Noir City DC: Street Of Chance

This was not my favorite, so it gets a bulleted list:

• If you want to see Burgess Meredith in a pre-Rocky and pre-Penguin role, this is the movie for you
• Apparently, one hit on the head gives you amnesia and then you are cured with a second hit in the head.  
• There is no necessity to fill in the back story, just start when the character gets the second head trauma.  
• And, I'm out (seriously, I fell asleep for about 20 minutes of the movie, so that tells you how much I was engaged in the movie/plot).  

Noir City, DC: Sorry, Wrong Number

I love Barbra Stanwyck.  I think that she is a fantastic actress and she shares a few traits with Bette Davis and Meryl Streep: being able to see her emotions flash across her face (however briefly) and extremely expressive eyes.   And she was never afraid to try a genre and be great in it.  In the cannon of her best work (think Double Indemnity, Remember The Night, and Stella Dallas), I think that Sorry, Wrong Number belongs as well for the simple reason of she isn't afraid to play an unlikable character.  And trust me she is really unlikable in this movie.  But she never pulls back from playing her character that way.  I feel like the other distinction of this movie, it that is doesn't pull back from the very black soul and nastiness of the movie that had been set in motion throughout.  And in that way, it is kind of awesome.

Noir City DC: He Walked By Night

The past two weekends meant it was time for me to spend some significant time at the AFI Silver for the annual Noir City DC film festivals.  Unfortunately, it came at the end of being furloughed for almost three weeks, so I wasn't immediately in the mood for film noir the first weekend (further hampered by showing 2 John Garfield movies, pass).  However, I did get there on the first Saturday to see a great noir gem : He Walked by Night.  The basic plot is Richard Basehart plays a mechanically gifted burglar who recently graduated to murder (by shooting a police officer, bad move Richard) and the efforts of the police to catch him.  So the plot isn't that revolutionary, however, there are a few times about this movie that makes is really stand out.  It was one of the first noir movies that had an emphasis on the police work required to solve the case.  There is this cool scene where the police are trying to make a composite sketch of Richard Basehart.  So all the witnesses come into a room and they use slides with different eyes, hairlines/hairstyles, noses, chins, and lips to make a sketch versus trying to have each witness sit down with an artist (also, not one single witness gets a really good look at him during the robbery spree).  In this movie, you can really see the bones on the procedural drama, especially when you learn that Jack Webb was very inspired by this movie (he plays a lab tech) to create Dragnet (including that there is a line along of the lines of "Let's set up a dragnet").  Another standout is the gorgeous black and white shots of the city of Los Angelos (in the 40s).   Related to the cinematography,  are the scenes shot in the tunnels of LA.  Richard Basehart used the subterranean tunnels to move around the city quickly and without getting caught.  And the final showdown with the police takes place in the tunnels which seems to have heavily inspired the final act in The Third Man in which Holly Martin (Joseph Cotten) chases his corrupt friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) in the tunnels under Vienna.  Also, those tunnels play a role in the 1950s nuclear paranoia flick Them! (which is also great!).  All in all, the movie is enjoyable and it is fun to see a early movie that had an impact on later movies.

Without Comment: List of Film Noir Titles

Film noir movies have the best titles ever:

• Kiss Me Deadly
• Murder, My Sweet
• Murder is my Beat
• Sudden Fear
• High Wall
• Crashout
• Experiment in Terror
• Loophole
• The Killers
• On Dangerous Ground
• Dangerous Crossing
• Bunny Lake is Missing
• Detour
• Clash by Night
• DOA
• Deadline USA
• The Glass Key
• This Gun for Hire
• The Blue Dahlia
• Touch of Evil
• The Big Sleep
• The Maltese Falcon
• Nightmare Alley
• Fear in the Night
• Three Strangers
• Backfire
• The Naked City
• 99 River Street
• The Big Knife
• The Killer That Stalked New York
• Call Northside 777
• Laura
• Night and the City
• Boomerang
• Where the Sidewalk Ends
• Fallen Angel
• Out of the Past
• Sorry, Wrong Number
• Double Indemnity
• Jeopardy
• Shock
• Man in the Dark
• My Name is Julia Ross
• The Stranger
• The Dark Mirror
• The Hunted
• Suspense

Unseen, but so good: Sudden Fear

Title: Sudden Fear

Stars: Joan Crawford, Gloria Grahme, Jack Palance, and Jack Palance's cheekbones

Genre: Film Noir

Synopsis: Joan Crawford stars as a wealthy playwright who begins the movie by firing Jack Palance from her latest play.  A chance meeting between the two on the train to San Francisco (where Crawford's character lives and owns 2 houses) results in marriage.  But is Jack Palance to be trusted?  Does he actully love Joan Crawford or he scheming with former flame Gloria Grahme to bump off Joan Crawford and inherit his wife's family fortune?

