Hi everyone
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morrison-dylan-fan — 9 years ago(October 31, 2016 03:29 PM)
- This review may contain spoilers ***
Being a fan of Hammer Horror and the Giallo sub-genre I started talking to a friend about Horror flicks to view in October. Whilst being aware of Hammer's late Psycho-Thriller/Giallo era,I was surprised to get told of a Hammer psycho which co-starred Peter Cushing,which led to me fearing the night.
The plot:
Preparing to move to a secluded boys' boarding school that her husband Robert Heller will be working at,Peggy is attacked by a stranger wearing black gloves.Waking up from the attack,Peggy finds no proof that an attacker was in the house,and starts to wonder if she is imagining things. Going to the school with Robert,Peggy meets headmaster Michael Carmichael,whose quiet behaviour puts Peggy on edge. Attacked (and knocked out) again,Peggy wakes up to find Robert asking what she thinks might be causing her to faint.Fearing her sanity,Peggy decides to relax and walk round the school.Hearing the sound of school children,Peggy walks into the school and is horrified,when she finds it to be completely empty of kids.
View on the film:
Reaching the screen after originally being written in 1963,co- writer/(along with Michael Syson) director Jimmy Sangster gives the horror a sly middle class shell,dressed in crisp surroundings and prim clothes which allow for the psychological terror to lurk underneath. Dissecting Hammer studios major theme of female hysteria with Giallo black gloves,the writers brilliantly mix haunted Gothic Horror memories of a past that has long gone with a rich Film Noir pessimism.Tearing Peggy Heller away from being a "Scream Queen",the writers use the disbelief in Peggy's visions to cast her as a Film Noir loner,whose hysteria over what she is experiencing is clouded by the meek middle class façade Robert covers her eyes with.
For the final Hammer Horror he would direct, Sangster and cinematographer Arthur Grant set the mood tranquillity,by giving the opening morbid,stilted camera moves casting a shadow of something long forgotten. Cosying up in the Heller's house, Sangster sits in with corned shots on the household which lock Peggy in and make the sudden shots of violence smash the image of Peggy's life with a mighty Hammer.
Also making his final Hammer outing, Ralph Bates gives a wonderful performance as Robert,whose mature manner Bates makes just that bit eerily off. Joining in on the Giallo Horror game, Peter Cushing walks a fine line in his performance as "The Headmaster" whose gentlemen manner is undermined by Cushing blinding him with shards of cold emotion across his black glasses.Delivering a scream with fear to match the best of Hammer's Girls,the elegant Judy Geeson wonderfully turns Peggy into a burnt-out Film Noir loner,whose chirpy middle class heart is worn down by Geeson into a hysteria which leads to Peggy being numb to the outside world,as Peggy discovers that fear is the key.
- This review may contain spoilers ***
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mgtbltp — 9 years ago(November 01, 2016 03:23 AM)
Directed by Joseph Pevney. Written by Nat Dallinger (story), Martin Goldsmith, Alfred Lewis Levitt and Don Martin (story). Cinematography by Irving Glassberg. It was a UI release.
The film Stars Howard Duff as Jack Early, Brian Donlevy as Nick Palmer, Peggy Dow as Ellen Bennett, Lawrence Tierney as Colton, Bruce Bennett as David Glover, Anne Vernon as Lita Palmer, Charles Sherlock as Sam, Rock Hudson as Ted, the nightclub Doorman, Peggie Castle as Hat Check Girl, and Joseph Pevney as Keller the Reporter.
The San Francisco Bay Area tale begins with a shadowy figure running across a waterfront railyard. He got three wiseguys on his ass. He runs across tracks and around the end of a boxcar. He drops off a camera on the coupler of the boxcar then speeds off.
The three goons close in. At the edge of the bay, they catch up to the man they are chasing. They grab him but not before he tosses a camera identical to the one he dropped off at the boxcar, into the drink. The wiseguys still beat the beep out of him and leave him lying unconscious across a street railway track with a steam switcher locomotive chuffing down towards him. He regains his senses and drags himself out of the way. Recovered even more, he walks over to the boxcar and retrieves the real camera. All this happens within the first two minutes.
