Pickup on South Street.

Review #2541: Pickup on South Street.

Cast: 

Richard Widmark (Skip McCoy), Jean Peters (Candy), Thelma Ritter (Moe Williams), Murvyn Vye (Captain Dan "Tiger"), Richard Kiley (Joey), Willis Bouchey (Zara), Milburn Stone (Winoki), Vic Perry (Lightning Louie a.k.a. "Godkin"), Harry Carter (Detective Dietrich), George E. Stone (Willie, police desk clerk), George Eldredge (Fenton), and John Gallaudet (Detective Lieutenant Campion) Directed by Samuel Fuller (#1790 - Park Row, #2234 - The Steel Helmet, #2400 - The Baron of Arizona)

Review: 

"People living on the edge of society don't give a damn about politics. I wanted my film to be told through the eyes of the powerless. Cold war paranoia? Hell, these crooks were more interested in just getting by."

Sure, it's time again to encounter a Samuel Fuller movie. Pickup on South Street was his sixth feature as a director. With the finishing of Park Row, Fuller, under contract with Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century Fox, was approached with a script called "Blaze of Glory" by Dwight Taylor (a former reporter for The New Yorker before becoming a writer with films such as When Tomorrow Comes [1939] and I Wake Up Screaming [1941]) about a woman lawyer falling in love with her criminal client in a murder trial. He liked it, but as a newspaper man in his old days, he knew those cases take time to play out, so he instead wanted to do a film about an outlaw and their gal but on the scale of small-time thieves. Alluding to hot button issues of the time such as fears of communists and secrets being sold (such as the mostly recent case of Klaus Fuchs), Fuller stated later that he wanted to "take a poke at the idiocy of the cold war climate of the fifties". Incidentally, the working title was "Pick-pocket", but executives thought it sounded too "European", so it eventually landed on a title that was inspired by Fuller's special memories of South Street in New York (in 1959, French filmmaker Robert Bresson directed a movie, called, well, Pickpocket). He soon did research on pickpockets through NYPD Detective Dan Campion, who he based the character Tiger on*. Fuller was given credit for the screenplay while Taylor was credited with the story. Despite grumblings from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover about the nature of the film (which never refers to the FBI at any point), the movie breezed through to release without a hitch, which saw it make double its budget of $780,000 back with audiences. In 1967, 20th Century Fox released The Cape Town Affair, a film shot in South Africa that basically was a remake (with Fuller being co-credited for the screenplay with "Harold Medford") that had James Brolin and Jacqueline Bissett cast in the lead roles alongside Claire Trevor.

All Fuller cared about was making a thriller about people on the margins, and he sure got it here with a satisfying feature that has a dark streak in people that wanted to get by with what they had. Even in a movie filmed on a set, you still have the feeling of seeing a tremendous city of strange seediness. It's a noir movie that is both rich and lean enough for all to enjoy for 80 minutes. It all rides on the cool nature of Widmark (who worked with Fuller once more with Hell and High Water [1954]), who is the usual cocksure self that is easy enough to like for what he does in the long run of tricks and guile. He doesn't care for flag-waving or people trying to get one over on him because if anybody is going to be the conman (physically or emotionally), it's going to be him. Fuller wanted an "average-looking woman" for the lead, which namely meant not wanting Ava Gardner or Betty Grable (contemporary articles apparently stated Grable rejected it, while Fuller's autobiography claimed otherwise) and landed on the bow-legged walking of Peters, who I guess is the kind of person who could make a guy like Widmark try to walk a semi-straight and narrow path, even if they have some offbeat scenes together; at one point, trying to confront someone breaking into his little shabby place. Widmark socks the first thing he sees, which happens to be Peters. Ritter (in an award nominated role) makes for quality support as a stoolie that still has a semblance of charm that shines right through to her final scene, an informant of the streets with standards right to the bitter end. The adversaries are the usual type of crook to lie within the lines of noir (really it could be anybody besides Commies), even if at a certain point you know where it's going to go. With a cast like this, it's got something for everyone with the type of people that show up every now and then. As a whole, if you like the hard touches of Fuller in tabloid narratives and being straight to the point, you'll have plenty to appreciate here. 

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

*Daniel J. Campion served 27 years on the force, which saw him serve as a detective on the pickpocket squad beginning in 1929. He retired in 1954, and died in 1958 at the age of 54. 

No Way Out (1950).

Review #1798: No Way Out (1950).

Cast: 

Richard Widmark (Ray Biddle), Linda Darnell (Edie Johnson), Stephen McNally (Dr. Dan Wharton), Sidney Poitier (Dr. Luther Brooks), Mildred Joanne Smith (Cora Brooks), Harry Bellaver (George Biddle), Stanley Ridges (Dr. Sam Moreland), and Dots Johnson (Lefty Jones) Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (#750 - All About Eve and #1378 - People Will Talk)

Review:

“If the fabric of the society were different, I would scream to high heaven to play villains and to deal with different images of Negro life that would be more dimensional. But I’ll be damned if I do that at this stage of the game. Not when there is only one Negro actor working in films with any degree of consistency.”

