Film Noir Classic Collection, Volume 5

Released today by Warner Home Video, Film Noir Classic Collection, Volume 5 is a four disc set showcasing eight double-featured films, a sampling of thrillers ranging from the iconic to the obscure.

Disc one is strong, pairing Edward Dmytryk's Cornered (1945) with Anthony Mann's Desperate (1947). Cornered was the second hit teaming of star Dick Powell with director Dmytryk, and it followed their private-eye noir masterpiece, Murder, My Sweet, by a year. In this outing, Powell is a Royal Canadian Air Force vet doggedly tracking his wife's killer across the globe. To read Rick's in-depth review of Cornered at the Cafe last month, click here.

Desperate was a breakout film for director Anthony Mann, the first in a series of late-'40s noirs that launched his career. Mann's signature is his strong visual style, and this fast-paced story of an innocent man on the run is told seamlessly, boosted by stylish set-pieces (including the classic of a fierce back room beating that sets an overhead light swaying), a smart script and George Diskant's cinematography. Steve Brodie, as magnetic as he is powerful in the role of an honest truck driver turned fall guy, delivers a stand-out performance. With creamy Audrey Long as his bride, menacing Raymond Burr as his nemesis and Jason Robards, Sr., as the cynical/affable police lieutenant. Desperate, a staple at noir festivals and Mann retrospectives, is one of the gems of this collection.

Disc two is more eclectic and opens with a fact-based crime expose, The Phenix City Story (1955), directed by Phil Karlson. Veteran LA newsman Clete Roberts kicks it off with a 13+ minute news report plus interviews. Then the dramatized story of the 1954 assassination of an Alabama politician begins. It's a brutal (with a capital 'B') chunk of history. With John McIntyre, Richard Kiley and the future Mrs. Bing Crosby, Kathryn Grant. Next up, Dial 1119 (1950), a mad-killer-on-the-loose tale directed by Gerald Mayer (Louis B's nephew). The crazed killer (Marshall Thompson) holes up in a neighborhood bar and holds its staff and patrons hostage during a police stand-off. Virginia Field takes a nifty turn as a barfly/seductress and William Conrad appears briefly as "Chuckles," the bartender. Otherwise, this one's mostly interesting for its depiction of the era's bar culture and attitudes toward the "insanity defense."

Disc three features the formidable down-and-dirty Armored Car Robbery (1950). Taut and intense, it runs a very fast 68 minutes - that's no surpise with action/suspense master Richard Fleischer directing. Gravel-voiced noir stalwart Charles McGraw stars as a grimly determined LAPD lieutenant bent on avenging the murder of his partner during an armored car robbery. William Talman, a few years before he became a familiar face as D.A. Hamilton Burger on TV's "Perry Mason," is chillingly reptilian as the heist mastermind; hard-boiled, slightly worn femme fatale Adele Jergens isn't quite Virginia Mayo, but she's not bad at all. With solid Steve Brodie, this time as the getaway car driver. Armored Car Robbery is ferocious noir that works from start to finish; the film ends with buddy moment as the jaded lieutenant shares a cynical laugh with his new (and newly manned-up) partner. I imagine Jean-Pierre Melville must've watched this a couple of times before he made Bob le flambeur (1955).

Also included on disc three is Crime in the Streets (1956), a juvenile delinquent drama directed by Don Siegel, starring John Cassavetes. The story originally aired as a teleplay and the film looks and feels like Golden Age TV. Cassavetes' performance as an overheated teenage gang leader on the verge of mayhem is the main reason to watch this one. He's spellbinding. With Sal Mineo and James Whitmore.

Disc four offers the final double-feature, Deadline at Dawn (1946) and Backfire (1950).

Deadline at Dawn, adapted from a novel by Cornell Woolrich/aka/William Irish (Rear Window), boasts a screenplay by Clifford Odets and is the only film New York theater legend Harold Clurman ever directed. It got my attention with an opening shot of a sleeping woman's face...and the fly crawling over it...Bill Williams stars as a corn-fed sailor on shore leave who may be guilty of murder and has only till dawn to clear himself. Susan Hayward plays the taxi dancer who helps him out and Paul Lukas is their cabbie sidekick. While quirky dialogue and various red herrings pique interest, it's primarily evocative cinematography (Nicholas Musuraca) and Susan Hayward's vibrant performance that keep things moving.

Backfire stars Gordon MacRae before he rose to film stardom in a pair of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals. It features two future Oscar winners, Edmond O'Brien and Ed Begley, plus Virginia Mayo - this time as a good girl, MacRae's nurse. Vincent Sherman directed and, though the film is erratic, it's enjoyable...like a carnival ride. MacRae is effective as a fresh-faced veteran who dreams of a farm of his own as he recovers in a VA hospital. When his Army buddy (O'Brien) disappears and is implicated in a murder, he sets out to clear his pal's name. The flashback-driven story twists and turns and, oddly, the final plot twist may be given away by images on the product package and DVD. Also starring Viveca Lindfors and Dane Clark. Noteworthy original music by Daniele Amfitheatrof who scored Max Ophuls' legendary Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948).

