollywood, which could easily be read as a threat, which Jill is hiding in her apartment, just the kind of thing Cornell needs to put Frankie away.

The first third of the movie is told using flashbacks, by both Frankie and Jill, mostly set up during interrogation scenes at the police station. These interrogation scenes, and the usage of flashbacks, are a great example of how this movie is one of the earliest examples of movie that fit right into the classic noir period. Very chiaroscuro lighting, with key figures lurking in the shadows. Even tho Cornell is present in these scenes, it is only in the corner of the image or inside a dark shadow, so only on a rewatch is it clear who/where he is in these scenes. After about 20 minutes his face is revealed, which is also the first twist in the movie, as Jill recognizes Cornell as the creepy man she saw watching Vicky from outside the diner where Vicky was working, before Vicky met Frankie. Cornell does turn out to be obsessed with Vicky, and he has an alterior motive for trying to pin the murder on Frankie.

Obsession, like many noirs, is also this movie's underlying theme. Vicky's obsession with making it big, which can also be seen as a slight commentary on 'stardom'. Pretty much all men in the movie obsess over Vicky in one way or another. Frankie's job as a promoter requires a decent of level of obsession from the audience he's catering to, whether it's sports fans or people looking for the next beautiful face. There's also Frankie & Jill's obsession with finding Vicky's killer. But too much obsessing over something or somebody usually doesn't lead to a lot of good, and it doesn't here either. In one way or another, most of the main characters in this movie corrupt themselves for an obsession.

'Go ahead, you're an actor. Pretend you're going to your execution.'

Betty Grable wasn't yet the huge star she would become soon afterwards, but her role as Jill Lynn was already quite a departure for her, it's not like she was an unknown actress, far from it. She played comparatively few dramatic roles in her career, and played mostly in musicals and comedies. She doesn't do too bad here, but a noir dame she ain't, she's far too wholesome (a bit like Deanna Durbin in her noir-ish movies). Carole Landis on the other hand does have the look and attitude of a noir femme fatale here, but her part is far too small and one-dimensional to really do much with it here. Unfortunately her only other noir credential is 1946's 'Behind Green Lights' and of course her life ended rather abruptly when she committed suicide in 1948.

Landis was re-united for this movie with her co-star from 1940's 'One Million B.C.', Victor Mature ('Kiss Of Death', 'Violent Saturday'). Mature had a very distinct look that was his strongest asset, he was the first to admit he wasn't much of an actor, famously claiming his movies proved he wasn't an actor. He does a solid job here tho, even if he does tend to over-act a tad bit here and there, I especially enjoyed his performances during the more tension-filled scenes. What Mature lacked in natural acting ability, Laird Cregar ('This Gun For Hire', 'Hangover Square') had in abundance. He turns Ed Cornell into a creepy ominous character who doesn't need to carry a gun around, as he's too smart, looking down upon everyone, except Vicky Lynn, and who gives Frankie a tiny hand-made noose as a 'present'. The talented Cregar would die even sooner than Landis, in 1944, due to a crash course diet he undertook in order to become a leading man actor.

The movie also has a number of actors appearing in smaller parts who are no stranger to film noir, such as Elisha Cook Jr. (who was shooting 'The Maltese Falcon' at around the same time!) who would become the ultimate noir fall guy, William Gargan ('Behind Green Lights', 'Night Editor') and Allyn Joslyn ('Moonrise').

The movie is pretty strong overall, but it also has some parts that feel out of place. The burgeoning romance between Frankie & Jill is in itself okay, in theory, but it doesn't really work because there are very few sparks flying between Betty Grable and Victor Mature. There is also a scene between them that feels quite out-of-place, and not even because of their lack of romantic chemistry. After taking Jill/Betty out one night, Frankie/Victor tells her he enjoys a late night swim, so they end up in a public indoor pool. This part was clearly meant to show off Betty Grable's famous legs (she wasn't called 'The Girl With The Million Dollar Legs' without a reason) and Victor Mature's fit body (while still smoking inside a public pool!). Thankfully another even more out-of-place scene with Betty Grable singing to a customer at the department store she works at, was cut from the theatrical release of this movie, although it is included as an extra on the Fox Film Noir DVD release of this movie.

'Time's nothing in my life, it is in yours. Each minute's an eternity to a man in your shoes.'