There were film noirs that also existed within the realm of social consciousness. Boomerang! (1947) dealt with following the rule of law, Crossfire (1947) was a mystery that gradually revealed a message against antisemitism, Panic in the Streets (1950) dealt with trying to stop the plague. What we have here is a film of blind rage...specifically, racist rage, complete with a hallmark film debut for Sidney Poitier. Born in 1927, Poitier grew up in the Bahamas before moving to the United States as a teenager, where he would serve in the United States Army during World War II. Right after the war ended, he applied twice to the American Negro Theatre, where he would study acting - he broke into Broadway in 1946. He was under contract for a play when he decided to take a screentest for this film, not expecting to actually receive the part. However, director Joseph Mankiewicz saw something he liked in Poitier (who actually fibbed his age to say he was five years older than his actual age). Poitier became a star in the next two decades in his way to becoming the first major African American film star, one who became the second black actor to win an Academy Award before he shifted focus to directing in later years; Poitier passed away this year at the age of 94, and he is generally remembered as an icon who made a difference with his integrity as a filmmaker. 

The script was done by Lesser Samuels and Mankiewicz, as the former had a son-in-law doctor (Philip Yordan provided uncredited contract script work). Mankiewicz modified the story to be more of a noir with the viewpoint of Poitier rather than an observation of black medical hopefuls. Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century Fox (the studio that released the antisemitism expose Gentlemen's Agreement three years prior), personally supervised production of the film. Of course, the original script apparently ended with a gruesome murder, but the studio did not want to leave audiences with a hopeless feeling (which honestly seems like a good decision). Seven decades later, this 106-minute film certainly pulls enough punches within an outspoken flair for useful storytelling and a message that still stings curiosity without turning into predictable mush on any count. It is the story of a man trying to dig his way out of an awful situation: trying to prove themself when a racist is breathing down their neck (complete with inciting a riot). The unshakable object meets the immovable force when the facts are not enough to stop rage, and this still seems like something that could be seen today.

You have to remember that Widmark had captivated the screen with Kiss of Death (1947), so to see him in a scuzzy role filled with venom is not too surprising. He proves startling effective as the simmering bully, one who balances the line between caricature and terror, since he serves as a reflection of people who would rather blame race rather than confronting themselves for why their lives are the way they are (in that sense, he makes the audience uncomfortable and thus does it right). Of course, Poitier can't be forgotten, even if he is billed fourth despite having the brunt of screentime. Filled with self-doubt and pride, he makes an astonishing debut here (incidentally, Widmark and Poitier became friends during production, and he would even go so far as to apologize to him after certain takes), with the enmity between the two leads being quite palpable when it comes to a match of pride. McNally is fine here, although one can see the seams of a character that could've seeped into self-righteousness. Darnell fares better in the conflict of which strife matters most to her (i.e. the scuz-ball saying things in her ear or her crappy life) that makes the climax (and its fateful last words) fairly worth it.

The supporting cast is nicely assembled, revolving from the warm presence of Smith to the tense Johnson. Additionally, this is the onscreen debut of Ossie Davis (in a brief uncredited role), and he appears with wife Ruby Dee briefly for the first time of numerous occasions where they were paired together on screen. The film was not a major success, likely owing to objections from select censor boards due to its content (what with the whole race riot and all, although I wonder if they were totally fine with all the racial epithets), with Chicago fearing it would incite riots (which as we all know is bullshit) before cuts were made regarding the riot. Of course, Mankiewicz already had another film ready to release later that year with All About Eve (1950), while this film is less well-known (incidentally, each film would have their script nominated for Academy Awards). At any rate, this is a film anybody would be proud to have been a part of, and it is definitely one worth seeing for what it manages to do for the time as a socially conscious movie with a worthwhile debut from an actor that was just getting started.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Next Time: Carib Gold.

O. Henry's Full House.

Review #1687: O. Henry's Full House.

