"C"-Man (1949)

Film noir is almost by definition a style that suited the low-budget poverty row studios. It allowed for cheap sets, low-key lighting and does away with glamour. A shadow-filled world for shady characters living in seedy apartments. 1949's '"C"-Man' is an excellent example, as it's clearly a low-budget movie yet it manages to rise above its low expectations and deliver a great noir. This movie shows how a lack of budget does not mean a movie is not deserving of more attention. In fact, I'd say '"C"-Man' is kind of a hidden gem. It was the first of 3 movies produced by the short-lived Laurel Films production company, the next would be the Zachary Scott noir 'Guilty Bystander', and finally a wrestling comedy called 'Mister Universe'

Dean Jagger plays Cliff Holden, a customs agent, or "C"-man, working for the U.S. Treasury Department. His new assignment is to take over a case previously worked on by his best friend, who got killed because of it. It revolves around the theft of a valuable necklace belonging to Lydia Brundage (Edith Atwater), somewhere in France. The only lead they have is Matthew Roy (Rene Paul), who is flying back to the States soon and who they expect will smuggle the necklace back into the States. Holden is to fly to France and catch the same flight back. While waiting at the French airport, he meets Kathy Von Bourne (Lottie Elwes) who is flying to the U.S. to marry her war-time love. But on the plane Kathy is drugged by Doc Spencer (John Carradine), planting the necklace on her underneath bandages he wraps on her head, so it can be smuggled past customs. As both Holden and Kathy quickly find out Roy and his gang, including a crazy Owney Shor (Harry Landers), will literally kill for the necklace.

The movie starts off thanking people from the Treasury Department without whose help this movie apparently could not have been made. I suspect the title card was inserted to add some sort of credibility to the movie, because nothing from the sets to the story itself really point to something that required official government help.

I'm not really familiar with Dean Jagger. In this movie he seems to be channeling Dick Powell's Philip Marlowe from 'Murder, My Sweet' mostly, coming off as a second-rate version in the process. He's adequate, good even, but in terms of noir actors, he's no Powell. He would win a best supporting actor Oscar for the psychological WWII drama 'Twelve O'Clock High' the same year, but he's not as suited for this sort of darker, more cynical material as Powell turned out to be. Despite appearing in a few more noirs like 'Private Hell 36', film noir simply wasn't Jagger's best match.

Lottie Elwen was a really nice surprise, her portrayal of the Dutch Kathe van Bourne is pretty good and engaging. But according to IMDb this was her only on-screen appearance, I have no idea what happened to her, was she perhaps primarily a stage actress? In any case, it's a real shame, she had talent. Legendary character actor John Carradine, often cited as having more acting credits on IMDb than anybody else at close to 350, makes the most of his limited screen time. His alcoholic Doc Spencer is a minor character in the movie despite Carradine being billed second, but he leaves quite an impression. The same can be said for Harry Landers ('Guilty Bystander', 'Drive A Crooked Road') as the vicious and volatile Owny. He does a good job, altho he does ham it up a bit, sometimes a more restrained performance can exude more menace than a crazy one. The rest of the cast are good too, giving fairly solid performances, which help elevate the movie.

Besides the solid acting lifting this movie out from the bottom-scraping level, there are additional factors that elevate this flick. There is an unusual high amount of location shooting on the seedy streets of New York City. And it works really well here, it gives a great impression of NYC, not just in the scenes where Holden is walking across the city looking up all the liquor stores in search for information that will lead him to Doc Spencer, but also stock footage of people rushing around the Staten Island ferry terminal and such.

And then there's the music, composed and conducted by Gail Kubik. It is pretty unique and sounds way more modern than late 40s. A few years later he would win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for his overall work. His score here plays throughout a large part of the movie, in some places it's almost a quiet muzak-like tune, but it is still there. But during key scenes his music adds a weird vibe and also provides almost horror-like sound effects, most noticably during the brutal beating of Doc Spencer by Owny. He's also responsible for the song that is played in a jazz club, which again sounds like something you'd hear in a mid to late 50s movie, not a late 40s movie.

