Dude, Where's My Blog? Brighton Rock Redux!

Apologies for not having posted in a long time. This was due to a confluence of issues, both real and imagined, and a real good dose of negligence.

I have missed reporting on a lot of noir events, such as another Roxie noir festival. I haven't even publicized my own, recent, presentation at the SF Academy of Arts as part of the Film Club presided over by Joseph Lim. I would like to thank Joseph for giving me the opportunity to present Brighton Rock (1947) based on the Graham Greene novel published in 1938. I would also like to thank the many people who attended and those who wrote before, with suggestions, and those who wrote afterward, with valuable criticisms.

Brighton Rock is an outstanding example of British film noir, and although it lacks the grandiosity (or because of it) of another Greene adaptation, The Third Man, director John Boulton's fairly close adherence to the source material, his economical and precise directing, and the brilliant cast, which includes Richard Attenborough in his breakout role, Hermione Badderly as Ida Arnold, Carol Marsh as Rose, and William Hartnell as Dallow.

Brighton Rock is being remade and will have Helen Mirren playing Ida. It appears that this will be released either this year or next, so keep an eye out for it.

"She was good ... and he was damned: they were made for each other." (Brighton Rock, 1938).

Below, is my pre-film presentation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVsWxVUFIkE

Embrace This!

Good Grief Herr Doctor -- it's the New Year, and a new decade. Now is a great time to remember last year's resolutions (neglected), and to makes lists of things. The end of the year is also a good time to sell off your losing stocks and offset your capital gains (ooops -- that is a different blog). Ok, what other lists do we compile? Class? That's right -- lists of films that may win some Academy Award. Movies, such as the cartoonish Avatar, beloved by Roger Ebert & Co., and in 3-D nonetheless, promise to run away with the awards. But we here, those of us who live in Noir Central, we'll have none of that. The movie, the very best movie of 2009 is ... Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos) by Pedro Almodóvar. And Penelope Cruz had a starring role in it. That alone sends my normally tempered [sic] sexual barometer on the rise. And Almodóvar, the gay and Spanish director, as always paints a picture of a land that could only exist in his mediterranean imagination. Bad things happen, but all is filmed in sun drenched colors and (almost) everyone lives and dies an optimist.

Critic after critic mention that this is Almodóvar's noir film. Is it? During the course of the film, Rebel Without a Cause director Nicholas Ray was mentioned and there was a play on Ray's name, and a few other analogies. There was even a mystery -- of sorts. And a crime. And a femme, but was she a femme fatale? Was there an anti-hero? What about the use of chiarascuro lighting? No? Well, there were some noir elements. I won't reveal too much in case you haven't seen it yet. But the film is not a noir and the mention of Nicholas Ray, both in passing, and in the disaffected character of Ray-X does not make it so. The film is, quite firmly, and more than anything else, an Almodóvar film. Much as a Hitchcock film can be described as hitchcockian, Almodóvar's films ought to be described as almodovarian.

The Academy Awards, also known as Oscars, have little to do with the quality of the picture, and more to do with current trends, popularity, and money. Last year's best picture winner was Slumdog Millionaire. While it was a fun movie, it was hardly the best film of the year, and was, in many ways, either an homage or a satire of Bollywood films. This "Indian" movie was directed by Danny Boyle (an Irish man), and written by Simon Beaufoy (the British screenwriter who also wrote The Full Monty). There were better movies in 2009, which is a statement of fact, and not meant to deprive Slumdog of its millions. It was a nice, fun movie that played off of Bollywood's tropes rather successfully. The other nominations for 2009 Best Picture were: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, and The Reader. Missing from that list was The Wrestler.

