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| Humphrey Bogart |
Over time, critics, new filmmakers, and eventually film fans and general audiences accepted the term “film noir” to encompass a particular style: Shadowy black-and-white photography, cynical characters living on the fringe of society who become enmeshed in a mysterious, dangerous situation, and a general sense of foreboding.
These movies involve private detectives and cops, criminals and lawyers, gangsters and drifters, boxers and other wise guys, nightclub singers and dames in distress, and both rich and poor behaving badly. The ‘hero’ of the picture is usually an ambivalent man, sometimes duped by a duplicitous woman, sometimes saved by a virtuous one. First-person narration is often typical of these melodramas, as a window into the protagonist’s thoughts. There’s a particular cadence and rhythm to film noir.
There are several legendary movies in this genre that you still hear about these days, classics like “The Maltese Falcon” and “The Big Sleep,” both starring Humphrey Bogart, who has become the genre’s filmic representative. But I want to focus on a few—without Bogart and without much current fame—that I believe deserve more attention.
Up until this past year, I had not even heard of “Nocturne,” so it was a surprise to me. In an opening scene that had me hooked, smarmy, arrogant Hollywood movie composer Keith Vincent is tickling the keys of his piano. On the wall to the right of his piano is a row of photographs of glamorous ladies. He’s speaking in a very condescending manner to an unseen woman, giving her the brush-off. When he returns to his keyboard, a shot rings out, and Vincent slumps over dead.
About the plot
From the looks of it, the police think it was a suicide. But detective lieutenant Joe Warne (played by George Raft) suspects murder. We learn right away that Joe is a bit of a loose cannon; his interest in the case and his manner of investigation is frowned upon by his bosses on the force. But motivated by his stubbornness, he begins interviewing some of the women whose picture hung on the dead composer’s wall, finding that a number of them had their reasons for wanting him dead.
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| Lynn Bari |
There is a terrific sequence within the studio where Joe discovers the photographer. Let’s just say he’s not developing photos. This is 40s noir, so we see just his silhouette swinging slowly left to right, with the only sound the creaking of a rope and the wind whistling outside an ominously open door.
About the actors
George Raft was my grandmother’s favorite actor, but he’s not one of mine. His acting could usually best be described as wooden. Now, while a Bogart could play a hard-boiled character but do it with pathos when called for, a crime melodrama like “Nocturne” doesn’t necessarily require a lot of shading, at least not from its actors. That’s why Raft’s stone-faced performance seems to work here. His Joe Warne is a single-minded, hardboiled character not given to demonstrations of emotion. Plain and simple.
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| George Raft |
Lynn Bari is not a name that’s heard much today, if at all, which is a shame. She was a B-list actress who made a lot of routine, forgettable pictures, and a few good ones in a fairly long career. Like many actresses of her generation, she was capable of comedy and drama, and she’s quite compelling and believable as Frances, a woman who’s had her fair share of hard knocks.
About the look and feel
The thing I love best about black-and-white movies of the forties is the way they look, and somehow this sort of melodrama evokes it best. The film creates a specific mood as it moves from one setting to another: Keith Vincent’s sleek apartment; smoke- and music-filled nightclubs; the photographer’s modern studio; Joe’s cozy home (where he lives with his doting mother); Frances’s modest but fashionably appointed apartment; and the more low-rent boardinghouse where her sister, the struggling singer, lives.
Whatever their trappings, the film illustrates that these would-be actresses, nightclub singers, photographers, composers, and musicians are living in a seedier flip-side to what we think of the glamour of Hollywood.
Speaking of place, Lynn Bari’s best scene occurs when she is questioned by Joe at an outdoor swimming pool. Fetching in an iconic 40s swimsuit, she has some snazzy dialogue in a heated stand-off. She also figures prominently in a pivotal scene that was filmed on the set of the movie “Sinbad, the Sailor” that was actually filming on the RKO Studios lot. It’s fun to get a behind-the-scenes look at a real RKO production in the works.
My assessment
Film noir provides a window on a vanished underbelly of American society, and “Nocturne” captures its time, place, and people with subtle punch.
The film was scripted by Jonathan Latimer, and produced by Joan Harrison, who wrote five screenplays for Alfred Hitchcock and produced his television programs in the early '60s. Latimer also wrote the screenplay for our next film, “They Won’t Believe Me,” which Harrison produced as well. (They obviously knew their niche.)
