I started to discuss my abiding interest in director Robert Siodmak today with a couple of posters over on the TCM board, and thought that it might be of interest to a few members here too, especially since we have some very knowledgeable film noir aficionados among our posters. I know that lots of people know much more about film noir and Siodmak's films than I do, but hope that revival of this thread is a jumping off point for further discussion, (and my continuing education!)
In a scene when Ella Raines visits Alan Curtis in prison in Phantom Lady (1944), characteristically dramatic lighting, so typical of a Siodmak film. It may have been done in part to save money on sets, but also to visualize the psychological mood of the film.
My respect for the blend of expressionistic and realistic elements in the movies directed by
Robert Siodmak deepens with every film I see by this director. Though best known to today's audiences for
Phantom Lady (1944),
The Spiral Staircase (1945),
The Killers (1946), and
Criss Cross (1949), his less well known movies deserve to be seen, especially those that are not on dvd. One example of
Siodmak's less accessible films is
The Great Sinner(1949), an interesting if flawed attempt to adapt Dostoyevsky to the screen that was thankfully recently broadcast on TCM once again.
Siodmak's other, more dramatically successful films are the memorable noirs
Cry of the City (1948),
The Dark Mirror (1946),
The File on Thelma Jordon (1950), (being broadcast again on TCM on Apr 13, at 10:00AM ET), one of my favorite
George Sanders films,
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945), the brilliant
The Suspect (1944), and the flawed but intriguing
Christmas Holiday (1944). I realize that some of these films, (such as
Cry of the City),
do show up once in a blue moon on cable (FMC), but many of the films mentioned above are never seen anymore, though their quality is unforgettable.
Has anyone ever seen
People on Sunday aka
Menschen am Sonntag (1929)? This is the documentary that launched the careers of co-directors
Robert Siodmak and
Edgar Ulmer, and co-screenwriters
Billy Wilder and
Curt Siodmak (Robert's younger brother), cinematographer
Eugen Schufftan and his assistant,
Fred Zinnemann. This film is apparently available on a Region 2 dvd, but is not available in North America.
Has anyone ever seen the films made by
Siodmak in France?
Thanks for any insights !
Reasons for Siodmak's appeal to me:
I find many of his films have a darkly romantic quality, and are not cold in the least. This visually powerful romanticism comes through in films in which the director had opportunities to work with such imaginative cinematographers as
Paul Ivano (The Suspect & The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry),
Nicholas Musuraca, (The Spiral Staircase), and
Elwood Bredell (Phantom Lady, Christmas Holiday & The Killers). When working with these fine craftsmen, the director makes the environment where the characters dwell another, often ominous, sometimes comforting character.
Another appealing aspect of his films is that he tends to give performers who've rarely had a chance to shine an opportunity.
Ella Raines, a now seemingly forgotten actress, was an intelligent beauty who attracted the professional attention of protean directors such as
Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges, and
John Sturges. She may never have been better than she was in Siodmak's movies, and she appeared in four,
Phantom Lady (1944),
The Suspect(1944)
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945) and
Time Out of Mind (1947).
In
The Dark Mirror, an actor probably best known today for some pretty insipid tv shows,
Richard Long gave an excellent performance in a very brief role as did all the leading actors, (Olivia de Havilland, Lew Ayres & the wonderful Thomas Mitchell).
Elisha Cook, Jr. in a flashy part as a jazz drummer in Phantom Lady has one of his best, (and loopiest) parts. In The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945), Siodmak shone a spotlight on the under-utilized talents of
George Sanders and
Geraldine Fitzgerald. in a daring, (and censored) film. Siodmak also helped performers such
William Conrad &
Charles McGraw in
The Killers, (see below), who'd never had much opportunity on screen, to begin promising careers as character actors.
I wonder if this director's reputation has suffered because many of his films are no longer broadcast nor on dvd and, as some believe, his best work has been confined primarily to one style of filmmaking rather than a variety of genres?