Film noir genius Fritz Lang’s work honored at the Aero

June 4, 2014 by
Fritz Lang was said to be tough on actors. You vere expecting othervise?

Fritz Lang was said to be tough on actors. You vere expecting othervise?

“In my opinion, there were only two directors in Hollywood who made films without regard to box-office success: Erich Von Stroheim and myself.”

So said Vienna-born noir master Fritz Lang (1890-1976). Lang came to Tinseltown in the mid-1930s after training as a painter, making landmark movies (“Metropolis” and “M”), and turning down an offer from Joseph Goebbels to head the German film studio UFA. In sunny California, the purveyor of angst and gloom snagged a contract with MGM.

For the next two decades, Lang, who was often difficult and demanding, directed many films with A-list stars for various studios, but never earned the acclaim he deserved. His career fizzled and he headed to Germany in the late 1950s to direct his final three movies, none of which resurrected his professional standing.

His work, however, was championed by Cahiers du cinéma critics and is highly regarded today. You can indulge in your own little Lang-fest starting Thursday when the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica starts Master of Darkness: The Testaments of Fritz Lang with “Scarlet Street” and “Hangmen Also Die!”

This delightfully dark series is must-see viewing for fans of film noir!

Filed Under: Classic Noir Reviews, Noir Style Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

BioElixia helps you banish the dry-skin blues

June 3, 2014 by
BioElixia products contain natural ingredients that do the trick.

BioElixia products contain natural ingredients that do the trick.

Summer’s here, and thankfully my arms and legs are toned and tan. Exercise takes care of the toning and, living in LA, it’s easy to get color on my arms.

But a few weeks ago I made a dreadful self-diagnosis: I had severe Casperitis from the thighs down, Casper being the friendly white ghost. And some major dry skin – my calves and ankles were parched.

Some self-tanner was in order and it did the trick. Before I slather that on, I know (from botching the job in the past and ending up with random orange streaks) that it’s key to prime the area before using color.

My secret weapon this season was BioElixia BodyShaper Exfoliating Body Polish and Radiance Body Cleanser.

The polish uses microcrystals and a patented formula to prime the skin. Both products contain natural ingredients such as sweet almond, aloe vera, Vitamin E, fruit acid and Hyadisine.

Both are free of parabens, formaldehydes, sulphates, phthalates, paraffins, and artificial colors and dyes.

For me, it worked best to shave first, use the BioElixia duo and slather on loads of moisturizer. Sure enough, my fake tan was nearly flawless and Casper is back in the closet where he belongs.

Filed Under: Noir Stuff Tagged With: ,

Remembering Marilyn Monroe

June 1, 2014 by
Marilyn was born June 1, 1926, Los Angeles.

Marilyn was born June 1, 1926, Los Angeles.

Happy birthday, Marilyn Monroe! She would have been 88 today.

Read more about her and see more photos here.

Filed Under: Noir Style Tagged With: ,

The Film Noir File: A Day with Fritz Lang, Der Noirmeister

May 29, 2014 by

By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington

The Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir from the schedule of Turner Classic Movies (TCM), which broadcasts them uncut and uninterrupted. The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard).

PICK OF THE WEEK: Friday, May 30: A Day of Noir with Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang lived in a world of nightmares: in 20th century Germany during World War I, the economic collapse of the Weimar Republic, the turbulent sturm und drang of the 1930s, the murderous rise of the Nazis and the subsequent conflagration of WWII.

Lang created cinematic nightmares as well: crafting terrifying frescoes and mad (but sometimes all too true) visions of a world of crime and war. His movies, mostly done in the ultra-noir hues of high-style black and white cinematography, spanned the silent era, when he made “Metropolis,” “Die Nibelungen” and the “Dr. Mabuse” thrillers, and the sound era, when he made “M,” “Fury,” “Scarlet Street” and “The Big Heat.”

Fritz Lang was a noir master.

Fritz Lang was a noir master.

Lang, who started his artistic career as a sculptor, was equally great as a director of German art films and of American crime movies. He made cinematic classics in both countries. His early collaborator, and also his wife, was the brilliant scriptwriter Thea Von Harbou “M”), who ended up leaving him and joining the Nazi Party.

