Ethel becomes acquainted with the dress company’s accountant, Martin Blackford played by, Kent Smith. Martin is an unassuming, quiet man who no doubt was shocked that a beautiful woman such as Ethel would give him a second glance. I get the impression that Ethel thought the accountant made lots of money, and invites him for dinner at the gambling joint she frequents with her, ahem, clients. Much to her surprise, the accountant is broke, and openly tells her so when Ethel orders her very expensive dinner. But not to worry, Martin is introduced to Grady, the gambling joint’s owner, who needs some financial advice. Martin offers his expertise and is immediately offered a well paying job at Grady’s. Martin wins the affection and respect of Grady who now refers him to the big hancho of the operation, George Castleman, played superbly by David Brian. Martin and Ethel set out to meet Castleman, and it is this night that will seal their fate. In this meeting, Castleman reveals the real nature of the business. The business is involved in criminal activity, and they need someone who can handle the financial end of it. You know hide the money from Uncle Sam, etc. Martin isn’t happy with this, but money hungry Ethel, convinces him to forget that and and grab the opportunity by the throat. At this point, Martin would do anything for the fem fatale, and he did.

Ethel throws Martin under the bus, and begins a love affair with Castleman. She becomes a “kept” woman. But even this doesn’t bother her. She learns manners, diction, and all the genteel ways while in Paris for a year. But inside Ethel was still the uneducated, poor girl who just wanted a piece of the pie no matter the cost. She lived a fantasy for a while until Castleman asks her to spy on one of his representatives in the West coast, Nick Prenta, played by hottie, Steve Cochran. Ethel realizes that married Castleman doesn’t really love her. Why do women fall for this? She feels dirty and used but does whatever Castleman asks. After all, Castleman is her meal ticket. She’ll never go back to being poor. Ethel spies on Nick, but ends up falling in love with him, and  doesn’t provide information for Castleman. But Castleman is on to Ethel, and beats her, and makes her lure her lover to her home so that he can wipe him out. Ethel does, and Nick is killed.

Ethel decides to run back home to her poor parents. She needs to feel grounded again, and so returns to her roots. She knows she is next on Castleman’s list and so she waits. It is Martin, who warns her of Castleman’s intention and even after being dissed by Ethel, wants to save her life. They plan an escape, but Castleman arrives before they do. What ensues is the only way Ethel will realize the error of her ways.

The movie warns us of the “grass is greener,” syndrome. Yes, Ethel was unhappy, and maybe she should have left her husband, but not all that glitters is gold. Many seek happiness in all the wrong places, and Ethel surely did. Sometimes happiness has nothing to do with money.

I’ve met many a fem fatales in film noir, but I think I met the absolute worst one on record. The film noir is titled,  “Too Late for Tears,” (1949). Lizabeth Scott and Arthur Kennedy play Jane and Alan Palmer a middle class couple who don’t make much money, just enough money to “get by.” As Jane put it, they are not exactly “poor,” but they are, “white collar poor.” The movie starts with the couple driving to a cocktail party, a party that Jane did not want to really attend. It appeared to me that she was envisioning the “haves” that would attend the party, and the vision was driving the little “have not,” out of her mind. The green monster was gnawing at her, like a hungry wolf who hadn’t eaten for days. But not all is bad, Jane was going to hit it, and hit it big. As they are driving, a bag is thrown into the back of their convertible car. They stop to check it out, and when they open the bag, it is full of money, dough, lots of it. Jane’s eyes look like a child who had just been given the best Christmas present ever. A chase ensues with the person who should have gotten the money. Eventually they escape and arrive at their apartment.

Alan wants to return the money, but Jane won’t have it. She convinces him that it’s not stealing if they don’t come for it. It is the only chance they’ve got to really have money. She expresses her disgust with budgeting, and buying things on time. He relents and puts the stash in a locker at Union Station. The plan is, if no one reports the money missing, it is theirs and they live high on the hog. Although the money is away, Jane goes on a shopping spree. She buys expensive clothes, shoes, and fur coat. However, Jane’s luck is quickly running out.

The guy involved in the erred transaction, Danny Fuller (Don DeFore) shows up at the couple’s apartment. He first plays it off like he’s a detective, but soon reveals who he really is. But Danny doesn’t know Jane’s manipulative ways. And manipulates she does. Alan finds out about her shopping sprees and discovers that his wife has become another person, a person he doesn’t recognize. He demands the money be returned. Jane goes into a panic and along with Danny plots to kill her husband. And here is why I think she is the worst fem fatale, she goes on a date with Alan, but it will be Alan’s last date because she will kill him. She doesn’t get a hit man, or anything like that, she herself will kill him. What mattered most to Jane was the money and no one or anything was going to get in her way.

For a while she gets away with murder and continues to manipulate Danny Fuller until he gets hip to her ways, and even becomes afraid of her. Not even Danny can escape this woman’s grip. Unbeknownst to Jane, someone from her past is on to her, and he’s come to collect on a debt. This stranger will ultimately end her murderous ways.

