Noirvember: The Locket (1946)

First of all, before I forget to mention this, The Locket is a film that I would love to see paired up with Marnie. Both films take a similar central idea, but they diverge to go on wildly different journeys. Or maybe they aren’t so wildly different. It has been far too long since I last watched Marnie. Either way, I would love to hear from anyone who either tries this double-bill or at least views the two films within fairly close proximity to one another. In fact, add Laura into the mix and you would be in for a very satisfying evening of entertainment with numerous connecting thematic strands.

Structured in a slightly convoluted way, showing flashbacks within flashbacks as we learn more and more about the main character, The Locket is all about a man (John Willis, played by Gene Raymond) who is all set to marry a lovely woman named Nancy (Laraine Day). Nothing can spoil the big day, but one Dr. Harry Blair (Brian Aherne) aims to do just that, forcing himself into the household to warn Willis against a huge mistake he is about to make. Harry knew Nancy for quite some time, and he knows that she has some big secrets hidden away in her past, including the way in which a past relationship (with an artist named Norman Clyde) played out.

Director John Brahm and writer Sheridan Gibney are both unfamiliar to me, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth knowing. Every day is a school day, right? That certainly applies here, especially after seeing what else these two people had a hand in crafting. Brahm has numerous films and a lot of TV work to his credit, but I am automatically inclined to like him most because of the dozen episodes he directed for The Twilight Zone. Gibney, rewriting something that was first developed into a screenplay by Norma Barzman, also seems to have some titles tucked away in their filmography that I will get to at some point, especially after enjoying this. There may not be a load of zippy dialogue, but the characters are sketched out nicely enough, and the flashbacks and shortcuts to various moments in time are effective at making viewers feel as bombarded and slightly disorientated as the character being told an entire life story in one go. It doesn’t all make sense, considering how various characters receive information, but things are so well put together that you don’t overthink anything until after the end credits roll.

Aherne and Raymond are both fine, the latter having barely any decent amount of screentime though, considering the way in which things are presented, and there’s a typically great turn from Robert Mitchum, as the artist who starts to see behind the perfect mask that Nancy wears, but it’s Day who shines the brightest, as you would expect. She is a near-constant bundle of carefree happiness, and often honest when confronted by people who decide to call out the worst aspect of her personality, and it’s a performance that keeps viewers onside, even as other characters suffer in her wake. It is also worth mentioning Sharyn Moffett, the young actress who does a very good job of portraying Nancy as a child.

Watching this after it was recommended to me, and recommended by someone who viewed it as a favourite underseen noir, I am happy that I found this so enjoyable. I didn’t love it, there’s nothing here that elevates it to a level of greatness, but I could see why someone would feel strongly enough about it to encourage others to seek it out. I will now do the same. Seek it out. You may well enjoy it even more than I did.

7/10

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Holiday Affair (1949)

Janet Leigh plays Connie, a young woman who is employed to shop at other stores and compare goods. She's a very nice kind of corporate spy. And Robert Mitchum is Steve, the salesman who knows exactly what she's up to as soon as she takes a toy train off his hands. That would be that, I guess, except for the situation that develops when she tries to return the train the next day. Steve becomes involved in Connie's life, meeting her young boy (Timmy, played by Gordon Gebert) and the man (Carl, played by Wendell Corey) who wishes to marry her, despite her reluctance to let go of the memory of her deceased husband.

Holiday Affair is the kind of light entertainment that shows how easy it can seem to get everything just right. A lot of the charm comes from the leads, but the pacing and fun script help a lot. One exchange in particular, one that occurs when Steve and Carl first meet, had me laughing aloud. Based on a story entitled "Christmas Gift" by John D. Weaver, Isobel Lennart provides a script that rattles along too briskly to allow viewers too much time to start picking things apart. Director Don Hartman goes with the flow, allowing the cast to carry the material without ever requiring them to lift anything too heavy.

Leigh is on fine form here. She's sweet and earnest, as a confused woman who wants to do the best by her son, but also doesn't want to leave her past completely in the past. Mitchum is at his best, as laid-back as usual, never holding back when it comes to saying what he means and meaning what he says, and very kind to everyone around him without ever appearing saintly. Corey also does well. He can't compare to Mitchum, although he does his best with a role that doesn't take the easy route of making him into any kind of major ass. Gebert is your typical gap-toothed, all-American kiddiewink from this era, and he's just fine. And it's worth mentioning that Harry Morgan has a small, but fun, role, because Harry Morgan is always worth mentioning, in my opinion.

