Postcards From Shadowland No.4
Category: Classic Film Noir
Postcards From Shadowland No.3
Postcards From Shadowland No.2
The Dark Drawer: Four Obscurely Fabulous Film Noir Fare…
“Down this street raced dead-end violence!”
DOWN 3 DARK STREETS (1954)
“Down This Street Raced Dead-End Violence… Down This One Stretched Excitement Taut As Silk!”
Directed by Arnold Laven, this noir is part police procedural. It stars gruff he-man Broderick Crawford ( the pre-Tony Soprano alpha male, bull in the china shop cop) as FBI Agent John ‘Rip’ Ripley. Likable and mild-mannered Kenneth Tobey plays his partner agent Zack Stewart, who is gunned down from the shadows while juggling three cases that might be interrelated. John Ripley continues to hunt down the relationship between all these cases and find his partner’s murderer!
One connection involves gangster Joe Walpo as Ripley finds his hideout through Joe’s glitz and glamorous girl friend Connie Anderson played by Martha Hyer. Joe gets gunned down, and cleared of Stewart’s killing. Connie won’t be receiving anymore shiny things in the mail anymore!
The Second link involves a car theft ring. Ripley uses Vince Angelino’s (Gene Reynolds) wife to turn on his fellow thugs when Vince finds out that they have roughed up his gentle and blind wife, Julie, played by the beautiful Marisa Pavan.
The last and most disturbing case involves Kate Martell, the victim of an extortionist who says he’ll kidnap her little girl if she doesn’t fork over some cash. He calls using a creepy, threatening voice and sends her on wild goose chases, trying to break her down so she’ll pay the $10,0000 ransom.
Kate is played by the brassy Ruth Roman. There are a lot of dubious suspects surrounding her. The menacing uncle Max, played by Jay Adler, and the smarmy, drooling suiter Dave Milson, played by Max Showalter. How will this thriller play out in 3 dark streets!?
As the tagline says, it’s as taut as silk!
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THE MUGGER 1958
Directed by William Berke, Screenplay by Henry Kane, and based on the novel The Mugger by the great pulp mystery writer Evan Hunter as Ed McBain!
Starring again another likable actor Kent Smith who plays Dr.Peter Graham a psychiatrist who works for the police department, living in a dark city anywhere U.S.A.
“We need good cops, even if you are a psychiatrist now.”
There’s a mysterious masher stalking women, ritualistically slicing their left cheek and stealing their purses as a trophy. Pretty gruesome for 1958 filmgoers. The mugger escapes undetected until his last victim is actually murdered! The film stars Nan Martin, a cop who goes undercover as a dime-a-dance girl, James Franciscus, and Stefan Schnabel. With bit parts by Beah Richards as a ‘maid’ (god forgive Hollywood and their ever present stereotyping) a young George Maharis as Nicholas Grecco, a possible slime ball. And the first time appearance of Renee Taylor as a cheap hussy who is physically abusive to her wormy husband.
The film uncovers a lot of unsavory characters in the dark underbelly of a city that is diseased in a way that might breed a handbag, cheek-slashing maniac! As Dr.Graham tries to draw conclusions about the sort of man who would attack these women, we meet a handful of offbeat characters along the way as the likable police psychiatrist and his woman cop girlfriend are on the track of ‘the mugger’ terrorizing the city.
Very gritty and realistic slice of psycho=sexual aggression run amok in the city and hidden secrets within a small struggling American family!
“They all had one thing in common… The terrifying night they met!”
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PRIVATE HELL 36 (1954)
“There’s a price tag on this woman… A big one!”
Written for the screen by Collier Young ( Former husband to Ida Lupino and Joan Fontaine and written by Ida Lupino and directed by Don Siegel, starring Howard Duff, who plays detective Jack Farnham, an honest cop with a beautiful wife, Francey (Dorothy Malone), who loves him. His partner Cal Bruner,(Steve Cochran) is a little more dark and brooding and rough around the edges. He’s hungry for something better than suburban living with ‘pay on time’ furniture and a small backyard with a grill and a white fence.
