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For eye-popping dynamism coupled with ferocious intensity, no noir director matched Anthony Mann. Border Incident (1949) was Mann's and cinematographer John Alton's first film for MGM following a string of darkly dazzling low-budget beauties at Eagle-Lion (T-Men, Raw Deal, The Black Book, et al.). In structure it's virtually a remake of T-Men, transposed from the shadowy city where a Secret Service team battled counterfeiters, to California's Imperial Valley where the Immigration Service sets out to infiltrate a gang exploiting--and often murdering--Mexicans eager to work the farms. From the opening night scene of three laborers trying to recross the border and meeting a grisly end, the movie relentlessly imagines ways the human body can merge with the earth. Visually stunning, and replete with memorable villains (headed by Howard Da Silva, a past master at making affability lethal), this is one of Mann's strongest noirs and surely his most inventive. Its neglect can be explained only by people's assumption that nothing worthwhile could come of a movie top-billing Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy (as the government agents). Wrong, wrong, wrong.
After a scalding first reel in the night streets of L.A., Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground (RKO, 1951) likewise forsakes familiar noir terrain for the countryside--the mountains and snowfields where city cop Robert Ryan seeks a psychotic killer. For both the actor and the director, Ryan's character is an exemplary creation: a man with personal demons whose overzealous pursuit of criminals has pushed him into sadism. His passage from urban darkness into the silent white mountain country becomes a redemptive journey, thanks largely to his interaction with a blind woman (Ida Lupino) in an isolated farmhouse whose younger brother may be the quarry he's after. Ray developed the screenplay with A.I. Bezzerides under the supervision of producer John Houseman (for whom Ray had made his feature debut, They Live By Night). The film boasts a thrilling music score by Bernard Herrmann, anticipating his great soundtrack for North by Northwest.
His Kind of Woman (also RKO, 1951) is a vehicle for both RKO's reigning bad boy, Robert Mitchum, and Howard Hughes' definitive coup of distaff engineering, Jane Russell. Their characters cross paths en route to a seaside Mexican resort, where she aims to continue her gold-digger pursuit of Hollywood ham Vincent Price, and Mitchum will figure in a plot to get deported mobster Raymond Burr back into the U.S.A. The slow-brewing romance between this dauntingly tall, broad-shouldered pair gives off little heat, but the players' good-natured, weary-pro rapport as they go through their mostly preposterous paces makes for very good fun. Still more is supplied by Price, who just about steals the movie when he gets to extend his sub–Errol Flynn screen heroism into real life--all the while supplying his own florid running commentary on the action. The urbane director John Farrow filled the movie with one delicious, what-the-hell-is-going-on-here scene after another (highlight: a bored Mitchum ironing his money), but that wasn't enough for studio boss Hughes. Richard Fleischer was brought in to stretch the climactic melodrama aboard Burr's yacht in the harbor, and the picture grew to an overblown two hours in length. Not that you're likely to regret a minute of it.
Robert Montgomery directed and played Phillip Marlowe in Lady in the Lake (MGM, 1947), Raymond Chandler's novel as adapted by Steve Fisher (I Wake Up Screaming). The gimmick is that, apart from a few scenes of private detective Marlowe chatting us up in his office, everything is viewed through his eyes, with Marlowe himself remaining unseen unless he glances in a mirror. This literal-minded conceit is more curious than compelling; the camera simply doesn't see the way the human eye does, and the artificiality constantly calls attention to itself. Montgomery, a suave actor who enjoyed playing it coarse and obnoxious on occasion, makes his screen Marlowe more smartass than any other ("dumb, brave, and cheap"). With him cracking wise off-camera, much of the movie is really carried by Audrey Totter, a swell late-'40s dame who has to stand up under more relentless scrutiny than even her shifty character deserves.
The Racket (RKO, 1951) is the second film version of a 1920s play about municipal corruption, gangsterism, and the attempt to squash an honest police precinct captain. John Cromwell had acted in the original Broadway production, which may help explain why, as director, he let so much of this movie turn back into a play. Eventually studio boss Howard Hughes, who had produced the 1928 film version (directed by Lewis Milestone), once again called in another director to do salvage work.
That was Nicholas Ray, whose scenes include police captain Robert Mitchum's pursuit of the man who has just bombed his home. Mitchum's fellow cast members include Robert Ryan as the ultra-paranoid gangster; husky-voiced noir blonde Lizabeth Scott as a nightclub thrush romanced by Ryan's brother; future Perry Mason D.A. William Talman as a dedicated street cop; and Ray Collins and William Conrad as two municipal officials negotiating a delicate dance with morality and expediency. --Richard T. Jameson
Customer Reviews
The best film in this collection is Anthony Mann's Border Incident. It is an absolutely uncompromising film noir that reeks with danger and suspense, giving diabolical villains and courageous heroes. In fact, Charles McGraw is so evil in this film that if there was a Hall of Fame for film villainy, he would get in just for this role alone. An unforgettable performance. One of the best film noirs ever made, it is director Anthony Mann's finest film noir in my opinion.