Howard Duff plays a savvy photographer Jack Early, who is obsessed and desperately trying to break into the big time. He's not interested in just selling pictures, he wants a newspaper job. He gets some sympathy and a serious come on from a blonde female employee Ellen Bennett (Peggy Dow), who invites him to dinner at her place.
Ellen plays it hot and cold when Jack makes some feeble moves on her. She's engaged she tells him to Dentist in Portland, and tells Jack that he better leave. Shot out of the saddle Jack makes some small talk at the door, he then leans forward to kiss Ellen she raises her lips, but Jack does the unexpected kissing her on the forehead as he leaves. A slightly disappointed Ellen leans up against the door.
Hopping into a cab Jack lucks into another story as they follow a wildly careening car to its plunge into San Francisco Bay. Jack gets another exclusive picture of the victim who he has leaning out of the car window for a picture. He does the same at a fire where he stops a woman from jumping out of the burning building in order to get the pic. Jack is basically a jackass. Jack's only bump in the road in Newspaper Editor David Glover (Bruce Bennett).
So the paper hires him and he gets a big break when he convinces a "Dapper Dan" mobster, Nick Palmer (Donlevy) to let him take his picture. Nick takes a shine to Jack and invites him over for dinner the next day. Nick gives Jack a tip about a rival gang's upcoming bank job, Nick will pay Jack a $1000 down to take a picture of the robbers and another $1000 after the picture is published. The bank job is being executed by a goon named Colton, (Lawrence Tierney) he runs his operation out of a bowling alley. Jack is there at the bank to take pictures. He gives the newspaper the one where the gang's faces aren't easily identified. but he goes to Colton with the really damning photo and demands part of the take to keep quiet. Colton gives in. Jack while all this is going down gets the hots for Nita, Palmer's wife. Everything starts to escalate as you'd expect into a typical Noirsville spiral.
Howard Duff is great in this, it's so far, his best roll, that I've seen, Lawrence Tierney also gets high marks for his performance as the hood Colton with Brian Donlevy also putting in a nice turn as Nick Palmer.
Shakedown sorely needs a restoration, as is an 8/10. Review with the fuzzy screencaps from a multigenerational AVI file here:
http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/10/shakedown-1950-ace-in-hole-meets.html -
Jessica_Rabbit69 — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 08:50 AM)
Good review. I really wanted to watch this when it was on rarefilmm, but the copy was so bad unfortunately that I didn't. I hope it will get a cleanup sometime.
Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." -
gordonl56 — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 06:01 AM)
CONTAINS SPOILERS
HONG KONG "Murder by Proxy" 1961
Rod Taylor headlines this 1960-61 series as a newsman who is stationed in Hong Kong. Taylor is constantly in trouble with various shady types who are always involving him in their troubles. It usually takes several round of fisticuffs, a dead body or two and a gun battle before things get settled. This is the 22th episode.
This one begins with Taylor out for drinks with and old friend, Nancy Gates and her new husband, Gene Lyons. Also in the mix is another old pal, Hong Kong banker, Richard Anderson, and a not so friendly Paul Richards. Taylor and Richards are at odds over the affection of a woman.
Taylor is sure Richards is behind a series of close calls the reporter has had the last few weeks. Someone fiddled with the brakes on his car, then, the gas at his apartment sprung a leak. Now as the group leaves the club, a taxi nearly runs him down and then speeds off. Now a new problem pops up, Lyons, the hubby of Taylor's long-time friend, Miss Gates, seems to think that the two are having an affair.
Taylor's pal, Hong Kong Police Inspector, Lloyd Bochner wants to assign a detective to keep an eye on Taylor. Bochner is sure that Taylor has annoyed someone with one of his news stories and they are looking for some pay back.
