Cornell Woolrich adaptation to film

[chaya bat woof woof]

I've read Cornell Woolrich's I Married a Dead Man.  The other day, I watched a horrible adaptation, which I hope never shows up on Noir Alley: Mrs. Winterborne.  There were two earlier remakes.  One of them had Barbara Stanwyck in the lead role.  None of the movies retained the original title.  Has anyone seen any of the three adaptations?  I would like to see the Barbara Stanwyck version (not sure about spelling of her last name).  Excuse typos.  This is my first post.

[jamesjazzguitar]

On 4/29/2020 at 11:17 AM, chaya bat woof woof said:

I've read Cornell Woolrich's I Married a Dead Man.  The other day, I watched a horrible adaptation, which I hope never shows up on Noir Alley: Mrs. Winterborne.  There were two earlier remakes.  One of them had Barbara Stanwyck in the lead role.  None of the movies retained the original title.  Has anyone seen any of the three adaptations?  I would like to see the Barbara Stanwyck version (not sure about spelling of her last name).  Excuse typos.  This is my first post.

You have Babs last name spelled correctly.     As for the film she was in,  it is titled No Man of Her Own and I have seen it a few times.    While not one of her better films (Stanwyck is my #2 favorite actress),   the film is well made and directed by Mitchell Leisen, features underrated secondary female lead Phyllis Thaxter and has some fine moments,  but not enough of them.

The film is called a film noir drama and to me that is the problem;   either make it more of a film noir (darker),  or more of just a romance gone-wrong drama.    The 'mix' of the two just waters down the overall film (but to be fair that is the problem of the original story).

I haven't seen any of those later adaptations but I rarely see any films made after 1969 (ha ha,  but only joking to a degree here).

Oh,  and I like that you used the term 'adaptation';  I try not to use the term 'remake' since it is rare that a producer (or producers),   get together and decide to make another version of a film.  Instead they find original source material  (book, short-story,   play),   and make their own adaptation.   

It is the viewers of film that use 'remake' because they have seen a prior (often first one),  adaptation. 

 

[chaya bat woof woof]

I repeatedly misspell names if I don't have another window open to do a spellcheck.  Out of curiosity, what are your favorite noir films.  An article in the NY Times said they would include the color film Leave Her to Heaven.  Personally, I have seem Laura (also Gene T. and Vincent Price) enough times to quote the dialogue.  I like the rare gems that the Noir Alley host shows.  One film I would like both your and his opinion on is Harper (which is really Archer from Ross McDonald aka Kenneth Millar - his wife, Margaret, wrote psychological mysteries).  Paul Newman and Strother Martin meet again.  Great cast (sequel wasn't great) and good movie.

 

[jamesjazzguitar]

Some of my favorite noir films are :

The Maltese Falcon  (Bogart,  directed by John Huston),   The Big Sleep (Bogart \ Bacall,  directed by Howard Hawks),   Laura,    Out of the Past (Mitchum,  Douglas,  Greer),   The Killers (Lancaster,  Ava Gardner),   His Kind of Women (Mitchum and Jane Russell),   Night and the City (Richard Widmark,  Gene Tierney),   Cry of the City (Victor Mature,  Richard Conte),    The Postman Always Rings Twice (John Garfield,  Lana Turner),   Criss Cross (Lancaster,  Dan Duryea,  Yvonne De Carlo),  and The Asphalt Jungle (Sterling Hayden,  directed by Huston),  and many, many more.

I also enjoy a lot of the 'B'  noirs like The Set Up and The Hitch Hiker,  directed by Ida Lupino.

 As for Harper;   This 60s film isn't from the classic noir period but there is a lot to like about it,  especially the actresses in Lauren Bacall,  Julie Harris,  Janet Leigh and Shelley Winters.     Fan of Paul Newman and the story moves along well.     But there are not enough noir visuals for my taste. 

 

[TopBilled]

4 hours ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

Some of my favorite noir films are :

The Maltese Falcon  (Bogart,  directed by John Huston),   The Big Sleep (Bogart \ Bacall,  directed by Howard Hawks),   Laura,    Out of the Past (Mitchum,  Douglas,  Greer),   The Killers (Lancaster,  Ava Gardner),   His Kind of Women (Mitchum and Jane Russell),   Night and the City (Richard Widmark,  Gene Tierney),   Cry of the City (Victor Mature,  Richard Conte),    The Postman Always Rings Twice (John Garfield,  Lana Turner),   Criss Cross (Lancaster,  Dan Duryea,  Liz Scott) and The Asphalt Jungle (Sterling Hayden,  directed by Huston),  and many, many more.

CRISS CROSS stars one of my favorite actresses, Yvonne De Carlo. Not Lizabeth Scott. 