Jane was the best and worst fem-fatale I’ve come across. I say best because at a time when women were to be seen, but never heard, and they did anything and everything for their man, Jane used the typical stereotypes of being weak and half-witted to her advantage. Worst because she became so consumed with money that she’d do anything to keep it. After killing two people, she struts down to Mexico and makes a new life for herself as if nothing ever happened. Jane in my book is the coldest, and most manipulative, fem-fatale ever—a sociopath and she got what she deserved.

]]> http://www.classicmoviegab.com/2009/11/the-worst-fem-fatale-on-record/feed/ 0 http://www.classicmoviegab.com/2009/08/classic-movie-the-long-night-1947/ http://www.classicmoviegab.com/2009/08/classic-movie-the-long-night-1947/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:06:43 +0000 Bacall http://www.classicmoviegab.com/?p=910 Turner Classic Movies kicks off its “Summer under the Stars” tonight starting at 8:00 PM. And what a way to start, tonight’s movie star is none other than Henry Fonda. TCM’s Summer… is when movie stars have their very own day to show their stuff. A whole 24 hours of one particular star each day in August.

Tonight we will see gems like, “Grapes of Wrath,”  “The Farmer takes a Wife,” “Jezebel,” “The Male Animals,” and more. One that sticks out to me is one I’ve never seen, “The Long Night,” (1947). “The Long Night,” is a post-war film noir. It’s a rarely seen gem. It combines all the ingredients for an ominous story, those being murder, jealously, and seduction.  At its release this film was known for its visual style. Director Antole Litvak used atmosphere and mood to set the stage. Although shot entirely indoors, the exterior scenes of streets, factories, and gas stations appear as if they were real, and at the time, that was a feat.  No rear projections or painted backdrops in this film. Instead, the production designer, Eugne Louri used a method called “forced prospective.” This is when parts of scenery are built on a smaller scale thus tricking the eye into seeing the illusion of space and depth.  So to the audience, the streets, buildings, and gas stations look real.

Look out for Vincent Price as the scoundrel of the story, and pretty Ann Dvorak as the villain’s assistant, turned defector. I look forward to seeing this gem if only to see Eugne Louri’s “poetic reality.”

Farmer’s film debut was in 1936 in “Too Many Parents,” during the next six years she appeared in 18 films, three Broadway plays, thirty major radio shows and seven stock company productions – all by the age of 27. I can’t say I’ve ever seen her in any movies, but she rose to stardom back in the 30’s, in fact, she was coined “The new Greta Garbo,” but quickly spiraled down into a life of alcoholism, arrests, and confinement in a mental institution.

The story goes that it was her mother that was actually crazy and caused a lot of Farmer’s troubles. While Farmer’s professional career was in the upswing, her personal life was going down the tubes and fast. She had a number of failed relationships, one being with Lief Erickson, she became addicted to alcohol and amphetamines. This combination made her volatile and difficult. In 1943 she got into a fight and was arrested. The next day she was placed into the custody of psychiatrist Thomas H. Leonard. Farmer refused to cooperate with the shrink, and he soon diagnosed her as “suffering from manic-depressive psychosis-probably the forerunner of a definite dementia praecox.” She was transferred to the screen actor’s sanitarium in La Cresenta.

For the next seven years, Farmer would experience the darkest and primitive, by today’s standards, psychiatric treatment and abuse. She underwent a series of violent shock treatments, insulin shock treatments, and hydrotherapy, all intended to strip her of her dignity and talent. It has been said that she even underwent a lobotomy, but that is still questionable, or debated. She was repeatedly raped; she was also used as an experimental subject for drugs.

The dark era of bedlam was far from over in the 30’s and 40’s as we can see from this classic movie star’s experience. I have to think that if in fact she suffered a mental breakdown of some kind, and meds like we have today were available, she would’ve been ok. She was no different than the Brittney Spears, and Lindsey Lohan of today. In high school, Frances wrote a controversial poem titled, “God Dies,” and in fact, she won $100 in a contest for it. I’ve read it, many atheists think she was denouncing God, I saw it more like a kid mad a God, and not really understanding the ebb and flow of life. Sadly, this experience may have completely crushed any faith left inside her.

Frances Farmer died of cancer at the age of 57, destitute, and broken hearted.

Film History Snippet: Film noir developed during and after World War II. After the war, an ambiance of anxiety, paranoia, suspicion, lingered in society. Soldiers, businessmen, factory workers, housewives were disillusioned. Film Noir reflected these tensions and insecurities of post-war America.

Fear, mistrust, bleakness, despair, and loss of innocence are quite evident in noir–reflecting the Cold War period when people were so afraid of being nuked. This is when people built bomb shelters on their property. So when you see a bad guy in a dark and smoky alley plotting the murder of a femme fatal, it is all metaphors of the day’s fears and insecurities.

I hope you enjoy the spoof.

Film History Snippet: Film noir developed during and after World War II. After the war an ambience of anxiety, paranoia, suspicion, lingered in society. Soldiers, businessmen, factory workers, housewives were disillusioned. Film Noir reflected these tensions and insecurities of post-war America.

