Tag: Family

“The Man Who Cheated Himself” (1950) starring Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt, & John Dall

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Lois: I didn’t know what I was doing! You know the truth!

Ed: The truth can get you twenty years!

In San Francisco, Lois Frazer (Jane Wyatt AKA Spock’s mom in Star Trek), is set to divorce her fortune-hunter husband, Howard. Once he leaves for the airport, she finds out that he bought a gun, and thinks he plans to kill her. Lois frantically calls her lover, who happens to be an experienced homicide detective, Lt. Ed Cullen (Lee J. Cobb). Ed arrives at her house to calm Lois down. Soon after, Howard unexpectedly returns, and she shoots him dead! Ed (though he knows better) feels compelled to cover up the killing. Soon, he’s assigned to investigate the case. His younger brother/new detective, Andy (John Dall), is also assigned and anxious to prove his merit. Andy is getting married in a few days.

Ed: [to Andy] Better learn one thing: never take a case to bed.

We see locations in and around the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Telegraph Hill and Fort Point (which was used in Hitchcock’s Vertigo). There are some colorful supporting characters who add to the drama. The action (incl. car chase) scenes are done well. TCM’s Eddie Muller explained that this film was made on a small budget and produced by Jack M. Warner, who was fighting w/ his father, the Jack Warner. The son wanted to make films on his own. The director, Felix Feist, was a freelancer (not tied to any studio); he was married to Lisa Howard (who plays Janet- Andy’s wife).

Unlike Dall, Howard’s performance is natural and easy. Andy needed more characterization; he comes off as too dreamy-eyed for a cop. You also have to ignore the fact that Dall (tall/blonde/slim) and Cobb (short/dark-haired/stocky) look and sound nothing alike! It’s rare to see Cobb as a leading man; he tones down the brooding intensity and growling voice (which we know/love from his character roles). Sadly, Cobb and Wyatt (cast against type as the femme fatale) lack romantic chemistry. I did like their last scene together, which was enigmatic and had some smolder! Cobb got this role after a successful run on Broadway in Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller wrote the role of Willy Loman w/ Cobb in mind -WOW!

[1] …it is relentless and edgy, with no time for polish or emotional depth. Cameraman Russell Harlan (Blackboard Jungle; To Kill a Mockingbird) does a brilliant job with great angles and framing. It isn’t elegant, but it’s visually sharp.

[2] A fast, curious, edgy crime film that depends on a fabulous, simple twist, which you learn right at the start and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. The clash of two cops who are brothers begins innocently, and turns and builds in a very believable way…

Lee J. Cobb… just perfect in his role, right to the last scene when you see him look down the hall with the same feeling he has at the beginning of the film.

-Excerpts from IMDB movies

“Pitfall” (1948) starring Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, & Raymond Burr

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Sue Forbes: Oh, your breakfast is on the table, darling.

John Forbes: Where else would it be?

John Forbes (Dick Powell) is a middle-aged man bored w/ his predictable life and job as an insurance adjuster. His lovely wife, Sue (Jane Wyatt- later Spock’s mom), and adoring son, Tommy, make up his family. Forbes meets a young/blonde aspiring model, Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott), whose fiance embezzled from a store insured by Forbes’ company. He finds Mona through J.B. MacDonald (Raymond Burr- later the iconic Perry Mason), a private detective freelancing for the insurance company. Forbes goes to collect the stolen gifts and soon falls for Mona (who says she rarely meets nice men like him). MacDonald (w/ an obsessive personality and violent temper) also has his eyes on Mona, though she wants nothing to do w/ him!

MacDonald: She probably doesn’t appeal to you but for me, she’s just what I told the doctor to order.

This film (see video below) is a combination of domestic drama and film noir set in L.A. and its surrounding suburbs. Powell took this role after reconciling w/ his wife (June Allyson) after he had an affair, TCM’s Eddie Muller noted. To get past the Hayes Code office, that would normally not allow a good guy to be an adulterer (and suffer no consequences), director Andre De Toth (an immigrant from Hungary) met w/ two prominent officials. De Toth let these (married) men know that he knew of their mistresses; the production didn’t have any problems after that meeting- LOL! Muller also explained that though the director was married to Veronica Lake, he had a reputation as a philanderer.