Taylor is thinking the same thing, but believes it is Paul Richards behind the trouble. He pays Richards a visit for a "friendly" discussion. The talk leads to more than a few left hooks and right crosses being exchanged between the two, with Richards ending up on the losing end of the conversation.
That evening there is a large dinner party thrown by Nancy Gates and husband Lyons. While most of the group are out on the balcony enjoying drinks, someone shots Lyons dead from an upstairs window. The deal here is that Lyons was standing beside Taylor when killed. The Police suspect that it was a hit that was meant for reporter, Taylor.
Inspector Bochner quickly puts the grab on the most likely suspect, Paul Richards. Both Bochner and Taylor are sure that Richards was smarting from the beating Taylor had given him, and wanted revenge. Richards swears he is innocent of the murder, and with no evidence, he is released.
The Police and Taylor now go looking for the cab driver who had nearly creamed Taylor. There is a whole plethora of red herrings tossed out for the viewer to chew over. But the suspects are soon thinned out and it turns out that it is the dear wife, Miss Gates. Gates was involved in an affair all right, but it was with Hong Kong banker, Richard Anderson. The two wanted Lyon's millions. All the close calls on Taylor had been to make the Police think it was a messed up hit against Taylor.
Taylor finally tumbles to the ploy when the cab driver is found with a large knife in his ribs. There is a showdown at Taylor's apartment with Anderson blasting away with a revolver. Unfortunately for Nancy Gates, her paramour, Anderson's aim is off and she collects a fatal dose of lead. Anderson gets a sound thrashing from Taylor and is handed over to the local constabulary.
This is a decently entertaining episode, with lots of nice work from both the cast, and crew. The story is from veteran big-screen writer, Jonathan Latimer. His work includes the screenplays for the noir, THE GLASS KEY, THEY WON'T BELIEVE ME, NOCTURNE, ALIAS NICK BEAL and THE BIG CLOCK.
The look of the episode is really top rate with twice Oscar nominated cinematographer, Philip Lathrop at the controls. He also handled the lensing duties for 61 episodes of the popular series, PETER GUNN. -
mgtbltp — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 06:07 AM)
The 1994s updated definition of the French term femme fatale is "A Total F-ing Bitch," as Bridget Gregory a.k.a Wendy Kroy (Fiorentino) declares at one point while grinding poor Mike Swale (Peter Berg) into her '87 Jeep Cherokee upholstery, and she's right.
The Last Seduction is one of the Trade Center Neo Noirs (1968/69-2001) those smog haze, New York based films, where skyline shots pan across a city with the World Trade Towers standing like tombstones in an almost eerily haunting presence. My father worked on the foundation project. My earliest memory of the towers was of the bathtub with its temporary twin suspension bridges holding up the PATH tubes.
I left the chemically man made sometimes dayglow pink and sometimes fuchsia technicolor sunsets of New York for Montana in '72. I didn't see the Trade Towers again in person until 1997.
Directed masterfully by John Dahl ((
Kill Me Again
(1989), (
Red Rock West
(1993),
You Kill Me
(2007)). Smartly penned by Steve Barancik, with cinematography by Jeff Jur (
You Kill Me
(2007)), and a cool jazzy piano score composed by Joseph Vitarelli which is very reminiscent of Brubeck's "Take Five."
The film stars Linda Fiorentino (
After Hours
(1985),
Bodily Harm
(1995), as Bridget, "Wendy - Total F-ing Bitch," Gregory, Bill Pullman (
Lost Highway
(1997),
Zero Effect
(1998),
The Killer Inside Me
(2010)) as "Credulous" Clay Gregory, Peter Berg (
Collateral
(2004)) as the emotionally "Moronic" Mike Swale, J.T. Walsh (
House of Games
(1987),
The Grifters
(1990),
Narrow Margin
(1990), Red
Rock West
(1993)) as as larcenist lawyer Frank Griffith, Dean Norris (
Breaking Bad
TV) as townie Shep, Brien Varady as townie Chris, Donna W. Scott as townie Stacy, and Bill Nunn as PI Harlan.
