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Triple Threat Noir Night on TCM 4/27/09

Posted: April 27th, 2009, 9:27 am
by moira finnie
A trio of Film Noirs, including The Blue Dahlia, The Dark Corner and Macao are all warming up for tonight on TCM, starting at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT. What do they all have in common?

William Bendix!!
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Re: Triple Threat Noir Night on TCM 4/27/09

Posted: April 27th, 2009, 9:36 am
by klondike
Moira, you're talkin' my flavor of noir-becue!
Only way to maybe top that trio would be to lead-in to it with The Glass Key . . but I ain't nitpickin' . .
'Scuse me while I run this wire flimsy over to the House of Noir thread!! :twisted:

Re: Triple Threat Noir Night on TCM 4/27/09

Posted: April 27th, 2009, 11:41 am
by Ollie
MACAO became my introduction to the Jane Russell I liked (not appreciating the PALEFACE or GENTLEMEN films until much later). And when I saw MY KIND OF WOMAN with a great Vincent Price performance, I became more appreciative of her. Seeing some of her recent interviews, she's another keen observer of a day and time in Hollywood that is so interesting - the continued decline of studios, the rise of TV and whatever condition the film industry's devolved into now.

Re: Triple Threat Noir Night on TCM 4/27/09

Posted: April 28th, 2009, 8:13 pm
by CineMaven
A guy'd have to be pretty confident to step up to the plate where JANE RUSSELL is at bat. WHEW!!

Re: Triple Threat Noir Night on TCM 4/27/09

Posted: April 28th, 2009, 10:48 pm
by ChiO
THE DARK CORNER is a joy.

I love Mitchum. I love Bendix. I love Nick Ray. I really like Von Sternberg. I like Russell. Why is MACAO such a mess?

THE BLUE DAHLIA (sigh). The poster child for "a mediocre movie with a great film noir trying to break out". The con -- LLM (Ladd-Lake-Marshall): too uptight, glitzy, slick, Hollywood and miserable (and I don't mean that in the good sense). The pro -- BBCD (Beaumont-Bendix-Chandler-da Silva): a joy whenever any of them is on the screen. For me, up there with THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE as the noir for folks who don't like noir...but I'll watch it over and over anyway, mostly because of Beaumont and da Silva.

Re: Triple Threat Noir Night on TCM 4/27/09

Posted: April 29th, 2009, 5:52 am
by moira finnie
ChiO wrote:Why is MACAO such a mess?
Two words:
Howard
Hughes

Re: Triple Threat Noir Night on TCM 4/27/09

Posted: April 29th, 2009, 4:57 pm
by Dewey1960
Actually, it was ChiO who asked why MACAO was such a mess. Although
certainly messy, it's not without its considerable charms: von Sternberg's
visual design, Nick Ray's nominal contributions (whatever they might
have been), Mitchum, Gloria Grahame and Big Bill Bendix. Jane Russell
has never been a big favorite of mine, but I know there are those who
find her irresistible. I enjoy this film quite a bit and am always a
little surprised to find it has so many detractors. Sometimes noir works
best when common sense succumbs to mood. Like in MACAO.
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Re: Triple Threat Noir Night on TCM 4/27/09

Posted: April 29th, 2009, 5:11 pm
by klondike
I would recommend that anyone who felt attracted to, and/or intrigued by, the various allures of Macao (two syllables which are often heard just prior to a fistfight over Holstein ownership up here in Vuh-mahnt), try giving Bob, Janey & HH one more chance in the often overlooked His Kind of Woman.
No Bill Bendix or Brad Dexter in this one, but there is Vincent Price, in one of his favorite roles, and Raymond Burr, at his very nastiest!
'Sides, if nothin' else, you get to glom La Russell lusciously warbling the timelessly tacky torchsong San Berdoo . . and that ain't tough to take. :twisted:

Re: Triple Threat Noir Night on TCM 4/27/09

Posted: April 29th, 2009, 10:16 pm
by mrsl
According to Lee Server in Mitchum's bio, Macao is a mess for exactly the reason stated above . . . Howard Hughes. He wasn't happy with the story so apparently he took over re-writes, often writing scenes during the night, which the actors then had to learn and act the following day. That wasn't hard for Mitch with his photographic memory, but Hughes wanted to make Jane more 'forward' in her part and some scenes just didn't make sense until Hughes finally got over his little directorial spin, and left the remainder of the work to be done by the last director on credit and the film editor.

Anne