The best movie of this year may be Los Abrazos Rotos. Now, does that mean it will make billions in the box office or that it will be best film of the year? No. It means the exact opposite. It means the chamomille swilling cognoscenti (people who don't read books such as Sarah Palin call them the "elite") will talk for as long as they are allowed in calling such a film great and so on. Those films, for the "elite", belong in the Best Foreign Language Film category, where all the rest of the films in the entire world, are grouped. So, if it has subtitles -- that's where it goes. Oddly enough, the UK is placed in the Foreign Language category, which would be appropriate for their prolific number of Welsh, Manxian, and Celtic language films. Italy has won the most foreign language awards (10), followed closely by France (9). Spain ties Japan with four awards each. India has never received an Academy Award. Nor has China, although that appears to have much to do with byzantine Oscar rules and the fact that China is an oligarchy (or autocracy) that simply cannot allow a film director to direct a film without state approval and involvement (which is against the Academy rules).

No noir film has ever won a Best Picture Academy Award. Nor has a science fiction -- yet (perhaps Avatar will change that). If we accept the somewhat general consenus that noir films were made in the years between 1941 (the year of The Maltese Falcon and High Sierra) and ended with Orson Welles' Touch of Evil in 1958, then a noir will never win. However, Polanski's 1974 Chinatown is considered a modern noir, which just goes to show that filmic appellations, like awards, are uncertain things.

The New Year is also a harbinger of the Castro Film Noir Festival. Unfortunately, Harry Belafonte, who was scheduled to appear, will not be able to do so due to other commitments.

The 8th Annual San Francisco Film Noir Festival runs from January 22nd to the 31st.
Here is the schedule (films marked with an asterisk are not available on DVD):
Friday, January 22

PITFALL (1948) Dir. André De Toth, archival 35mm print
LARCENY (1948) Dir. George Sherman, brand new 35mm print
Saturday, January 23, Matinée

FLY BY NIGHT (1942) Dir. Robert Siodmak*
DEPORTED (1950) Dir. Robert Siodmak*
Saturday, January 23, Evening

CRY DANGER (1951) Dir. Robert Parrish, newly restored*
THE MOB (1951) Dir. Robert Parish*
Sunday, January 24

NIAGARA (1953) Dir. Henry Hathaway
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950) Dir. John Huston
Monday, January 25

SUSPENSE (1946) Dir. Frank Tuttle
THE GANGSTER (1947) Dir. Gordon Wiles*
Tuesday, January 26

THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946) Dir. Tay Garnett
HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951) Dir. John Berry*
Wednesday, January 27

ONE GIRLS' CONFESSION (1953) Dir. Hugo Haas*
WOMEN'S PRISON (1955) Lewis Seiler*
Thursday, January 28

RED LIGHT (1949) Dir. Roy Del Ruth*
WALK A CROOKED MILE (1948) Dir. Gordon Douglas*
Friday, January 29

SLATTERY'S HURRICANE (1949) Dir. André de Toth*
PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953) Dir. Samuel Fuller
Saturday January 30, Matinée

INSIDE JOB (1946) Dir. Jean Yarbrough*
ARMORED CAR ROBBERY (1950) Dir. Richard Fleischer*
Saturday, January 30.

HUMAN DESIRE (1954) Dir. Fritz Lang*
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959) Dir. Robert Wise

Sunday January 31

ESCAPE IN THE FOG (1945) Dir. Budd Boetticher*
A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) Dir. George Stevens

And many thanks to Will Scovill for mentioning that a musical is being made of Nightmare Alley, which starred Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell. Part of the story of Nightmare Alley story was shamelessly borrowed by best-selling "Water for Elephants" author Sara Gruen (without attribution).

--
Almodóvar did win Best Foreign Language Film with Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About my Mother).

