By David in TN
Saturday, June 11, 2022 at 12:12:00 A.M. EDT
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is John Reinhardt’s The Guilty (1947) with Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Wally Cassell, Regis Toomey and John Litel.
Film Noir Guide: “Granville plays twins, one a ‘tramp’ and the other a ‘good girl.’ When the good twin is murdered, homicide detective Toomey investigates. The twins’ boyfriends (Cassell and Castle) and the girls’ boarder (Litel) are suspects.
“A mediocre mystery adapted from a short story by hard-boiled mystery writer Cornell Woolrich.”
David in TN: This is the first time this film has been on TCM. I’ve never seen it. The noir source books give it a poor rating, or ignore it. Eddie Muller thinks anything from a Cornell Woolrich story has to be great.
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Jules Dassin's Thieves' Highway (1949) with Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Oakie, Millard Mitchell, Barbara Lawrence.
ReplyDeleteFilm Noir Guide: "Conte is a veteran who returns from the war to find that his truck driver father has lost both legs in an 'accident' deliberately caused by a crooked produce wholesaler (Cobb) to avoid paying the old man for his load. Vowing revenge, Conte teams up with Mitchell to deliver two truckloads of apples to Cobb who, aided by a seductive hooker (Cortese), proceeds to cheat Conte out of is money."
"Reminiscent of They Drive by Night, Thieves' Highway has a convincing, fast-moving plot, and the actors are excellent, especially Cobb as the shady wholesaler and Cortese as the femme fatale with second thoughts."
"Soon after he made Thieves' Highway, Director Jules Dassin (Brute Force, The Naked City, and Two Smart People) was identified as a Communist by fellow director Edward Dmytryk during House Un-American Activities Committee hearings."
David In TN: Eddie Muller recycles another one he's already shown instead of several good ones yet to be featured.