Friday, January 1, 2021 at 7:29:00 P.M. EST
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Robert Siodmak’s The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945), with George Sanders, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ella Raines and Moyna McGill. Film Noir Guide: “Sanders, known as Uncle Harry to the town’s children, is a mild-mannered bachelor who lives with his two unmarried sisters (Fitzgerald and McGill).
“Fitzgerald has an unnatural attachment to her brother and isn’t pleased when Raines shows up in their small town and sets her sights on him.
“When Sanders and Raines decide to get married, the sisters find themselves searching for a new place to live. McGill is genuinely happy for her brother, but Fitzgerald is hell bent on destroying the relationship so she’ll have Sanders all to herself again.
“Sanders nicely underplays his role as the quiet, unassuming brother, but Fitzgerald is too stiff as his pompous, overbearing sister. Raines and McGill are fine in supporting roles, but what keeps the viewer engrossed is the perverse thought that at any moment we’ll see Fitzgerald try to seduce her brother.
“Sanders comes off as Mr. Innocence in this scandalous scenario, but it’s strange that the girl he finally picks to fall in love with bears a resemblance to his sister that’s too close for comfort. Also known as Uncle Harry, the film contains such a cop-out ending, thanks to the friendly 1940s thought police, that it reportedly caused the producer (Joan Harrison) to quit Universal in disgust.”
David in TN: I don’t remember ever seeing this one. From his outro last week, Eddie Muller is going to wail about how badly Joan Harrison (the producer) was treated.
N.S.: And it won’t be the first time!
In Red Eddie’s outro last year to Bob Montgomery’s Ride the Pink Horse (1947), which Harrison had also produced, he went out of his way to lavish praise on Harrison, while taking a cheap shot at Montgomery, asserting that Montgomery should have stuck to acting, and not directed.
This was Red Eddie simultaneously burnishing his feminist mala fides, and engaging in petty political revenge against Bob Montgomery, a great American. Robert Montgomery fought the Reds’ attempts to take over Hollywood, not to mention the Mafia’s attempt to move in on MGM, and last but not least, was a decorated PT boat commander, who served in the Pacific and the European Theaters of Operations, including on D-Day. Now, there’s a fit subject for a biopic!
By the way, Montgomery did a beautiful job both directing and starring in Ride the Pink Horse, which is a favorite of mine and David’s.
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TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:30 and 10 am ET is Stuart Heisler's The Glass Key (1942) with Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Bonita Granville, Joseph Callelia, William Bendix, Richard Denning, Moroni Olsen.
Film Noir Guide: "Donlevy plays an unethical but powerful political boss, the head of the voter's League in an unnamed city. Ladd is his two-fisted, loyal aide (i.e. his bodyguard), and Lake, the daughter of a gubernatorial nominee (Olsen), is the beautiful woman who comes between them. When Lake's hellraising brother (Denning) is murdered, suspicion falls on Donlevy because he was furious over Denning's involvement with his sister (Granville), Ladd investigates, hoping to find the real murderer. Between clues, he's beaten viciously by by Bendix, the psychopathic henchman of a gambling czar (Callelia) whose operations Donlevy wants to shut down. The chemistry between Ladd and Lake is entertainingly provocative, but it's Bendix, not able to decide whether he wants to kiss Ladd or kill him, who steals the film. A remake of a 1935 film that starred George Raft, The Glass Key is a convoluted but thoroughly enjoyable film, based on a novel by mystery writer Dashiell Hammett. Look for Dane Clark (going by his real name, Bernard Zanville) as one of Donlevy's henchmen."
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