For me, the fest consisted of numerous delights, including spotting – up close and personal – such celebrities as Norman Lloyd, James Karen, Michael Badalucco, and the cast of Deliverance; taking pictures with Robert Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz; and meeting many of the friends I’ve made over the last year or so via Twitter and Facebook. But the highlights were seeing four films noirs and one pre-Code on the big screen, and enjoying the special guests that accompanied each. Here’s the lowdown . . .

Gray and Sterling Hayden share a tender moment in the film’s first scene.

The Killing

The first film I saw at the fest was The Killing (1956), starring Sterling Hayden, Marie Windsor, and Elisha Cook, Jr. The Killing tells the story of an intricately planned racetrack heist, carried out by a most unique cast of characters, including a small-time hood recently released from prison, a bartender caring for his invalid wife, and a meek cashier married to a ball-busting babe from way back.

The Killing kicked off with an interview with the delightful Coleen Gray, who “bookends” the film with appearances in the opening and closing scenes as the devoted girlfriend of the Sterling Hayden character. Gray told film producer/writer Dennis Bartok that she got the part after hearing that director Stanley Kubrick was looking for a “Coleen Gray type. And someone said, ‘Why not get Coleen Gray?’”

Meeting Coleen Gray was the highlight of the fest for me.

Gray recalled that she’d been looking forward to being directed by “this great man,” anticipating that Kubrick was going to “invest in me all of these great qualities I had never known before, but it wasn’t so. He never directed me. He [just] printed it.” Gray praised the film’s “glorious cast” and, in particular, co-stars Hayden and Windsor, opining that the latter should have won an Academy Award for her performance as the duplicitous Sherry Peatty.

The petite, 90-year-old actress also shared that she was unfamiliar with the term “film noir” at the time The Killing was made. “They were just movies,” Gray said. “They were black and white and they usually had a good story.” She likened a good movie to a triangle, stating that a good story is the apex of the triangle, with the director to the left, and the cast to the right. “We don’t get that so much these days because we have sex and violence and drugs.”  As for The Killing, Gray said, she was “thrilled and delighted” when she saw the finished product.

(Note: I interviewed Coleen Gray by phone about 15 years ago, when I was working on my first book, Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film, but I’d never met her in person. Fortunately, after her appearance at the TCM fest, she remained in the audience to watch the film, and afterwards, I got the opportunity to introduce myself to her. It was truly the greatest moment of the entire festival for me – and I confess to shedding more than a few tears afterward – it was just such an awesome experience to finally meet her.)

Dorothy Mackaill starred as the luckless Gilda Carlson.

Safe in Hell

Film number two on my hit parade was Safe in Hell (1931), a tawdry little pre-Code number starring Dorothy Mackaill as Gilda Carlson, a prostitute who hides out on a remote Caribbean island after she accidentally kills one of her johns. The film’s cast features Nina (pronounced with a long “I”) Mae McKinney and Clarence Muse, two black performers whose roles in this picture represent a refreshing departure from the often demeaning parts played by minorities during that time period.

Before the picture, the packed house was treated to a discussion by film historian and prize-winning author Donald Bogle, and William Wellman, Jr., son of the film’s famed director. Incidentally, I was surprised to learn that Wellman, Jr., a producer, writer, and actor, was in such films as High School Confidential, Black Caesar, and It’s Alive, and also appeared on numerous popular television shows including The Brady Bunch, Dallas, Beverly Hills 90210, Charlie’s Angels, Alias, and JAG. Wellman, Jr., shared that Safe in Hell was made at Warner Bros., where his father worked for three years, directing 18 films between 1930 and 1933 – he considered it to be his favorite period.

McKinney was known as “The Black Garbo.”

The discussion focused on McKinney and Muse; according to Bogle, McKinney made her film debut in 1929 in Hallelujah, an all-black musical directed by King Vidor.  She was the first black performer to land a contract at a major studio (MGM); several years later, she was tapped for the lead in The Duke is Tops (1938), but she fell ill and the part was given instead to Lena Horne, who became a star. One of McKinney’s best roles was in Pinky (1949), where she played a maid named Rozelia.

Considered as the first black love goddess, McKinney was called “The Black Garbo,” Wellman said, sharing that his father was so appreciative of her talent that he added a song in Safe in Hell for McKinney to sing. “It’s an incredible moment in this picture,” he said. The song, “Sleepytime Down South,” was co-written by Clarence Muse; Wellman stated that Muse was also a playwright and held a law degree. “When you hear him speak, you will know that he is part of the intelligentsia,” Wellman said.

According to Jacqueline White, McGraw was a “no-nonsense tough guy.”

The Narrow Margin

On the second day of the film festival, I took in The Narrow Margin (1952), starring Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor. This film centers on a cop’s effort to transport a mobster’s widow by train from Chicago to Los Angeles, where she is slated to testify before a grand jury. Meanwhile, a gang of bad guys is also on board the train, trying to prevent the widow from reaching her destination alive.

The guest for this showing was 90-year-old Jacqueline White, who shared with the audience how she landed her third-billed role in the film as Ann Sinclair. After making The Capture, with Lew Ayres and Teresa Wright in 1950, White retired to Casper, Wyoming, to start a family with husband Bruce Anderson who, White said, didn’t want her to work. One day, while visiting the RKO studio to show friends pictures of her new baby, she was spotted by Narrow Margin director Richard Fleischer, who said he’d like her to be in the film. (Fleischer had directed White three years earlier in Banjo – White had the audience in stiches with her story about an experience on that picture involving an uncooperative dog.)

White’s stories had the audience in stitches.

Despite her husband’s “lack of enthusiasm” about her offer, White accepted the part, and the film was shot in just three weeks. “We, of course, were not on a real train,” she explained, “but the effects that they had were absolutely wonderful.” The actress also praised co-star Charles McGraw, describing him as a “no-nonsense tough guy.”

“That’s just the way he was all the time,” White said, “but he was a very nice person.”

The Narrow Margin was White’s last picture. When she was pregnant with her second baby (she eventually had a total of five children), she returned to Los Angeles to have the baby and was asked to make a screen test for a role in a Lana Turner movie.  Her husband, however, was “very unhappy.”

“I got home and there he was in bed. He had a thermometer in his mouth, and he was groaning, and I said, ‘Bruce, what’s the matter?’ And he said, ‘Don’t worry about me – the children and I will get by somehow. You go ahead, make your movie,” White recalled, acting out her husband’s weakened demeanor as the audience roared with laughter.  “So I knew that there was just no way that we could work this out. But I said, ‘Bruce, you’re the one who should be in pictures, not me.’”

Ann Blyth recalled that Joan Crawford had always treated her with kindness.

Mildred Pierce

Next up was one of my all-time favorites, Mildred Pierce (1945), which tells the story of the title character and the lengths to which she goes for the love of her spoiled, self-centered daughter, Veda. (For more on why I love this movie so, click here for a post I wrote last year as part of the Seven Shadows blog event with Andrew of 1001 Movies I [Apparently] MUST See Before I Die.)

