I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

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ChiO
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Re: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by ChiO »

Last night Dewey provided a brief break in the relentless Tough Noir Art of the past week and gave us Tough Noir Entertainments on Benjamin H. Kline Day.

SHOOT TO KILL (1947) was directed by my favorite unheralded Noir director, William Berke. From around 1944 to his death in 1958, he directed a series of Tough Noir films (interspersed with some Westerns) culminating in the brilliant COP HATER (1958).

The opening scene – a cop chase shoot-out ending with the chasees’ car going over a cliff and revealing its passengers to be the dead incoming D.A. (formerly to top Assistant D.A.), his near-dead beautiful young wife-secretary, and the dead top hood he had sent to prison – is explained through a series of flashbacks, including at least one flashback within in a flashback. Double-, triple- and quadruple-crosses are rampant as the Political-Criminal Complex that runs the Big City is exposed. Central to it all is the wife-secretary who is not really the Small Town Gal her Assistant D.A. husband thinks she is and who is really married to the Top Hood who was framed by the Assistant D.A. who really was in cahoots with a rival gang. Now, finally, Big City Corruption will end.

Shot in glorious varying shades of black and gray by Benjamin H. Kline, best known for his exemplary work with Edgar G. Ulmer on STRANGE ILLUSION and DETOUR.

DEADLINE FOR MURDER (James Tinling 1946) provides international (without leaving the U.S.) intrigue surrounding stolen oil-field documents. Papers! Papers! Who’s got the papers? The theft and related murder must be solved by the uneasy alliance of a club owner/amateur private dick, the police and a beautiful young intrepid newspaper reporter (a Lois Lane type) with a flair for humor.

Shot in glorious varying shades of black and gray by Benjamin H. Kline, best known for his exemplary work with Edgar G. Ulmer on STRANGE ILLUSION and DETOUR.
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: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by RedRiver »

COP HATER is the title of Ed McBain's first 87th Precinct novel. Wouldn't be the same story would it?
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ChiO
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Re: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by ChiO »

Yep. It's based on a novel by Evan Hunter, aka Ed McBain.
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: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by RedRiver »

Excellent! The book is sizzling. It's Ed McBain. They're all pretty similar. But there's nothing like the first in a series. Wonder what the chances are of my locating this movie? I'm guessing SLIM!
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ChiO
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Re: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by ChiO »

I recorded my copy off of TCM a few years back. It's now available from Warner Archive.
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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ChiO
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Re: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

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What a festive conclusion to my week at the Roxie! A few G&Ts with Mook Ryan in anticipation of fine cinema, stepping into the Roxie and immediately seeing our gracious host Dewey and the effervescent Mrs. Dewey, and -- immediately hitting his cue and mark -- Moraldo.

Dewey's program notes call GIRL ON THE RUN (Arthur J. Beckhard & Joseph Lee 1953) an "ultra-cheap sleaze-fest." Yes, perhaps, but so lovable. The only movie directed by either Beckhard or Lee (though Beckhard did write the screenplay for CURLY TOP!), it begins with a Sousa march and stock footage of a carnival. Gotta love that! The action revolves around a murder, hunting for the killer, and the suspected killer and his girl friend eluding the police (while trying to solve the murder) by hiding out at the carny. She, of course, tries to blend in by being one of the hoochie-coochie girls at the sideshow, managed by a tough old broad with a heart of gold. Luckily, in-between the burlesque numbers -- of which there are many -- the case is solved and our lovers secured.

Slap a French title and director's name on this and it would have been the hit of the nouvelle vague. My favorite jump cut: watching the dancers, from a low angle and from behind, performing a Rockettes (albeit a somewhat zaftig group of Rockettes) kick-line routine to a carny boxing scene with arms, fists and heads replacing the legs, feet and rears. Brilliant! And, according to IMDb (It's on the internet, so it must be true.), making his screen debut as an uncredited extra is my fellow blue-eyed, Beech Grove IN born, Hoosier, Steve McQueen. He must have been just to the left of that fish-netted leg in the third dance number. I missed him.

In a moment of prescience, a mere six months ago, I posted this about the film that followed:
Show me a crime, and I'll show you the dirty picture that caused it.

In honor of Edward D. Wood, Jr. Night at the Roxie yesterday, I watched THE SINISTER URGE (1960), the film he made immediately after PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. The above dialog from the movie gives the plot: Attractive young women are being murdered in a park. The common thread? They are were in girlie photographs and movies. The police are all over this. They know who the smut peddlers are and raid the operation, which is run by an attractive woman, but is financed by The Syndicate. In the course of educating the viewing audience about how dirty pictures disrupt social conventions and corrupt our youth, which leads to murder and financing organized crime (necessitating, of course, exposing the audience to those pictures being shot, all in the name of "redeeming social value"), the murderer must be found. Luckily, those criminals (except The Syndicate, which is a nice bit of social commentary) do come to justice -- so it's all within the Code. As I watch and re-watch his films, I find that I'm drawn more and more to his noir-crime-social criticism movies rather than his horror movies (though PLAN 9's "Stronger. You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!" may be the best social commentary in any movie).

There are two marvelous examples of the wit of Wood that should forever disspell any notion that he didn't know what he was doing or was only unintentionally funny. One: An attractive young lady, with stars in her eyes, trying to break into show biz, has been invited to the producer's office for a casting interview. There are three framed movie poster half-sheets on the wall. She looks at them and asks if the only movies he makes are Gangster and Horror movies. He responds, "Those are made by friends of mine. I think you'll find my type of picture entirely different." The posters? JAIL BAIT, THE VIOLENT YEARS and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. Two: The director/photographer, named Jaffe (and he looks like Sam, but is Wood stalwart Harry Keaton, Buster's brother) is always speaking with a German accent...until the girls are gone. Then the accent disappears. His assistant asks him why. He responds, "Because I'm not directing."

