The Pitfalls of the Return of Red Eddie Muller: TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Returns this Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:45 and 10 a.m. ET with Andre De Toth’s Pitfall (1948) with Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr and Byron Barr; and Bergman’s The Virgin Spring (1959)

By David in TN
Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at 7:57:00 P.M. EDT

N.S.: I apologize to my friend and partner-in-crime, David in TN, for not promptly posting this when he sent it in three days ago. I thought I had, but then I couldn’t find it among the postings. Fortunately, though I missed the Bergman entry, I didn’t miss posting Pitfall.

Early Friday Morning at 5 a.m. ET, TCM shows Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring (1959). Max Von Sydow stars as a land owner in 13th Century Sweden whose daughter goes riding in a forest. She meets three herdsmen who take the opportunity for rape-murder. The killers later take refuge at Von Sydow’s house, whereupon he discovers they killed his daughter. Von Sydow then enacts his revenge.

The Virgin Spring is based on a Swedish folk tale and shows something about life in the 13th Century. Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left (1972) is supposedly derived from it.

Present-day murders of this type are called “random.”

TCM’s Film Noir of the Week returns this Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:45 and 10 a.m. ET with Andre De Toth’s Pitfall (1948) with Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr and Byron Barr.

Film Noir Guide: “Powell is a successful insurance agent bored with the American dream—the wife (Wyatt), the kid, the house in the suburbs. A gorgeous model (Scott) comes along and helps him relieve his boredom. The affair doesn’t last long because when Scott finds out that Powell is married, she ends it quickly.

“What should have been just a once-in-a-lifetime fling turns into Powell’s worst nightmare when a shady P.I. (Burr), who has had designs on Scott for some time, decides to make serious trouble for Scott’s family. Meanwhile, Scott’s jealous boyfriend (Barr), a convict whom Burr has been taunting about his girl’s infidelity, is about to be released on parole.

“Noir icons Scott, Burr, and Powell make this a pleasurable film noir viewing experience.”

David in TN: Eddie Mueller is recycling Pitfall.