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Taking note of a recent survey revealing that film noir is currently the hottest and most collectable of all classic movie genres on DVD, Olive Films has smartly delved into their ties with Paramount and unearthed a trio of extremely rare and obscure titles.  Lo and behold – each admirably showcases Hollywood’s mean street fables in the dark shadowy light they so richly deserve.

        When one initially thinks of film noir, Paramount is not the studio that immediately comes to mind.  The home of comedy legends Bob Hope, The Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Mae West, the sophisticated romps of Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder – the baroque works of Josef von Sternberg, the camp epics of Cecil B. DeMille – this is the cinematic world generally conjured up lurking behind that star-crested mountain and clouds…

        Nevertheless…Paramount is responsible for not only propelling film noir to its most stylish heights – but to its most dangerous.  The women have never been more deadly, the violence more graphic.  Think Double Indemnity, The Big Clock, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The File on Thelma Jordon, This Gun For Hire, The Blue Dahlia, The Lost Weekend, Ace in the Hole, and scores of others.  Paramount even crossed-over into the supernatural with its offbeat and shamefully unavailable John Farrow gem, Alias Nick Beal; the public domain Bob Hope fave My Favorite Brunette is probably the best noir spoof ever – underlined by the fact that it was made during the genre’s peak.  Paramount, awash with the German Expressionism so integral to the success of noir, went the distance regarding locales…Dramatic and extensive location work was utilized on a number of these productions – almost unheard of for this time – and, equally important, choosing cities and terrain beyond New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco – proving that modern evil can fester anywhere (both UNION STATION and APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER take great advantage of this).  Chicago Deadline, Ace in the Hole and Desert Fury are prime examples – with the latter pushing the contradiction-of-terms card by being lensed in lush gorgeous Technicolor.

        First up, in chronological order, is 1950’s DARK CITY.  Directed with fierce expressionistic gusto by William Dieterle, this is probably the hen’s tooth of the group.  Almost a lost picture, DARK CITY seemingly disappeared after its network TV debut and sporadic syndication airings in the mid-1960s.  It haunted me when I initially saw it on Saturday Night at the Movies – at times scaring the bejeesus out my ten-year-old brain – with its nightmarish tale of a gambler stalked by an unseen unstoppable terror.  The plot is actually pretty terrific.  A gang of scuzzballs bilk a loudmouth ex-GI out of the money he was supposed to use to buy athletic equipment for his community social club.  The dude offs himself – neglecting to tell his fellow cheating card sharps that his oft-mentioned beloved bro, Sidney is, in actuality a monstrous psychopathic hulk (a dubbed Mike Mazurki) – now intent upon hunting down the plungers and dispatching them in a not-so-nice way.  Before we continue, let’s talk about some of the folk involved.  The producer of this movie was the famed Hal Wallis, probably one of the savvy execs ever to grace the industry.  Wallis, who helped shaped Warner Bros. before realizing that they were giving him a royal screwing, had a fantastic eye for talent.  During his tenure at Paramount, he either signed and/or discovered Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Martin & Lewis, Lizabeth Scott, Elvis Presley, and, for this pic, Charlton Heston.

        Heston’s actually downright amazing in this big budget noir-travaganza.  He’s remarkably self-assured and confident, all the more astounding, as it’s his major screen debut; adding to the pressure is the supporting cast lousy with scene stealers, including Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors and Ed Begley.  Interesting enough, co-slimeball cohorts comprise Jack Webb and Harry Morgan (who also appear as a lowlife duo of killers in APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER).  It’s wild to see Webb constantly belittle and come just shy of bitch-slapping the punchy duh-mented Morgan – years before they would virtually define the L.A. police department on the 1960s Dragnet series.  What’s neat about Heston in DARK CITY is that his performance is genuinely laid back and natural – free of the pomposity that would later characterize his larger than life phony personae.  He also plays an out-an-out scumbag – which, surprisingly, the towering actor is magnificently adept at; too bad he didn’t do more borderline gray roles (1952’s Ruby Gentry comes close) before he “found religion.”

