Noir Films

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ChiO
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Re: Noir Films

Post by ChiO »

You gotta love Timothy Carey.
Yes, you do.

Memo to file: Don't let your spouse be guarded by Timothy Carey.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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JackFavell
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Re: Noir Films

Post by JackFavell »

If I had Timothy Carey or Neville Brand to guard me, I think I'd commit suicide first.
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ChiO
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Re: Noir Films

Post by ChiO »

Even if you knew Percy Helton was on the way to rescue you?
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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JackFavell
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Re: Noir Films

Post by JackFavell »

slits throat
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CineMaven
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Re: Noir Films

Post by CineMaven »

LOL !!!!!
"You build my gallows high, baby."

http://www.megramsey.com
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JackFavell
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Re: Noir Films

Post by JackFavell »

Yeah it's not so funny when Percy Helton is staring you in the face. Or lower.
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movieman1957
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Re: Noir Films

Post by movieman1957 »

I thought he was short enough it would only be lower.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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ChiO
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Re: Noir Films

Post by ChiO »

[youtube][/youtube]
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
RedRiver
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Re: Noir Films

Post by RedRiver »

Still waiting to see DECOY. If Netflix has it, I may re-join!
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ChiO
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Re: Noir Films

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DECOY is a goody with quite a nasty femme fatale. Another Bernhard film with a nasty one is BLONDE ICE (1948), but, overall, it's not up to DECOY (Edgar G. Ulmer claimed to have written the original story, but he's uncredited. Take for what it's worth.)

The one really worth checking out is VIOLENCE (1947). My mini-review from when I saw it at the Roxie for the first time in May 2009:
Wednesday night

Who would ever program an evening of family entertainment built on Sheldon Leonard and lead characters named "Dwyer"? Our Dewey, that's who.

Think Sam Fuller with no budget. With perhaps the most exciting opening of the series, VIOLENCE begins with blaring music, a freezeframe of a building with an unfurled American flag (as the credits are rolling), a pan to the building's basement where we see the silhouette of a man beating another, ending with a pan to an observer, Sheldon Leonard with his lip curled in pleasure. A group built on organizing disgruntled veterans serves as a front for a crypto-fascist shakedown gang. An intrepid girl reporter who has infiltrated the gang suffers amnesia and becomes an actual supporter while her fiancee (they met the night before, pre-amnesia), unbeknownst to her he is a government investigator, uses her to infiltrate the gang. No spoiler will be revealed here, but suffice it to say that we are still here to watch this film-to-the-wise.
I subsequently got a copy from Warner Archives.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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CineMaven
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Re: Noir Films

Post by CineMaven »

[u][color=#FF0000]JackFavell[/color][/u] wrote:Yeah it's not so funny when Percy Helton is staring you in the face. Or lower.
:lol: :lol:
[u][color=#FF0000]movieman1957[/color][/u] wrote:I thought he was short enough it would only be lower.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Hmmmm...decisions, decisions:

Image Image
[u][color=#FF0000]ChiO[/color][/u] wrote:DECOY is a goody with quite a nasty femme fatale. Another Bernhard film with a nasty one is BLONDE ICE (1948), but, overall, it's not up to DECOY (Edgar G. Ulmer claimed to have written the original story, but he's uncredited. Take for what it's worth.)
Just made this a double-bill a couple of weeks ago. Whew! Jean was cold as ice and Leslie Brooks was crazy. If you see either of these blondes on a cold dark night...keep going. Great flicks. "Blonde Ice" had some really snappy lines! Both leading men were waaaay out of their depth opposite Gillie and Brooks. Gillie was wonderful in her small role in "The Macomber Affair."
"You build my gallows high, baby."

http://www.megramsey.com
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CineMaven
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Re: Noir Films

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Image
"You build my gallows high, baby."

http://www.megramsey.com
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ChiO
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Re: Noir Films

Post by ChiO »

ABANDONED (Joseph M. Newman 1949)

A small town gal, Paula (Gale Storm), comes to L.A. searching for her sister who recently died from carbon monoxide in a car after giving up her baby (the sister was unwed). Ruled a suicide. While at "Missing Persons", she meets ace crime reporter, Mark Sitko (Dennis O'Keefe). Paula explains that it couldn't be suicide - she had no car, no license, would have loved the baby, and "it just wasn't like her." Mark is intrigued, and does some snooping for and with her. But everywhere they go, lurking in the shadows, is a hulking man - a disgraceful attorney, Kerric (Raymond Burr).

Mark and Paula, realizing that Kerric is somehow involved, go to Mark's pal, the D.A. (Jeff Chandler) with their info. The D.A. needs more before he'll expend any resources on this fool's errand. So off Mark and Paula go. It's a baby-selling racket! Headed up by the nice Mrs. Donner (Marjorie Rambeau). Kerric is part of it, but is getting nervous that the murder of the sister and sale of the baby will be discovered. He wants out, but Mrs. Donner and her tough guys, DeCola (Will Kuluva) and Hoppe (Mike Mazurki), keep Kerric in line.

Now there's enough for the D.A. to get involved. A stake-out, bugs, car surveillance - all explained by the D.A. in voice-over narration. And our criminals are stopped - but not without a high body-count. We end with Mark and Paula being quite smitten with each other and Paula's sister's baby recovered. Are those wedding bells I hear in the distance? Just in time for a pre-made family?

Newman's directing is starting to remind me of Phil Karlson's. Even when there are stretches of exposition and objectively there is no action, one senses plenty of action just off-screen or coming soon so that subjectively there seems to be constant action. O'Keefe, with T-MEN, RAW DEAL, WALK A CROOKED MILE, WOMAN ON THE RUN and this, belongs in the Noir Hall of Fame. Storm is able to switch from naive and perky to tough and spunky on a dime. Chandler is Chandler in his smiling, sardonic, but concerned, way. Rambeau is cool and frightening. Burr and Mazurki - what needs to be said?

Moment of greatest excitement (and nostalgic film noir pleasure): Burr and Mazurki have a physical battle and really go at it. Not since King Kong and various dinosaurs has there been such a confrontation.

Defining moment: After explaining why he wants out, Burr says to Rambeau: "I preferred it when I was just involved in blackmail and petty larceny." Yes, the good old days. When the World was rotten, but not as rotten as now. And everyone - the baby sellers, the D.A., the reporter, and the small-town gal - are a part of a rotten World. The only issue is how rotten will it be. A summation of Noir Philosophy 101.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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