Film Noir days 10 - 11 SAM FULLER ROCKS!!

Well, I'm earning my moniker hardboiledmysti

Sunday we saw a substitute film (apparently theatre transit still loses films!), Glass Wall. It was noiresque but to me not Noir, though a rare film and fascinating to watch. I say not-noir because the protagonist, a WWII refugee from the camps, doesn't have the kind of desire that is the engine of all true noir (that's my fancy theory, and nothing about the series has persuaded me otherwise). See, a film noir protagonist needs to have a perfectly understandable but seriously socially unacceptable desire that drives the action of the film for it to be a real noir story. A guy wants that other guys wife so bad he'll kill for it, a guy wants to be a Somebody not a nobody, but he *is* a nobody, a woman wants her son to love her in all the wrong ways, etc. Since the lead of Glass Wall just had a paperwork/proof problem with getting into the U.S., his need wasn't really socially unacceptable. Gosh, he saved Jerry Paris' life. So I didn't stay through it, even though the guy was gorgeous and the gal fascinating (Vittorio Gassman, Gloria Grahame).

The double-feature with it, Crime Wave, was equally weak, the lead wanted to escape his bad past, not socially unacceptable at all. It was however closer to noir because of Sterling Hayden, and I guess if he had been the protagonist it would have been full stop noir cuz he wanted to catch criminals the way Howard Stern wants to ogle naked pole dancers. It was RICH and FUNNY and SCARY that Hayden was, well worth sitting through the flat characterizations and predictable plot moves.

Now last night was SAM FULLER night and it rocked! Pickup on South Street never stops to catch its breath, Richard Widmark was never better, and the story had nice twists and turns, the sort of back and forth alliances that make noir so much fun. The protagonist, Widmark, wants to earn his living doing what he does best (understandable), which is pickpocketting (a "cannon" as they must have said a million times) which is of course socially unacceptable.

THIS MOVIE HAD GREAT LINES, like, "Are you waving a flag at me?" and "We're not criminals! This is big business!" Thelma Ritter works her role (nom'd, Eddie said, in fact), and Sam Fuller's experience as a crime reporter makes this a most believable story. The brief lines about communism being horrible are clearly window-dressing for Hoover, who, when he saw the final cut, forced the studio to remove the FBI's endorsement of the film. Eddie recommends "A Third Face," Fuller's autobio.

so, while the story is often not the most important thing about a noir film, with a sam fuller written directed piece, it becomes a lovely thing indeed! Oh, and the fights made me jump in my seat. The violence is brief, brutal, affecting. The frail in this one, you gotta see her. She's great. jean peters was married to Howard Hughes (she ain't in the Aviator), and beat out Marilyn Monroe for the part.

Crimson Kimono, with the incredibly sexy (he was then!) Jame Shigeta, was god awful slow, an odd sort of love story set in a policier, a love triangle driving the 2nd & 3rd acts. Really slow, kinda boring except I love seeing downtown L.A. so long ago. Story not so hot, in other words, but the "sidekick" becomes the protag, and basically runs counter to the sidekick stereotype all the way down the line. And Mr. Shigeta, wow, what a guy. MM!

I think I'm not crazy about late-in-the-cycle noir, especially not crazy about Warners/20th Century vs. RKO because of the happy endings the former tended to impose, esp. later in the cycle, but there's still been tons to learn about story as well as style. We're going to rent Pickup on South Street again so we can remember the great lines from that flick!

Oh man, I've been at work for 1.75 hours and got nothing but film stuff done. Gotta run! Last film noir for me is thursday night, the MFA class starts up again tonight & I lose two whole days cuz my boss won't let me off to watch matinees. stupid old software release, anyway...

Ask questions or challenge my theory, I love talking to other noir heads!

Mysti