This Mortal Coil

Millvina Dean, in June of this year, passed away, at the age of 97 in a nursing home in Southampton, England. She was the last survivor of the RMS Titanic. An era did not pass with her. That era, the era in which people crossed the ocean in ships, before commercial passenger airlines (and luggage charges), before the New Deal, when all decent men wore hats outside and removed them at the table, and where indecent men were doing the kinds of things that Tiger Woods has been accused (some things never change) -- that era had passed long ago. It faded slowly, with each new technical invention, with each new political invention, with each new atrocity and triumph. If you live long enough, you will see the world change and the people who defined your world will, inexorably, go the way of all flesh. Cynics believe each change, in some way degenerates us. Children, with hand-held calculators and digital clocks never learned to perform arithmetic or how to read a clock (the big hand is on the ...). Latin is not taught in schools, and children text their friends at all (mostly inappropriate) times. Optimists, we've all met one, inform us that Latin was boring, clocks no longer require hands, and calculators have freed our minds with the minutiae of multiplication tables so that young folk could master differential calculus.

As film noir fans, we are familiar with the passing of our favorite actors. Every year, there are fewer and fewer. Today, Jennifer Jones died. She was 90. Jones was not really a noir actress, although she did co-star in Beat the Devil, along with Bogart, Peter Lorre, Gina Lollobrigida and which was directed by John Huston and co-scripted by Truman Capote. Based on that alone, you'd want to rush out to the store (or send your request to Netfl*x) and get what, on paper, sounds like a masterpiece. Life can disappoint us when it comes to such expectations.

Ms. Jones was married to David O. Selznick. When they met, the role of Mrs. Selznick was occupied by Irene, daughter of Louis Mayer, but Hollywood never allowed one's current marital status to interfere with what might potentially follow -- that glittery new future of greener pastures on the other side of that proverbial fence.

Jennifer Jones had a long life. In casual conversation, I recently mentioned that Humphrey Bogart died at the age of 57 (forty years short of Millvina). But, the retort was, he really lived. I was thinking the same thing. There is a pseudo-spiritualist who believes that we must capture each moment and live in the now, not in a carpe diem, sense, but in some deeper, non-defined sense that only a spiritualist can evoke (and which tends to keep them in limos and mistresses as long as they can keep a place on the Times Best Seller list). But a physicist will put lie to the "now" concept. There is no now. Time, like the calculus of space under a curve, is a description, not an absolute value. We tend to think that the past grows and the future becomes shorter. Indeed, it does. For us. That, however, is not a natural absolute. Time does not pass. We do. But before we pass, assuming we live to a certain age, we will witness the passing of Bogart, Huston, and Peter Lorre. The movies and the stories of their lives will continue until such a time as described by physicists and spiritualists when all that is will be no longer. Until then, we can relive a past (not necessarily our own) through the magic of DVDs and retro houses.

Winter Noir

If you see just one Sherlock Holmes movie this year, it should be ... Sherlock Jr. and The Goat, directed by and starring Buster Keaton. It plays at 7 pm, on December 12th at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco (for you out of towners) as part of their Silent Film Festival. There looks to be some interesting movies in this batch, including a Tod (Freaks) Browning directed movie starring Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore called West of Zanzibar.

Also playing at the Castro, from December 16th to the 23rd, is the Alfred Hitchcock festival. The Castro will be showing 13 of Hitchcock's films. Most will be shown as double features. See http://www.castrotheatre.com/p-list.html for all the gory details.

And as if that weren't enough, brace yourself for the New Year, as January rings in the Noir Festival with special guests, special speakers, special projectors, special popcorn and lots of other special things. It will be special. More on that later.

But, you've been wondering, how can I be in a noir? Good question. Joseph Lim, has been forging ahead with his film project and needs extras this Sunday, Dec. 6th. Please send Joseph an email first (Reply by email to jozeph.lim@lycos.com, with subject line "noir character") if you intend on participating. Details follow:

Location: House of Shields, 39 New Montgomery, btwn Market St. & Mission St.
DATE & TIME: SUNDAY - 6 DEC. 2009, 4 PM to 8pm.

We seek:
LADIES & GENTLEMEN (many) attired in their own evening wear, 1940s vintage era suits or tuxedos, ladies' evening dresses or suits - all having a good time, while our characters meet. This would be a jazz club setting: suits with ties, handkerchief in pockets, optional hats on.

