faceinthecrowd

How could I have missed Bogart and Mitchum? Two of the greatest! And Joan Bennett in those twin movies, SCARLET STREET and WOMAN IN THE WINDOW. When she first appears in WITW she's the epitome of glamor, the sophisticated woman of one's dreams. And in THE SCAR, a.k.a. HOLLOW TRIUMPH, we hear this exchange: Paul Henreid: "You're a bitter little lady." Joan Bennett: "It's a bitter little world." And Gloria Grahame! There was a thread about her a while back, so I won't start talking about her again, or I'll be here all day. Another great bad girl of the noirs was Marie Windsor. She lent considerable spice to FORCE OF EVIL and THE KILLING. I found Ida Lupino more alluring than many conventionally beautiful actresses. And what a performance she gave in THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT. Finally: Barbara Stanwyck was known in Hollywood as "Stany." And that reminds me that my father used to refer to Joseph Cotten as "Joe" Cotten. He was probably the only person in the world who ever called him that.

I think SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS was a change of pace for Tony Curtis also, the first time he was cast in a role that was right up his alley. And I knew that Burt Lancaster was a good actor, but I was startled when I saw him as J. J. Hunsecker. It was completely different from anything he'd done before, and it may have been the best performance of his career. Jerry Lewis was very good in KING OF COMEDY. I liked him a lot more than when he was trying to be funny. Another switch I thought of was Fred MacMurray in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, the first time to my knowledge that he played a bad guy. A decade later he did THE CAINE MUTINY, and then THE APARTMENT.

Thank you, HG. Noir is definitely a genre, and it's my favorite one. Some more actors who were outstanding in this type of film: Alan Ladd Dan Duryea Laird Cregar (The Lodger, Hangover Square), who left us all too soon Richard Widmark, who could freeze your blood by giggling John Garfield (Force of Evil) Victor Mature surprised a lot of people by showing that he could act, as in Kiss of Death and Cry of the City Orson Welles as star and director (Lady from Shanghai, The Trial, and many others) This thread is about actors, not individual films, but I can't resist mentioning: The Asphalt Jungle D.O.A. Kiss Me Deadly ("Too late, Mr. Hammer. Suddenly it's too late.") I Wake Up Screaming The Killing Touch of Evil ...and The Shanghai Gesture, a very strange film, as were just about all of Josef von Sternberg's.

My recollection is that the Osceola brothers (one of whom was played by Jay Silverheels) were killed as a direct result of being turned away from the door by Rocco, and he was the only one who was casual about it. In fact, that's what made Bogart decide that Rocco had to be destroyed -- the look on Bogie's face when he hears what happened says it all.

Joseph Cotten's speech at the dinner table in Shadow of a Doubt is one of the most chilling things I've ever heard in a motion picture. He's another fine actor who never received even a nomination for an Oscar. And I love your user name, Marlon B.

Just for starters: Barbara Stanwyck starred in two of the greatest noirs, Double Indemnity and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Elisha Cook Jr. was in too many noirs to mention, not the least of which were The Maltese Falcon and Phantom Lady. Richard Conte was perfect in House of Strangers and Cry of the City. More to come....

Glad to see Zachary Scott mentioned. His debut, The Mask of Dimitrios, teamed him with Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, and he nearly stole the picture from those two greats. Audrey Totter co-starred with Ray Milland in a noir with a twist, Alias Nick Beal. Only bootlegs of this one seem to be available, but if there was a legitimate DVD or VHS I'd snap it up in a second.

Anthony Quinn certainly deserved his Oscar for Lust for Life, as he did for Viva Zapata. But I'm stunned that Everett Sloane wasn't nominated for Patterns. That was another time that a tie would have been appropriate. But the Academy probably doesn't want to make a habit of it; people like to see one winner. Sloane gave a lot of wonderful performances, and he had a wide range, from Mr. Bernstein in Citizen Kane to the poor shnook of a father in Home from the Hill.

Robert Ryan made a career out of playing stinkers, and he did so brilliantly. But he had a very sympathetic role in the acclaimed boxing movie, THE SET UP. In IDIOT'S DELIGHT, Clark Gable does a song and dance number. He didn't do it too well, because he was playing someone with more ambition than talent, but he probably could have done it very well if the script had called for it. Fred Astaire has a very serious role in ON THE BEACH. No dancing, no singing, no comedy -- just good acting. And in DEADLY HERO, how could that nice Don Murray act that way? Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 22, 2010 11:38 PM

The Academy declared a tie once (Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand). They could have done it for Josephine Hull and Thelma Ritter to both get deserved awards. And Everett Sloane really should have received one for PATTERNS, but I don't know who won for supporting actor that year -- or whether Sloane was even nominated.