Lang managed to elude Fascist censorship and was once offered the leadership of the entire German film industry by Joseph Goebbels, who (like Hitler) was an admirer of Lang and Von Harbou’s spectacular science fiction epic “Metropolis.” (See below.) A leftist and anti-Nazi, and also a man who had Jewish relatives, Lang fled Germany and Europe instead, and wound up one of the top directors of the Hollywood studio system during its heyday. He was also, indisputably, one of the reigning masters of the movie style we call film noir.

Young French critic-directors (Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol) idolized Lang, as much for his American films as his German ones. Finally, in the mid-1950s, he returned to Germany. He made a last few German pictures, and co-starred, as himself. in Jean-Luc Godard’s French classic “Contempt.”

Fritz Lang, born in Vienna in 1890,  died in Los Angeles in 1976, at age 85. Eight of his best pictures are screening on TCM this Friday.

(The Lang films without notes below have been reviewed previously in Film Noir Blonde. Next week, starting Thursday, seven Lang films will play on the big screen at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.)

“Scarlet Street” (1945) stars Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett.

“Scarlet Street” (1945) stars Edward G. Robinson (center) and Joan Bennett.

6 a.m. (3 a.m.): “Metropolis” (1927, Fritz Lang). The rich vs. the poor, the factory owners vs. the workers, and the mad scientist vs. the people and their heroine (Brigitte Helm as the human Maria and her double, the false robot Maria) in the greatest of all silent era science fiction epics. And it’s noir as well. With  Alfred Abel and Rudolf-Klein-Rogge).

7:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m.): “M” (1931). With Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke and Gustaf Grundgens.

9:15 a.m. (6:15 a.m.): “Fury” (1936). Spencer Tracy, Sylvia Sidney, Bruce Cabot, Walter Brennan and Walter Abel.

11 a.m. (8 a.m.). “Scarlet Street” (1945). With Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea.

1 p.m. (10 a.m.). “Clash by Night” (1952). With Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas and Marilyn Monroe.

3 p.m. (12 p.m.). “The Blue Gardenia” (1953). With Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Raymond Burr, Ann Sothern and Nat King Cole.

4:45 p.m. (1:45 p.m.). “Moonfleet” (1955). A moody Robert Louis Stevenson-style costume adventure-romance, about a dashing pirate (Stewart Granger) who wins the hearts of a young lad (Jon Whiteley) and several beautiful and susceptible ladies (Viveca Lindfors, Joan Greenwood). Based on a bodice-heaving bestseller, with supporting turns by George Sanders and Ian Wolfe. They especially loved this one in “Cahiers du Cinema.”

6:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m.). “”While the City Sleeps” (1956). With Dana Andrews, Ida Lupino, George Sanders, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Howard Duff, Rhonda Fleming and John Drew Barrymore. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Classic Noir Reviews, Neo Noir Reviews Tagged With: , ,

Honoring heroes on Memorial Day

May 26, 2014 by

James Stewart in uniformWWII vet Jimmy Stewart rose to the rank of Brigadier General. A heartfelt thank-you and deepest appreciation to all our servicemen/women and veterans for their sacrifices.

Filed Under: Noir Style Tagged With: ,

Shady lady delight: ‘The Lady from Shanghai’ at Lacma

May 24, 2014 by

As part of the Essential Orson Welles series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, “The Lady from Shanghai” and “Mr. Arkadin” will play Saturday, May 24, starting at 7:30 p.m.

The Lady from Shanghai/1948/Columbia Pictures/87 min.

Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles

The Lady from Shanghai poster“Citizen Kane” is hallowed cinematic ground, I know, but my favorite Orson Welles film is “The Lady from Shanghai” (1948), which he wrote, produced, directed and starred in, playing opposite his real-life wife Rita Hayworth, one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s.

In “The Lady from Shanghai” Welles plays Michael O’Hara, an Irish merchant seaman, in between ships in New York. By chance, or so he thinks, he meets the wily blonde operator Elsa Bannister (Hayworth) and saves her from being mugged in the park. Elsa invites Michael to join her as she sets sail for Acapulco.

The boat belongs to her husband, a wizened, creepy criminal lawyer named Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane), and he’ll be on the trip too. So will his partner, the moon-faced and sinister George Grisby (Glenn Anders).

