Noirvember: Dead Reckoning (1947)

If you're a younger film fan, or maybe just a casual film fan, and you can't quite understand why Humphrey Bogart was such a big star for a while then, forgive me, I would have to insist that you just haven't watched a Humphrey Bogart movie. The man is riveting, and often also feels like the personification of cool, and he had the added benefit of being placed in some great features. While not at the very top of any ranked list, Dead Reckoning is a very enjoyable noir that pairs our leading man alongside the lovely Lizabeth Scott. 

Bogart is Rip Murdock, a military man who ends up on a personal quest when he finds out about the death of a fellow serviceman. Not only that, he discovers that the man may not be who he thought he was, and he was suspected of murder. His quest leads him to meet Coral Chandler (Scott) and Martinelli (Morris Carnovsky), a criminal masquerading as a legitimate businessman.

Mainly written by Oliver H. P. Garrett and Steve Fisher, with various people responsible for the main story and adaptation, and directed by John Cromwell, there's nothing here behind the cameras to mark out Dead Reckoning as an above-average noir. It looks good enough, the screenplay has some excellent lines of dialogue sprinkled throughout, and the plot is both slippery and fairly easy to predict. That doesn't make it special though.

Bogart, however, Bogart makes it special. As does Scott. The two leads work well, particularly when sizing one another up and trying to maintain a relationship that is mutually beneficial, and Bogart feels completely at ease in a role that plays to his strengths. He's confident, smart and quick enough to recognise when he's being conned, and he's willing to risk letting someone inside his exterior armour if they can prove that they're not working an angle on him. Scott plays the ambiguity of her character all the way to the end, as expected, allowing viewers to constantly wonder about her role in the murder being investigated. Carnovsky doesn't need to be ambiguous. He's very enjoyable as a charming and unflappable antagonist, and Marvin Miller is also good value as his main henchman, Krause. Others worth keeping an eye out for are William Prince (in the small, but vital, role of Johnny Drake), George Chandler, James Bell, and Charles Cane.

More of a comfort viewing than many other noirs, thanks to the charisma quotient and the perfect pacing that helps the 100-minute runtime breeze by easily enough, this may not be considered essential, but it's one I will highly recommend to those who want to spend some time in the company of some star performers shining brightly in material that seems to have been nicely tailored around them.

8/10

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Dark Passage (1947)

This is much more like it. As much as I enjoyed them, I had inadvertently spent the past couple of days watching some film noirs that felt decidedly lighter than other films in that style. Dark Passage feels like it has everything you could want from a classic noir. A majorly flawed, perhaps truly dangerous, lead. At least one potential femme fatale. Supporting characters looking to profit from a bad situation. And Bogart and Bacall guaranteeing at least one or two moments that show a marked rise in temperature.

Based on a novel by David Goodis, this is written and directed by Delmer Daves, a solid director with a number of treats tucked away in his filmography (including this very title). It starts with a man escaping from prison, seeming to be undone by bad luck before a beautiful woman (Irene Jansen, played by Lauren Bacall) helps him reach somewhere he might be able to safely shelter for a while. The man, although unseen for most of the first half of the movie, is Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart), and he was in prison for the crime of murdering his wife. He claims that he's innocent though, but to stay out of prison he's going to have to go to some extreme lengths, including having his face changed (which explains the decision made to show the first half of the movie from his POV). But a different face is only worth a damn if nobody else is keeping a close eye on Vincent's movements. 

This is excellent stuff throughout, thanks to a lovely script, excellent cast, and the fact that viewers are pretty sure from the earliest scenes that they are really watching an innocent man growing increasingly desperate as he starts to look more guilty. The first half of the film may irritate some people, it’s a bit gimmicky, although it makes sense when we get to the midway point, but it is probably the best way to let things unfold without using any other tactic that could take you out of the movie completely. It helps that Bogart is our guide, that iconic line delivery helping us know where this will all be leading eventually.

While this isn’t the best work delivered by either star, both Bogart and Bacall are as good as expected in the lead roles. They always have brilliant onscreen chemistry, even when one of them isn’t visible onscreen, and both feel capable of handling their turbulent journey towards what they hope could be a happy ending. Agnes Moorehead is enjoyable in a supporting role, perhaps with a key to our lead’s proof of innocence, and Clifton Young plays someone who is set to really throw a big spanner in the works when he figures out how he could earn himself an easy payday. Bruce Bennett also has a small role, although he doesn’t get to do much, and Tom D’Andrea and Houseley Stevenson get to steal a couple of scenes as, respectively, a cabbie and a doctor who could turn out to be life-changing allies.