Extras to portray MUSICIANS also in own PERIOD CLOTHES (SUITS & TIES) with INSTRUMENTS, such as an upright bass, vintage electric guitar.

We will have a hair and makeup department standing by, and a wardrobe department for last minute touches and review.
But all noir characters attending, must be in their own period clothes.

Noirvember

Welcome to Noirvember. Noirvember is the month in which all the long lost promise and premise of, arguably, John Huston's greatest movie, based on, arguably, the greatest short story in the English language, and a long, long wait for this to be released on DVD and we have ... The Dead.

As mentioned in earlier posts, Huston's last movie, based on the last story in James Joyce's Dubliners was more than a cinematic masterpiece. It was a transcendent work of genius. It is a story of deep despair, of love and youth -- lost dramatically and romantically (the death of Michael Fury), lives just wasted away, and the protagonist, poor Gabriel Conroy who is the debased messenger of man's unrealized desires. All this, in a single work of fiction, transcribed to screen by the very same man who brought us Treasure of the Sierra Madre in which his father co-starred, and who cast his daughter (Anjelica Huston) as Gretta (Gabriel's wife) all while he himself was dying. Finally, this movie is available on DVD! Was it released by Criterion? They would seem the likely candidate, but after I wrote them on the subject, they were kind enough to respond with some worthless pabulum that indicated they had no idea of the value of the movie. Oddly enough, Lionsgate has released it. Go figure. In any event, if you have not read Dubliners, then you must. Then watch the DVD. Buy one for yourself; your loved one; me (kidding -- I've already ordered mine).

Ok ... Noirvember also brings us "Film Noir Classics: Volume 1". Now, for those of us who've gone out and purchased other noir collections, you have probably been somewhat disappointed. Like the movies of old, you got some gems packaged with some stuff that gave B movies a bad name. Ok, let's be blunt ... studios were maximizing their profits on movies that were made 50 years ago. The people who put the packages together didn't know shit about noir or film and no one cared. But we bought them anyways because there was always some good stuff in there. Well, this package is different. There are five movies, from Columbia (smells of the Roxie show) which include The Lineup and The Sniper (both recently shown at the Roxie). 5 Against the House (1955), directed by Phil Karlson is the rarity of the bunch. Karlson, who also directed Phenix City Story, and Kansas City Confidential, directed this movie starring Kim (Miss Deepfreeze -- she was once a refrigerator spokesperson) Novak. Oh yeah Brian (Uncle Bill Davis) Keith also stars. Ummm ... Murder by Contract and Fritz Lang's The Big Heat are also included in this package. So, if you don't already have these (and I don't see how you can) -- get them while they are still available.

What else is new? You can buy North by Northwest on Blu-ray if you are so inclined. That's hardly worth mentioning since it brings absolutely nothing to the table except for some profits for studio heads who can't figure out how to make a movie as good as North by Northwest anymore.

Oh, and The Prisoner, perhaps the only existentialist spy television series, which originally was conceived by and starred Patrick McGoohan, is coming to television (AMC). This time around Ian McKellan plays Number Two. James Caviezel, will be playing Number Six. He seems to lack the sheer forcefulness and conviction of McGoohan. Can it equal or surpass the original?

Things that are just Ok

September is over. And with it, the conclusion of another Roxie noir series. The weather is beginning to cool down a bit. The days are beginning to grow shorter. Someday it may even rain, but that is in the distant future when the noir series comes to the Castro. A lot of things happened over the summer, and, in general, it was a good time.

October is that middle month. It is not the celebratory end-of-the-year Christmas, Channukah, New Year's Eve party-fest of December, or the preparatory Thanksgiving gourmandism. Sure, there is Halloween. What of it? Well, there is Shocktoberfest. Or, Schlocktoberfest, if you will. You decide. I may stay home.

So, for now, it is time to reflect on things that were less than great, things that were just ok, and things that just plain sucked.