Which brings me to the music. As I mentioned earlier the movie features 2 popular tunes. And feature it does, both songs are repeated throughout the movie, almost ad nauseam. Alfred Newman's theme from 'Street Scene', the 1931 movie it was originally composed for, would become Fox's go-to theme for movies set in New York City for much of the 40s and into the 50s and as such is featured in a number of noirs including 'The Dark Corner' and 'Where The Sidewalk Ends' and even Audrey Hepburn's 'How To Marry A Millionaire' from 1953. While I have no problem with 'Street Scene', mainly because it is so familiar due to its usage in films noirs, 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' is much more problematic to me. It's far too sentimental and, dare I say it, boring to belong in this type of movie. It appeared in even more movies and TV series than 'Street Scene' however, still being used in various productions to this day.

Dwight Taylor made quite a few changes in the way the story unfolds, compared to the book. The movie uses flashbacks extensively as mentioned earlier, it takes place in New York City whereas the book is set in Los Angeles and one of the main reveals happens much later in the movie than in the book. Apparently Fox thought so highly of this interpretation, they got Dwight Taylor to re-write his screenplay, placing it back in Los Angeles again but leaving a lot of his other changes intact, in the 1953 remake called 'Vicki'. While I like 'Vicki', this 1941 version is the superior version in almost every way. I prefer Jeanne Crain's Jill over Betty Grable's, other than that this is the one to watch. 'I Wake Up Screaming' is a must-see noir, even if only for its historic value.

8/10

Here's the trailer which is pretty unique in that it has no narration and doesn't even show the movie's title. Maybe because the original trailer still had the 'Hot Spot' title mentioned all over, and a new one had to be made in a hurry?

Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949)

One of the problems with watching obscure b/w B-movies from the lower end of a double bill is that even if you can find a DVD or a source online to watch em, the video & audio quality can be pretty bad. In some cases, the movie isn't all that much better, but it also happens it's a shame there's not a more decent version around. Case in point, 1949's 'Johnny Stool Pigeon' which is a good noir but the seemingly only version of it available online is sourced from what appears to be a VHS recording of a late-night broadcast on the German WDR TV channel. And I've yet to find/see a version of it which doesn't seem to come from the same source. Which is unfortunate, 'Johnny Stool Pigeon' deserves better. I wish I could say this one has the worst video/audio quality of all noirs I've seen so far tho, but that's a whole other can of worms...

The movie was directed by William Castle who is known mostly for his cheap, but effective, horror movies like 'House On Haunted Hill' (1959) and '13 Ghosts' (1960). But he also directed some of the Whistler movies, as well as some noirs, 'When Strangers Marry' (1944) and 'New Orleans Uncensored' (1955). The original story was by Henry Jordan, which was adapted into a screenplay by Robert L. Richards. The cinematography was handled by Maury Gertsman ('The Glass Web', 'Rogues' Regiment'). All music played in the movie was stock music by uncredited composers including according to IMDb Miklós Rózsa ('The Killers', 'Double Indemnity').

You may be an awful tough man with those hoodlums of yours, but to me you're a dime a dozen.

George 'Mort' Morton (Howard Duff) is a young and ambitious federal agent working for the narcotics squad. He's investigating an up and coming international narcotics ring, and is about to arrest one of the lower people in the outfit who the bureau thinks can help them get to the people at the top. However, mere seconds before they can arrest the guy, he's killed by gun-for-hire Joey (Tony Curtis). The only lead they find on the dead body is the name of a Canadian trading company. Morton decides he needs to go undercover and check out this company to get anywhere in this case. He gets Johnny Evans (Dan Duryea), a gangster he put behind bars, out of Alcatraz so he can help him. Evans does not want to be Morton's stool pigeon (explaining the title of the movie) but after seeing his dead wife, who was addicted to drugs and died of an overdose, he reluctantly agrees. Together they go to Vancouver to meet up with crooked businessman William McCandles (Barry Kelley) to see if they can force their way in. McCandles arranges a meeting for them in a resort in the Arizona desert and sends his gun moll Terry Stewart (Shelley Winters) along with them. At the resort they find out the resort's manager, Nick Avery (John McIntire), who prefers dressing up as a cowboy, is the big man behind the drug smuggling operation. As Morton and Evans gain Avery's trust in order to set up a deal, his bodyguard/gun-for-hire Joey recognizes Morton's face, but he can't quite place it... Until he does.

