Save the Clock Tower! ... At Your Own Risk

Oscar Noir: Week Ten

The Stranger

Monday, July 26, 2010

Liz was unable to meet me this time, so I was on my own again.  I was a little bit further back in line than in previous weeks, but was still able to get an aisle seat in the second row.

Short: "Adventures of Captain Marvel, Chapter Nine: Dead Man's Trap" (1941)

The force from the car explosion of last week's cliffhanger made the board member's car run off the road.  Billy came driving by and the goons captured both of them.  The board member was shocked to be brought to the house of The Scorpion (sssss!).  So that man's injured hand was some sort of decoy.  Billy was taken into the basement, where he was watched by one guy.  The Scorpion sent his goons to get the board member's lens after getting the combination through some kind of birdcage torture.  Billy turned into Captain Marvel when the guy left the room, and escaped.  The board member called Betty to get the lens before the other guys, and Captain Marvel tried to catch The Scorpion after he shot the board member, but was only able to get his hood before he got away.  He went to the board member's house to warn Betty of some kind of trap, but they didn't know exactly what it was.  Unbeknownst to them, as they were entering the combination on the safe, automatic rifles were being aimed at them as a security system.  The rifles fired as the episode ended.  Yikes!

Cartoon:  "The Cuckoo Clock" (1950)

This was another Tex Avery cartoon.  A cat is driven insane by the cuckoo bird in the clock, and, of course, the bird wins.  :)  The clock is a prelude to the evening's feature, wherein a clock is a prominent piece of the scenery.

Feature: "The Stranger" (1946), screenplay by Anthony Veiller (and John Huston), story by Victor Trivas, adaptation by Decla Dunning, directed by Orson Wells, starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Orson Wells, Philip Merivale, Richard Long and Billy House

• The film was introduced by Ted Griffin, screenwriter for "Ocean's Eleven" and "Matchstick Men".  He was hilarious, stating that his juxtaposition beside the Oscar statue was probably the closest he'd ever get to one.  He said that this was one of the few movies where we'd see Orson Welles' real nose.  He talked about deleted scenes, saying he was glad that we didn't have to see the chase in South America, but that the last line of the movie may not make sense to us because the background exposition for Mary was deleted.
• So that makes me wonder if Mary always had trouble with nightmares, or did they just start when Meinike arrived in town?
• Billy House was quite humorous as Mr. Potter, always placing his visor on his head when someone agreed to play a game of checkers with him.
• This is one of those films that makes you wonder if you really know the person you married.  So, was "The Stranger" alluding to Wilson, Meinike, or Rankin, or all 3 of them?
• I loved the neighborhood's reaction to the clock's bell finally working, saying that they got a lot more sleep when it was broken.
• OK, that angel and devil that moved around the clock face creeped me out.  I guess that was with good reason. ;)
• Sara's way of preventing Mary from going to the church was very funny.
• The sketching of the swastika while Rankin is on the phone: creepy but funny.
• I was confused by the checkers games.  Either they weren't playing correctly, or they weren't playing fairly.
• Poor doggie.
• I love seeing Edward G. Robinson try to figure out stuff.

I did not stay to hear Robinson's grandchildren speak, but I did enjoy the movie.  It was quite the thriller.

Next up in the series:  "Body and Soul"