List o’ the Week: Movies I’ve Never Seen, Part 2

A few years ago, I posted a list of the week that focused on famous classic movies that I hadn’t yet seen. I thought I’d revisit that idea today and serve up 20 more films that fall into this category. Some, like Make Way for Tomorrow and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, are movies that I definitely plan to see. Others, like Going My Way and High Society, not so much. (I’m still irritated that Going My Way grabbed so many Oscars that should have gone to Double Indemnity, and I just can’t with High Society. I cannot.)

The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957)

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

City Lights (1931)

Metropolis (1927)

Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

The Invisible Man (1933)

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

Going My Way (1944)

Roman Holiday (1953)

Spellbound (1945)

An American in Paris (1951)

The Quiet Man (1952)

Guys and Dolls (1955)

High Society (1956)

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)

Cleopatra (1934)

The Rains Came (1939)

What do you think of the films on this list? Can you make a case for any that I absolutely should check out? And what are some of the well-known features that you haven’t yet gotten around to seeing?

Happy Noir Endings

A couple of weeks back, in one of the noir-related Facebook groups that I frequent, a poster commented that film noir movies “don’t have happy endings.” This was disputed by several in the group, and I’m in agreement with them; while I love a downbeat noir ending as much as the next person, I certainly would never discount a film as noir if it didn’t have one.

Today’s post focuses on a few noirs that fall into this category – films that are indisputably noir, but don’t have an ending that sends you into a spiral of despair. Spoilers abound, so watch your step . . .

THE DAMNED DON’T CRY (1950)

What’s it about?

Joan Crawford stars as Esther Whitehead, who’s unhappily married and lives with her factory worker husband, her browbeaten mother, her disapproving father and, the only bright spot in her life, her young son. When her son is killed in a tragic accident, Esther sets out for the big city, finding work as a dressmaker’s model and finding companionship with an overworked accountant, Marty Blankenship (Kent Smith). Through a set of (maybe not so) fortuitous circumstances, both Esther and Marty find their fortunes improved when they become involved with a powerful mob boss, George Castleman (David Brian) – Marty becomes Castleman’s right-hand man, and Esther not only becomes his lover, but is also transformed into Texas heiress Lorna Hansen Forbes. Ultimately, though, Lorna learns that being the rich mistress of a gangster is not all it’s cracked up to be; when Castleman thinks she’s double-crossed him with one of his underlings, Nick Prenta (Steve Cochran), he murders Prenta, beats up Lorna, and when she flees to her parents’ home, tracks her there and guns her down.

What’s the end?

Esther/Lorna survives the gunshot. I suspect (though we don’t know for sure) that she winds up with Marty, but the happiest part of the ending is that her cold and judgmental father is seen sitting by her bedside at the film’s end, lovingly holding her hand. (So sweet.)

CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS (1953)

What’s it about?

Taking place on a single night in the city of Chicago, this film focuses on a mélange of characters whose lives intersect and intertwine. There’s Johnny Kelly (Gig Young), a disillusioned cop who plans to quit his job and leave his ever-so-faithful wife in order to skip town with his chick-on-the-side, Sally Connors (Mala Powers). And Gregg Warren (Wally Cassell), who has a job working as a “mechanical man” in a department store window and is also in love with Sally. And Hayes Stewart (William Talman), a former magician and current burglar, who is an increasingly bad influence on Kelly’s kid brother. And Penrod Biddell (Edward Arnold), a crooked attorney who hires Johnny to arrest Stewart (who, incidentally, is having an affair with Biddell’s wife). It’s quite the tangled web. Before it’s all over, there will be a pile of dead bodies: Biddell, his wife, Stewart, and Kelly’s father, who’s also a cop.

What’s the end?

By the time the night is over, Kelly’s experiences – which have included delivering a baby in the back seat of a car, and returning money to a group of men who were conned by an illegal gambling ring – have caused him to re-evaluate his plans. He tears up his letter of resignation and reunites with his long-suffering wife. And the voiceover narrator tells us: “Johnny Kelly’s home. Home to stay. While others are just getting up to go to work, for everywhere, every minute, of every hour in this melting pot of every race, creed, color, and religion of humanity, people are working, laughing, dying, some, like Johnny Kelly, are being born again, in the city that never sleeps.” (Wow.)