1949's 'Johnny Stool Pigeon' is a relatively obscure entry in the exposé noir field, films noirs that deal with exposing, and always busting, some sort of criminal network or syndicate, usually with a government agent who almost single-handedly brings down the bad guys. Some of these noirs, like 'The House On 92nd Street' (1945), are shot in a documentary-like style, typically with some government official giving an introduction of some sort as well as a quick overview at the end of what happens to those who walk on the wrong side of the tracks. This movie walks the middle ground between a more straight-forward police procedural movie and this documentary-style. It's got most of the docu-noir elements at the very start and end of the movie. There are also a few instances however where a character does a brief monologue during the movie explaining the evils of drugs and the danger of addiction and death when taking drugs, which come off staged and awkward, because they're not aimed directly at the viewer as in more conventional docu-noirs, but at other characters.

The movie's finale is quite exciting and well-executed and includes a plane crashing into a car, which looks really well-done and convincing, even with the bad video quality. I have to say, the movie's budget must have been very modest, given it was clearly intended to be on the bottom end of a double bill, but the production team did wonders with it, they made great use of outdoor scenes and whatever sound stages they used, or more likely re-used, they look good as well.

Howard Duff ('The Naked City', 'Brute Force') is decent here as the young, straight as an arrow agent who thinks he knows it all and that he can crack this case. Also in 1949, Duff would play a very similar role, that of a man going undercover to bust a smuggling gang, in 'Illegal Entry'. Here his character is too focused on the case to really notice that Terry Stewart is taking an interest in him. He also doesn't notice that Johnny Evans has been around the block more than a few times, and can think faster and more creatively than he can. Morton is way too strict and much of a typical 'copper', as Evans likes to call him, to really be a noir anti-hero/protagonist. For that we have to turn to Johnny Evans. The hardened gangster who does have a good side to him, who recognizes that Terry deserves a break and not the same deadly fate his wife did. Dan Duryea is fondly remembered in noir circles for his portrayal of villains and other sorts of slimey characters in movies like 'Criss Cross', 'Ministry Of Fear' and 'The Great Flamarion'. Even when he plays a good guy, there's usually still a dark, twisted edge to his character, and likewise when he plays a bad character, he brings something sympathetic to the table, which is also the case here. His performance is easily the best of the movie for me.

You think you can get me on the outside and I get a taste of it and I go crazy. Well, let me tell you something... I'll rot in this place forever before I'll be a stool pigeon for a copper.

Shelley Winters ('The Night Of The Hunter') also does well with the little she's given. Terry is supposed to be a fairly complex character. She's had a rough life and wants out of McCandles' clutches. She sees Morton as an opportunity to get out and even tells him 'maybe after a while we might even make a go of it.' When he brushes her off she tells him all she really wants is money, because it's the only thing you can count on, and which probably drove her straight into McCandles' arms in the first place. Her character starts out as a potential femme fatale but once the movie settles at the resort she becomes almost a prop, which is a shame. Both Winters and Terry Stewart deserved better.

This was one of the first movies for which Tony Curtis receives credit, still called Anthony Curtis here, after appearing in an uncredited role in 'Criss Cross' the same year (but he was dancing with Yvonne De Carlo in that movie, I'm sure he preferred that over receiving credit!). He's even credited fourth, the first name below the title so to say, which is quite an accomplishment for a non-talking role! Here he plays a mute bodyguard/killer. So he doesn't have to do a lot here besides look intently yet quizical at Howard Duff, trying to recall where he first saw him. His stare definitely has some menace to it tho, which is what matters most for this part, so he does well here. He would of course go on to become a huge movie star, as well as give a superb performance in a classic noir called 'Sweet Smell Of Success'.

The main area where this movie is lacking is in the bland cinematography. The movie doesn't really have the dark, starkly lit look you expect and want from noirs, apart from a few small scenes. For the most part the movie is fairly heavily lit like you would expect a more 'normal' movie to be, and the overly bright washed out video quality doesn't help there either. The stock music is also pretty bland, and because of using work from so many composers (IMDb lists 4 names) there's no real theme or cohesiveness to the music. But as I said earlier, this a good noir, and I stand by that. It's lean and moves at a rapid pace with a 71 minute run-time, with solid performances and a nice story. This movie deserves a nice restoration and re-release on DVD or Blu-ray. It's a movie most noir lovers will enjoy I think, so until that restoration happens, don't pass up on this one based on the crappy video quality and give it a shot. It's worth it!

