Evelyn Keyes, who died on July 4, starred in a number of films noir: Johnny O’Clock (1947), The Killer That Stalked New York (1950), The Prowler (1951), and 99 River Street (1953).

Young woman helps cops find her father’s killer

A poverty row b-thriller from a competent RKO production team. A scheming blonde, a suave villain, and an amateur female sleuth are packaged into 70 minutes of satisfying entertainment, with just a hint of sexual ambiguity and a novel twist with a reversal of roles between ego and alter-ego.  Two smooth jazz interludes from Steve Gibson’s Redcaps in the Vogue night-club, and a great denoument scene at the end involving a pianola are highlights.

New York-based film writer, Dan Callahan, has written a penetrating article on the films and life of film noir regular, Gloria Grahame, for the May edition of Bright Lights Film Journal, Fatal Instincts: The Dangerous Pout of Gloria Grahame.

Callahan concludes his article with stunning directness:

Gloria Grahame lived on the sidelines of her films because it was there that she could cause the most trouble; she might appear in any movie, young and sullen, aged and insistent, under a pound of make-up or plain-faced, fucking the pain away, putting out a cigarette in someone’s eye, giggling for no reason. She’s inescapable, a disruptive force, and when I hear her in my head, she seems to say, “C’mon, you know you want to . . .”

Noir filmography for Gloria Grahame:

Crossfire (1947)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Macao (1952)
Sudden Fear (1952)
The Big Heat (1953)
Human Desire (1954)
Naked Alibi (1954)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)

Related FilmsNoir.Net posts:

The Big Heat (1953): Film Noir As Social Criticism
The Big Heat (1953) Revisited
Crossfire (1947)
In A Lonely Place (1950): The “Creative” Outsider
In A Lonely Place (1950): A Psychic Prison

Actor, Charleton Heston, died today. He starred alongside director Orson Welles in the last great noir of the classic cycle: Touch of Evil (1958).  Heston’s first role  was as a crooked gambler in the crime thriller cum noir Dark City (1950).

Others have posted obits and bios, and today’s New York Times obit by Douglas Martin is well worth reading. I will focus on one aspect of Richard Widmark’s craft.

My screen memories of Mr Widmark are bound up with his Westerns on B&W television during adolescence. His tough enigmatic persona in those movies resonated deeply, more than his film noir roles.

But there is a common theme: the outsider. The great westerns and noirs are essentially stories of a loner on the “outside”: whether as violent psychopath or flawed hero. Widmark inhabited such roles so well because he was an outsider himself, and this comes out clearly in the NY Times piece.

He was originally turned down for his breakthrough role in Kiss Of Death (1947) by the director, who told him that he was too “clean cut and intellectual” for the part. Throughout his life he protected his privacy and shunned the celebrity lifestyle.

I think his role in Samuel Fuller’s Pickup On South Street (1953) is his most nuanced noir performance: he profoundly portrays the psyche and persona of a petty criminal not only outside the law but outside even the criminal milieu - he lives an almost an ascetic existence in a shack on the city’s waterfront. When his “island” is threatened by a woman’s attachment he reacts with instinctual violence before she eventually draws him out.

The conversion scene in a boat moored near the shack is a no-man’s land where the b-girl and the pick-pocket traverse the narrow emotional and social confines of their existence. While we must acknowledge Fuller’s creative genius here, Widmark’s performance is pivotal.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Actor Richard Widmark, who earned an Oscar nomination playing a psychopath in 1947 noir “Kiss of Death,” has died aged 93. His films noir:

Kiss Of Death (1947)
Road House (1948)
The Street with No Name (1948)
Night and the City (1950)
No Way Out (1950)
Panic In The Streets (1950)*
Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)
Pickup On South Street (1953)
The Trap (1959)
Madigan (1968)
Against All Odds (1984)

* View free on-line - click the link.

He also provided a memorable hard-boiled voice-over for the 1992 documenatary Visions of Light: Noir Cinematography.

Lucille Fay LeSuer AKA Joan Crawford (1905-1977)

Films noir:

Mildred Pierce (1945)
Possessed (1947)
Flamingo Road (1949)
The Damned Don’t Cry (1950)
Sudden Fear (1952)

From January 25 to February 3, 2008 San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre will host the 6th Noir City Film Noir Festival. Presented by the Film Noir Foundation and Eddie Muller.

The festival kicks off with Joan Leslie dramas: the rare Repeat Performance (1947) a nd The Hard Way (1943). In the intermission, the 82 year-old actress will be interview on stage by Eddie Muller. The following night, Saturday, January 26, Joseph Losey’s The Prowler (1951) will be screened. 12 of the 21 films to be screened year are not available on VHS or DVD. Other highlights include: a double bill of rarities from 20th Century-Fox: Hangover Square and Dangerous Crossing, new 35mm prints of Night Has 1000 Eyes, Woman In Hiding, and The Story of Molly X, a Charles McGraw double-feature: Reign of Terror (1949) and Border Incident (1949), and a closing night double-feature: Road House and Night and the City honoring Richard Widmark.

For the full schedule of films visit the Noir City 6 web site.