TomJH
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Posts posted by TomJH
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We're definitely in agreement on this one. I have always enjoyed those light moments that can be found in some suspense films (Hitchcock, in particular was renowned for it in many, perhaps most, of his best films). With The Big Sleep it comes in the form of moments of flirtation, possibilty the most legendary moment being the racetrack terminology double entendes that Bogie enjoys with Bacall in that one scene.
But I also think it takes a deft touch to pull it off, without it becoming too much of a distraction from the mystery or suspense elements. I think it clearly works in the Hawks film.
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{font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif}*Marlowe is equally vicious though when he goads Eddie Mars into going out the door to his certain end by his own henchmen.*
No question that it is very cold blooded, clore, even though Marlowe gave to Mars what Mars had set up to happen to him. To many members of an audience, that would be ironic justification for that moment of brutality.{font}
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Dargo, I would like to think that we are gentlemen enough to ABstain from that topic.
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I see that They Won't Believe Me is listed as 80 minutes in a 90 minute timeslot. I'm hoping that one day we'll see the original version which, I believe, ran about 100 minutes.
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{font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif}*If people want to comment on the featured films for this Friday's (the 21st) Noir Writers night with Eddie Muller, would they mind doing it on the other thread, the one with the title about Friday Night Noirs?*
MissW, I think that's a more than fair request on your part. It will make things less confusing.
But if anyone still wants to discuss Duryea or Bogie or The Big Sleep or, dare I say it, Joy Barlow, I hope they feel free to do so here.{font}
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I could be mistaken, clore, but I believe that Eddie Muller made a passing reference to whether The Big Sleep was a real noir, as well. Clearly the film has some lighter moments in it. Everyone seems to have their own definition of film noir but I don't think those light, flirtatious moments should exclude the film from the list. Whatever, The Big Sleep is one heck of an entertainment either way.
As I said earlier in the thread, the film's romanticism (are film noirs allowed to be romantic?), I believe, is actually heightened by the fact that, ultimately, after seeing Marlowe flirting with the film's other beauties, he is ready to settle down with Bacall. She is the ONE woman in this film that he takes seriously.
By the way, are there many other moments in film noirs to compete with the cold bloodedness of the scene in which the hired killer Canino (Bob Steele) offers a drink to little Jonesy (Elisha Cook) which turns out to be a fast acting poison? "Bye Jonesey," Steele says, almost merrily, walking out the door as Cook, barely still alive, is about to topple onto the floor.
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Thanks very much for the link to that Dan Duryea website, clore. I hadn't heard of it before.
And here's a shot from that website, and possibly my favourite moment in Winchester '73 when Jimmy Stewart suddenly turns on our beloved Dan as slimy Waco Johnny Dean.
Most of the cast is really first rate in this film, the first of the Stewart-Anthony Mann westerns. But I've always thought that Duryea's smartass villainy was a particular delight. And yet he brought a certain subtlety to the performance as well.
Just before Stewart turns on Duryea for the shot below, prompted by Duryea's indication that he won't give him the information he seeks, there's a throwaway moment that I love. Duryea is holding a glass of whiskey in his hand, and after smugly indicating to Stewart that he won't give him the information Jimmy seeks, Dan slops a little bit of the whiskey on his own hand. Duryea briefly looks down at the liquor spill before bringing his gaze back up to Jimmy again. Then he repeats the same question again of Stewart, "And what if I don't feel like telling you?", or some such similar words. At that moment Jimmy, quite unexpectedly, pounces upon him.
I don't know if that whiskey spill moment was the idea of the screenwriter, director or Duryea. But I always thought it brought a little touch of realism to an already tense, about to become a lot tenser, scene. And Duryea's natural reaction to the spill adds to the off-hand casualness of the moment before all hell is about to break loose upon him. The audience is slightly distracted by the liquor spill, in turn, making Stewart's abrupt attack upon Duryea seem all the more violent.
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Duryea in the Curtis part? Doesn't do it for me. Too ladylike.