Oh btw, if anybody can get me these records, that would be awesome, thank you! I am also curious to know if other noirs had similar promo records made for them, and if so, which ones.

7/10

Here's the trailer, which is in much better shape than the movie!

Slightly Scarlet (1956)

Only a handful of color noirs were made during the classic noir cycle, which lasted from the early 40s till the late 50s (some would argue there is no such thing as color noir). The most well-known color noirs are 1945's 'Leave Her To Heaven' starring Gene Tierney and 1953's 'Niagara' starring Joseph Cotten and Marilyn Monroe. In 1956, James M. Cain's 1941 novel 'Love's Lovely Counterfeit' became a color noir under the title 'Slightly Scarlet'. Cain of course wrote many novels which became source material for classic noirs, like 'Double Indemnity', 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' and 'Midlred Pierce'. This novel was turned upside down and adapted into a screenplay by Robert Blees. The movie was directed by legendary director Allan Dwan, who had directed close to 400 movies and shorts before this movie, having started his directing career in 1911! Some of his most well-known and remembered movies include 1922's 'Robin Hood' starring Douglas Fairbanks and 1949's 'Sands Of Iwo Jima' starring John Wayne. There's a nice biography on Allan Dwan here with more information on this fascinating director. The cinematography was handled by the noir master himself, John Alton ('The Big Combo', 'The Amazing Mr. X'). The, fairly unremarkable, music was scored by Louis Forbes ('The Crooked Way', 'The Man Who Cheated Himself').

All I can do is give you a gun, if you haven't got guts enough to pull the trigger, I can't help it.

The movie is set in the fictional city of Bay City, where Solly Caspar (Ted de Corsia) is the head of a local mob outfit, but working for a larger syndicate. Ben Grace (John Payne) works for him, and his latest job is to find dirt on rich businessman Frank Jansen (Kent Taylor), who's running for mayor with promises to clean up the city and drive all criminals out of town. He finds it in Dorothy Lyons (Arlene Dahl), the kleptomaniac sister of June Lyons (Rhonda Fleming), Jansen's secretary. However, after Solly humiliates him in front of his men, Grace has had enough and double-crosses Solly. He rats on Solly after Solly kills a large backer in Jansen's campaign, a local newspaper editor, and Solly's ordered by his bosses in the syndicate to skip town. After Jansen wins the election Grace uses his knowledge about Dorothy's kleptomaniac behavior to get June to work on Jansen, so his friend in the police department, Dave Dietz (Frank Gerstle), is promoted to Chief of Police. This way he is able to take over Solly's operations, and through Dietz make sure his new gambling outfit can run untouched by the police. He also makes a play for June, who also falls for him. But Dorothy is not just a kleptomaniac, she's a nymphomaniac as well. And Solly isn't going to stay away forever. Something's gotta give...

The plot revolves around corruption and sexual tension, 2 themes very common to film noir. The movie does not shy away from showing as much of either as it possibly could without running into problem with the production code. There's a scene where Dorothy is lying on a couch, legs wide open, scratching her leg with a back scratcher, when Solly, whom she's never met before, walks in on her unexpectedly. She doesn't flinch or pulls her legs together, but immediately starts to flirt with him. It is so blatantly sexual, it's a surprise it got past the censors. The movie also addresses corruption in a very direct manner through Grace's manipulation of both June to get Dietz into the Chief of Police's chair and then of Dietz to drop charges and look the other way. In some ways, especially in the way sex is used in this movie, the movie could not have been made in the 40s, the sexual tension is far more visual here, even if not acted upon, than in 40s noirs where it is implied more through innuendo. In general I prefer the innuendo approach, with its double-entedres and suggestive dialogue, but it's hard to deny that both Rhonda Fleming and especially Arlene Dahl ooze sex-appeal in this movie.

Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl are at the center of this movie in many ways, and femmes fatales in distinct ways. Almost everybody gravitates towards them in one way or another, intentional or not, but most of all, they are the visual focal points. Both have bright red hair, they were both redheads in real life, and both ooze sex appeal. June/Rhonda in a more sophisticated way, Dorothy/Arlene in a sleazier and more carnal way. June is the older and more moral-appearing sister, but the movie also makes clear she's Jansen's lover. There's no way a secretary like June could afford a large house and a flashy convertible like she does. Dorothy is clearly a nymphomaniac, even if it's never mentioned or even alluded to, besides also being a kleptomaniac. When Caspar gives her a bundle of money, she throws it at his feet because, as she tells him, getting money that way is no fun. Both Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl give great performances here, especially Dahl who could have just let go and be over-the-top and campy but she doesn't. She's definitely out there but not in an outrageous way. Nice piece of trivia: Arlene Dahl is the mother of 80s/90s heart-throb Lorenzo Lamas.

I don't like killing people, I never did. But you're not people, I don't think I'd mind a bit.

In a typical noir storyline, Grace sets himself up to get screwed over one way or another. He thinks he can screw over Solly, take over his outfit and get away with it, but he doesn't realize that the top is where the predators reside. John Payne is good here as Ben Grace, in a typical noir role. Payne had plenty of experience in noir land with movies like 'Kansas City Confidential' and '99 River Street' and he gives a good and gritty performance here, but he lacks the tough guy charisma of someone like, say, Lawrence Tierney. His opponent, Solly Caspar, is played by Ted de Corsia, who also had plenty of experience in noirs ('The Naked City', 'Crime Wave'), typically as the heavy. De Corsia excelled at these kinds of roles, and even tho this is not really his best performance, he's his usual solid self here especially in the second half of the movie.

Aside from Fleming and Dahl, John Alton's cinematography is the stand-out aspect of this movie. Visually, this movie is not just pure eye-candy with its lush and lavish use of bright colors and almost kitsch interiors, it is also pure noir with the way Alton handles shadows. Alton was a master at noir chiaroscuro cinematography and 'painting with light' as he called it (which was also the title of a highly influential book on cinematography that he wrote), and here he also shows how to apply it to a technicolor movie. His shadows are deep and rich and almost characters in themselves, as in all his black & white noirs. He lights June's living room and Solly's beach house in a bright manner, but Solly's mansion has rooms that are ominously dark even with the lights on. People move from bright spot to bright spot in it, disappearing almost in the shadows inbetween. Combine this with the brightly colored carpets and furniture, in all interior sets, it makes for a very unique viewing experience. Apparently the movie was also released in a black & white print, but I have to say, I can't see how it would improve the movie, a large part of the movie's appeal is the almost crazy color palette mixed with Alton's shadows.

The movie is not without its flaws however. There's an unintentional comedic element in Grace's car, which is missing its windshield for most of the movie. Also the doors in Solly's beachhouse that lead to the balcony, clearly have no glass panels. I imagine budget costs, and an accidentally smashed windshield might have something to do with this, but it does look a bit silly. I also found the Frank Jansen character too flat in this movie, and underused. His part almost disappears in the second half of the movie. And the soft, soap opera like, soundtrack doesn't help much either, it doesn't really create a sense of urgency and dread. Thankfully the soundtrack is pretty minimal.

The movie is based on a James M. Cain novel but Robert Blees's screenplay restructures it. For instance Dorothy doesn't make an appearance in the novel until the final quarter, whereas here she's introduced as the very first character and plays a more important part. I haven't read the novel, so I can't say whether this screenplay/movie is better or worse than the novel. But I will say that 'Slightly Scarlet' is a pure noir to me, bright colors and all. I wouldn't say it's a great noir, but it's good and entertaining and definitely delivers.

7/10

The Dark Corner (1946)

After 'Laura' became a box office hit in 1944, 20th Century Fox wanted to cash in on its success. One of the movies they hoped would continue the profitable streak was 1946's 'The Dark Corner', and it did prove to be a successful movie. The movie was based on a story by Leo Rosten which appeared as a serial in 'Good Housekeeping' magazine in 1945 (under the pseudonym Leonard Q. Ross). 'The Dark Corner' is a far darker and more typical noir movie than the more stylish & upper-class 'Laura' however, but there's a clear connection between the two due to the character played by Clifton Webb, which I'll get into later on. The screenplay was penned by Jay Dratler, who also worked on 'Laura's screenplay, and Bernard Schoenfeld ('Phantom Lady', 'Macao'). The movie was directed by Henry Hathaway, with Joseph MacDonald handling the cinematography. They also worked together on a couple of other noirs including 'Call Northside 777' and 'Niagara'. Cyril Mockridge ('Nightmare Alley', 'Where The Sidewalk Ends') did the (sparse) musical score.

Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens) is a private detective in NYC, with Kathleen Stewart (Lucille Ball) as his secretary. One day they notice a man in a white suit (William Bendix) is tailing them. Galt sets up a trap for the guy, who uses a lifted wallet to pretend he's a Fred Foss, and after some violent coercion 'Foss' explains a guy named Jardine hired him to tail Galt. Tony Jardine (Kurt Kreuger) was Galt's old partner in a small lawfirm back in San Fransisco, who did some blackmailing of rich married women on the side and who framed Galt for manslaughter after Galt threatened to expose him. After doing a 2 year stretch in prison, Galt relocated to NYC to start a new life/career. Jardine in the meantime has also moved to NYC and is having an affair with Mari Cathcart (Cathy Downs), the wife of wealthy art collector and gallery owner Hardy Cathcart (Clifton Webb). Galt however had no idea about Jardine moving to NYC, and tries to figure out why Jardine wants him tailed. Unfortunately for him, Jardine ends up dead in Galt's apartment, with Galt drugged and the poker used to bash in Jardine's head in his hand. Now Galt has to try and figure out what's going on, who's behind it all, why he's used as a patsy and how to clear his name.

'Listen... If you don't wanna lose that stardust look in your eyes, get going while the door's still open. If you stick around here, you'll get grafters, shysters, two-bit thugs and maybe worse... Maybe me.'
'I like those odds. I'll take them.'

It shouldn't be too hard to figure out from the synopsis above what's broadly going on in this movie, and it's not hard to figure out fairly early on in the movie either. But it does not matter too much, because a lot of this information is not revealed to Galt until much later in the movie, so it's still interesting to follow Galt around, and seeing him and Kathleen chasing leads that end up going nowhere. What's great however, is that small and seemingly insignificant things become events that help move the plot forward later on in the movie. When Galt corners 'Foss' in his office, 'Foss' accidentally spills ink over Galt's hand, which Galt wipes off on 'Foss's white suit. This ink stain returns later on in the movie to provide a lead to Galt, the same with a hanger attached to 'Foss's keys. There is also an innocent little girl with a penny-whistle who lives in the same building as 'Foss'. Essentially, the story feels much more convoluted than it really is, but the attention to detail and small things that turn out to be important, or seemingly so in any case, aids a lot in the enjoyment of the unfolding of the plot.

As far as noir actors go, Mark Stevens is underrated in my opinion. I enjoyed him in 'Time Table', but also for instance in 'The Street With No Name'. He was never seen as a lead actor who could draw in an audience however, which might explain why he's billed fourth behind Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb and William Bendix, despite being the movie's protagonist. There's a very nice write-up on him here, with more information on his life and acting career. Here he plays a seemingly typical noir private detective, but with a twist. Where Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe etc are pretty tough to the core, Bradford Galt talks the hard-boiled talk, but doesn't always walk the hard-boiled walk. He's prone to breaking down and feeling lost, desperate, when things get tough or he hits another brick wall. Galt is much more vulnerable than Spade or Marlowe, and Stevens plays him pretty well here, even if he comes off as a dead ringer for Alan Ladd appearance-wise at times. Some critics have judged Bradford Galt as being 'whiny', but I found it to be pretty cool, it makes for a nice change from the usual tough-guy detective. Galt/Stevens explains his vulnerable, lost side pretty well in a great quote, which would never have been said in this 'what the hell is going on, what's happening to me?!' way by Spade or Marlowe:

'I feel all dead inside. I'm backed up in a dark corner and I don't know who's hitting me.'

Lucille Ball plays Galt's secretary Kathleen Stewart as a witty and motherly type. She's both falling for Galt, and he for her, as well as taking care of him in a motherly fashion. Kathleen helps Galt get back on his feet when Galt succumbs to another bout of sulking and feeling like nothing's working out. It's an uncommon male-female dynamic in film noir and it works very well here, due to Ball and Stevens's acting. Lucille Ball was still several years away from her iconic role in 'I Love Lucy', and would appear in another noir, 'Lured' in 1947. But her face is instantly recognizable and she has this infectious bubbly vibe, without her character becoming an out-of-place comedic type. She's a pleasant surprise here. Lucille Ball would afterwards speak about this movie and her experience filming it in not-so-kind words, but it doesn't show in her performance, which is highly enjoyable. She was on loan from MGM at the time as she was trying to get out of her MGM contract, and she also had a less-than-stellar experience working with Henry Hathaway on this movie, neither of which probably helped her feel good about doing this movie.

