Hi everyone
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gordonl56 — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 05:59 AM)
Well done Jess. I have seen this half a dozen times and have never got around to doing a review for some reason. It is one of my personal O'Brien favs. For a low-renter, it sure pushes all the right buttons. Again, well done!
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morrison-dylan-fan — 9 years ago(November 06, 2016 04:32 PM)
Hi Jess,I want to say thank you for the excellent review (with that quote being SO hard boiled)and you do very well at expressing how the movie shows signs on breaking out of the "B" zone,but falls short.I was wondering if you have seen O'Brien's other directed title Man-Trap? (Gordon gave it 8/10)
www.imdb.com/board/10055134/ -
Maddyclassicfilms — 9 years ago(November 03, 2016 12:59 PM)
Been looking forward to catching this for a while. Really enjoyed it and I liked that it kept me guessing until the end.
I've never been a fan of Linda Darnell, but I was very impressed with her tough gal performance here. Love the scene where Dana Andrews orders a hamburger and she gets it instead of him.
Great to see Anne Revere show up too.
Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly
. -
morrison-dylan-fan — 9 years ago(November 07, 2016 03:21 PM)
Hi Maddy,I hope you had a fun bonfires night,and it sounds like you had a terrific time catching up on this Noir.With Andrews,I recently got the chance to catch him in a very good,lesser known (non Noir) movie of his called Night Song:
www.imdb.com/board/10039659/ -
mgtbltp — 9 years ago(November 03, 2016 04:39 PM)
Directed by Joseph M. Newman (
711 Ocean Drive
(1950),
Dangerous Crossing
(1953), The Twilight Zone (TV Series)). Written by Irwin Gielgud (original screenplay), and William Bowers (additional dialogue). Cinematography by William H. Daniels (
Brute Force
(1947),
Lured
(1947),
The Naked City
(1948),
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
(1958).
The film Stars Dennis O'Keefe (
The Leopard Man
(1943),
T-Men
(1947),
Raw Deal
(1948),
Walk a Crooked Mile
(1948),
Woman on the Run
(1950)), Gale Storm (My Little Margie (TV Series)), Marjorie Rambeau, Raymond Burr (twelve classic Film Noir), Will Kuluva, Jeff Chandler (
Johnny O'Clock
(1947),
Female on the Beach
(1955),
The Tattered Dress
(1957), ), Meg Randall (
Criss Cross
(1949)), Jeanette Nolan (
The Big Heat
(1953), and Mike Mazurki (
Murder, My Sweet
(1944),
Nightmare Alley
(1947),
I Walk Alone
(1948),
Night and the City
(1950)).
Moving along at a good pace Abandoned makes use of numerous Los Angeles' locations. The iconic LA City Hall looms ominously. A young woman Paula Considine (Storm) arrives at the Missing Persons Detail in search of her missing older sister and her baby. There she meets reporter Mark Sitko (O'Keefe) who takes it upon himself to assist her, it doesn't hurt that she is cute. Stiko spots a man tailing her who turns out to be a PI named Kerric (Burr).
When Paula and Mark check the morgue's Jane Doe's they find her sister but not the baby. Through various channels, old newspaper articles and various tips they discover a black market baby racket that is protected by the mob.
Their next stop is the "Sally Ann" the Salvation Army where they discover that her sister was there, and after talking to one of her acquaintances discover that she hooked up with a woman who promised that she would find a home for her baby. Going to the district attorney they get the assistance of Chief MacRae (Chandler).
Gale Storm is quite adequate as the girl from Beaver Brook searching for her sister. Dennis O'Keefe, comes off as your typical Film Noir hero. Chandler is good but underused as the D. A. Baby racket head, Marjorie Rambeau will remind you of Margaret Dumont. Will Kuluva, is mobster Little Guy Decola who bestows protection to the scheme with Mike Mazurki his enforcer. Raymond Burr, is in his trademark "heavy" role as a sleazy private dick, but it's interesting to note the Mazurki is even bigger than Burr.
Its an entertaining film especially if you are not expecting much, could use a restoration. 6.5-7/10.
Review with screencaps from a multigenerational avi file here.
http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/11/abandoned-1949-black-market-babies.html -
gordonl56 — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 06:08 AM)
CONTAINS SPOILERS
STATION WEST 1948
The only way to describe this film, is, film noir meets the wild-west. Dick Powell exchanges his fedora for a Stetson as he plays a Government under-cover agent investigating a series of gold shipment robberies. The Army is also not amused that several of their soldiers had been killed while on escort duty for the gold shipments.
The cast includes Jane Greer, Raymond Burr, Burl Ives, Agnes Moorehead, Tom Powers, Gordon Oliver and Guinn (Big Boy) Williams.