O’Hara agrees regardless. “Once I’d seen her,” he says, “I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.” On their voyage (the yacht belonged to Errol Flynn), Elsa and Michael flirt every chance they get; Arthur gets touchy and calls her “Lovah,” in a most unloving way; Grisby is generally unpleasant.

The tension builds, then breaks when they reach San Francisco. But not for long. Grisby has a plan to cash in on an insurance policy by faking his own murder and bribes Michael to help him. Need I say the plan doesn’t quite work out as they’d hoped? This is film noir, you know. “The Lady from Shanghai” is richly surreal and haunting in its intensity.

Welles and cinematographer Charles Lawton Jr. use staggering angles and startling black shadow almost to the point of abstraction. Two of the most famous sequences are the aquarium and the funhouse hall of mirrors at the end. Of the latter, Time Out notes that “it stands as a brilliant expressionist metaphor for sexual unease and its accompanying loss of identity.”

The script, based on the Sherwood King novel “If I Die Before I Wake,” crackles with noir attitude (“Everybody’s somebody’s fool,” says O’Hara). Hayworth, the perfect femme fatale, looks contemporary and sexy whether in her chic nautical garb or the filigree hat she wears in the courtroom.

Welles had to endure tremendous interference from Columbia Pictures execs, particularly studio chief Harry Cohn. Though the film was shot in 1947, Cohn delayed the release until 1948 in order to “fix” it. Welles’ original 155-minute cut was chopped to 87. Cohn also insisted that the movie have more closeups of Hayworth and that Welles film a scene of her singing. Welles was displeased with the score by the studio-appointed composer who disregarded Welles’ guidelines for the music; the mirror scene, for example, was to be unscored to heighten the sense of terror.

“The Lady from Shanghai” did not do well in the U.S. upon its release, though it was admired in France. Welles’ decision to have Hayworth cut her long red hair and bleach it blonde caused a controversy, and many in Hollywood believed it contributed to the film’s poor box-office returns. Watch this film for its serpentine plot twists, stunning images and as a testament to the fact that you should never underestimate the power of a good-hair day.

“The Lady from Shanghai” plays at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 24, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), 5905 Wilshire Blvd.

Filed Under: Classic Noir Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Film Noir File: Anthony Mann’s sizzling ‘Raw Deal’

May 21, 2014 by

The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir from the schedule of Turner Classic Movies (TCM), which broadcasts them uncut and uninterrupted. The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard).

PICK OF THE WEEK:

“Raw Deal“ (1949, Anthony Mann). Friday, May 23, 5:15 p.m. (2:15 p.m.)

The eternal triangle: Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt and Dennis O’Keefe in “Raw Deal.”

The eternal triangle: Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt and Dennis O’Keefe in “Raw Deal.”

We’re in Washington state, on the run, surrounded by mountains, fog and guys with guns. Dennis O’Keefe is one of them: a tough, angry escaped convict named Joe Sullivan. Joe, need we say, got a raw deal. He took the rap and went to stir for fat, sleazy mobster Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr), a rat who double-crossed him and now wants him dead. Claire Trevor is Pat Cameron, the moll who loves Joe and sprang him from jail. She’s on the lam too. Marsha Hunt is a pretty legal caseworker who thinks Joe is innocent and got mixed up in the jail break; she also has a yen for the guy. John Ireland is bad news walking: Coyle’s murderous torpedo.

Here is a vintage, top-of-the-line B-movie film noir from the Golden Age and they don’t get much better or more noir. Director Anthony Mann was as much a master of this form as he was of the Western, or the epic, and he‘s at his peak in “Raw Deal.“ The cast is top-notch. The writers, a crack team, included Leopold Atlas (Wellman’s “The Story of G.I. Joe”) and Mann’s frequent collaborator, John C. Higgins (“T-Men,” “Border Incident.”) The photography – grim, moody, coldly romantic  – was shot by the master, John Alton. These guys and gals all know what they’re doing, and the picture is a little masterpiece, the real deal.