[1] Powell, Wyatt, Scott and Raymond Burr are effective and believable — and the film is paced, photographed, and scripted with intelligence — so that the viewer easily goes along for the ride.

[2] Jay Dratler’s script (from his own novel) shows a progressive streak in dealing with the short and unpredictable fuses of controlling, potentially violent males- stalkers.

Powell gets to tap deeply into his key emotion, snappish discontent… Scott… an actress with limits, finds a comfortable part as a bewildered and vulnerable victim of the men who come into her life, bidden and unbidden. Burr …lets a bit of yearning, of desperation, show under all his intimidating bulk…

De Toth… made, in Pitfall, one of the more distinctive titles of the noir cycle. …it has the effrontery to situate deceit and duplicity and betrayal where it surely ought not to belong- not in road houses or tenement flats- but right at the heart of a storybook American family (it’s one of the more subversive films of the era).

-Excerpts from IMDB reviews

“Kansas City Confidential” (1952) starring John Payne & Coleen Gray

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Detective: … left school to enlist with the engineers. Pretty good soldier too! Bronze Star, Purple Heart!

Joe: Try and buy a cup of coffee with them!

A WWII vet working as a flower deliveryman, Joe Rolfe (John Payne- best known as the lawyer/neighbor in Miracle on 34th Street), becomes the fall guy for an armored car robbery worth $1.2M. Payne is very tall (6’4″), w/ an athletic body, and large/expressive brown eyes. When Joe is released for lack of evidence, after being roughly interrogated by the cops, he’s determined to discover who set him up and why. After 6 mos, he gets info which leads down to Tijuana, Mexico. There he meets a nervous ex-con, Pete Harris (Jack Elam), at a gambling house. Pete doesn’t have his share of the robbery money, but is flying to Barrados (a fishing village) to pick it up. He doesn’t know who planned it, or the other criminals (character actors Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef). They all had to wear full face masks during the robbery!

[1] …Payne started off as a crooner and hoofer, a light leading man… he ended up one of the most convincing ordinary-guy protagonists in the noir cycle. He’s tough, all right, but still shows the flop-sweat of fear; and he’s smart, too, but because he’s forced to be what he’s trying to hang onto is all he’s got.

[2] The suspense in Kansas City Confidential is not about who did it. The three robbers are… three of the nastiest dudes in film history. The suspense lies whether Payne can put it all together. As he says to one of them, he’s flying blind in this one.

John Payne gives a riveting performance of a desperate man and one you don’t leave holding the bag without consequences. This is one of the best noir films ever done, not to be missed.

-Excerpts from IMDB reviews

Quentin Tarantino said that Reservoir Dogs (1992) was inspired by this film noir. Kansas City Confidential was directed by Phil Karson (who also made Scandal Sheet); he worked steadily in small budget pictures. This film doesn’t shy away from violence (punching, kicking, and gunplay). The fights happen fast and don’t look slick; they’re a fact of life for shady men. Joe spent a year in jail, too; he can handle himself in rough situations. His love interest is pretty, but also smart (a law student); Helen (Coleen Gray) surprises her father (Preston Foster) by arriving at the resort for a vacation. Gray is perhaps best known as Fay, the loyal girlfriend to Sterling Hayden (another handsome tall drink of water) in Kubrick’s The Killing (1956). The romantic scenes were few, but played well; Payne and Gray became a real-life couple for some time. I noticed (on second viewing) that the editing is tight and well-done. Check out this film for free (since it’s in the public domain) on Amazon or YouTube!

“Human Desire” (1954) starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, & Broderick Crawford

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Director Fritz Lang said that his American films of the 1950s were “all about fate.” He never saw the characters as evil; they were “people who succumbed to social evils.” This film was made right after The Big Heat– a must-see for fans of noir and classics. We have the re-teaming of Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame, who work very well together. Human Desire was shot on location in Oklahoma. Director of Photography (DP), Burnett Guffey, won Oscars for From Here to Eternity and Bonnie and Clyde. Suiting the dark subject material, the look is grim and gritty. There is much use of shadows, most notably in the scenes where the lovers are alone. Trains are often heard in the background- wheels, whistles, and even going off the tracks.