Why It is So Good:  Film noir is one of my favorite genres, so I am always willing to give one a try.  I love trying to figure out the plot and appreciate the economicalness of the plot. In most film noir, there are no sideplots or subplots that go nowhere or have no impact on the main plot.  Most seems to follow the Chekov adage that a gun shown in the first act will go off in the third act.  As a result, most film noir movies are short, running between 90 and 110 minutes; I think that longest one I have seen was about 2 hours.  And Sudden Fear is no different, the plot runs along at a good clip and nothing is introduced that is not used at a later point.  Also, Joan Crawford is on the most proactive potential victims in the genre.  Furthermore, like any good film noir, Sudden Fear makes you question the morality of all the characters on the screen.

I'll Follow You Anywhere: Gregory Peck

There are a lot of actors that I really like, but there are only a few that I have such an affection for that I will make me transcend preferred genres or themes to see that actor in a performance.  And one such actor is Gregory Peck.

"First" Movie (that I saw with this actor): Probably To Kill a Mockingbird.  I saw this a few years before I read the book in school.  Obviously, he is fantastic in this movie (and won an Oscar for it).  This movie is such a masterpiece due to a compelling story adapted by Horton Foote, a great visual style, a beautiful score by Elmer Bernstein, and wonderful performances from the entire cast.

Genre Film(s): As not a fan of both war movies or westerns, a movie from each genre that I enjoy star Gregory Peck: The Guns of Navarone (war) and Big Country (western)

The Movie That May Stop Me/You Can Say No to a Job: Ugh, The Omen

The Prestige Film You Can Skip:  The Gentleman's Agreement, I can see why this might have made a splash when is was made but Gregory Peck is surprisingly wooden and even the luminous Celeste Holm couldn't save it.  Plus I can't get on board with a movie in which Dorthy McGuire is not 100% awesome.

Movies Left to See:  The Boys From Brazil, Roman Holiday (both on Netflix streaming), In the Valley Of Decision (I can't decide about this one) , The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit,

Recommended Movies:  Spellbound, To Kill A Mockingbird, Arabesque, Mirage, The Guns of Navarone, Big Country (look out for Burl Ives with the eyebrows of ten men!), Cape Fear (only if you are already terrified of Robert Mitchum due to The Night of the Hunter).

Movies You Should See: The More the Merrier

Title: The More The Merrier

Director: George Stevens

Stars: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn

Synopsis:  In crowded World War II Washington DC, Mr. Dingle (Charles Coburn) arrives for a meeting a few days early and finds that there is no room at his hotel due to a wartime housing storage.  Doing her patriotic duty Ms. Milligan (Jean Arthur) places a ad to rent out the spare room of her apartment which eventually goes to Mr. Dingle (through some slight trickery on his part).  Mr. Dingle then rents out half of the spare room to Joe (Joel McCrea) a GI on his way out of the country for a war assignment.  Despite Ms. Milligan being engaged, Mr. Dingle is convinced that Joe is the perfect match for her.

Why Should You Watch This:  All three leads have great comedic timing and while most of their scenes together rely on physical comedy which can feel old after seeing it once, after repeated viewings these scene still feel fresh and natural.  McCrea and Arthur have really great romantic chemistry and their courtship feels realistic.  But beyond all this, the script and the direction are just really well done, the script is at time funny and touching and the directing is done with such a light hand.  I have a little extra enjoyment for the movie now that I have lived in DC for a few years now.

