Essential Film Noir: Collection 4
Viavision Imprint’s 4th Noir collection is here, with two core examples of the classic style, one solid gangster film, an adventure-intrigue tale set in South Africa and two psychological ‘woman in peril’ thrillers. The male leads Burt Lancaster, Alan Ladd, Humphrey Bogart and Robert Ryan must contend with heroines Corrine Calvet, Jan Sterling, Phyllis Calvert and the great Ida Lupino.
Essential Film Noir: Collection 4
Rope of Sand, Appointment with Danger, The Enforcer, Beware, My Lovely, Jennifer
Blu-ray
Viavision Imprint #213
1949-53 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 429 min. / Street Date May 10, 2023 / Available from / au 159.95 before discount
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Claude Rains, Corrine Calvet; Alan Ladd, Phyllis Calvert, Jan Sterling; Humphrey Bogart, Zero Mostel, Ted De Corsia; Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan; Ida Lupino, Howard Duff.
Directed by William Dieterle, Lewis Allen, Bretagne Windust, Harry Horner, Joel Newton
Imprint once again reaches into noir and emerges with a fourth grouping of titles featuring murder, intrigue and psychological malice. The Essential Film Noir: Collection 4 has a pretty good batting average for noir relevance, as 4 of its 5 pictures show strong elements of the basic style. It’s also a good selection for star power, featuring four actors key to the movement: Burt Lancaster, Alan Ladd, Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino. Three of the features are big-studio productions, with impressive location work.
Rope of Sand
1949 / B&W / min.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Corrine Calvet, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Sam Jaffe, Mike Mazurki.
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Original Music: Franz Wayman
Story & screenplay by Walter Doniger additional dialogue by John Paxton
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Directed by William Dieterle
Producer Hal Wallis let Burt Lancaster work out his contract in 1949’s Rope of Sand, a moody tale of ‘international intrigue’ set in the diamond trade. After his knockout debut in Mark Hellinger’s The Killers, Lancaster definitely wanted to branch out from his screen image as a hangdog noir loser in a torn undershirt. Wallis instead brought Lancaster with him to Paramount, where new torn undershirts awaited.
Rope of Sand brings a group of shifty fortune hunters to the South African diamond country, including three cast members from the wartime classic Casablanca. Lost in a sandstorm, Lancaster’s adventurer/ diamond thief Mike Davis is arrested, beaten and tortured by the corrupt Colonial Diamond Company’s sadistic Police Commandant Paul Vogel (Paul Henreid). Vogel’s objective is a treasure trove of stolen gems hidden somewhere in a no-man’s-land called the Rope of Sand. Scheming mine executive Arthur Martingale (Claude Rains) prefers to obtain the information by hiring the French adventuress Suzanne Renaud (Corrine Calvet) to pry it from Mike’s lips. Also entering into the dangerous equation are the company’s Doctor Hunter (Sam Jaffe) and the unscrupulous opportunist Toady (Peter Lorre). Mike has a secret plan to bribe his way past Vogel’s Afrika Corps- like security troops, but dare he put it into effect?
A polished production on all technical levels, the gritty Rope of Sand has excellent direction by William Dieterle and no lack of shady characters. Suzanne Reynaud at first blackmails Martingale by threatening to accuse him of rape, but instead agrees to seduce Mike for money. The promise of an amorous future with Mike straightens her out. Shoehorned into the proceedings is the superfluous Toady, who appears in just three brief scenes to dispense a series of colorful observations and verbal riddles.
The intrigues never stop. Double-crosses become triple-crosses as if in a game of musical chairs. Confessions are forced at gunpoint. Why any of these people bother to listen to each other is a mystery, as all know perfectly well that nobody is telling the truth. The isolated outpost setting is more than a little strange. It’s a hellhole in the desert, yet both Martingale and Vogel maintain luxurious private houses more suitable for Palm Springs.
As is common in genre films from the Cold War era, ostentatious high culture is sure evidence of perversity. At one point Vogel shows off a priceless porcelain vase he obtained from a (presumably Jewish) Frenchman forced to flee during the Occupation. True to the tough-guy code, Mike Davis smashes the vase just to see the look on Vogel’s face. Mike enjoys acts of destruction almost as much as he ‘enjoys’ being hung by his feet and whipped.
Leading lady Corrine Calvet came to Hollywood two years earlier as a possible challenger to Rita Hayworth. Playing up the sex angle, Paramount publicists exploited a moment in which Calvet’s character violently rips her own dress in an attempt to compromise the Claude Rains character. Critics generally liked Lancaster’s performance, even if they saved the bulk of their praise for Paul Henried’s nasty villain. The film’s one topical angle is the suggestion that ex-Nazi war criminals were alive and well, using their talents in other countries.
