klondike wrote:Just takin' in this fine, quirky little post-noir on Fox Movie Channel, and I gotta say, if this was Rich Basehart's follow-up to playing the serial bomber in He Walks By Night, he was really getting himself molded into playing typecast CREEPS!
"I couldn't be a straight leading man. You've got to be bigger and prettier than I am."
~Richard Basehart
I'm not so sure that Mr. B. wanted those straight heroic roles that he might have played as a more conventional leading man, (like cutie
William Lundigan in this movie, whose greatest virtue as an actor may be his ability to not take himself seriously. That's okay--I love those dimples!). Though
Basehart did play a more "regular guy" part in
Fixed Bayonets (1951) for
Sam Fuller that same year, maybe his success in these interesting but far from "normal" heroic roles contributed to his decision to move to Europe to pursue more varied parts, (which he certainly found working with
Fellini).
He probably had another reason too. His wife of ten years had died of a brain tumor while he was filming
Fourteen Hours, (probably contributing to his anguished performance). He had also fallen in love with his co-star in
House on Telegraph Hill, the Italian actress
Valentina Cortese. Reportedly no one on the set knew that the pair were an item. They were married from 1951-1960, when she left him. I believe he had one more shot at marriage lasting till the end of his life.
I only began to realize what a good actor he was when I saw him in a recording of tv production of
Andersonville, about the infamous Confederate Prisoner of War camp. He played the German born commander and Northern scapegoat on trial.
______________
About
The House on Telegraph Hill, did
Basehart's role seem terribly underwritten to anyone?
What did you think of
Valentina Cortese's performance in
House on Telegraph Hill (1951)? I thought that the part in the Concentration Camp was much better than when she got the glam treatment. I really like her better in
Thieves Highway (1949), though I don't think that American moviemaking suited her somehow. She was great in
Juliet of the Spirits (1965), (maybe because she seemed more relaxed in Italian movies). Btw, Mongo had a photo of her awhile back. She's still around and kickin'. Thanks in advance for your POVs on this movie.