TomJH
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Posts posted by TomJH
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44 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:
He Ran All the Way (1951) Sadly, this was John Garfield's last film. It was the last film he made prior to being blacklisted by HUAC for refusing to name names in their Communism investigation. He unfortunately passed away from a heart attack in 1952.
In this film, Garfield plays Nick Robey, a petty criminal who botches a robbery with his partner Al Molin (Norman Lloyd). Al is wounded and Nick shoots a police officer, injuring him severely. To hideout, Nick escapes to a crowded public swimming pool. He literally runs into Peg Dobbs (Shelley Winters) who is teaching herself how to swim. Nick charms Peg into letting him give her a ride home. This leads to him being invited into her apartment, where she lives with her parents and little brother. At this point, the police are looking for a man who robbed a man of $10,000 and shot a police officer, but they do not know the man's identity. Nick basically forces the family to allow him to hideout at their apartment.
The next morning, the headline on the newspaper announces that the police officer (whom Nick shot) has died of his injuries. Now wanted for murdering a police officer and stealing $10,000, Nick's picture and name is printed in the newspaper. Now officially a wanted man, Nick takes the Dobbs family hostage. He promises that he won't harm them as long as they follow his directions and do not reveal his whereabouts to anyone. As the film wears on and the family tries to continue their normal activities (as normal as possible, being a hostage and all), Nick becomes more paranoid that he will be captured and that the family will rat him out.
At the beginning of the film, Peg finds herself somewhat smitten with Nick, despite his being a little nuts and a criminal, but I digress... Because I don't blame her, John Garfield is hot hot even when he seems to always be playing a criminal. While Shelley Winters is average and plain, she and John have a couple of hot scenes--but I give the credit to John, only because she seems slightly terrified by him. There's a scene where Peg comes home late, angering Nick, until he sees that she's purchased a new, sexier dress (i.e. low-cut, off-shoulder neckline) and gotten a new hairdo. He's turned on by Peg's desire to impress him and her tardiness is forgiven. Later, her infatuation with him understandably dissipates as he is terrifying and unpredictable.
I love John Garfield. He has this sense of danger about him and this "raw-ness" about him. The Postman Always Rings Twice is one of the sexier film noir--he and Lana are red-hot.
The whole point of this summary is to say: John Garfield is hot hot!
SOURCE: My new Kino Dark Side of Cinema Vol 1 Blu Ray box set
John Garfield, whose real name was Julius Garfinkle, was under tremendous pressure by the FBI to name Communists working in the Hollywood community, being told that if he did so he would be cleared with the film studios for employment once again.
Jack Berry, who directed Garfield in his last film, He Ran All The Way, had a memorable quote about him:
"This may sound romantic, but I think what happened was, faced with the option of naming names, Julius Garfinkle of the Bronx said to John Garfield of Hollywood, 'You can't do this to me.' And John Garfield packed his bags and died."
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8 minutes ago, rosebette said:
I actually prefer him in the officer's uniform. The aerial stuff is good, but I think the interplay between the actors on the ground is what makes the film. I feel as if the actors are actually listening to each other and reacting, not just reciting lines. It gives the acting a more "modern" flavor.
Flynn and Niven were great, carousing friends who lived together for a short while around the time Dawn Patrol was made. It shows on screen and, aside from reading Niven's reminiscences about Errol in Bring On The Empty Horses, watching this film is the closest that we come to experiencing what it might have been like when these two men got together. Niven would move on from his early playboy days but Flynn forever remained the adolescent skirt chaser. After years of separation the two saw each other in London (in 1958, I believe) and Niven wrote that, while Flynn's features were sadly ravaged by excessive self indulgence, he felt a greater sense of calm about him than he had ever seen before.
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Just saying the word DANG! is a substitute for the D word.
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1 hour ago, rosebette said:
One of my favorite war films (and I'm not a war film buff either). Brilliant ensemble casting, probably Flynn and Rathbone's best work. Also some beautiful work by Donald Crisp. The chemistry between Flynn and Niven is powerful and touching. This movie manages to convey both the heroics and the futility of war. I ended up tearing up a couple of times during this viewing.
