Friday, January 8, 2021 at 5:44:00 P.M. EST
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:30 and 10 a.m. ET is Stuart Heisler’s The Glass Key (1942), with Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Bonita Granville, Joseph Calleia, William Bendix, Richard Denning and 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 Bendix, the psychopathic henchman of a gambling czar (Calleia), 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.”
N.S.: I recall seeing this on free TV almost 50 years ago. All I can recall is that I enjoyed it--I enjoyed anything Laddie starred in, with or without Veronica Lake. He was a huge star, yet remained very humble. He had a hard life, and a hard death.
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It's the Afterlife Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.Johnny's guests are newly deceased Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda and good friends Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles.And now...heeeerres Johnny.
(band plays,applause)
Thank you,I'm Johnny Carson--welcome to the Afterlife Tonight Show,where all your favorite stars drop by--right after they drop dead!
(audience laughs)
We do a lot of jokes about being dead here,in fact,speaking of dead,Joe Biden(pause,audience laughs)is getting ready to be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States,but Biden's doctor thinks it's a bad idea for Joe to move into the White House,since he already tends to get lost sitting in his own bathtub(small laughter).
You see because the White House is a lot bigger... he's more likely to get lost there...
(tap dancing to "Tea for Two")
We have Biden booked here for mid-April don't we Ed?
Ed:You are correct sir.
Carson: Let's do a quick Carnac.
Ed:Yessir.From the far east,we are now pleased to welcome famed sage,soothsayer and former lawyer on the Trump legal team--Carnac the Magnificent
(applause)
Carnac:Sim Sala Bim,we have just one answer to divine today(holds envelope to his forehead).
NBC Nightly News and "on the witness stand."
Ed: NBC Nightly News and "on the witness stand."
Carnac:Name two places where blacks lie their asses off.
(cheers)
Ed:Only TWO places,oh great one?
Carnac:Well three-- everywhere else too.
We have a great show,Sinatra and Rickles welcome Tommy Lasorda to the Afterlife Tonight Show,stick around.
(commercial)
Welcome back--without further ado,let's bring out Frank Sinatra,Don Rickles and Tommy Lasorda--here they are.
(much applause,standing ovation)
Rickles:Hi John,first of all,I just have to say I'm very surprised to see Tommy Lasorda again,Frank told me,"The Godfather" was going to the OTHER place(pointing down--audience laughs).
Carson:You mean the Merv Griffin Show?(laughs)
Rickles:Funny,John--you know what I mean--hell!!!
Carson:I would think it'd be just the opposite,Don.
Sinatra:Don't let on,Johnny--Don thinks we're in heaven.
(audience laughs)
Carson:After what WE all did on earth?
Rickles:Hey,speak for yourself,I was faithfully married to one wife for many years(makes Rickles'face--eyebrows raised)
Lasorda:Me too.
Sinatra:Me three
Carson:Me four--I might as well join in on the b.s. too.(laughs)
Sinatra:Of course,I had to go through three wives to get to the one I was faithful with.
Carson;ME TOO-well maybe not.
Rickles:Anyways,wherever we are,I want to say it's good to see Tommy again--but NOT YOU Ed(audience laughs)
Ed:I'll drink to that.
Lasorda:Well thanks everyone for the warm welcome.
Rickles:It IS kind of warm in here isn't it--maybe we ARE in h...
Sinatra:Don't sweat it,Don.
Carson:Telling Mr.Warmth to stop perspiring is like telling Kamala Harris to give up oral.
Ed:Hi yooooo.
Rickles:And that's why he makes the big bucks and I'm a struggling Jew.
Carson:Damn right.
(Rickles laughs)
Carson:Freddy de Cordova says we're out of time already,tomorrow night,we'll dig up Regis Philbin,Dawn Wells and Alex Trebek for your viewing pleasure---good night everyone.
--GRA
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 am ET is Roy Rowland's Witness to Murder (1954), with Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, Gary Merrill, Jesse White.
Film Noir Guide: "An interior designer (Stanwyck) witnesses Sanders strangling a woman in the building across from hers. When Sanders sees detectives Merrill and White pull up in front of Stanwycks apartment, he quickly hides the body in the vacant apartment next door and plays dumb when the cops arrive to investigate. Merrill and White shrug it all off as a nightmare, almost convincing Stanwyck herself. The spunky lady investigates on her own, but can only come up with circumstantial evidence that Merrill, who by now is romantically interested, writes off as coincidence and 'woman's intuition.' Meanwhile, former Nazi bigwig Sanders decides that Stanwyck is a real danger, especially now that she's taken to hanging around with Merrill. Stanwyck is excellent in a role similar to one she played in the more famous Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), and Sanders wonderfully overacts."
A mediocre film in my opinion. Last week in his outro, Eddie Muller called Stanwyck's character a "feminist." A few months ago introducing The Seventh Victim (1943), Eddie called Kim Hunter's character "an early feminist" as a "spunky girl." Eddie apparently doesn't think there were spunky American girls in the 1940s. And long before, since the 17th Century in fact.
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