Re: Noir Films
Posted: August 5th, 2014, 4:45 am
The next two days of double features I saw included this quartet.
MARILYN MONROE ( Rose Loomis ) - She wants her older shell-shocked veteran husband dead. ( You should see the tall, dark and handsome cutie waiting in the wings. ) Her plan goes awry like Helen Walker’s in “Impact” and she goes the way of most lethal ladies who get caught. Husband Joseph Cotten is like a butterfly pinned to the mat by Monroe’s sexuality. He’s hopeless, helpless and unbalanced. Marilyn has EDGE. She’s sarcastic. And I wish the studios let her exhibit this smart-alec edge more often. It shows well in “Niagara.” She didn’t have to be that ‘little lost girl.’ But Marilyn is after all Marilyn, and perhaps she wouldn’t be Marilyn without being Marilyn. When she steps from her bungalow into the courtyard in her neon chartreuse dress, the young folks in the background step back as she makes her way through them to give the d.j. her record. They look and stare as though she’s something they’ve never seen before. You know what...they’re right. Oh yeah...there was Harlow. But there IS Marilyn, too.
________________________
JEAN SIMMONS ( Diane Tremaine ) - Cultured manner. Velvet-voiced. To the manor born. But don’t be fooled. Looks are deceiving. Her unfathomable eyes flash like a shark’s. Her flashes of anger and pique might be attributed to Otto Preminger, but they serve her well as the murderous femme fatale. As Diane Tremaine, her idle runs high. No doubt she’s high maintenance and Noir’s resident maintenance man is...you know it: Robert Mitchum. He trades his trenchoat and fedora for hospital whites. Yep, once again Mitchum leaves a nice stable practical bland blonde for the dark side; this time, a girl unhinged by Daddy issues. Simmons is made for Noir ( or whatever genre she tackles. ) Dark and lovely, she solves her problems by murder. And when all plans fail as they almost must in Film Noir, she goes for the Pyrrhic Victory. You’ve gotta love a femme fatale who goes down with the ship.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
AVA GARDNER ( Kitty Collins ) - “Don’t ask a dying man to lie his soul into Hell.”
My favorite movie line. Yeah. That about sums up Ava and her Power. Eternity. Into the next life. She smolders, she lies, she withholds. She’s got fight too...she’s no shrinking violet: ( “Touch me and you won’t live ‘till morning.” ) Lancaster is hit with a sledgehammer when he first sees her. When she whispers, he’s the only thing that matters. Now, about that money...
________________________
RITA HAYWORTH - She IS The Love Goddess.
She might not be everyone’s cuppa. But I can’t say I’ve felt anything like this in my movie-watching memory but you can correct me if I’m wrong. I can’t recall a studio so presenting their star to us in such a full display. It begins with the opening title card in King Kong-sized letters: “RITA HAYWORTH as GILDA” ( you English majors can tell me the difference between ‘is’ and ‘as.’ Is one more “being” than the other? ) It’s as though Columbia were Tiffany or Harry Winston presenting rare and precious gems and stones to us on a sterling silver tray. Hayworth is just on such spectacular display, for all the world to see, from her iconic entrance to her two solo musical numbers.
Sandwiched between these moments, Hayworth shows wonderful facets of dramatic ability. Now, she’s not bad like Tierney or Greer or Stanwyck. But she is Fire, and wreaks havoc on one man. She gives as good as she gets in this sado-masochistic ping pong game. She’s in control when she taunts, teases and torments Glenn Ford. But she’s merely lashing out in payback for his abandoning her before the movie starts. What she gets, is a painful sight to see. Her vulnerability is raw. And her final insight is piercing: “You wouldn’t think one woman could marry two insane men in one lifetime.”
( P.S. George Macready's voice is almost as compelling to listen to...as Rita Hayworth is to watch. )
MARILYN MONROE ( Rose Loomis ) - She wants her older shell-shocked veteran husband dead. ( You should see the tall, dark and handsome cutie waiting in the wings. ) Her plan goes awry like Helen Walker’s in “Impact” and she goes the way of most lethal ladies who get caught. Husband Joseph Cotten is like a butterfly pinned to the mat by Monroe’s sexuality. He’s hopeless, helpless and unbalanced. Marilyn has EDGE. She’s sarcastic. And I wish the studios let her exhibit this smart-alec edge more often. It shows well in “Niagara.” She didn’t have to be that ‘little lost girl.’ But Marilyn is after all Marilyn, and perhaps she wouldn’t be Marilyn without being Marilyn. When she steps from her bungalow into the courtyard in her neon chartreuse dress, the young folks in the background step back as she makes her way through them to give the d.j. her record. They look and stare as though she’s something they’ve never seen before. You know what...they’re right. Oh yeah...there was Harlow. But there IS Marilyn, too.
________________________
JEAN SIMMONS ( Diane Tremaine ) - Cultured manner. Velvet-voiced. To the manor born. But don’t be fooled. Looks are deceiving. Her unfathomable eyes flash like a shark’s. Her flashes of anger and pique might be attributed to Otto Preminger, but they serve her well as the murderous femme fatale. As Diane Tremaine, her idle runs high. No doubt she’s high maintenance and Noir’s resident maintenance man is...you know it: Robert Mitchum. He trades his trenchoat and fedora for hospital whites. Yep, once again Mitchum leaves a nice stable practical bland blonde for the dark side; this time, a girl unhinged by Daddy issues. Simmons is made for Noir ( or whatever genre she tackles. ) Dark and lovely, she solves her problems by murder. And when all plans fail as they almost must in Film Noir, she goes for the Pyrrhic Victory. You’ve gotta love a femme fatale who goes down with the ship.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
AVA GARDNER ( Kitty Collins ) - “Don’t ask a dying man to lie his soul into Hell.”
My favorite movie line. Yeah. That about sums up Ava and her Power. Eternity. Into the next life. She smolders, she lies, she withholds. She’s got fight too...she’s no shrinking violet: ( “Touch me and you won’t live ‘till morning.” ) Lancaster is hit with a sledgehammer when he first sees her. When she whispers, he’s the only thing that matters. Now, about that money...
________________________
RITA HAYWORTH - She IS The Love Goddess.
She might not be everyone’s cuppa. But I can’t say I’ve felt anything like this in my movie-watching memory but you can correct me if I’m wrong. I can’t recall a studio so presenting their star to us in such a full display. It begins with the opening title card in King Kong-sized letters: “RITA HAYWORTH as GILDA” ( you English majors can tell me the difference between ‘is’ and ‘as.’ Is one more “being” than the other? ) It’s as though Columbia were Tiffany or Harry Winston presenting rare and precious gems and stones to us on a sterling silver tray. Hayworth is just on such spectacular display, for all the world to see, from her iconic entrance to her two solo musical numbers.
Sandwiched between these moments, Hayworth shows wonderful facets of dramatic ability. Now, she’s not bad like Tierney or Greer or Stanwyck. But she is Fire, and wreaks havoc on one man. She gives as good as she gets in this sado-masochistic ping pong game. She’s in control when she taunts, teases and torments Glenn Ford. But she’s merely lashing out in payback for his abandoning her before the movie starts. What she gets, is a painful sight to see. Her vulnerability is raw. And her final insight is piercing: “You wouldn’t think one woman could marry two insane men in one lifetime.”
( P.S. George Macready's voice is almost as compelling to listen to...as Rita Hayworth is to watch. )