A lot of fans remember Flynn primarily for playing laughing, romantic Robin Hood but, as an actor, he was allowed greater range and depth that same year in The Dawn Patrol. The entire cast has great chemistry, with Niven in the role that really put him on the Hollywood map and Rathbone delivering one of his very best performances as the commanding officer on the verge of a breakdown, proclaiming, "It's a slaughterhouse and I'm the butcher." And Donald Crisp really shines in a sweet little scene in which he fantasies that he is playing with a dog. The Dawn Patrol is a fine actioner which, in my opinion, plays better than the 1930 original version because of the superior performances of the cast and somewhat updated dialogue. And did anyone ever look more dashing in an ancient WWI air ship than Flynn?
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28 minutes ago, sewhite2000 said:
I'm not sure there is an autocensor on here anymore after reading Sepiatone's "old Yiddish proverb" on the morality of Sam Spade thread, which made my jaw drop. BUT speaking of The Maltese Falcon, I always notice Sidney Greenstreet saying "by gad" this and "by gad" that oh about 3,600 times over the course of the movie. I assume that was a stand-in word for "God", because you surely couldn't say "by God" in so casual a manner, as it could be construed as taking the Lord's name in vain.
Perhaps in the same manner as this, I recall that in DeMille's Story of Dr. Wassell whenever he was surprised by something Gary Cooper would frequently say "Good gravy," an expression I assume was a substitute for "Good Lord."
But he is the only character in the movies I can ever recall using that expression.
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Long before Joe Pesci ever opened his mouth on screen I always found it amusing how films in the studio era tried to get around the Breen Office when it came to characters swearing in the movies.
Of course, most famously, David O. Selznick had to fight like Sam Hill to keep the most famous line heard in 1939's Gone With the Wind because of the use of an expletive in it because, quite frankly, the censor did give a damn. But strong language in the movies or, at least, a version of it, was used before that film without getting the same publicity because of it.
Con Starn It! and Dag Dab it! come to mind as cutesy versions of swearing we've heard, most probably in westerns. Somehow I envision some old coot like Walter Brennan, Gabby Hayes or Edgar Buchanan to be using those words.
Can anyone think of any other euphemistic swearing heard during the first few decades of the talkies? That would be anything until the late 1960s when the swearing door started to get jammed open.
And be careful. We have an auto censor here, as well as a moderator but, then again, it you use expressions that were used during the studio era they will presumably not be offended by what you write.
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45 minutes ago, TikiSoo said:
Heh, my parents had twin beds. We split the set when moving Mom into an apartment 5 years ago. The granddaughter that took the twin has already discarded it.
I recall when my parents, before they eventually got twin beds, slept in a big bed. I loved to crawl in between them. Mom and Dad finally figured out a way to get rid of me without saying anything by slowly pushing their butts in on me from both sides until the squeeze was so much that I ran down the hall back to my own bed. But what did I know? I was only 19.
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4 minutes ago, SansFin said:
I believe that you are judging it by modern standards and do not realize how very different all things were at that time. Infidelity in that era involved only stealing kisses and stimulating conversation. Sex was not invented until the end of the Studio Era some years after this movie was made.
"Well then, how on earth did we come up with this little bundle between us? No, really, I want to know because Mr.Mayer wouldn't even let us get in the same bed. Where did this kid come from?"
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10 minutes ago, Allhallowsday said:
That is my favorite Western... and LINDA DARNELL is one of the reasons.
One of my favourite moments in the film
Another is when Linda throws a vase of beer (or whatever it is) in Ward Bond's face after he makes a loud whinny sound as she passes by. I wish I could have found a gif of that one to post here.
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52 minutes ago, Hibi said:
They showed The Set Up not too long ago......
Thanks. They should show it again then, along with the other two films.
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47 minutes ago, ElCid said:
I do not watch boxing movies. It is not a sport, it is one of the dumbest things men ever created. Ranks just above dog fights, dog racing and chicken fighting. Sorry, but that is how I feel.
And don't say it has anything to do with learning self defense because it does not.
The brutality of the sport will always make it controversial so I understand your viewpoint. However, there have been some exemplary sports legends in the history of the sport whose skill and courage have made them stand apart from others. But it is also an exploitive, cruel sport that does not take care of the vast majority of those who try to make a living in it. There is far too much tragedy associated with the squared ring.