You Might Like This If You Enjoyed: The Women or The Shop Around the Corner

Refocus/Repurpose

In an attempt to encourage myself to write on this blog more often, I decided to give myself a focus/theme for most of the blog posts.  And since most of the posts I've written in recent months revolve about movies, I thought that movies would be the perfect focus for my blog.  I am going to try to write about classic movies that I think everyone should see, under-rated and underseen film from all time periods, actors that I enjoy, directors, and various other topics related to the cinema.  I will probably still blog a little bit about books that I am reading or other activities that I am doing in DC, but I am hoping this will make .  So anyone still reading this, I hope you like the new focus.

What will never be

I am in the middle of listening to this barn burner of a book called Going Clear by Lawrence Wright which is all about Scientology (and its ties to Hollywood).  I'm about a third of the way the book, so L. Ron Hubbard is still alive and Scientology is just starting to gain steam.  So far, there have been so many crazy stories in his life, like him kidnapping one of his own daughters, multiple marriage including as instance of bigamy, and the "mysterious" death of one of his sons (who was probably gay and probably committed suicide).  Basically, it would be an amazing biopic (starring I think Daniel Day Lewis or some other actor that can really embrace the weird).  But it will probably never happen (although I think Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master was supposed to be a fictionalized version of Scientology), which bums me out.  

Learn to love Charles Bronson

I am not a particular fan of the war movie genre.  There are a couple reason for this, I don't really like the glorification of war and I feel like the setting often allows for failures in plot and acting (I feel like John Wayne made a thousand war movies).  However, there is a sub-genre of war movie that I like which I like to call "the mission-based war movie",  think The Great Escape or The Guns of Navarone.  Movies in which the plot is pretty important and a large enough cast (with some character development) that I can at least latch onto one or two characters (or more in the case of The Guns of Navarone, which is a fantastic movie).  And so, when my favorite theater here is the DC area was showing The Dirty Dozen, I felt like there was a chance that I might enjoy it.  And while I wouldn't say that I loved it, it was parts of it were enjoyable (if a tad on the violent side) and well made so I felt like it helped complete some of my cinema education.  So here is what I learned from The Dirty Dozen:

• Nothing brings a group of men together like not shaving or showering
• Threatening to beat someone brains is a great motivator.  
• While you don't have to kill Telly Savalas immediately, you could have saved some time (and possibly some lives) if you would have allowed Jim Brown to beat him to death.  
• When you have a complicated plan, just make each step rhyme internally, and you will be fine.
• If a some point there is an escape that must be done, try to be paired with Charles Bronson (survives/escapes in both The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape). 
• Robert Ryan's ability to portray an asshole transcends the film noir genre.  
• If you are almost out of danger but not quite, don't jinks yourself by stating that fact. 
• Everyone on your team should be able to climb a rope. 
• Look out for trees when parachuting into a location.  
• Again, I have to stress either leave behind or kill Telly Savalas.   
• Jim Brown is awesome.  
• It is weird when Donald Sutherland acts really goofy (I've really only seen him in serious roles).  
• Lee Marvin has very crazy eyebrows.  

Consequences

Somehow, I've let an entire month go by without blogging a single thing.  Which is actually not so surprising, I've been a bit lax lately with the blogging which I am going to chalk up to moving in the past few weeks and being busy at work.  A fun thing that I did this week was to see Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen (for the first time ever).  I was shocked to see both how few people were there and the number of people who bought children under 10.  It has been a while since I have seen that movie, but it seems definitely too violent for a kid of 6 or 7 (the face melting and head exploding is a bit much for me and I'm an adult).  One consequence of seeing some many older movies on the big screen is that I am much more observant of the both the condition of the print and the transition of one reel to the next.  The print was Raiders of the Lost Ark I saw was pristine (barely any scratches on the first few frames which sometime get dirty and scratched because it is exposed to the outside).  Now if only the reels of Auntie Mame and Shop Around the Corner were in a good of shape!

Gavin Derek

My mom told me a story about my uncles Gavin and Derek arguing (hopefully just when they were kids), about which actor was better John Gavin or John Derek.  I have seen movies with both John Gavin and John Derek, and I have to say John Gavin is better. Also, John Derek has a mark against him because he was married to Bo Derek (and Linda Evans).