Although not a title I had heard mentioned in too many conversations about the classic film noirs, Dark Passage certainly already has enough fans that will be rolling their eyes and wondering what took me so long. There are one or two scenes that already felt familiar to me, due to them influencing other works (I would assume Spielberg is a fan, considering a certain sci-if title he made that feels indebted to this at times . . . or maybe that is just me), and I will happily rewatch this any time. In fact, I suspect I may enjoy my second watch a bit more as I settle into it while knowing what to look out for as the plot starts to unfold. Superb stuff.

9/10

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Noirvember: Key Largo (1948)

If you are going to swim in the murky waters of noir at any point then you are going to encounter either Humphrey Bogart or Edward G. Robinson, both men having started in some absolutely classic movies. Key Largo is a film that has them both cast in main roles, which makes it pretty much essential viewing. I had already seen it decades ago, but it was one I had been meaning to revisit for decades.

Bogart plays Frank McCloud, a man who has decided to pay a visit to the family of an old war buddy. He knows the hotel they run, situated in Key Largo, and that is where he ends up. Unfortunately, the hotel has been taken over by a gang of crooks, headed up by the notorious Johnny Rocco (Robinson). Frank needs to figure out a way to get out of there, but he also needs to help Nora (Lauren Bacall) and her father-in-law, James (Lionel Barrymore), who were, respectively, the wife and father of his old buddy.

Clocking in at about the 100-minute mark, Key Largo is a film that has a hell of a lot going on, yet never feels rushed. You get some great scenes for some of the supporting characters (a real highlight being Gaye, a drunk ex-nightclub singer, played by Claire Trevor), a sub-plot about some other fugitives on the run, giving an excuse for some vigilant police in the area, and a literal storm brewing that works for the plot and the atmosphere in equal measure.

The screenplay, by Richard Brooks and director John Huston, capably adapts the play by Maxwell Anderson and allows it to feel like a showcase for the actors, yet also allows it to feel less stagey than it so easily could have been. A handful of scenes showing events happening outside the hotel help, as does the brilliant finale.

Huston knows what he’s doing here, and he certainly already had a well-established working relationship with Bogart by this point, so it’s no surprise to find that this is consistently competent throughout, at the very least. I would still think of it as a slightly lesser-recognised film noir, however, especially when it comes to titles that could be named by more casual film fans, and that’s why many might be surprised by just how great this is. Because it is. I would personally sit it alongside many other titles that might usually be ranked ahead of it.

Bogart is his usual greatness, cool and calm under pressure, while Robinson is a hugely entertaining villain, purporting to be cheery and unperturbed even as problems keep arising that may upset his grand plan. Bacall is mesmerising yet again, and mentioning the chemistry between her and Bogart is like mentioning how we stay alive by breathing the air around us, and Barrymore works well in between the main characters, playing someone who is trying to hang on to pride while also trying to just get things back to normality. I have already mentioned Trevor as a highlight, she deservedly won an Academy Award for her performance, and there is also very good work from Thomas Gomez, Harry Lewis, John Rodney, and Monte Blue (the first two playing crooks, the latter two playing law enforcement).

My main criticism of the film would be in reference to the first 10-15 minutes. It’s an unsteady start, with Bogart entering the hotel akin to that familiar moment when strangers walk into a pub and somehow make every head turn as the jukebox dies, but once everyone is settled into the situation then it quickly improves, and it just keeps getting better and better, all the way to those superb final scenes.

I love it. I suspect those who have seen it will agree with me, but I also suspect that more people need to see it.

9/10

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Prime Time: Dead End (1937)

A film most notable for having the first appearance of the Dead End Kids (who would reach their peak, in my view, just one year later with their work in the classic Angels With Dirty Faces), Dead End is an enjoyable development of a play by Sidney Kingsley. Director William Wyler, and writer Lillian Hellman, manage to keep things tightly focused on the characters and the main issues being explored, class and the opportunities available to those in different parts of society, without it constantly feeling like something that could easily play out on a stage.

The plot allows plenty of time spent with the Dead End Kids, all of them trying to come up with schemes that will either amuse them or make them some money. The kids often congregate in one area, an area that allows the viewers to observe a cross-section of the people around them. Drina (Sylvia Sidney) is a lovely, but poor, young woman, and an older sister of one of the kids. Dave (Joel McCrea) is an architect currently doing some painting work while unable to remain employed in his preferred role. There are other characters around, including a spoilt young boy, his rich parents, and a police officer who might yet arrest one of the Dead End Kids. And there's 'Baby Face' Martin (Humphrey Bogart), a notorious gangster who is paying a return visit to the neighbourhood that he grew up in. Martin hopes to visit an old flame and his mother, but he may not get the welcome from either of them that he is looking for.