The Roxie Noir series was good, but not great. As one poster mentioned, she walked out on a film, and in my own estimation, there were some very good films, but others that I view as more of a curiosity. A noir curiosity perhaps, and while not necessarily deserving the high accolades we enjoy heaping on some of our favorite noirs (In a Lonely Place, High Sierra, DOA, Dark Passages, etc...), some were just ok. I put Screaming Mimi in that category. And there are things that I would have done better if I were running the show. At least, that's what I claim (not having to prove myself). At least there was a show. What about the Danger & Despair's shows? Where have they been? The complete absence of any D&D screenings, during the summer, quite honestly falls under the "sucks" category of things that never happened for no good reason. Grab your pen or keyboard and complain. Complaining never helped me, but maybe I'm not very good at it.

I recently finished reading "Night Has a Thousand Eyes," by Cornell Woolrich. That was just ok. Sure, it was a page turner -- most of the time. But at other times, I just wondered what the hell was going on and what was it that I did not understand. Should I flip back to the beginning of the chapter? Is it me? No. Some additional editing would not have hurt. The movie, which starred Edward G. Robinson, was purported to also have been just ok (according to the New York Times review). We want Cornell Woolrich and Edward G. Robinson to be excellent -- at least I do.

I went to the movies last night and saw Pandorum -- a sci-fi/horror thriller. It was ok. Maybe it was a 2.5 out of 5. It was not great. It was not bad. It firmly held the middle ground.

There is, however, a bright and shiny future awaiting all of us. But even that has a less-than-silver lining. What is with Sony and the US movie going crowd? It is hardly fair to call Broken Embraces (Los abrzosos rotos) a new movie. The "latest" Pedro Almodovar movie (this one with a noir flair) has been seen everywhere in the world. Except in the United States. (People, grab your Bitchforks and Torches and march upon the Sony HQ). The film will open in November in New York City and in December in LA. Eventually, it will open in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it may never get to Canton, Ohio. People: the movie has Penelope Cruz in it. Isn't that worth something?

Whew. And now for something completely different. Thank you to our man in the field, Peter L. for bringing the following to our attention:
The trailer of “Death Hunt" cue from Bernard Herrmann's score for Nicholas Ray's noir film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl1XuCC6xmc

Then, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DehXokWadu0

I recently purchased a Hadda Brooks double CD, called I've Got News For You. That firmly falls in the not mediocre, most excellent, touching and ephemeral category. If you can find a copy, I highly recommend it. (See my previous posting on Hadda Brooks.)

Also, Joseph Lim, who has written for this blog, is directing a noir. I look forward to the eventual screening.

Noir on the Run

... been really busy, but I've been attending some of the Roxie showings. In general, the attendance looks good. San Francisco really does seem to have a very consistent and dedicated group of noir-philes as I recognize many of the same faces from the Danger & Despair group, as well as attendees at the Pacific Film Archive and the San Francisco Noir Foundation.

So, last night I saw a great lineup. Both movies starred Glenn Ford. Anyways, last night's movies were: Human Desire (1954), and Framed (1947). The Danger & Despair group has shown Framed, and it is a very nice noir with Janis Carter playing the bad girl. Human Desire, however, was directed by Fritz Lang, and co-starred Gloria Grahame as the femme fatale. So it doesn't get much better than that.

While watching Framed, I couldn't help but think that Ford just really did not seem to have the screen presence or charisma, or chemistry with Carter, to succeed in this role. I've seen this film before and I felt the same way the first time. In Human Desire, he seemed more plausible. Could this be because he was older? Or that Fritz Lang was directing?

If you have a chance, do drop by the Roxie. It is conveniently located near the 16th St. Bart Station in San Francisco. Tell 'em Robert sent you. That and a dime won't get you a ride on the Subway.

New Roxie Noirfest Schedule

Once again, the Roxie is showing noir. "THE BEST OF COLUMBIA NOIR: Twenty-two Gems From The Vaults Of Columbia Pictures. All shows in beautiful 35mm archival prints!