Bridget Gregory, total f-ing bitch. Hot, genius smart, kinky and slinky. Feline and ruthless. Politically incorrect chain smoker. New York City telemarketer/con artist. Catty call floor conniver. Rough Rider floor boss.
Married to sleazy schemer Doc Clay Gregory (Pullman). A "writing doctor". A regular Dr. Feelgood. Sells prescriptions for money. Breaking badder, Clay and Bridget do a big score. Loan shark loot purchases pilfered pharmaceutical cocaine. 100K cumulates to 700K streetwise. The deal goes down. Under the Brooklyn Bridge. A Dumbo backdrop. East River shoreline shadow showdown. A sketchy situation but Clay survives.
Heads Home. Home sweet Harlem, hi honey I'm home, home (technically actually the Northern slope up Morningside Heights). Bridget mouths off. Clay gives Bridge a "to the moon Alice" slap across the choppers. Bridge is hurt. Bridge is pissed. Clay makes nice. Bridge plays nice. But Bridge is cold as ice. Clay craves coitus. She shows him the shower. Credulous Clay is in her power.
Clay is double dealt and double crossed. Kitty's claws rake deep. Bridget bolts. Gash with the cash. Cabs to her car. She dips. West out of NYC. West to dullsville, flyover cow country. A fly speck called Beston (Irvington, NY). A semi isolated Peyton Place. A sticksville of secrets. There she plays cool city cat to country bumpkin field mice. Artisan DVD, 10/10
Complete review with screencaps are here:
http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-last-seduction-1993-new-definition.html -
jgcole — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 11:12 AM)
Dahl certainly has had a curious career. After his first three films - which have to be as good as any first three efforts in recent years - he abandons films and writing, opting for directing episodes of television series. Nothing wrong with TV and he has directed some good shows. I guess he's just not interested in developing his own projects.
Great movie, have seen it many times. Bridget Gregory is the ultimate femme fatale of the neo era. I love the scene where she puts out her cigarette in the apple pie that grandma had baked for Mike. Mike looks a little dismayed; he knows that Bridget is no good, but that doesn't matter anymore. Neither does grandma's pie. -
mgtbltp — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 06:47 PM)
Speaking of Fiorentino, I can't believe she didn't get more mileage out of her performance in
The Last Seduction
, so I watched
Bodily Harm
(1995) it's on Youtube BTW where she plays a homicide detective, but the character is more reactive than proactive it's just not what you'd expect. It's not her, or what you expect from her, if you know what I mean.
I suspect that
Jade
1995 and even Dahl's
Unforgettable
1996 may have been more of the same. There is also talk that she was difficult to work with.
It's almost too bad, she had lightning in a bottle. She could have been an iconic type of personality.
It's like say Clint Eastwood, he made
A Fistful Of Dollars
,
For A Few Dollars More
, and
The Good The Bad And The Ugly
, and rode that Man With No Name persona for years. -
gordonl56 — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 05:56 AM)
I had the good luck to see this on the big screen. Fabulous movie from start to finish. Fiorentino is excellent.
I was also lucky enough to see John Dahl's Red Rock West on the big screen. I just caught an episode of Ray Donovan that Dahl directed.
Nice write up. -
morrison-dylan-fan — 9 years ago(November 17, 2016 12:52 PM)
Hi Mgt,I want to say thank you for the superb review which has just led to me ordering the movie! With you mentioning You Kill Me,I was wondering if that title is a return to form from Dahl? (whose Duel-style Thriller Joy Ride I've also found to be a good late movie by him.)
-
Jessica_Rabbit69 — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 08:46 AM)
For 16 years Ive been living in dirt, and take it from me, some of its bound to rub off on you. You get to hate people everyone you meet. Im sick of them Im through with them all.
Shield for Murder
is an unpretentious Noir, co-directed by its star Edmond OBrien.