Before the film was shown, the full auditorium at the Egyptian Theater was treated to an interview with Ann Blyth by TCM host Robert Osborne. As the interview began, Osborne jokingly invited the audience to “hiss” Blyth, who portrayed Veda in the film. Blyth played along, put her hand on her hip, and responded, “I don’t care!”

Blyth told the audience that she had to test for the role of Veda, and learned years later that several other actresses had sought the part as well: “I was the lucky one,” she said, adding that her screen test was done with the film’s star, Joan Crawford. “That was so unusual for a star of her stature at that time. It was a dream come true, obviously, and it makes a huge difference in how you even start to think about this character that you’re going to play,” Blyth said. “I have nothing but wonderful memories of her. She was kind to me all during the making of the movie and kind to me in private afterwards, for many, many years.”

“They’d call me the Bar Nothing.”

Gilda

With Gilda (1946), my film noir/pre-Code fest experience came to an end. This feature, starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford, centers on a deadly triangle between the title character, her sadistic husband, and her former lover. A famous highlight of the film is Hayworth’s performance of “Put the Blame on Mame.”

Gilda was introduced at the fest by actress Debra Winger, best known for her roles in such films as An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and Terms of Endearment (1983). She was also in the well-received independent film Rachel Getting Married (2008), in which she played the mother of Anne Hathaway. Winger told the crowd that Gilda was one of the films she’d selected when she appeared as a guest programmer on TCM in May 2012. “I love Rita Hayworth – how can you not love Rita Hayworth?” Winger said. “I want to tell you a line that I remember – and, unfortunately, it probably colored most of my Hollywood career – but Gilda says, ‘If I were a ranch, they’d call me the Bar Nothing.’ “

During the festival, in addition to these film noir and pre-Code films, I also saw the silent film It, starring Clara Bow, accompanied by a full, live orchestra; Libeled Lady, starring Spencer Tracy, William Powell, and Jean Harlow; and Cluny Brown, a sexy, witty comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch. I also participated in two trivia contests – the second one focused on music in the movies and was hosted by Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek. I was on a team of six that included Raquel of the Out of the Past blog, and our team (called “The Musical Chairs”) tied for first place with three other teams! (Unfortunately, we were knocked out on the first tie-breaking question, but STILL.) I also saw a presentation by author Cari Beauchamp about women in early film, and observed several interviews conducted at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, including one with Bill Hader of Saturday Night Live, and another with author John Bengston, who explores silent-era film locations. The entire festival was a wonder, like something I could only have dreamed of. Even now, it’s a little hard for me to believe that I was actually there, actually sitting in those historic theaters with hundreds of other classic film fans from all over the country – all over the world! – seeing on the big screen these wonderful films that I love so dearly. Did it really all happen?

I suppose I’ll have to go back again next year – just to be sure.

I bought it on the cheap, years ago, when I was on a desperate search for any pre-Codes I could get my hands on. (On which I could get my hands?) For some reason, though, I never watched it.

So when the Mary Astor Blogathon was announced (and my first and second choices were snapped up faster than you can say “Bob’s your uncle”), I figured this was a prime opportunity to dive into this film and see what was what.

Well, I’ve watched it three times now.  And I still don’t know what to think.

What’s it all about?

The deserving subject of our blogathon stars in Behind Office Doors as Mary Linden, an intelligent, efficient and hardworking office girl who is in love with her boss, Jim Duneen (Robert Ames). That’s really the whole movie, in a nutshell.  Oh, I forgot one thing – throughout most of the film, Mary carries an unrequited, self-sacrificing torch for Duneen – for reasons that are, to me, completely unclear.  Duneen is a chauvinistic, bombastic clod, who calls Mary “girlie,” takes credit for her ideas, and is just an all-around jackass. Even Mary’s best friend, Delores (Kitty Kelly), fails to comprehend his charms; referring to Duneen as a “cheap salesman,” she queries:  “Out of a city of six million people, why do you have to pick him?”

But let’s begin at the beginning. (And watch where you step – there are spoilers up ahead!) The film opens at a party where the grown-up revelers are playing a game of Blind Man’s Bluff. While there, Mary meets Ronnie Wales (Ricardo Cortez, in a totally thankless role), who flirts with her but conceals the fact that he’s married with children. It’s while Mary is playing a game of “Truth” with Ronnie that we learn she’s in love with a man who, according to her own admission, doesn’t even know how to correctly pronounce her name. That man is Jim Duneen.

Mary and Jim Duneen — before she revamped his wardrobe.

Duneen works in the office where Mary is employed, and when the president of the company is forced into retirement, Mary touts Duneen as his replacement. She talks him into going for the job, writes a pitch for him to deliver to the powers that be, and even squirts ink on his tacky striped shirt so he’ll have to wear a crisp white one to the interview. Naturally, he gets the position, and Mary becomes his executive secretary.

It is soon apparent that Mary is the power behind the throne, as it were. What’s not so apparent is why she continues to make calf eyes at her boss, who not only refuses to give Mary a raise, but insists (despite Mary’s objections) on hiring an assistant for her – a ditzy blonde bimbette named Daisy Presby (Edna Murphy). Turns out that Daisy is Duneen’s “chick on the side,” if you know what I mean. Mary makes this discovery when she stops in at Duneen’s apartment and finds on his floor the price tag for a nightgown that Daisy had shown her earlier that day. (This tag – or one like it – will pop up again later, so keep an eye out.)

Even after finding out that Duneen is helping himself to the hired help, Mary’s torch continues to burn, so she’s delighted when her boss invites her to accompany him to a company dinner. When he asks if she can dance, she fairly beams with joy as she responds, “Even better than I take dictation.”

But will you love me tomorrow?

And if she was beaming at dinner, you can just imagine her reaction when Duneen stops in at her apartment afterward.  When he crooks his finger at her, come-hither style, and pats the sofa cushion beside him, Mary sidles over, obedient as a puppy and happy as a pig in slop. “You’ve looked at me a thousand times,” she says, “and never saw me until tonight.” But when Duneen tells her that she looks “pretty good,” Mary muses aloud: “I wonder if it isn’t the dress. Or perhaps the liquor. Have another drink.”

(HOLD IT. So . . . Mary intuits that her beloved boss is finally, after all these years, seeing her as a woman instead of a walking dictaphone. But she suspects that his attentions might just be fueled by the booze he’s been swilling all evening. So she suggests that he have more liquor? The hell?)

(Sorry. Back to the movie.)

Ricardo Cortez didn’t stand a chance.

Scant moments later, Mary is fielding the kisses from Duneen that she’s been craving for so long, and he even acknowledges what Mary has done for his career: “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for you,” Duneen tells her. “I’ve been blinded by my own success. But from now on, things are going to be different.”

Ever practical and conscientious, Mary cuts the love-fest short, insisting that one of them has to be at the office early the following day. As he leaves, Mary watches Duneen from her window, all ooey and gooey and sappily in love. But the good times don’t last. The next morning at work – you guessed it – dear, darling Duneen doesn’t remember a thing about his close encounter with Mary. Ah, well. It was nice while it lasted. And things go from bad to worse when, a few weeks later, Mary is stunned to learn that Duneen is engaged to Ellen Robinson (Catherine Dale Owen), the daughter of a local banker.