MILDRED PIERCE (1945)

What’s it about?

The title character, played by Joan Crawford, is a wife and mother of two girls, who finds herself responsible for her family’s life and welfare when her husband, Bert (Bruce Bennett), takes a powder. Desperate to secure an income, Mildred finds a job as a waitress, earning extra cash by baking cakes and pies for her employer. Spurred by her desire to please a self-absorbed daughter who’s never satisfied, Mildred opens a restaurant that turns into a string of successful enterprises, but she learns that, in the world of noir, sometimes your best just isn’t good enough.

What’s the end?

I won’t reveal what happens in the film’s climax, but I will say that Mildred and her ex-husband stroll off into the shadows together, and there’s no doubt that they will reunite. (A’int love grand?)

OUT OF THE PAST (1947)

What’s it about?

Gas station owner Jeff Bailey – who used to be a private dick named Jeff Markham – finds that his past has caught up with him after a fateful chance encounter. Instead of pumping gas alongside his deaf-mute assistant (Dickie Moore, known only as The Kid), and peaceful picnics with his girlfriend Ann (Virginia Huston), he’s now ensconced in a world peopled by refined gangsters, cold-blooded killers, and a former lover who is the epitome of ruthless self-preservation.

What’s the end?

Leaving a spate of dead bodies behind, Jeff and his ex, Kathie Moffett (Jane Greer), set out for Mexico together, but Kathie shoots Jeff when she realizes that he is responsible for the police roadblock they encounter. In turn, she’s gunned down by the police. In the last scene of the film, Ann appeals to The Kid to find out if Jeff was still in love with Kathie and trying to run away with her. The Kid knows the truth – Jeff’s loyalties were firmly with Ann – but he indicates that Jeff had indeed planned to resume his relationship with Kathie, thus allowing Ann to permanently sever her emotional ties to Jeff. At the film’s end, we see The Kid give a salute the gas station sign bearing Jeff’s name, knowing that, by misrepresenting his employer’s intentions, he has given a future to the woman he loved. (Aw.)

99 RIVER STREET (1953)

What’s it about?

Former boxer and current taxi driver Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) finds himself in a world of trouble when his shrewish, unfaithful wife (Peggie Castle) is found dead in the back seat of his cab. As he strives to find the men responsible for the murder, while evading capture by police, he’s aided by an actress friend, Linda James (Evelyn Keyes), who has her own reasons for putting her life in danger to help Ernie.

What’s the end?

Ernie is shot while wrangling the no-good-doers he’s been tracking, but his boxing prowess is used to good advantage in subduing them until Linda arrives with the cops. In the film’s last scene, we learn that Ernie and Linda are blissfully married and owners of a gas station. At the very end, Ernie whispers to Linda that it’s time that they started a family, and we fade to black on Linda’s smile of delight. (Blecch).

What noirs can you think of with happy endings?

Pre-Code on YouTube

Happy New Year, classic film lovers!

I hope that you all are having a great start to 2021 – the last time I wrote, it was for 30 straight days of noir for Noirvember 2020, so I thought I’d start this year with a leap into the pre-Code pool. If you read my Noirvember posts, you’ll know that there’s a wide variety of noir features on YouTube – but there’s also a plethora of pre-Code movies there as well. Some of them are not in the best condition, and there are certainly some that aren’t worth your time, but there are others that are absolutely first-rate – today, I’m sharing two of these:

Don’t Bet on Women (1931)

“All women need handling.” Hmph.

I first discovered this film at the 2015 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival, and it was one of the highlights of the event for me. This feature stars Edmund Lowe (who was married at the time to actress Lilyan Tashman) as Roger Fallon, a notorious womanizer with a low opinion of the opposite sex (“They’re all bad. They’re deceitful! Hard! Calculating! But, oh, how fascinating!”). Fallon’s views on women are in sharp contrast to those of his new attorney, Herbert Drake (Roland Young), who is happily married and theorizes that women are like children who are only “as bad as we allow them to be . . . all women need handling.”