Just how perverse was Burt Lancaster’s screen image? Mike’s stoic acceptance of numerous beatings and tortures verges into sado-masochistic territory. The advertising for his early noir pictures tended to depict him in shirtless poses, especially his prison picture Brute Force. The beefcake appeal is obvious. Lancaster’s personal assessment of the film was unprintable, but he was quoted at a time when he was itching to move on to more rewarding roles.
Appointment with Danger
1950 / B&W / 90 min.
Starring: Alan Ladd, Phyllis Calvert, Paul Stewart, Jan Sterling, Stacy Harris, Jack Webb, Henry (Harry) Morgan.
Cinematography: John Seitz
Film Editor: LeRoy Stone
Original Music: Victor Young
Written by Richard L. Green, Warren Duff
Produced by Robert Fellows
Directed by Lewis Allen
“Sure I know what love is — it’s what goes on between a man and a .45 that won’t jam.”
1951’s Appointment with Danger gives us Alan Ladd in a proto- 007 role, a U.S. Postal Inspector infiltrating a ruthless gang of mail truck robbers to track down the murderers of one of his fellow agents. The exciting tale has much in common with later Secret Agent films, but with more credible characters and some great hardboiled dialogue.
Before going undercover Goddard argues philosophy with Sister Augustine (Phyllis Calvert of Madonna of the Seven Moons), a nun who witnessed the murder. The gang leader (Paul Stewart) hires Goddard to work with his other underling thugs, paranoid Joe Regas (Jack Webb) and passive George Soderquist (Harry Morgan). As the day of the caper draws near, the gang leader’s moll (sultry Jan Sterling of Ace in the Hole) discovers Godard’s status as a double agent. The gang also threatens Sister Augustine, but discovers she’s no pushover either.
Al Goddard is a real contrarian. His cynical remarks anger his boss; he quotes Martin Luther to Sister Augustine just to provoke a reaction. But a professional understanding soon develops between Goddard and his key witness.
The James Bond vibe comes when Al Goddard goes into action. When a corpse in an alley leads to a dead end, he asks a few questions in a nearby rail yard, ditches his taxi and hops a passing freight to the next town. Four hours later our agent has found Sister Augustine and has made a positive identification. As a spirited and devout nun Phyllis Calvert should have won an award for avoiding ‘cute’ Going My Way whimsy. When she accompanies the Inspectors to a pool hall, the movie doesn’t milk the scene for undue laughs.
Appointment embraces late- 40’s Noir trends:, the use of real locations and disturbing scenes of heightened sadism. Jack Webb’s understated performance is a big help; he retained this deadpan persona for his later film and TV roles, as in his self-directed feature Pete Kelly’s Blues. Even more interesting in retrospect is that actors Webb and Harry Morgan later played L.A.P.D. detectives in the second iteration of Webb’s long-running TV police drama Dragnet. Here, they’re a truly creepy pair of killers — one’s view of Officers Joe Friday and Bill Gannon will never again seem the same.
The Enforcer
1951 / B&W / 87 min.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Zero Mostel, Ted de Corsia, Everett Sloane, Roy Roberts, Michael Tolan, King Donovan, Robert (Bob) Steele, Adelaide Klein, Don Beddoe, Tito Vuolo, John Kellogg, Jack Lambert, Susan Cabot, Creighton Hale, Patricia Joiner.
Cinematography: Robert Burks
Film Editor: Fred Allen
Original Music: David Buttolph
Written by Martin Rackin
Produced by Milton Sperling
Directed by Bretaigne Windust
1951’s The Enforcer was Humphrey Bogart’s last picture released by Warners, and it’s a real oddity. The star plays a tough-guy D.A. trying to get the goods on dangerous gangland killers. Bogie launches and finishes the drama, but the bulk of the story is carried by a choice selection of class-A villains. The film’s only actresses have small roles and none receives on-screen billing.
As the show’s subject is the historical crime outfit Murder Inc., we expect a period picture. The time frame is contemporary, yet the cops are shocked to hear of an organization that kills for hire. They don’t recognize the terms ‘contract’ and ‘hit man.’ It sometimes plays like something written years before, but Alan K. Rode’s commentary documents how a new script came together.
The movie is signed by Bretaigne Windust; Alan Rode discounts the rumor that Raoul Walsh directed most of it — he may have helped here and there. District Attorney Martin Ferguson (Humphrey Bogart) and Police Captain Frank Nelson (Roy Roberts) want hood Joseph Rico (Ted de Corsia) to testify against Albert Mendoza, the head of Murder, Inc. (Everett Sloane). But Rico panics, depriving Martin of his only witness. Martin recalls the other witnesses ‘inside’ the racket: wheel man Big Babe Lazick (Zero Mostel), trigger man Duke Malloy (Michael Lawrence Tolan), prospective victim Angela Vetto (Susan Cabot). Although the organization eliminates one witness after another, Martin is convinced he can find at least one person alive and willing to talk. But he only has the night and the morning to put a new case together.