I found Muhammad Ali to be a towering figure whose shadow loomed outside the sport. In 1992 when, with shaky arms, he lit the flame at the Atlanta Olympic cauldron, his courage and "I am a proud Olympian" determination was an inspiration to all those around the world with physical afflictions.
At the same time, if you haven't seen any of the three boxing films I named, I highly recommend you give them a chance because some great drama and performances are contained in them. John Garfield, Robert Ryan and Kirk Douglas all did some of the best work of their careers in them.
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23 hours ago, Hoganman1 said:
That was the second fight in 1965. Clay had become Muhammed Ali by then. The 1964 fight ended when Liston stayed in his corner at the beginning of round #7. It really did "shock the world" as Clay exclaimed. Everyone thought Liston would win easily. By the time the re-match occurred Liston wasn't in very good shape and Ali knocked him out in round #1. Ali went on to become arguably the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. Also, he went from being called a loudmouth draft dodger to one of the most beloved athletes in sports history.
I went to the Ali-Foreman fight on closed circuit TV. I knew Foreman was going to win but I bet on Muhammad, who was my sports hero, and I was going to stick by him no matter what. One of the great evenings of my life as I was shocked to see Ali shake up the world for a second time in ten years. Years later, after Foreman got over his bitterness from his loss, he and Ali became good friends and Big George has nothing but kind and gracious things to say about Muhammad today, both as a man and fighter.
Speaking of which, why doesn't Noir Alley show any boxing noirs, Body and Soul, Champion, The Set Up? The movies have brought us some powerful dramatics in those films.
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2 hours ago, Vidor said:
then again most every film in 1929 was bad because the early talkies were bad.
Have you seen Bulldog Drummond, with Ronald Colman? It's a tongue-in-cheek delight. Other than that, I think you're right about 99% of 1929 films.
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Tell Me In The Sunlight (1965)
Steve Cochran's final film, a low budget production shot on location in Nassau which the actor also produced and directed.
Clearly influenced by European filmmakers (Cochran had delivered a quite remarkable performance eight years earlier in Antonioni's Il Grido), this modest production is about as far from mainstream Hollywood as you can get. Cochran plays a cargo ship sailor at loose ends in Nassau. Lonely and looking for a little action he wanders through a sin strip section of the city, finally meeting a very pretty woman who turns out to be a headlining stripper in a local hot spot. Clearly a smooth pickup guy, Cochran doesn't want this encounter to be just another hit and run with a stranger and the girl feels the same way, hoping their encounter can be a meaningful one without rushing into the sex.
This is a film that manages to be sleazy, as well as oddly endearing. Cochran's weathered appearance is perfect for his role and his performance is completely convincing. In the role of the stripper girlfriend Shary Marshall delivers a remarkably natural performance that should have led to better opportunities in her acting career. There will be, however, a scene of forced sex in the film that is uncomfortable to view. It has been reported that two endings had been filmed for the production, with the one that Cochran preferred not making it into the final cut.
Soon after completing this production Cochran decided to scout locations off Guatemala on his yacht, getting two girls (one of them under aged) and a woman to accompany him. There would be a storm, however, with a mask on the yacht snapping. While trying to repair it Cochran became ill and soon after died of a lung infection. None of the women aboard knew anything about sailing and the yacht drifted for days before washing up in Guatemala. There were rumours of foul play regarding Cochran, with no evidence ever produced to prove same.
In any event, Tell Me In The Sunlight was not released until two years after his 1965 death, quickly disappearing at the box office and, with it, any chance of Shary Marshall's performance being noticed. The film is an interesting curiosity piece, a bit of a walk on the Nassau wild side, with an unexpectedly sweet story about two lonely people finding love mixed in. Cochran clearly had skill as a filmmaker, with this little drama now providing teasing hints of what might have been if he had lived longer. The actor, known for his carousing, womanizing lifestyle, was 48.
And, in what can now be seen as a moment of ironic foreshadowing, early in the film during his initial meeting with the girl, Cochran has one line of dialogue that strikes home.
