Summer of Darkness Week 2 6/08 - 6/14
Week two of the investigation yielded a few gems.
Ministry of Fear - 1944 - Fritz Lang
When Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) leaves an asylum after serving a two year term he finds the outside world far crazier. Stopping at a country fete on his way to London, he meets a fortune teller, wins a cake, and gets mixed up with Nazi spies. He manages to survive long enough to hire a private detective to help him figure out who is trying to kill him and why. They look into the charity that was running the fete. No one is what they seem. Characters change names, names changes characters, the spy sneak around in the shadows but so do the police. With the help of a woman called Carla and an Inspector Prentice, Neale is able to stop the Nazis plot.
Solid Lang noir but not special.
Detour - 1945 - Edgar G. Ulmer
"Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you."
Words of Wisdom fron Al Roberts (Tom Neal) as he recounts his story while sitting at a diner counter in Reno. His world fell apart after accepting the wrong ride. The shots current day shots of Roberts are all in extreme shadow, showing little more than his eyes. All he wanted was to go out west to see his girl.
Nightmare Alley - 1947 - Edmund Goulding
Stan (Tyrone Power) makes the classic mistake of reaching too high. A carny with a good racket who just had to go for more. The cards tried to warn him but he refused to listen.
High Sierra - 1941 - Raoul Walsh
As with all one last job stories, things go wrong. In this case just about everything goes wrong for Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart). He is forced to shot a man, his inside man cracks, his boss dies before he gets paid for the loot. He cal his backup contact and is told it will be a couple of days before he can get paid. Nothing goes to plan.
Earle is unusually nice to the women that are around him for a noir protagonist. He does not hit either of them and tries to be helpful. This was the role that turned Bogart into the heroic figure he would go on to play for years to come.
Woman on the Run - 1950 - Norman Foster
A man witnesses a murder while out walking his dog. When the cops tell him he is going to have to testify, he runs. Why? Who knows but it give everyone else a common goal to chase after. The cops, the reporters, and most importantly his wife. She goes around San Francisco with a reporter (who is really the killer) looking for her husband.
Woman on the Run takes classic noir elements such as deep shadows and high contrast lighting and mixing a lot of german expressionist angles. The roller coaster sequence is as terrifying as any from the period.
The most unique thing about this movie is that it is about a woman discovering that her husband is still in love with her. At the beginning of the film, the police question her about where her husband may have gone, she does not have a good answer. It becomes clear that the couple is not close. It is not that she is completely uncaring but she does not really know her husband at this point. The big turning point is a letter that her husband sends to tell her where to meet him. Everyone who reads the letter says it sound like it was written by a man in love. As she goes around the city trying to figure out where he was referencing in the letter she is reminded of some of the good times they had.
Best of the Week: Woman on the Run - 1950 - Norman Foster
Ministry of Fear - 1944 - Fritz Lang
When Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) leaves an asylum after serving a two year term he finds the outside world far crazier. Stopping at a country fete on his way to London, he meets a fortune teller, wins a cake, and gets mixed up with Nazi spies. He manages to survive long enough to hire a private detective to help him figure out who is trying to kill him and why. They look into the charity that was running the fete. No one is what they seem. Characters change names, names changes characters, the spy sneak around in the shadows but so do the police. With the help of a woman called Carla and an Inspector Prentice, Neale is able to stop the Nazis plot.
Solid Lang noir but not special.
Detour - 1945 - Edgar G. Ulmer
"Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you."
Words of Wisdom fron Al Roberts (Tom Neal) as he recounts his story while sitting at a diner counter in Reno. His world fell apart after accepting the wrong ride. The shots current day shots of Roberts are all in extreme shadow, showing little more than his eyes. All he wanted was to go out west to see his girl.
Nightmare Alley - 1947 - Edmund Goulding
Stan (Tyrone Power) makes the classic mistake of reaching too high. A carny with a good racket who just had to go for more. The cards tried to warn him but he refused to listen.
High Sierra - 1941 - Raoul Walsh
As with all one last job stories, things go wrong. In this case just about everything goes wrong for Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart). He is forced to shot a man, his inside man cracks, his boss dies before he gets paid for the loot. He cal his backup contact and is told it will be a couple of days before he can get paid. Nothing goes to plan.
Earle is unusually nice to the women that are around him for a noir protagonist. He does not hit either of them and tries to be helpful. This was the role that turned Bogart into the heroic figure he would go on to play for years to come.
Woman on the Run - 1950 - Norman Foster
A man witnesses a murder while out walking his dog. When the cops tell him he is going to have to testify, he runs. Why? Who knows but it give everyone else a common goal to chase after. The cops, the reporters, and most importantly his wife. She goes around San Francisco with a reporter (who is really the killer) looking for her husband.
Woman on the Run takes classic noir elements such as deep shadows and high contrast lighting and mixing a lot of german expressionist angles. The roller coaster sequence is as terrifying as any from the period.
The most unique thing about this movie is that it is about a woman discovering that her husband is still in love with her. At the beginning of the film, the police question her about where her husband may have gone, she does not have a good answer. It becomes clear that the couple is not close. It is not that she is completely uncaring but she does not really know her husband at this point. The big turning point is a letter that her husband sends to tell her where to meet him. Everyone who reads the letter says it sound like it was written by a man in love. As she goes around the city trying to figure out where he was referencing in the letter she is reminded of some of the good times they had.
Best of the Week: Woman on the Run - 1950 - Norman Foster
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