Noir in Color? Yes please! After watching a few Billy Wilder films on TCM last night (end of Some Like it Hot, always have to watch the Apartment when it's on...), I went with this one last night. needed a shorter one, and the plot caught my eye, plus the fact it was filmed in 3D in the desert. I bet this was something in 3D, a few things flying at you near the end but mostly to see the desert and mountain landscapes, plus Rhonda Fleming looking pretty not bad. Some scenes looked fantastic, others showed their age. Not as great plotwise as I hoped, at first the film moves too fast, I was making a drink during the credits and missed the whole set up, had to rewind. Then for an 80 minute movie, the second half dragged a bit to get to the final payoff. Not a great film, but worth a watch. Directed by Roy Ward Baker • 1953 • United States Starring Robert Ryan, Rhonda Fleming, William Lundigan Megawealthy industrialist Donald Carson III (Robert Ryan) breaks his leg while on a trip through the Mojave desert, and rather than find help, his scheming wife (Rhonda Fleming) and her lover (William Lundigan) leave him there to die. What they don’t count on is the spite-fueled Carson’s will to survive as he braves the heat, pain, and dangers of the desert in order to make it out alive and get revenge. One of the finest films shot in 3D during the technology’s heyday in the 1950s, this tough, sunbaked thriller makes striking use of desert landscapes to evoke a world of lunar-like desolation.
Never watched this. The storyline looks promising. And I've never seen a bad Billy Wilder film so I'll give it a shot. Thanks.
So.. what, rattlesnakes jump out at unsuspecting moments? It's the desert - what could be in 3D? Guess I need to watch.
Noir In Color: 15 Films Leave Her to Heaven (1945), Desert Fury (1947), Inferno (1953), Niagara (1953), Black Widow (1954), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)*, House of Bamboo (1955), I Died a Thousand Times (1955)*, Accused of Murder (1956), Foreign Intrigue (1956), A Kiss Before Dying (1956), River’s Edge (1957), The Badlanders (1958)*, Man of the West (1958), Party Girl (1958) *US only Seems a dubious proposition to me. Part of the charm of Noir is in its simultaneous black and white mystery and frankness. Add color and suddenly there's glamour. The wrong type. Lurid glamour. But I'm starting with the Sam Fuller offering (House of Bamboo). He's the one dead director surely to turn over with an opinion on colorizing one of his joints. Interesting thoughts on colorization in the above post. Course, that was over 10 years ago and the public may have different view of colorization today.
Took in two rather different films over the past couple of nights - gritty ‘70s NYC crime film Across 110th Street and mid-‘80s doc What Sex Am I?
Lots of beautiful effective depth mostly (and Rhonda Fleming). There are a few pop out shots of rocks falling, knives being thrown, etc.
Should’ve added Three the Hard Way to the above post, which I caught at the last minute (literally, like at about 11:50 pm on June 30) before it was deleted at the end of June. Kind of cheesy in that ‘70s exploitation vein, but solidly entertaining. One question for those who’ve seen it, though: Spoiler Did the neo-Nazi leaders get away? We see their lead scientist get set on fire and one of the women gets shot, but all the cars the three bomb appear to be empty and we never see Feather and the rest get theirs.
I haven't watched this yet, but the New York Times recommends it, so will be watching: Stream These Three Great Documentaries Film About a Father Who Directed by Lynne Sachs • 2020 • United States Over a period of thirty-five years between 1984 and 2019, filmmaker Lynne Sachs shot 8 and 16 mm film, videotape, and digital images of her father, Ira Sachs Sr., a bon vivant and pioneering businessman from Park City, Utah. FILM ABOUT A FATHER WHO is her attempt to understand the web that connects a child to her parent and a sister to her siblings. Like a cubist rendering of a face, Sachs’s cinematic exploration of her father offers multiple, sometimes contradictory, views of a seemingly unknowable man who is publicly the uninhibited center of the frame yet privately shrouded in mystery. With this meditation on fatherhood and masculinity, Sachs allows herself and her audience to see beneath the surface of the skin, beyond the projected reality. As the startling facts mount, she discovers more about her father than she had ever hoped to reveal.
The Small Back Room (1949, Powell/Pressburger) As the Germans drop explosive booby-traps on Britain in 1943, the embittered expert who'll have to disarm them fights a private battle with alcohol. It's one of the Archers (studio founded by Powell & Pressburger) films that I haven't seen. The Criterion extra featuring Powell (above) provides an interesting backdrop (one of the most creative old South Bank Show episodes) for the work of the director, particularly during the war years.
