By David in TN
Friday, November 22, 2019 at 9:52:00 P.M. EST
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Phil Karlson’s Kansas City Confidential (1952) with John Payne, Preston Foster, Coleen Gray, Jack Elam, Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef.
Payne stars as a classic Noir protagonist; An ex-con framed for a heist planned by a crooked cop.
Film Noir Guide: “Foster, an embittered ex-cop, recruits Elam, Brand, and Van Cleef for an armored car heist. Foster is the only one known by the others. Anonymous himself, he makes the gang ‘cop proof and stool pigeon proof’ by having everyone wear masks from day one. Immediately after the robbery, an unfortunate war hero and ex-con (Payne) gets picked up because he’s driving the same kind of commercial van as the robbers. After being worked over by some disagreeable cops, he’s released and begins searching for the crooks. He finds himself in a small Mexican resort, where the gang is meeting to split the dough. Foster, however, is planning an ingenious double-cross. Gray plays Foster’s daughter, who shows up at the resort unexpectedly and falls in love with Payne. This is a brutal and fast-paced noir with excellent performances by Payne, Foster, and those three great character actors, Elam, Brand, and Van Cleef.”
MIA: Bob Wilkie, Robert Ryan, Mike Mazurki and Dan Duryea. Lee Marvin wasn’t MIA, because 1952 was the first year he played credited roles. He would explode across screens the following year, stealing scenes from Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame in Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat, and from Marlon Brando in Lazlo Benedek’s The Wild One, respectively.
Saturday, November 23, 2019
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Phil Karlson’s Crime Classic, Kansas City Confidential (1952), Starring John Payne, and with Half of the Hollywood Heavy Hall of Fame—Jack Elam, Neville Brand, and Lee Van Cleef, Along with Preston Foster and Coleen Gray; Written by George Bruce, Harry Essex, Harold Greene and Rowland Brown
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TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:15 am and 10 am ET is The Mask of Dimitrios (1944). It features Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Faye Emerson, Zachary Scott, Steven Geray, Kurt Katch, Vicgtor Francen, directed by Jean Negulesco.
A writer tries to discover the life of a dead crook. Greenstreet and Lorre are paired again.
Film Noir Guide: "While vacationing in Istanbul in 1938, a Dutch mystery writer (Lorre) becomes embroiled in a real-life mystery. When a Turkish chief of police (Katch), a wannabe mystery writer, brags to Lorre that an archcriminal has been found floating in the Bospherus, the intrigued writer asks to see the body. At the morgue, Katch tells the writer about how the criminal (Scott, in his film debut) viciously murdered a merchant fifteen years earlier and fled Turkey, leaving his partner to face the hangman. Fascinated, Lorre decides to investigate and travels to Scott's old haunts (Athens, Sofie, Geneva and Paris), learning about Scott's involvement in extortion, murder, espionage, and political assassination. Along the way, Lorre encounters a mysterious fat man (Greenstreet), who involves him in a daring blackmail scheme. Emerson plays the woman who makes the mistake of falling in love with Scott; Geray is a Yugoslav government employee, suckered by Scott into spying against his country; and Francen is the retired 'employer of spy labor.' This has it all--fine acting, a droll script, an impressive visual style and a satisfying ending. Don't miss it."
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