Mary’s nosedive into despair continues when she’s confronted by Duneen’s fiancée, who knows that Mary is love with Duneen and insists that she quit the company. Mary hands in her notice, and resolves to shed her good girl image by having a fling with Ronnie Wales, the married flirt she met at the party. At the last minute, though, she backs out of that plan when she spies the price tag from her lingerie (remember?) on the floor of the hotel room:  “I found one of these on the floor of Jim’s bedroom once,” she tells Ronnie. “I knew the girl, and I despised her for being cheap and trivial. I just don’t want to be that cheap myself.”

But all is not lost, as evidenced by a neat series of events kicked off by Duneen’s fiancée breaking their engagement when she finds out that her real rival was Duneen’s other secretary, Daisy. When Duneen advertises for another personal assistant, Mary answers the ad, Duneen realizes that he loves her, and the two of them run off to get married.

The end. (Sigh.)

Astor: The best thing about this movie.

Mary vs. Mary

The character of Mary Linden was one of the most intelligent, independent, assertive, and competent women I’ve seen in the movies in quite a while – and, at the same time, she was also a weak-willed doormat. It was a very annoying dichotomy. With each viewing of this movie, I kept hoping I would like it better, but it never happened. I just kept getting more frustrated.

Maybe if Jim Duneen had been less of a jerk – perhaps if he’d simply been a handsome chap who was bright and capable but oblivious of his own charms – then maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad.  Maybe then I could understand Mary spending year after year in this guy’s presence, loving him from across the desk, keeping her adoration under wraps. But this guy was a straight dolt. I mean, come ON. She had to teach him how to speak, how to dress. She composed his correspondence for him, gave him business advice. She stayed with him even though he refused to give her a raise. Even after he kissed her and then blacked out the entire evening. Even when he had her ordering flowers to send to other women. Even after he got engaged to somebody else! Give me a break. I wasn’t feeling it.

But I will say this – Mary Astor made the character come to life. Her performance was natural, unaffected, effortless, and touching. By the time she starred in Behind Closed Doors, she’d been in close to 70 movies – and it showed. She was especially memorable in two scenes – the first was when Duneen revealed that he didn’t remember anything from their night together. Astor exhibited a range of distinct emotions – from alarm to disappointment, disbelief to sorrow and resignation, and then, finally, some good old stiff-upper-lip stoicism. And she did it all without saying a word, and in a matter of only a few seconds.

Ronnie was Johnnie on the spot during Mary’s breakdown.

The other scene was when Mary learned that Duneen was engaged. The scene started out at Duneen’s house, where Mary was arranging flowers for a dinner party. It was only when the butler handed her a stack of invitations that she learned that the party was to announce Duneen’s engagement. When she reads the invitation, she is noticeably shaken and physically unsteady – she tries at first to go on arranging the flowers, but she’s unable to continue and slowly exits the house, her head bowed and shoulders stooped in defeat.  It’s positively pitiful. She doesn’t completely break down, though, until she gets home, in the presence of her friend, Delores, and Ronnie Wales, who just happens to stop by. And boy, does she break down: “I made him look like a gentleman. I taught him to speak the King’s English. I’ve shared his troubles and worries. I’ve stood between him and a dozen cheap, designing women. But when it comes to a girl with beauty and money and the glamour of position, I can’t do a thing! A girl of his own class – the class I gave him!” Astor, mascara running from beneath her eyes, fairly wrenches the words out – they’re ragged and full of pain, and she punctuates her despair by running her hands through her hair and pacing the room like a trapped animal. It’s something to see.

Words, words, words

In addition to Astor’s performance, the best thing about this film was the dialogue. Here are some of my favorite lines and monologues:

“What do you do for a living besides kissing strange girls in hallways?”

“Always it’s the woman who pays and pays and PAYS.” – Mary Linden (Mary Astor)

“What do you do for a living besides kissing strange girls in hallways?” – Mary Linden

“He’s just a poor, harmless, charming young idiot who thinks that marriage would ruin him as an author.” – Mary Linden

“Some say their wives are invalids. Some say their wives don’t understand them. And some just say they’re not married.” – Delores Kogan (Kitty Kelly)

“You don’t know me. You only know my job. I smoke sometimes, and wear an evening dress with absolutely no back to it. And have been known to drink a cocktail – that is, when urged.” – Mary Linden

After Mary makes a particularly bold business proposition, Duneen takes her cigarette from her hand, sniffs it, and remarks, “No – it isn’t hashish.”

(Referring to her new lingerie): “I ask you. Isn’t that the sin you love to touch?” – Daisy Presby (Edna Murphy)

“What I wear next to my lily-white body is, strange as it may seem, nobody’s business.” – Mary Linden

“That lunk, Freddie, stood me up, so I came over here. Ain’t men the swine, though?” – Delores Kogan

“You know what I’ve done for Jim Duneen, don’t you? You know that because I’ve loved him, I’ve played straight as a string. You know that I’ve met a dozen men. Nice men. That wanted me. And what did I tell them? Like a fool, I’d say to them: no, no, no – you can’t have Mary Linden – she’s a good girl. And what did I say to myself? Like a fool I said, ‘Mary, you just keep yourself a nice, fine little girl and one of these days Jim Duneen will realize how good and worthy you are.’ Baloney! Yes, there’s Ronnie. And I like Ronnie. And we’ve had a lot of good times together. But when Ronnie offered me everything in the world a girl could wish for, what do I do? I turn him down – like the nice, fat-headed virtuous little moron that I am! Well, that’s all over, my fine girl!” – Mary Linden

(Duneen’s new secretary, grousing about having to work late):  “These late hours are just ruining my boyfriend’s evenings.”

“If my wife didn’t have all the money in the family . . . “

“If my wife didn’t have all the money in the family, I swear I’d get a divorce and marry you.” – Ronnie Wales (Ricardo Cortez)

Miscellaneous other stuff

Behind Office Doors isn’t exactly brimming with typical pre-Code sauciness, but at the end of the scene when she learns of Duneen’s engagement, Mary rather blatantly offers herself to Ronnie.  “Well, Ronnie?  The next time. The next time,” Mary says. “Do you get me?” And then she lays down on the bed in front of Ronnie, on her back, with her head resting on her crossed arms, and laughs. And Ronnie’s response?  “After a while, we’ll talk about that.” (It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s pretty racy, trust me.)

When Duneen’s fiancée insists that Mary quit her job, Mary is, at first, too stunned to move; she stands motionless as Ellen leaves the room. And then Mary says, “When Greek meets Greek,” and follows the woman into Duneen’s office.  From what I gather, this is an allusion to the proverb, “When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war,” meaning that a real battle can be expected when two adversaries of equal strength and determination meet each other.

In the scene where Duneen and Mary kiss, there is a point, about 47 minutes and 27 seconds into the film, when Mary rises from the sofa and walks away from Duneen. After she stands, a full five seconds go by where nobody is in the frame – the camera is just focused on the wall, waiting for Astor to walk into the shot. The only thing we see is the piano, the wall sconces, and a picture on the wall. It’s pretty odd – I’ve never seen anything like it.