Embittered and crooked veteran cop Barney Nolan (Edmond OBrien) has come to the conclusion that the straight and narrow is the path to nowhere and decides its time to get a piece of the action. He wants his slice of the American Dream, a suburban model home with a two-car garage and backyard BBQ. Instead of saving, he opts for the easy route: he kills a bookie for $25,000 which should buy him the middle-class domestic bliss hes been longing for with his girlfriend Patty (Marla English).
Unfortunately the 25G was mob money, and the mob wants it back. On top of that, a deaf mute old man saw Nolan commit the crime, and Nolan knows he cant leave any loose ends
The 50s saw several dirty cop Noirs, that dealt with police corruption in one way or another (
Rogue Cop
,
Private Hell 36
,
The Prowler
,
Pushover
), hit the screen.
A decided shift in tone could be noticed compared to the 40s. It was less about powerlessness in the face of pre-ordained fate, more about moral corruption, with emphasis on personal culpability.
Shield for Murder
is a good example of that type of movie, but its neither the most stylish nor the most hard-hitting of its kind. The photography is slightly uninspired, and the storytelling is straight-forward and not overly imaginative, its nuts and bolts. It offers nothing particularly new in its depiction of disillusionment and dashed dreams. A bit more polish and subtlety may have elevated it to A status, what it does well though is realism.
Unfortunately, it plays too much like a morality play, OBriens character would have benefited from a little more moral ambiguity.
OBrien though, who was by then in his character actor phase, is absolutely believable in his role as burned-out cop. His everyman good looks were gone. He is sweaty and bloated, and its easy to believe the anger that is seething in him. Killing doesnt lie heavily on his conscience. In his view the people he goes after are not dead because he killed them, theyre dead because they didnt deserve to live.
Bitter and hateful, hes been working the streets too long and his attitude on the job has become more and more vicious over the years. Hes been sliding for a long time, the precinct is well-aware of his less than orthodox methods. A while ago he shot two Mexicans for no particular reason at all. Even before he killed the bookie, brutality and strong-arm tactics were his MO.
But interestingly, he is not a loner but a man in love. Only his girlfriend is able to mitigate his cynicism somewhat. She is the reason behind his rather banal suburban Dream.
It is telling that we only ever see the housing development with the model home at night, it is nothing more than a pre-fab dream in the darkness, a promise that doesnt come true.
Just once do we get a glimpse of the man Nolan used to be when a young man is brought to the police station who has been arrested for stealing a bag of groceries. One look at him tells Nolan it was the kids first crime and that he did it to feed his family. He lets him off with a warning.
He still is capable of understanding and compassion. It's a quick flashback to the man who became a mentor to his young friend on the force, John Agar, himself a former street kid.
Later the same night Nolan brutally pistol-whips two private dicks who were tailing him at a bar, to the horror of the patrons watching.
As the conflicted protagonist, the audience should be on Nolan's side but its hard to identify with him. His crook is not human enough for that, Nolan is not a basically good man gone wrong. He's firmly in bad guy territory. In the end we think he gets his just deserts, dying on the lawn of his dream house in front of a phalanx of squad cars.
Marla English plays OBriens finance. She looks fabulous in her cigarette girl outfit and those two make a strange but intriguing couple. She is attracted by his strength, but gets more and more scared by the out-of-control brutality he shows. Beauty and the Beast in Noir country.
Carolyn Jones (as a blonde) has a small role as a flirty B girl in a bar who throws herself at Nolan and whose preferences seem to be a bit on the kinky side.
Unpretentious but effective B Noir. Recommended.
Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." -
Jessica_Rabbit69 — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 03:02 PM)
I bought the DVD. Remastered, it looks good. Are there different formats? Edit: Rubbish, of course there are. I misunderstood the question. Ignore it.
https://www.amazon.com/Shield-Murder-Edmond-OBrien/dp/B01DEEVJ6C/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1478123889&sr=1-1&keywords=shield+for+murder
Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."