The Enforcer shows the influence of the hyper-brutal White Heat. A contract killer who loses his gun is told to finish his assignment with an ice pick. Another nervous hit man is eliminated as a liability. The diabolical Mendoza lines up his clients for future blackmail purposes. Dialogue bites give Mendoza the arch-villain status of a ‘Doctor Mabuse’ figure.
Second-billed Zero Mostel is sensational as the terrorized Lazick, abused by both the cops and his gangster superiors. Mostel was blacklisted just as The Enforcer was going into release, interrupting his big-screen career. Equally good is Ted de Corsia, the muscular villain of Jules Dassin’s classic The Naked City. De Corsia’s thug Rico is seen forcing a barber to help him cut a man’s throat with a straight razor. Young Susan Cabot and Patricia Joiner are witnesses slated for execution in the big finale. The sheer accumulation of violent scenes builds up a strong sense of suspense and jeopardy.
Bogart gives an excellent straight performance, avoiding ‘star vehicle’ vanity posturing. And as we said at the top of the review, an opportunity to see a ‘new’ Bogart picture, especially a good one, is a real treat.
Although originally released by Warner Bros., The Enforcer was one of many independent productions by Milton Sperling, to whom rights eventually reverted. It was filmed by Robert Burks, Alfred Hitchcock’s cameraman of choice. Some scenes express a classic violent vibe — sinister shadows of men with guns play out across those familiar old Warner Bros. standing sets.
Beware, My Lovely
1952 / B&W / 77 min.
Starring: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Taylor Holmes, Barbara Whiting, James Willmas, O.Z. Whitehead, William Talman.
Cinematography: George E. Diskant
Film Editor: Paul Weatherwax
Original Music: Leith Stevens
Screenplay by Mel Dinelli from his story and his play
Produced by Collier Young
Directed by Harry Horner
Actress, producer and director Ida Lupino had an interesting relationship with Howard Hughes, the wholly eccentric chief of RKO. Hughes frustrated his production executives with impractical, counter-intuitive and fiscally disastrous decisions, often stalling finished movies for meaningless tweaking, or for no reason at all. Ms. Lupino enticed Hughes into releasing some of the highly sensitive dramas from her company ‘The Filmakers’; she also starred in some shows for RKO, like the excellent On Dangerous Ground .
One Filmakers picture given an RKO release is Beware, My Lovely, a suspense piece mounted on such a tiny scale that it could have been an episode of TV’s later Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Director Harry Horner took advantage of some of the standing sets available on the RKO lot, although Howard Hughes had already laid off half the studio personnel. The Filmakers welcomed writer Mel Dinelli into their creative group — his previous noir hits The Spiral Staircase and The Window had led him to write the Broadway play on which Beware, My Lovely is based, ”The Man.”
A vulnerable woman finds herself trapped with a dangerous man. War widow Helen Gordon (Ida Lupino) rents out one of the rooms in her old-fashioned house. She takes in drifter Howard Wilton (Robert Ryan) to do some major chores and maintenance. But Howard is a very disturbed individual, outgoing and friendly one moment and dangerously paranoid the next. He soon begins imagining that Helen doesn’t like him, and builds up an irrational resentment. We know what Helen doesn’t: Howard has killed his previous employer. Yet he’s a sympathetic menace, as shown when he tries to explain to Helen that he can’t remember what he does when he ‘blacks out’ — he fears that he has hurt people. Helen doesn’t take the threat seriously until she finds herself a prisoner in her own house.
Beware, My Lovely was finished almost two years before its release in 1952, just as was Ryan & Lupino’s On Dangerous Ground. Without heavy promotion, its audience was the crowd likely to respond to its lurid poster art — the title sounds like something from Mickey Spillane, not a sensitive psychological drama. The delay did no favors for Horner, either. It was the former production designer’s first feature as director, but his second-directed show was released first, the strange political science fiction film Red Planet Mars.
The Filmakers’ distribution deal with RKO gave Ida Lupino a launching pad for her directing career. For many years she was the only woman director in the entire industry. As the eccentric Howard Hughes thought nothing of obstructing the careers of big moviemakers, the veteran show biz entertainer Lupino must have had powerful negotiating skills to go with her recognized talent.
Jennifer
1953 / B&W / 73 min.
Starring: Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Robert Nichols, Mary Shipp, Ned Glass, Kitty McHugh, Russ Conway, Lorna Thayer, Matt Dennis, John Brown, Bill Hickman.