Jim Duneen was played by Robert Ames, who died about eight months after the film’s release, at the age of 42. He was found dead in his room at the Hotel Delmonico in New York. The official cause of death was delirium tremens, which some say were caused by his abrupt cessation from alcohol. News reports, however, stated that a large quantity of whiskey was found in his hotel room. Married four times, at the time of his death Ames was romantically involved with actress Ina Claire (whose divorce from John Gilbert was not yet finalized).

When Mary first visits Duneen to suggest that he try for the company presidency, she stamps out her cigarette and says, “What did you think I came here for? To find out there’s more than one cough in a carload?” This is a reference to a 1927 tobacco slogan for Old Gold cigarettes, which bragged that there was “not a cough in a carload.”

My personal exasperation with the main character notwithstanding, Behind Office Doors is worth seeing, if for no other reason than for Mary Astor’s performance. Her talent shines through the insufferable circumstances like the sun through a cloudy sky. Available on DVD as well as on YouTube, Behind Office Doors may not be a masterpiece, but it’s worth your time. Give it a try! You only owe it to yourself.

This post is part of the Mary Astor Blogathon, sponsored by Dorian Tenore-Bartilucci at Tales of the Easily Distracted and R.A. Kerr at Silver Screenings. Do yourself a favor and click the pic of Miss Astor to check out the wealth of great posts being offered as part of this fantastic event!

Here goes . . .

Not exactly a match made in heaven.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Starring one of my favorite actresses, Barbara Stanwyck, this noir has it all – according to one reviewer, it offered “a stealthy plot of murder, false witness, assault, lust perfidy and tender love.” Not only that, it featured the great Van Heflin, my favorite Lizabeth Scott performance, and Kirk Douglas in what I consider to be one of the most memorable screen debuts in all of cinema. The film centers on the title character, a ruthless and steel-willed heiress, her alcoholic husband, their childhood pal who returns years later to their hometown, and a soft-hearted parolee. This fascinating foursome will have you glued to your TV set from the opening reel until the credits roll.

Favorite quote:  “What am I guilty of? What were their lives compared to mine? What was she? A mean, vicious, hateful old woman who never did anything for anybody. What was he? A thief, a drunk, someone who would have died in the gutter anyway. Neither one of them had any right to live.” Martha Ivers (Barbara Stanwyck)

Bet you didn’t know:  The film was based on an Oscar-nominated short story called Love Lies Bleeding.

Looks like the honeymoon is over.

The Prowler

This is another Van Heflin starrer, but this time, he’s in a far different role than the one he played in Martha Ivers. In this feature, Heflin plays a cop (named Webb Garwood – one of my favorite noir names!) who falls ass over teakettle for a housewife (Evelyn Keyes) he meets when she calls the authorities to report a prowler. Before long, Webb has come up with a seemingly perfect plot to snag the woman of his dreams – but like all best laid plans, this one goes kerplooey!

Favorite quote:  “You’re a real cop, aren’t you? You want everything free.” Susan Gilvray (Evelyn Keyes)

Bet you didn’t know:  At the time The Prowler was filmed, Evelyn Keyes was married to director John Huston.

Three is definitely a crowd.

Framed

Not often seen, but well worth your time, Framed tells the story of an out-of-work mining engineer (Glenn Ford) who becomes involved with a scheming femme (Janis Carter), who teams with her lover to embezzle a bankroll and frame the hapless engineer for the crime. And that’s just the beginning!

Favorite quote: “If you go to the police, you’ll hang. . .  I’ll hang, too.” Paula Craig (Janis Carter)

Bet you didn’t know:  The film was directed by Richard Wallace, one of the founding members of the Directors Guild of America. He died just four years after the film’s release.

Gilda is a don’t-miss. Every time.

Gilda

This is one movie that I simply can’t get enough of. I don’t know if it’s Rita Hayworth’s stunning beauty, the great lines, George Macready’s cold-as-shaved-ice performance, or the memorable number “Put the Blame on Mame” – but whatever it is, I watch this movie every chance I get. Glenn Ford also stars in this feature, this time as a two-bit gambler who becomes entangled in a triangle of passion and deceit with a powerful casino owner (Macready) and his wife, Gilda (Hayworth).

Favorite quote: “I can never get a zipper to close. Maybe that stands for something – what do you think?” Gilda (Rita Hayworth)

Bet you didn’t know: In real life, Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth were close friends – according to Ford’s son, they had a “very tender, lifelong affection.”

So there you have it – from early morning to the middle of the night, TCM is airing – on Tuesday, April 30th – some of the most outstanding noirs this dark and shadowy era has to offer. So don’t blow it. Be there.

You only owe it to yourself.

The plot:

Lilly Turner’s (Ruth Chatterton) dream marriage turns out to be a nightmare when she discovers her husband is a bigamist (not to mention a jerk). And that’s just the beginning of her troubles.

Lilly strikes a pose to show offer her “symmetrical charm.”

Favorite scene:

Lilly finds work wherever she can get it, including working with a phony doctor who offers free health lectures in an effort to sell his book that guarantees a life free from sickness. Lilly’s job with the outfit is to serve as living proof of the doctor’s claims. In my favorite scene, the doctor (Guy Kibbee) introduces Lilly to his audience as “an amazing example of clean living and right thinking.” Lilly emerges from beyond a curtain to share her testimony, starting out by telling them, “You may be surprised to hear that as a child I was deformed and practically a cripple.” She pauses to give her gum a thoughtful chomp before continuing. “The truth is that thousands of tired, sick, overweight and underweight women have already proven that radiant health and a perfect figure can be acquired by following the instructions in Dr. McGill’s health book.” After rushing through the rest of her speech, she flashes the audience a bright smile, bows, and strikes a pensive pose before the curtain closes. It’s one of the few light moments in the film.

Favorite quote:

“He would have to go nuts just when business got good.” Dr. Peter McGill (Guy Kibbee)

Other stuff:

• Lilly Turner was directed by William Wellman, who directed Ruth Chatterton the year before in Frisco Jenny (1932).

• The screenplay was written by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola. Markey was married four times – three of his wives were famous actresses: Joan Bennett, Hedy Lamarr, and Myrna Loy (What kind of ink was in this guy’s pen?)  Scola’s credits include the screenplays for Midnight Mary (1933), Baby Face (1933), and Female (1933), which also starred Ruth Chatterton.
  

  Chatterton and Brent were real-life husband and wife.

• Ruth Chatterton and co-star George Brent were married for two years, from 1932 to 1934.  They also starred together in The Rich Are Always With Us (1932), The Crash (1932), and Female (1933).

• George Brent’s real name was George Brendan Nolan.

• Lilly Turner was one of 15 movies in which Frank McHugh was featured in 1933 – the busiest year of his career. It was a great showcase for his rarely seen dramatic acting chops.

• Lilly’s no-good husband was played by Gordon Westcott, who died two years after the film’s release, following an accident during a polo match.