Both detectives stumble onto the hot cash while staking out a robbery in which $300,000 was stolen. Of course, Farnham wants to turn it into Captain Michaels, played by the meditative Dean Jagger.
But Bruner has fallen hard for nightclub singer Lili Marlowe, played by the one and only Ida Lupino. She’s great as the unattainable woman who’s been burned once before and is now wearing asbestos lipstick. Cal is just too swarthy and smitten with Lili and soon, they go up in smoke!. Lily has very high expectations for herself and loves nice, shiny things. Cal wants to give her anything she wants but refuses to live like Farnham on a cop’s salary, playing a nice little suburban couple struggling to get by.
Number 36 refers to the locker where the money is hidden, while Farnham roils and ruminates over his dilemma.
Does he become a rat and turn in his partner, or should he do what’s expected and go to Captain Michaels with the missing money and the truth?
“These are the Night Faces…living on the edge of evil and violence…making their own.”
TRY AND GET ME or The Sound of Fury (1950)
A man down on his luck falls in with a criminal. After a senseless murder, the two are lynched.
Directed by Cy Enfield and written for the screen by Joe Pagano, based on his novel The Condemned.
It stars Frank Lovejoy as Howard Tyler and Kathleen Ryan as Judy Tyler. Two ordinary people in this allegory about how a decent human being can be directed to do a desperate or violent act in order to survive and protect their own family. Taken over by a fanatical young con man, petty thief, and psychopath named Jerry Slocum, played by Lloyd Bridges. Slocum preys on the Tyler’s need for money, Slocum convinces Tyler to be involved in a kidnapping scheme that goes horribly wrong and ends in murder.
The narrative unfolds more deeply as a condemnation of sensationalist journalism that can incite a mob mentality which feeds off the lurid details, culminating in a destructive force, almost worse than the original crimes committed.
Richard Carlson plays Gil Stanton a newspaper man who eventually has a pang of conscience, although much too late!
The ending is quite potent, powerful and remains a stunning commentary. The imagery holds a very powerful message in the final moments of the film…
PS: it seems that both The Sound of Fury 1950 and Fury 1936 Fritz Lang’s film starring Spencer Tracy are based on the same true events -from TRIVIA IMDb:
Based upon the 1933 kidnapping and murder of Brooke Hart, son of the owner of Hart’s Department Store in San Jose, California. Two suspects were arrested and jailed, but a lynch mob broke into the jail, dragged out the suspects, and took them across the street to a city park, where they hanged them from a tree
I hope you get to see at least one of these lesser-known Noir/Thriller goodies!- Til next time!- Your EverLovin’ Joey
Postcards From Shadowland No.1
That’s it for now from the shadows-MonsterGirl
From The Vault: Brainstorm (1965)
“The Most Fiendish Idea Ever Conceived By The Human Brain!”
BRAINSTORM 1965
This thriller from the 60s has an incredible cast, starring Jeffrey Hunter, Anne Francis, Dana Andrews, and Viveca Lindfors. Directed by William Conrad.
A young scientist saves an attractive married woman from a suicide attempt, becomes romantically involved with her, plots to kill her husband, and then fakes insanity to escape the murder charge.
The first Five minutes of Brainstorm 1965 set the slick and sinister vibe in motion on a dark and desolate noir highway against George Duning’s snazzy score, where Jim Graham (Hunter) stumbles upon Lorrie Benson (Francis) trying to commit suicide by train! He manages to get into the car and move it moments before the train comes hurling itself right behind them. The moment is dark and frenetic and possesses so much of what makes some of the best Noir/Psychological thrillers of the 60s so enigmatic…!
Swedish-born actress Lindfors (Whom I consider to be one of the most underrated actresses, and one of my favorites as well.)plays Dr. Elizabeth Larstadt whose testimony keeps Grayam out of jail and sent to a sanitarium instead. Andrews plays Cort Benson, Lorrie’s Beverly Hills millionaire husband. With Michael Pate and Strother Martin, it is always a treat to see both character actors in anything trashy or classy.
