Black & White and Chic All Over
Psycho/1960/Universal/109 min.
One of the most famous movies ever made, Alfred Hitchcock’s experimental masterpiece immortalizes messed-up man-boy Norman Bates, chillingly played by Anthony Perkins. Janet Leigh stars, though her screen time is brief, as the good girl who gives into temptation. Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam and Patricia Hitchcock round out the cast. A must-see!
‘Diabolique’/1955/Cinédis/114 min.
Michael Wilmington
By Michael Wilmington
The worst kind of fictional horror, the kind that seeps into your psyche and stings into life your worst fears, sometimes springs from the seemingly mundane routines of life, when the placid world we know suddenly becomes a backdrop for darkness and evil.
In French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot’s masterpiece of suspense, “Diabolique,” a school near Paris turns into the site for a cold-blooded murder and a den of everyday nightmares. “Diabolique,” called “Les Diaboliques,“ (“The Devils”) in France, is a movie about the mystery and terror of appearances, and the ways that they can ensnare us, drive us mad or destroy us.
If there was ever a movie review that needed a “Spoiler Alert” it’s “Diabolique,” a film that doesn’t have one surprise up its sleeve, but many. It’s all surprise, all mystery, one twist after the other, going off like firecrackers until the end of the film.
Vera Clouzot
Simone Signoret
“Diabolique” takes place in a boarding school, an ugly, sprawling ex-chateau run by a ferret-faced brute of a headmaster, Michel Delassalle (Paul Meurisse) and his weak, ill and persecuted wife Christina (Vera Clouzot). Delassalle viciously exploits and abuses his wife, and is openly unfaithful to her, with the school’s science and math teacher, a sultry, smart blonde named Nicole Horner (Simone Signoret, in one of her most famous roles).
Headmaster Delassalle is an awful man and the school is an awful but believable place, with bleak dormitory rooms, rotten food, dark hallways, and a dirty swimming pool in which something terrible, we feel, will happen. Or maybe not.
In the first of the movie’s string of shocks, we discover that Christina and Nicole, wife and mistress, have formed an unholy alliance. Both seemingly disgusted by the swinish Michel, they are plotting to kill him and disguise it as an accident.
And Michel is such a cad and sadist – a brilliant performance by Meurisse, who was later just as fine for both Jean Renoir (“Picnic on the Grass”) and Jean-Pierre Melville (“Le Cercle Rouge”) – that we don’t condemn the women. Another brilliant actor of astounding longevity, Charles Vanel, plays superlatively well the retired detective Fichet, who starts sniffing around when he runs into Christina at the morgue.
The man who made this astonishing and frightening movie, writer-director Clouzot, seemed to be many things himself: a cynic and a sometime sadist to his actors (especially his own wife, Vera), a friend/collaborator of artistic greats like Pablo Picasso, a WW2 opportunist who worked for a company run by the occupying Germans, and, above all, a genius at making movies that tightened the vise of anxiety like a noose around the audiences’ throats.
Clouzot was, in fact, the only specialist in suspense who was ever plausibly bracketed with Alfred Hitchcock – and Hitchcock was one of “Diabolique” ’s biggest admirers. The wry British master of movie fear wanted to buy the novel, “Celle qui n’etait plus,” by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, on which “Diabolique” was based.
When “Diabolique” became an international hit, Hitchcock bought another Boileau-Narcejac novel, and turned it into his masterpiece “Vertigo.” Hitch then acquired a Robert Bloch novel called “Psycho” and essentially made it his own “Diabolique,” shooting in black and white, playing up similar scenes and themes (including the idea of murder in a bathroom), borrowing liberally from the earlier movie’s style and execution, even reworking some of its advertising gimmicks. [Read more…]
The winner of the June reader giveaway has been selected. For July, I am giving away a copy of French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot’s genre-defining noir classic “Diabolique,” recently rereleased by Criterion.
To enter the July giveaway, just leave a comment on any FNB post from July 1-31. The winner will be randomly selected at the end of the month and announced in early August. Include your email address in your comment so that I can notify you if you win. Your email will not be shared. Good luck!
