Few films for November/Noirvember.

The Finger Man (1955), directed by Harold D. Schuster. Ex-con Casey Martin (Frank Lovejoy) agrees to help the authorities nab mobster Dutch Becker (Forrest Tucker). Becker is the person responsible for Lucille Martin (Evelyn Eaton) becoming a drug addict. This is quite a tough little noir with brutal beatings and the murders and disfigurement of two women. The film also sports Timothy Carey as Lou Terpe. Carey is well known for his portrayal of psychopaths and crazies. Obviously made on a shoestring, the film does manage to create the noir atmosphere of dark streets and alleys and dodgy nightclubs. Lovejoy’s voice-over also adds to the noirish elements. Noirish elements, however, do not make this an A-grade film. It is watchable, but also predictable. I have always liked Frank Lovejoy, but I confess he makes a bland hero. Peggy Castle, however, shines in her role as Gladys Baker, Casey’s girlfriend.

Motherless Brooklyn (2019), directed by Edward Norton. Set in 1950s New York, this film is a contemporary spin on the gumshoe/noir films of the 40s and 50s of the last century. It has much of the swagger of those dark contemplations of post-war America: gritty city streets, dark nightclubs, fedoras, smart dialogue, and corrupt power brokers. As well as noirs such as The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, I am reminded of Huston’s Chinatown. What differentiates this film from those early exercises in noir is its take on masculinity. Here our hero/anti-hero is less the tough guy quick with either his fists or his gun, than he is the sensitive and even tender guy with a troubled past. He also has Tourette’s syndrome, something that has made him an outsider for much of his life. Norton’s performance as Lionel Essrog (even his name differs markedly from those early gumshoes such as Marlowe and Spade) is fascinating, nuanced, and intense. He is the “Motherless Brooklyn” announced in the title; this is a moniker given him by Frank Minna (Bruce Willis), his boss, his mentor, and his friend. The plot has to do with real estate in New York. We have a New York Commissioner of various things, Randolph Moses (Alec Baldwin), who eagerly destroys the neighbourhood of Black people in order to build a high end building or just to push through a new motorway. Sound familiar? The world Norton creates is compelling and nicely relevant to the world we still inhabit in its greed, lust for power, and racial bigotry. I like this film.

The Madonna’s Secret (1946), directed by Wilhelm Thiele. And she shall keep it to her grave! This is the one about the tortured artist whose female models have a habit of ending up in the nearby river, whether this river is in France or in New York. Noteworthy here is the cinematography by the inimitable John Alton. As for the plot, it rambles all over the place, first following a city theatre critic, then taking up with one of the artist’s models who keeps appearing in the artist’s pictures looking like a previous model. Then the current model finds her way to the river and her sister shows up. Then we have the wealthy collector of husbands who offers herself as a model until she too makes her way into the river, not to return. And did I mention that the artist has a strong relationship to his mother? The film has elements of noir (how could it not with Alton behind the camera?), murder mystery, and romance. It is something of a mish-mash. Characters come and they go. I wonder what happened to the theatre critic who styled himself after a dapper William Powell. Still and all, we have Alton’s camera to make the proceedings worthwhile. And we have the furious scenes as the artist drives his boat in wild fashion on that nearby river.

Guilty Bystander (1950), directed by Joseph Lerner. Ex-cop Max Thursday is on the skids. He has a job as house detective in a sleezy hotel run by Smitty (May Boland). But mostly Max is inebriated. One night his ex-wife drops by to ask for help; their child has gone missing in a possible kidnapping and her brother is also missing. The plot has some murky moments, but on the whole things are clear enough. The world is typically dark and edges towards sadism. Especially effective is J. Edward Bromberg as the insouciant crime boss, Varkas, who seems to spend his time taking his pulse and downing a variety of medicines. Zachary Scott as Max works hard and brings, perhaps, just a bit too much enthusiasm to his role as the inebriate detective. Some of the camera work is suitably shadowed and twisted. The scene in the subway is vintage noir. All in all, a representative work in the genre, although for the life of me I cannot figure out who the guilty bystander is. The torn cigarette package is worth contemplating.

 

The Scarf (1951), directed by E. A. Dupont. If there is such a thing as a baroque film noir, then The Scarf is it. “The doctor is allergic to irrelevant laughter.” This is one line I remember from the film, but the script is laced with such niceties. The plot has an escapee from a penitentiary for the insane holding up at a turkey farm in the desert and forming a friendship with the farmer. Then on a trip to town for turkey feed, he finds himself meeting the inevitable dame, and they go for a ride, stopping for a picnic or something. Is he innocent or guilty? Is he sane or insane? We will find out, but not before some goings-on outside of town and in town, even in LA. John Ireland plays the man on the run and Mercedes McCambridge is the woman he meets. She has a job at a bar called Level Louie’s, and Level Louie also enters the story, along with the turkey farmer who plays a cello and assorted police and doctors. The characters are refreshingly original. The film is raw and fascinating. So what if things are preposterous, this is an interesting entry in the noir cycle. Mercedes McCambridge even sings while tending tables and wearing a gingham dress.

 

Private Hell 36 (1954), directed by Don Siegel. This is a low budget noir from master of the slick narrative, Don Siegel. We have a rather well-worn plot that involves two detectives who happen upon a box of stolen loot. One pockets a couple of small stacks of the money (Steve Cochran as Sgt Cal Bruner); the other wants nothing to do with such thievery (Howard Duff as family man Sgt Jack Farnham). You can predict what transpires as things go from bad to worse. Overseeing the proceedings is Police Cpt Michaels (Dean Jagger) who provides the voiceover at the beginning and end of the film. Then we have the two women, domestic housewife Francy Farnham (Dorothy Malone) and nightclub chanteuse Lilli Marlowe (Ida Lupino, who also was one of two screenwriters for the film). The whole affair has something of a Dragnet feel, as Lilli remarks at one point. Everything is stripped down, and the film moves along at a sluggish pace, especially in the middle when the two detectives and Lilli spend days scouting local racetracks on the lookout for the crook. Siegel manages to bring a certain minimalist style to proceedings. Note, for example the huge liquor bottles that decorate the nightclub. Then we have the trailer park, with trailer number 36 serving as the place where Bruner stashes the loot. The relationship between Bruner and Farnham has the whiff of something more than friendship, one peripheral character remarking to Bruner, “Your boyfriend’s a little over-prepped for the job,” and Lilli noting that “This is the first time I’ve ever lost a man to another man.” In other words, Siegel manages to create interest from the most basic of material.