1953
Directed by Fritz Lang
All right, so I have written about five of these today and am getting a bit tired of it. Forgive me if this a bit short and sweet.
This film is awesome, the ultimate revenge tale. Glenn Ford's wife is murdered and he vows to find her killer and avenge his wife's death. Of course, along the way he meets a dame. There is always a dame.
This movie is really violent; I have no idea how they got away with half the stuff they did. My favorite was when coffee was thrown in Gloria Grahamme's face, permanently disfiguring her. Pretty nasty.
Gritty and fantastic. And now my tired reviewer hands can rest.
RATING: *****
Interesting Facts:
"Put the Blame on Mame" plays when we see Glenn Ford, a reference to Gilda.
Films like this i find myself feeling a bit guilty about liking.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great film.. really like it.. (I love almost all noirs).. yet I generally claim to dislike violent.. and certainly sadistic violence in films. I also really don't like the portrayal of male behavior and attitudes that is fairly standard..
But..
Wow this review kind of sucked. Sorry about that. I liked it too.
DeleteThis movie was amazing. So fantastic...but *spoiler alert* I was very sad about his wife. I knew they seemed too happy. I was scandalized that Gloria sat on his bed in the hotel room and mentioned getting her legs waxed. Partially because I didn't know women did that back then, and partially because you get so used to the old movies that when something "modern" happens it's shocking. Like how Glenn Ford helped his wife clean the kitchen after dinner.
ReplyDeleteHi again Rachel ..
ReplyDeleteThis is great.. with you popping in frequently, we sort of get two reviewers to listen too, and it brings stuff back from the past to revisit.
One we all three like, but feel bad about liking eh?
I agree Rachel! Remember how scandalous the ending of The Thin Man was?
ReplyDeleteAnd Ray, I agree. It's a guilty pleasure.
When the wife blows up it feels like a punch in the stomach: Noooo, they did not just do that???
ReplyDeleteIt is rare that I can share the anger with the character, but I could here, especially with that child loosing her mother.
I will join your club of liking this movie, but not the one feeling guilty about it.
Very good.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame the list for giving us lots of noir. If the film's good then include it. And it's not their fault that we hardcore few are watching several years' worth of movies in such a short space of time. But it could be tiring to see yet another noir pop up, so good to see a new twist on old cliches.
I was wondering if I should be concerned that as the bodies pile up, aside from the opening suicide it's all women. And mostly with an element of cruelty or torture involved. But then I decided that it's almost always men getting killed in other films so I shouldn't be trying to prove a point with a rare exception.
I think men probably die more in movies but when women die it's supposed to be more emotional because we are seen as "innocent." Consequently, female deaths are usually crueler or more violent whereas men just get mowed down by gunfire.
DeleteThat's an interesting point I hadn't considered before. I do find the brutal murder of innocents an overused and lazy character development device in films, although this was more complex than that.
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