I want to see Dan in that top bunk with all those eager blondes making with the bubbly. I want to see Dan's eyes roll to the top of his head when Marilyn starts rubbing his feet to warm them up. ("I'm a girl, I'm a girl, I'm a girl," Duryea reminding himself in a high falsetto).
C'mon, Dan Duryea with a blonde wig that threatens to come off his head in bed with Marilyn Monroe who thinks he's a girl. Now THAT'S funny!
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Dargo, just so long as Dan Duryea winds up with millionaire Joe E. Brown, I'll be happy for him. Yes, this is the way I think. Well, nobody's perfect.
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Actually, lavender, I was sorta kidding when I wrote that Duryea slapping Curtis around idea. But if you think it works, maybe I'm more of a genius than I realized.
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Dargo, I'm glad you're starting to see the light.
And to think that this thread originally started off as a celebration of Joy Barlow as a cabbie in The Big Sleep - dressed in man's attire.
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Thanks very much for your Burglar review, MissW. Though I admit it is getting a bit confusing with these cross thread reviews of our's.
Bottom line, though, we both liked the film, and one Mr. Duryea.
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lavender, once the two boys are in drag it's Jack Lemmon's character that becomes the extrovert. A natural for Dan Duryea! And the interesting thing about Duryea in Some Like It Hot, is that, as an "inside" joke for people who recalled him from the Fritz lang days, even though he's in drag, he can start slapping Tony Curtis around because he's dressed as a woman. Or, at least, threaten to.
I mean, Billy Wilder would have loved it, and a lot of audiences in 1959 probably would have had the memories to get the inside joke, as well.
As for Dargo's question about Duryea in any wild comedies, to the best of my knowledge, no, he was always kept in dramas. And he played it mean and nasty when he was put in the occasional comedy like Ball of Fire or Along Came Jones.
I know, I know, the idea of Duryea in drag is not one that comes naturally to most minds. (Okay, ANY minds outside my own). With a genius like Wilder in charge, though, it mighta worked.
Soooooooooooo, anyone agree with me?
Nope. I thought not.
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Dargo and lavender, just think about it. Duryea in drag with a rose clenched between his teeth dancing with Joe E. Brown. You mean you CAN'T see that?
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Dargo, I have also long believed that Dan Duryea should have played the Jack Lemmon role in Some Like It Hot. So are we still in agreement?
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*Dargo wrote:* {font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif}*Yep, and what I thought was kinda funny was that when his character is asked how old he was, he replied "35"!*
Well, I figure Dan was staying in character to fib a little. After all, he was playing a crook. {font}
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lavender, Dan Duryea is becoming more and more of a favourite of mine. I used to sort of take him for granted, but I don't any more. He was wonderful, as well, when he extended his villainy to the American West in Winchester 73. Can anyone forget his nonchalant arrogance as Waco Johnny Dean (what a great name that is!) when he refuses to provide some information to Jimmy Stewart in that bar scene, just before Stewart pounced on Dan to almost break his neck?
Duryea's performance in The Burglar, in my opinion, is one of such subtle but real anguish. I don't want to reveal the ending, of course, but let's just say that my esteem for Duryea's character zoomed even higher in the film's finale. I think this is one of Duryea's best performances, and that's saying a lot.
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Thanks for another great review, clore. Underworld Story sounds like it might even be better than Chicago Calling! And it just goes to show me how many potentially small little film gems are still out there for me to explore, particularly if it's any kind of crime drama with the likes of a character actor genre icon like Dan Duryea in it.
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Sorry, MissW, I didn't mean for my Joy Barlow thread to be perceived as competition for your film noir thread. After all, you created your thread first with so much great talk on it.
The reviews of The Burglar sort of evolved on the other thread. Because of Marlowe being such a hit with the ladies in The Big Sleep, the talk about Joy Barlow's cab driver brought up the topic of Martha Vickers in that film, but Vickers also appeared in The Burglar which resulted in the two reviews.