Visit the Roxie website for more info: http://www.roxie.com/events/details.cfm?eventID=80E856EB-ACC8-FC5D-A2373DFE6FB28ADB

The Roxie is located in the the sunny downtown Mission District of San Francisco.

Here's the schedule:
Thursday, September 17:
JOHNNY O’CLOCK (1947)
BLIND SPOT (1947)

Friday, Sept, 18:
THE WHISTLER (1944)
THE SOUL OF A MONSTER (1944)

Saturday, Sept 19:
KNOCK ON ANY DOOR (1949)
CONVICTED (1950)

Sunday, Sept. 20:
PUSHOVER (1954)
DRIVE A CROOKED ROAD (1954)

Monday, Sept 21:
SO DARK THE NIGHT (1946)
MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (1945)

Tuesday, Sept 22:
HUMAN DESIRE (1954)
FRAMED (1947)

Thursday, Sept 24:
THE LINE UP (1958)
THE SNIPER (1952)

Friday, Sept 25:
BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN (1950)
THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK (1950)

Saturday, Sept 26:
THE CRIMSON KIMONO (1959)
SCREAMING MIMI (1958)

Sunday & Monday, Sept 27 & 28:
THE BURGLAR (1957)
NIGHTFALL (1957)

Tuesday & Wednesday, Sept 29 & 30:
MURDER BY CONTRACT (1958)
CITY OF FEAR (1959)

The Hadda Brooks Magnet

I was recently shopping for CDs at Arhoolie Records on San Pablo Ave in El Cerrito, where I picked up two CDs: Hooker N' Heat Live, and Hooker and Canned Heat. I also picked up a DVD documentary on Holwin' Wolf. And while I'm at the counter, I see a refrigerator magnet. This particular magnet featured Hadda Brooks -- Queen of the Boogie Woogie. Where did you get it? Do you have more? I mean how obscure is Hadda Brooks today?

Who was Hadda Brooks? If you love noir, you may recognize the name from the opening credits of "In a Lonely Place." Nicholas Ray gave Brooks (also spelled Brooke) an opening credit despite the fact that she must have had less than five minutes screen time.

Brooks was the first African American woman to host her own television show, in 1957 in Los Angeles, which featured her at piano. She was granted an audience with Pope Pius XII, and sang at the inauguration of Hawaii into statehood in 1959.

In 2007 a documentary "Queen of the Boogie", directed by Austin Young & Barry Pett was introduced to the Los Angeles Silver Lake Film Festival.

Hadda Brooks died in 2002 at the age of 86. She lives today, not only as a historical figure, an icon amongst African American women, not only as the Queen of the Boogie, but as a brave and colorful refrigerator magnet.

Hits by Hadda Brooks:

• Swingin' the Boogie
  
• That's My Desire
• Romance in the Dark
• Don't Take Your Love From Me
• Say It with a Kiss

Inherent Blog

Inherent Vice is the name of Thomas Pynchon's latest novel. And according to the reviewers (and the publisher Penguin Press), it is a noir novel. Pynchon (72) does the voice over for a promotional video. Check it out here. What's that, you say? You've never read a Pynchon novel, or you've tried, but you couldn't (or wouldn't) finish it? That may not be a problem. According to Joseph Bottum (no, I didn't make up that name), in his Wall Street Journal column: "'Inherent Vice' is the closest to beach reading that Thomas Pynchon has ever produced." And, for Pynchon, the novel weighs in at a very svelte 369 pages.

The story takes place in 1970s Los Angeles and tells the story of Doc Sportello, a hippy PI. Oh, and his business is called LSD Investigations (supposed to stand for Location, Surveillance, Detection -- yeah right). Sounds interesting to me. And, for what it's worth, according to the Wikipedia entry, "inherent vice" is: "a legal tenet referring to a "hidden defect (or the very nature) of a good or property which of itself is the cause of (or contributes to) its deterioration, damage, or wastage." The cover price is $27.95, but you can find it for less on Amazon. At the moment, Amazon appears to be selling it for $16.77 plus shipping.