When the two men encounter each other at a party, they clash again over their differing outlooks regarding women. Drake winds up betting the self-assured Fallon that it will take him more than 48 hours to capture a kiss from the first woman he sees. As it turns out, the first woman Roger sees is Herbert’s wife, Jeanne (Jeanette MacDonald). And that’s when the fun really begins!

Other Stuff:

If Una Merkel was in a scene, she was walking away with it.

Una Merkel plays Tallulah Hope, the man-crazy, slightly scatterbrained, Southern belle friend of Jeanne Drake. She’s a sheer delight in the role, and steals every scene she’s in.

Louise Beavers is seen in the film for a scant couple of seconds; she enters a room, says, “I beg your pardon” and leaves.

Another small part is played by Henry Kolker – you might remember him from one of the best-known pre-Codes, Baby Face, where he played a wealthy executive who becomes the “sugar daddy” to the title character. He can also be seen as Baron Franz in Jewel Robbery (1932), with William Powell and Kay Francis, and the father of Katharine Hepburn in Holiday (1938).

Favorite Quotes

“All parties are alike . . . Women wear a new frock now and then. But they never think of wearing a new face.” – Edmund Lowe

“There’s no virtue in a woman being good if she’s never had a chance to be bad.” – Jeanette MacDonald

Deluge (1933)

The effects were pretty special — especially for 1933.

Last summer, as part of my (failed) attempt to complete the annual Classic Movie Book Challenge, I managed to read one book: Hollywood’s Hard-Luck Ladies, by Laura Wagner. The book talks about the careers and personal tragedies of 23 actresses from the Golden Age of Cinema; one of these was Peggy Shannon, who – according to the author – was a standout in a 1933 film “about the dog-eat-dog world that results from an apocalyptic earthquake and flood.” That film was Deluge. I’d never heard of it before, but I soon found that it was available on YouTube, so I decided to check it out. And what an experience!

The film opens as information about the approach of a violent storm begins to spread across the world. We’re introduced to a few characters – Claire Arlington (Shannon), a marathon athlete who was just about to embark on a world-record swimming attempt, and Martin Webster (Sidney Blackmer), who tries to save his wife and two small children after hearing about the impending disaster on the radio. After a sudden lunar eclipse and earthquake, we’re shown nearly 10 minutes of the destruction of the city of New York, complete with toppling skyscrapers and massive floods. And while some of the special effects are obviously low-budget, much of the sequence is frighteningly impressive. After the destruction, we see that Claire and Martin have survived – only to find that their troubles are just beginning.

Peggy Shannon. So pretty. So sad.

Logging in at about 66 minutes, this once-lost film is fascinating to watch. It’s no Gone With the Wind, but it will hold your attention from start to finish. Shannon, who was strikingly pretty, had a sad life off-screen, dying from alcoholism at the age of 34, just eight years after the film’s release – but author Laura Wagner was right: she’s a standout in this feature.

Other stuff:

One of the many creepy men in this movie who try to get their hands on Claire is played by Ralf Harolde. He was good at bringing these kinds of characters to life – he was an unethical doctor with a facial tic in Night Nurse (1933) and another crooked physician in Murder, My Sweet (1944).

Samuel Hinds was in approximately two gazillion movies during his career. Take a peek at his IMDB page sometime.

Samuel Hinds is seen in a small role as a weather forecaster – you’ll recognize him as Jean Arthur’s father in You Can’t Take It With You (1936) and George Bailey’s father in It’s a Wonderful Life (1939).

Deluge was directed by Felix Feist, who I know better for his noir work; he helmed The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947), The Threat (1949), and The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950).

Favorite Quote:

“If you mean talk it over calmly, you picked the wrong time and the wrong woman. I’m used to fighting for what I want.” – Peggy Shannon

And that’s it for my first installment of pre-Codes on YouTube. Stay tuned for future posts on time-worthy pre-Codes that you can find on this website. For free!