Thursday, May 22

8 p.m. (5 p.m.): “The House on 92nd Street” (1945, Henry Hathaway). With William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso and Gene Lockhart. Reviewed in FNB on March 13, 2013. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Classic Noir Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

FNB tributes to ‘Double Indemnity’ continue: Look on twitter

May 20, 2014 by

In honor of the 70th anniversary of “Double Indemnity,” we at FNB are hosting intermittent tributes. On Valentine’s Day, we compiled  a list of 14 reasons we adore the flick. Yesterday, we started tweeting the novel (by James M. Cain). Not sure how long that will take, but it should be fun. And here we are rerunning a review. Next, we should host a party in the Hollywood Hills. Until then …

Double Indemnity/1944/Paramount/106 min.

Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck

She’s got a plan, she just needs a man. And that’s a welcome challenge for a femme fatale, especially one with an ankle bracelet.

In Billy Wilder’s film noir masterpiece, “Double Indemnity,” from 1944 Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) wants out of her marriage to rich, grumpy oldster, Mr. Dietrichson (Tom Powers). Poor Phyllis doesn’t get much love from Dietrichson’s adult daughter, Lola (Jean Heather) either. Fresh-faced and feisty, Lola is hung up on her temperamental boyfriend Nino Zachetti (Byron Barr).

For Phyllis, seducing a new guy to help make hubby disappear is so much more cost-effective than hiring a divorce lawyer. A smart insurance man is even better. Along comes Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) trying to sell a policy, just as Phyllis finishes a session of sunbathing, wearing an ankle bracelet and not much more. That’s about as much bait as Walter needs.

They flirt, fall for each other and eventually arrange to bump off Mr. Dietrichson, making it look like he fell from a train. It’s a one-in-a-million way to go with a huge payoff from a double-indemnity insurance policy issued by Walter’s company. After that, they play it cool and wait for the check. They’ve planned it like a military campaign, so they’re in the clear until Walter starts to suspect that he’s not the only guy who’s been drooling at Phyllis’ ankles.

Edward G. Robinson

Besides his lust for the blonde (and their chemistry truly sizzles), Walter’s real love is the platonic father/son relationship he has with his boss at the insurance company, Barton Keyes, sharp, cynical and married to his job, played brilliantly by Edward G. Robinson.

Critic Richard Schickel says “Double Indemnity” is the first true noir. I disagree – what about 1941’s “The Maltese Falcon” and “Stranger on the Third Floor” from 1940? Or even Fritz Lang‘s “M” from Germany in 1931? But the point is “Double Indemnity” was the standard against which every subsequent noir was measured. It’s a glorious treat visually. John Seitz’s luscious lighting and captivating use of shadow bring to mind Vincent Van Gogh’s observation: “There are no less than 80 shades of black.” The score by Miklos Rozsa works perfectly with the visuals to build and sustain atmosphere.

The performances (Stanwyck, MacMurray and Robinson) are tremendous. Though Stanwyck was nominated for the best actress Oscar and “Double Indemnity” was also nominated in six other categories (picture, director, screenplay, cinematography, sound recording and score), MacMurray and Robinson were not in the running and the film didn’t win any Oscars. In retrospect, their work in this movie is some of the best acting of the decade. MacMurray (who might be most familiar as the father in TV’s “My Three Sons”) is such a natural as the easily tempted yet very likeable Neff, it’s surprising now to learn that the role was a major departure from his usual nice-guy parts.

As James Pallot of “The Movie Guide” writes: “Robinson … beautifully gives the film its heart. His speech about death statistics, rattled off at top speed, is one of the film’s highlights.” When Keyes realizes that Walter has betrayed him, it’s heartbreaking in a way that few other noirs are.

Wilder co-wrote the script with Raymond Chandler, based on the taut little novel by James M. Cain, published in 1936. (The novel was inspired by the real-life 1927 Snyder-Gray case.) In the book “Double Indemnity,” smitten Walter says of Phyllis’ physical charms, “I wasn’t the only one that knew about that shape. She knew about it herself, plenty.”

The dark, witty script follows the book pretty closely, but Chandler’s contributions are key. For example, check out this bit of simmering dialogue:

Phyllis: There’s a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff, 45 miles an hour.

Walter: How fast was I going, Officer?

Phyllis: I’d say around 90.

Walter: Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket.

Phyllis: Suppose I let you off with a warning this time.

Walter: Suppose it doesn’t take.

Phyllis: Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles.

Walter: Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder.

Phyllis: Suppose you try putting it on my husband’s shoulder.

Walter: That tears it…

Chatting things over while Mr. Dietrichson is away.

