Noir Alley

[Hibi]

Phil Carey was on Archie Bunker. He as an ex-pro-NFL player that Archie really "loved". Well Archie and old-pro go to a bar and Archie makes a comment about sissy boys etc... Old-pro doesn't response, just letting the comments go on.

Later Archie asks why the old-pro never got married. Comments like "wow, you must have had a lot of really nice-looking gals, etc....". Old-pro answers that these gals were not his type, but never says what should be obvious to all; I'm gay! They say goodby and Archie is confused and starts debating himself on the topic, but of course, ends up thinking no way a man like that could be, well, you know, a man like that!

I'd forgotten that was him!

[Hibi]

Yep, I remember that AITF episode, James. One of so many other groundbreaking ones on that classic sitcom.

(...btw, I'll bet the majority of people primarily remember Carey as a soup opera fixture)

Of course. Texas millionaire Asa Buchanan on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, marrying many an inappropriately young gal.

I like PUSHOVER, but less than Eddie does. The first half hour is great, with many dazzling shots and imaginative camera movements. Kim Novak is also superb here. Eddie had it right when he talked about her blend of carnality and vulnerability, and how that burns its way onto the screen. As Kim Novak has less to do and the story concentrates on the watchers, the tension sags, later recovers some but doesn't get back to the peak of the first half hour.

About some of those camera set-ups: look at the first two shots in the film, before the credits, to see how Quine establishes that a robbery is taking place. From the bar scene later in the film, notice how the camera shows us one piano, then the second piano, and swoops around to show us the bar, with Kim sitting there.

The outro discusses Richard Quine's personal and professional life.

I, too, was surprised how Eddie gushed over the film. I've seen it before several times (has it ever been on Alley? I seem to remember it was). It's good, but not THAT good. For a film debut, Kim is really good here. It's too bad she gets "lost" as the film progresses.

[jamesjazzguitar]

I wish Fred MacMurray had done more drama. Really good screen presence, loved that chiseled jaw, clipped speech, and piercing eyes ... and great inscrutability, now wonder it took them so long to catch up with him. Eddie's remark about vulnerability with regard to Kim made me think of Marilyn. They came upon the scene at about the same time. Kim starts out here at a fairly decent example of a run of the mill femme fatale, after all it was her idea. But it only half baked. When she gets scared that vulnerability comes through making me think a little of Marilyn in Don't Bother to Knock. Dorothy Malone is fetching, I love 50s depictions of women, there is something appealing to me when they are character characters, not in the spotlight and therefore not overdone. The voyeurism was all official business, a license to look. And who is the pushover? Not Kim, for sure It must be the little man who was afraid to lose his pension, or a would-be pushover since he did not like be pushed. Or maybe Sheridan? (half serious ism)

//

The voyeurism by the cop played by Carey, that focused on Malone character\apartment, wasn't official police business. It was pure sexually motivated voyeurism by the cop. Cop Carey knows this, and one can see a slight degree of guilt about that. He is even a little harsh towards the gal when he first meets her and stops that jerk from trying to put a move on her, when he makes a crack about the company she keeps. Both cops are bitter towards single woman, but not a future with woman based on their parent's marriage, with MacMurray's always fighting, and Carey's being a solid marriage.

Paul Sheridan is the pushover, since it was Kim that came up with the idea to steal the money and Sheridan was an honest cop until he fell for the femme fatale. The lead cop should have assigned a loyal married man to the job!

[laffite]

I wish Fred MacMurray had done more drama. Really good screen presence, loved that chiseled jaw, clipped speech, and piercing eyes ... and great inscrutability, now wonder it took them so long to catch up with him. Eddie's remark about vulnerability with regard to Kim made me think of Marilyn. They came upon the scene at about the same time. Kim starts out here at a fairly decent example of a run of the mill femme fatale, after all it was her idea. But it only half baked. When she gets scared that vulnerability comes through making me think a little of Marilyn in Don't Bother to Knock. Dorothy Malone is fetching, I love 50s depictions of women, there is something appealing to me when they are character characters, not in the spotlight and therefore not overdone. The voyeurism was all official business, a license to look. And who is the pushover? Not Kim, for sure It must be the little man who was afraid to lose his pension, or a would-be pushover since he did not like be pushed. Or maybe Sheridan? (half serious ism)

//

The voyeurism by the cop played by Carey, that focused on Malone character\apartment, wasn't official police business. It was pure sexually motivated voyeurism by the cop. Cop Carey knows this, and one can see a slight degree of guilt about that. He is even a little harsh towards the gal when he first meets her and stops that jerk from trying to put a move on her, when he makes a crack about the company she keeps. Both cops are bitter towards single woman, but not a future with woman based on their parent's marriage, with MacMurray's always fighting, and Carey's being a solid marriage.