From 2004 - 2007, Warner Home Video released a film noir collection every July, like clockwork. Then nothing...for three years. It's not surprising, then, that Film Noir Classic Collection, Volume 5 is being greeted with much fanfare. We, the classic film loving people, must have our noir!

There are two must-see films in this collection, Anthony Mann's Desperate and Richard Fleischer's Armored Car Robbery. Also worthy are Edward Dmytryk's Cornered and Harold Clurman's Deadline at Dawn. Vincent Sherman's Backfire goes off the rails but has enough B-star power and plot packed into it to keep it entertaining. Once the news story and interviews end, Phil Karlson's The Phenix City Story begins to build. It's violent, but fascinating. A historical footnote adds interest: After the candidate (John McIntyre) was murdered, his son (Richard Kiley) ran for Attorney General of Alabama in his place. The son, John Patterson, won and went on to become Alabama's youngest governor.

(available on DVD and Blu-ray)

Dick Powell Portrays a Man Consumed by Vengeance in the Film Noir Classic "Cornered"

Warning: This review contains plot spoilers.

This sharp, downbeat post-World War II revenge tale reteamed director Edward Dmytryk and star Dick Powell, who had scored a hit with the previous year's better-known Murder, My Sweet. That film, adapted from Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely, transformed Powell from a musical-comedy leading man into a wisecracking, cynical private detective. While that film evolved into a genre classic, the lesser-known Cornered has garnered the attention of film noir fans who recognized it a thematic predecessor to lavishly-praised movies like The Third Man.

Powell plays another world-weary character on the trail of a murderer in Cornered. As Lieutenant Laurence Gerard, he provides an intense portrait of an unstable man whose war scars and pent-up grief have eaten away the normalcy in his life. The only thing that keeps him alive is his obsession to avenge his wife's death.

The opening scenes are filled with background information. We quickly learn that pilot Gerard was shot down over France during the war. After being rescued by Resistance fighters, he married a local girl named Celeste. The couple was forced to part after 20 days of happiness--he subsequently became a prisoner of war and she was executed by a French fascist leader named Marcel Jarnac (Luther Adler).

After the war, the discharged Gerard returns to the ruins of his wife's village. Celeste's father tells Gerard that Jarnac is officially listed as deceased. But he believes that the ruthless killer, whom none of the villagers ever saw, staged his death and escaped. Gerard, his emotional emptiness temporarily replaced with vengeance, begins his relentless quest for Jarnac.

Dick Powell as Gerard.

He ingeniously tracks the "dead" man's widow to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and finds a city populated by opportunists, European castaways, war criminals, and a handful of people seeking to expose the lingering threat of fascism. This latter group tries to get Gerard to join them in exposing Jarnac, but he insists on setting his own trap. Unfortunately, Gerard's plans backfire and he finds himself at the opposite end of the fascist leader's pistol in an abandoned dock warehouse. But before Jarnac can kill his adversary, Gerard attacks him and beats him viciously. When the anti-fascist group arrives at the scene, it finds a disoriented Gerard rambling about how he could have killed Jarnac, but didn't. However, a quick examination of the body reveals that Gerard literally beat Jarnac to death with his bare hands. The anti-fascists encourage Gerard to escape, but he chooses to face criminal charges and provide the means for exposing other war criminals in Argentina.

The brutality of the ending is unexpected for an American film of the 1940s. After all, Gerard executes Jarnac without a trial by punching him repeatedly in the head. Screenwriter John Paxton tries to justify Gerard's act by showing Jarnac's ruthlessness in the same scene. After killing a former accomplice, Jarnac shoots the man six more times and remarks casually: "That face will be difficult to recognize now." Dmytryk also softens the impact of Gerard's brutality by dissolving from the beating to a shot of the emotionally-unbalanced Gerard holding his head in his hands--completely unaware of the deadly nature of his act of violence.

Writer Paxton and actor Powell create a convincing character in Gerard, although the occasional wisecracks seem more appropriate for a private eye than a revenge-minded husband. Still, for the most part, the script provides Powell with strong material. When an attractive woman shows an unsubtle interest in Gerard, he tells her about his wife: "I can't remember exactly what she looked like. War does something to your memory. You forget the way people look and remember the important things. That kind of remembering keeps you warm on cold nights."

Powell and Walter Slezak.

Powell receives excellent support from Walter Slezak, perfectly cast as Melchoir Incza, who introduces himself as a "professional guide" (though he adds: "Not a tourist guide in the strictest sense"). Slezak employs craftiness and charm to keep the true nature of his opportunistic character unknown for most of his screen time.

Cornered holds up surprisingly well today, working as both a tense revengeful tale and a reminder of the painful healing which was necessary following World War II (making it similar, in that sense, to The Third Man). It's a shame that Powell, Slezak and Dmytryk did not team up for another film. But just two years later, Dmytryk was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and branded as one of the "Hollywood Ten"--a label which caused him to flee the U.S. for Great Britain. Ironically, that same year, he received an Oscar nomination for directing Crossfire.