Here's clore review of The Burglar from the Barlow thread:
{font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif}The book Film Noir (Silver Ward), says this late noir is a forced noir. i.e. they use every noir device there is. Did you get that feeling?{font}
{font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif}Yes, but I don't hold it against the film. For me it was a matter of having to use every trick in the book for the same reason that those tricks existed in the first place - to either make the most of the low budget, or to show some flair to hopefully advance the career of the director or cinematographer.{font}
{font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif}I can't blame Wendkos if he was trying to do as Mann, Fleischer or Karlson had done - make his mark with a low-budget crime drama. I won't mention Kubrick as KILLER'S KISS had not been released by the time that THE BURGLAR was in production in the summer of 1955.{font}
{font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif}I thought that the visuals were superior to the editorial content of the film. Maybe someone other than Goodis should have adapted the original story. Too often the dialogue just plops and if the intent was to be realistic, well, who goes to the movies for realism? The middle section of the film sags, but that's as much the fault of the performances as the dialogue. Mansfield gets knocked in some of the online reviews that I've read, but I thought that she did well enough under the circumstances. It's Stewart Bradley as the crooked cop who really struck me as inept.{font}
And here's what I wrote:
I quite enjoyed The Burglar as a rather stylized exercise in which, as you say, the director is trying to make a visual mark while at the same time compensating for a limited budget. It has been pointed out by others that with the film's opening newsreel footage, a la Citizen Kane, and its fun house finale, more than a bit reminiscent of Lady from Shanghai, Orson Welles seemed to have a strong influence on director Paul Wendkos.
Without question, for me, the highlight sequence in the film comes early - a house burglary which is a battle against time, with the crooks knowing they have just 15 minutes to break into a safe before being discovered. Then, complications suddenly arise, which I will not describe here. It's a sequence that builds up a genuine amount of suspense and had me, quite frankly, rooting for Dan Duryea's crook because, while it was too early in the film to really know his character yet, he was admirable because he was so smoothly professional and unflappable.
We'll always remember Duryea, of course, as the woman slapping heel that he played so well in those Fritz Lang thrillers. A total louse. Therefore, it was a real pleasure for me to watch Duryea play a crook who is honorable in The Burglar. Duryea gave a textbook study of understated acting, a beautiful performance of subtle nuances. Yes, his character is a crook but he's no vicious thug. He's a professional who owes a debt to someone from his past, and has a conscience. I loved watching Duryea in this film.
As for the rest of the cast, Jayne Mansfield is quite natural and even sympathetic in her role while Martha Vickers is also very effective as someone Duryea encounters in a bar (I'll say no more about her character because I don't want to give anything away). But, gosh darn it, more than a decade after sucking her thumb so seductively in The Big Sleep, Vickers still had "it," in my opinion. The sensuality that had so distinguished her work in that famous Howard Hawks thriller could still cast a spell in 1955 over many a male who came near her.
I didn't mind Stewart Bradley like you did, clore. Yes, his performance is two dimensional but since he was the chief villain of the film I didn't mind seeing him in terms of being a bit of a monster. In that respect, even more so, the audience could identify with and sympathize with Duryea, who was forced to deal with him.
I hope that TCM repeats The Burglar. It's an interesting minor noir, noteworthy for its low budget stylishness, in particular the suspense of the robbery sequence, and for the artlessness of Dan Duryea's performance. It reminded me once again how much real pleasure I have derived over the years from watching Duryea on screen, both when playing a rat as well as in this case, as a flawed human being who was still admirable for his personal integrity.
Admittedly, with my title of the Barlow thread, no one would know there were reviews of that film there. I guess this is where they may more properly belong. And now they do.
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Thanks for the rundown on what sounds like another Dan Duryea goodie, clore. I'll have to keep my eyes open for it. I don't believe Chicago calling has been on TCM, though I could be wrong.
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Dargo, I can't recall Mansfield's last line delivery so I'll bow to your judgment. I'm glad you enjoyed The Burglar, though. It's one of so many nifty little noirs that people have never heard of.
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Nice review, clore.
I quite enjoyed The Burglar as a rather stylized exercise in which, as you say, the director is trying to make a visual mark while at the same time compensating for a limited budget. It has been pointed out by others that with the film's opening newsreel footage, a la Citizen Kane, and its fun house finale, more than a bit reminiscent of Lady from Shanghai, Orson Welles seemed to have a strong influence on director Paul Wendkos.
