Mystery Street

Ricardo Montalban stars in this 1950 crime drama as a Cape Cod police detective who turns to a Harvard forensic expert to identify and track down the murderer of a skeleton washed up on a dune.This film, directed by John Sturges with famed cinematographer, John Alton. may be the first to feature forensics in crime solving. 93 minutes. CC.

Ricardo Montalbon, perhaps the first Mexican actor to make it big in Hollywood, does a fine job in this role. He doesn't play a Latin lover but a small town detective whose Portuguese ancestors were part of the Cape Cod scene. His most famous role was "Khan" on the Star Trek series.

The supporting cast was excellent. Bruce Bennett excelled as the Harvard forensics specialist, and Director John Sturges gave Sally Forrest, Elsa Lancaster, Jan Sterling, and Betsy Blair all a chance to turn in fine performances.

Ricardo Montalbon

 

Whirlpool

Whirlpool. Gene Tierney, one of Hollywood’s most beautiful actresses ever, stars in this 1950 story of a woman secretly suffering from kleptomania who turns to a hypnotist to cure her condition. Soon afterwards she is found at the scene of a murder with no memory of how she got there and no way to prove her innocence. Richard Conte and Jose Ferrer co-star in this film directed by Otto Preminger who had also directed Tierney in the 1944 film noir classic Laura. 98 minutes. CC.

Gene Tierney, who grew up in my home town of Fairfield, CT is a personal favorite. I believe she was a better actress than most critics think. In Laura, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, and Leave Her to Heaven, for which she garnered an Academy Award nomination, she is just right. Director Preminger certainly valued her ability. 

Richard Conte is another personal favorite. One of the first Italian Americans to play a leading man, he usually played ethnic types in supporting roles. In this film he plays a prominent psychoanalyst, as well as the loving husband of all American Tierney. Jose Ferrer also does a great job as a smooth talking, crafty villain. Later in 1950, he appeared in Cyrano de Bergerac and won the Best Actor award. Veteran character actor Charles Bickford gives a fine performance  as a sympathetic police detective. 

I usually don't like to read about the private lives of film stars, but prefer to judge them on their work. Nevertheless, Gene Tierney's autobiography, Self Portrait, in which she frankly discusses her career, troubled family life, and long struggle with mental illness is excellent. Here is a link to a review on The Weekly Bystander. 

Richard Conte and Gene Tierney

Gun Crazy

Gun Crazy.  Peggy Cummins and John Dall star in this 1950 story of two star-crossed lovers who meet in a carnival shooting contest and immediately go together like guns and ammunition. They become bank robbers on the run who roar into movie history in a bench-mark film noir thriller. 87 minutes. CC. DVD Commentary.

From its start in a rain-swept street to its tragic ending Director Joseph H. Lewis made a unique film with groundbreaking scenes  like a bank robbery filmed from start to finish from the inside of the getaway car.  

John Dall is excellent but petite Irish actress Peggy Cummins gives a performance that would make her one of the great femme fatales in film history. 

This film is a must see. No one appreciates it  more than Eddie Muller of TCM's Noir Alley who actually devoted a whole book to it. Here is a link to his intro, but after viewing the film his outro as well as an appreciation of Peggy Cummins would also be worth watching.  ###

Peggy Cummins and John Dall

  

The Asphalt Jungle

The Asphalt Jungle. John Huston directed this 1950 classic heist drama that has often been copied but never equaled.  Huston humanized all the characters in this great cast. They are all flawed human beings who in one way or another elicit our sympathy. It is hard for an audience not to hope they will succeed in pulling off the heist.

 Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe, and Louis Calhern star as the principals in a plot to steal a fortune in jewels. The film also features Jean Hagan and Marilyn Monroe in the role that launched her into stardom. The musical score is by Miklos Rozsa. 112 minutes. CC.

 Sterling Hayden portrays one of the classic good bad guys in film history. He is a "hooligan", a menacing street tough barely eking out a living pulling off petty armed robberies, but he has a sense of honor. How can we not pull for him as mortally wounded he tries to make it back to the family horse farm?

 Sam Jaffe gives an Oscar nominated performance as a criminal mastermind with an obsession for pretty young women. Louis Calhern is somehow sympathetic playing a crooked attorney who two times his bed ridden wife for an incredibly sexy young woman played stunningly by Marilyn Monroe. 

Jean Hagan plays a down and out B-girl who remains faithful to her man right to the end. Two years later she would become immortal playing Lina Lamont, a blonde silent screen star in Singing in the Rain.

Here is a link to the movie trailer that highlights each of these characters. ###

Jean Hagan and Sterling Hayden

In a Lonely Place

Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame star in this 1950 dark drama directed by Nicholas Ray about a relationship destroyed by anger issues. Bogart plays a Hollywood screen writer suspected of murdering a young woman he had met in a nightclub. Grahame plays a neighbor who comes to his defense. Inevitably, they fall in love even though the murder remains unsolved. 94 minutes. CC

Bogart does a fine job in this film playing a troubled character subject to bouts of almost uncontrollable anger. Gloria Grahame, who burst on the Hollywood scene playing Donna Reed's rival for Jimmy Stewart's affections in the 1946 film "It's a Wonderful Life", gives the performance of her career in this film. Frank Lovejoy is featured as  a police detective.

Eddie Muller of Turner Classic Movies Noir Alley claims that this film is not only his favorite film noir, but also his personal "favorite film of all time."  Here is a link to his intro.

Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame

  

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Where the Sidewalk Ends. Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney star in this 1950 film noir directed by Otto Preminger. A few years earlier the three had collaborated  on the sophisticated screen classic Laura, but now we find them in the underworld. Andrews plays a rogue cop who mistakenly kills a suspect and tries to cover up his mistake.

Preminger's artful direction, the black and white cinematography by Joseph LaShelle, the gritty screenplay by Ben Hecht, and the musical score that features the unforgettable melody "Street Scene" make this the epitome of film noir. 95 minutes.  CC. 

Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews

I prefer to watch on DVD with closed captions and features like excellent full commentary by TCM film noir host Eddie Muller, but the film is available for streaming on You Tube. Here is a link to Muller's five minute intro to the film, or see the video below.

###