A Dash of Film Noir: Lady in the Lake

Welcome back all to Day 5 of A Dash of Film Noir Week and we will end this week on a bit of an unusual camera POV.  Yes this entire film is shot through the eyes of the lead actor which sounds a bit like a horror movie but is in fact a Point of View shot.  The supporting cast will intentionally seem to break the fourth wall and stare at the camera and speak as though you are the hardboiled detective struggling to get to the truth.  With the exception of a few exterior shots this film is entirely shot in POV and there is little to no soundtrack attached to it.  So grab your snacks and soft drink, droop in your seat and take this all in.  This is Lady in the Lake.

 

This suit cut me right?

Adrienne: Do you fall in love with all of your spoilers?

Marlowe: Only the ones in skirts.

Director and lead actor Robert Montgomery (Made on Broadway, The Mystery of Mr. X, Riptide, No More Ladies and Trouble for Two) chose a different approach to this Raymond Chandler novel turned film.  The subjective view allows you to see the film and story coil out through Marlowe’s eyes.  All the actors stare directly at the camera and give you the feel that you are asking the questions and taking no grief.    Our story begins Marlowe submitting a murder story for the Kingsby Publications Inc.  He gets an invite to the publication to chin wag about his story but it comes quite clear that it is only a ruse for a job.  So much for the Great American Novel I guess.   Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter of The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Set-Up, Man in the Dark, Champ for a Day, Massacre Canyon and Man or Gun) is the executive publicist that wants to hire Marlow to find the wife of her boss Derace Kingsby (Leon Ames of Meet Me in St. Louis, The Thin Man Goes Home, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Absent-Minded Professor and The Monkey’s Uncle) who has been missing for the better part of a month after sending a telegram stating she is off to Mexico to divorce him and marry a schmoe name of Chris Lavery.

Santa??!

Adrienne states she had seen Lavery in Bay City not long ago.   Marlowe drops in to see Lavery and he attests to no knowledge of this trip to Mexico then socks Marlowe.  A black gunky fog comes over Marlowe and he wakes up in jail where he is grilled by Captain Kane (Tom Tully of The Caine Mutiny, The Lineup, Love Me or Leave Me and Coogan’s Bluff) and his snarky lieutenant DeGarmot (Lloyd Nolan of The House on 92^nd Street, Two Smart People, Martin Kane, Special Agent 7 and 77 Sunset Strip) with Marlowe claiming confidential client clause.  With a brisk warning from Kane not to muddy his waters Marlowe is back on the streets.

 Back on the trail of Lavery, Marlowe learns of the body of a woman in the lake owned by Kingsby, and his caretaker was charged with the murder of his wife.  Fromsett believes that  Kingsby’s wife is the real killer given the hatred Muriel and she had.  Finding Lavery’s apartment, his landlady steps out of his house holding a revolver she claims to have found.   Hoofing up the stairs Marlowe discovers Lavery shot numerous times in the shower of all places and a handkerchief with the monogram “A F”. 

The plot thickens as Marlowe is fired by Fromsett only to be hired by Kingsby to find his wife.

The first-person camera technique is a little throwing.   At any moment I am expecting a zombie or mutant to come at me and I have to frag ‘em with a BFG.  A clever effect that we do not see Montgomery unless he looks in a mirror but the concept wears on the nerves and it got a bit annoying for me.  Also there didn’t feel like there was any chemistry between Montgomery and Audrey Totter.  The love angle felt forced and unrealistic.  Not one of the best Marlowes in my opinion.

Chief O' Hara beats the town drunk....AGAIN.

Film Noir Week : The Maltese Falcon

Well hello there boys and girls and welcome to Day 5 of Film Noir Week and of course we go out with a bang.   Very few are aware of the predecessor in 1931 starring Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez but I am certain several know the 1941 classic starring Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, Mary Astor and Peter Lorre.   So roll me a snipe, keep watch out dat window and have the rod at the ready.   This is The Maltese Falcon.

By gads sir, you are a spade and I am calling it such.

Spoilers take slaps and like it!

Private Eyes Spade and Archer have a corner office in an otherwise respectable neighborhood in an unrespectable business. Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart of A Devil with Women, Big City Blues, The Petrifed Forest, To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep) takes a meeting with a babe in the woods, Miss Wanderly (Mary Astor of No Time to Marry, Midnight, Listen Darling, Meet Me in St. Louis and Desert Fury) worried over her missing sister with a bum name of Thrusby, pointing out that he is a dangerous man and not to be trifled with but our boys assure her all the way they can handle it.  

*looks at Archer* NOT IT!

