“Noir” might not be the best descriptor for the three films in this box set, but they’re all a good time, running the gamut from newsroom drama to boxing ring brawl.
Phil Rosen‘s The Mystery of Marie Roget (1942)
While the police, led by Gobelin (Lloyd Corrigan), might be a little peeved to learn Marie (Maria Montez) wasn’t missing after all (especially after all the flack they got for their investigation going nowhere), one would think Maria’s family would be relieved. Instead Marie’s grandmother (The Wolf Man‘s Maria Ouspenskaya) is worried about her other granddaughter, Camille (Nell O’Day), and what Marie’s return might mean for her safety. Rather than trust the police, Madame Roget turns to Dupin (Patric Knowles), a scientist under their employ, for help. A rule breaker, Dupin’s Sherlock Holmes complex to Gobelin’s Watson can stretch belief at times but it’s entertaining and, at a little over an hour long, this Edgar Allan Poe adaptation (Michael Jacoby wrote the screenplay) won’t waste anyone’s time.
While Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray comes with two commentaries, one would’ve been enough, and a lot of the second commentary with novelist/critic Kim Newman and writer/editor Stephen Jones overlaps. What film historian Tom Weaver brings to the table with his commentary are quotes from interviews he conducted with O’Day, Edward Norris (who plays one of the suspects), Peter Coe (Montez’s costar in Gypsy Wildcat), and others. He also considers how filming two days after Pearl Harbor affected the production and hands some time over to Montez’s biographer, Tom Zimmerman, as well as film historian Gary L. Prange (who talks about drownings in Universal horror movies).
Lewis Allen‘s Chicago Deadline (1949)
It’s not everyday a big story lands in a reporter’s lap, but what about the stories that are only made big because of one reporter’s obsession? In Chicago Deadline, Rosita (Donna Reed) wasn’t murdered. She died alone of TB in a crummy apartment. It’s tragic, but technically there’s no imperative for Ed to keep risking his life for that “story.” There’s no crime to solve or justice to secure, but because Ed (Alan Ladd) is one of the first people on the scene, he decides to pocket Rosita’s diary and try the phone numbers written inside. The result is Ed winds up learning more about the shady (and sometimes prominent) figures Rosita was mixed up with, filling in her life until she becomes a person to mourn instead of a nameless victim.
While Warren Duff’s screenplay is slightly overcomplicated and reminiscent of Laura, it’s easy to ignore the film’s lack of a narrative impetus when even the bit parts are extremely well-cast. As a reporter, Ladd doesn’t break a sweat and those interested in learning more about Ladd and Reed will find out a lot in author/film historian Alan K. Rode‘s commentary. As Rode brings up, Ed and Rosita are never actually on screen together (Rosita only appears in flashbacks and there’s no twist like there is in Laura). Rode also identifies some of the Chicago locations and points out scenes that were filmed and added in later for censorship and clarity reasons.
Joseph Pevney‘s Iron Man (1951)
You can’t start a business without money and while Coke (Jeff Chandler) might dream of owning his own radio shop someday, that’s not going to happen fast on a coal miner’s salary. That’s why his girlfriend (Evelyn Keyes) and brother (Stephen McNally) think he should take up professional fighting – that and they want to sponge money off him. Once they realize Coke was right to stay out of the ring, though, he’s too angry to stop and – with his lack of self control – it’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.
As film historian/screenwriter Gary Gerani explains in his commentary track, Iron Man was the third film adaption of W. R. Burnett’s novel of the same name (the first was a pre-code film directed by Tod Browning and featuring Jean Harlow; the second was retitled Some Blondes Are Dangerous) and the first to give Coke a backstory as a coal miner. The problem with this backstory (as written by George Zuckerman and Borden Chase) is Coke is supposed to keep working rather than try and get rich quick with a dangerous job, but coal mining is dangerous (the film literally shows a cave-in). If anything, fighting is an improvement. At least there’s cash to be made from taking those risks.
Of course when it comes down to it all Coke needs is the will to get his anger in check and he can. No therapy necessary (a bad message to send but one not that’s not surprising for a film from the fifties). The other thing is Iron Man could do a much better job handling Coke’s Hulk out moments, like not making them Hulk out moments, where the music swells and the transformation feels more akin to a horror film than a drama.
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XVI is available on Blu-ray now from Kino Lorber.
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