In other noir news, thank you Mr. Johnson for reminding me of the Pacific Film Archive noir showings in Berkeley. Having a problem understanding their website? Stephen Johnson to the rescue (but God help you find parking).

According to Mr. Johnson: This Friday August 14 they are showing Anthony Mann's "Raw Deal" and also "No Man of Her Own" with Barbara Stanwyck in the great but little shown Cornell Woolrich movie based on his I Married a Dead Man novel. Saturday the 15th they show the Italian noir political thriller "Investigation of a Citizen above Suspicion" (1970) about a super arrogant, authoritarian top police investigator who happens to be also a psycho murderer in the paranoiac days of the Red Brigades. On Sunday August 30, they show "Point of Order," the documentary about McCarthy, and also the noir drama "The Prowler" directed by Joseph Losey who was soon afterward driven out of Hollywood by McCarthyism. In September/October they will show the early noir movies of Otto Preminger including "Laura", "Fallen Angel", "Whirlpool", "Where the Sidewalk Ends", and "Angel Face" Wow! what a slambang series!

And as a brief follow-up, yes, GI Joe was a box office hit. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, there were no critics screening for GI Joe because ... well, it sucked. But Paramount figured the summer crowd wouldn't care, and they were right. Some critics, nonetheless, did what critics do. Geoff Berkshire of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "That G.I. Joe is completely ridiculous should come as a surprise to no one. That it's not an outright disaster might be a different story." My work is done here.

More Hammett Please

[I'd like to thank Joseph Lim of the SF Academy of Arts Film club and a previous speaker at the Danger & Despair Knitting Circle for contributing the following piece on Dashiell Hammett's Murphy bed. Stay tuned for news regarding the latest Thomas Pynchon novel, and the Pacific Film Archive series. - Robert]

Saving Dashiell Hammett's San Francisco apartment, no doubt, would be a worthy cause - a treasured artifact in this city's literary history. But how to do it? Immediately, declaration of the residence as a historical monument of historical and monumental proportions would be a start.

This, and what I hope to call a "burgeoning noir history city tour" - might also help. It can't hurt. There ought to be film noir guides, dressed in period attire, who show visitors many key and interesting film noir, crime (true crime or fictional), pertinent locations - where noir was shot or a dark story took place. Perhaps there may be stops at a "speak" - short for speakeasy - so to speak (and easy for you to say?). Even after Prohibition, a place where one speaks easily on covert locations - existed into the noir epoch and to this day. Fictional and sometimes occasionally nonfiction gangsters frequented these gin joints. And of all of them, she had to walk into mine. She could have, just as easily, walked into yours. She was easy that way. But surely, I digress.

One such noir city tour stop must be Samuel Dashiell Hammett's former apartment. Photos must be snapped - with maybe a shot of someone's girlfriend briefly reclined on his murphy bed? Proceeds go to preservation of this and/or other hardboiled literary historical sites (and other murphy beds). Paid for by the committee to save Hammett's murphy bed.

Perhaps an idea or dream only. But it came to me, as I tapped away on my updated typewriter (called a computer), my cigarette dangling devilishly out of a mouth corner, the ashes piling up on my cheap hotel carpet. I poured another gin into a glass, then coughed - due to tuberculosis - while my hardboiled detective (based on my life's experiences as an ex-Pinkerton detective) was being born. This isn't my life, but Dashiell Hammett's, and in that apartment, during business hours, before using that murphy bed.

This was also visualised in the 1982 Francis Coppola produced film, Hammett, based on the novel of the same title. However, in my film critic's opinion, while the movie was occasionally noirish in quality, and Frederic Forrest's portrayal was fantastic, the rest of the picture could have been better. It theorises scenes and characters from The Maltese Falcon inspired by Hammett's detective work (i.e., this one last job, just when he thought he was out of it for good).