Fear, mistrust, bleakness, despair, and loss of innocence are quite evident in noir–reflecting the Cold War period when people were so afraid of being nuked. This is when people built bomb shelters on their property. So when you see a bad guy in a dark and smoky room plotting the murder of a femme fatal it is all metaphors of the day’s fears and insecurities.

Click here to see a film noir spoof. I tried to upload it to my blog, but as you know blogger is so random when it comes to uploading photos and video.

Film Noir Must See: STARLET STREET (1945), DETOUR (1945), THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (1946), WHISTLE STOP (1946), HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948), TRAPPED (1949), IMPACT (1949), D.O.A. (1950), QUICKSAND (1950), and THE HITCH-HIKER (1953).

All of the above are some of the best film noir. You can get all of these in a 5 piece DVD Set for only $17.99! The Ultimate Film Noir Collection is now available for you film noir fans.

Here is a youtube parody of the classic film noir Double Indemnity. I wanted to make you hopeless “glued to the tube” movie buffs laugh this Friday!  “I think you’re swell… so long as I’m not your husband.” Remember this line? How can you not? Out of all the classic film noirs I love, I have to say that Double Indemnity is my absolute favorite.

Anytime someone mentions Film Noir, I immediately think of this movie. The story line is basically like this: nice insurance guy Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray ) trying to make a sale on a nice afternoon, knocks on the door of a sultry Phyllis Dietrichson—superbly played by Barbara Stynwyck. Walter’s fate was sealed.

The performances of the three main characters, Neff the sales guy, Phyllis the “desperate housewife,” and Barton Keyes as the fastidious investigator played by Edward G. Robinson are mesmerizing. Although Edward G’s role was supposedly a minor role, he stood out. How could Edward G. be in the background? He couldn’t even if he tried.

Fred MacMurray plays this role to his level best. Although you may be used to seeing him in nicer roles, he managed to play a shady dude to the max. When Walter Neff meets Phyllis he loses himself. She flirts, he flirts even more. Phyllis was a woman ahead of her day. She is openly flirtatious and lets Walter in to her world. But there is more to Phyllis than meets the eye. She may look sweet on the outside, but she is rotten to the core.

Phyllis tells Walter how miserable her life is with her old, grouchy, husband. And beats around the bush about having her husband die preferably by murder! Walter wants to run, but sultry Phyllis is on his mind, and he can’t let go of her spell. He meets her husband and realizes what a cheap, grumpy man he is. He justifies the man’s death in his mind. He wants Phyllis, and her husband is mean, what to do? The lovers plot to kill him and collect on a double indemnity life insurance. If you love film noir you got to see this one! Enjoy the video.

Hollywoodland which its director calls the “nouveau noir,” is about the great mystery behind–George Reeves (Superman TV Series). Did he commit suicide or was he murdered? The Black Dahlia is about LA’s most gruesome and infamous crime–the 1947 killing of Elizabeth Short.

The making of these films today show that Hollywood thinks that noir still works. But do these films cut the mustard? According to an article from chron.com …Not Really.

“These films lovingly and entertainingly imitate the look and sound and era of classic noir films, but not quite its dark, foreboding outlook. They are noir theme-park rides. ” ” Noir is not a time period or wide neckties or a way of talking or specific plots or characters. Noir is a tone, a state of mind, an atmosphere. ” (Source chron.com)

These movies are trying too hard—they are missing the mark, it’s not about dress-up–it goes beyond that. I’ve not seen either one—because in my mind they just can’t compare. My verdict: these are just wannabe film noir. They lack, I am sure, the sytle and sophistication of classic film noir. What do you think? Do you think that Hollywood can imitate the film noir of old?

The Town Players of Newtown are attempting to do what many theater companies have tried in vain to do — re-create on stage the heady romanticism of the 1944 film noir “Laura.” It’s not an easy task. Film noir utilizes two elements of drama that are generally contrary to stage technique shadows and silence. In films, what we don’t see clearly, or is said indirectly, can be both menacing and intriguing; on stage it’s inconclusive and unmoving.” (Source: newstimelives.com)

Plot: Otto Preminer’s “Laura,” is about a woman named Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) who is presumably murdered. A detective (Dana Andrews) investigating the “so called” murder falls in love with the dead girls portrait ( Gene Tierney) only to find out that it wasn’t her that was murdered. Who would want to kill a girl that was loved by so many men? Why? Will they try again?

Laura is a great murder mystery with classic film noir dark undertones. There is not one boring moment, movie is fast paced, all is interesting, and suspenseful. And just like all classic film noirs you will NOT be able to figure out the whole mess until the end. Otto Preminger’s use of shadow and lighting make it all the more mysterious and thrilling. The cast is brilliant, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson (a dynamic dual), Cliff Webb as the critic Waldo Leidecker who takes pleasure in making everyone’s life miserable.

Will this work on stage? Can they make the audience feel the mystery, love, betrayal, twists and turns? What do you think?