They Won’t Believe Me (1947)
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| Life magazine ad |
Throughout his film career, he often portrayed a playboy, a light comic leading man, or romantic counterpart to a popular leading lady before becoming America’s favorite dad. Not often called upon for a heavy dramatic role, he is an unusual choice to portray Larry Ballentine, who is a grade-A heel.
About the plot
The film opens up in a courtroom. It’s a murder trial. The prosecution rests, and Ballentine takes the stand and begins to recount his story in flashback.
Ballentine’s wife is the wealthy Greta, whom he married for money. He meets the dazzling Janice Bell. They begin a relationship that seems to takes place mostly in quiet restaurants or bars in the middle of the day. They fall in love, or as close to love as Larry can get. Eventually Janice realizes she can’t come between Larry and his wife, so she breaks off the relationship and moves to Quebec for a new job.
In the meantime, the seemingly clueless Greta learns about the affair when Larry arranges to take a business trip to Quebec. Greta tries to woo Larry back by buying him a ranch and getting him a partnership in a Los Angeles-based brokerage firm. He takes it and cancels the trip. (Remember, he’s shallow.)
Larry isn’t particularly attentive to his job at the brokerage, and that gets him in trouble with his boss, Trenton. His attention instead veers toward Verna Carlson, a pretty employee who helps him out of a jam. Verna isn’t as demure as Janice was, so she’s more than happy to be seen with the wealthy Larry at a variety of fashionable nightclubs.
Before you know it, Larry is asking Greta for a divorce, wiping out his checking account, and writing a fat check for $25,000 to Verna. He and Verna meet up one night to drive together to Reno. Unfortunately, their travel plans are interrupted when their car is hit by an oncoming truck; Verna is killed, Larry is badly hurt. And the cops think that Verna was Greta.
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| Susan Hayward |
With two dead women on his conscience, Larry flees the country and ends up in Jamaica. While there, he runs into Janice, and they travel together back to Los Angeles. Janice has been secretly working with Trenton to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Verna, and tells Larry’s story. The police are summoned, the ranch is searched, and Greta’s body is found. But the cops think it’s the missing Verna. Larry is arrested and thrown in jail for her murder.
Flash back to the courtroom, and the jury is about to reach their verdict. This guy is a heel, he had at least two affairs behind his wife’s back, but is he responsible for either of the two deaths? When Larry is done with his story, will they believe him?
You’ll have to watch for yourself to find out.
About the actors
Robert Young was rarely given a chance to portray an unsympathetic character. He doesn’t have the toughness of, say, George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, or John Garfield (featured in our next film in this post). But that may be why it works here. He’s not playing a cop or a criminal, just a self-centered playboy who gets himself in hot water and doesn’t really know how to deal with it until he has an epiphany of sorts while in jail. Young is always dependably good, whether doing light comedy or serious drama, and this is probably one of his best films because it enabled him to put a spin on his usual nice-guy image.
Susan Hayward has a showy role as Verna, making a tramp sympathetic. Hayward toiled as a contract player from the late ’30s, but she really hit it big with “Smashup: The Story of a Woman” in which she played a nightclub singer who hits the skids. It was made the same year as “They Won’t Believe Me,” and she’d never be a supporting actress again; she went on to become one of the biggest female stars of the 50s, often portraying earthy, larger-than-life gals.
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| Jane Greer |
Rita Johnson, as Greta, was a stalwart supporting player who always acquitted herself well, usually playing upper-crust society women, as she does here. Her Greta is written a bit too tolerant of Larry’s philandering, but she capably combines sympathetic and manipulative qualities in her characterization.
My assessment
One thing that stands out about this movie is that Young gets to play opposite three female leads. Unbeknownst to him, they each contribute to his downfall, even if it is his own fault. He marries Greta, cheats on Greta. He has an affair with Janice, loses Janice. He meets Verna, runs off with Verna. Verna dies by accident, Greta kills herself on purpose, Janice rats on Larry. Larry gets himself a murder rap.
It’s all very neatly played out, and the three ladies are terrific. Some may have a hard time buying Young in such an unsympathetic role, but he’s not intending to play tough. If anything, the character of Larry Ballentine is a fop whose philandering puts him into a hole he digs himself. It’s as if one of Young’s playboy characters from his light comedies of the 30s has gotten older, but not at all wiser.
Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
“Nobody Lives Forever” capitalizes on what was happening in the country right after the end of WWII. The flag-waving was over, and soldiers were returning to a very different America. The stunted optimism of many returning soldiers was ripe for stories of disillusionment. And where better to depict that disillusionment but film noir like this one?
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| John Garfield |
The film opens with returning soldier Nick Blake (John Garfield) reflecting on his hopes for a new, better life in post-war New York. He wants an upstanding life and marriage to his lounge singer girlfriend, Toni (Faye Emerson), but his dreams are shattered when he realizes that while he was away fighting in the war, she not only got a new boyfriend, but also spent all his money. Nick hightails it to Los Angeles, and gets caught up with two small-time criminals.
The scheme at the center of the story is an attempt to dupe rich widow Gladys Halvorsen (Geraldine Fitzgerald) out of her money. But as often happens in films like this, Nick falls in love with her, which complicates matters. He tries to pay off his fellow gang members to get himself out of the scheme and leave Gladys alone. But when the gang’s leader kidnaps her so he can get a bigger share, it leads to an exciting climax.
About the actors
Garfield, while no longer a household name, has a fascinating body of work that represents the aspirations of the working class man of his times. Whether he was playing an oil rig worker, a musician, a boxer, a soldier, a cop, or a criminal trying to go straight, he always brought a tough-but-tender naturalness to his characters.
Sadly, Garfield suffered a heart attack in 1952, what many believe was the result of the stress caused by being a subject of the Communist witch hunt. Earlier in this post, I mentioned Humphrey Bogart, but John Garfield is certainly one of the top actors identified with film noir/crime melodrama.
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| Geraldine Fitzgerald |
My assessment
Garfield’s Nick has a chance at redemption in the end, but the film’s opening illustrates how the optimistic hopes of many a veteran were dashed by a bitter realization that America, and the rest of the world, didn’t change much; and perhaps just got more cynical, more dangerous. Even some of Garfield’s later film titles indicate this disaffection: “Force of Evil,” “We Were Strangers,” “The Breaking Point.”
“Nobody Lives Forever” has rich cinematography, and makes great use of both indoor and outdoor locations. There is a beautifully filmed scene with Garfield and Fitzgerald on the grounds of the Mission San Juan Capistrano; in a long shot, a flock of birds soar up and then down to a courtyard at the feet of the couple. It is lyrical and lovely, and captures the mood of their burgeoning romance.
The screenplay is by W.R. Burnett, who was a novelist and screenwriter who penned a number of other film noir classics. His biography on the Internet Movie Database explains: “[Burnett] portrayed characters who have, for one reason or another, fallen into a life of crime. Once sucked into this life they've been unable to climb out. They get one last shot at salvation but the oppressive system closes in and denies redemption.” That is certainly the case with “Nobody Lives Forever.”
Pitfall (1948)
While male leads in film noir are typically hardened characters in urban settings on one or the other (or sometimes both) side of the law, occasionally a film noir takes place in a suburban setting, turning on its head the idea of suburbia as a clean, innocent place free of treachery. In “Pitfall,” we see glimpses of an idyllic home life for John and Sue Forbes and their young son. Everything seems perfect. Except that it’s not.
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| Dick Powell |
Forbes (played by Dick Powell) may have what appears to be a model, middle-class life, but he is frustrated with his predictable existence. He works for an insurance company, and deals daily with its drudgery. When he begins investigating what appears to be the usual embezzlement case, he finds the excitement he has been looking for. And a whole lot more.
As part of the case, Forbes must retrieve gifts that were given to Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott), the girlfriend of the embezzler (who is already in jail). But when he meets Mona, it’s clear that Forbes will not approach this case like any other. Forbes has never met anyone as electric as her, and they begin an affair. Meanwhile, Forbes’ conscience nags at him when he’s back home with his humdrum existence with his wife Sue (Jane Wyatt).
Entering the picture to complicate matters and bring a bit of stark violence to Forbes’ idyllic affair is J.B. MacDonald (Raymond Burr), a private detective working for the insurance company. MacDonald also has his eye on Mona, but his advances are unwanted. A jealous MacDonald, knowing that Mona won’t accept his advances, pummels Forbes for getting in his way; it’s a beating that takes place in broad daylight and comes as a surprising burst of violence.