Gun Crazy

Readers of this blog have probably gathered that I adore movies, specifically movies made before the 1960s.  I do enjoy movies made after the 1960s, like the weird sub-genre I like to called 1970s paranoria films, but I often have an issue with both the strange horn-heavy scores used and the music cues.  My favorite movies are usually black and white and made in the 1940s and 1950s.  I think one the main reasons that I like those movies that because of the lack of color, the cinematography and shot composition is so much more interesting, especially compared to modern films.  I was thinking about this while watching the movie Gun Crazy.  It was a very solid B-movie, meaning no huge stars, however the cinematography and certain shots are amazing.  There is a scene with 3 characters with one character being in the foreground and two characters in the background that is staged in such a way that it would probably not be used in a modern film.  And then there is this scene:



The scene is shot in a one take, which a is a technique that I think has fallen out of favor in recent years with preference for many quick cuts (especially in action films).   But these are not the only reason that I think Gun Crazy overcomes its label as a B-film.  Both the story and the acting are top notch.  John Dall and Peggy Cummings are great and Dall does a fantastic job portraying the inner struggle of his character.  John Dall plays a sharpshooter named Bart who falls in love with a female trick shooter that is no good.  Much of the first 10 to 15 minutes of the film establish that Bart is a crack shot, but he refuse to kill anybody.  And as a result much of the movie, you spend wondering if Bart will cross that line and if so when.  I highly recommend the film, which thanks to the wonders of the internet, you can see the whole thing on youtube:

The place is the thing

When I was younger, I am pretty sure that merged The Spiral Staircase and The Uninvited into a single movie. Though, in my defense, both movies do take place in an old rambling Victorian mansion that is isolated.  There are plenty of old movies that I adore in which the physical location becomes a character, but in many cases central to the plot.  I don't think that Rebecca would be quite as suspenseful in Manderlay wasn't quite so oppressive and filled with little touches of the first Mrs. DeWinter.  I was thinking a little about this while watching The More the Merrier at the AFI Silver this weekend.  Some of the plot and slightly repressed feelings between Connie and Joe are influenced by the close proximity of the the shared apartment.  And of course, there is Rear Window which feels so claustrophobic and closed up, you feel like you are going to start sweating from the summer heat in the movie.  During the height of the film noir area, it seems that whole location as character opens up to be more about the city rather than the individual house/apartment.  A movie like The Naked City really only works because it is set in New York City and so it is believable how the plot unites some many disparate people.  Or a movie like Experiment in Terror which ends in a great climax at Candlestick Park. There are, of course, some examples that buck that trend, specifically, My Name is Julia Ross (so good) and Beware, My Lovely which both takes place almost exclusively in a house.  But this opening up of film location definitely continues on into films of the 60s, 70s, and onward.  Bullit would have a much different feel if those car chases didn't take place in the winding streets of San Francisco.   

Increasing nerdiness

One of the books I've read in the last few years that has really stuck with me was The Nine by Jeffery Toobin.  After reading it, I felt like this whole secret world of the Supreme Court has been opened to me and I have the code to better understand what happens in the court.  I was listening to Nina Tottenburg on NPR yesterday, and thought to myself "I wonder if Justice Kennedy ever gets drunk with power since he is the swing vote".  I'm not saying that I am totally obsessed with the Supreme Court, but I definitely pay much more attention to it now that I did before.  This may a combination of living in close proximity to DC and reading that book.  Or possibly being more aware of the impact Supreme Court decisions have on society.  But that seems to be more due to the landmark cases that the court has ruled on or will rule on in the near future, specifically, the healthcare law, DOMA, and the attempts to roll back the voting rights act.  And I really liked learning more about the all the justices.  It made me have a bit more respect for some Justices (especially Roberts) and legitimized my dislike for other Justices (I'm looking at you Thomas and Alito). I really want Toobin to do a follow up to include Justices Sotomayor and Kagen.  But, I will have to appease myself with his book about Obama and Roberts.  Or his back catalog, he has a book about the OJ Simpson trial that now that I know it exists, I must read!

Short Short Short

Today, I went to the AFI Silver to see this years's Oscar nomination short animated features (with 3 highly commended additional shorts).  I went to see them last year and loved it so I went back this year.  And because most people don't see the animated shorts, I thought I would talk a little bit about them (and provide clips of the good ones!)

1) Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare - It has probably been at least 10 years since I have watching anything new from The Simpsons.  I'm pretty sure I stopped watching it in high school because it seemed like they were trying to hard to be funny and relevant.  So I was suprised how much I enjoyed the short.  It is completely without dialogue and features just Maggie and her nemesis, the baby with one eye-brow.  The short, running just under 5 mins, was full of really great visual gags and featured an homage to a Puccini opera!



