Friday, November 24, 2023
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Cornel Wilde’s Storm Fear (1956) with Cornel Wilde (he both directs and stars), Jean Wallace, Dan Duryea, David Stollery, Lee Grant, Steven Hill and Dennis Weaver
[“Steven Hill (1922-2016): Memories of a Magnificent Actor”; and
“50 Years Later, and I Still Remember It! See the Last Episode of Naked City, the Legendary TV Drama that Starred the Streets of New York City, Guest Starring Steven Hill: S04E34 'Barefoot on a Bed of Coals' (1963).”]
By David in TN
friday, november 24, 2023 at 9:19:00 p.m. est
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Cornel Wilde’s Storm Fear (1956) with Cornel Wilde (he both directs and stars), Jean Wallace, Dan Duryea, David Stollery, Lee Grant, Steven Hill and Dennis Weaver.
Film Noir Guide: “A wounded bank robber (Wilde), on the lam with what’s left of his gang (Hill and Grant), holes up at the isolated farmhouse of his sickly brother (Duryea) and sister-in-law (Wallace). Has-been writer Duryea isn’t at all happy to see his younger brother, the black sheep of the family [?] Wallace’s lover. Twelve-year old Stollery believes that Duryea is his dad and that Wilde is his uncle, but it's really vice-versa.
“Weaver (TV’s McCloud), a hired hand with a yen for Wallace, is more of a dad to Stollery than Duryea OR Wilde. While Wilde tries to make up for lost time with Wallace, psycho Hill, who does a fine job as an unstable gang member with a greedy eye on the loot, spends HIS time beating up the sickly Duryea, threatening Stollery, and trading insults with dipso Grant.
“Hill is better known for his roles on Mission Impossible and Law & Order. This suspenseful noir, an amalgam of The Desperate Hours [1955] and Key Largo [1948], was also produced by Wilde.”
David in TN: Steven Hill went from a psycho gang member to leader of Impossible Missions to Manhattan District Attorney.
N.S.: At 96, Lee Grant is still alive, and still telling commie fairy tales. ‘Oh, I was never a communist, but my husband, Arnold was. I just could never say no.’
Lee Grant,probably looks more like Lou Grant now,but that's amazing to live to 96,after a career in Hollywood--with all its
ReplyDeletedecadent ways of life.
--GRA
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Roy William Neill's Black Angel (1946) with Dan Duryea, June Vincent, Peter Lorre, Broderick Crawford, Constance Dowling, Wallace Ford, John Phillips.
ReplyDeleteFilm Noir Guide: "A singer and part-time extortionist (Dowling) is found strangles by one of her victims (Phillips), a former lover. He's seen leaving the scene and then quickly arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death. His faithful and forgiving wife (Vincent) is determined to find the real killer and clear her husband before his execution."
"A tough homicide detective (Crawford) has already investigated the only other suspect, the murdered woman's estranged husband (Duryea), an alcoholic pianist and songwriter. Duryea, however, has an airtight alibi: His friend (Ford) locked him in his room on the night of the murder, as is his habit whenever Duryea is on a particularly nasty binge."
"Hoping to find evidence that will save Phillips, Vincent teams up with Duryea to go undercover as a musical team at a nightclub owned by another of Dowling's blackmail victims (Lorre)."
"Of course, Duryea, who's trying hard to stay on the wagon finds himself falling for Vincent, but the feeling isn't mutual. Based on a novel by pulp writer Cornell Woolrich, this intriguing film is notable for its fast pace, enjoyable musical numbers and distinctive performances by Lorre and noir icon Duryea, cast against his usual villainous type."
David In TN: You've referred to Red Eddie Muller's choosing "crap movies." Last week he put on Storm Fear, the worst so-called Noir I've ever seen. Eddie, in his outro, blamed it on Cornel Wilde's inexperience as a director, admitted to a "misfire," a considerable understatement.