Cast:

Charles Laughton (Soapy, segment "The Cop and the Anthem"), Dale Robertson (Barney Woods, segment "The Clarion Call"), Anne Baxter (Joanna Goodwin, segment "The Last Leaf"), Fred Allen (Samuel Brown, segment "The Ransom of Red Chief"), Jeanne Crain (Della Young, segment "The Gift of the Magi"), Marilyn Monroe (Streetwalker, segment "The Cop and the Anthem"), Richard Widmark (Johnny Kernan, segment "The Clarion Call"), Jean Peters (Susan Goodwin, segment "The Last Leaf"), Oscar Levant (William Smith, segment "The Ransom of Red Chief"), Farley Granger (Jim Young, segment "The Gift of the Magi"), David Wayne (Horace, segment "The Cop and the Anthem"), Richard Rober (Chief of Detectives, segment "The Clarion Call"), Gregory Ratoff (Behrman, segment "The Last Leaf"), Lee Aaker (J.B. Dorset, segment "The Ransom of Red Chief"), Richard Garrick (Doctor, segment "The Last Leaf"), Fred Kelsey (Mr. Schultz / Santa Claus, segment "The Gift of the Magi"), with John Steinbeck as narrator. Directed by Henry Koster (#1607 - Harvey), Henry Hathaway (#1314 - True Grit), Jean Negulesco (#1380 - Phone Call from a Stranger), Howard Hawks (#951 - The Big Sleep, #1352 - His Girl Friday, and #1399 - Rio Bravo), and Henry King.

Review: 

There have been a number of anthology movies to have come around the corner in film, whether in horror, a unified theme (such as a city like Tales of Manhattan (1942), released by 20th Century Fox), or in trying to bring short stories to the screen, and O. Henry's Full House is merely in the middle of a regular era for this kind of movie, with one early example being If I Had a Million (1932). Another example is Quartet (1948), which adapted four stories by the writer W. Somerset Maugham while having him appear from time to time to talk about them. The success of that film inspired two follow-up films in Trio (1950) and Encore (1951) and 20th Century Fox evidently wanted to play on that success with adapting short stories for one film, with O. Henry selected. Actually, they had wanted to do a film based on the writer in 1943, and a film of "The Gift of the Magi" in 1945 was thought of before fizzing out. The writer (born William Sydney Porter, who lived from 1862 to 1910) was a North Carolina native but found his success when he moved to New York (which he called "Bagdad-on-the-Subway") in 1902. He wrote over 300 stories, which generally were known for their wit and their clever endings; one of his most well-known stories was "The Caballero's Way" (1907), which was adapted by Fox for In Old Arizona (1928), and short films based on his works had been done as early as 1909. Left with needing someone to introduce the stories, Fox went to John Steinbeck (a Pulitzer Prize winner and future Nobel laureate in Literature), known for novels such as The Grapes of Wrath (1939), East of Eden (1952), and various other works - this was the first and only film appearance for Steinbeck. 

So let us recap the stories one by one in the order shown (oddly enough, bad screenings involving the Hawks-directed story led to it being removed before it was formally released), which runs at 117 minutes. The first is "The Cop and the Anthem", which was written by Lamar Trotti with direction by Henry Koster. It involves an eccentric on the streets that has plans to spend the cold winter in jail. Laughton is right at home with a role that requires a bit of quizzical timing and an astute sense of self that he plays right to what is needed for those twenty-ish minutes. Monroe is technically in the film as a star, in that she is there for a minute to exchange with Laughton (since the character believes that harassment will help his jail case), which goes fine, while Wayne tags along at times. Technically this is the story with the clearest ending seen coming (well, there is Magi, but come on), but it is a solid A-/B+ kind of story to get it all going. "The Clarion Call" was written by Richard L. Breen while directed by Henry Hathaway, involving a detective in debt to a friend-turned-murderer. It reunites Hathaway and Widmark, who worked on Kiss of Death (1947) to a tremendous debut for the latter actor; he essentially is reprising his role from that film for this one, which was reportedly inspired by the character of The Joker from the Batman comics. Strangely enough, Widmark's performance would influence Frank Gorshin when it came time to play The Riddler in Batman (1966-1968), which seems evident with the laugh uttered by Widmark when we first hear him. He seems to overshadow Robertson, who makes for a decent detective when it comes to wrapping away his guilt in a small cat-and-mouse game with the dangerously playful Widmark. Overall, it is a fairly solid B kind of segment.