Both director Joseph Lerner and cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld started out with this movie, and also worked on the other 2 Laurel Films movies. Lerner's career fizzled out rather quickly but Hirschfeld stayed behind the camera well into the 90s! They both do great jobs here actually, if one manages to look through the beat up, washed out public domain print that is available online. The script by Berne Giler, who would write mostly for TV shows, is not exactly remarkable in any way, it's straight-forward and with decent but not very exciting dialogue that is clearly inspired by far better movies. But on the flipside, it means it's got a nice noir sensibility to it, that will appeal to noir lovers.

'"C"-man' is a low-budget noir and it shows. It also lacks any real star-power, an original story or anything really surprising. However, its sum is bigger than its parts. The movie as a whole, judged as film noir, works far better than expected. It rises above what it should be, and that is always a good thing. In fact, this to me is worthy to be called a hidden gem. If you love film noir, you need to check out this movie. If you're not into film noir however aside from 'the classics', this might not be your new favorite.

8/10

Lesser-known film noir gems

Recently I got asked to contribute a list of whatever I wanted to a site called noecho.net. While the reason I got asked is music-related (I also do a blog on 90s hardcore/punk called One Path For Me Through Destiny), I decided to contribute a film noir list instead, called 'Lesser-Known Film Noir Gems', listing some films noirs that I feel deserve more recognition. I also added some quick thoughts on each choice. I would love to read other people's thoughts are on overlooked, under-appreciated noirs, so please leave a comment with your hidden gems.

Chicago Syndicate (1955)

Film noir is littered with titles referring to US cities: 'Inside Detroit', 'New York Confidential', 'Miami Exposé', 'New Orleans Uncensored', 'The Las Vegas Story' and so on. The windy city, Chicago, might top them all however in this list with 'Chicago Deadline', 'Chicago Confidential', the near-noir 'Chicago Calling', the proto-noir 'Gangs Of Chicago', and this one, 'Chicago Syndicate'. Released in 1955, it's also part of another long list of noirs, those dealing with exposing crime rackets. They became very popular after the Kefauver hearings in the early 50s, as I already mentioned in my review of 'New York Confidential'.

In this movie, Chicago's criminal top dog is Arnie Valent (Paul Stewart). By setting up countless small legitimate outfits as fronts for his less legal activities, and by using strawmen in his books, he's virtually untouchable for law enforcement. His top accountant however is ready to spill the beans to a newspaper editor, only get get gunned down by Valent's men outside the newspaper office. The newspaper editor and several city officials convene and decide they need an inside man to find something they can use on Valent. That man is Barry Amsterdam (Dennis O'Keefe), an accountant with an army background. After dropping hints he saw the hit and a talk with Valent he lands himself a job as an accountant for one of Valent's legitimate insurance firms. By first saving the company money on some big claims, and then showing Valent his top men are holding out on him, he works himself up to Valent's personal accountant. But before he can get to Valent's books, the ones with his name in them, he has to deal with Valent's girlfriend Connie (Abbe Lane) and socialite and high stakes gambler Sue Morton (Allison Hayes) who has her own reasons for wanting to get close to Valent.

'Winters said you were a bright boy.'
'I'm bright enough to be a coward where the syndicate is concerned.'

The movie's climax takes place in a tunnel system below Chicago, supposedly used for moving stock from a central warehouse to department stores around the city without having to deal with traffic. It's short but sweet, altho not coming close to similar and more memorable underground/tunnel scenes like those from 'He Walked By Night' and 'The Third Man'. But for a B-movie which this clearly is, it's really well-done.

Dennis O'Keefe is best known in noir circles for his lead roles in the Anthony Mann/John Alton noirs 'Raw Deal' & 'T-Men'. He appeared in a ton of noirs tho, mostly for B-studios. In some ways he always reminds me of a poor man's Alan Ladd, and like Ladd, he's perfect for film noir. He has the right look and stoic expressionless face. His Barry Amsterdam doesn't take the inside job out of a sense of duty or injustice, the only reason he's interested is the $60K reward that the group is offering him, so he can start up his own accounting firm. A nice touch, which helps set this movie apart from the usual breed of 'brave' men in these movies. His adversary here, Paul Stewart, was an accomplished actor, both on the screen and in radio, having paid his dues in Orson Welles's Mercury Group. Like O'Keefe he appeared in many noirs, such as 'Champion' and 'Kiss Me Deadly'. He is great here, giving a sophisticated edge to Valent, while also showing Valent to be from the streets when he visits his mother in one of Chicago's lower class districts with Amsterdam.