Jeff Warren (Ford), a Korean War vet, returns to his railroad engineer job and boards at the home of his older friend/co-worker, Alec Simmons (Edgar Buchanan) and his family. He’s amused by Alec’s daughter, Ellen (Kathleen Case), who has an obvious crush. Vicki (Grahame) is the young wife of a middle-aged rail supervisor, Carl Buckley (Broderick Crawford). After the hot-tempered Carl is fired for insubordination, he begs Vicki to intercede on his behalf w/ John Owens, a rich/powerful businessman. Vicki’s mother was Owens’ housekeeper; his influence could get Carl his job back. When Carl suspects Vicki slept w/ Owens, he beats Vicki and forms a plan to get revenge. Jeff meets Vicki, not knowing that she’s married.

You see, the war messed him up. He can’t be in a normal relationship. He has to somehow degrade himself in being w/ Vicki. He’s even willing to commit a crime for her. -Ileana Douglas (actor/film buff)

There is mention of war and killing, though not much detail is provided by Jeff. Under his regular guy persona, something is hidden which draws him toward the troubled Vicki (instead of the carefree Ellen). After Jeff helps Vicki take the drunken Carl home, there is a (semi-erotic) scene. Grahame unbuttons her blouse part of the way, pulls it off one shoulder, and reveals the bruises inflicted by her abusive husband. Later on, when they kiss in the abandoned shed, Ford buries his fingers in Grahame’s hair and yanks her head back (yowza)! While these may seem tame (by today’s standards), I’m sure they surprised audiences in 1954. See comment (below) for the full movie.

[1] This film features interesting photography and lighting typical of this style of film – I especially like the way the train scenes are shot, with the camera strapped to the front of the train, giving a first-person ride along the railroad tracks.

[2] Grahame is a revelation as the amoral wife stung by unfulfillment, sleazy yet sexy. Grahame makes Vicki both alluring and sympathetic.

-Excerpts from IMDB reviews

“The Big Heat” (1953) starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Lee Marvin, & Jocelyn Brando

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[1] Glenn Ford is super bad ass in this film . He is 100% convincing as a complex man living in 2 worlds. Family life vs. the crime underworld.

It is some of the best writing in film noir history. Almost every line is a gem. There are tons of one-liners.

[2] He conveys so much in a look, a facial expression. And you are with him the whole way; he comes just close to the edge, but not so that he loses your sympathy.

[3] Glenn Ford now looks like one of the most quietly powerful actors of Hollywood`s “Golden Age”… He had a rare ability to portray a kind of slow-burn tension…

[4] Gloria Grahame was born for roles like this one, both tough and vulnerable, the ultimate tragic moll.

-Excerpts from reviews on Amazon

This (must-see) film noir is directed by a giant of this genre- Fritz Lang. It’s based on the novel by former Philly crime reporter William P. McGivern. It’s included on Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies” list and received an 100% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. In the town of Kenport, Sgt Dave Bannion is an on the trail of a criminal syndicate which he suspects holds power over the local police force. Bannion is tipped off after another cop’s suicide; his fellow officers’ suspicious silence lead him to believe that they’re being paid off. When tragedy hits home, Bannion seeks revenge; he gets help from the gangster’s spurned girlfriend, Debby. They must use any means necessary to get to the truth.

Executive Producer Jerry Wald hoped to cast either Paul Muni, George Raft, or Edward G. Robinson as Bannion. It’s tough to imagine anyone else besides Glenn Ford in this role; he makes it look effortless. The best acting is in the eyes; if it’s not coming from w/in, the audience won’t find it believable. As has been said of Jimmy Stewart, I think that Ford was a great listener. You get the sense that he’s “in the moment” as he’s playing a scene opposite his fellow actors.

Bannion’s devoted wife, Katie, is played by Marlon Brando’s older sister, Jocelyn, who has looks and talent, too. In their domestic scenes, Brando and Ford have an easy chemistry, making them a relatable/happy couple. Columbia wanted to borrow Marilyn Monroe from 20th Century-Fox to play the role of Debby Marsh, but Fox’s price was too high, so Gloria Grahame was cast instead. Grahame is flirty, funny, vulnerable, and (eventually) takes control of her own story. The gangster, Vince Stone (Lee Marvin), has a quick/dangerous temper; he only fears the most powerful mobster in the area. There is violence against women (described and shown); some lines were unusual for the era. You can rent it on Amazon or YouTube.