        The women in this movie serve no purpose other than to liven up the posters, stills, lobbycards and trailer (not included).  Scott, who worships Heston, is a human conundrum since there is absolutely no chemistry between them.  Lindfors, introduced late in the proceedings, fares a bit better – and a relationship is started but, bizarrely, is dropped like a hot potato – dismissed with an inappropriate “it wouldn’t have worked out” disclaimer.  Even more outlandish is the finale – with Scott miraculously popping up like Elton John at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding…and Heston declaring his eleventh hour love for her after all…an astonishing moment, as, prior to this her thankless role was pure padding – interspersed (between some wonderful atmospheric set pieces) in a nightclub setting where, throughout the course of the film’s unspooling, the sultry actress manages to warble around 900 tunes from the Paramount songbook.  The only bonding of belief in DARK CITY is Heston and wise all-knowing police chief Dean Jagger, who thinks the player-turned-victim is made of better stuff.  Ideally they should have walked off hand-in-hand:  two right-wing bastards ready to take the world by storm.

        As one might correctly surmise, pacing is the main problem with DARK CITY.  I mean the narrative is truly dark, but the screenwriters just didn’t have to moxie to give it all the twisty creepy storyline demanded.  Don’t get me wrong – what’s good in this movie is really good…and it’s certainly recommended for any noir library.  In short, DARK CITY is a prime example of a movie being better in its parts than as a whole.  Apparently Wallis thought so too – as he refurbished some of the main elements for his 1968 semi-unofficial remake, Five Card Stud, with the urban trappings transplanted to the Old West (and Dean Martin assuming the Heston role).  The disc, like all of the noirs in this group, looks and sounds outstanding.  Velvety black blacks, satiny whites, crystal clear imagery and crisp dynamic audio from pristine 35mm elements.  I doubt any of these pictures could have looked any better upon their original release.  As is often the case, DARK CITY was the one noir in this bunch I was most looking forward to being reacquainted with– and, as it turns out, ended up being  the least interesting of the three.  That said, it’s light years ahead of much of the DVD output these days – and a million miles above its 1997 fecal futuristic namesake starring Jennifer Connelly.

        At 81 minutes, 1950’s fast-moving UNION STATION makes the most of its brisk running time unfolding its tense tale of a sociopath’s doomed kidnapping plot.  Cinematographer-turned-director Rudolph Mate, best known for his noir classic D.O.A. (released the same year), doesn’t let the action stop from the villains’ first miscalculated moment!   The excellent cast, headed by William Holden and Nancy Olson, play it for total no-nonsense, adding to the realism and excitement.  Holden (Paramount’s third choice after being nixed by Alan Ladd and then John Lund) and Olson, had only two months earlier been paired in Billy Wilder’s landmark showbiz noir, Sunset Boulevard.  Another couple of years later, contract assignments like UNION STATION would be ancient history for Holden; in 1953, he would cop the Best Actor honors for Wilder’s Stalag 17 – and from then on he would call the shots having zoomed to the freelance heights of ultra super star.  Paramount itself would soon stop making pictures like this – concentrating more on the packaged “deal” pictures, pickups and slick vehicles for as diverse a group as Audrey Hepburn, Jerry Lewis, Elvis and occasional Technicolor specials for George Pal.  Co-star Barry Fitzgerald, who scored big time in the New York-lensed Naked City, essentially repeats his performance as the supposedly kindly but wily chief inspector.  In one eye-popping sequence that would do Dick Cheney proud, both he and Holden “aggressively interrogate” a thug by heaving him over the platform towards an on-coming train – calmly instructing their underlings to make it look like an accident.  As the grinning maniac gang leader, Lyle Bettger does his best…well…Lyle Bettger impression.  Jan Sterling, Paramount’s slut du jour, does a fine turn (or is is “curve”?) as Bettger’s ho – although the mere circumstance that she’s with such a nutjob immediately pins the bullseye target squarely upon on her silky negligee-ed back.  Her quick liquidation no doubt gave contemporary Gloria Grahame a sigh of relief (Sterling’s finest Paramount moment would come a year later – again courtesy of Billy Wilder – in Ace in the Hole).  As the kidnap victim, Ailene Roberts or, more precisely, her pipes, give Fay Wray a run for her money.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone scream with such zest…or so often.  When Bettger finally slugs her into unconsciousness – ya kinda want to thank him.