Another interesting portrayal of Hammett was performed by Jason Robards in the 1977 film, "Julia" - a supporting role as Hammett the writer who was having an affair with the playwright Lillian Hellman. Multi-layered and complex, this was the portrayal which showed all the experience, ruggedness, and "hardboiled-ness" of the man in a few scenes. This I recommend.

Until the next blog entry, this is Joseph Lim, of the Academy of Art Film Club - blog correspondent - signing off - for now. - Jospeph Lim

Roxie Redux, Brit Noir, the First Doctor, Summer Blockbusters and the Demise of the Critics

The first noir screenings were so popular (i.e., an actual audience showed up), that the Roxie has, wisely, decided on running a second show in September. Elliot Lavine will once again be hosting. From the Roxie webpage: "Now, in answer to the huge demand from noir enthusiasts all over the Bay Area, Elliot Lavine has programmed a stupendous ten day fest of noir classics and curios from the famed vaults of Columbia Pictures. A total of twenty great films - all presented in beautiful 35mm studio vault prints---and none currently available on DVD." For more info, see: http://roxie.com/events/details.cfm?eventid=80E856EB-ACC8-FC5D-A2373DFE6FB28ADB

Thanks to Ned D. for informing me of the NYC Brit Noir showings. Yes, that's William Hartnell with Richard Attenborough in the photo in the 1947 film "Brighton Rock". Extra points if you know what television show for which Hartnell is most famous. Hartnell also appeared in one of the popular "Carry On" episodes. Here's a hint: Hartnell is instantly recognizable by leagues of Brit Sci Fi fans. "Brighton Rock" was based on the Graham Greene novel of the same title (published in 1938). Greene, of course, also wrote the screenplay for that most famous of all Brit noirs: "The Third Man" (the novella was published afterwards). See http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/07/30/arts/20090802_NOIR_index.html?emc=eta3 for more info.

Speaking of the Brits, Cahiers du Cinéma has changed hands. And, yes, it was purchased by a British publisher -- Phaidon. Phaidon is "the world's leading publisher of books on the visual arts" (if they don't mind saying so themselves). Cahiers du Cinéma was founded in 1951 and has become an icon of the cinephile world. You can blame Cahiers for lionizing Jerry Lewis, but you can credit them for recognizing the artistry of Hollywood noir (when we thought those films were just "crime dramas"). Editors and writers included: Andre Bazin, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard. After Cahiers published a list of the 100 most important movies, according to their readers, oddly enough (wink) not a single one of those movies were from across the channel. Well, now's a chance to even the score.

Speaking of critics, has this summer's wide-appeal movies been less than appealing? Consider the fact that Harry Potter has lost a bit of his magic (at the box office, but not with the critics) and that the Transformers sequel has shown just how unimportant film criticism is with respect to the summer box office. The critics hated it. Audiences flocked to the film. Next up is the G.I. Joe film, which appears to have nothing at all to do with the G.I. Joe of our youth (assuming it was part of your youth at all). G.I. Joe, like Transformers, is based on the action figure toys. Then came the comic book series. Inevitably, the mass-market movies followed. Paramount figures why risk the bad reviews. Audiences will flock to the movie anyways.

There were some good movies this summer. Public Enemies (with Johnny Depp) was better than expected and really enjoyable (is it noir?). Soul Power, which appeared on very few screens, was interesting. It was really less of a documentary as opposed to concert footage of the 1974 concert in Zaire (now the Republic of Congo). A great opportunity to see B.B. King, Mohamed Ali, James Brown and many others. Getting back to movies based on comic books, the star of the summer was The Watchmen. The Watchmen was penned by British comic book writer Alan Moore over 20 years ago. And no one, especially Moore, thought it could be turned into a decent movie. But it was. Another comic book inspired movie, Wolverine, was a dud, according to the critics (this time, the fans seemed to agree). Star Trek returned to the big screen and this time it was done right. Moon was the small distribution hit of the summer, and if it is still lingering in some theaters, I suggest seeing it.