Noir Alley

[misswonderly3]

I agree with Looney...Roadblock is not a great noir by any means, but it's pretty darn good, and certainly entertaining and sufficiently noirish to please my noir-loving heart.   Unlike the thing they showed last week (but that horse has been flogged enough...)

So, as usual, "a few observations":

First, I'm getting tired of people mentioning Double Indemnity every time there's a crime movie with an insurance agent. Even Eddie, who ought to know better, said Roadblock bore some similarities to DI. No, not really. The comparison ends with that, the fact that the main character is an insurance investigation detective. Other than that, not like Double Indemnity at all.

Let me count the ways:  the so-called "femme fatale"  (but she's not !) does not try to get her lover to murder anybody, she never mentions the word "insurance", and she has a change-of-heart about how she wants to live her life less than half-way through the movie. 

In fact, there's no murder plot whatsoever, which is a huge part of the story in Double Indemnity. Ok, there is a murder, but it's not carefully planned step-by-step the way Babs and Fred do ; in fact, it's more like a move of desperation on the part of the hero (or anti-hero.)

The only similarity to Double Indemnity that Roadblock bears is the suspicious partner. The loyalty, trust, and friendship between Peters and his partner  (hey, it's Joe Brody !) makes the ending of this film all the more moving, just as the friendship between Fred and Edward G.'s characters does so in DI.

Yikes, I've blathered on so much about that, I'm going to save the rest for another post !

[cigarjoe]

I like the quick dig at the L.A.P.D. or whatever juristriction that they are at, when the crook tells Joe (I think after offering him a bribe)  "You're not like other cops." 

Joe replies "Thanks!"

[LornaHansonForbes]

my sound sync started going out AS IT DOES EVERY SUNDAY MORNING, but according to the schedule ROADBLOCK will be available ON TCM ON DEMAND (FYI, so is former NOIR ALLEY entry SUDDENLY), so I'm planning to watch it there.

[misswonderly3]

Ok, more about Roadblock:

Joan Dixon: Right, I must admit, I'd never seen her in anything else, never heard of her. Still, I was willing to give her a chance. I did end up kind of liking her, but a tough self-centred femme fatale she aint. First, she has this little-girlish voice that just didn't work - when women say lines like "I need someone playing for the World Series, and you're in the Bush Leagues", you want them to say it tough.  Joan just isn't tough enough.Which is ok, because it turns out that her character is NOT a classic femme fatale; in fact, I'd argue that she's not really a ff at all. Look, what about that Christmas eve scene, where she's all by herself in some lonely bar and rushes away in tears. I think we're supposed to think that that lonely Christmas eve experience is a "deal breaker" for her, and she has a complete ( and not entirely plausible) change of heart. She goes to Joe and tells him she loves him and no longer cares about "playing in the Big League".

After that, Joan's character (Diane) doesn't really seem to matter anymore. Once she becomes a nice girl and loving wife, I'm afraid she's sympathetic but not that interesting anymore, and apparently the writer and director feel the same; I mean, you could almost film the entire rest of  the movie without her and it wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. (Compare that to good old Phyllis in DI . )

Other notes:  I love the ostensible bad guy, Kendall Webb. I enjoy Lowell Gilmore's performance as Webb, for one thing. There's something very classy about this guy, he reminded me a little of Claude Rains. And he's depicted as , in his own bad guy underworld leader way, honourable. He's very straightforward with Joe about the train heist, and he even sends Joe his share of the money, even though it would have been fairly easy for him to "forget" to do this. Webb's "honour among thieves" character is made clear when Joe says, "I know enough about you to know you'll come through", or something like that.

So when Joe decides his only way out is to meet him in a lonely roadside place and off him, I'm disappointed in Joe and genuinely sorry for Webb. Hey, the guy didn't deserve this ! You know Joe's really gone off the rails ( no pun intended) when he kills this guy.

[Bronxgirl48]

Tried to get through ROADBLOCK but Joan Dixon made it virtually impossible.  I thought she was a terrible actress, no charisma, just wooden and very generic in the femme fatale department.

[misswonderly3]

56 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:

Tried to get through ROADBLOCK but Joan Dixon made it virtually impossible.  I thought she was a terrible actress, no charisma, just wooden and very generic in the femme fatale department.

So, you stopped watching it partway through?  Well, we're all different, of course, and there are probably lots of movie fans who do the same thing when they really can't stand a film, or even one particular actor in it.