Your enjoyment of Dead End is going to rely on two things. First, how much do you like the screen presence of Humphrey Bogart. Second, how much do you like the screen presence of the Dead End Kids. I REALLY like Bogart. He's one of those actors who has been in many of the movies that you can see on any "classic films you must watch" list, which is all well and good, but the more variety of movies that you see him in, the better he gets. There's a reason for him becoming an icon. As for the Dead End Kids, I still like them enough to be able to enjoy a movie that gives them plenty of screentime. They're very broad caricatures, and there's not much to differentiate any one from any other (so it's best just to treat them as a collective at all times), but they're amusing enough. They also, in this instance, really exemplify the impact that maintains, and contributes to, the big gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Sidney and McCrea do good work here, managing to posit themselves as potential lead characters without overdoing things in an attempt to outshine Bogart or the kids. The script treats them well, they are the characters who are trying the hardest not to let their circumstances change them for the worse, but their situation runs parallel to the diversions caused by the kids and the potential threat posed by Bogart's character. It's worth mentioning Billy Halop as Tommy, one of the gang who gets himself in more trouble than the others. The fact that Tommy is the younger brother of Drina complicates things further, especially when the police start to pursue him more seriously, and Halop is enjoyably frantic and frustrated for most of the third act.

Despite some of the talent involved, this is still a film that is far from unmissable. The light tone, due to the focus on the Dead End Kids, holds it back somewhat. Even the important points being made are almost buried under the constant bickering and hijinks (although some of the hijinks are a bit too serious to be labelled as just hijinks). This is of interest to film fans who enjoy fare from the '30s and '40s, and I enjoyed it while it was on, but everyone else could easily give it a miss. You won't feel as if you're missing out on anything.

6/10

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Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

There are many movies that just don't hold up when you revisit them. They are tinged with a glow of nostalgia that quickly fades away in front of your older eyes. Many were just aimed precisely at the you as you were then, compared to the you of today. But many of the classics can be relied on not to disappoint. They endure for a reason. That's what I was hoping when I finally revisited Angels With Dirty Faces anyway, a film that I loved as a young boy, and a film that would always set me to tears every time I watched it (seriously, my mother would have a towel ready for me as things moved towards the finale, and I would cover my red, snotty, bawling face with it as the end credits rolled).

There's a bit more going on here than I remembered. I forgot, for example, that Humphrey Bogart played a shady lawyer who makes his name, and riches, off stolen loot that was being held for his client (Rocky Sullivan, played by James Cagney). And I forgot how the third act brings everything together, with a net closing around Rocky thanks to the persistence of a friend (Father Jerry O'Connolly, played by Pat O'Brien) who wants to clean the criminal element out of the neighbourhood.

But let me start at the beginning. Rocky and Jerry are first seen as a pair of cheeky kids. They try to steal some pens from a railway carriage, are caught in the act, and flee. Jerry slips, Rocky picks him up. They run. unfortunately, Rocky isn't quite as quick, which leads to him being caught. He won't give up his friend to help lighten the sentence, and so he begins a life mostly spent behind bars, in between further criminal activities.
Fast forward to Rocky and Jerry as adults, two men who ended up on two very different paths, but also two men who immediately rekindle their friendship when they meet up again. And both men end up offering a helping hand to a group of young larcenists (The Dead End Kids) - Jerry has known them for some time, Rocky meets the group when they try to steal his wallet. That's the main story. The kids idolise Rocky, once they realise who he is, and Jerry tries to use this in a positive way. Meanwhile, Rocky is also wanting to get his money back and make himself a more comfortable life, others will go to deadly lengths to stop that from happening, and there's a woman (Laury, played by Ann Sheridan) who catches the eye of our (anti-)hero.

Based on a scenario by Rowland Brown, Angels With Dirty Faces is a perfect combination of a wonderful script (by John Wexley and Warren Duff), great direction (from Michael Curtiz), and dazzling star power. It's also a perfect combination of gangster action, comedy, and a heart-swelling look at how strong the bonds of friendship can be when forged at the right age.

I am a fan of Cagney in pretty much anything he ever did, but this remains one of his best performances, allowing him to play the comfortable tough guy role that made him famous while injecting a lot more humour and sweetness. O'Brien is a bit stiffer in his role, but that's not a major negative, considering the very earnest and unwavering part he plays in the proceedings. Bogart is as good as ever (I may not have seen much of his work while a youngster, but became a firm fan of his in my adult movie-watching years), all about his self-enrichment and self-preservation, and Sheridan does well to make a lasting impression in a film that is otherwise all about the guys. As for the Dead End Kids, well, it's perhaps inevitable that I don't enjoy their antics quite as much today as I did when I was a youngster, but they're still an amusing and likeable bunch.

