Ken and Robin Consume Media: Noir City Chicago 2024
September 10th, 2024 | KenH
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
Robin is RVIFFing this week, as you can see by perusing his posts from the front couches.
The Pinnacle
Odd Man Out (Film, UK, Carol Reed, 1947) Wounded in a Belfast payroll robbery, IRA leader Johnny McQueen (James Mason) tries to survive and escape the hated British police cordon. Begins as crime thriller and ends up in wild Expressionist passion play, so you have to hold on for the run and trust Reed in the many key change-ups. A superlative cast, shot mostly on location by Robert Krasker (his first cinematographer gig), superb but never intrusive musical score, and a nearly impossible blend of existential comedy and agony.—KH
Recommended
Brute Force (Film, US, Jules Dassin, 1947) Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) is determined to escape Westgate Prison, and sadistic guard captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn) is determined to break him, or worse. A crew of Hey It’s That Guys given life and individuality by a terse, economical Richard Brooks script keep the “society is prison” theme from lumbering what in the end remains a super-violent (for the era), compellingly watchable (for any era) thriller.—KH
Hardly a Criminal (Film, Argentina, Hugo Fregonese, 1949) Impatient gambler José Moran (Jorge Salcedo) defrauds his company for a big payoff, counting on doing his maximum six-year sentence and coming back for the dough. Salcedo deftly and charmingly walks the scoundrel-scumbag line through a film that likewise dodges between neo-realism and noir for 88 packed minutes.—KH
Ossessione (Film, Italy, Luchino Visconti, 1943) Tramp Gino (Massimo Girroti) stops at a roadside trattoria to seduce Giovanna (Clara Calamai), the wife of the loutish owner Giuseppe (Juan de Landa), and the lovers plot his murder. Uncredited adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice deletes the legal subplot in favor of giving Gino a foil (Elio Marcuzzo) representing male freedom through irresponsible homosociality (at least). The result is an oddly formalist melodrama shot in neo-Realist style, which works much better than it sounds like it should.—KH
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Film, US, Tay Garnett, 1946) Tramp Frank (John Garfield) stops at a roadside diner to seduce Cora (Lana Turner), the wife of the cheap owner Nick (Cecil Kellaway), and the lovers plot his murder. Untangles the James M. Cain source novel somewhat, at the cost of narrative clarity and breathing room, but remains a foundational feast of noir. Hume Cronyn almost walks away with the part of Keats the lawyer, but this is Lana Turner’s film throughout.—KH
Victims of Sin (Film, Mexico, Emilio Fernández, 1951) Nightclub dancer Violeta (Ninón Sevilla) takes in another dancer’s abandoned baby by pimp Rodolfo (Rodolfo Acosta) and destroys her life. Best-of-breed rumbera film (think “rhumba noir morality play”) provides plenty of dancing and musical numbers — seldom has the melos been better in any melodrama. The story, by contrast, expands and contracts at seeming random, accentuating the somewhat surreal feel established by cinematographer Miguel Figueroa.—KH
The Window (Film, US, Ted Tetzlaff, 1949) Perennial fibber Tommy (Bobby Driscoll) sees a murder from the fire escape but his parents don’t believe him. Driscoll’s Oscar-winning acting job propels a terrific juvenile version of the Hitchcock plot, this one based on a Cornell Woolrich story, through a Greenwich Village superbly shot on location. Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman excel as the murderers, although Hitch probably wouldn’t have let them turn quite so desperate and stupid quite so soon.—KH
Zero Focus (Film, Japan, Yoshitaro Nomura, 1961) When her ad-man husband Kenichi (Koji Nambara) disappears from a business trip to Kanazawa, newlywed Teiko (Yoshiko Kuga) unravels secrets of his past. Almost flawless noir mystery makes the most of the cold natural sea and snow of Ishikawa prefecture, along with Kuga’s restrained, internalized acting. Nomura’s focus on process, system, and trains puts one in mind of a Japanese David Fincher.—KH
Good
Cast a Dark Shadow (Film, UK, Lewis Gilbert, 1955) Edward “Teddy” Bare (Dirk Bogarde) murders his elderly wife and sets his sights on feisty barmaid-turned-rich-widow Freda Jeffries (Margaret Lockwood). Retains too much of the drawing-room staginess of its source material, but every so often achieves genuine grue or rich dark comedy. Enjoyable, if mostly predictable; Bogarde and Lockwood are by far the best things in it.—KH
Never Open That Door (Film, Argentina, Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1952) Two minor Cornell Woolrich stories become two halves of a portmanteau suspense thriller: a man’s sister driven to destruction by a mysterious phone caller, and a blind woman’s criminal son comes home at last. The surprise endings don’t, but the visuals stay hopping and inventive throughout thanks to cinematographer Pablo Tabernero.—KH