Allison Hayes plays a tricky role here, as Sue Morton is only an alias, she's really somebody else. That reveal comes at the halfway point of the movie, both for Barry Amsterdam and the viewer. It adds an extra plotline to the movie, and Hayes pulls it off well. I also liked that her character and Amsterdam have obvious chemistry, but don't really do anything about it, they're both 'all business' in a sense. Contrast that with Abbe Lane's Connie, who is only about one thing, her relationship with Valent and more importantly, everything that comes with it. She's jealous and suspicious, trusting nobody except Valent and her bandleader, played by Lane's husband Xavier Cugat. Cugat was a bandleader in real life, he and his orchestra appeared in several movies, primarily those with Lane in them. They also do a few musical numbers here, with Abbe Lane singing, she's not dubbed as was often the case in these noirs. Lane does an nice job of portraying a beautiful and jealous woman, including a scene where Connie and Sue exchange catty remarks back and forth before enaging in a catfight.

'Everything gets better with age... except women.'

The names behind the camera are far more obscure. Director Fred F. Sears did direct several of the city noirs mentioned before, together with one half of this movie's duo of cinematographers, Henry Freulich. The other half, Fred Jackman Jr. lensed B-noirs like 'The Night Holds Terror' and 'They Made Me A Killer'. They managed to give the movie a decent, if unimaginative, look. The writers were also fairly undistinguished, Joseph Hoffman and William Sackheim. The crew does show what experience and workmanship can accomplish, as this is by no means a bad movie, it is well-paced and well-made.

As per usual, the movie ends with voice-over narration. But unlike most of these crime-busting noirs, the words spoken are not of the patronizing 'The brave government agents saved the day, order has been restored, you can sleep safely at night again.' sort, but more cynical, as it also implies that everybody, not just law enforcement agents, but also the general public needs to stay on their toes to keep the syndicate from rising up again. A nice touch to an above-average movie. 'Chicago Syndicate' is no classic by any standard, but it's well worth the effort.

7/10

Fall Guy (1947)

Cornell Woolrich's novels and short stories were a rich source of inspiration for films noirs and beyond. Noirs like 'Black Angel', 'The Chase', 'Fear In The Night' and 'Phantom Lady' but also the Hitchcock classic 'Rear Window' were all based on his writings. 1947's 'Fall Guy' was based on his short story 'Cocaine' which first appeared in the legendary pulp magazine Black Mask in 1940 under the title 'C-Jag', and was also published in other magazines under the titles 'Dream Of Death' and 'Just Enough To Cover A Thumbnail'.

Director Reginald Le Borg and cinematographer Mack Stengler don't have a lot of noir credentials under their belt, they worked mainly on quick programmers for the lower end of a double bill. Stengler did work on another Woolrich adaptation tho, 1948's film noir 'I Wouldn't Be In Your Shoes'. First time producer Walter Mirisch would later, together with his brothers, produce several classic movies like 'Some Like It Hot' and 'West Side Story'!

Tom Cochrane (Leo Penn, credited as Clifford Penn) is the 'fall guy' here. One night he passes out in a dark alley, with someone else's blood all over his clothes and his pocket knife. In hospital the next morning, police inspector Shannon (Douglas Fowley) is asking him what happened and who the victim is. Cochrane decides to escape rather than get arrested there and then. He manages to convince his fiancee Lois (Teala Loring) and his brother-in-law Mac McLaine (Robert Armstrong) that he's innocent even if he has only a vague recollection of what happened. He remembers getting dragged to a party by an elevator jockey called Joe (Elisha Cook Jr.), whom he just met that evening. At the party torch singer Marie (Virginia Dale) slipped him what must've been a spiked drink... After he woke up, he found the dead body of a girl in a closet in the apartment. Barely able to stand up, he managed to go outside before collapsing in the alley... Mac, who's a cop, decides he wants to help Cochrane find out the truth before turning him in. Together they go in search of the apartment, Joe, and Marie...