I WAS going to end this review by commenting on the premise and plot developments not standing up to close scrutiny, with my main point being that they don't have to. The film keeps providing enough fun to ensure that nobody is overthinking things. Yet, it has to be said, this is actually one of the less fantastical seasonal movies that I've seen. The more I think about it, the more I realise that I think it entirely plausible. Okay, maybe not entirely plausible. But it's a Christmassy treat that manages to feel magical and delightful without having to include any angels, miracles or Santa Claus. Which is kind of a miracle in itself.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Film-Favorites-Classic-Blossoms-Happened/dp/B0050MB43A/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1417603922&sr=1-1&keywords=holiday+affair

Go on, you know you should really buy my e-book, that has almost every review I've written over the past 5 years. It's very reasonably priced for the sheer amount of content.
The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.

Noir November: The Night Of The Hunter (1955)

Let me start with a sentence that some may view as slightly contentious. I've never viewed The Night Of The Hunter as a flawless classic. It's a fantastic film, certainly, and an absolutely stunning work of art, but there are just too many minor niggles that stop it from being a perfect movie experience, in my view. The child actors aren't the best, especially in the first half of the movie, there are a number of moments that don't feel right, even within the fairytale construction of the film, and the end coda is a clumsy way of sending viewers away without too many troubles plaguing their thoughts.

Once everyone has stopped scowling at me for that opening paragraph we can move swiftly along. Trust me, the rest of this review is pretty glowing, which is why I wanted to get those negative comments out of the way right at the beginning (like ripping off a band-aid).

A man (Peter Graves) commits a robbery, killing two men in the process, and gets home to his two children (John, played by Billy Chapin, and the younger Pearl, played by Sally Jane Bruce) just before the authorities catch up to him. He doesn't have much time, but he's able to hide the stolen loot and swear the kids to secrecy. While spending time in prison, awaiting his execution, the criminal lets slip one or two words in his sleep that give his cellmate, a "preacher" named Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), the seed of an idea. When released, Powell heads out to befriend Graves' widow (Shelley Winters), thinking that he can find out where that money was put. If only things were that easy. She really has no idea where the money is, but it's not long until Powell realises that the kids might. And so begins a battle of wills between one mean sonofabitch and two children who want to keep a promise that they made to their father.

The one and only movie directed by Charles Laughton alone (although he directed some scenes in The Man On The Eiffel Tower),The Night Of The Hunter takes a number of separate elements that shouldn't work and brings them together to make something truly beautiful and haunting. More a series of gorgeous tableaux than traditional movie moments, light and shadow are controlled to illustrate this twisted Grimm-like story in a way not unlike shadow puppet theatre, or even deceptively simple illustrations in a book for children (the kind that hide horrible details in the background, available to all who look closely enough). A lot of praise must go to cinematographer Stanley Cortez for the overall look of the thing.

Adapted from the novel by Davis Grubb, the screenplay by James Agee is uneven, yet full of a number of quotable moments. Laughton helped to whip the script into final shape, but this is also a film in which the words are given more import by the actors speaking them, and the context of each line.

So let me get back to those actors. I'm not going to spend too much time discussing the supporting cast, although Lillian Gish, Evelyn Varden, Don Beddoe, James Gleason and the aforementioned Graves all do just fine, and I'm not going to discuss the kids either, who do much better when reacting than they do when trying to simply act. Winters is very good, especially considering that her role is perhaps the most difficult one to get right. She's a caring mother, yet also a woman needing comfort. She begins to be changed by Powell as soon as they start a relationship together, and although that passage of time is slightly rushed it still remains fairly convincing, mainly thanks to the performance from Winters. But the film belongs to Mitchum, clearly revelling in a turn that could easily be argued as the best in his entire career. Whether he's explaining his LOVE/HATE tattoos, charming people with lies and tales of morality, or just threatening small children without a second thought, he's consistently great, and certainly one of the greatest onscreen villains in cinema history.

There are many people who will give this movie the extra point that I have denied it. While I myself hold off from classifying it as an outright flawless classic, it's hard to argue too strenuously against those that do. Whether you like, love, or REALLY love it, this is a film that fully deserves the reputation it has gained over the years.

9/10

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Out Of The Past (1947)

Robert Mitchum stars in this classic film noir, directed by Jacques Tourneur and written by Daniel Mainwaring (using the name Geoffrey Homes to adapt his own novel, "Build My Gallows High).

When Mitchum first appears onscreen he is just Jeff Bailey, the owner of a gas station in a small town, causing small ripples with his blossoming romance with Ann Miller (Virginia Huston). It's not long until we find out about Mitchum's past, due to the appearance of a man named Joe (Paul Valentine). Joe wants Jeff to accompany him to meet up with a gangster named Whit (Kirk Douglas), which leads to Jeff having to tell Ann all about a tale from his past that he'd hoped to forget. A tale of love, crime and a woman named Kathie (Jane Greer).

A film that moves from relative light to darkness, Out Of The Past is noir in an almost literal sense, as a shadow falls over the life of the main character and starts to grow, consuming him and keeping him in its clutches. For fans of noir, and this film in particular, there's a much better review here by Christianne Benedict (damn her for being such a consistently better wordsmith and more knowledgeable cinephile than I am). But I will struggle on and try to write down my own thoughts on the film.