Check out Lilly Turner, airing on TCM in the wee morning hours on April 23rd!

In Lady Killer, Cagney stars as Dan Quigley, a New York movie theater usher who’s got – as my mother would say – more brass than a monkey’s ass.  When we first see Dan, he’s belatedly joining a line-up of his fellow-movie theater ushers as they’re receiving a final look-over by their boss (Edwin Maxwell). Dan’s tardiness, and his shifty-eyed smirk when his boss admonishes a certain nameless usher who’s been using the theater restroom for dice games, suggest that he’s a rule-breaking wiseguy from way back. And as we soon learn, he’s that, and then some.

When Dan’s smart mouth gets him fired from his usher job, he manages – by a fortuitous series of circumstances – to get involved with a gang of low-level hoods that includes Spade Maddock (Douglas Dumbrille), Duke (Leslie Fenton), and Myra Gale (Mae Clarke). But when a burglary of a rich widow’s house results in the death of an innocent bystander, the gang members go on the lam, and Dan winds up in sunny California with Myra. As soon as they set foot in L.A., Dan gets pinched for the burglary charge and Spade just happens to show up, convincing Myra to flee with him to Mexico instead of bailing Dan out of jail.

Dan Quigley, movie star.

But luck is with Dan – he’s released when the cops don’t have the evidence to hold him, and in another case of being in the right place at the right time, he’s spotted by a casting agent and given a job as a movie extra. Before you can say “Bob’s your uncle,” the studio has tapped him to be their new leading man (“The public is tired of these handsome, curly haired leading men . . .  The rough and ready type is what women go for nowadays.”) and he’s dating screen star Lois Underwood (Margaret Lindsay).  But just as Dan hits the big time – with his mustachioed mug plastered across the pages of every movie magazine – Myra re-enters the picture, surprising Dan by gaining entrance to his swanky new apartment and moving in, bag and baggage.  And Dan’s response leads to the scene that has stuck with me for so many years:

But this isn’t the end of Myra – in fact, she soon shows up again, this time with the other members of the gang, who threaten to expose Dan’s past until he finally agrees to pay them off with a cool ten grand. In exchange for the money, the gang members vow to leave the city. Instead, they start knocking off movie star houses, and when Dan finds out they’ve burglarized Lois Underwood’s house, it’s ON!  In a flurry of events, Dan confronts the gang, retrieves Lois’s jewels, and is nabbed by the cops, who think he’s the thief – but he’s bailed out of jail by the gang, who plan to bump him off before he can talk to the D.A. (Whew!) The whole thing climaxes with a wild car chase and shootout involving Dan, the gang, and the cops, and at the end, Dan and Lois fly off into the sunset together to get married.

Monkeys, yodelers, and elephants — oh, my!

Lady Killer offers an interesting and rather unique marriage of drama and comedy: there are three murders – a member of the gang, a cop, and a maid (or a butler – the film can’t seem to decide which) – as well as a number of scenes involving criminal activities, including the home burglaries and an illegal casino operation. On the other hand, there’s an extended scene featuring escaped monkeys, a band of yodelers, and an elephant. Regardless of its categorization (or its lack, thereof), Lady Killer never drags, features memorable performances by Cagney and Clarke, and offers some great pre-Code dialogue.

Here are some of the high points of the movie for me:

That scene where Cagney drags Mae Clarke across the room still manages to leave me riveted, even after numerous viewings. (Incidentally, Clarke was also the actress who got the grapefruit shoved into her face by Cagney in Public Enemy. What was with those two?) It was actually accomplished by Clarke holding on to Cagney’s wrist, but it’s still a shocking visual – and I love it!

Dan and Myra decide on a destination.

When Dan and Myra leave New York, their first stop is Chicago. When they’re trying to decide where to head next, Dan spins a globe in the train station and then tosses his wad of gum at it.  Where it sticks is where they pick: Los Angeles.

While dining at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, Dan spots a critic who wrote some unfavorable personal comments about his relationship with Lois.  Dan asks to speak to the critic alone, then leads him to the men’s room, locks the door, and makes him eat the copy of the column that Dan has with him.  Literally. And he informs him that if he writes anything else about Lois, “I’ll cut your ears off of you and mail ‘em to your folks.”

When the gang members visit Dan in his apartment, Spade picks up a picture of Lois, making a comment on how Dan is now “rubbing noses with all the big shots in the picture business.” Dan chuckles and off-handedly remarks: “Well, call it noses if you like.” (Whoa!)

After the gang members agree to get out of town in exchange for $10,000, Dan is making out the check when one of the guys asks him: “Where would ya like us to go from here?”  Dan looks up, flashes a smile, and quips, “Need I say?”

If you’ve never seen Lady Killer, and you’re a fan of James Cagney, you simply must see this one. And if you haven’t seen it in a while, give it a re-watch! You only owe it to yourself.

This post is part of the James Cagney Blogathon, sponsored by R.D. Finch over at The Movie Projector. Do yourself a favor and click the pic of James Cagney to check out the wealth of great posts being offered as part of this fantastic event!

My favorite actress is, and has always been, Bette Davis. She had an awesome talent, an unbreakable will, a razor-sharp tongue, and an invincible spirit. She starred in some of my favorite films – from Marked Woman to All About Eve – and, for my money, was one of the greatest performers ever to come out of Hollywood. In celebration of what would have been her 105th birthday, I offer you some tantalizing trivia and tempting tidbits – all about Bette.

The woman with the Bette Davis eyes was born Ruth Elizabeth Davis in Lowell, Massachusetts, on April 5, 1908. She changed her name to “Bette” after high school.

Davis got her start on Broadway – while performing there, she was spotted by a talent scout from Universal Studios. After a screen test, she signed a contract, but the studio dropped her less than a year later.

When she first arrived in Hollywood, Universal execs wanted to change her name to Bettina Dawes. She refused, telling the studio that she didn’t want to go through life with a name that sounded like “Between the Drawers.”

Davis was a revelation in Of Human Bondage.

She got her first big break when she was tapped to star opposite George Arliss in The Man Who Played God (1932). After this role, she signed a five-year contract with Warner Bros. Two years later, on loan to RKO, she earned accolades for her performance in Of Human Bondage, opposite Leslie Howard. When the Academy Award nominations were announced and her name was not included, there was such a public outcry that the Academy permitted write-in votes that year. (Davis came in third in the voting – the Oscar was won by Claudette Colbert for It Happened One Night.)

Davis had a rocky experience at Warners, and at one point, she sued the studio in an effort to garner better roles. She lost. But years later, she said of studio head Jack Warner: “We had a pretty smashing relationship  . . . he did respect me because at least I came out and said what was what.”

Davis won her second Oscar for Jezebel (1938).

Davis was nominated for a total of 10 Academy Awards – she was also nominated for five consecutive years – from 1939 to 1943, for Jezebel , Dark Victory, The Letter, The Little Foxes, and Now Voyager. Along with Greer Garson, she holds the record for the most nominations in a row. She won the Oscar twice – for Jezebel and for Dangerous, for which she was nominated in 1937. She was also nominated for Mr. Skeffington (1944), All About Eve (1950), The Star (1952), and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962).