I eventually covered the beginning of the film and I guess I should end on the ending. I won't reveal any details, because I don't believe the age of a movie should let people assume that everyone already knows all about it, but I will say that it still packs a punch. It's in line with the whole direction of the story, it's played beautifully by all involved, and, yes, I may have had a quivering lip while I tried to stop my eyes leaking everywhere.

9/10

Here's a DVD copy available.
Americans can get it here.

Filmstruck Friday: The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)

There's no point in beating around the bush here, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre is another classic film starring Humphrey Bogart (who certainly either had a great nose for the best projects or a great agent landing him these roles). Directed by John Huston, it's a tale of the dark side of human nature, the ugliness that bubbles up to the surface when greed becomes the main motivator.

Bogart plays Dobbs, an American down on his luck in a Mexican town. He's reduced to asking people for change to get himself food, and he's not the only one in this predicament. Tim Holt plays Bob Curtin, a man very much in the same boat. After one particularly unfortunate episode, the two find themselves listening to an old man (Howard, played by Walter Huston) as he tells tales of prospecting for gold. If they can get together the initial outlay then they have a plan in mind. Which is what happens, leading to the three men heading to the Sierra Madre mountains. There's gold in them there hills. But there are also bandits, there are other people who may notify big businesses (who would muscle in and take over), and there are shadows that grow; shadows of paranoid and murderous thoughts.

The three leads here are all wonderful, with Huston (father of the director) being a particularly enjoyable presence, and that's essential for the film to work. It is, for the most part, a three-hander, the majority of the film focused on their fluid relationship and power dynamic. The script, adapted from a novel by B. Traven, takes just the right amount of time to set things up, helping you to be invested in the characters until things start to change for them. Then, and only then, it feels a bit rushed, with Bogart having to show a mean streak quite suddenly, but that doesn't make the unfolding events much less enjoyable.

Full of great moments, including one iconic exchange that will be familiar even to those who haven't seen this before, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre is a great blend of highs and lows. The first act gives you a taste of what to come, but only a taste, and then it develops into a cracking adventure that shows some of the best and worst of humanity.

Like a few other Bogart films I could mention, at least a couple of them also directed by Huston, you really do owe it to yourself to see this one. It's iconic, it's smart, it's a shining example of classic cinema and, in case none of that sold you on it, it's also hugely entertaining.

9/10

The movie can be bought here.
Americans can get it here.

Noir November: The Big Sleep (1946)

Directed by Howard Hawks, and with a cast that includes Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers and Elisha Cook Jr, The Big Sleep is a movie that I'm sure many could automatically rate as an outright classic. And it is one. Having said that, it's not perfect, with the main weakness seeming to stem from the source material (by Raymond Chandler). Perhaps I'm being slightly blasphemous, but there's never any real sense of danger here, or even anything that crops up in the second half of the film that causes you to care any more about how things will turn out. Of course, that's partly because everything is set up so brilliantly in the first half, with great characters given great dialogue.

Bogart is Philip Marlowe, that most famous of American private detectives. He starts to get himself into trouble, as usual, when hired by an elderly man (General Sternwood, played by Charles Waldron) to investigate a case of blackmail. The old man has two daughters, one a bit of a wild child (Vickers) and the other a real tough cookie (Bacall). Marlowe wants to ensure that neither one ends up being the focus of any unwanted attention, but he soon ends up with a corpse or two added to the mix, at least one missing person he wants to track down, and some heavies intent on stopping him from sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.

Hawks is a good director, as fans of classic cinema already know, but it's hard to appreciate his craft when the leads are stealing your attention throughout the movie. The script, by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman, absolutely crackles during every exchange of dialogue. I can't think of one major scene that doesn't have some eminently quotable lines in there. It's just a shame that it can't remain as pitch perfect when it comes to the twists and turns of the plot, and the resolution. The climax, in particular, feels a bit rushed and, well, anti-climactic. Perhaps that's because the case itself doesn't have too much to interest the viewer, or perhaps it's inevitable after so many great scenes filling up the rest of the runtime.