Bendix is always solid in noirs ('The Blue Dahlia', 'The Web'), where he predominantly played a somewhat boorish/brutish guy usually on the wrong side of the law or if he was good guy like in 'The Web' there's still something sinister/crooked about him, and that's the kind of character he plays here as well. He would become famous as Chester Riley in the comedy series 'The Life Of Riley' but he was a much more versatile actor than that, and his noirs prove it. With his big frame and oaf-ish look he could play a mean tough guy as well as a loveable teddybear-like guy. There's a funny exchange between him/Foss and Clifton Webb/Henry Cathcart where the differences between the characters' backgrounds are like fire & water. Foss is a man from the street and Cathcart is a sophisticated, educated man and their respective diction reflects this. Cathcart doesn't speak or understand Foss's language, such as 'crusto-busto' which means 'a flop'. But when they talk to Galt on the phone, it becomes even funnier when Cathcart whispers instructions to Foss who relays them to Galt:

Cathcart: 'Tell him you need $200 to leave town.'
Foss: 'I need 2 yards, powder money.'

Small details like that in the script really work in a movie's favor as mentioned before, and it does so here as well. Making sure people speak in a manner that is in line with the character's background, makes a movie more realistic.

Clifton Webb essentially plays Waldo Lydecker, his role from 'Laura', here. Again he plays a smug and wealthy debonair, and again he plays a character who's obsessed by a younger woman, and again there's a painting involved with a portrait of this younger person. In this case the painting only resembles the younger woman, Mira, and is a not direct portrait of her, but the resemblances between both Cathcart and Lydecker are too apparent to ignore. Clifton Webb seemed to be made for these roles, and he's great here again. He doesn't dish out as many memorable put-downs and comebacks here as in 'Laura' tho, but he gets his fair share of quote-able lines still. His obsession, and here also his wife, Mari, played by Cathy Downs, doesn't electrify the screen nearly as much as Gene Tierney does in 'Laura' however. Mari is fairly demure, even though she has an affair with Jardine, she's not made out to be a femme fatale type of woman. She comes across as someone who's not particularly happy in her marriage to Cathcart, but who's also not resentful towards him. She's the least interesting character/part of this movie for me, even when Cathcart explains his reason for loving Mari when showing the portrait to some wealthy clients, with her present, she doesn't seem upset or in any way emotionally invested in it. I think a more sultry actress/character would've worked better in adding another edge to the movie. Ella Raines came to my mind as I was watching this movie.

The movie's look is pure noir, MacDonald did a really good job here. There are a ton of dark shadows and contrast-rich shots, and the movie is beautiful to look at in all its visual chiaroscuro noirness. Almost every shot is lighted in a great, but also effective and meaningful manner that works within the story. 'The Dark Corner' can definitely be used as a great example of 'the noir look' if one wants to show people what noir looks like, it's got a ton of great chiaroscuro shots. The main problem this movie has, is that it reminds too much of better noirs, of the classics. The references to 'Laura' have already been mention ad nauseum, but Galt's office and the way shadows are used within it, also remind of Spade's office in 'The Maltese Falcon'. The lack of a real femme fatale also doesn't help. 'The Dark Corner' is not a movie that belongs in the top echelon of the classic noirs, but it's on the second rung, looking up. It is a well-made noir that has almost everything a truly classic noir needs, and it's a treat to watch. It probably is a bit under-rated and deserves more credit in my opinion. Highly recommended.

8/10

Paid To Kill (1954)

In the first half of the 50s, British studio Hammer Films cranked out quite a number of noir-ish thrillers, a lot of them in association with US movie producer Robert L. Lippert, who brought in an American lead to star in these movies. These movies were usually fairly average but still entertaining, and while never truly great they also rarely were disappointing enough to not watch from start to finish. One of the better ones is 'Paid To Kill' from 1954, which was released in the US with the far less exciting title 'Five Days'. It was directed by Montgomery Tully who directed a couple of these Hammer noirs including 'Terror Street' and 'The Glass Tomb', with Hammer regulars Walter Harvey handling the cinematography and Ivor Slaney providing the musical score. Paul Tabori wrote the screenplay.