"That's one thing I don't have too much of - time."
2.5 out of 4
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42 minutes ago, Hoganman1 said:
Wasn't there a reward? I assumed that was part of the motivation for turning them in to the police.
Yes, the reward was Lurene Tuttle's entire reason for turning Cochran in. We still don't know, though, just how well any operation went for her husband. I guess we are supposed to assume that all went well with the reward money for top surgery. The reality is, though, I suspect most viewers at the end probably aren't giving it a lot of thought so the filmmakers felt free to just let it go.
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For those who enjoyed Steve Cochran's performance in Tomorrow Is Another Day, for an idea of the actor's versatility, he reverts back to gangster killer form in Highway 301, a 1950 Warner Brothers melodrama that TCM occasionally shows. Steve plays the head of the Tri State Gang, a band of bank robbers who strike banks across three states. Cochran looks hunky and brooding in his beautifully tailored suits but his character is deadly for anyone who crosses him.
While the film has a cornball "Crime Does Not Pay" introduction and ending, it is quite an exciting gangster drama, highlighted by Cochran's incredibly casual attitude about shooting people down. One particularly suspenseful sequence involves Cochran looking for his girlfriend who he decides talks too much about the gang's activity.
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20 minutes ago, misswonderly3 said:
Do you mean "I Cover the Waterfront" ?
No, that's not the song. Cigarjoe already identified "Deep Night" as the one used throughout Tomorrow Is Another Day.
Since you say you haven't seen much of Ruth Roman, I might mention that one of her most appealing performances is in CHAMPION (1949), the boxing drama that made a star of Kirk Douglas. Ruth plays a waitress that Kirk romances and abandons (the rat!) and she brings a real warmth and vulnerability to her characterization. And, as you can see, a one piece white bathing suit doesn't do any harm either when it comes to her appeal in the film.
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I enjoyed Tomorrow Is Another Day very much, sappy happy ending or not. It's a shame that Ruth Roman is probably best remembered for Strangers on a Train today because she is really not at her best in that film, coming across as too cold (and that short hair style hardly heightened her attractiveness).
In this film, however, in the film's first half as the blonde dance hall hostess, she gets to play your hard boiled noir dame, but in the later scenes (following the hair dye job) she has a chance to portray a more sensitive side to her character, along with some emotional vulnerability.
I enjoy watching Steve Cochran in pretty much anything, including when he's playing a hard boiled tough guy, such as Big Ed in White Heat. But Tomorrow Is Another Day shows that he was a better actor than just a tough guy stereotype and could play vulnerability, as well. He's very effective as, essentially, an adolescent in a man's body who gets released from prison. He's unprepared for the outside world. You see his initial suspiciousness with strangers, combined with a naivety (his scenes with the reporter). Later come his awkward moments with women in his big city loneliness, followed later by a sensitivity, as well as paranoia.
Cochran brings a naive innocence to his character that makes him very sympathetic. A few years later Cochran would deliver another sympathetic performance as a flawed character seeking redemption in a little gem that recently premiered on TCM, Come Next Spring.
And I like some of the other little touches of sensitivity to be found in Tomorrow Is Another Day, as well, such as the reporter who refuses to lay charges after being assaulted by Cochran because he knows he did him an unfair dirty turn for the sake of a headline and had it coming. There is also, of course, the migrant family, headed by Ray Teal (for once not playing a loud mouth louse) and Lurene Tuttle. Tuttle's eventual betrayal of Cochran for the money to help her husband, and her tearful anguish over it, makes her no back stabbing villainess. She's a human being in a desperate situation forced into performing an action she despises. Who can't understand and even identify with her situation?
By the way, anyone notice that when the film ends, with all attention upon Cochran and Roman, we have no idea what will happen to Teal, badly in need of money for surgery following his accident?
Classic noir imagery
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7 minutes ago, cigarjoe said:
Here you go. Which one?
