Noir-vember: Framed (1947)

This is the stuff. This is what you want when you start to swim through the murky waters of lesser-known noirs. Framed is enjoyably fast-paced, very blunt, and hits a lot of the expected tropes. It's also helped by the stoic Glenn Ford in the lead role, as well as a fine turn from Janis Carter.

Ford is Mike Lambert, a mining engineer who we first see finishing up a job as a truck driver. That job ends with him crashing into someone's car, thanks to some faulty brakes. His employer doesn't want to pay up, or accept any responsibility, but Mike demands his pay and then passes a compensatory amount over to the man who had his vehicle damaged. Stuck in town for a little while, and hoping to find a job in his main field, Mike eventually meets a woman named Paula (Janis Carter). Paula helps him out when he is arrested and ordered to pay a $50 fine, but she sees that as an investment to get Mike roped into a scheme that she has involving the vice-president of the local bank, Steve (Barry Sullivan), and a prospector named Jeff (Edgar Buchanan).

With a tight and lively screenplay from Ben Maddow, director Richard Wallace does plenty to keep viewers distracted from the fairly low budget here. It helps that everything begins with the old standby of the "stranger coming into town", and the pacing feels planned around the introduction of the various characters. There's Mike, the crash that makes his moral compass clear, then Paula, then Steve, Jeff being optimistic about a find that he needs money to properly mine, and one or two other individuals who present some key evidence on the way to a final scene that should lead to some kind of satisfying conclusion, whether it's for our hero or villain.

Ford may not be the most charismatic performer onscreen, but he does well when required to be fairly decent and blunt, making him a good choice for the lead here. Carter is a delight, delivering the kind of turn that makes her character a very entertaining and convincing femme fatale. Sullivan and Buchanan both do well enough, and it's also worth mentioning the main sequence featuring Barbara Woodell and Jim Bannon as our hero pretends to be an investigative reporter looking for some answers to report on a crime that isn't as clear cut as it first appears.

Having honed his skills throughout the first half of the 20th century, Wallace may not be a director many would think of as being worth checking out, but his filmography has a number of treats scattered throughout. Framed is one of them. It's not the best, and lacks the star-power and real darkness of many others I could mention, but Wallace does well with what he's given, and I can imagine many other film fans will enjoy it just as much as I did.

7/10

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Mubi Monday: The Big Heat (1953)

Glenn Ford is a cop named Dave Bannion who cannot stand aside and turn a blind eye to the corruption going on around him in this fantastic, thrilling, film noir, directed by Fritz Lang. Bannion is shown at his determined best when called upon to investigate the suicide of another officer. It's not long until he realises that the story doesn't add up, leading him to head over and question the local crime boss (Mike Lagana, played by Alexander Scourby). This gets him into quite a bit of trouble with his boss, only made worse when he accuses him of being in Lagana's pocket, which gets him kicked off the force. But that's not the end of his involvement in the case, far from it, and the events that follow see him finding an unexpected ally in the shape of an ill-treated "gangster's moll" (Gloria Grahame). Perhaps the two of them can do what the police seem unable to.

You have pretty much everything here that you could want from a film noir, even if they're not as strictly pigeonholed as purists might like. The femme fatale, for example, isn't necessarily who you expect it to be. Bannion is a flawed hero in the way he storms into situations, not for any skewed moral compass. And the downbeat tone is woven throughout a number of main scenes as opposed to being dealt out in a bleak and nihilistic finale.

The script, by Sydney Boehm, manages to stretch everything out to just the right length without overcomplicating what is essentially a simple premise. You get a decent cast of characters who are all given perfect introductions. Lang directs everything with his usual level of skill, nothing too flashy but masterfully handling the material with just the right touch to keep it all entertaining, even as it bobs and weaves around some very nasty moments.

Ford is as dependable as ever in the lead role, not the best actor ever but one of the best at delivering dogged determination and a resignation to take the right path, not the easiest one. Grahame is a lively presence, lifting the film slightly as soon as she first appears, and Scourby is fine, outshone in the villain stakes by a young and heartless Lee Marvin. Jeanette Nolan is also very good, the widow of the deceased who may well know more than she is letting on.

Both typical and atypical as a film noir, this should still work for all fans of classic cinema. Did Lang ever make a bad film? From what I have seen so far, I have to say no.

9/10

Here's the blu for you.
American shoppers can get it here.

Experiment In Terror (1962)

It's fair to say that director Blake Edwards is best known for lighter, and often comedic, fare. The Pink Panther movies, Breakfast At Tiffany's, Operation Petticoat, and quite a few others. So Experiment In Terror stands out as one of his darker films, and it also stands out as yet another damn fine one from a damn fine director.

Lee Remick plays Kelly Sherwood, a woman who finds herself terrified one evening when a man accosts her in her own home and tells her that she will rob money from her workplace, a bank. If she contacts the police or attempts to stop the plan from unfolding then it will put the life of her younger sister (Toby, played by Stefanie Powers) in grave danger. Remick somehow manages to get the police informed (headed up by the dependable and assured Glenn Ford) and a tense game of cat and mouse unfolds as the deadline for the robbery nears and the police try to get their man.

Based on a novel by Gordon Gordon and Mildred Gordon (who gave themselves the imaginative title of . . . The Gordons), Experiment In Terror excels because of the little touches throughout that feel real and tense enough to keep you distracted from the sillier aspects of the main premise. Most of the scenes featuring Ford doing actual police work are very effective, and the two-hour runtime allows the tension to be ratcheted up while viewers get to learn a bit more about the main supporting characters.

Remick is very good in the lead role, often wide-eyed and tremulous with fear, and Ford brings the necessary gravitas to his part. Powers doesn't get to do as much, but is good enough, and Ross Martin is unnerving enough as the asthmatic baddie, often shown in shadow or just moving in the background as he keeps an eye on his prey. Even those with much less screentime - Roy Poole, Anita Loo, Patricia Huston, et al - do solid work.

Directorially, Edwards is as solid as ever. I've never really thought of him as a truly great talent, more so a damn fine one (as mentioned above), but his approach to the material here mixes the tense set-pieces with some plodding detective work in a way that keeps things interesting, well-paced, and genuinely gripping for a large portion of the runtime.

Unjustly overlooked, or forgotten, by many (including myself), Experiment In Terror is ripe for rediscovery. Fans of crime films and thrillers may find that they have a new favourite.

8/10

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