Bogart is brilliant for every second that he's onscreen, as he so often was with this type of role. Tough, verbally dextrous, smart, and cynical. Bacall matches him almost every step of the way, although her character does have weaker moments, as the plot demands. Everyone should know by now that the two have a chemistry together you can't manufacture so the real surprise comes from seeing how much fun occurs when Bogart shares scenes with Vickers (who is wonderful), the gorgeous Dorothy Malone (not in it for long, but long enough to make an impression), or Sonia Darrin. Waldron is very good in his relatively small role, Elisha Cook Jr. pops up for a few scenes, and John Ridgely makes for a decent antagonist (but is he a villain or a red herring?).

It's not a perfect film, not to me, but it comes close. Very close.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/TCM-Greatest-Classic-Films-Collection/dp/B002945DUM/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1416317112&sr=8-6&keywords=the+big+sleep

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

"My guess might be excellent or it might be crummy, but Mrs. Spade didn't raise any children dippy enough to make guesses in front of a district attorney, and an assistant district attorney and a stenographer."

That is just one of the many gems that will tickle your ears as you watch The Maltese Falcon, another of those classic movies that you watch and quickly realise just how deserving of its status it is.

Humphrey Bogart stars as detective Sam Spade, a man dragged into quite a sticky situation by the titular item of great value. Well, he is first dragged into the situation by a young, nervous woman (Mary Astor). After the death of his partner and another man, Spade is made to feel some pressure from local police. Then it's the turn of a man named Joe Cairo (Peter Lorre). And last, but not least, Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) and his right hand man (Wilmer, played by Elisha Cook Jr.) show just how much they want their hands on the artefact.

Directed by John Huston, who also wrote the screenplay (based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett), this is one of the best directorial debuts I can think of. Of course, Huston had been writing films for over a decade, so he certainly gave himself the best start possible by creating such a great script, but there's something else that makes this so completely and utterly brilliant. The cast are all great, and the camerawork is great, but the different aspects of the film come together to be more than just the sum of their parts. It's pure movie magic.

Bogart is, in case you didn't already know, brilliant in the lead role, and he's surrounded by such a wonderful variety of people doing some of their best work. Astor is very good, but her character impacts the events more offscreen than on. Peter Lorre is someone I will forever be a fan of, and this is yet another great turn from him, while Greenstreet and Cook Jr. both do great in two very different roles, with the former being polite and eloquent while the latter would rather use his gun, if given the chance. And then there's Lee Patrick, adding to the many pleasures that this movie has to offer as Effie, Sam Spade's secretary and, potentially, the most reliable person in the entire movie.

If you haven't seen The Maltese Falcon by now then do so immediately. With that script, that cast, the most famous MacGuffin since "Rosebud" and everything else coming together so perfectly, this is essential viewing for cineastes.

10/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maltese-Falcon-Disc-Special-Edition/dp/B000IOMZTM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1385562226&sr=8-5&keywords=the+maltese+falcon

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Steve Martin is detective Rigby Reardon in this amusing, but respectful, slice of fun that makes great use of clips from many classic films of the 1940s (there may be a few movies that come just before or after this decade, but I couldn't say for certain). Reardon has been given a case by the beautiful Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward), a woman who can sucket a bullet from a gunshot wound, and as he starts to make some headway he soon finds himself in more and more danger. Ain't it always the way.

This black and white outing sees the comedy star teamed up once again with director Carl Reiner, with the pair working on the script with George Gipe, so fans of that relationship will find plenty to enjoy here. There's the usual silliness, but there's also an impressive amount of smart manipulation on display. Every plot development and minor detail is carefully placed onscreen to allow the interaction between Martin and the classic movie characters to seem effortless. The fact that the scenes are often twisted into something comedically brilliant is a big plus, but noir fans may well find themselves falling in love with the "greatest hits" selection of clips put to use.

While there may not be as many moments that stand out as being downright hilarious, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid still has plenty that will stay in the memory of fans who can then go on to share those gags with other fans. The running gag about Reardon's special cup of java, the reaction from the words "cleaning woman", a number of great lines from the ongoing voiceover narration and more.

The main players all do well, including Reiner, who decided to give himself a small role rather than just stay satisfied with his directing and co-writing duties. Thankfully, the performances from people such as Bette Davis, Burt Lancaster, James Cagney, Cary Grant, Veronica Lake, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner and, especially, Humphrey Bogart are all as good as you may remember them being, making the film a pleasure to watch even in between the numerous laughs.

It always feels to me as if Reiner and Martin did many more movies together, but the total was only four. They just happened to be four comedies that either still rank as outright classics, or at least come very close. Don't miss this one, and don't miss any of the others either.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Martin-Collection-DVD/dp/B000QJMSFA/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1373746372&sr=1-1&keywords=steve+martin