Noir Alley

[Dargo]

Let me just say this: Jack Palance and Shelley Winters are much better paired in THE BIG KNIFE.

And so, let ME just say this about that: Jack was MUCH more "expressive" with his acting in THAT one!

(...nope, he sure didn't chew the scenery in that 'High Sierra' remake and like he and Rod Steiger do in the movie you just mentioned here, huh!)

[Bronxgirl48]

Jack and Rod were both great classic hams. When the two of them square off in THE BIG KNIFE it's one of the most glorious moments in film history, lol.

Palance: "Look at him! He's just a lizzzzzzzzzzzard!"

Steiger: "The man buries himself with his MOUTH!"

[Bronxgirl48]

I hadn't seen Stage Fright in awhile and I was really bored by it. Even Dietrich can't make it very interesting. The character actors are good, but they aren't in it enough to make much of an impact. Eddie is correct about Wyman, she looks far too pretty for the part she's "acting". I've always felt the flashback was a cheat to the audience. Not as bad as some other Hitch misfires, but not great either.

I think Marlene is terrific as a narcissistic personality (I know Muller says that she is just playing herself but I find this very facile -- Dietrich was imo a wonderful actress, and that's just what she's doing here, playing a part) but I find the entire thing a bore as well. All those great British character actors (Kay Walsh, Sybil Thorndike, Miles Malleson, Joyce Grenfell, even Alistair Sim) are basically given short shrift. I normally enjoy Michael Wilding, Richard Todd and Jane Wyman but not in this movie.

[ElCid]

For some, or maybe no, reason I liked Stage Frightthis time around more than I thought I
would and I've seen it three or four times over the years. It's still not top-drawer Hitchcock, but
fairly decent. The unreliable flashback is a bit of a cheat, but I can live with it.

I caught a noir on YT a week or so ago titled Take One False Step starring a very middle-aged
William Powell, Shelley Winters, and Marsha Hunt with a few of the usual suspect characters actors.
I don't recall hearing of it before. Quite well done. Powell is a college prof who gets innocently
involved with a murder and he keeps getting into one mess after another, finally becoming a suspect
in the murder. There's a twist ending and a happy conclusion for Powell. There is more comedy than
usual in noir but the darker aspects of the plot aren't compromised. Definitely better than some of
the dogs that Eduardo has been showing.

Watched One False Step and as soon as Powell told Winters why he was in town I remembered having seen it. Did watch is again, sort of. Read a magazine while watching it and also fast forwarded trough a lot of it. Never have cared much for Winters and there was not enough of Hunt. Powell seemed kind of dull actually. Not his kind of role I guess. As the movie moved along the story line got more and more difficult to believe.

[ElCid]

This week-end Noir Alley presents Woman in Hiding (1950) with Ida Lupino, Howard Duff and Stephen McNally. The lobby poster for it on Wikipedia has a statement that it is "Not Suitable for Children." ID's will be checked!

On a sour note, it appears Noir Alley will be preempted in February for 31 Days of Oscar, which I have never found all that impressive.

[ElCid]

Though STAGE FRIGHT isn't one of my favorite Hitchcocks, I do like the flashback. I'm sorry I missed Eddie's comments. In general, I don't think of Hitchcock as being noir, though STRANGERS ON A TRAIN is an exception.

You can find Eddie's intros and outros on YouTube within a day of the showing.

[Hibi]

This week-end Noir Alley presents Woman in Hiding (1950) with Ida Lupino, Howard Duff and Stephen McNally. The lobby poster for it on Wikipedia has a statement that it is "Not Suitable for Children." ID's will be checked!

On a sour note, it appears Noir Alley will be preempted in February for 31 Days of Oscar, which I have never found all that impressive.

After being preempted several weeks in Dec.

[Andree]

Watched One False Step and as soon as Powell told Winters why he was in town I remembered having seen it. Did watch is again, sort of. Read a magazine while watching it and also fast forwarded trough a lot of it. Never have cared much for Winters and there was not enough of Hunt. Powell seemed kind of dull actually. Not his kind of role I guess. As the movie moved along the story line got more and more difficult to believe.

I can't recall even hearing of this one, unless it was so many years ago I had forgotten it.
Powell certainly wasn't as lively a as Nick Charles, but he was playing a different type of role
and was years older. I've always thought Shelley was pretty sexy in her younger years before
she changed into the Graf Zeppelin. Sure the plot is pretty fantastic, but I still enjoyed this
movie quite a lot.

[ElCid]

Just watched Woman in Hiding and think it is pretty good, all things considered. Probably a 3 out of 4 stars. At least a 2+. Biggest draw back would be too many things happen that are improbable. Having spent time in the areas where it supposedly happens may influence my rating. Glad Ronald Reagan was not in it-much better movie for it.
Now to see if I can find an episode of the 66 made for Mr. Adams and Eve TV series. Appears might be at least one on YouTube.

[ElCid]

Just watched Woman in Hiding and think it is pretty good, all things considered. Probably a 3 out of 4 stars. At least a 2+. Biggest draw back would be too many things happen that are improbable. Having spent time in the areas where it supposedly happens may influence my rating. Glad Ronald Reagan was not in it-much better movie for it.
Now to see if I can find an episode of the 66 made for Mr. Adams and Eve TV series. Appears might be at least one on YouTube.

I agree with Cid on all points. Check out the good direction in that early scene where Ida visits the mill. Michael Gordon clearly has talent. So does Peggy Dow. The outro discusses her short career in Hollywood and very full life afterward. I couldn't help thinking that Peggy Dow would have made an interesting Maggie the Cat in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, among other roles. Howard Duff was also very good, I thought.