Here’s a clip from Brainstorm 1965
There are thousands of films in my little collection, this is just one of them! Say, I just had a brainstorm… see it for yourself!-MonsterGirl
From The Vault: Julie 1956
JULIE 1956
WHAT HAPPENED TO JULIE ON HER HONEYMOON?
Directed by Andrew L. Stone, this noir thriller stars, Doris Day who plays Julie Benton, whose unstable musician husband Lyle Benton played by Louis Jourdan confesses that he killed Julie’s first husband. Lyle is incredibly possessive and wouldn’t rather see her dead than be in the arms of another man. Julie seeks out the help of friend Cliff Henderson (Barry Sullivan) This is a woman in peril thriller, that has the police closing in on Lyle, but not before the climatic ending, where Julie boards a plane, returning to her work as a stewardess, not realizing that Lyle is also on board!
The film also co-stars veteran noir actor Frank Lovejoy as Det. Lt. Pringle.
There are thousands of films in my collection, this is just one of them!-See it for yourself-MonsterGirl
From The Vault: The Man Who Watched Trains Go By or The Paris Express (1952)
THE MANÂ WHO WATCHED TRAINS GO BY 1952 or The Paris Express
If you’ve been following my blog for a while you might have picked up on the fact that I adore Claude Rains, and any film his wonderful presence has graced. Masterpiece or B-grade picture, he brings an inimitable style to any movie! Here: Claude Rains plays a mild-mannered clerk named Kees Popinga who discovers that his boss Julius de Koster, Jr. (Herbert Lom) has wiped out the company funds, while under the influence of a beautiful Parisian girl, Michele Rozier played by Marta Toren.
Popinga takes the money and goes on the lam after killing de Koster, while the police are in hot pursuit.
Also starring the lovely Anouk Aimee as Jeanne the prostitute.
This obscure thriller is directed and co-scripted by Harold French based on the novel by George Simenon.
There are thousands of films in my collection, this is just one of them! See it for yourself-MonsterGirl
From The Vault: Female on The Beach (1955)
“A lone female on the beach is a kind of a target – a bait, you might say.”
FEMALE ON THE BEACH 1955
| The immortal Joan Crawford is Lynn Markham, a widow who longs to be left alone at her beach house, where the previous tenant, Eloise Crandall (Judith Evelyn), had fallen to her death. Lynn’s neighbor turns out to be the gorgeous male specimen in the form of Jeff Chandler, playing Drummond Hall (Drummy), who might have had something to do with Eloise’s fatal fall off the porch. Of course, Drummy starts to move in on Lynn. Along for the ride are the marvelous duo of Natalie Schafer and Cecil Kellaway, who play Drummy’s crafty aunt and uncle, Osbert and Queenie Sorenson. And then there are the frequent visitations by realtor Amy Rawlinson, played by the always effervescent Jan Sterling, who is, of course, gaga over Drummy, the slick and sleazy gigolo with a rough past. Directed by Joseph Pevney (prolific in great television series spanning the 1960s-80s, not to mention the taut psycho-sexual drama THE STRANGE DOOR 1951, and PLAYGIRL 1956 starring the bigger than life – Shelley Winters.
The film is filled with the right amount of 50s kitsch and camp and delicious vulgarity under the sensationalized surface. It is an obscure Crawford goodie that enthusiasts of the actress and genre should add to their ‘must-see’ list!  Lynn: “You must go with the house… like plumbing.” 
There are thousands of films in my collection. This is just one of them! See it for yourself!-MonsterGirl |
From The Vault: I Thank A Fool (1961)
I THANK A FOOL (1961)
Susan Hayward plays Christine Allison a physician prosecuted for euthanizing a patient. Peter Finch plays Stephen Dane the attorney who successfully put Allison in prison and now employs her to take charge of his mentally disturbed wife Liane, played by Diane Cilento.Â
The film also co-stars Cyril Cusack as Captain Ferris and Kieron Moore as Roscoe and is directed by Robert Stevens. (Suspense 1949, Never Love A Stranger 1958.
“Love can make a killer out of a woman… and a fool out of any man!”
See it for yourself!-MonsterGirl