I was not really aware of Leo Penn (credited as 'Clifford Penn' here) before watching this movie, and I can't say I was impressed by his acting in this movie. 'Lightweight' seems to be the right word to describe him. At no point does he convince or seem terribly upset with the predicament he's supposed to face. Penn would quickly move on to work in TV, both as an actor as well as a director. As an interesting sidenote, he's the father of more famous actors Sean & Chris Penn.

Teala Loring comes off as a 'B' version of Rita Hayworth in the looks department, which is not a bad thing at all! She is also pretty decent in this movie acting-wise altho her part as Tom's fiancee is fairly limited. 'Fall Guy' was one of her final movies before retiring from acting, her credentials include such B's as 'Bluebeard' and the Charlie Chan vehicle 'Dark Alibi'. In 'Fall Guy' she lives in with her uncle Jim while waiting for Tom to make up his mind about their marriage and future life. Uncle Jim is played by Charles Arnt, a very familiar face in dozens of 40s movies including noirs like 'The Man Who Cheated Himself', 'Strange Illusion' and 'Hollow Triumph'.

- I take trips in my dreams too, but I don't call it killing!
- Yeah but you don't wake up with blood on your clothes... on your hands... on your knife.

Robert Armstrong is good enough as the grumpy but steadfast brother-in-law. However, whoever cast Armstrong forgot that this 50-something year old actor, with his rugged face and grey hair that made him look even older, was supposed to play a 36-year old man, as shown in a newspaper article halfway through the movie! Not that I have a problem with Armstrong, he's fine, but it makes you wonder if the casting director even looked at the script. Also watch closely as Mac, with Cochrane and Lois, drive away from a cinema. The marquee of the theater shows it's playing a double bill consisting of 'Decoy' and an unnamed 2nd movie. 'Decoy' is a wacky, unique film noir from 1946, with Robert Armstrong as a criminal who dies in the gas chamber and is then brought back to life again!

Saving the best for last, noir favorite Elisha Cook Jr. is far and away the biggest name in this movie. He is his usual solid self, but he doesn't have to do a whole lot here. It's one of the unwritten laws of film noir that Elisha Cook Jr. does not make it to the end of a noir alive or victorious. This noir is no different! And that's not giving away too much. Either way, it's always a pleasure to see him turn up in a noir.

Despite the obvious low budget for the movie, production company Monogram Pictures wasn't one of the so-called Poverty Row film companies for no reason, the movie looks fairly decent, also by cleverly mixing in quite a bit of stock footage for the sequences showing Mac and Cochrane walking all over NYC to find clues. In an unintentionally funny instance tho, there's a birds eye view of a NYC street at night that clearly freezes for a second or so, cars stopping all at the exact same moment, before dissolving into the next shot. Sets are also recycled, interior sets doubling for several apartments and such. But this is most painfully obvious when several entrances to subway stations all look exactly the same, except for a banner hanging above the entrance with a different street number. Chances are all those scenes were shot in a single afternoon as well.

Then I saw the singer, she wasn't bad-looking. You might not give her a second thought, but you'd look twice.

The movie starts out quite decent, with an intriguing set-up. But the middle part with Mac and Cochrane wandering around NYC and a too-long semi-comedic segment where they're questioning the owners of what they think is the apartment where the party was, almost feel like filler even if it's decently done. Things pick up again for the last third of the movie with a few minor twists. The final reveal however comes almost completely out of left-field, hats off to anyone who saw that one coming. I have no idea if this was also lifted from Woolrich's story, but it's more of a 'hmmm' ending than a real 'wowza' twist. So after the promising start, the movie doesn't quite live up to it afterwards. It also doesn't quite have the dark noir look either, apart from a few spots here and there. But at least it moves along at a fast pace, which is pretty much the main requirement for these types of cheap programmers. It's worthy of a watch if you're into these cheapo B's, it has its charms, but if you're looking for a good Woolrich adaptation, look elsewhere.

6/10

Secret Beyond The Door... (1948)

Fritz Lang was one of the big directors of the German Expressionist movement, which would prove to be a major influence on filmmaking in general, and film noir in particular. Movies such as 'Metropolis' (1927) and 'M' (1931) set new standards, especially in visual aesthetics. So it's no surprise that when he left Germany and moved to the USA in the mid '30s, he would end up making several films noirs and noir-ish thrillers including 'Ministry Of Fear' (1944) and 'The Big Heat' (1953).