Now it seems egregious that Wilder (1906-2002) and “Double Indemnity” were snubbed at the Oscars. Born in what is now Poland, Wilder escaped the Nazis, but his mother and other family members perished in a concentration camp. He knew firsthand the dark, sometimes horrific, side of life and that knowledge imbued his work with an unparalleled richness and depth. He was also hilarious. If I could have martinis with any film noir director, living or dead, it would be Billy.

I’ve seen interview footage of him where he punctuated his conversation with deep and frequent laughter. And I’ve heard stories about him playing practical jokes – apparently he when he lost the 1944 best director Oscar to Leo McCarey (who won for “Going My Way” starring Bing Crosby) Billy stuck out his foot and tripped McCarey as he walked down the aisle to pick it up. Maybe if I get that fantasy date with the spirit of Billy, I’ll bring Dick Schickel along too. He might benefit from a girly martini and tagging along with Billy and me.

So, suppose you do yourself a favor and watch “Double Indemnity” the first chance you get. You won’t be sorry.

Filed Under: Classic Noir Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Get your swag on, help a great cause: Peace Over Violence

May 19, 2014 by

CGFGC flyer

The FNB team is looking forward to the sixth annual Canned Goods For Good Causes charity ball & swag bag party, to be held on Monday, June 2, from 7 p.m. to 1a.m. at Hollywood’s King King, 6555 Hollywood Blvd., 90028. All proceeds from the event will benefit Peace Over Violence, a violence-prevention and crisis-intervention organization.

Emcee Travis Clark (Tiny Odd Conversations) will host an evening of comedy and music featuring comedians Sara Schaefer (MTV’s “Nikki and Sara Live”), Sam Comroe (Conan), Drew Lynch, Andie Bolt, and Lianna Carrera, and musicians Mary Morales, EVMB (LA Beatbox Champion), Rachel B, and DJ Little Kinky.

Greenbar Collective will sponsor one and a half hours of free signature cocktails from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Raffle prizes have been provided by: Actor’s Key, Adult Swim, Artist Nidhi Chanani, Artist Tess Fowler, Drongo Photo, Eufuria Pet Salon, Final Draft, Focus Features, Foxy and Fierce Bootcamp, Kneady Bakery, LGO Restaurants, Lola and Roxy’s Salon, Not a Burger Stand, Outback Steakhouse, Paramount Pictures, Perfect Touch Massage, Pickwick Lanes, Playroom Ent Games, and Push Pull Cardio.

Guests will take away gift bags with swag provided by Adult Swim, Craftsman Soap, Criterion, D3P, Disney, Focus Features, Inno Games, Inventing Daily, Ketchup Entertainment, Lionsgate, Little Orbit, Lok-A-Bolt, Miramax, Paramount, Shout! Factory, Universal Home Entertainment, Warner Bros., and more.

Just put on something swanky, bring a $25 donation for Peace Over Violence and you’re bound to have fun. To RSVP, email: cannedgoodsforgood@gmail.com. See you there!

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Remembering Malik Bendjelloul: Rest in peace

May 15, 2014 by
Rodriguez and Malik Bendjelloul at the Los Angeles press conference in 2012.

Rodriguez and Malik Bendjelloul at the Los Angeles press conference in 2012.

We at FNB were sad to learn of Malik Bendjelloul’s death on Tuesday in Stockholm. Mr. Bendjelloul won the Oscar in 2013 for his film “Searching for Sugar Man,” a deeply touching documentary about Detroit-born 1970s singer Sixto Rodriguez, who fell into obscurity in the U.S. but was revered in South Africa and elsewhere.

“I thought I’d never heard a better story in my life and would never hear a better story,” said Mr. Bendjelloul in 2012. “It was like somebody had written this wonderful script, except it was a real story. And it was a blessed story; every time I lifted a stone there was another gold coin. It was so much richer than I ever could have imagined.”

We met Mr. Bendjelloul and Rodriguez when they were in Los Angeles to promote the film in July 2012.  At that time, Mr. Bendjelloul was brimming with enthusiasm for the film and Rodriguez’s revived career. He struck us as an uncommonly talented filmmaker and we remember his intelligence, humility and low-key humor.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Bendjelloul’s family.

Filed Under: Noir Style Tagged With: , ,
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