You only owe it to yourself.

YouTube Noir — Noirvember Day 30: The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

Can you believe that this is the last day of Noirvember? Seriously, where does the time go?

Ah, well – no use moaning over spent months. We’ve got more important things to do.

I’m wrapping up my YouTube noir series with The Hitch-Hiker (1953). Interestingly (to me, at least), it’s my second consecutive YouTube pick to star Frank Lovejoy, the second with a plot focusing on two male friends, and the second to be based on a true story.

It’s also the second to be almost too harrowing to watch.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Frank Lovejoy and Edmond O’Brien star as Gilbert Bowen and Roy Collins, longtime buddies and family men who are excitedly embarking on a weekend fishing trip. Their plans for fun and relaxation transform into something altogether different, though, when they pick up a hitch-hiker who just happens to be an ex-con on a murder spree.

WHAT ELSE?

This ain’t no Hamilton Burger.

The ex-con is played by William Talman, who was in a pick earlier this month, City That Never Sleeps, and is probably best known for his role as Hamilton Burger in the long-running Perry Mason TV series. His performance here will make you forget all about Mr. Burger – especially when he falls asleep with one eye open. (Yikes.)

The film is helmed by actress-turned-director Ida Lupino. Lupino also co-wrote the screenplay, with her ex-husband Collier Young, with whom she created the company that produced the picture, The Filmakers. Lupino was the first woman to director a film noir, and later became the first woman to direct an episode of The Twilight Zone.

The Hitch-Hiker was inspired by the story of Billy Cook, who killed six people during a 22-day crime spree in the early 1950s. During his murderous cross-country endeavor, Cook kidnapped a couple of hunters, forcing them to drive him to Mexico. He was later captured and sentenced to death. While he was imprisoned in California’s San Quentin State Prison, Ida Lupino visited Cook, who granted her the exclusive rights to his story.

TOMORROW . . .

The sun’ll come out . . . because the shadows of Noirvember will have faded away. But you can celebrate noir with me every day! (I’m a poet, and I don’t know it.)

Thanks for coming along on this month-long journey!

YouTube Noir — Noirvember Day 29: Try and Get Me! (1950)

Today, I’m recommending a movie that I’ve only seen once and, frankly, I don’t know if I’ll ever see it again.

It’s not because it’s not a first-rate noir. It is.

It’s just that it’s often hard to take – especially toward the end. But please don’t let that stop you from checking it out. Because you really owe it to yourself to see it.

At least once.

The movie is Try And Get Me! (1950).

(One more thing: you may never look at Lloyd Bridges the same way again.)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Howard is coaxed over to the wrong side of the law by this smooth criminal, played by Lloyd Bridges.

Frank Lovejoy stars as Howard Tyler, an unemployed, down-on-his-luck war vet who is reluctantly lured into a life of crime in an effort to provide for his expectant wife and son. Like most of the best-laid plans in the world of film noir, Howard gets more than he bargained for.

WHAT ELSE?

Kathleen Ryan: One of Ireland’s best.

Howard’s wife is played by Kathleen Ryan, who you can see in one of my YouTube recommendations from earlier this month, the excellent Odd Man Out (1947). A native of Ireland, Ryan was included on a recently released list of the 50 Greatest Irish Actors of All Time by the Irish Times newspaper.

The film’s source material was a novel, The Condemned, by Jo Pagano, who also wrote the screenplay. Pagano’s novel was inspired by the 1933 kidnapping case of Brooke Hart, the wealthy son of a department store owner in San Jose, California. Pagano penned several other screenplays, but had better success on the small screen, writing for such series as 77 Sunset Strip, The Naked City, The F.B.I., and Bonanza.

Director Cy Endfield, who was once a professional magician, also helmed The Underworld Story, starring Dan Duryea and released earlier in the same year as Try and Get Me (which, incidentally, was originally issued as The Sound of Fury.) In the early 1950s, Endfield was blacklisted for refusing to name names during the HUAC Communist witchhunts. He later moved to England and directed a number of films under such names as Charles de Lautour, Hugh Raker, and C. Raker Endfield.