In MEET JOHN DOE, a character who is mentioned but never seen is the doctor that Doe wants to operate on his arm: Bonesetter Brown.

That's a great list of Groucho's names. In ANIMAL CRACKERS there's a song that goes: Singers: Hooray for Captain Spaulding, the African explorer-- Groucho: Did someone call me shnorrer? Singers: Hooray, hooray, hooray! The melody was used as the theme music of Groucho's TV show, "You Bet Your Life." Leo Rosten's delightful book, "The Joys of Yiddish," defines shnorrer as a moocher.

It's been a long time since I've seen HARVEY, so I'll take another look, this time with special attention to Ms. Hull. As a footnote, this is one of the movies whose title character is never seen (not by the audience, at least). EDWARD, MY SON and REBECCA also come to mind.

=====PLOT SPOILERS!!!===== Bing Crosby did a real switcheroo in DR. COOK'S GARDEN. And in ELMER GANTRY, Shirley Jones became a prostitute when Gantry dumped her. But that was the movie. In the novel, which I recommend, her fate was sadder: she married a shiftless farmer.

In the Spencer Tracy DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, Ingrid Bergman was the dance hall girl and Lana Turner was the virginal fiancee. Also: Hume Cronyn in BRUTE FORCE. June Allyson in THE SHRIKE. Myrna Loy in THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. Robert Redford in DOWNHILL RACER. Dan Duryea in the comedy, WHITE TIE AND TAILS. Zachary Scott as a nice guy in THE SOUTHERNER. And the villain in AFTER THE THIN MAN is a real surprise. So is one of the bad guys in SECRET AGENT (1936).

About HUD: I think you're confusing Paul Newman with the character he played. You're willing to forgive Newman? He didn't do anything! It was the despicable Hud who did terrible things. Paul Newman gives a brilliant performance, as does Melvyn Douglas. Reason enough to watch the film.

Also THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS. STONE and SAVAGE MESSIAH (it's available on VHS). And in CALIGULA, his sister gives him a long list of reasons he shouldn't have anything to do with Mirren's character. When she's through, he just says: "I want her." You can say that again. But if I got any more explicit this post would be flagged.

A note about Thelma Ritter: the year she was nominated for ALL ABOUT EVE, the award went to Josephine Hull for HARVEY. It's been some years since I've seen the latter picture, and I'm sure that Hull gave a delightful performance, but Ritter was just as memorable in EVE as any of the leads. That picture would have been poorer without her. So I'll add her to my list of "Should'ves."

Trudy Kockenlocker?! How did they get away with that one? One I forgot to mention was Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb in LAURA). It's not racy; it just has a nice ring to it.

Funny stuff! I wish LOL hadn't been so overused, but that's what I'm doing. But you forgot MAN OF THE VEST, about a tailor who caters to well-dressed cowboys. And BEER: A CRUISE, the exciting story of a seagoing keg party.

Physical resemblance had a lot to do with the kind of gangsters the stars played. Bogart looked a lot like John Dillinger, while Robinson's Johnny Rocco was obviously modeled on Al Capone, whom he resembled. It's well known that Bogart was cast in his career-making role of Duke Mantee at the insistence of Leslie Howard, who sent a telegram to the studio bigwigs saying, "No Bogart, no Howard," and perhaps Bogie remembered that with regard to Robinson. At any rate, I'm glad to know that about Bogart. Edward G. gave another great performance that wasn't even nominated for an Oscar. And when we first see him naked in a bathtub, smoking a cigar? I thought he was cute! The storm motif is very effective. At the conclusion, we see the sun breaking through the clouds, and Bogie says something like, "It's clearing up," and that wraps things up nicely. Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 19, 2010 6:28 AM Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 19, 2010 6:37 AM

He gives a great performance in this picture. And he was wonderful at comedy, too, as he proved in ONCE MORE, MY DARLING and other movies.

"GARBO LAUGHS" -- and so did the audiences. Lubitsch was great, and so was Melvyn Douglas (he stole THE CANDIDATE from Robert Redford, and almost did the same from Irene Dunne in THEODORA GOES WILD). And does anyone remember what made Garbo laugh? If not, see it again -- not that anyone needs any urging to do so.

NIGHT OF THE HUNTER -- supposedly, it was a box office flop, which is why Charles Laughton never got another directing assignment. But it's visually breathtaking, and, of course, a great performance by Mitchum. CAPE FEAR -- as much as I admire Robert DeNiro's acting, I think he blew it in the remake -- he tore a passion to tatters. Mitchum is terrifying because he never raises his voice.

Viveca Lindfors and Maggie Smith are two actresses who come to mind in this category. And to my eye, Sean Connery looked better in THE UNTOUCHABLES than he did in the James Bond pictures. Thus endeth the lesson.