Spade gets a call at night to come to a crime scene.  He patters down only to find his partner at the bottom of a hill with one slug in him.  Next thing he knows is the cops are grilling him for info.  What was his partner after; who did he work for and so on.  Detective Tom Polhaus (Ward Bond of Night Key, Topper, Dead End, 3 Godfathers, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Searchers and Wagon Train) takes a softball approach with Spade and offer an olive branch rather than his hardnosed and hard headed Lieutenant’s approach of hoist him in for questioning and sweat him under a lamp, possibly plant a weapon on him with a bottle of rye. 

 Spade is back trailing Miss Wanderly who shock and gasp turns out to be Miss O’ Shaughnessy and she fields more than a few questions on what she is chasing and what has scared he like a rabbit in a hole.   Three other such criminals are also after said item, a black bird statue.  Thrusby once worked with Shaughnessy but he decided to cut her out of the action and strike out on her own.  While Sam is back in the office a gentleman name of Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre of M, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Casablanca, My Favorite Brunette and Quicksand) first holds him at gunpoint and attempts to search his office, Sam chuckles and makes short work of the little triggerman. 

Colt .45 gets 'em every time.

All this cloak and dagger leads back to a larger gentleman name of Gutman (Sydney Greentstreet of They Died with Their Boots On, In This Our Life, Casablanca, Background to Danger and Passage to Marseille) who has spent 17 years tracking the black bird from royalty to privateer to private collector.  The bird is said to be a gift to King Charles the 5^th of Spain, and the bird has enamel over it to conceal riches that is embedded within.   The chase is on and who will get the bird and who will be holding the bag?

Sci-Fi Week: Logan's Run

Heyas folks and welcome to Day 2 of Sci-Fi Week.   What say we head into a time of the year 2274, a society composed of young carefree people with all the comforts of automation, food replicators and rampant desires of the flesh?  Sounds pretty decent overall; that is until you reach the age of 30 and you are fated to engage in the ceremony known as Carousel.    So grab your flame pistol, your negligee toga and prepare to run.  This is Logan’s Run.

Pull my finger. A joke from THE FUTURE!

Run, spoiler run!!!

Based very loosely on William F. Nolan’s novel of the same title, this utopia gives humans very little to do in the terms of work relations.  Only a handful of men are selected to be Sandmen, a quasi-police force that ensures no one over the age of 30 skips out on the time of renewal.  It is said at the age of 30 that your time is up and new life must begin to take the place that you left behind in order to keep population down and resources maintained and managed.   According to their religious standing that has been founded God only knows when, these people have lived in harmony but unaware of their beginnings.  The schools only teach so much and history is almost frowned upon.   All knowledge of the Earth seems to be erased and no one would think of what is beyond the great domed city.  To track their years of life, at birth they are fitted with a Lifeclock crystal in the palm of their hand that changes color as they approach their “Last Day.”  The New You face lifts, tucks and sculpting for when you are tired of that appearance anymore comes in handy but runners are nabbed in the end.

Had no idea Peter Pan held that much sway in fashion...OF THE FUTURE!!

A sandman named Logan 5 (Michael York of The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge, Murder on the Orient Express, Seven Nights in Japan, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Lady and the Highwayman, Night of the Fox and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery) begins to wonder, to query about the meaning of life and the point of Carousel.  His friend Francis 7 (Richard Jordan of The Yakuza, Rooster Cogburn, Alibis, Les Miserables, Dune and The Mean Season) warns him that such thinking undermines Carousel and all its teachings.  They are force to chase a runner and terminate him.   Logan fins a pendant in the shape of an ankh. 

  By the by, booty calls are quite simplified as it would be bad manners to turn a person down. Logan selects a young girl for the evening, a one Jessica 6 (Jenny Aguttter of Walkabout, A War of Children, The Eagle Has Landed, The Man in the Iron Mask, Dominique, An American Werewolf in London and Love’s Labour’s Lost).  As the two get cozy Logan notices that Jessica wear an ankh as well and questions its origin.    He takes it to the main computer to verify it.   The computer explains it belongs to an order known as Sanctuary.  A haven for runners to flee to and hereby orders Logan to destroy Sanctuary.   Moments later, his lifeclock starts flashing red four years too early forcing Logan to become a runner.

Desirable mate...OF THE FUTURE!

I had a few observations on the movie and wither or not it has stood the test of time.   The exterior shots of the domed city is obviously forced perspective and scale models for walk ways, tram system and buildings.  Obviously there is a far amount of blue screen being used for matted shots and the robot servitors look a bit hokey and those poor actors in the suits must have been broiling but I do not think that should derail you from the story.   I don’t think it is the pinnacle or apex that science fiction has created but it should be considered at the very least of a view of what times are ahead.  An alternative timeline for humanity if you will and that has always made for good sci-fi.  

