CORNELL WOOLRICH : King of Noir

[RedRiver]

Many happy returns, Mr. Irish! My best to George Hopley.

[RedRiver]

Did we forget anybody?

[ChiO]

And today I received a brand spanking new release of NO MAN OF HER OWN, based on a story by William Irish, starring someone named Barbara Stanwyck, and directed by a Mitchell Leisen.

I guessing I'll enjoy it...sometime...but maybe...I'll hold off...until an Angel of Death...forces me to watch.

[knitwit45]

aw, live dangerously, O....

[JackFavell]

I just started reading about that one! Congrats!

[moira finnie]

And today I received a brand spanking new release of NO MAN OF HER OWN, based on a story by William Irish, starring someone named Barbara Stanwyck, and directed by a Mitchell Leisen.

I guessing I'll enjoy it...sometime...but maybe...I'll hold off...until an Angel of Death...forces me to watch.

I love this movie, and the opening sequence is straight out of Cornell Woolrich's darkly romantic heart. It is one of Stanwyck's best but least known performances. Btw, it is available streaming online at Netflix and can be seen at youtube as well:
[youtube][/youtube]

[MissGoddess]

I think I have this in one of my "queues", I'll have to bump it up or watch it on YouTube, can't wait!

[moira finnie]

R. Emmet Sweeney of the Movie Morlocks has written an excellent blog on No Man of Her Own this week too:

http://moviemorlocks.com/2012/03/27/loo ... -own-1950/

[CineMaven]

Moira, thanxxx so much for posting the link to Stanwyck's "NO MAN OF HER OWN." I haven't seen it in years, and now will make the time to re-visit it again. I've got to say you're wealth of info and citings is fantastic. Miss Goddess set the fire over there in her recent posting in her Hitchcock thread. Your additional information just poured gasoline on her fire and made it hotter.

You're a wonderful resource.

[RedRiver]

Holy Doo-Doo! This is I MARRIED A DEAD MAN! That's a great, creepy Woolrich story. I've never seen the movie. Love the book.

[JackFavell]

OH MY GOD. I LOVE THIS MOVIE!

I just got done watching NO MAN OF HER OWN - thanks to everyone who recommended it, and for telling me that it was on Netflix. What a great movie! I am not ashamed to say I cried at the end, and I even liked John Lund. Whew! What a ride. The undertones about marriage, guilt and happy home really struck a nerve with me. I am fascinated with this example of house noir or whatever they call it now - this was a pretty straight noir story, with all the elements in place, only touching on female needs and wants and the roles reversed. It kept me right on the edge of my seat, reeling me in and then loosening the string a little, only to jerk it back taut again. There is such a mine of emotion here, buried beneath the idea of the 1950's "happy home" and what prevents it - I am sure that on another viewing, I'll be able to make more of the subject. Post war topics like widowhood and returning to a family one doesn't really know stir up a pot of noir stew, with the odd Woolrich touches and characters. I absolutely was flabbergasted by the ending! To me, this movie was perfectly done. Stanwyck is absolutely fantastic as a woman who doubts she can have that normal life as her past comes back to haunt her, and Leisen did a great job with certain surprising visuals, adding mood and even humor on occasion. A straightforwardly good movie, from beginning to end.

[RedRiver]

Some years ago, there was a nice copy of this book on the stands. Cool cover. Readable type. Grab it if you see it!

[Sweeney Todd]

Here in France, William Irish [some of his works, novels or short stories were published under his other aliases, but he is more commonly known as William Irish] is simply considered as one of the greatest American writers. I insist, "writer" [écrivain], not just as an author of pulps "noir". Almost all of his novels [if you except the very first ones in the Fitzgerald mood] and at least 90% of his some 250+ short stories were translated in French, and you can find some of his books in practically every bookshop, as they were re-published so many times since the end of the Forties. Jean Cocteau admired his works. He is commonly labelled "the Edgar Poe of 21th Century" in this country.
I discovered him when I was 15, with "Deadline at Dawn" (the book, I mean). Then, some months later I saw "Rear Window" on the big screen... It was the beginning of an eternal admiration for him.
Many other movies were made from his works than the ones listed in this thread. Jean Delannoy's "Obsession", with Michèle Morgan and Raf Vallone, for instance. You must also add three Argentinian movies, one by Léon Klimovsky adapted from the short story "The Earring" (I didn't see it), and two splendid movies made by the late Carlos Hugo Christensen, one (No abras nunca esa puerta, 1952) being a two-stories compilation (adapted from "Somebody at the Phone" and "Hummingbird Comes Home"), and the other, called "Si muero antes de despertar", also 1952, adapted from "If I Should Die Before I Wake". The latter is almost a horror story and was shown in Mexico as "El vampiro acecha". "Deadline at Dawn" was made in Turkey as "Bire on vardi" in 1963. Various adaptations of William Irish were also made in Japan, Mexico, Spain, Italy, etc.
And a LOT of his work were also adapted for TV. In France we even had a series of TV-movies entirely made from his stories. Alfred Hitchock's series (at least seven times), and Karloff's Thriller also adapted Irish/Woolrich/Hopley. "Rendez-vous in Black" had Boris Karloff and Franchot Tone in the cast. Hammer Films adapted "Jane Brown's Body" in 1968.Etc.
In brief if you count movies and TV, William Irish's works were adapted more than 120 times!
After all these years (almost six decades since I discovered him) William Irish remains one of my all-time favorites. I re-read his works periodically. All of his books (novels or short stories) were - and still are - best-sellers here.

[MissGoddess]

Sweeney,
What an education in Woolrich your post is! I had not idea of his wide-ranging influence and esteem.

And may I say bienvenue to our little world.

[JackFavell]

Welcome Sweeney!

Yes, it's nice to know Woolrich was so well thought of all over the world.