As you might expect from the talent, both onscreen and off, this is a class act, through and through. The script is very good, packed with information and small details that all feed into the plot, but the emphasis is on the visuals, as Mitchum is consumed by a past that he thought he'd escaped.

By the time the third act comes along, viewers may sense an air of fatalism. Many noirs have that aspect, but this one is more poignant than most. Mitchum is an anti-hero with a better heart, a character less deserving of any bad luck than most from these movies. Of course, he makes a few bad decisions, but he does so out of love, as opposed to greed (although it could be argued that such a strong love IS a form of greed).

The cast all do a great job. Mitchum may have been better, in my opinion, showing the cheeky charm that he showed in The Big Steal, and his best performance remains the peerless Night Of The Hunter, but he's very easy to like here, he's a flawed character that everyone will root for. Douglas is a great bad guy, all the more dangerous for being so charming and pleasant. Huston is sweet as Ann Miller, perfectly balancing out the cool, twisty turn by Greer as Kathie.

Rightly regarded by many as one of the classic film noirs, Out Of The Past manages to check all of the boxes, and deliver style and entertainment in spades, while still twisting things subtly to help it stand out from the pack. It also, unlike many other (still great) films in this style, manages to marry the cool, thriller aspects with some real heart.

9/10

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Crossfire (1947)

While investigating the death of a man named Samuels (Sam Levene), a Police Inspector (Robert Young) starts off with one prime suspect (an army lad named Mitchell, played by George Cooper) but soon realises that there may be more to the crime. Mitchell has Keeley (Robert Mitchum) on his side, but there's also someone (Montgomery, played by Robert Ryan) who seems determined to help the police strengthen their case against Mitchell.

Written by John Paxton, and based on the book by Richard Brooks, Crossfire is an enjoyable, dark thriller that also takes some time to highlight the ugliness of anti-Semitism while never feeling too preachy. There are one or two moments that stop the action in order to make a major point or relate an appropriate moral anecdote, but the performances from everyone onscreen ensure that the film never feels as if it's trying too hard to make its points.

Director Edward Dmytryk does a decent job, but most of the groundwork is laid out by both the fine script and the casting of the lead roles.

Young is great as Finlay, a conscientious policeman who doesn't take long to suspect that he may have been put on the trail of the wrong man. Mitchum doesn't have too many scenes in the movie, but he does well with what he's given. Cooper may be a bit weak in his role, but this works just fine, considering the nature of his character. Last, but far from least in this little tale of death and deceit, we have Ryan, who excels with a performance that makes him easy to hate. Gloria Grahame and Jacqueline White both do good work, with the former especially enjoyable as an unhappily married woman who may be able to provide Mitchell with a vital alibi.

It may be, in many ways, a low-key movie that focuses on characters more than major plot twists and turns, but Crossfire still manages to be surprisingly enjoyable and exciting from start to finish. It's well worth a watch.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Film-Noir-Collection-Kirk-Douglas/dp/B000UWXM1C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383652224&sr=8-1&keywords=film+noir

The Big Steal (1949)

Film noir purists may shake their head at The Big Steal being in the same company as movies such as The Killers and Double Indemnity, but that doesn't make the movie itself any less enjoyable.

What The Big Steal lacks in darkness and grit, it more than makes up for with charisma (thanks to Robert Mitchum in the lead role) and a cracking script.

Mitchum is a man who has been accused of robbery. To clear his name he must capture the real thief (Patric Knowles), a man who is also being pursued by a woman named Joan Graham (Jane Greer). The two pursuers initially mistrust one another, but end up joining forces to get to their target. Meanwhile, William Bendix plays a man who is chasing Mitchum and Ramon Novarro is an Inspector General who suspects that something is going on right under his nose, but allows everyone to go about their business while he keeps tabs on them.

Directed by Don Siegel, this feels more in line with adventure movies than film noirs. It's worth noting, however, that the script (by Daniel Mainwaring and Gerald Drayson Adams) has some great twists and turns in there. The first scenes play around with the identities of the main characters while the third act mixes some tension with one or two fun reveals.

Mitchum, who began his career in the 1940s and seemed to spend the next two or three decades making up for lost time, gives a wonderful performance here. He's as tough as he needs to be, and also charming enough to keep Greer, who holds her own alongside him, on his side. Knowles and Bendiz are both just fine, but it's Novarro who steals a number of scenes as he hides his intelligence behind a fumbling exterior.

While it's unlikely to make any "best of..." lists, this is a fun time from start to finish, especially for fans of the main stars.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Film-Noir-Collection-Kirk-Douglas/dp/B000UWXM1C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383568472&sr=8-1&keywords=film+noir+box+set