Me, I tend to stick it out no matter what. A movie has to be incredibly horrible for me to abandon it. Usually once I've committed to watching a film, I'll watch it till the end. Especially with a noir, first because I just love them, even the bad ones or the ones with bad actors, and second, because almost all noirs are mercifully short. That's one of the things I like about them: they get in, tell their tale, and get out. It's rare for a noir to be any longer than 90 minutes, many of them aren't even that long.

Re: Joan Dixon: I know what you mean about her, I guess we can all understand why her acting career went nowhere. Too bad Howard Hughes always had to insist on sticking whatever his latest crush/lover/protegee into whatever movie project he was involved with at the time. As Eddie has said more than once, Hughes did this a lot. Another noir that comes to mind where the female lead has no charisma and I start thinking about who would have been better cast in their role is, Where Danger Lives.

As for her being "very generic in the femme fatale department", I attribute that to the fact that after about the first half hour, she's not really much of a femme fatale at all. (See my earlier post about this.) That's not Joan Dixon's fault, that's the writing....but still, I think I know what you mean when you say she's "wooden".  And I imagine everyone else at that studio felt the same way, since I'd never heard of her before I watched Roadblock this morning, and since as far as I can tell she wasn't in much else.  (looked her up in wiki and it's a very short list....)

[cigarjoe]

What's really perplexing is that we know Hughes liked big boobs, Joan Dixon didn't seem to have any, what was up with that?

[Vautrin]

I have to give McGraw one tough guy demerit for matching with Dixon instead

of just taking the bed and blankie for himself. She had just pulled a trick on

him so Charlie should have told her to take the couch or the floor and like it. 

And when the femmeist fataleist thing she ever does is pretend to be his

wife to get a reduced airfare, well that ain't much of a femme fatale. Maybe

that's why she turns out to be a good girl halfway through the flick. Charlie

was going to call off the robbery but someone, I think it was Webb, reminded

him that while she was okay with his crummy salary now, after a few months 

(or maybe a few years) she might get tired of that and miss her mink coat

and high livin' fix. I give McGraw credit for not even being at the robbery,

but still getting his cut. In hindsight, the plan to stick around at his job

for a while to divert suspicion instead of getting out of Dodge, or rather

LA, proved to be a rather big mistake. I was halfway hoping McGraw would

get away with it and ride off into the sunset with Ms. Dixon, but we all know

that wasn't in the cards.

 

[ElCid]

Forgot to record it both times, so ended up signing up for TCM On Demand (which I assume is free).   

As for the movie, had seen it before but forgot it.  The scene at the airport reminded me.  I think Joan Dixon did well in her role.  She played it the way it was written and directed.  I don't think every mystery or noir movie was supposed to have a femme fatale in the Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity) style.  Just as many did not have a totally evil primary male character.  This movie was of that type.

Overall I think it was a pretty good little mystery/noir movie.  Kept my attention even though I had seen it before and had to watch on my PC's monitor sitting it a not so comfortable chair.  

As for Where Danger Lives, I actually recorded that one many years ago and have not watched it since.  Faith Domergue just does not impress me.  Definitely a femme fatale role, but seems stiff.  Maybe I need to watch it again.

Eddie mentioned Howard Hughes' Harem again.  I did some surfing and came with a few old articles, but does anybody have more details on who was a part of it?  Eddie seems to imply that a lot of brunette actresses were part of it.

Not a great movie, but worth watching.

 

[cigarjoe]

HHH - Howard Hugues Harem

He dated - "Dates"

 

[Bronxgirl48]

4 hours ago, misswonderly3 said:

So, you stopped watching it partway through?  Well, we're all different, of course, and there are probably lots of movie fans who do the same thing when they really can't stand a film, or even one particular actor in it.

Me, I tend to stick it out no matter what. A movie has to be incredibly horrible for me to abandon it. Usually once I've committed to watching a film, I'll watch it till the end. Especially with a noir, first because I just love them, even the bad ones or the ones with bad actors, and second, because almost all noirs are mercifully short. That's one of the things I like about them: they get in, tell their tale, and get out. It's rare for a noir to be any longer than 90 minutes, many of them aren't even that long.

Re: Joan Dixon: I know what you mean about her, I guess we can all understand why her acting career went nowhere. Too bad Howard Hughes always had to insist on sticking whatever his latest crush/lover/protegee into whatever movie project he was involved with at the time. As Eddie has said more than once, Hughes did this a lot. Another noir that comes to mind where the female lead has no charisma and I start thinking about who would have been better cast in their role is, Where Danger Lives.

