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Well, I'm back from vacation. I know you all missed me dreadfully.
As always, brought to you courtesy of AFI. Please forgive any typos.
THE MALTESE FALCON (1941 – Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre)
Director/Screenwriter John Huston’s fast-paced directorial debut features Humphrey Boagart as detective Sam Spade. Spade’s attempt to solve the murder of his partner is intertwined with recovering the elusive statue of a black bird. All efforts are impeded by mysterious femme fatale Astor, a corpulent Greenstreet, and a neurotic Peter Lorre. The masterpiece’s low-key cinematography helped make “film noir” the dominant style of 1940s detective movies.
Must of Huston’s renowned dialogue comes from Dashiell Hammett’s novel and two earlier film adaptations. Broadway star Greenstreet made his film debut in this movie at the age of 62.
REBECCA (1940 – Starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson)
Daphne du Maurier’s gothic romance was the source for Director Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. It takes place at the grand seaside estate Manderley. There naïve young bride Fontaine is tormented by the overbearing presence of Rebecca, her husband’s (Olivier’s) late wife, and the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Anderson), who worships her dead mistress.
Producer David O. Selznick wanted the film to star Carole Lombard and Ronald Colman. His second choices for the male lead were Olivier and William Powell. Olivier was willing to work for $100,000 less than Powell, so he got the part.
LAURA (1944 – Starring Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, Dana Andrews, and Vincent Price)
Tierney’s beauty, David Raksin’s haunting music – the title song became a classic – and Webb’s caustic performance as Waldo Lydecker are the linchpins of Director/Producer Otto Preminger’s film noir classic about the detective’s obsession with a supposedly murdered woman.
Rouben Mamoulian (THE MARK OF ZORRO) was originally the director of this cult classic, until Producer Preminger and Twentieth Century-Fox production chief Darryl F. Zanuck saw the dailies. Zanuck fired Mamoulian two weeks into the production, and Preminger then directed as well as produced. The film’s most famous image, the painting of Laura, was actually an enlarged photograph of Tierney that was smeared with oil paint to soften the outlines.
(Note from Irv: If you’ve never seen this film, I highly recommend it. You’ll most likely find it in the Classics section at your local video store. Tierney was indeed one of the most drop-dead gorgeous women to ever grace the screen, and she was a fine actress. I’d also recommend LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN. I read that book before seeing the movie, and after seeing Tierney as Ellen Berent, I can’t imagine anyone playing the part better than she.)
GILDA (1946 – Starring Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford and George Macready)
“I can never get a zipper to close. Maybe that stands for something. What do you think?” – Gilda (Rita Hayworth)
In her signature role as a spoiled, pleasure-hungry married woman, the ravishing Hayworth proves once again that sex sells, as Gilda sings “Put the Blame on Mame” and hypnotizes Ford’s gambler in this noir tale of international intrigue in South America. Her “Oh Johnny” when they are introduces is one of the most erotic utterances in film history.
Although most of Hayworth’s singing was dubbed, she did sing the acoustic version of “Put the Blame on Mame.” Apparently, Hayworth’s performance in the film was so impressive that atomic scientists on the Bikini atoll named an atomic bomb “Gilda” and painted her picture on it.
FORCE OF EVIL (1948 -- Starring John Garfield, Thomas Gomez and Beatrice Pearson)
An underground classic, this noir tale about a New York lawyer corrupted by greed and his brother, a numbers- runner, is noted for its atmospheric photography, street dialogue, and Garfield’s wide-ranging performance.
Director/Screenwriter Abraham Polonsky first established himself as a screenwriter with films like BODY AND SOUL and GOLDEN EARRINGS. This sleeper was his directorial debut. In 1951 he was subpoenaed to appear before the House Un- American Activities Committee, and after refusing to affirm or deny membership in the Communist Party, was blacklisted. During the period of the blacklist, he worked as an uncredited writer for film and television. In 1968 Polonsky received screenplay credit for the film MADIGAN, the first time his name appeared on-screen since the blacklisting. He didn’t direct another picture until 1969 with TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE.
(Note from Irv: I love John Garfield. You know him from the original (and superior) THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. He’s one of my favorite old tough-guy actors. Actor Michael Keaton, back in his stand-up comedy days, used to do the best Garfield impression from an old favorite of mine, THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL, with Garfield and the Bowery Boys (aka East Side Kids, aka Dead End Kids - - you know, the great Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall, et al? Gorcey, whose characters’ name was usually Muggs, was always using misnomers just like Mrs. Slipslop did in JOSEPH ANDREWS). Anyway, Garfield always tears me up when I see his work. Whatta a guy.)
THE THIRD MAN (1949 -- Starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton and Aida Valli)
Oscar-winning cinematography, zither music, a giant Ferris wheel, a fine lead performance by Cotton, a spectacular, late-in-the-film appearance by Welles as the mysterious Harry Lime, and a chase in an underground sewer highlight this one-of-a-kind tale of intrigue in post-World War II Vienna.
There were two released version of the film, an American one and a British one. The shorter American version starts off with the voice-over narration of Cotton as American pulp western writer Holly Martins. In the British version there is a British narrator, whom many claim is Carol Reed. Originally, both Cary Grant and Robert Mitchum were considered for Cotton’s role.
SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950 -- Starring Gloria Swanson and William Holden)
This brilliantly scripted and acted American original is a cynical yet bitingly witty film, done in noir style and narrated by a dead man. Giving one of the great performances in movie history, Swanson is ready for her close-up in this dark slice of Hollywood life depicting a reclusive former silent screen actress who is desperate to make a comeback. Joe (Holden) is the down-an-out young screenwriter who becomes her love, with tragic consequences.
The film was intended to open with a scene in the Los Angles morgue, where Joe’s body had been placed. Joe talks with his fellow corpses before narrating his own story. However, at preview screenings, the opening drew laughter from the audience and was subsequently edited out.
(Note from Irv: I only just recently saw this film for the first time and loved it. Swanson was amazing. Now I finally understand all those Carol Burnett skits about Nora Desmond!)
More movie trivia to come Friday. I know you’re as excited as hell at the prospect…
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