[jamesjazzguitar]

1 hour ago, TopBilled said:

CRISS CROSS stars one of my favorite actresses, Yvonne De Carlo. Not Lizabeth Scott. 

Just wanted to ensure someone was actually reading what I post! (ha ha).    Thanks for that correction.     I was thinking about I Walk Alone (a film that stars Burt and Liz),  and got myself all mixed up.     I have seen Criss Cross at least 5 times and it is my favorite DeCarlo film,  as well as a fine noir due to Dan Duryea and Lancaster.

 

 

[TopBilled]

26 minutes ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

Just wanted to ensure someone was actually reading what I post! (ha ha).    Thanks for that correction.     I was thinking about I Walk Alone (a film that stars Burt and Liz),  and got myself all mixed up.     I have seen Criss Cross at least 5 times and it is my favorite DeCarlo film,  as well as a fine noir due to Dan Duryea and Lancaster.

Yes, I was reading what you had posted!  

I thought maybe when you typed Duryea's name, you started to think about TOO LATE FOR TEARS, which of course features Duryea with Scott.

[chaya bat woof woof]

Big fan of Duryea.  His biography is very interesting and his son was on Star Trek (original).

[chaya bat woof woof]

Missed the original post.  L. Scott is the poor man's Bacall.  I don't quite remember I Walk Alone.  Have you seen the two movies (very similar) with Joan Bennet, Duryea and Edward G. Robinson?  Dan Duryea is also excellent in the non-noir film The Little Foxes.  Love the classic scene where Davis ignores Herbert Marshall's pleas for help.  

 

[chaya bat woof woof]

To jamesjazzguitar:  I'm also a fan of Newman (and jazz). I love the Asphalt Jungle (and many John Huston movies).  I'm also a fan of Ida Lupino (who made her own noir films).  I just watched the original Night and the City (love Widmark in Kiss of Death) and Laura.  There is a film that Criss Cross reminds me of (just the name - Crossfire?).  It is about an anti-Semitic killing (Sam Levine, I think, who is also in The Killers).  The film has three Roberts:  Mitchum, Ryan and Young.

[TopBilled]

31 minutes ago, chaya bat woof woof said:

Missed the original post.  L. Scott is the poor man's Bacall.  I don't quite remember I Walk Alone.  Have you seen the two movies (very similar) with Joan Bennet, Duryea and Edward G. Robinson?  Dan Duryea is also excellent in the non-noir film The Little Foxes.  Love the classic scene where Davis ignores Herbert Marshall's pleas for help.  

Lizabeth Scott teams up with Humphrey Bogart in the Columbia noir DEAD RECKONING (1947). While I like Scott a lot, I can't help but think that was a role intended for Bacall...with Scott stepping in to replace her for some reason.

Dan Duryea was not only in THE LITTLE FOXES (1941) as Leo Hubbard, but he also appeared in the prequel ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST (1948). That time he played Leo's father Oscar Hubbard. I think he's the only main actor to appear in both films.

[chaya bat woof woof]

I saw both Little Foxes and Another Part of the Forest.  I think Duryea is also in a noir film with Deanna Durbin.  It is comes across as comedy noir (E. E. Horton in it) and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to guess the villain or killer (an atypical role for the actor Ralph Bellamy?).

 

I've also seen Dead Reckoning (prefer Dark Passage (David Goodis) with Bacall and Bogart, plus Endora AKA Agnes Moorehead (sp?).  You don't get to see Vincent's face in the film until it matches Bogart's.  Lizabeth Scott is also paired with Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas, and Barbara Stanwyck (sp?) in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (title something like that).  Judith Anderson in a minor but pivotal role (she was also great in Laura and as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca (the femme fatale is dead - the first wife - really shocking when I first read it).  Excuse typos.

[TopBilled]

On 5/4/2020 at 8:59 AM, chaya bat woof woof said:

I saw both Little Foxes and Another Part of the Forest.  I think Duryea is also in a noir film with Deanna Durbin.  It is comes across as comedy noir (E. E. Horton in it) and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to guess the villain or killer (an atypical role for the actor Ralph Bellamy?).

I think you're referring to LADY ON A TRAIN (1945).

Deanna Durbin was also in a noir with Gene Kelly, called CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY (1944).

[chaya bat woof woof]

Yes, that was the movie.  I believe that she wasn't originally slated for the role.  E.M. on Noir Alley usually has great backstories on the movies, including casting.  I don't know if I posted this before but, while I've never seen it on Noir Alley, TCM runs Suspicion almost ad nauseum.  The source material has Grant's character actually the villain/trying to murder his wife but it was changed because it was felt that people didn't want to see Grant as a murderer.