Reportedly, the true love of Davis’s life was William Wyler, who directed her in Jezebel, The Letter, and The Little Foxes. Wyler, however, was married and would not leave his wife.

Davis and Merrill were married for 10 years.

Davis was married four times; her last marriage was to her All About Eve co-star Gary Merrill. She later said, “I’d marry again if I found a man who had fifteen million dollars, would sign over half to me, and guarantee that he’d be dead within a year.”

Davis played spinsters named Charlotte in three films: The Old Maid (1939), Now, Voyager (1942), and Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964).

During her career, Davis reportedly did not get along with Susan Hayward and Celeste Holm, but her more famous feuds were with Miriam Hopkins and Joan Crawford. Davis had an affair with Hopkins’s husband, director Anatole Litvak; of the actress, Davis once said, “She was a real bitch . . . a terribly good actress, but terribly jealous.”

Davis and Crawford put on a happy face for the cameras.

As for Davis and Crawford, the two appeared in just one film together: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? During the filming of the movie, Davis had a Coca-Cola machine installed on the set (Crawford’s late husband was the CEO of Pepsi), and Joan got her revenge by putting weights in her pockets during the scenes when Davis had to drag her across the floor. Davis once said, “The best time I ever had with Joan Crawford was when I pushed her down the stairs in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”

In October 1941, Davis was elected the first female president of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She resigned less than two months later, publicly stating that she was too busy to fulfill the duties of the president, but privately protesting that the Academy merely wanted her to serve as a figurehead.

Among Davis’s close friends were Greer Garson, Ginger Rogers, George Brent, Henry Fonda, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Claude Rains, Olivia de Havilland and Gladys Cooper.

“I’m the nicest goddamn dame that ever lived.”

Davis was a lifelong Democrat who staunchly supported Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter.

Davis was the first woman to receive the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award.  She received it in 1977.

In 1983, Davis underwent a mastectomy and nine days later, she suffered a stroke. She once said, “Old age is no place for sissies.”

Davis’s last movie, Wicked Stepmother, was completed and released in 1989. She died later that year, at the age of 81.

Davis is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.  On her tombstone is written: “She did it the hard way.”

As a recipient of the Liebster Award, I am obliged to list 11 random facts about me and answer the 11 questions put forth by the person who bestowed the award; nominate 11 other blogs; and present the recipients with 11 new questions. Ready? Here goes!

ELEVEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT MOI:

1. I have two cats – Honey and Sweetie. (Side note:  Sweetie – the black one – has a sweet tooth, and would much rather eat cookies and cake than normal cat fare like tuna fish.)
   

   Sweetie and Honey. Aren’t they adorable?

2. I love old everything – movies, music, furniture, jewelry, glassware, clocks, fans, purses – whatever.
3. I use my VCR every day.
4. I love the ads from old movie magazines – they’re a scream!
5. I have numerous collections – dolls, vintage movie magazines, ashtrays, souvenir bells, shot glasses, autographs, old radios, refrigerator magnets. It’s ridiculous already.
6. I don’t like asparagus.
7. I have seen The Women, Gone With the Wind, Mildred Pierce and It’s a Wonderful Life more often than any other movies, and frequently quote the dialogue when I watch them.
8. My all-time favorite TV show is The Dick Van Dyke Show.
9. I still use the same flip phone that was given to me for Christmas more than 10 years ago.
   

   This is my phone. (Seriously!)

10. Speaking of Christmas, my tree – fully decorated – is still up.
11. I make my own salad dressing. (And it is spectacular!)

MY ANSWERS TO AURORA’S 11 QUESTIONS:

Why do you blog?

I have always loved to write and I’ve always loved old movies. The marriage of these two loves led me to write my two books and to start my bi-monthly film noir newsletter, The Dark Pages. The blog, though, gives me the ability to interact with fellow film lovers from all over the world, as well as a freedom and a flexibility that can’t be achieved in any other way. It’s a beautiful thing.

What was your “best” filmgoing experience?

In February 2006, I started an annual tradition with my favorite movie-going partner, Kim – who also happens to be a close friend and neighbor. In our quest to view as many Oscar-nominated movies as possible, we decided to make a date to see a double-feature. The movies we chose were Brokeback Mountain and Capote, and we selected the now-shuttered Esquire Theater in Chicago as our venue. Between movies, we walked to a nearby Starbucks; as we sat outside on a heated patio, sipping our drinks and discussing the film we’d just seen, it started to snow, creating a picturesque scene of perfect, quiet beauty.  It was a moment in time that I’ll remember always.

What classic film would you absolutely love to watch on the big screen and why?

The Women (1939). Of the movies I’ve seen the most often, this is the only one that I have not seen on the big screen. It would be a kick to view this much-loved, seen-too-many-times-to-count film in the theater.

These women on the big screen? Awesome.

You’re having a dinner party and your list of guests includes five classic film personalities/stars/directors – who’s on your list?

I would have an elegant early evening soiree and invite Hattie McDaniel, Louise Beavers, Theresa Harris, Nina MaeMcKinney, and Butterfly McQueen. I would love to be in the presence of these pioneers, hear about their unique experiences, and gossip with them about some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

What is your ideal day off?

On my ideal day off, I would sleep late, and then lounge around in bed all day, alternately napping, eating, and watching old movies.  Ahhh.

You can have a half-hour conversation with any fictional character. Who do you choose? Why?

Margo Channing from All About Eve.

Because she’s Margo, that’s why.

Your favorite movie monster is?

Ew. I don’t like monsters. But since I have to answer, I’m going to say King Kong. He was kinda cute, displayed a sense of humor and good taste in women, and had a never-say-die attitude that was nothing short of remarkable.

Name one thing you have on your bucket list.

To attend the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival!

If you could choose to live in a house/apartment featured in a film or TV show, which would it be?

That’s easy – Monte Beragon’s beach house in Mildred Pierce. It’s got it all – spacious rooms, fireplaces, built-in bar, outdoor patio, private ocean – what’s not to love?

Pay no attention to the dead guy on the floor.

Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie?

As much as I love Samantha, I’m going to have to go with I Dream of Jeannie. I always wished I could hang out inside that bottle. Plus, there was just something more goofy and fun about I Dream of Jeannie. (Although Bewitched did have Uncle Arthur and Aunt Clara!)

Favorite film decade.

This was a toughie. Pre-Code represents the 1930s, but film noir covers the 1940s and 1950s. To decide, I considered some of my favorite films outside of these two eras – I came up with Twentieth Century (1934), Stage Door (1937), My Man Godfrey (1936), Marked Woman (1937),You Can’t Take it With You (1938), The Women (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Gone With the Wind (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), Gaslight (1944), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), The Heiress (1949), All About Eve (1950), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), and The Seven-Year Itch (1955).  So by virtue of sheer numbers, da winnah, by a nose, is . . . the 1930s!!!!

Twentieth Century (1934): Just one of the many great offerings from my favorite decade.