TOMORROW . . .

Join me for my next YouTube recommendation on the last day of Noirvember!

YouTube Noir — Noirvember Day 28: City That Never Sleeps (1953)

You don’t hear much about City That Never Sleeps (1953), and that’s a real shame. It’s got a lot of good stuff, from great use of shadows to voiceover narration (okay, it’s the city talking, but whatever).

It’s also chock full of dark, cynical, and duplicitous characters, including a magician who has turned to a life of crime, and a former actor who can only find work dressing up as a “mechanical man” and performing in a department store window — from which he observes much of the film’s dastardly deeds.

And it’s got Marie Windsor. Enough said?

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

These sunny smiles belie the film’s darkness.

Gig Young stars as Johnny Kelly, a disillusioned cop who plans to quit his job, leave his wife, and take off with his mistress (Mala Powers), who works as a nightclub dancer. The action takes place on a single night in Chicago, and weaves together a spate of intertwining stories of greed, larceny, and desperation.

WHAT ELSE?

Johnny’s wife is played by Paula Raymond, who you may recognize from her featured roles in Devil’s Doorway (1950) and The Tall Target (1951), as well as a string of TV series. Her career was derailed in 1962, when she was nearly killed in a car crash, but she was able to return to acting after extensive facial surgery. She later landed a job on the NBC soaper Days of Our Lives, but she was written off the show when she fell on the set and broke her ankle. Over the next two decades, she would break both hips and her shoulder in two other accidents. She started working on her memoirs in 1999 (I Was Born Right, Where Did I Go Wrong or The Misadventures of a Dumb Dame) but, sadly, she died in 2003 before it was finished.

Bad luck seemed to follow Paula Raymond like a shadow.

The film’s screenplay comes courtesy of one Steve Fisher, a name that may not ring any bells, but it should. He was also responsible for the words of several other noirs, including Lady in the Lake (1947), Dead Reckoning (1947), and I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes (1948). He also wrote the novel, I Wake Up Screaming, which was made into a movie by the same name in 1941 and remade as Vicki in 1953. Not only that, but he was nominated for an Oscar for original story for the Cary Grant war picture Destination Toyko (1943). Now you know.

TOMORROW . . .

Join me for my next YouTube recommendation on Day 29 of Noirvember!

YouTube Noir — Noirvember Day 27: Kiss of Death (1947)

Kiss of Death (1947) is one of those noirs that I knew about before I saw it. This is the one where Richard Widmark tosses a wheelchair-bound old lady down a flight of stairs.

How could you not want to check out a movie with a scene like that?

But there’s more to this film than Widmark’s psychopathic character (and his maniacal laugh), including a cast featuring Victor Mature, Coleen Gray, and Karl Malden; direction by Henry Hathaway; and a screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer. (More about them below.) It’s a must see!

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Mature stars as Nick Bianco, a career criminal who’s nabbed by the police during a bungled robbery attempt. After first declining the D.A.’s offer of leniency if he’ll squeal on his pals, Bianco later decides to cooperate, spurred by his responsibility for his two young daughters.

WHAT ELSE?

This film marked Richard Widmark’s debut. From his first scene, you could see that he was something special.

Director Henry Hathaway helmed one of my YouTube recommendations for earlier this month, Fourteen Hours (1951). His non-noir pedigree included Peter Ibbetson (1935); The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), and three segments from How the West Was Won (1962).

What a debut!

Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer were an acclaimed screenwriting team, responsible for the 1947 noir Ride the Pink Horse and Monkey Business, the 1952 Cary Grant comedy. (Incidentally, Lederer was raised by his aunt, actress Marion Davies.)

TOMORROW . . .

Join me for my next YouTube recommendation on Day 28 of Noirvember!

YouTube Noir — Noirvember Day 26: Quicksand (1950)

Mickey Rooney? In film noir?

You bet your babes in arms.

Today’s YouTube pick is Quicksand (1950), a noir that will have you practically on the edge of your seat. It’s so chock full of noir, it’ll have you shouting at your TV: “No! Don’t do it!”