"The Last Leaf" was written by Ivan Goff and Ben Robers and directed by Jean Negulseco. Here, we have a story about a lady who believes she will die when the last leaf falls off a tree near her bed. Honestly, the highlight is probably Ratoff, who was actually both an actor and director in his time, and he plays the eccentric artist with fair gusto to counter the dour stuff needed by Baxter and Peters. I think the twist here works better than the ones done in the last two, but a B+ grade seems fairly warranted here in its useful pacing. "The Ransom of Red Chief" was written by Ben Hecht, Nunnally Johnson and Charles Lederer while directed by Howard Hawks (Johnson wanted his name off the script, which was re-written by Hecht and Lederer at the request of Hawks because it was originally written by Johnson with Clifton Webb and William Demarest in mind for stars). To be honest, I fail to see exactly why this was thought of as the clunker among the five, because it is quite amusing, featuring two radio mainstays with Allan and Levant, who play bumbling kidnappers of a snotty kid. It's a chuckler that one will be quite familiar with, because I'm sure most of us have seen/experienced taking care of someone who enjoys taking things into their own hands, whether with a bear or other means, which ultimately means a B- grade. "The Gift of the Magi" was written by Walter Bullock while directed by Henry King. It is likely the most famous of the five stories, and it is probably washed in sentimentality as the aforementioned Leaf story ripe for the spirit of Christmas. You've probably read this story at least once (probably in high school), and it ultimately is a decent if not completely heartwarming tale that we all see coming. Crain and Granger are a decent pair to go along with what is needed in balancing selfless nature without falling into the trap of pap. It is a solid B episode, not exactly the weakest story, and it closes the film out just fine in encapsulating the feel of what the movie yearns to show in generating interesting characters to go with plots that go with useful turns that make for a fairly solid anthology film on the whole. It serves as an interesting piece in depicting an author's work onto film, efficient in what needs to be shown for any viewer curious enough for it.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Panic in the Streets.

Review #1375: Panic in the Streets.

Cast: 
Richard Widmark (Lieutenant Commander "Clint" Reed, M.D.), Paul Douglas (Captain Tom Warren), Barbara Bel Geddes (Nancy Reed), Jack Palance (Blackie), Zero Mostel (Raymond Fitch), Alexis Minotis (John Mefaris), Dan Riss (Neff), Guy Thonajan (Poldi), and Tommy Cook (Vince Poldi) Directed by Elia Kazan (#104 - East of Eden, #109 - A Streetcar Named Desire, and #110 - On the Waterfront)

Review: 
"I don't move unless I have some empathy with the basic theme."

Elia Kazan is thought to be one of the greatest influential directors of our time. He started his post college life as a stage actor, but his most important influence was the Group Theatre, a collective dedicated to a naturalistic and forceful style of acting, influenced by the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavski, with this particular style being associated later in the 20th century as the Method style of acting. Kazan did do some acting in his time with the Theatre, but it was his directing that soon came to be noticed on the New York stage, where he won three Tony Award for direction (most notably with Death of a Salesman). He came to Hollywood to direct his debut picture in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). 1947 was a critical year in his life, as he directed three films and had one of them (Gentlemen's Agreement) win an Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. He also helped to form the Actors Studio (along with Cheryl Crawford and Robert Lewis), which later had Group Theatre founder Lee Strasberg as director, who would later be described as the father of method acting in America. Ultimately, Kazan would direct nineteen films in 29 years of directing, with a majority of his films receiving award nominations and nine actors receiving Academy Awards for work in his films. Kazan liked to pick people for his films that weren't necessarily big stars, acting as a mentor to them to try and figure them out so they aren't a complete unknown when it comes to filming. One particular unknown who got a break from Kazan in this film was Walter (Jack) Palance. He had made his debut in theater in 1947 at the age of 28 after spending his life doing a variety of professions, ranging from a coal miner to a boxer to working various cooking jobs at Stanford University (where he nearly gradated from). He was later described by main star Widmark as "the toughest guy I ever met. He was the only actor I've ever been physically afraid of."

In any case, this is certainly an interesting film to pick out from Kazan, one to start out a prime decade for capable films from him alongside ones involving noir thrillers. For one thing, it's a film about a hunt for a killer that doesn't know he has the plague, filmed on location in New Orleans (with the underbelly parts being emphasized for effect) with a mix of professional actors and hired locale. Perhaps predictably, the Hays Code had their slight issues with the film (which had working titles Port of Entry and Outbreak) before it could get itself going, mostly with the ideas of not having a suggestion of a cop being killed, or a falling mattress scene being not too realistic in gruesomeness. The film had two separate writing credits, with Richard Murphy and Daniel Fuchs doing the screenplay while Edna and Edward Anhalt wrote the story. The Anhalts would win an Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story for this film. In any case, this is a film that basks itself in its setting with openness and a sense of realism that makes for compelling staying power for this exact time seven decades after its release. It finds a path to not being just a plain procedural with relative tension and a collection of capable presences to follow along with. Widmark (known early for villainous roles) gives off a durable performance, one that is urgent and easy to follow along with no trouble in terms of belief. Douglas (having started his film career just one year earlier) accompanies him with rough assurance. Bel Geddes makes her time count with decent chemistry when needed with Widmark. Undeniably, Palance makes for a enterprising debut, a clear chilling presence whenever he is on screen, while Mostel (who was blacklisted in the late 1940s) accompanies him with panicky brilliance. On the whole, the film balances itself through 96 minutes with a grimy mix of terror and drama that doesn't sell itself short in overwrought decision-making, having a proactive vision of realism that applies especially now more than ever.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.