This one raised a couple of interesting questions. One, how can you be a key member of an Explosive Ordance Disposal team and a raging alcoholic at the same time? I fairly certain, you can't. But the situation may fit in with what Powell talked about in the interview above about realism vs. surrealism. Of course, the film is based on a book by Nigel Balchin (which i haven't read) but I can see Powell increasing the psychological tension of the main character who is attempting to deal with this inner demon. Demons, I should say, because he clearly has issues with trust, vulnerability and self confidence. The small back room is really about the interior space of this particular scientist's head; far more so than the backroom politics and intrigue of the British armed forces during WWII (which I suspect forms a larger part Balchin's novel). The second question is, how can the scientist's colleagues and friends make allowances for his problems even though the circumstances of the war make his services appear invaluable? I never really considered this perspective of alcoholism. Don't want to drop spoilers but the final sentence his girlfriend says to him at the end of the film reveals that the culture of alcohol tolerance in the lives of professionals is one of the contributing factors of his private hell. Naturally, there are characters, like the barkeep, who attempt to stop him from making a complete ass of himself at the pub but that's only after he's clearly out of control. The film also brought to mind the number of airline flights over the holiday wekend that were cancelled due to lack of available pilots. That's another profession that cannot realistically support people with substance abuse problems (to wit, Denzel Washington's performance in Flight) and it's frankly better to see cancelled flights than crashes due to negligence of personal and professional integrity. While it's not a masterpiece (people have long made fun of the delberately stylized DTs sequence where the beseiged scientist is being spooked by dozens of wall-sized clocks and 6 foot liqueur bottles, for instance ) it is a thoughtful mood piece.
Watching this one again. Boy, is this an experience. If you decide to stick with it you’re bound to feel a little less sorry for yourself (if, indeed, you do).
Thief (1981, Michael Mann) A master safecracker plans his last heist for the sake of a woman but the gangster who hires him won't let go so easily. My tribute to the late Mr. Caan on Criterion. It's not currently on CC but tubi has a good free copy streaming. Nice interview with director, Mann, and Caan in the post above. James Caan (March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022)
Thief/Heist double bill: Any Number Can Win (1963, Henri Verneuil) Screen icon Jean Gabin is the career ex-con determined to pull off one last heist before he retires. Hotshot rising star Alain Delon is the petty thief he enlists to help him rob a Cannes casino. Veteran director Henri Verneuil lends his craftsman’s touch to this jazz-inflected noir that rivals the thrillers of Jean-Pierre Melville for expertly deployed tension. Interesting review above. I've read that it was a kind of prototype for the Ocean 11 movies. Wish I could find a good Henri Verneuil doc/interview in English. Don't know much about his work.
So, I don’t know Across 11oth Street, but I do know the song that shares the same name as Tarantino’s choice for the main title to Jackie Brown.
Great interview with Bobby Womack: Rhythm and Blues Singer Bobby Womack Soundtrack stream on Apple: Across 110th Street (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Bobby Womack & Peace
The Clock (1945, Vincente Minnelli) In 1945, during a 48-hour leave, a soldier accidentally meets a girl at Pennsylvania Station and spends his leave with her, eventually falling in love with the lovely New Yorker. She doesn't sing a note but this it's my favorite Garland film. The reviewer in the post above provides some details about the production that I didn't know. Fun.
In The Ring Boxing On Film 16 Films The Ring (1927), The Champ (1931), Gentleman Jim (1942), Champion (1949), The Set-Up (1949), The Harder They Fall (1955), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), a.k.a. Cassius Clay (1970), Hammer (1972), Fat City (1972), Raging Bull (1980), Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson (1993), When We Were Kings (1996), Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story (2005) Surprised at how very few docs there are on the The Boxing Film, compared let's say, to Film Noir, The Western, The Musical, etc.. What I see more often are short clips (like the one above, though it is done well) ranking favorite boxing movies but hardly any in depth looks at what makes a great boxing movie shine. And, of course, Criterion has left out some of my faves like David O. Rusell's The Fighter (currently on Prime Video) and Jamaa Fanaka's Penitentiary (currently free on tubi). Anyone here know of any good boxing film docs or have have boxing movie faves CC hasn't metioned? Share em!
Directed by Blake Edwards He Laughed Last (1956), Experiment in Terror (1962), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Great Race (1965), Victor/Victoria (1982), That’s Life! (1986) Victor/Victoria is a personal fave. Always stop to watch when it crosses my path. Haven't seen any of the others but, man, it would have been great if they'd included the Pink Panther films.