Apparently given this is 1976 bras were outlawed in this utopia and brother does that ever show.  I guess the sexist pig producer came to the conclusion if babies are genetically engineered and raised by machines, then breast feeding and lack of offspring meant no sagging or gravity.  Trust me, there was a pig with a cigar making this decision.

Werewolf Week: The Beast Must Die

How do folks!  Say how do we pep up a tired notion like a werewolf story?  Given it is commonly based in creatures hunting a snarling beast only after multiple murders.  How about a nutty wealthy philanthropist hell bent to play a deadly game of Ten Little Indians…with a werewolf?   Grab a chair, prepare to be dazzled and amazed.  This is The Beast Must Die.

Spoilers lurking about!!!

BBC director Paul Annett (The Worker, Fraud Squad, Kate, Crown Court, New Scotland Yard and Little Lord Fauntleroy) tackles Michael Winder’s (Dixon of Dock Green, The Mask of Janus, Champion House, The Saint and The Ace of Wands) screenplay. Alternatively titled The Black Werewolf; this supernatural angle to Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians.  Seven people invited to spend time at the whim of one Tom Newcliffe, millionaire and game hunter (Calvin Lockhart of A Dandy in Aspic, Dark of the Sun, Salt and Pepper, Myra Breckinridge, Hung Up and The African Deal) and his wife Caroline (Marlene Clark of Ganja & Hess, Enter the Dragon, Black Mamba, Newman’s Law, Lord Shango and Switchblade Sisters) now feels after hearing tales of an existing werewolf roaming about his estateand through his own intuition feels it is clearly one of these people. 

Our group consists of diplomat Arthur Bennington (Charles Gray of You Only Live Twice, The Devil Rides Out, Diamonds Are Forever, The Upper Crusts, Dial M for Murder and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), classic pianist Jan Jarmokowski (Michael Gambon of Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, The Borderers, Eyeless in Gaza, The Challengers, BBC Play of the Month, Gosford Park) and his lover Davina Gilmore (Ciaran Madden of Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood, Sense and Sensibility, Gawain and the Green Knight, A Spy at Evening, A Married Man and The Body in the Library), artist and former convict Paul Foote (Tom Chadbon of Tess, Casualty, Shooting Fish and Casino Royale)  Newcliffe’s assistant Pavel  (Anton Diffring of Circus of Horrors, The Blue Max, Fahrenheit 451 and Where Eagles Dare) and last but certainly not least archaeologist and lycanthropy enthusiast Professor Christopher Lundgren (Peter Cushing of Horror of Dracula, Island of Terror, Dr. Who and the Daleks,  Daleks’ Invasion Earth:2150 A.D., Sherlock Holmes, Star Wars, Shock Waves and Top Secret!).  The estate is wired with security cameras and a motion tracking system.  

An interesting bit about this film that they try to get the audience to guess with of the invited is in fact the werewolf at the being of the film and by a clip asking people in the audience if they could identify the werewolf.  Towards the in end is a 30 second Werewolf Break allowing the audience to sum up the evidence and come to conclusion?  That’s right, it is a who dunnit with fur.   A horror mystery with the attempt at audience interaction seems more appropriate if you could have midnight showings in a theater. So this would be a recommendation for a fun get together and see if anyone has the dosh to figure out the creature.

Pan's Labyrinth...wow

Hello all… we are at the climax, the cusp of Guillermo del Toro week and what better film to end on then a tailored fairy tale.  So get comfy in your seats, grab a beverage and imagine.  This is Pan’s Labyrinth.

Spoilers can be magical…

Guillermo del Toro’s creation describes a fascist Spain of the year 1944.  The story is once again told through the eyes of a young child.  Ofelia (Ivan Baquero ofRomasanta: The Werewolf Hunt, The Anarchist’s Wife, The New Daughter and The Red Virgin) and her pregnant mother Carmen (Arianda Gil of The Age of Beauty, Nuts for Love and Soldiers of Salmina) must journey to the North and Carmen is wed to Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez of An Affair of Love, With a Friend Like Harry and Dirty Pretty Things), a ruthless dictator that delights himself with torturing rebels.   And you thought your step-dad was kooky.   Ofelia, her head in the cloud realms of dreams and myth does not want to take this monster of a man as her new father, her part-time nanny Mercedes (Maribel Verdu ofCanguros, Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Blind Sunflowers and The Red Virgin) tells Ofelia of a magical garden that she may explore to her heart’s content.   Ofelia roams the garden only to discover a massive maze, a labyrinth if you will and encounters Pan (del Toro regular Doug Jones of Hellboy, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Wager and Fallout: Nuka Break), a faun guarding the labyrinth.   He identifies Ofelia as the long last Princess Moanna and tells her of three sacred tasks she must perform before the next full moon to reign for all eternity in the Underworld.  With these tasks complete she will escape the holy hell that is her life.