It takes Powell a bit of time to shift through the possible suspects. He starts the hard way with a knock down drag out fist fight with Big Boy Williams. This soon gets him hired by the main baddie, Jane Greer, who goes by the name of "Charlie".
Greer runs the local saloon, stage line and logging camp. All three are tied into the missing gold shipments. One of the local mine owners, Agnes Moorehead, is in with Powell and the local Army commander, Tom Powers. Unable to move the gold out of the area, the gold is being stockpiled at the local fort. Powell is sure this is what the crooks want. He figures the baddies will raid the undermanned fort and scoop the lot.
Powell plays his part as if he just stepped out of a hard-boiled noir role. He is always exchanging barbs with Greer and the town's crooked lawyer, Raymond Burr. Powell's rooting around soon stirs up a hornet's nest and bodies begin to pile up. Of course there is mandatory gun battle, with the "right" people collecting all the required lead needed to end their evil plans.
All in all, a neatly done western with a noir twist. The film has an excellent look with director Sidney Lanfield handling the action. Lanfield was better known for helming several Bob Hope comedies such as, SORROWFUL JONES, THE LEMON DROP KID and MY FAVORITE BLONDE. The cinematography was handled by noir veteran, Harry J Wild. His work included, MURDER MY SWEET, CORNERED, JOHNNY ANGEL, NOCTURNE, THEY WON'T BELIEVE ME, PITFALL, THE BIG STEAL, THE THREAT, MACAO and HIS KIND OF WOMAN. -
Jessica_Rabbit69 — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 08:41 AM)
Somehow this one has always escaped me. I don't know why, I'm a Western fan and it has Jane Greer in it. For another Noir Western, check out
Rawhide
with Tyrone Power. Interestingly, it has Tyrone in a less than heroic role.
Checking
Station West
out on Amazon, it seems unfortunately they sell a cut version (80 min). How many minutes is your copy and is it a clean copy?
Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." -
gordonl56 — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 08:56 AM)
Not sure as to runtime, it was on ^TCM when I caught it a while back. It seemed to be the whole deal. Yes, RAWHIDE is also one of my fav dusters with a noir feel. There are more than one would think out there.
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mgtbltp — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 12:34 PM)
Pursued
(1947) is another.
Blood On The Moon
(1948), and some include
Man Of The West
(1958)
A more recent very Neo Noir Western was
The Great Silence
(1968)shot in the snow, check out the opening credit sequence here: -
morrison-dylan-fan — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 06:26 PM)
7
- This review may contain spoilers ***
Since reading about them making the first ever Israeli Horror Rabies after seeing Julie Estelle living Comic-Book role as "Hammer Girl" in Gareth Evans Neo-Noir epic The Raid 2,I've been meaning to check the work of writers/directing duo Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado.Getting the honour of being the host for an event held on IMDb's Film Festival,I was excited to find that Papushado and Keshales latest had been chosen for the fest,which led to me crying wolf.
The plot:
After the kidnapping of a number of schoolgirls (who are found murdered) police officer Micki believes that school teacher Dror is the killer. Grabbing Dror,Micki starts torturing him for info.Failing to get any info,Micki receives an anonymous call over the location of the latest victim,whose head has been taken. Unknown to Micki,someone has recorded his beating,which leads to him getting sacked. Blaming himself for his daughters death, Gidi learns that Dror is the main suspect.As Micki vows to go rogue and get a confession, Gidi starts getting set to make Dror afraid of the big bad wolf.
View on the film:
Backed by an excellent roaring score from Haim Frank Ilfman,writers/directors Aharon Keshales/Navot Papushado and cinematographer Giora Bejach cast an atmosphere of Neo-Noir dread,set alight by the kids being caught in the darkness via stylish slow motion,and wide crane shots capturing the isolated Noir world the duo now inhabit. Locking the guys up in one room,the directors deliver the violence with a blunt-force,that is burnt with a gallows edge to the torture,which gives it an under the skin seedy edge.
Before the wolves cross paths,the screenplay by Keshales and Papushado take inspiration from Nordic Noir,as Micki's claws of high-level corruption shine as the police find themselves in the wilderness over identifying the killer. Locking them in a basement with strips of jet-black Comedy,the writers cross the paths of Micki,Gidi and Dror (played by the excellent trio Tzahi Grad, Lior Ashkenazi and Rotem Keinan) and get the tools to drill rough Horror with crisp Neo-Noir discoveries.Whilst the comedic shots give the torture a jet-black snap,the writers become unwilling to cut into the inner horrors of the trio,which leads to the characters remaining still and failing to slice into the power-play Noir offering that is at hand,as the wolves blow the house down.
- This review may contain spoilers ***