2) Adam and Dog - This was my very least favorite one, I kind of can't believe it was nominated.  The premise of the short was Adam and a dog in the garden of Eden, and then Eve comes along a ruins everything.  I didn't find the animation that interesting and it felt really long, much longer than its 16 minute running time.  If this one wins, I will be really disappointed!

3) Fresh Guacamole:  I loved this one, it was short but really interesting.  The premise was fresh and original and well executed. It probably won't win, but I loved it!



and here is another one from the same guy



4) Head over Heals - The only nominated short not made in the US, this one is from the National Film and Theater school in the UK.  It is about a married couple with the husband living on the floor and the wife living on the ceiling.  The animation in this one was very interesting since there were basically two sets stacked on top of each other (and the exterior of the floating house was pretty cool).  And it was clear that the animators really thought about how a house like that would work.  You can see this one by going here.

5) Paperman - This short is from Disney and I think is the mostly likely to win the Oscar. It is silent, and lovely.  And seems like a mix of old fashioned Disney and the Pixar sensibility.



Highly Commend Shorts
6) Abiogenesis - An amazing short from New Zealand.  I found is super creative and original and unlike most shorts that you see.  I can't find a place to see the whole thing, but the official website for it is here.

7) Dripped - Leave it to the French to make a short animated film that stars an art thief that can absorb the characteristics of famous paintings by eating them.  Did I like it? Very much!



8) The Gruffalo's Child - Chock full of British actors that I adore (Robbie Coltrane, Tom Wilkinson, Shirley Henderson, Rob Brydon, Helena Bonham Carter, and James Corden).  So enjoyable, but not particularly memorable (though, I am not the target audience for this).

The good and the bad

I just got back from seeing Silver Linings Playbook, which I found highly enjoyable.  I really like going to a movie in the theater because I enjoy the feeling that I have a shared experience with this strangers.  I mean, after I saw To Kill a Mockingbird in the theater, I had a conversation with a woman in the bathroom about how much we liked the movie and how enjoyable it was to see it on the big screen.  On the flip side there was a conversation that I overheard in the bathroom after seeing Silver Linings Playbook.  The women were complaining that the movie was depressing because the main character both suffered from mental illness and that it was good that Bradley Cooper was in the movie so there would be somebody nice to look at.  And that there were no good movies playing (now, the traditional time when most Oscar bait movies are in the theater like Argo, Lincoln, Les Mis, Zero Dark Thirty etc).  Which made me I realize what I want is to see a movie with a theater full of people like me. Who are completely silent and don't get up to pee in the middle of a movie.

Also, there were about 20 mins of trailers before the movie started.  There is a movie coming out soon that stars Tina Fey and Paul Rudd.  And Lily Tomlin.  A dream come true!

Truth telling

I won't lie, this song has made me cry on more that one occasion.  And the cello part in the live version is beautiful. (Also, it reminds me of the great concert all my family chipped in to send me to a few years ago).

Woman's Picture

I love this piece of music because it sounds like the soundtrack from a woman's picture from the 1940s.  Like a super melodramatic Douglas Sirk picture.  Starring Barbra Stanwyck.

If I am going to make a fake movie, it is going to be a hit

So a few weeks ago, I saw the movie Argo.  And while I enjoyed the movie as a whole, there were a few early signs that indicated that I would like it:

• Ben Affleck used the 1970s title card for Warner Brothers (I love when directors do that.  In an alternate universe where I am director, I would totally make a throwback film noir film and use the RKO title card)
• The presence of Victor Garber
• The presence of Kyle Chandler
• An early scene of shredding files and destroying passport plates.  I'm not sure why I like scenes like that, but I do. 
• All the late 70s/early 80s haircuts and glasses
• The presence of Alan Arkin
• The presence of John Goodman

I really enjoyed Argo, more than I thought I might.  And I find Ben Affleck's directing career much more interesting than most of his acting career.   I liked his first movie, Gone Baby Gone, it was much more competently directed than I expected it to be.  I wasn't sure about an actor directing himself, but he did a really good job.  And he was able to build and maintain tension for an event with a known outcome.