By David in TN
Friday, July 19, 2019 at 4:44:00 P.M. EDT
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Fritz Lang’s While the City Sleeps (1956). There is a great cast of Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Howard Duff, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, John Barrymore Jr., Ida Lupino, James Craig and Sally Forrest.
This is about a New York City tabloid newspaper, circa mid-1950’s. Two of the best character types are the crusty editor (Thomas Mitchell), and the Sob Sister Lady Reporter, perfectly cast with Ida Lupino.
Film Noir Guide: “A news conglomerate’s managers (Sanders, Mitchell, and Craig) are in a dogfight for a promotion promised by the corporation’s arrogant new owner (Price) to the first one who finds the deranged psycho known as the ‘Lipstick Killer’ (Barrymore).
“Andrews, a hard-drinking TV commentator, who sides with newspaper editor Mitchell in the competition, is so shallow that he puts his fiancee (Forrest) in mortal danger by setting her up as a decoy to trap the killer. Then, in one of his frequent alcoholic stupors, he allows himself to be seduced by a sexy gossip columnist (Lupino), who’s using him to help the newswire manager (Sanders) win the promotion.
“In the meantime, the photo editor (Craig) is having an affair with Price’s scheming wife (Fleming), hoping she’ll help him land the job.
“Duff is a homicide detective and Andrews’ former rival for Forrest’s affections.
“Director Lang is more interested in the anything-for-a-story ruthlessness of the scheming journalists than in the pathetic serial killer, who, even in his deranged condition, provokes more sympathy than any of the newsmen. Luckily, the confusing soap opera subplots of this somewhat talky, but interesting, film noir are offset by the veteran cast.”
A disagreement, if I may. I don't see how the audience sympathizes with the killer. At WEJB/NSU, we deal with the real thing.
Friday, July 19, 2019
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Fritz Lang’s While the City Sleeps (1956), Starring Dana Andrews, with a Dream Cast of Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Howard Duff, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, John Barrymore Jr., Ida Lupino, James Craig and Sally Forrest, with a Casey Robinson Screenplay, Based on Charles Einstein’s Novel
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TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 am ET is Jules Dassin's Thieve's Highway (1949). The cast is Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Oakie, Millard mitchell, and Barbara Lawrence.
Film Noir Guide: "Conte is a veteran who returns from the war to find 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 Thieve's Highway, Director Dassin (Brute Force, The Naked City, Night and the City and Two Smart People) was identified as a Communist by fellow director Edward Dmytryk during House Un-American Activities Committee hearings."
Host Eddie Muller will wail and cry over this one.
For a bonus, Sunday Night at 8 pm ET, TCM shows A Place in the Sun (1951), starring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. Clift plays a factory worker about to marry a rich girl (Taylor) only to have his former girl friend come along to mess his life up, with tragedy ensuing.
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