In 1941, sultry Joan Bennett starred in his espionage thriller 'Man Hunt', the first of 4 collaborations. After their 2nd movie together, 1944's 'The Woman In The Window', they formed a production company, Diana Productions, named after her oldest daughter. The third party in this company was Joan's husband and successful independent movie producer Walter Wanger. The company's first movie was the classic noir 'Scarlet Street' from 1945, followed in 1948 by 'Secret Beyond The Door...', both directed by Fritz Lang and starring Joan Bennett. 'Secret Beyond The Door...' was based on the story 'Museum Piece No. 13' by Rufus King from 1946, and adapted into a screenplay by Silvia Richards ('Possessed'). Cinematography was handled by Stanley Cortez ('The Night Of The Hunter') and the dramatic score was composed by Miklós Rózsa ('The Killers').

Felicitous \fi-ˈli-sə-təs\

1. well chosen or suited to the circumstances
2. pleasing and fortunate

In 'Secret Beyond The Door...', Joan plays wealthy socialite Celia Barrett, who is off on a vacation to Mexico, her final fling before settling down. There she meets mysterious architect Mark Lamphere (Michael Redgrave), and within days the two are married. However, Mark cuts short their honeymoon when he has to leave unexpectedly, leaving Celia to go to his mansion by herself. There she finds out she doesn't really know all that much about Mark or his past. Mark's overly protective sister Caroline (Anne Revere) meets her at the train station, but she is only the first of many surprises for Celia, and the only happy one. Mark is broke, and maybe out for her money. And that's only the beginning...

It turns out Mark is a widower with a son, David (Mark Dennis) who despises him and blames him for his mother's death. Then there's Mark's secretary Miss Robey (Barbara O'Neill) who always covers part of her face due to a burn scar. And the 'felicitous' rooms Mark collects that he told Celia about, turn out to be rooms showcasing rooms where historic murders took place. Not quite what Celia assumed... And there's one murder room that Mark keeps locked at all time, one she's not allowed to enter, ever...

The movie looks stunning, with exquisitely atmospheric cinematography and sets. If the plot might seem quirky and silly, and it certainly does at times when you are watching this, there are still the visuals to draw you in. The sets, the lighting, the direction, everything is top-notch. And Fritz Lang's Expressionist past even makes an appearance in the form of a strange dream-sequence where Mark is put on trial, with himself as the prosecutor as well as the accused, and the judge and jury all obscured by shadows. It is a very odd scene, but it helps in conveying Mark's unstable mental state of mind, as well as a more terrifying idea for the viewer, that of Celia's murder.

The cast does well for the most part. The gorgeous Joan Bennett usually played the savvy femme fatale in her darker/noir movies, so this more passive and subdued part feels different. But she pulls it off well, aided by her very strong voice-over narration, which is often more whispered than spoken and adds a very spooky mood to the movie. It also helps in establishing Celia's internal insecurity and tendency to overthink things. The always dependable Anne Revere ('Fallen Angel', 'Body And Soul') is sympathetic but somehow secretive as Caroline, and Barbara O'Neil ('Whirlpool', 'Angel Face') is just plain creepy as Miss Robey who has a few secrets hidden behind her scarf.

- My main thesis is that the way a place is built determines what happens in it. [..] Certain rooms cause violence, even murders.
- Mark, my sweet lamb, you're tetched in the head.
- Yeah, maybe I am.

The major letdowns acting-wise are Michael Redgrave as Mark and Mark Dennis as his son David. We'll let Mark Dennis off the hook because he was only 14/15 at the time of shooting and his character is rather silly. But Michael Redgrave is simply miscast in my opinion. The romance between him and Celia/Joan Bennett lacks chemistry of any sort, and he just never exhibits the dark emotional undercurrents that his character has. Redgrave was far from a bad actor, but he was just not the right choice here.