MY LIEBSTER AWARD WINNERS!

It is now my distinct privilege and pleasure to bestow, forthwith and evermore, the Liebster Award upon the following blogs. Each of them offers stellar writing skills and interesting topics; you can literally spend hours perusing the great posts. You truly owe it to yourself to check out each and every one of them – they’re the most!

The Man on the Flying Trapeze

Pre-Code.com

Pop Sensation

Classic Filmboy’s Movie Paradise

Films From Beyond the Time Barrier

Film Noir Blonde

The Girl with the White Parasol

Faded Video Labels

Old Movies Nostalgia

OCD Viewer

Films on the Box

And for these lucky new Liebster recipients, my questions. Congratulations and have fun!

1. What movie do you watch every time it comes on TV?
2. What’s your favorite movie musical?
   

   Joan Blondell joins me in asking: What’s your favorite musical?

3. What classic movie star would you have most liked to meet?
4. What’s your most treasured movie or TV-related possession?
5. If you could make a living doing whatever you wanted to do, what would that be?
6. What’s your favorite movie western?
7. Have you ever had an encounter with a movie or TV star?
8. If you could program a perfect day of movies on TCM, what would be the seven films on your schedule?
9. Who are your top five favorite fictional characters?
10. What movie have you seen more often than any other?
11. Bette Davis or Joan Crawford?

The plot:

Social-climbing Lillian “Lil’” Andrews (Jean Harlow) works as a secretary and has her eye on more than her typewriter – she’s got a hankerin’ for her boss, Bill Legnedre (Chester Morris), and the fact that he’s happily married is of little consequence. As for Bill, he’s no match for this red-headed home-wrecker – no matter how hard he tries!

Lil shows the garter picture she inserted in the opening scene.

Favorite scene:

There are lots from which to choose, but I do love the economical opening of the film, which gives us a glimpse into Lil’s character in just three short frames. In the first, she’s just finished having a facial and comments, “So gentlemen prefer blondes, do they?” She then takes a look at herself in a mirror and concludes, “Yes, they do” (which, as I learned a few years after my first viewing, really means “Yeah, right” in 1930s-speak). The next one – and my favorite of the three – shows Lil in a dress shop trying on a new frock. She addresses an off-camera saleslady, asking her if she can see through the dress. When the woman reluctantly affirms that she can, Lil responds, “I’ll wear it.” And the third just shows Lil’s legs as we hear her say “Hmm, the boss’s picture.” We watch as she takes a picture of his face, clipped from a newspaper article, and fits it neatly inside a frame on her garter. “Well, it’ll get me more there than it will hanging on a wall,” she comments. With these three brief sequences, totaling less than a minute in length, we see that Lil has a high (and deserving!) opinion of herself, that she’s a bit of an exhibitionist, and that she just may be the type of gal who’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Irene may have lost her man but she got the last word.

Favorite quote:

“You won’t have him long. You caught him with sex, but sex isn’t the only thing in life and it doesn’t last forever, and once it’s gone, you’ll lose him. Because then he’ll want love, and love is one thing you don’t know anything about and never will!” Irene Legendre (Leila Hyams)

Other stuff:

• The original screenplay was by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but MGM production chief Irving Thalberg thought the tone of Fitzgerald’s script was too serious. He brought in Anita Loos to do a rewrite with a lighter tone.

• Jean Harlow wore a red wig for the film.

• Leila Hyams, who played Bill Legendre’s wife, was one of the top female stars of the pre-Code era, but her career ended in 1936, when she retired from the big screen to concentrate on her marriage. It was worth the sacrifice – she remained married to the same man for 50 years, until her death in 1977 at the age of  72.
  

  Charles Boyer played a small, but pivotal, role.

• Charles Boyer has a small part in the film as a chauffeur.

• The film was banned in the UK until after 1965.

• Director John Conway also directed Harlow in Libeled Lady (1934), The Girl from Missouri (1936), and her final film, Saratoga (1937).

• Watch for this goof. In the scene where Sally removes her pajamas and hands them to Lil, she tells her friend to “hang on to that bootlegger of yours.” Lil, standing near the door, gestures to a man’s framed picture on a table and says, “What? Go on with Al after Bill Legendre?” But the guy in the photo looks nothing like Al (William Pawley), who we saw in an earlier scene with Lil.

Don’t miss Red-Headed Woman, airing on TCM on March 25th. You only owe it to yourself!

Bang, bang — I love you.

Gun Crazy (1950) depicts a kind of noirish Bonnie and Clyde story. For me, the heart of this feature is the relationship between Bart Tare and Annie Laurie Starr – here’s a peek inside the connection between this dysfunctional duo.

It was love – or something – at first sight.

Gun Crazy’s sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins) makes her entrance on a carnival sideshow stage with guns blazing. Seated in the audience, with his two best pals, is Bart Tare (John Dall), newly returned from a stint in the army. As Bart watches, he literally leans forward in his seat, his face plastered with an ear-to-ear grin and his eyes wide and shining. And Laurie? Among the tent full of thrill-seekers, she zeroes in on Bart, points her gun straight at him – and fires.

If that ain’t love, I don’t know what is.

Minutes later, Bart and Laurie are engaged in a courtship dance that involves a gun-shooting competition – when Bart first joins her on stage, they look each other up and down, both sporting mutually appreciative smirks. And when Bart bests Laurie in the shoot-off, her appreciation increases – appreciably. She arranges for him to sign on with the carnival, and the two begin dating, despite the fact that Bart is warned away by a clown (yes, a clown) who tells him: “She ain’t the type that makes a happy home . . . Some guys are born smart about women and some guys are born dumb. You were born dumb.”

But Bart is hooked. He doesn’t heed the words of the wise clown, nor does he back off when his smarmy, liquor-swilling boss, Packy (Berry Kroeger) tells him, point blank, that he “has a claim” on Laurie. And in contrast with his easygoing, amiable personality, Bart doesn’t hesitate to fire a shot in Packy’s general direction when he catches Packy making the moves on Laurie. It’s a costly shot, granted, as it winds up getting them both axed from the carnival, but Bart gets the girl, so it’s worth it. (Isn’t it?) And soon after they leave the carnival behind them, Bart and Laurie become man and wife, taking their first joyous step on a journey toward happily ever after. (Right?)

Not so fast.

Does that burger look delish, or am I just hungry?

Despite the instantaneous, irrefutable attraction between Bart and Laurie, and notwithstanding that they, according to Bart himself, went together like “guns and ammunition,” theirs was not exactly a match made in heaven. Oh, they had a wonderful time in the beginning – we see them taking a stroll hand in hand, picking out wedding rings, sitting blissfully by a waterfall, dancing at a swanky nightclub, living it up in Vegas. But the good times don’t last. Before long they’re hocking their rings at a pawn shop and turning down onions on a couple of (really tasty looking!) burgers at a roadside dive because they can’t afford the extra nickel. And it’s about this time that we learn that all is not sweetness and light with these two.

But why?

Because, as it turns out, aside from their mutual affinity for firearms, Bart and Laurie couldn’t be more different. Let’s take a closer look.