Paul Sheridan is the pushover, since it was Kim that came up with the idea to steal the money and Sheridan was an honest cop until he fell for the femme fatale. The lead cop should have assigned a loyal married man to the job!

That's what I get for skimming.

Thanks.

//

[Hibi]

What's on Noir Alley this wknd? Is it new?

[cmovieviewer]

What's on Noir Alley this wknd? Is it new?

This weekend it's Violence (1947) - new for Noir Alley but has been shown on TCM a few times before.

I must say that the film is not very highly reviewed:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039960/

Eddie seemed to be warning us last weekend when he said not to expect too much in the way of 'violence' given the production code of the time.

[jamesjazzguitar]

What's on Noir Alley this wknd? Is it new?

This weekend it's Violence (1947) - new for Noir Alley but has been shown on TCM a few times before.

I must say that the film is not very highly reviewed:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039960/

Eddie seemed to be warning us last weekend when he said not to expect too much in the way of 'violence' given the production code of the time.

Violence (1947), is a Monogram film and thus very low budget. Not much noir cinematography or themes, but more of a post-war spies-in-our-mist film. Good guy Michael O'Shea is fairly lively and that helps hold one's interest.

[Hibi]

Thanks, all. It looks entertaining and I haven't seen it! I don't expect a lot from Monogram so I know not to expect much. But sometimes they aren't that bad. And it's short!

[ElCid]

I searched Eddie Muller's intros and outros on YouTube the other day and there are a lot of them. Seems hard to believe there have been that many Noir Alleys. Of course some are repeats.
I don't think I have seen Violence. Michael O'Shea has one of those faces that I remember when I see him, but only movie I really remember him from is Lady of Burlesque.

[Dargo]

Gee! I wonder what Eddie was gettin' at with that whole "75 years later/demagogue/relevance" thing in his intro for the movie 'Violence' tonight???

Saaaaay, you don't think he might've been referrin' to.....?!

(...naaaaah, couldn't be...that sort'a thing could NEVER happen in real life in THIS country, RIGHT?!!!)

LOL

[Hoganman1]

Just watched VIOLENCE and Eddie was right. It wasn't a great movie. The storyline was at least interesting from a historical standpoint. Apparently, post WWII America wasn't as rosey as many thought.

[Dargo]

Just watched VIOLENCE and Eddie was right. It wasn't a great movie. The storyline was at least interesting from a historical standpoint. Apparently, post WWII America wasn't as rosey as many thought.

Yep, Hogan. Not too may people seem to know that it wasn't a straight shot economically from the time those instruments of surrender were signed on board the USS Missouri and to the unprecedented prosperity of the 1950s.

(...in fact, this reminds me of the scene in 'The Best Years Of Our Lives' where Dana Andrews is standing in line with many others at that Unemployment Office)

[kingrat]

I watched the first half hour of Violence and then turned it off, even though I think Michael O'Shea is a cutie. The film is not very well made, which is what you might expect from Poverty Row.

[nakanosunplaza]

It was a real quite bad one,the incidental music was present 85% of the time,if Monogram had a record label then ( Monogram Records sounds good!),they could have released a 2 lp set of the original soundtrack! Very static movie...The Big Combo needs a Noir Alley slot...

[Andree]

You get what you pay for. Pretty routine low budget flick. The thing that made
it interesting was the villains were running some type of populist political organization
instead of smuggling diamonds or dope. The only thing that confused me a bit was I
thought Steve was a spy for the United Defenders (what an original handle) when he
just turned out to be an investigator/pickup artist. And while the head honchos were
a nasty bunch, the rank and file defenders were about as scary as a Boy Scout troop.
Maybe Eddie had it right, but I trust him more on noir history than U.S. history.