Director Fritz Lang and cinematographer Stanley Cortez fill the movie with beautiful dark shadows and striking shots, accentuated effectively by Rózsa's melodramatic score. The movie's tension builds up nicely throughout into a climactic finale. Unfortunately the final resolution is let down a bit by the old fashioned approach to psychoanalysis and who's to blame (hint: it's always the mother), but it's a minor gripe really. If you are willing to deal with the somewhat wacky ensemble gathered in the Lamphere mansion, a miscast male lead, and a plot that seems to borrow several elements from better movies (like 'Rebecca'), it's a pleasant viewing experience.

'Secret Beyond The Door...' was a commercial failure however, which together with marital issues (eventually leading to Wanger shooting Bennett's agent, and lover, a few years later) and a strained working relationship between Lang and Bennett, led to the end of Diana Productions, after only 2 motion pictures. Both Lang and Bennett later considered this movie a minor, even forgettable, effort but do not let that detract you from this movie. It's an entertaining movie that can even be watched purely for its visuals. An uneven movie, but worth checking out.

7/10

New York Confidential (1955)

Between 1948 and 1952, a series of books with titles like 'New York: Confidential!' and 'Washington: Confidential!' were published; all written by journalist Jack Lait and newspaper columnist Lee Mortimer. These books described the seedy and criminal underbellies of various US cities in a pulpy and sensationalist manner, even if they were based on factual data and accounts. The series was quite popular, no doubt helped by the early 50s Kefauver Committee's investigation into organized crime and subsequent hearings of infamous mobsters. The hearings, and in turn the books, inspired numerous movies and TV and radio serials, including 1955's film noir 'New York Confidential'. The latter serving as inspiration for a TV series of the same name which aired 1 season in 1959.

Despite sharing a title with one of the Lait & Mortimer books, 'New York Confidential' the film was only 'suggested by' the books. The screenplay was written by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene, who worked together on a number of movies, including several other noirs such as 'D.O.A.', 'The Thief' and 'Wicked Woman'. They often wrote the screenplay together with Rouse then directing and Greene producing the film, as is the case here. Eddie Fitzgerald did the cinematography, having already worked with Rouse & Greene on 'Wicked Woman'. Joseph Mullendore wrote his first score for this movie. He then quickly moved on to scoring TV series like 'The Dick Powell Show' and 'Burke's Law'.

'New York Confidential' starts out in the semi-documentary style that was popular in the late 40s to mid 50s, where government agents would typically infiltrate some sort of criminal outfit to bust it from the inside. In these movies a voice-over usually starts the movie, explaining the racket that would be all but obliterated by the end of the movie. But after such an intro, 'New York Confidential' quickly shifts, focusing solely on the criminals. There is no infiltrator, no government agency, secretly fighting this organization. The main concern of the film is captured in one quote which would have served far better as the tagline instead of the essay sprawled on the poster seen above:

The organization comes first

The organization is split up into territories, with a boss in every major city, each running their own territory. The New York boss is Charlie Lupo (Broderick Crawford), who is about to make a multi-million dollar deal. To carry it out he needs the support of corrupt politicians and lobbyists. What he does not need is publicity, which is exactly what he's getting when a local mobster shoots one of his men as well as some innocent bystanders. The law of the street demands he retaliate, so Lupo 'borrows' up and coming hitman Nick Magellan (Richard Conte) from the Chicago territory to try and keep his involvement out of the public and police eye. Magellan deals with the manner swiftly and deadly. Lupo is impressed, and arranges for Magellan to come work for him permanently.
In the end, the deal still goes sour due to a corrupt lobbyist talking a bit too freely in an interview. All the territory bosses gather and vote unanimously to bump off the guy. Lupo is chosen to take care of it. He orders his heavy, Wendler (Mike Mazurki), and his crew to make the hit. However, a cleaning lady messes things up and the men have to flee the scene, shooting a cop in the process. Lupo now has to do some major damage control before things really blow up in his face and he orders Magellan to get rid of Wendler and his men. Magellan kills two of them, but Wendler is on to Lupo and tries to cut a deal with the authorities to save his own skin. This could bring down the entire syndicate and Lupo is held responsible... The other bosses want blood and once again Magellan is asked to draw it for them.