Any film noir starring Robert Mitchum is always compelling and entertaining. Both The Racket and His Kind of Woman deliver Mitchum in his fine film noir form, and were produced by the eccentric Howard Hughes. My favourite is His Kind of Woman, only because the sultry Jane Russell and the talented/charismatic Vincent Price are featured in this film. They add a certain pizzazz to the film. The Racket features Robert Mitchum butting heads with another film noir great, Robert Ryan, in a film that unabashedly uses its two stars to great effect.
On Dangerous Ground is a fascinating film in that it offers us a classic film noir anti-hero in Robert Ryan. Ryan is terrific as a cynical cop who is beginning to lose his moral and psychological compass. Recognizing this, the department sends him out of town to look into a murder case in some remote village. Ida Lupino plays the love interest with a troubled life, and her and Ryan display good chemistry together. It is interesting to see Ward Bond in a very demanding supporting role.
Lady in the Lake gets an A for effort, though the film itself comes off with a B. Starring and directed by Robert Montgomery, this film follows the character of Philip Marlowe from the camera's eye view, so that we never actually see Robert Montgomery except at the intro of the movie, and one or twice through the reflection of a mirror. It is interesting at first, but after awhile the viewer begins to get annoyed with all the obvious camera movement, especially when it does close-ups. Admittedly, it is fun having the actors look directly into the camera, and thus at the viewer. An experimental film, it is somewhat of a novelty film but there is good reason why such films are rarely made. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the film very much.
Any film noir fan, and even fans of classic movies from the 40's and 50's, can't go wrong with this collection of film noirs.
This bonus DVD makes this collection particularly special: The documentary "Film noir: Bringing darkness to light," completed in 2006 and produced and directed by Gary Leva, is far superior to any of the film-noir documentaries available on public-domain collections of film noir for several reasons: (1) At 68 min., the subject is treated in depth. (2) The B&W clips from films as well as the interviews in color and color film posters are of excellent quality. (3) The clips, some from rarely seen films, are precise selections, unlike the fuzzy, often lengthy trailers included in previous noir documentaries. (4) While traditional noir themes (femmes fatales, lighting, cynicism, fatalism, etc.) receive full treatment, other generally neglected topics are detailed, notably the role of music. (5) Commentary is by a host of film-noir historians and players. The credits list some 45 interviewees, including actress Jane Greer (1924-2001). The diversity of opinions sometimes leads to conflicting interpretations, which is probably as it should be as film noir is a recognizable phenomenon that is hard to define. "Film noir: Bringing darkness to light," is an essential and insightful analysis of the film-noir phenomenon.'
The 13 scenes comprising 68 min. in "Film noir: Bringing darkness to light" are: 1) intro; 2) into the darkness; 3) what it is. what it ain't; 4) birth of a bad dream; 5) life's cheap. then you die; 6) the guy pulling the strings; 7) masters of darkness and light; 8) cut to black; 9) lullaby for the damned; 10) method behind the madness; 11) caught in a web; 12) can't cheat fate; 13) final fade out.
Rounding out the bonus DVD are five shorts (19-22 min.) from the MGM film series "Crime does not pay":
"Women in hiding" (1940) on unwed mothers;
"You, the people" (1940) on a rigged election by a crime boss;
"Forbidden passage" (1941) on illegal immigration;
"A gun in his hand" (1945) on the murder of a policeman by a robber;
"The luckiest guy in the world" (1947) on embezzlement.
These are obviously message, didactic films. The bonus disc is remiss in providing neither dates for the films nor background information on the film (and radio) series "Crime does not pay," which apparently had some 40 film episodes 1935 ("Buried loot" the first) to 1947 (and probably later).
Featuring two MGM productions, and three from RKO (which means Howard Hughes was heavily involved), the Noir elements vary significantly in each film (one could even question whether a couple 'qualify' as Noir)...but the choices made are fascinating!
"Lady in the Lake" (MGM, 1946, **1/2): Robert Montgomery's debut as a director, portraying Raymond Chandler's 'Philip Marlowe', probably gave MGM no END of grief, when he decided to film it nearly completely with a 'subjective' camera, barely appearing on screen! While the concept wasn't new (the first twenty minutes of the Bogie/Bacall "Dark Passage" were filmed in the same manner), the audacity of making an ENTIRE film this way, particularly from the biggest of Hollywood studios, was remarkable!
Sadly, the gimmick didn't work...
With an incongruous 'Christmas' motif to introduce the film, the camera work soon becomes annoying, allowing little character development for Marlowe/Montgomery (making him seem more cruel and petty than either Bogie or Dick Powell, in their 'takes' as Marlowe). While Audrey Totter, acting to the camera lens, is terrific, everyone else seems self-conscious (especially poor Lloyd Nolan). Add to this MGM's difficulty in creating Noir-style lighting and atmosphere, and what you end up with is, ultimately, a mess!
The only real 'misfire' in this collection!