Arm candy for summer travelers. On display at Prada, 343 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills.
Why edit your wardrobe when you can pack a closet?
Visitors were eager to pose with the larger-than-life valise. It's not for sale. But, according to a Prada staffer, a customer asked if he could buy it to use on his boat.
Hangover Square/1945/20th Century-Fox/77 min.
Linda Darnell
Last Thursday at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, I saw “Hangover Square” from 1945 and what a deliciously warped little gem it is! (It was on a double bill with “Psycho” as part of the series honoring composer Bernard Herrmann.) “Hangover Square” stars the spellbindingly sexy and exquisitely stunning Linda Darnell as Netta Longdon, an ambitious music-hall singer in need of good songs.
Enter Laird Cregar playing composer George Harvey Bone, a sweet, lumbering Teddy Bear of a guy. Both are residents of a fictitious square in London, a curious Hollywood-esque dwelling where almost every voice you hear has an American accent.
Femme fatale Netta easily wraps George Bone around her little finger, distracting him from writing more serious music and using him as a babysitter for her long-haired, evil-eyed cat. Of course she has a menacing, demanding cat – who else is going to make sure George gets the songs done by jumping into his lap and glaring at him? Not Netta, she’s out on the town every night.
There’s just one small snag. George has a strange condition, stemming from overwork, that causes him to black out and possibly become violent. Possibly not, but he doesn’t remember. We learn early on in the film that George is on Scotland Yard’s radar, having been examined by Dr. Allan Middleton (the delightfully smarmy George Sanders), but he’s not deemed to be a threat to anyone. Besides, George is adored by the upper crust Sir Henry Chapman (Alan Napier) and his pretty daughter Barbara (Faye Marlowe).
But that was before Netta and her cat entered the picture and insisted George work his chubby fingers to the, well, bone. Strain + strange condition does not bode well for this ill-fated pair. George takes advantage of a Guy Fawkes bonfire to cover up the crime he commits before blithely succumbing to the ravaging flames of another fire.
Skillfully directed by John Brahm (he also directed Cregar in “The Lodger,” 1944) and gorgeously shot by Joseph LaShelle, “Hangover Square” is full-on film noir, even though the story is set around 1900. The shadow-drenched urban nightscapes, themes of alienation and sexual obsession, and Herrmann’s edgy score draw us into the dark, ambiguous, dangerously skewed noir world.
Barré Lyndon wrote the screenplay, based on a 1941 novel by English writer Patrick Hamilton, who also wrote the plays “Gaslight” and “Rope,” which became Hollywood classics. “Gaslight” was directed by George Cukor (1944) and “Rope” by Alfred Hitchcock (1948). In the novel, George Bone was a borderline alcoholic and the story was set in 1939.
But perhaps most chilling is the off-screen story of the stars. [Read more…]
Hangover Square/1945/20th Century-Fox/77 min.
A music-hall singer in need of new material (Linda Darnell) charms a mild-mannered composer (Laird Cregar) into service. Service that includes him taking care of her cat, natch. But there’s a catch, of course. If he works too hard, he blacks out and can’t remember a damn thing the next day. There’s definitely trouble in paradise for this pair. John Brahm directs; based on a Patrick Hamilton novel.
Eva Marie Saint
Hilary Swank
Fate reigns supreme in film noir, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love us some zodiac fun. Hope your July is full of sizzling romance and risqué adventures. And happy birthday, Cancer and Leo!
A special shout-out and remembrances to captivating Cancers James M. Cain and Farley Granger (July 1), Eva Marie Saint (July 4), Janet Leigh (July 6), Anjelica Huston (July 8) and Barbara Stanwyck (July 16), and trend-setting Leos Helen Mirren, Sandra Bullock and Stanley Kubrick (July 26), Jackie Kennedy Onassis (July 28) and Hilary Swank (July 30).