In a way, 'New York Confidential' shows a more realistic version of the large crime syndicates than was common for the time. It would be impossible for a single man, or even a small team of people, to bring down this kind of organization, so this does not happen here, with the organization still firmly in its place at the end of the movie. What it shows, is how these outfits take care of their internal problems. Somebody wants to sell out, he dies, no matter how high up in the organisation he is. Loyalty to the organization outweighs everything. But that also means there's danger around every corner, and it comes in many disguises. The movie has elements of the 30s gangster movies as well as more modern movies like 'The Godfather' and 'Scarface' (both the 30s version and the more famous 80s version), by focusing only on the gritty, kill-or-be-killed lifestyle of the gangsters.

A meeting... From every territory in the country they answer the summons. Names you seldom hear, faces you rarely see. The high court of organized crime, sitting in judgement. A judgement which is final, from which there is no appeal.

Richard Conte and Broderick Crawford play the two main characters in this movie, and they're both excellent. Crawford's Lupo is struggling with his health, clearly brought on by his immense responsibilities towards the organization, and certainly not helped by his temper, calling people pigs left and right, even slapping his daughter Kathy (Anne Bancroft) violently in a burst of outrage. He takes a shine to Conte's Magellan however, who is the son of someone he used to work with. He also sees in Magellan someone unlike his usual henchmen, smart, cunning, calculated and above all, extremely loyal.

Crawford is great here, throwing around his weight, both literally and figuratively, with ease and command. At times he speaks so fast you're left wondering if the movie is playing at the right speed. Conte is his usual intense self, restrained and graceful but with a malevolent menace brooding in his pitch-black eyes. Magellan experiences some inner conflict when he starts to have feelings for Kathy, but his loyalty to the organization and to Charlie prevent him from doing anything about it, and Conte manages to make this inner conflict seem real. Conte also played a criminal in the classic 1955 film 'The Big Combo', but with a much more violent and volatile personality. And he pulls off both characters so well. Seeing Conte in a noir is always a treat.

Bancroft's part is small, too small. Her Kathy loathes what her father does and what he stands for, and she despises Magellan for it as well; despite the obvious attraction between them. I wish more time had been given to her character, because Anne Bancroft is pretty good here, the way she both despises and is attracted to Magellan simultaneously is done really well. She makes only a few appearances throughout the movie, but her character adds depth to it, including a rather shocking and surprising appearance near the end, which had been alluded to earlier on. The other two female characters that inhabit the film are Mama Lupo (Celia Lovsky) who Charlie Lupo clings on to far too much, and Iris (Marilyn Maxwell), his girlfriend. I didn't much care for Mama Lupo, but Iris's character has more depth to it, played well by Maxwell. Iris comes off as a femme fatale in the movie until the final part where she shows she genuinely cares about Lupo. She may be a gold digger, and she certainly acts like it, but she's also human.

The movie is riddled with familiar faces, character actors that appeared in dozens of 40s & 50s movies, credited and uncredited. From Mike Mazurki ('Murder, My Sweet', 'Night And The City') to Nestor Paiva ('Alias Nick Beal', 'Rope Of Sand') to J. Carroll Naish ('Humoresque', 'Clash By Night'). More often than not as each new face appears you're left thinking 'Where have I seen this guy before?'

Visually the movie does not stand out and is shot in the flat style that was common in 50s noirs ('The Big Combo' was a notable exception). Still, the characters and the story are noir. Try and find a nice guy in this one. You'll come up empty handed. People get killed, left, right and center. And the people ordering the hits and executing them are the main characters here. Sure, Magellan has a soft spot for Lupo's daughter, and every noir-head has a soft spot for Richard Conte, but he's not sympathetic. His boss tells him someone has to die, he makes it happen. He doesn't question it, he simply does it. No matter what choices the characters make, they cannot control what happens to them, once the wheels are set in motion with the drive-by shooting of Lupo's guy, it's all just another ride on the downward spiral of doom.

There are some flaws in this one. It was shot on a tight budget, so most scenes take place on sets, making it feel static and even slow at times. It also has the unimaginative flat 50s look I mentioned before, I am not a fan. And to top it off there are a few plotholes that make little sense other than putting the right person, in the right place, at the right time. But oh well, nothing new. I'd still say not to pass up on this one. It not only has a great cast with equally great performances, but is also one of the bleaker noirs with some great assassination scenes to boot. Not a classic, but nowhere near a dud either...

7/10

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'.