TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Fred Zinnemann’s Act of Violence (1949) with Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter and Berry Kroeger.
friday, december 6, 2024 at 6:23:00 p.m. est
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Fred Zinnemann’s Act of Violence (1949) with Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter and Berry Kroeger.
Heflin, a respected war veteran, has a dark secret. While a prisoner in a German POW camp, he betrayed an escape attempt, believing (falsely) that it would save lives. Of the escapees, Ryan was the only survivor and now he’s out for revenge.
Act of Violence has been on Noir Alley before, maybe twice.
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Fred Zinnemann’s Act of Violence (1949) with Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter and Berry Kroeger
By David in TN TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Fred Zinnemann’s Act of Violence (1949) with Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter and Berry Kroeger.
Film Noir Guide: “Heflin, a war veteran, and pillar of the community, has a dark secret. While a prisoner in a German P.O.W. camp, he betrayed his men’s escape plans. Believing he would be saving lives, he instead caused his friends to be bayoneted by German soldiers and left for dead. Of the eleven escapees, only the disabled Ryan has survived and now he’s out for revenge.
“Heflin’s wife (Leigh), though shocked by her husband’s past, stands by her man, and Ryan’s girl (Thaxter) tries in vain to convince hers to give up his deadly mission.
“Astor is excellent as the whore with a heart who, in a misguided attempt to help Heflin, unwittingly hooks him up with a vicious hit man (Kroeger).
“Heflin gives a bravura performance as the guilt-ridden veteran who seeks redemption in a final act of atonement, and Ryan is convincingly sinister as the limping, avenging angel.
“A film noir classic.”
David in TN: Eddie Muller picked Act of Violence for Memorial Day Weekend. In last week’s outro, he called it a perfect noir.
Friday, May 28, 2021 at 10:30:00 A.M. EDT
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:15 and 10 a.m. ET is Helmut Kautner's Schwarzer Kies (1961).
ReplyDeleteThis is a West German Film, English translation is Black Gravel. Kautner was a moderately famous German director, known for staying in the Third Reich during WWII. Actually there were relatively few "political" German films during the war as Goebbels mandated escapist fare.
The U.S. Air Force establishes a base in a small German town. The inhabitants don't want it but know it would help them economically. The Germans are shown to still have Nazi and anti-Jewish feeling. The Americans are also portrayed negatively.
The above is from opinions on the film I have read. It isn't (or didn't use to be) one of Kautner's better known films. The only film of his I've seen is The Devil's General, which made Curt Jurgens a star.
Naturally, Eddie Muller seems to love it.