As for her being "very generic in the femme fatale department", I attribute that to the fact that after about the first half hour, she's not really much of a femme fatale at all. (See my earlier post about this.) That's not Joan Dixon's fault, that's the writing....but still, I think I know what you mean when you say she's "wooden".  And I imagine everyone else at that studio felt the same way, since I'd never heard of her before I watched Roadblock this morning, and since as far as I can tell she wasn't in much else.  (looked her up in wiki and it's a very short list....)

I did stick it out but must confess that, aside from Dixon as an actress or her character as written, "noir" films with titles like ROADBLOCK, ARMORED CAR ROBBERY and its ilk leave me cold because, immature as I am, lol, I prefer the more colorfully existential stuff in this style/genre like NIGHTMARE ALLEY, STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR, SCARLET STREET, etc.

[Dargo]

19 minutes ago, cigarjoe said:

HHH - Howard Hugues Harem

He dated - "Dates"

 

CJ, it looks as if you've dispelled that earlier comment of yours about HH's supposedly being fixated on actress with "bog boobs" here.

(...'cause, from just going down that list here, I really didn't see that many of those actresses who could legitimately be described as "zaftig" more than they could just as "well proportioned")

 

 

[misswonderly3]

17 hours ago, Bronxgirl48 said:

I did stick it out but must confess that, aside from Dixon as an actress or her character as written, "noir" films with titles like ROADBLOCK, ARMORED CAR ROBBERY and its ilk leave me cold because, immature as I am, lol, I prefer the more colorfully existential stuff in this style/genre like NIGHTMARE ALLEY, STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR, SCARLET STREET, etc.

Oh, I love all those noirs you mentioned ! That bizarre, semi-nightmarish, disorienting, or as you say "colourfully existential stuff" is one of my favourite kinds of movie. I suppose you could add to that list, Night of the Hunter (don't know if it's technically a noir, but it's definitely "colourfully existential" and nightmarish ) along with Decoy (doesn't get much weirder than that), and Kiss Me Deadly, just to name a few.

However, that's not to say that I don't really enjoy the less macabre, surrealistic noirs. I think they're fun, too.

As I've said on these boards, several times I think, the only kind of so-called noir I dislike are the ones that present a psycho-killer as the protagonist. I'm not talking about noirs that just have a psycho -killer in them (there are a lot of them ), I mean, movies that kind of give the viewer the story through the psycho's point -of-view. I don't hold with psycho-killers as people I can empathize with, unless it's in the Talking Heads song.    Qu'est ce que c'est?

[Vautrin]

Speaking of the Hughes' harem, I once read that Howie hid Faith Domergue in some

"love nest," and then forgot about her. I don't know if that's just another Hollywood

story or if it actually happened. I wouldn't be too surprised if it was true.

Hughes also was working on some kind of complicated mechanism for a bra that would

make Jane Russell's boobs appear to be even larger. Talk about carrying coal to Newcastle.

Maybe he could have done the same thing for Ms. Dixon to give her a little oomph in

the upper body area. 

[Sepiatone]

10 hours ago, Bronxgirl48 said:

I did stick it out but must confess that, aside from Dixon as an actress or her character as written, "noir" films with titles like ROADBLOCK, ARMORED CAR ROBBERY and its ilk leave me cold because, immature as I am, lol, I prefer the more colorfully existential stuff in this style/genre like NIGHTMARE ALLEY, STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR, SCARLET STREET, etc.

I'll admit, not the "best" movie of the genre I've ever seen.  But not that bad.  Now, I've never posted in this thread before, nor went out of my way to watch "Noir Alley" when originally aired, and not often the repeat the following Sunday morning.  Depends whether or not the movie seems  to be one I'd be interested in.  I mainly watched ROADBLOCK because there was nothing interesting on TV anywhere else, so why not? 

I must say though, that I could do well WITHOUT Muller's seemingly endless blather of "factoids" that probably most people couldn't care less about and only serves to attempt to make him appear "authoritative".  And possibly too, gives many a chance for a final "bathroom break" and kitchen trip before the movie begins. 

Sepiatone

[ElCid]

14 minutes ago, Sepiatone said:

I'll admit, not the "best" movie of the genre I've ever seen.  But not that bad.  Now, I've never posted in this thread before, nor went out of my way to watch "Noir Alley" when originally aired, and not often the repeat the following Sunday morning.  Depends whether or not the movie seems  to be one I'd be interested in.  I mainly watched ROADBLOCK because there was nothing interesting on TV anywhere else, so why not? 

I must say though, that I could do well WITHOUT Muller's seemingly endless blather of "factoids" that probably most people couldn't care less about and only serves to attempt to make him appear "authoritative".  And possibly too, gives many a chance for a final "bathroom break" and kitchen trip before the movie begins. 