And to the list of great director-cinematographer protracted collaborations of Mann-Alton, Powell-Cardiff and Bergman-Nykvist should be added Wood-Thompson. William C. Thompson was cinematographer for the Wood directed GLEN OR GLENDA, JAIL BAIT, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, NIGHT OF THE GHOULS, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and THE SINISTER URGE, as well as the Wood written THE VIOLENT YEARS. His greatest work, however, was not on a Wood movie, but DEMENTIA. He definitely knew what he was doing.

Pornography is a nasty word for a dirty business.
Edward D. Wood, Jr. never fails to entertain and, in his three Noir classics -- JAIL BAIT, THE VIOLENT YEARS and THE SINISTER URGE -- he not only entertains, but captures the core of the period, with all of its concerns, fears and neuroses, and the essence of cinema. Long live Wood!
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: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by JackFavell »

Then the accent disappears. His assistant asks him why. He responds, "Because I'm not directing."
Hahahaha! That made me laugh hard. The line sounds just like Buster. Is that an Ed Wood line, or a Harry Keaton ad lib?
RedRiver
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Re: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by RedRiver »

Chio, I believe it was you who referred to the great Joseph H. Lewis

I'm seeing his name on some RIFLEMAN episodes! No shame in it. They're good shows.
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Re: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by RedRiver »

I forgot to say I like your description of GIRL ON THE RUN. How did Joan Crawford miss this one?
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ChiO
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Re: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by ChiO »

Is that an Ed Wood line, or a Harry Keaton ad lib?
Ad lib? With an Ed Wood-penned script? To me, that is Ed Wood wit. But whether he wrote or Keaton improvised is irrelevant. As auteur, Ed Wood decided to keep it (just like the very visible overhead mike throughout one scene -- clearly adding a significant element to the mise-en-scene). I should note that Mr. Wood also appears (sans dialogue) in two scenes -- fighting a teenage tough outside a high school hangout, and as a policeman, dressed in woman's clothes, intended to snare the serial killer.
I'm seeing his name on some RIFLEMAN episodes! No shame in it. They're good shows.
Absolutely no shame. After TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN (1958), Lewis directed quite a bit for TV, including (according to IMDB) 51 episodes of The Rifleman and a handful of episodes for The Big Valley, Branded and Gunsmoke, until his retirement in 1966.
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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Re: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by CineMaven »

Hi there Dewey,

So you've got another Noir festival under your belt. Give us the skinny. How'd it ALLLLLL go? :D
"You build my gallows high, baby."

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Re: I WAKE UP DREAMING 2012 at the ROXIE IN SF • May 11 - 24

Post by Dewey1960 »

Now that a week of well-needed rest & relaxation has come to an end, I can finally sit back and take stock of the remarkable goings-on at the Roxie this month! For starters, it's always a supreme pleasure to have ChiO in the house; this is the fourth consecutive noir fest he's attended and by now it's safe to say that it just wouldn't be the same without him! I can't tell you how gratifying it is to have a friend travel so far for the sake of film noir on the big screen! I only wish that our other Oasis friends around the country (and world) could somehow manage to all converge here in San Francisco each May!
As for the series itself, there were numerous highlights, and here are some of them: our screening of the French film, SUCH A PRETTY LITTLE BEACH was one of the most well-received films of the entire program. Initially I was a little concerned that a non-US film (with sub-titles, no less) might not go over with the crowd, but I couldn't have been more wrong! This is a film of deep, dark psychological implications and the audience (on a beautiful, balmy spring afternoon and evening) ate it up. I've never seen more relentless rain in one film before! Other notable highlights for me were: our screening of the rare Columbia B noir CHINATOWN AT MIDNIGHT in a 35mm print had the crowd on its feet for all the obvious reasons; our eye-popping 35mm print of KILLER'S KISS (audible gasps could be heard every several minutes); the incredulous reaction to THE SCARF, a super-rare noir with John Ireland and Mercedes McCambridge; the great Nicholas Ray film KNOCK ON ANY DOOR with the sadly under appreciated EDGE OF DOOM (both in glistening 35mm prints); the ultra-rare Woolrich film I WOULDN'T BE IN YOUR SHOES; finally seeing the mind-blowing FEMALE JUNGLE on the big screen (thank you ChiO!!), doubled-up with KILLER'S KISS; Ed Wood's deranged SINISTER URGE; and the incredible closing night double-bill of GUNS, GIRLS & GANGSTERS and INSIDE DETROIT, both in 35mm!! And so much more: IN A LONELY PLACE and HE WALKED BY NIGHT in 35mm; gorgeous digital transfers of two Edgar G. Ulmer classics: DETOUR and BLUEBEARD, both transferred from 35mm prints and that spectacular 35mm print of Joseph H. Lewis' SO DARK THE NIGHT!!
This was a difficult series to put together. For quite a while I was stymied as to what the linking thread would be until the French film worked its way into the lineup. Once I had determined it would be in there, the rest fell into place. The French did in fact have a name for it, and this year's line-up at the Roxie more than proved that. I only hope that next year's show can live up to the promise of this one!
Also great to see Lisa Ryan and Marco in the house!! I only wish more of you could have been here! Theresa, I fully expect to see you at the Roxie next May!!
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