Now while this sounds like your typical Disney movie tripe, let us be clear on our director.  With a man that combines macabre, humor, fantasy and harsh reality for his films, so we are in for a bumpy ride.   Ofelia is operating on her limited logic and emotional plight.  With her country struggling to rebuild and the post-war angst, to her mother suffering from a complicated pregnancy and her tyrant of a stepfather, it is not difficult to see why she would want to escape this madness in this realm, but what of the other?     I was asked recently if this is a family film and I have to be honest, I really do not know.  The film is terrifying in parts of the sheer brutality of humans tormenting one another; to the emotional rollercoaster of the world but any many ways for me I had the same response to the Devil’s Backbone too.   If anything it shows the audience that not all tales of history and fantasy are mad dash excitement and good triumphs over evil every time.  It gives perspective but at the same time it may fall under more enjoyment for the horror fans.  This film offers a dark gothic tale of cruelty in either realm of dream or consciousness so it is really up to the parents to show this one to the kiddies.   The visuals alone will blow you out of your seat.  Del Toro’s patented panoramic cinematography and melodious pacing of storytelling is what truly makes this mystifying and ominous tale the very life it needed.    Be warned Parental Units, this film has a whole lot of bleak.

The Devil's Backbone...

Hey kiddies! How about a story hellbent on despair, childhood terrors, resistance and tenacity?  So grab your crucifix, say 30 Hail Marys and be humble.  This is The Devil’s Backbone.

Spoilers is the devil!!!

Set in the background of the Spanish Civil War, this film is told through the eyes of a twelve year old boy Carlos (Fernando Tielve of The Shanghai Spell, Goya’s Ghosts and Pan’s Labyrinth) has been left at this enormous orphanage a day’s walk from any village in Spain.  His father is quite dead but Carlos is blissfully unaware of this as his mentor drops him on in his strange environment leaving him to be the new kid in a terrifying new place.  No sooner the film has opened up, Carlos sees a translucent boy in the kitchen that is in fact, yes a ghost.  As the ghost turns to him Carlos does what any twelve year old does.  Ran scared, hopped into bed and hid under the covers. Carlos discovers later on a name of Santi (Junio Valverde of Hidden Hands, Vida y color, Shiver and Tierra de lobos) carved into the locker.  Carlos and several other kids are watched over by Dr. Casares (Reoccuring del Toro actor Federico Luppi of Cronos, Martin and Pan’s Labyrinth) and the Headmistress Carmen (Marisa Paredes of Life is Beautiful, All About My Mother and The Skin I Live In), who is also fighting for the cause using a series of gold ingots to pay for food and arms.  

Most of these characters are filled with good intentions but as we all know what that road paves.  The school’s handyman Jacinth (Eduardo Noriega of Tesis, Open Your Eyes and The Method) knows of the gold and plans to steal it and run off with his fiancée Conchita (Irene Visedo of Cuentame, Los pasos perdidos and Cascabel) to make a better life for their selves in this war torn time.  The beauty of del Toro’s writing is while Jacinth has some deep psychological issues, serious flaws and in general comes off as a thug at first glance, we are privy to see into his soul and love for his woman that separates himself for the atypical bad guy of film.  The ghost child’s chalky skin and white contacts will send a shiver down your spine.  You will feel remorse for the loss of his life but will be innerved by his presence.

The terror and beauty of this movie is amalgamated into one.  The cinematography is phenomenal and really tells a horrendous tale from different points of view with subtly.   There were times in this film you could feel an influence of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist had.  The story established a tale of malice and torment all the while showing hope and optimism in the background.  Easily, this is a time-period film worth viewing and having on your shelf.  So chuck that copy of Caligula you shamefully bought, sit back and taking in this movie for its awesome brilliance and disturbing beauty.

Damn that is a nice car.

Hey all.  Just touching base on a cult following that could only be rivaled by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off show Angel.  I refer to those pesky kids, the Winchester boys.  Driving in their father’s ’67 Impala these two very different lads dispense justice for the victims of the monsters that go bump in the night.   So sharpen your stakes, pour your silver bullet molds and above all don’t be a douche nozzle.   This is Supernatural Season 1.