Dane Clark plays James Nevill, the American president of Amalgamated Industries. Through his willingness to take big gambles, he's helped make the company become an international company of considerable size, much to the pleasure of most of the company's board of directors. But his latest, and biggest, gamble does not pay off when investor Cyrus McGowan (Howard Marion-Crawford) backs out of the deal at the last moment. Nevill had put everything on the line for this deal, and faces certain financial ruin and a bankrupt Amalgamated Industries. To at least help his wife Andrea (Thea Gregory) he enlists the help of his long-time loser friend Paul Kirby (Paul Carpenter). Where James worked his way up to become a successful businessman, Paul never got out of the gutter, and James once helped Paul beat a possible murder-rap. He now uses this against Paul to get Paul to kill him. That way Andrea will collect his life insurance and won't be left behind empty-handed. Paul reluctantly accepts, and they set a date. Soon after they make the agreement however, McGowan changes his mind and the deal is on again, saving Amalgamated Industries and more importantly, Nevill's neck. However, no matter how hard he tries, he can't get in touch with Paul to call off the murder-pact and several attempts on his life are made... And that's not all, Paul's disappearance might be the least of his worries as there's also an unsuspected femme fatale lurking in the shadows...

'That's it, Paul, feel that hatred. You're doing fine, work on that hatred for a few days and you'll have no trouble in killing me. No trouble at all.'

Dane Clark played in a couple of these Hammer noirs, and this is his best effort. Clark had a natural talent for playing a seemingly tough but emotionally desperate and tormented man who's a sucker deep down, which made him perfect for film noir. He was not a charismatic leading man however, so he never really became an A-list actor, and he was rather underused in noirs. His finest moment came in 1948's 'Moonrise', playing a guilt-ridden accidental killer, but he does a really solid job here as well. Dane Clark was born Bernard Zanville and claimed Humphrey Bogart gave him the stage name Dane Clark, who knows? What's funny however is that Dane Clark played Slate Shannon in the televised series of 'Bold Venture', the same character Bogart played in the earlier syndicated radio series (together with Lauren Bacall). I haven't seen Clark's version, but I can recommend the radio series.

The rest of the cast does a good enough job but are given fairly flat characters that don't need a lot of imagination to pull off. There's a big part in the movie for Cecile Chevreau as Nevill's personal secretary Joan, who's also, of course, in love with Nevill despite his rather crass & temperamental character (which is not exactly soothed by him being the target of a would-be-killer). Chevreau was primarily a stage and radio play actress, with only about a dozen movie credits to her name, but I rather enjoyed her performance here. Paul Carpenter was a Hammer regular and while not standing out in any way, he's always solid and dependable. Thea Gregory does what she should as the other half of James Nevill who loves him far less than he loves her. But she's the weakest link here unfortunately, her performance never rises above the level of 'adequate'.

The movie's plot is not really original, similar plot devices had been used before, for instance in some other noirs, 1944's 'The Whistler' and 1947's 'The Pretender'. But Paul Tabori's screenplay does not feel like a complete carbon copy of older scripts, it's got enough elements to distinguish itself. Visually the movie starts out pretty bland, but things gradually become darker and more shadowy, progressing along nicely with James Nevill's predicament. I wouldn't say this is a chiaroscuro masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but there are some nice visual set-ups, including a chase down a dark alley leading into an even darker tunnel, and a finale inside a greenhouse at night. The movie also has a pretty good build-up of tension, and Nevill's paranoia is visualized well, for instance when he spots a suspicious-looking man in a public park. Nevill is a temperamental person and his high strung outbursts only increase as his desperate attempts to find Paul keep hitting brick walls.

All in all, 'Paid To Kill' is what one would expect from Hammer Films, at least in the thriller department, of course Hammer would become much more famous for its string of horror movies. But when it comes to these noir-ish thrillers, with its protagonists who end up in a situation, usually due to their own bad choices, that they cannot control nor can escape from, Hammer did alright. No classics but also no real duds either. And of the bunch, 'Paid To Kill', is definitely a top-contender.

7/10

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