Soundtrack Credits
Deep Night
Written by Charles Henderson
Heard under opening credits, and several other times in the movie
Later heard under the opening of "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967), a more famous movie about a couple on the run from the law
A Little on the Lonely Side
(uncredited)
Written by Frank Weldon, Richard Robertson and James Cavanaugh
Played by the band at Play Land
I Cover the Waterfront
(uncredited)
Music by Johnny Green
Played by the band at Play Land
Trade Winds
(uncredited)
Music by Cliff Friend
Played by the band at Play Land
Get Happy
(uncredited)
Music by Harold Arlen
Played when Bill gets a new suit
Hey, Doc
(uncredited)
Music by Edgar M. Sampson
Played at the diner when Bill and Cay climb onto the car transportThat's great, cigarjoe. Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge.
I see that Deep Night goes back to 1929 and was sung by Rudy Vallee. It really works well on Tomorrow Is Another Day.
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Does anyone know the name of the popular song intermittently played on the soundtrack in TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY? It's played by orchestra under the film's opening titles and, early in the film, when Steve Cochran meets the reporter in the diner the reporter plays the same tune on the juxebox, commenting that the tune was popular when he was a kid and was making a comeback.
A lot of '40s noirs took advantage of popular songs at the time, using them for melancholy or romantic effect. The standard "Tangerine," for example, wafts through the air from a neighbour's home as Stanwyck and MacMurray eye one another for their final confrontation in Double Indemnity.
In any event, the song used in Tomorrow Is Another Day has a vague, wistful quality that appeals to me and I hope someone may know its name.
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What I noticed about the Laurel and Hardy shorts scheduled for Monday is that many of the early ones are silents, with BIG BUSINESS and TWO TARS perhaps the most noteworthy of them. To the best of my knowledge, unlike the boys' sound shorts, no company has issued DVD releases of their silents that really do them justice as far as quality is concerned. Used copies of The Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy, which featured their silents, now sell for big bucks as the discs are no longer produced. And the images of the silents even in that series is mediocre, at best. I wonder if the silent prints to be shown by TCM will be better than what is currently available in the DVD market.
Meanwhile Canadians with TCM, as usual, don't get access to Hal Roach Studios, therefore get stuck with the Bowery Boys. What have we done to be so punished?
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1 hour ago, SansFin said:
His performance is wonderfully nuanced. His moment of: "what do I do now?" when she does not act as expected during their first meeting is so subtle but so definitely there. Her downward spiral makes her harder and its dragging him down with her makes him weaker. Their scenes together are truly excellent.
I'm a fan of Dan Duryea. His performance in Too Late For Tears is memorable inasmuch as he plays a sleazy guy who turns out to have more scruples than the leading lady. He brings a touching vulnerability to the role of a not particularly nice guy. Duryea was not afraid to play a chiseler who turns into a weakling.
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1 hour ago, SansFin said:
Too Late for Tears (1949)
A classic question for discussion is: "What would you do if you found a bag full of cash?" This movie shows an amoral woman's answer: do anything and everything to keep it.
I am sad to say that the list of things she does are all spoilers. Suffice it to say that it is a vicious spiral of increasingly heinous crimes.
This is a tight noir and Lizabeth Scott embraces her role.
8/10
One of the interesting things about this film is how a wise guy who thinks he's pretty tough (Dan Duryea) turns out to be not nearly as tough or cold blooded as a woman with whom he becomes obsessed. As he becomes increasingly dependent upon alcohol in his downward spiral his character turns from nasty to pathetic, almost to the point of audience sympathy for him at the very end.
Too Late for Tears may be Lizabeth Scott's finest moment in the movies but it also has one of the best performances of Dan Duryea's career. He brings a lot to this noir.
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On 12/3/2020 at 7:54 AM, midwestan said:
Hey AndreaDoria...I found "Remember The Night" on the TCM schedule! It's playing on Friday, December 18 at 8 p.m. EST, and it will be the only showing of the film this year. It's one of my favorite holiday movies as well. Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck not only work well together, but with other cast members in other movies; they seemed like consummate professionals.
Yeh, but I always found MacMurray and Stanwyck shooting each other to death a pretty downer ending for a Christmas film.
Oh, wait, that's another movie, isn't it?
Never mind.
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How In The Sam Hill? - Swearing In The Movies During The Studio Era
in General Discussions
Posted
If I recall correctly, Howard does not act actually say the word "hell" but instead clears his throat with everyone knowing what he means.