Spoilers are all around us man!

Our pilot opens with a happy prosperous young man Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki of Gilmore Girls, House of Wax and Friday the 13^th) pre-law student, straight A’s and hotty for a girlfriend Jessica (Adrianne Palicki of Lone Star, Legion, Wonder Woman and Red Dawn) and over all life is feeling good.  The two lovebirds have a little celebration nookie and fall asleep (No fellas, this is CW so no skin on that level) when Sam hears a noise in the apartment, goes to investigate and handle the burglar.  After a fairly intense fight choreography we can see Sambo has had some training only to get tossed on his butt by…his little big brother Dean (Jensen Ackles of Dawson’s Creek, Still Life, Smallville, My Bloody Valentine and Batman: Under the Red Hood).   After nursing a few egos and bruises, Dean tells Sam their dad has gone hunting and hasn’t been back in awhile.   Feels all coded in front of girlfriend Jessica.  Reluctantly Sam joins Dean in pursuit of their wayward father because you see folks the family business is hunting…monsters of all shapes and sizes.

Ahh spoiler you say?  You had 8 years!  Catch up!

Now given that John and Jane Public thinks monsters are nothing more than the work of fiction, cinema and tween writers, our would be heroes have to go incognito.  So on top of less than legal firearms, credit card fraud and posing as Federal officers, our lads do battle with the nastiest freakiest creatures this side of Sunnydale.

The storyline unfolds on what could have made these two seemingly normal guys into hunters of the preternatural and extra-dimensional.    22 years prior the boys’ mother died in a mysterious fire and their father, a Marine recon Vietnam vet could not save her in time.   Finds out there are creatures of myth and legend and they are very real.  To keep his boys safe he will instruct them how to survive, fight and win.  From hand to hand combat, firearms and blades these two could probably be dropped on the F.B.I.’s most wanted list if they wanted to go on a killing spree but they remain knight errants and do what they must to spare families the hell that is their lives.

Admittedly I went into this show kicking and screaming foul to preceding shows. Kolchak: the night stalker Poltergeist : The Legacy, Friday the 13^th The Series and X-Files all dealing with the ghosts and ghoulies so I felt yeah YET another less than original idea.  This bleak, dark background story unfolding simultaneously with the current events quickly changed my mind and established this is a dialogue driven story arc as much as it is character based.   A dysfunctional family that shows their breaking points, their flaws and strengths gives scope to the show and guest stars galore.  Only complaint from the man here, not enough reoccurring eye candy for hetro boys.  

Burn Notice Season 2: Electric Boogaloo

Well folks you know how when a show is created and feel nothing will come as close to the same level of writing the first season offered you?  The same jam packed action or suspense clearly cannot be topped.  Pin your ears back, open your eyes and prepared to be wowed.  This is Burn Notice Season 2.

This message will contain spoilers and self-destruct if you dislike it.

Well we last left Michael Weston (Jeffery Donovan of Burn Notice, Hitch, Another World and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2) he was getting his buddy, former SEAL and likable alcoholic Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell of The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and Spider-Man) and former IRA girlfriend Fiona Glennanne (Gabrielle Anwar of For Love or Money, Body Snatchers, Scent of a Woman and Three Musketeers) out of a tight spot with some heroin dealers, then he was loaded up to meet his mystery date/keeper of his leash regarding his burn notice.   Hours pass and Michael is aching for some action when his mild dozing is interrupted with explosions, assault rifle fire and a bit of odd screaming.  His cell phone goes off and man his reception is amazing in my opinion; a female voice informs Michael her name is Carla and she wants to know if he is up for a few errands

From this rather impressive build-up it really sets the tone for the season.   Fiona and Sam are slowly and against their collective will start to like one another.   The insanity and repercussions of last season is taking a toll on Michael’s family as well and Michael has that series of issues to contend with.

From layman’s eye this show takes another leap into very technical camera maneuvering, high speed car chases, mixed martial art hand to hand and more gun fights than a Segal movie.  Creator Matt Nix sets the bar and tries to push this show to the letter Director of Photography William Wage ( Love Potion No. 9, Purgatory, Down in the Delta and Surface) combines crane shots, on-board cameras ,dolly tracks and just about anything needed to get the shot.  Hell I am just shocked to not find cameras mounted on the actors for some bizarre POV shot.  Familiar faces ranging from science fiction, comedy and drama emerge this season and you will be stunned when you see them.   If you made it through Season 1 and were blown away by this series with complex characters leading complicated lives and odds are against them, you will thoroughly enjoy season 2 , but don’t tell anyone were you got this information or we are all in the soup.