“You know, it isn’t what a man wants to do, Lacey, but what he has to do. Now you assume me. I appreciate to smoke cigarettes, but the doctors say I can’t have them. So what do I do? I chew toothpicks. Tons of `em.”
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Developed as The City is Black and shot as Don’t Scream, Baby before being released as Crime Wave, Andre de Toth’s detached surprisingly tough police procedural is a film that wears its economy as a badge of pride. Offered a stout budget and a 35-day shooting schedule if he made it with Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner, de Toth held out for Edifying Hayden even though it mean a part of the budget and a 15-day shooting schedule – and composed managed to approach in ahead and shoot the film in only 13 days. It was worth sticking to his guns. The film may have made puny splash when it opened in 1954, but it’s a approach classic that fully deserves its growing reputation, and as the hardboiled cop who’s all-knowing mediate and jury, Hayden so effectively strides through the film like a colossus in a towering performance (literally: for noteworthy of the film he’s shot from uncouth angles) that it’s impossible to imagine Bogart as being anything but a comparative disappointment in the role. The kind of guy who doesn’t need doors because he can coast through walls, he doesn’t act tough – he is tough. He’s practically the contrivance for L.A. Confidential’s Bud White, and it’s no surprise that James Ellroy is a mountainous fan of the film, sharing an titillating, occasionally expletive-deleted audio commentary with Eddie Muller on Warner’s Area 1 DVD.
The dwelling is simple enough: a trio of escaped cons (Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson when he was quiet Charles Buchinsky and Ned Young) extinguish a cop when robbing Dub Taylor’s gas dwelling for eating money and involve innocent parolee Gene Nelson, leaned on by cops and crooks alike, in their hasten plans. But the execution is what raises the bar here, particularly in the first third when the police bring in all the usual suspects. Shot in an almost verite documentary style, the film has a spacious recognize thanks to Bert Glennon’s striking cinematography – deep focus, harsh blacks and colorful fluorescent whites often sharing the same frame, with such a stark photojournalistic realism that some of the setups could pass for Weegee’s classic crime scene photos. It captures the feeling of L.A. at night like almost no other film, with outstanding set work and an unforgiving witness for human weakness and hopeless cases. It certainly takes some of the shine off Kubrick’s subsequent The Killing – it certainly got there first in terms of its scrutinize, and it’s probably no accident that Kubrick hired two of the cast for his contain caper movie.
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While its undoubtedly Hayden’s movie, the supporting cast is for the most portion exceptionally strong and well-drawn. Nelson is convincing enough as the bitter ex-con caught in the middle that it’s a shame that the feeble dancer didn’t go on to anything more racy than directing some of Elvis’ worst movies, Phyllis Kirk makes more of an impression as his wife than the script would lead you to ask while Jay Novello makes a tall impact as a drunken horse doctor who hates people but loves dogs and has no scruples about rifling a corpse’s pockets for services not rendered. Not everyone is quite so advantageous, unfortunately: Bronson overdoes his dull thug and a wildly miscast Hank Worden is barely able to enlighten his lines as Nelson’s airport boss (is there anyone you’d feel less trustworthy being in charge of airplane maintenance than Hank Worden? ) . As for Timothy Carey’s truly improbable demonstrate of psychotic tics as the last guy in the world you’d want to leave your wife with – well, since all his directors maintained Carey was never acting but really was like that offscreen as well, we can let that go.
The film does briefly give into sentimentality at the kill – though very, very begrudgingly – and it’s never quite as proper as that powerhouse first third, but it’s certainly a interesting punch below the belt to the cop movie that you won’t forget in a run. Along with a brief adulatory featurette with various noir historians and Oliver Stone waxing lyrical about the film, the DVD also includes the current trailer introduced by an in-character Hayden telling us “Destroy is my business and midnight is my beat.” Astronomical stuff.
Neither Decoy nor its short-lived star Jean Gillie are huge rediscoveries waiting to happen, but this Monogram Poverty Row disaster makes for a satisfying enough second feature. The area is absurd – Gillie’s displaced British femme fatale romances prison doctor Edward Norris into reviving Robert Armstrong an hour after his execution with `Methalyn Blue’ so she and her partner in crime Herbert Rudley can get out where he buried $400,000 in stolen loot – but even by noir standards Gillie’s character is stunningly ruthless as she destroys everyone in her path. But striking moments, such as Armstrong’s dazed reaction to his maintain revival, are few and far between and aside from Sheldon Leonard’s cop, charisma and acting ability are in similarly short supply. Norris is a disastrous lead, a zombie-like blank slate long before his character slips into near-catatonic shock for the last third of the film, while as his secretary the startlingly poor Marjorie Woodwarth gives a practical masterclass in the contrast between acting and more or less remembering her lines. Unexcited, there’s a dapper dying kiss off before the payoff and it doesn’t outstay its welcome at a brisk 76 minutes.
Being a fan of film noir….and a fan of Superior Hayden, Charles Bronson, and dancer Gene Nelson…I’d seen this petite film explain up in all their filmographies…without great mention.
Just watched the original DVD…as section of the Grand Film Noir vol. 4 plot by Warner Bros…and was blown away!
1) tight record..only about 74 minutes…no filler
2) Obedient Hayden is spacious..hard boiled, hard bitten, toothpick chomping!
3) the supporting cast…is perfect…Charles Buchinsky(pre Bronson) is a presence and Timothy Carey’s runt role defines scenery chewing..
4) the LA locations of 1952 are neat cool
5) the cinematography is first rate…and the transfer uninteresting spicy!
the bonus featurette is informative and the commentary by Eddie Muller (noir historian and author) and the expansive James Ellroy….is simply the most fun commentary I have EVER enjoyed …and I maintain a couple thousand DVDs…
these guys know the turf…are fans and Ellroy is bleeped for his blue language over and over …unbiased ridiculous.
The director Andre De Toth and cinematographer Burt Glennan deserve High Praise…this was kick butt..
and graceful boy Dancer Gene Nelson (from Oklahoma and Doris Day movies) is a very credible pre-James Dean getaway driver…stool pigeon..
