Guest Blogger: Steve-O

Check out Steve-O from Film Noir of the Week's guest post about three great film noirs you probably haven't heard of. I enjoyed this post for two reasons. The first being it reminded me of the three films I got to see in the Unseen Noir series at the Harvard Film Archive. And also two of the films feature Bonita Granville! Yay! Enjoy Steve-O's post and feel free to share some of your favorite lesser-known noirs.

Three Great Film Noir You Never Heard Of by Steve-O

One of the coolest things about loving film noir is discovering lost, forgotten films. True, most lost films are forgotten for a reason. However, every now and then you find a film so amazing that it makes watching hours and hours of bad films worth while.

If you're new to classic film noir, I recommend you first check out all the great movies released on DVD over the past few years. Start off with big studio noirs like Out of the Past (1947), Criss Cross (1949) and Gilda (1946). Then work your way to the smaller budget films like Caged (1950) and D.O.A. (1950). If you're still a noir fan, step down to the Bs like Railroaded and Decoy.

There you have the three tiers of film noir. Don Miller, writing in "B" movies: An Informal Survey of the American Low-budget Film, notes that there were three classifications of movies during the 30s and 40s: “... the A, the B, and the programmers, sometimes alluded to as a 'nervous A' or 'gilt-edged B.' That hybrid would often play the top half of a double bill, have one or two fairly high-priced performers and, when a character walked into a room, the walls wouldn't shake as he shut the door; it looked reasonably opulent, but if a studio tried to palm it off as a big or A picture, you knew they were kidding.” The three films that I want to recommend fall into the B category. They're nearly impossible to find on television and I doubt they'll ever find their way to DVD. They are cheaply made without a movie star in sight. Nevertheless they're wonderful.

First is a film called Suspense. The 1946 film is – and I'm not kidding here – a figure-skating noir. Olympic figure skater Belita stars as a skater that dumps her mobster boyfriend for a peanut vendor (Barry Sullivan). The film is wonderfully strange with outstanding performances from Albert Dekker (The Killers) and Bonita Granville (her other noir role was The Guilty). The film is loaded with strange images (including Belita crashing through a giant Dali-like skull to begin a skating exhibition) and some true suspense.

Night Editor from the same year is based on a long-running radio series. The film begins, like the radio series, with a newspaper editor recounting a scandalous story from the past. Surprisingly, the story he tells is fatalistic and dark. A drunk cop spends his nights cheating on his wife with a sexy (and also married) society girl (a wicked performance by Janis Carter). The cheating couple witnesses the brutal murder of a woman on a dark street. The cop (William Gargan) doesn't stop the killer for fear that it would cause a scandal. He doesn't want it to get out that he was stepping out on his wife. To make matters worse, detective Cochrane – who has already been reprimanded for poor performance -- shows up to work hungover and is quickly assigned the murder. He has to investigate and at the same time find a way to cover up his role. His cars tire tracks at the scene makes him a potential suspect in the killing. 99-percent of the film is just perfect. The happy ending tacked on at the end is very annoying but not unexpected. However, this is a great little movie.




The third film I covered last week at the Noir of the Week blog. The Guilty (1948) is possibly the cheapest movie I have ever seen. The acting is wooden and the sets look like they just might fall down. However, it's a damned involving story of murder. A twin girl is killed in a dark, nameless city. The prime suspect is a WWII shell-shocked vet. A couple of other potential suspects include the “bad” sister's violent boyfriend and creepy middle-aged house member. Who did the killing? I found myself involved from beginning to end.






These three films are not easy to find. However, if you do get to see them you'll probably agree they're true black-and-white gems.

Blonde Bette Davis ~ Double Feature Pre-Codes

I had the opportunity to watch two Blonde Bette Davis pre-codes at the Brattle Theater last night. What a treat. Here are some of my quick thoughts on both films.

Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)

Even though Bette Davis doesn't even show up until mid-way through the movie, and with her comes the actual plot, I have to say I really enjoyed this film. It's entertaining and a little cheesy, just the way I like my '30s films to be! Plus it's got Lewis Stone! You can't go wrong with that. SPOILER ALERT! None of us quite expected the ending which involved Pat O'Brien's character giving his wife quite a beating. He had just found out that she was already married and had been conning him into giving her alimony. When the movie was over, I proclaimed that there was nothing like ending a film with some good ole domestic abuse!

Three on a Match (1932)

I had seen this movie a couple times previously, but it was wonderful to see it up on the big screen. I really enjoy this film and it's one of my top favorite pre-codes. But really it isn't a Bette Davis film even if she is part of the triumvirate. Her character is weak and really the only thing you get out of her performance is seeing Bette at her most beautiful. Three on a Match is really all about Ann Dvorak and Joan Blondell. This film is a cautionary tale warning people off of adultery and alcohol/drug abuse. The real victim is the little boy who has to watch his family fall apart. Its just a superb film and watching it again just solidified that for me.