The Silver Screen Oasis

Dargo wrote: ↑April 7th, 2024, 1:23 am 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

LOL. And that was the only good thing about the movie!

Pretty bad. But like Eddie said, at least it was short! The only thing interesting about it was the connection to our present day, which sadly is true. Nancy Coleman was so annoying. What was with all the brow clutching?? Do amnesiacs tend to have headaches all the time???? It started out well, but the rest was standard poverty row stuff.

I liked Nancy Coleman. She was not spectacular, not even that good but not that bad either. I had never seen her before and at least she was a fresh face who was certainly passable. The final scenes were more that terrible. This was a B movie right? Everybody wanted to know who Mr. X was. I was waiting for someone to say, "Mr. X is just Mr. X, formerly Mr. Twitter."

Good Grief.

While not a very good movie, Violence did keep my interest long enough to finish watching it.
As Eddie surreptiously noted the parallels to today's American political scene are disturbing.

Nancy Coleman started out in some A pictures in the early 40s but by this time she was already at Monogram level. She had a short move career for some reason.

Hibi wrote: ↑April 10th, 2024, 9:15 am Nancy Coleman started out in some A pictures in the early 40s but by this time she was already at Monogram level. She had a short move career for some reason.

Coleman quit the movies about the same time her twin daughters became teenagers. Maybe that had something to do with it.

I do recall her as the 3rd sister in WB's Devotion with Lupino and DeHavilland getting the vast amount of attention in the film (since they were the more famous Bonte sisters).

jamesjazzguitar wrote: ↑April 10th, 2024, 11:48 am
Coleman quit the movies about the same time her twin daughters became teenagers. Maybe that had something to do with it.

I do recall her as the 3rd sister in WB's Devotion with Lupino and DeHavilland getting the vast amount of attention in the film (since they were the more famous Bonte sisters).

Wait! Are you sure it wasn't Mary Anderson who played the 3rd sister in that movie, James?

(...naaah, just kiddin'...this was just my way of interjecting the thought here that Nancy Coleman reminds me a lot of Mary Anderson for some reason, that's all)

Well her career wasn't exactly going gangbusters at the time. Her daughters wouldn't have been teenagers until the late 50s long after her movie career dried up.

Dargo wrote: ↑April 10th, 2024, 1:00 pm

jamesjazzguitar wrote: ↑April 10th, 2024, 11:48 am
Coleman quit the movies about the same time her twin daughters became teenagers. Maybe that had something to do with it.

I do recall her as the 3rd sister in WB's Devotion with Lupino and DeHavilland getting the vast amount of attention in the film (since they were the more famous Bonte sisters).

Wait! Are you sure it wasn't Mary Anderson who played the 3rd sister in that movie, James?

(...naaah, just kiddin'...this was just my way of interjecting the thought here that Nancy Coleman reminds me a lot of Mary Anderson for some reason, that's all)

I do see the likeness between the two actress. Mary Anderson had a must more robust career and while she was a second-fiddle actress, Anderson was in some films I really enjoy like To Each His Own (with DeHavilland), The Underworld Story (where she was cast as a black woman! and Gale Storm), Hunt the Man Down, (with Cleo Moore) and Dangerous Crossing (with Jeanne Crain).

The Noir Alley selection for this weekend is The Breaking Point (1950).

The late Saturday Noir Alley is also the beginning of a 24-hour salute to TCM's 30th Anniversary, when TCM will be featuring Robert Osborne introductions for each film. Accordingly, Noir Alley will include an introduction for The Breaking Point with Robert Osborne and Eddie Muller, first shown on TCM on the evening of January 17, 2013. The theme was "A Night in Noir City", and Eddie selected 4 films as guest programmer. Here is Eddie's schedule:

2013-01-17 08:00 PM Cry Danger (1951)
2013-01-17 09:30 PM 99 River Street (1953)
2013-01-17 11:00 PM Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951)
2013-01-18 12:45 AM The Breaking Point (1950)

The intro that TCM will be replaying was the final introduction of the evening. (All 4 of these films have since been featured on Noir Alley.)

The 99 River Street wrap-arounds that Eddie did with Robert in 2013 are currently available on YouTube:





It will be nice to see some of Robert's introductions again.

The Breaking Point (1950) is a fine film and one of John Garfield's best. A truer telling of To Have and Have Not, directed by Michael Curtiz. It has two very different female characters as played by Phyllis Thaxter and Patricia Neal. Thaxter always gives a good performance, and this is one of her best. Neal is a hoot with her delivery of some very cleaver dialog. The supporting male actors Wallace Ford and Juano Hernandez add a lot of interest.

Also, the first film for William Campbell as the lead hood.

I've seen the film several times, I'm not sure I'll watch it again. Depends on what else is on, I guess. I might tune in to see R.O.

The Guilty (1947) A low budget wonderful noir from Monogram Studios, with a well-earned surprise ending. Bonita Granville plays twins, one of whom is a femme fatale. Granville’s petulant persona from her past films morphs into an effective seductress, easily manipulating WWII vets Don Castle and Wally Cassell, and pitting them against each other. Because there are twins, there’s mistaken identity, and murder. I saw this on YouTube, along with Eddie’s commentary in the intro and outro.

Cinemaspeak59 wrote: ↑April 13th, 2024, 11:17 am The Guilty (1947) A low budget wonderful noir from Monogram Studios, with a well-earned surprise ending. Bonita Granville plays twins, one of whom is a femme fatale. Granville’s petulant persona from her past films morphs into an effective seductress, easily manipulating WWII vets Don Castle and Wally Cassell, and pitting them against each other. Because there are twins, there’s mistaken identity, and murder. I saw this on YouTube, along with Eddie’s commentary in the intro and outro.

I liked The Guilty because I'm a big Bonita Granville fan. Known for the Nancy Drew serial, Granville also made an impact in many films as a teen actress. Her adult career was rather limited but she was effective in films like The Glass Key with Alan Ladd, Now Voyager with Bette Davis, and the noir film Suspense with Barry Sullivan.

jamesjazzguitar wrote: ↑April 11th, 2024, 12:32 pm The Breaking Point (1950) is a fine film and one of John Garfield's best. A truer telling of To Have and Have Not, directed by Michael Curtiz. It has two very different female characters as played by Phyllis Thaxter and Patricia Neal. Thaxter always gives a good performance, and this is one of her best. Neal is a hoot with her delivery of some very cleaver dialog. The supporting male actors Wallace Ford and Juano Hernandez add a lot of interest.

Also, the first film for William Campbell as the lead hood.

I admit that as a movie I prefer TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT to THE BREAKING POINT, even though the latter is a more faithful adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's work.
The movie marks the screen debut of 20-year-old Betty Perske (better known as Lauren Bacall).
And what a debut!