Cancer (June 22-July 23): A friend or relative launches a monthlong complain-a-thon, but damn if you didn’t forget which channel it’s on. Oh well, guess you’ll just miss all the woe-is-me excitement. Don’t feel guilty about cutting back the time you spend with closet negheads – you know the ones. Just politely decline when they try to lure you in. Meanwhile, take a spontaneous road trip or wear that daring dress you bought. Summer is the perfect time to mix it up and turn a few heads. Be prepared for lots of attention from the opposite sex the week of 14th.
Leo (July 24-August 23): “Money’s only something you need in case you don’t die tomorrow,” says Martin Sheen’s character in “Wall Street.” This month, the less you think about cash, the easier it will flow. Your imagination and prowess for problem solving come into the spotlight (me in the spotlight again? oh, all right …) as you easily piece together the pieces to a puzzle at work. Let yourself be playful in relationships. Your inner calm averts a crisis on the 24th. If you need to take the lead planning your b’day bash, so be it. Make it an event to remember! [Read more…]
Kiss Me Deadly/1955/United Artists/105 min.
If you fancy a sci-fi chaser with your classic noir, be sure to check out 1955’s “Kiss Me Deadly,” recently rereleased by Criterion.
Director/producer Robert Aldrich’s evocation of popular pulp writer Mickey Spillane’s apocalyptic novel (with a script from A.I. Bezzerides) has dazzled critics and influenced directors from the French New Wave to Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg. (Aldrich also directed the campy noirs “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” from 1962 and “Hush … Hush, Sweet Charlotte,” 1964)
The story of ultra-macho Los Angeles gumshoe Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) smiting bad guys and spurning women as he wrestles with a whodunit is a tad misogynistic, but I’ll let that pass because this is a portrayal of a rough and violent, sometimes sadistic, world overall.
Besides, there is much to enjoy – the intense cinematography, for starters, from Ernest Laszlo, also the superb eye of 1950’s “D.O.A.” The film looks great and there are some unforgettable shots, from the arresting opening to the amazing finale. Laszlo creates a harsh, almost merciless, world. “Kiss Me Deadly” also features a fast-paced, hairpin-turn plot, a sexy score, sharp LA location shooting and excellent acting from the entire cast.
Actress Cloris Leachman (who later played the wacky neighbor Phyllis on “The Mary Tyler Moore” show) makes her debut in the film as Christina Bailey, a hitchhiker who snags a late-night ride with Hammer. Christina has just escaped from an insane asylum, in the nude except for a trench coat. She says she was dumped at the asylum and really doesn’t belong there. Oh, that old line.
She gives Hammer vague answers to his questions and tells him to remember her. She’d be a bit hard to forget, actually. The two are run off the road, taken to a house where Christina is tortured and Hammer is punched out, then put back in Hammer’s car and pushed over a cliff. [Read more…]
Kiss Me Deadly/1955/United Artists/105 min.
An escapee from a mental institution (Cloris Leachman) snags a late-night ride from steely, surly private eye Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker), which sets him on the path of a bevy of bad guys and a mysterious leather case. Oh, and the advances of every woman he meets. An intense detective story with a sci-fi twist. From a Mickey Spillane novel; directed and produced by Robert Aldrich.
Laura Mercier's creamy cheek colour is a must-have for your makeup bag.
For a sheer summer glow, I’m loving Crème Cheek Colour in Oleander, $22, by Laura Mercier.
This is a great product because it’s a breeze to apply, blends easily and it’s hard to put on too much – it’s just too lightweight. I don’t wear foundation so instead I daub this on the apples of my cheeks, forehead and neck to enhance whatever color I get from the sun. (I also use Mercier’s Secret Concealer, $22.)
Small and compact, this blush doesn’t require a brush. It won’t take up much space in a makeup bag, making it ideal for travel and handy to pop in a little evening bag. And it comes with a mirror so touch-ups are a snap.
I would definitely recommend trying the colors in person at a department store because, at least for me, Oleander shows up on the Mercier web site as a bright pink when in fact it’s much rosier.
Product Source: From my own collection; I did not receive product or compensation from Mercier.
From FNB readers