Until almost the end, that is – when this otherwise practically perfect feature takes a goofy turn that almost derails the whole works. But not quite. It still serves up more than an hour of everything you want in a noir. Check it out and see what I mean. You won’t be sorry. Just hang on to your chair.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Rooney stars as Dan, an auto mechanic who meets a dreamy dish at a local diner, and lifts twenty bucks from the cash register at his job so he can show her a good time. After that, things are downhill all the way.

Jeanne Cagney, whispering noirish nothings.

WHAT ELSE?

The dreamy diner dish is played by Jeanne Cagney, James Cagney’s younger sister. She can be seen in her brother’s Oscar-winning film, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), as well as three other Cagney feature, including Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). She’s also in the Marilyn Monroe noir Don’t Bother to Knock (1952).

A small role is played by Jimmie Dodd, best known as the master of ceremonies in the Mickey Mouse Club. Dodd made a brief appearance in a YouTube noir pick from earlier this month, Too Late for Tears.

Peter Lorre? Yes, please!

Barbara Bates – who you may remember from All About Eve (1950) – has a featured part, as Dan’s wanna-be girlfriend. In All About Eve, Bates was the aspiring actress seen at the film’s end, fantasizing about taking Eve’s place. Sadly, Bates committed suicide at the age of 43.

Did I mention that Peter Lorre is in the film? What more do you need?

TOMORROW . . .

Join me for my next YouTube recommendation on Day 27 of Noirvember!

YouTube Noir — Noirvember Day 25: Odd Man Out (1947)

I’d heard about today’s YouTube pick for years, but I never had any real interest in seeing it.

Once I finally decided to check it out, I was blown away.

Odd Man Out (1947) stars James Mason, but he may be the only performer in the film that you’ve ever heard of. But, believe me, it won’t matter one bit. This is one cracking good movie, and you simply must do yourself a favor and see it.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Mason stars as Johnny McQueen, the leader of an underground organization in Ireland. When Johnny is wounded during the commission of a robbery designed to secure funds for the group, he finds himself the subject of a citywide manhunt. (This has got to be the most boring synopsis I’ve ever written. Trust me – the movie is so much better than I’ve made it sound here.)

WHAT ELSE?

This British noir was directed by Carol Reed, who also helmed The Third Man (1949), starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.

The film was the first British movie to with the BAFTA award for Best British Film.

Mason called this the best performance of his career.

James Mason called his performance in Odd Man Out the best of his career. (I agree.)

Actor Stewart Granger was reportedly offered the role played by Mason, but turned it down because of the dearth of dialogue. He later regretted his decision, particularly when he saw the positive impact the film had on Mason’s career.

TOMORROW . . .

Join me for my next YouTube recommendation on Day 26 of Noirvember!

YouTube Noir — Noirvember Day 24: D.O.A. (1949)

Today’s YouTube pick is one of noir’s best-known offerings: D.O.A. (1949).

It’s got a perfect noir premise, a perfect noir opening, a perfect noir end, and in between, a characteristically labryrinthine noir plot. D.O.A. also serves up a great cast that includes Edmond O’Brien, Luther Adler and, playing a sadistically psychopathic hood, Neville Brand.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

It’s a very simple story: a man learns that he’s inadvertently ingested a fatal dose of poison, and spends what’s left of his life tracking down the people responsible for his impending death.

WHAT ELSE?

The director of the film was Rudolph Mate, whose other noirs included The Dark Past (1948) and Union Station (1950). He also helmed a first-rate western, The Violent Men (1955), which stars noir vets Glenn Ford, Edward G. Robinson, and Barbara Stanwyck.

Neville Brand played psychos like no other.

A featured role was played in the film by Lynne Baggett, who had a real-life story that would rival any noir. Read more about her rise and fall here.

The screenplay was written by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene, the writing team that was also responsible for one of my favorite low-budget noirs, Wicked Woman (1953).

TOMORROW . . .

Join me for my next YouTube recommendation on Day 25 of Noirvember!