Sepiatone

I watch Noir Alley specifically for Eddie Muller's commentaries, even movies I have on DVD.

I believe I saw Decoy once and found it weird, not my kind of Noir.  Have seen Kiss Me Deadly, but just never really got into it.  Same with Nightmare Alley.  While Mitchum is one of my favorite actors, Night of the Hunter is not my kind of movie and definitely not Noir.

[speedracer5]

1 hour ago, TheCid said:

I watch Noir Alley specifically for Eddie Muller's commentaries, even movies I have on DVD.

I believe I saw Decoy once and found it weird, not my kind of Noir.  Have seen Kiss Me Deadly, but just never really got into it.  Same with Nightmare Alley.  While Mitchum is one of my favorite actors, Night of the Hunter is not my kind of movie and definitely not Noir.

I also enjoy Eddie Muller's comments.  I like his presentation and the information that he presents.  His opening and closing comments plus the film makes for an enjoyable experience.

[misswonderly3]

12 hours ago, misswonderly3 said:

sometimes I still have trouble navigating some of the functions on these forums. Like, I can't totally delete a double post. So I just instead fill it up with something like this.?

 

[misswonderly3]

10 hours ago, Vautrin said:

Speaking of the Hughes' harem, I once read that Howie hid Faith Domergue in some

"love nest," and then forgot about her. I don't know if that's just another Hollywood

story or if it actually happened. I wouldn't be too surprised if it was true.

Hughes also was working on some kind of complicated mechanism for a bra that would

make Jane Russell's boobs appear to be even larger. Talk about carrying coal to Newcastle.

Maybe he could have done the same thing for Ms. Dixon to give her a little oomph in

the upper body area. 

Perhaps he was trying to figure out a way to make a new size-enhancing bra stuffed with coal.

[Hibi]

On 7/13/2018 at 1:55 PM, LornaHansonForbes said:

Have you seen the news lately? ****, I hope we all do.

LOL. Life on the edge..........

[ElCid]

14 hours ago, cigarjoe said:

HHH - Howard Hugues Harem

He dated - "Dates"

 

OK, a lot of pictures of women who Hughes may have dated.  To me harem means women with whom he had sex on a regular basis.  From what I have read, Jane Greer (included above) rebuffed Hughes and her career suffered for it.

[Hibi]

On 7/15/2018 at 9:25 AM, calvinnme said:

To whoever was having trouble with insomnia...sometimes you need a good pharmaceutical crack on the skull to get you back into the rhythm of sleeping. Zolpidem (generic Ambien) will do it.

As to noirs...Eddie Muller's wrap arounds crack me up! So many Howard Hughes stories connected to the RKO noirs and who was in them! And the badly titled Universal noir "Pillow of Death"? I had to look it up and see if the film existed. It does, and it was put on DVD in the Inner Sanctum mystery set.  I actually have that set and have never gotten around to watching it.  This is why I keep my DVDs - THAT will never be on Netflix!  It must be bad if nobody ever bothered to put a scene or two on youtube, else I would link those scenes into this post. Lon Chaney Jr. starred and the director was somebody who almost exclusively directed westerns.  With the wit and wisdom of Eddie Muller on Noir Alley and the charm and grace of Dave Karger during the weekend, it's like a little bit of Robert Osborne still survives on TCM.

 

Thanks I will ask about it..........(next week)

[cigarjoe]

8 minutes ago, TheCid said:

OK, a lot of pictures of women who Hughes may have dated.  To me harem means women with whom he had sex on a regular basis.  From what I have read, Jane Greer (included above) rebuffed Hughes and her career suffered for it.

Could be right, I'd just make a list of all RKO starlets and say that most are possible candidates, no? 

Supposedly HH had women stashed in f-pads all over Hollywood.

[Hibi]

12 minutes ago, TheCid said:

OK, a lot of pictures of women who Hughes may have dated.  To me harem means women with whom he had sex on a regular basis.  From what I have read, Jane Greer (included above) rebuffed Hughes and her career suffered for it.

I've also heard stories that many of these "girlfriends" never had sex with him or even saw much of him. He just liked to have them "on call". Yes, I've heard that about Greer too.......He had a certain type. Long haired brunettes with large bosoms........

[Hibi]

I'd seen Roadblock for the first time a year or two ago and liked it. I'd forgotten parts of it, so it was almost like seeing it for the first time again. That surprise beginning really threw me! I'd totally forgotten about that. Was nice to see McGraw in a sympathetic role (at least in the beginning) I thought Dixon was fine in her role also. The fact she turned out not to be a FF was an interesting twist.  Loved the ending and the final shot..........