• Laurie provides us with a pretty clear key to her personality early in the film, when she gives Packy the brush-off, telling him: “You’ll never make big money. You’re a two-bit guy. No guts. Nothing. I want action.” And later, before she and Bart enter the offices of the justice of the peace, Laurie offers up this revelation: “I’ve never been much good, at least up to now I haven’t. You aren’t getting any bargain. But I’ve got a funny feeling that I want to be good. I don’t know, maybe I can’t. But I’m gonna try. I’ll try hard, Bart. I’ll try.”

• Money doesn’t seem to mean a whole lot to Bart. As they leave the carnival after being fired, Laurie half-jokes that Bart should have waited until payday to shoot at Packy. And Bart blithely responds, “I’ve got money. We’ll get along all right.” I don’t know where he got his money from – aside from his short stint at the carnival – or how much he has saved, but it couldn’t be too much. Still, he doesn’t seem concerned. It simply doesn’t matter.

• When Laurie – not for the first time, apparently – floats her idea that they turn to robbery for some easy cash, Bart’s response is that it’s “too dangerous” and “somebody might get hurt.” And Laurie’s point of view? “How can anybody get hurt if we don’t hurt them?”
  

  There’s no place like home. (Blecch.)

• We see Laurie and Bart living in a crummy, run-down hotel. Laurie grouses that there’s no more hot water. Bart rejoins, “Well, it’s a roof, anyway.” Bart reminds his bride of a $40 a week job he can get, assuring her that they can “get by on that,” and Laurie replies, “Yeah, Maybe you can, but not me. It’s too slow, Bart. I wanna do a little living.” Bart even tells her that he’ll hock his prized gun collection – but that’s not enough for Laurie: “Bart, I want things. A lot of things. Big things. I don’t wanna be afraid of life or anything else. I want a guy with spirit and guts. A guy who can laugh at anything, who’ll do anything. A guy who can kick over the traces and win the world for me.” And what does Bart want? I don’t know what he does want, but he makes it clear what he doesn’t: “I don’t wanna look in that mirror and see nothing but a stickup man staring back at me.”

• As Bart prepares to leave, Laurie tells him to kiss her goodbye – because she won’t be there when he gets back. She reclines on the bed, parts her lips seductively, lowers her lids . . .  and the next thing we know, Bart has his gun pointed at some hapless clerk at the Traveler’s Aid.

And that’s the relationship of Bart and Laurie, in a nutshell. Despite Bart’s moral core, he seems powerless to fight Laurie’s forceful personality and his own undeniable attraction for her. And as for Laurie, as much as she can love anyone, she appears to love Bart – but even more than her feeling for her husband, she loves the prospect of the money she can have. And the thrill of doing whatever she has to do to get it. Or, as she herself told Bart, “I’ve been kicked around all my life, and from now on, I’m gonna start kicking back.”

Annie kicking back.

If you’ve never seen this film, or you’ve got a hankering to give it a much-deserved re-watch, you’ll soon get your chance – it’s airing on Turner Classic Movies on March 23rd.  Make an appointment to spend 86 minutes in the company of these gun-crazy kids, Bart Tare and Annie Laurie Starr.

You know why, don’t you? You only owe it to yourself.

This is a revised version of a post that appeared on the 1001 Movies I (Apparently) Must See Before I Die website, for the Seven Shadows blog event  in May 2012.

Don’t mess with this tough dame.

There are lots of ways to define the word “tough.” Strong and resilient. Physically hardy.  Hard to cut or chew!  But in the film noir realm, the “tough” description takes on a whole ‘nother meaning, giving us characters who are ruthlessly determined, relentlessly hard-boiled, fearless, callous, and willing to do whatever it takes to get whatever they want. It’s one of the things I love most about film noir.

This week’s list celebrates the toughest dames, dicks, gunsels and dolls of film noir. Read on and see if your favorites are here!

Ida Lupino:  Hard-boiled tough. It was all in her attitude . . . she could cut you down to size with a few choice words, and slap you with a smile on her face.  See Road House, While the City Sleeps

Dick Powell:  Smooth tough. Always cool, always unflappable.  See Johnny O’Clock , Cry Danger

Claire Trevor:  Refined tough. Like a lump of coal polished into a diamond, she glittered on the outside, but was rock-hard on the inside. See Murder, My Sweet, Born to Kill

Sterling Hayden. Nary a chuckle.

Sterling Hayden:  Stoic tough. Life was serious business for this tough guy. (I mean, really – did he ever smile?)  See The Asphalt Jungle, Crime Wave

Marie Windsor:  Steely tough. She was as hard as nails and sharp as a razor.  See The Narrow Margin, The Killing

Robert Ryan:  Quietly tough. He didn’t have to raise his voice to make his intentions known or his expectations understood.  See The Racket, Act of Violence

Barbara Stanwyck:  Icy tough. With one chilly glance, she could reduce a man (or woman!) to a puddle.  See Double Indemnity, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Charles McGraw:  Relentlessly tough. Never gave up, never gave in, never gave an inch.  See Loophole, The Narrow Margin

Is Audrey Totter tough, or what? (She’s tough!)

Audrey Totter:  Tough bitch. Her toughness was tinged with a surly sense of entitlement and disdain.  See Tension, The Unsuspected

Richard Widmark:  Psycho tough. Whether motivated by monetary greed or desire for a woman, he could be a more than a little wacky.  See Road House, Kiss of Death

Gloria Grahame:  Sultry tough. Using her sensuous means to justify the nefarious ends. See Human Desire, Sudden Fear

Dan Duryea:  Wily tough. Always thinking, scheming, maneuvering, and plotting.  See Scarlet Street, Too Late for Tears

Hope Emerson:  Imposing tough. Her inner fortitude was backed up by her massive size and her willingness to use it to her best advantage.  See Caged, Cry of the City

I admit it. I can’t get enough of Richard Conte tough.

Richard Conte:  Arrogant tough. Was there anyone who thought more of himself and his impact on others than a Conte character? (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)  See The Big Combo, New York Confidential

Helen Walker:  Sociopathic tough. Her motivations were a little on the socially deviant side.  See Impact, Nightmare Alley

Robert Mitchum:  Vulnerable tough. Like Kryptonite to Superman, his toughness could always (temporarily, at least) be weakened by a woman.   See Out of the Past, Angel Face

Lizabeth Scott:  Streetwise tough. Despite her veneer, she gave the impression that she was from the other side of the tracks.  See The Racket, I Walk Alone

Humphrey Bogart:  Morally tough. Displaying a set of principles that were often lacking in the tough.  See The Maltese Falcon, Dead Reckoning

Joanie Crawford tough: Savin’ the best ’til last.

Joan Crawford:  Cultivated tough. She displayed a toughness that was initially dormant, but blossomed out of necessity. See The Damned Don’t Cry, Mildred Pierce

Lee J. Cobb:  Loud tough. His bellowing and blustering provided an exclamation point to his toughness.  See The Garment Jungle, Thieves’ Highway

So, that’s my list of noir’s toughest! Who’s on your list of favorite tough guys and gals?