By David in TN
friday, may 5, 2023 at 6:35:00 p.m. edt
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week returns after a two-month hiatus.
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week saturday night-sunday morning at midnight and 10 a.m. is Robert Siodmak’s The File on Thelma Jordan (1950) with Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Joan Tetzel, Richard Rober.
Film Noir Guide: “Stanwyck plays yet another femme fatale (see Double Indemnity and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers). This time it’s assistant D.A. Corey who’s caught in her web. Corey, boozing it up lately because of an unhappy marriage to Tetzel, falls hard when Stanwyck walks into his office to report a possible burglary attempt.
“Soon Corey, who’s ready to abandon his wife and two kids, finds himself covering up a murder that Stanwyck or her brutal lover (Rober) may have committed. The film is a bit slow at first, but Stanwyck, one of film noir’s top icons, is terrific in a role that suits her perfectly, and Corey gives a first-class performance as a good public servant gone bad over a tantalizing dame.”
As David in TN has written, particularly about Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner’s respective characters in Robert Siodmak (and Hemingway and Anthony Veiller’s) The Killers (1946), a film noir typically begins when a man encounters the sexiest woman to ever cross his path.
Note that Wendell Corey (1914-1968), who was an excellent actor, drank himself to death in real life, at the age of 54.
Sorry, David. I should have posted this immediately.
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7 comments:
The only thing I want to know is--since we're on the subject today--did JFK do her?Ehhhh.I doubt it.
--GRA
If you've never seen her Loretta Young-like anthology series, "The Barbara Stanwyck Show," (1961) it's available near-complete on DVD (some episodes are "lost"). Very enjoyable, and she can play anything convincingly- a gun moll one week, a terrorized heroine the next. The only thing she's awkward at are the introductions, where she's just being herself! -RM
Tomorrow (Tuesday May 9) TCM shows at 4:15 p.m. ET Herman Shumlin's Confidential Agent (1945) with Charles Boyer, Lauren Bacall, Victor Francen, Wanda Hendrix, Peter Lorre, Katina Paxinou.
Film Noir Guide: "A Spanish patriot (Boyer) travels secretly to England to purchase coal for the Loyalist cause in Spain, but his every move is thwarted by his Fascist nemesis (Francen). Fortunately for Boyer, he meets up with the coal mining company's daughter (Bacall); she falls hard for him and helps him elude police, who wrongly suspect he's a murderer."
"Hendrix is the 14-year old girl whose crush on Boyer leads to tragedy, and Lorre and Paxinou are the Spanish quislings who are interested more in gold than coal."
"Bacall, who made no attempt to disguise her American accent, isn't believable as the aristocratic English girl who falls for the Spaniard. Boyer gives an enjoyable, low-key performance, but Lorre and Paxinou, both of whom brazenly ham it up, are the top attractions."
David In TN: The Warner Brothers' bosses were afraid bad reviews would destroy Bacall's career so they reshot several scenes in The Big Sleep to give her better screen time.
Boyer is supposed to be a Spaniard but still seems a Frenchman. Confidential Agent has a Noirish atmosphere and makes for a good story.
Here's the Stanwyck series (the later episodes tend to be better- more mystery-suspense oriented- than the earlier ones): https://archive.org/details/the-barbara-stanwyck-show -RM
Not pretty? Her personality and pizzazz made her extremely attractive to these eyes. What a talent...
UNKNOWN WOMAN ALLOWED ROBERT DENIRO,79, TO IMPREGNATE HER(NATURALLY OR ARTIFICIALLY?);SHE JUST HAD HIS 7TH KID.
(ET)Robert De Niro Reveals He Welcomed His Seventh Child; Shares Whether Or Not He’s A ‘Cool Dad’ .
GRA:Was this done consensually?Lol.
--GRA
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Michael Curtiz's Flamingo Road (1949) with Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet, David Brian, Virginia Huston.
Film Noir Guide: "Crawford is a performer (one of the sultan's dancing girls) in a traveling carnival. When Sheriff Greenstreet runs the show out of town, she stays on, falling in love with deputy sheriff Scott."
"She soon finds herself framed on a prostitution charge by Greenstreet, who has political plans for Scott and doesn't want Crawford around to ruin them. The spineless Scott, drinking heavily, allows the malignant sheriff to force him into a loveless marriage with socialite Huston, which helps him get elected state senator."
"Next stop, if Greenstreet gets his way, is the governor's mansion. Meanwhile, Crawford returns to town and marries political boss Brian, causing the depressed Scott to hit the bottle even harder."
"Crawford, at 45, isn't believable as a veiled, exotic dancer, but once the carnival leaves town, she's back on her own turf--playing a tough, sensible and, at times, fragile woman choosing to settle down in a town that doesn't want her. Greenstreet is at his nastiest as the fat old sheriff grasping at political power from behind closed doors and willing to do whatever it takes to get it."
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