"Border Incident" (MGM, 1949, ****): This FABULOUS Anthony Mann
film, of a joint US/Mexico operation to break up an illegal alien racket is even more topical, today. Vastly underrated when released (and sadly, ignored by audiences), it is gritty, brutal, and totally involving, with a brilliant cast, including Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy (in their best screen work) as the agents, and Howard Da Silva, Charles McGraw, a clean-shaven Arthur Hunnicutt, and Sig Ruman as members of the gang.
Unflinching (the machine tiller murder scene is remarkably gruesome, for 1949), the film is only marred by a 'tacked-on' happy-ending narration, which stated that the illegal alien problem had been 'solved'.
Anthony Mann was WAY ahead of his time, and this film proves that his talents went far beyond Jimmy Stewart westerns!
"The Racket" (RKO, 1951, ***1/2): Remake of a 1928 Howard Hughes' film, this involving police drama, credited to John Cromwell (although Hughes would add scenes directed by others), was a hard-hitting, topical tale of corruption, both outside and within the system. Featuring a 'hard-as-nails' villainous turn by Robert Ryan, and Robert Mitchum's equally tough hero, the supporting cast really shines, particularly William Talman's straight-arrow cop, Ray Collins as a weak District Attorney, William Conrad as a detective who plays both sides, and Lizabeth Scott's pragmatic Noir heroine.
"On Dangerous Ground" (RKO, 1950-1952, ****1/2): Vastly underrated when released (the film was actually 'shelved' for two years, while Hughes 'tinkered' with it), Nicholas Ray's
film of city cop Robert Ryan nearly "losing his soul", then finding redemption through blind Ida Lupino, during a rural murder investigation, is finally receiving the recognition it deserves! A rich, character-driven story, symphonic in style (with three 'movements'), the film benefits greatly from a powerful Bernard Herrmann score, the wonderful chemistry between Ryan and Lupino, and the added Hughes' "touches" (including a romantic finale that brings the film to a very satisfying conclusion).
While unsuccessful when released, the film is now regarded as a near-masterpiece of the genre!
"His Kind of Woman" (RKO, 1951, ****): I LOVE this movie!!! A combination Noir/Sophisticated Comedy/Farce, it nearly defies description, and really shouldn't work at all (particularly with the production history behind it), but it does, brilliantly, thanks to the Mitchum/Jane Russell chemistry (in their first film together), a wildly funny turn by Vincent Price, and the involvement of Howard Hughes, who, literally, reshot the final third of the film 3 times, with two different directors!
Directed, initially, by John Farrow, a straight-forward Noir tale of down-on-his-luck gambler Mitchum getting a "too good to be true" offer to go to Mexico quickly expands into a sometimes brutal, yet often comic adventure, as he gradually discovers that an exiled gangster (Raymond Burr, whose scenes were added AFTER the film was completed!), plans to kill him, and assume his identity to return to the States. While learning this, he stays at a swank resort, swapping one-liners (and romantic looks) with Russell, meeting her fiancé, hammy (and ALREADY married) movie star Price, beating sleazy Jim Backus at poker to save a girl's virtue (in a scene reminiscent of "Casablanca"), getting pushed around by hood Charles McGraw and the "facts of life" from agent Tim Holt...all leading to a spectacular finale, set on Burr's yacht, involving torture, and an insane rescue by Price, some misfit Mexican policemen, and over-aged resort guests!
Howard Hughes, dissatisfied with the Farrow 'cut', brought in Richard Fleischer to 'beef up' the finale (and increase Price's role), then decided, AFTER the second 'cut', to replace the film's villain with Burr...requiring yet ANOTHER major reshoot! Needless to say, this long, convoluted production would not be one of Mitchum or Russell's favorite films to make...
Yet the film is vastly entertaining, to this day, and was a big hit, when released!
A VERY interesting collection of films, to be sure!
ON DANGEROUS GROUND is probably one of the finest noirs ever made and Robert Ryan gives a brilliant performance. Very moody, unusual film that rates high on any noir fan's list.
HIS KIND OF WOMAN is another superb noir with a satirical edge and the unforgettable team of Mitchum and Russell. One of the most popular and best-loved noir films too.
THE RACKET can only be a winner with that cast - Mitchum, Ryan and Lizabeth Scott - lots of great scenes and fun "bits".
LADY IN THE LAKE is a genre-defining title, highly regarded for its unique narrative and an excellent portrayal of Philip Marlowe by Robert Montgomery.
BORDER INCIDENT is a neglected gem starring a remarkably good Ricardo Montalban - its inclusion in the set will give it the exposure it probably never would have had, if titles had been sold separately.
As if this was not enough, an entire documentary on Film Noir is included.
Considering all of this, I am not surprised that WB decided to sell this collection as a set only. The price is so reasonable that buying the whole set costs basically the same as it would to buy 2 individual titles. So anyone who wants only 1 or 2 titles really gets a fabulous deal and will surely be enthralled when they watch the other titles and the documentary.
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