Without question, for me, the highlight sequence in the film comes early - a house burglary which is a battle against time, with the crooks knowing they have just 15 minutes to break into a safe before being discovered. Then, complications suddenly arise, which I will not describe here. It's a sequence that builds up a genuine amount of suspense and had me, quite frankly, rooting for Dan Duryea's crook because, while it was too early in the film to really know his character yet, he was admirable because he was so smoothly professional and unflappable.
We'll always remember Duryea, of course, as the woman slapping heel that he played so well in those Fritz Lang thrillers. A total louse. Therefore, it was a real pleasure for me to watch Duryea play a crook who is honorable in The Burglar. Duryea gave a textbook study of understated acting, a beautiful performance of subtle nuances. Yes, his character is a crook but he's no vicious thug. He's a professional who owes a debt to someone from his past, and has a conscience. I loved watching Duryea in this film.
As for the rest of the cast, Jayne Mansfield is quite natural and even sympathetic in her role while Martha Vickers is also very effective as someone Duryea encounters in a bar (I'll say no more about her character because I don't want to give anything away). But, gosh darn it, more than a decade after sucking her thumb so seductively in The Big Sleep, Vickers still had "it," in my opinion. The sensuality that had so distinguished her work in that famous Howard Hawks thriller could still cast a spell in 1955 over many a male who came near her.
I didn't mind Stewart Bradley like you did, clore. Yes, his performance is two dimensional but since he was the chief villain of the film I didn't mind seeing him in terms of being a bit of a monster. In that respect, even more so, the audience could identify with and sympathize with Duryea, who was forced to deal with him.
I hope that TCM repeats The Burglar. It's an interesting minor noir, noteworthy for its low budget stylishness, in particular the suspense of the robbery sequence, and for the artlessness of Dan Duryea's performance. It reminded me once again how much real pleasure I have derived over the years from watching Duryea on screen, both when playing a rat as well as in this case, as a flawed human being who was still admirable for his personal integrity.
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*NoraCharles wrote: {font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif}And to be fair, ol' Phil doesn't compel literally {font}{font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif}every{font}{font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif} member of the XX chromosome crowd into adulation. Agnes (Geiger's bookstore clerk/poor Elisha Cook, Jr.'s gal) seems consistently un-oogly. {font}
*{font:arial, helvetica, sans-serif} That's true but, after all, Marlowe pushed up the front brim of his hat and posed as a bookworm with Agnes. She wasn't seeing the same fedora wearing Marlowe that cabby Joy Barlow liked looking at in her rear view mirror. {font}
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Well, James, Gina and Jennifer were certainly quite lovely in Beat the Devil but that film is, after all, an odd little comedy (okay a parody of some thrillers) while Big Sleep is, I believe, an out and out male fanatsy (with all those lovely ladies) in a film noir setting.
And that's quite a collection of ladies who oogle Bogie, Joy Barlow, Dorothy Malone and Martha Vickers. Speaking of Vickers, I just watched The Burglar, one of Eddie Muller's film noir selections last Friday. An older but still beautiful and sensual Vickers made a very nice impression upon me in that film. I know you're a Martha Vickers fan so I hope you caught it. (The film itself is well worth viewing , as well, aside from Vickers).
Film Noir Fridays: Can't Hardly Wait !
in General Discussions
Posted
Mr. Muller, thanks very much for the update and the fact that you, yourself, were surprised to learn that TCM's print runs only 80 minutes. To the best of my knowledge, that is the same print that the channel has had of They Won't Believe Me for years.
Perhaps, after you've seen the film tomorrow night, you might have a better idea of what is missing, and, if it's not too inconvenient, give us an idea of what is missing.
I've never really been much of a fan of (to me) the rather bland Robert Young but he's darned good in this very untypical role for him. But, as you indicated, it's a well written part for him, as well as his leading ladies. And, yes, that ending - it stays with you.