It’s at this time that Mona learns that Forbes is married. To make things even more complicated, Mona’s boyfriend Bill Smiley (Byron Barr) is about to get out of jail. Forbes gets revenge against MacDonald by beating him up, but MacDonald reciprocates by informing the bloodthirsty Smiley about Forbes.
Smiley comes to Forbes’ suburban home, and Forbes shoots him. MacDonald, thinking Forbes is the one who was shot, tries to convince Mona to be with him; but Mona shoots MacDonald instead.
Mona is arrested, and Forbes decides he can’t deal with the pressure of the situation. He admits the affair to Sue, and then admits to the district attorney that he knew Smiley, who wasn’t just an intruder, as he first told the police.
Forbes, a victim of his own circumstance, regrets what he’s done fairly early in the picture and does what he has to do to maintain his family life. But the idyll is shattered; the Forbes’s have been jarred from their American dream.
About the actors
Dick Powell started his career as a crooner in many popular musicals of the 1930s. His image was a lightweight comic actor, but he wanted better roles, and eventually completely changed his image by playing gumshoe Philip Marlow in “Murder, My Sweet” in 1944. Whether playing a grizzled, world-weary private detective or a disillusioned middle-aged man of the middle class, he excelled, with an intensity that is surprising when you remember his dimpled, cherubic face in all those Busby Berkeley musicals. In "Pitfall" he brings to his role a sympathetic desperation.
Jane Wyatt, as Sue Forbes, often played wholesome mother roles, and she is most well remembered today as playing Robert Young’s wife in “Father Knows Best.” In “Pitfall,” she plays Sue much in that mold: She is a good wife and mother, supportive of her husband, and she fits into her suburban setting as neatly as her comfortable furniture.
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| Lizabeth Scott |
Lizabeth Scott, as Mona, is one of the grand dames of film noir. Like Lauren Bacall, Scott has a low, gravelly voice that befits the glamorous but hard women she mostly played. She has a number of film noir classics on her resume, including “Dead Reckoning” (1947), opposite Bogart and “The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers” (1946), opposite Kirk Douglas. As of this writing, Ms. Scott is 92 and still doing personal appearances at film festivals.
My assessment
Quite unusual for 1948, “Pitfall” questions the sustainability of a happy home life in the suburbs. Powell’s Forbes is a restless man who has been shoehorned into strict roles as husband, father, and provider. It’s fascinating to me that it is Dick Powell, the former boy singer, who brings to life the disillusioned Forbes. The film presents a number of conventions of post-war America, from the influence of advertising appealing to the burgeoning middle class to the influence of comic books on American children.
There are interesting similarities between “Pitfall” and “They Won’t Believe Me” in that Dick Powell and Robert Young play rather dull yet discontented men who navigate themselves into dangerous territory and dig themselves in deeper. In both films, an unwitting woman enables them to go down a path that changes their lives forever.
For me, one of the fun things about watching old movies is finding parallels from film to film. Before I started researching and writing this installment, I didn’t realize the many similarities across these four titles:
- John Latimer wrote the screenplays for “Nocturne” and “They Won’t Believe Me.”
- Both of those films were produced by Joan Harrison.
- “They Won’t Believe Me” stars Robert Young; “Pitfall” stars Jane Wyatt. They later co-starred on television as husband and wife on “Father Knows Best.”
- The director of “Pitfall,” Andre de Toth, was at one time married to Veronica Lake.
- Veronica Lake starred in the 1942 film noir classic “This Gun for Hire,” whose screenplay was written by W.R. Burnett, who later wrote the screenplay for “Nobody Lives Forever.”
- Jean Negulesco, who directed “Nobody Lives Forever” directed its star, John Garfield, two more times.
- W.R. Burnett also wrote the screenplay for “The Racket” in 1951, which co-starred Lizabeth Scott.
- Lizabeth Scott starred opposite Kirk Douglas in his first movie, the classic film noir “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” (1946).
- Jane Greer starred opposite Kirk Douglas in his second movie, the classic film noir “Out of the Past” (1947).
- Jane Greer has a small part in “Sinbad, the Sailor,” the movie that is filming on the studio back lot in “Nocturne” when George Raft arrests Lynn Bari.
- Harry J. Wild was the cinematographer on “Nocturne,” “They Won’t Believe Me,” and “Pitfall.”
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