Unusually for Hollywood films of this era, the setting is specifically identified as North Carolina and East Tennessee, although it wasn't filmed there. The fictional mill town of Clarksville, NC must be somewhere near Asheville for the timing of some later scenes to be even remotely plausible. Our villain bounces back and forth between Clarksville and Knoxville, which is on the other side of the Smoky Mountains, with the greatest of ease. Apparently Ida travels east from Clarksville to Raleigh, then later has what would be a long and exhausting bus ride westward from Raleigh all the way to Knoxville. No interstate highways in those days, either. It's very unclear where the train is going in the scene late in the film. I doubt that there would have been a train across the Smoky Mountains.

The biggest gaffe is the screenwriter's assumption that it would be easy to find a steak dinner and a martini, even in a city like Knoxville. Most of the South was officially "dry" in 1951. You'd have to buy your liquor from a bootlegger and take it to a private club, which would serve you a set-up for your alcohol.

Evidently the makers of the film had seen ACT OF VIOLENCE and its scene with the Shriners' convention at the hotel.

Just watched an episode of Mr. Adams and Eve on YouTube - probably only one of 66 available. Typical 50's calm husband with ditzy wife comedy series based on what I saw. Characters were both Hollywood actors. Howard Duff did have a '56 or '57 Continental. Very expensive cars and Ford lost money on every sale so they only made them for two years.

Kingrat is correct about the implausibility of quick travel between Western NC and Eastern TN at that time. I can remember driving from Asheville over the Smokies to Knoxville in 1970's before I-40 was completed. I think US 70 was the main road back then and I have driven several parts of it. Lots and lots of curves, up hill, down hill, two lanes, etc. Not quick at all.
As for trains, the only passenger trains operating in that area would have been Southern Railway. It ran the Carolina Special from Cincinnati to Charleston SC via Knoxville TN and Asheville NC, but it went around the mountains so it would have been a lengthy trip. Unlikely they would have had passenger trains leaving every three hours - probably once daily in each direction.

I thought it was strange that Lupino checked out of her hotel room where they were having a convention and then later decided to go back to her room without re-registering - if a room was even available.

[Hoganman1]

Being a NC resident, I liked that the story takes place here. However, I had a little trouble with the logistics too. I think sometimes one has to just ignore things that are not plausible in the story line. It is hard to fathom that the husband was in Knoxville one night and was back home in Clarksville the next morning. Also, the fact that he tampered with the brakes on the car assuming Ida's character would try to escape by driving away was a reach.
Anyway, I give it a five or six out of ten for my Noir rating.

PS I hate that Noir Alley won't be back until March.

[Hibi]

Woman in Hiding was pretty good. It dragged a bit in the middle with the Howard Duff scenario, but it made up for it at the finish. Some nice twists and plotting if you overlook some illogical plot points. Why would newspapers think the car crash was a suicide??? And why would Lupino think the authorities wouldn't believe her unless she brought McNally's girlfriend along? Great photography by William Daniels and some nice set pieces and editing. Lupino is great as always. Sad Noir Alley goes on hiatus again. And isnt that salute to MGM coming up soon? That's ANOTHER month!

[Hibi]

Just watched Woman in Hiding and think it is pretty good, all things considered. Probably a 3 out of 4 stars. At least a 2+. Biggest draw back would be too many things happen that are improbable. Having spent time in the areas where it supposedly happens may influence my rating. Glad Ronald Reagan was not in it-much better movie for it.
Now to see if I can find an episode of the 66 made for Mr. Adams and Eve TV series. Appears might be at least one on YouTube.

I agree with Cid on all points. Check out the good direction in that early scene where Ida visits the mill. Michael Gordon clearly has talent. So does Peggy Dow. The outro discusses her short career in Hollywood and very full life afterward. I couldn't help thinking that Peggy Dow would have made an interesting Maggie the Cat in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, among other roles. Howard Duff was also very good, I thought.

Unusually for Hollywood films of this era, the setting is specifically identified as North Carolina and East Tennessee, although it wasn't filmed there. The fictional mill town of Clarksville, NC must be somewhere near Asheville for the timing of some later scenes to be even remotely plausible. Our villain bounces back and forth between Clarksville and Knoxville, which is on the other side of the Smoky Mountains, with the greatest of ease. Apparently Ida travels east from Clarksville to Raleigh, then later has what would be a long and exhausting bus ride westward from Raleigh all the way to Knoxville. No interstate highways in those days, either. It's very unclear where the train is going in the scene late in the film. I doubt that there would have been a train across the Smoky Mountains.

The biggest gaffe is the screenwriter's assumption that it would be easy to find a steak dinner and a martini, even in a city like Knoxville. Most of the South was officially "dry" in 1951. You'd have to buy your liquor from a bootlegger and take it to a private club, which would serve you a set-up for your alcohol.

Evidently the makers of the film had seen ACT OF VIOLENCE and its scene with the Shriners' convention at the hotel.

LOL. (the martini). I wondered about that too.(the trip) I know Knoxville isn't that far in mileage from N.C. but all those mountains! And the highways couldn't have been that great in 1950. McNally must've really hit the gas pedal!

[Hibi]

Being a NC resident, I liked that the story takes place here. However, I had a little trouble with the logistics too. I think sometimes one has to just ignore things that are not plausible in the story line. It is hard to fathom that the husband was in Knoxville one night and was back home in Clarksville the next morning. Also, the fact that he tampered with the brakes on the car assuming Ida's character would try to escape by driving away was a reach.
Anyway, I give it a five or six out of ten for my Noir rating.

PS I hate that Noir Alley won't be back until March.

DITTO!!! That's another plot point that isn't very plausible. Wouldn't they have been able to tell the brakes were tampered with when they pulled the car out of the water?? That wouldn't be suicide! And why would they think it was suicide in the first place?