        The real star of UNION STATION is the station itself – a “marble”-lous architectural achievement where much of the action takes place.  Just how much of it is the real McDepot and how much was a mock up is up for grabs, but there is a lot of location work in the picture – with spectacular second units stealthily taking viewers in and around the Chicago area.  As mentioned above, the unique use of unusual locales for these Paramounts is a huge plus.  After all, what other noir offers one the chance to see a gunsel meet his end in a cattle stampede?!  Ah, those stockyards!

        The big surprise of the lot is 1951’s APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER.  Directed by Lewis Allen (The Uninvited) and starring Paramount’s resident noir hero, Alan Ladd – the movie positively seethes with sarcasm and vitriol, as it unravels the trials and tribulations of a self-loathing postal inspector who goes undercover to stop a payroll heist.

        Now there are a number of red flags that blast off almost immediately.  First, that the tough guy lead is a postal inspector.  Take heed, fans, it’s just a goofy moniker for a special government detective.  Second, the movie begins with Brit co-star Phyllis Calvert witnessing some rather unsavory underworld shenanigans whilst caught in the pouring rain.  Calvert is a nun – and already we’re gearing up for some precious post-Bells of St. Mary’s mishigas.  Is she going to soften and melt the cold-hearted Ladd (who from his initial appearance makes it clear that he hates his job, co-workers and life in general – MY kind of anti-hero!).  In a mercifully brief cloying later scene, Calvert is seen trying to master the finer points of baseball.  Thank God (no pun) that THIS wasn’t the one with Barry Fitzgerald!  That Jack Webb (again cast as a slimeball, and, this time, as earlier indicated, actually teamed with Harry Morgan – as bummy gang hitmen), decides to kidnap the Sister for the express purpose of blowing her head off is not unnecessarily an unwarranted plot point.  “He must have gone to Catholic School,” deadpanned my wife, herself a survivor of New York’s St. Aloysius.  Paul Stewart plays the smarmy leader, who coasts as the owner of a second rate hotel.  His slinky skank girlfriend is – you guessed it – Jan Sterling, who genuinely lives up to her last name in her role.  The movie’s most memorable and double spit-take moment arrives, courtesy of La Sterling, when she decides to have her way with Ladd, now firmly gang-ensconced as a rogue agent in for part of the robbery booty.  Luckily for Sterling and viewers, this isn’t the only booty he’s out to score – and, in what is virtually a dry hump sex scene (and a verbally potent one for 1951), he willingly arrives at her apartment to ostensibly listen to her hot jazz records; however, as they say in the more refined circles, things are accomplished purely in the interests of science.  It is additionally so reassuring to finally find something that Ladd’s character truly does enjoy.  Both end up guiltless and satisfied – Sterling’s seductive platter music perfectly appending the steamy dialogue prior to the tell-tale pre-penetration fade-out:

LADD: (listens to the music and watches as Sterling gyrates)  “So that’s…Slow Bus to Memphis.”)

STERLING: (moves closer) Can I give ya a lift?

The fact that Sterling turns against Ladd once she discovers his identity – citing that she stays loyal to Stewart in most ways – makes her the most complex and thus fascinating individual in the narrative.

        Ladd, an early advocate of a myriad of (then considered outlandish) physical activities such as martial arts and surfboarding, always strived to make his fight scenes mega-violent – and APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER is without exception (and, no, there isn’t any surfing in this picture).  Nifty gritty Indiana locations give the picture a tremendous harsh edge providing an innumerable boost to the exciting and suspenseful quicksilver climax.  Granted, in my version, Calvert would have turned out to not be a nun – but a hooker, dressed in religious attire to please a particular john – but, hell, you can’t have everything!

1. Mel Neuhaus

 

DARK CITY, UNION STATION, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER:  all B&W, mono, full frame [1.33:1]; dual layer.  Olive Films/Paramount.  $24.95 SRP (each disc).