Cinematography: James Wong Howe
Film Editor: Everett Douglas
Original Music: Ernest Gold
Story by Virginia Myers
Produced by Berman Swarttz
Directed by Joel Newton
This all-but-unknown 1953 feature is from Allied Artists, which was trying its best to escape the Poverty Row connotations of its earlier self, Monogram Pictures. Perhaps aware of Ida Lupino’s reputation for creativity, AA rolled the dice on Jennifer, an odd little story that resembles a casual version of Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca. Producer Berman Swartz put together a few features around this time, as well as a 3-D short subject about an A-Bomb test, Doom Town. Either he or star Lupino attracted the name cinematographer James Wong Howe, and the new composing talent Ernest Gold. Ida’s ex-husband but continuing collaborator Howard Duff is the name co-star.
The assembled talent filmed in an empty mansion and at a small Hollywood studio, with some location shots in Montecito, a prosperous community a hundred miles up the California coast. The story is credited to Virginia Myers and the direction to Joel Newton, but neither has any other credits. In her article at CineBeats, critic Kimberly Lindbergs tells us that the film’s real author may have been TV writer and director Bernard Girard, the future director of Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round.
Jennifer tries to get a grip on a familiar mystery idea. In need of a steady job, pretty Agnes Langley (Ida Lupino) takes the job of caretaker at an old mansion in rural Montecito. The heir to the estate Lorna (Mary Shipp) gives her a short tour before departing, but almost everyone else Agnes meets warns her away from the house. The previous caretaker ‘Jennifer’ simply disappeared, and some think she was murdered. The owners of a country store (Ned Glass & Lorna Thayer) contribute to the gossip, while their nosy delivery boy Orrin (Robert Nichols) concocts various grim scenarios around the mystery. The person to get Agnes’s main attention is Jim Hollis (Howard Duff), the real estate agent who has so far been unable to sell the house. He shows up constantly, putting pressure on Agnes to date him. He mostly ignores her sensible questions.
Seen today, the mystery aspect of Jennifer never gets into gear — we’re too busy being revolted by the ‘romantic’ behavior of Howard Duff’s Jim Hollis. The guy doesn’t leave poor Agnes alone for a moment, pressuring her with constant hints that she needs to relax and loosen up. It’s 100% boorish stalking and harassment. Agnes unaccountably puts up with it, until Hollis gets just what he wants.
We can’t tell if Jim Hollis’s creepy attentions to Agnes are sincere, or part of a trap. A number of characters are introduced, and then left hanging. The big secret behind Jennifer’s disappearance doesn’t turn out to be much of anything. The big scare moment is a gag that belongs in a Nancy Drew mystery.
Added to the mix is a supernatural hint that gives James Wong Howe an opportunity for some nicely planned shots of a shadow that creeps onto the front door of the mystery mansion. It also doesn’t mean much, but it does distinguish Jennifer from the average TV show of the time.
Ernest Gold’s music score goes in for some eerie vocal effects, again pushing a spooky theme that the film doesn’t bear out. Some of the cues remind us of George Antheil’s ‘wailing’ music from the avant-garde Dementia — the wailing voice could even be that of Marni Nixon. Reader ‘Ken’ reminds us that Jennifer introduced the song standard ”Angel Eyes,” Music by Matt Dennis and lyrics by Earl Brent.
Viavision Imprint’s Blu-ray of Essential Film Noir: Collection 4 continues their line of quality Noir releases. The two Ida Lupino films share a Blu-ray Disc, which is how five titles fit on four discs.
All of the pictures are afforded extras save for Jennifer, which remains somewhat of a mystery. The other four have commentaries by three of Imprint’s most trusted experts, Sam Deighton, Jason Ney and Alan K. Rode. Extra featurettes celebrating the filmmakers Lewis Allen and Ida Lupino, and the individual films.
Essential Film Noir: Collection 4
Blu-ray rates:
Movies: Rope, Beware Good; Appointment, Enforcer; Excellent Jennifer; Good -minus
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: (mostly NEW):
Rope of Sand
Audio commentary by Samm Deighan
Featurette by José Arroyo
Trailer
Appointment with Danger
Audio commentary by Jason Ney
Featurette Hollywood Everyman: The Films of Lewis Allen
Featurette by Frank Krutnik
Trailer
The Enforcer
Audio commentary by Alan K. Rode
Featurette by Frank Krutnik
Beware, My Lovely
Audio commentary by Jason Ney
Featurette Pamela Hutchinson on Ida Lupino.
Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? YES; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: Four Blu-rays in Keep cases in hard pop-top box
Reviewed: May 4, 2023
(6927noir2)

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