By David in TN
saturday, february 4, 2023 at 12:41:00 a.m. est
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is John Brahm and Barré Lyndon’s Hangover Square (1945), with Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders and Faye Marlowe.
Film Noir Guide: “Cregar, a turn-of-the-century London composer, goes into a Jekyll and Hyde—like murderous rage when he hears loud, discordant sounds, but has no recollection of his crimes afterwards. Darnell is the scheming saloon singer who seduces him into writing songs for her, and Marlowe is his adoring fiancee. Sanders plays the Scotland Yard psychiatrist who’s been keeping a wary eye on Cregar since he walked into his office, expressing concern about his bouts with amnesia.
“The Victorian gaslight torches, dark, foggy streets and the haunting musical score give this film a delicious noir flavor. Darnell is enjoyable as the femme fatale, and Cregar is sensational as the tortured composer.”
“Twentieth-Century Fox wisely capitalized on Cregar’s success in 1944’s The Lodger [a Jack-the-Ripper story] by starring him in this similar role. Unfortunately, Cregar died shortly before Hangover Square was released, as a result of complications from excessive dieting. He was only 28. Compare Cregar at his normal weight in This Gun for Hire [1942].”
N.S.: One year later, Paramount stole the plot idea of the man who goes psycho upon hearing loud noise, commits murder, and then suffers a bout of amnesia, in George Marshall and Raymond Chandler’s The Blue Dahlia, which starred Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.
Laddie just got back from the war (Navy man), only to find his unfaithful wife kissing her boyfriend. He leaves them, without killing either, and she’s later found murdered, in her hotel room, with the record player blasting.
Laddie is the suspect, but the real killer is his shell-shocked war buddy, Bill Bendix. However, the Navy censors objected to a returning Navy veteran being depicted as a killer, and so the studio pulled a switch at the end, ruining the picture. Instead of Bendix, they made the killer the old house detective. Complete non sequitur.
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TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Norman Foster's Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) with Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Robert Newton.
Film Noir Guide: "Despite the gruesome title, this is merely a slow-moving romantic melodrama about a love destined to fail. Lancaster is a disturbed American war veteran in England, who has a serious temper problem."
"After accidentally killing a pub owner, he breaks into nurse Fontaine's apartment while hiding from pursuing bobbies. Fontaine, surprisingly sympathetic, doesn't report him. Romance blossoms, but Lancaster must spend six months in prison for violent attacks against a police officer and a train passenger who wouldn't fall for one of his con games."
"When Lancaster is released, Fontaine gets him a job at one of her clinics. He attempts to go straight, hoping the police will never suspect him in the pub killing, but a witness (Newton) blackmails him into helping him hijack the clinic's drug shipment."
"Noir icon Lancaster, the lovely Fontaine and Newton (terrific as the detestable small-time hood) do their best, but they can't overcome the trite script. Newton went on to star in the syndicated TV series Long John Silver."
David in TN: This is the first time this film has been on TCM. Red Eddie Mueller, in his outro last week, said Kiss the Blood Off My Hands is a forerunner to The Third Man.
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