Twins!

Oscar Noir: Week Eight

The Dark Mirror

Monday, July 12, 2010

I arrived early because I had a meeting in Downtown L.A., so I ate my dinner and read my book to pass the time, since the line hadn't yet begun to form when I checked it out.  Linda was early to get in line, but she wasn't in the same line as I was, so I sat in my car for a little while longer than usual so as to rest my feet. I was waiting for Liz to park in our usual place, but she didn't show.  Later, I found out that she had a crisis at work and couldn't get away.  Bummer.  Linda found me, and I tried not to tell her about the drama of the line/passes, but couldn't hold back any longer and ended up telling her quietly about it anyway. The only drama that I heard in the line this day was that a guy was whining to the usher about how ridiculous the whole system was, and the usher said that there were fistfights in line one day.  Fistfights?  With *this* crowd?  Seriously?  And you can't pinpoint who these people were?  Are your witnesses even on the up and up?  Craziness.

Cartoon:  "The Tell Tale Heart" (1932)

Yup, it was Edgar Allen Poe's work.  Yup, creepy.  The animation was very angular, and it was actually not really "animated", as in movement, but actually different frames of stills.

Short:  "Adventures of Captain Marvel, Chapter Seven:  Human Targets"  (1941)

Captain Marvel did get shocked from the electric security system, and got knocked out for a bit, but he's OK.  The Scorpion figures out that Captain Marvel will follow if Betty is in danger, and sets a trap.  She is kidnapped and while in the passenger seat of the car, pulls out the key and pretends to throw it out the window.  She actually has the key in hand, though, and then there's a foot chase through the countryside.  Billy follows and Captain Marvel saves her, but she somehow gets kidnapped again, because the bad guy is hanging on to the side of the car.  I don't know why she just doesn't throw the key away again, but here's the cliffhanger again, as Captain Marvel doesn't even know that Betty is still in trouble.

Feature:  "The Dark Mirror" (1946) Story by Vladimir Pozner, Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson, Directed by Robert Siodmak, and starring Olivia de Havilland, Lew Ayres and  Thomas Mitchell

• A bunch of Nunnally Johnson's family members were in the audience.
• The film was introduced by John August, screenwriter for "Big Fish", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Corpse Bride".  He talked about the fact that usually the outside world does not factor into any of the film noir because there was so much going on with WWII that people needed an escape.  In this particular movie, though, psychology, which was starting to become prominent in real life, was a large factor.
• Prior to the film, we were treated to an awesome audio introduction from Ms. de Havilland herself, whom recorded it earlier that week from her home in Paris.  She talked about how disturbing it was for her to play the twins, and she ended her introduction in a creepy way.
• OK, I understood the need for the name necklaces, but they weren't attractive.
• If you're following my blog posts about drum corps this summer, you know that mirrors are a huge part of one of the corps' shows.  It's a noir/mirror summer!
• Olivia de Havilland is perfectly outstanding in this movie, and she sure did keep me guessing.
• Since I have a degree in psych, the tests were especially interesting to me.  I'm glad I never had to use a Rorschach inkblot.  I totally loved the responses, though.
• I love evil twin stories!  I watch too much soap opera.
• That detective had some great lines, but I can't remember any of them.
• Reminds me of the time that I had someone convinced that I was an evil twin. :)
• I overheard someone saying that the music playing in the music box was also used in one of the other films in this series.  No wonder it was creepy. ;)

I really liked this movie.  It was very well done technically, with the placement of the twins and the seamless editing.  The story, though, with its twists, makes this a must-see.

Next up in the series:  "The Blue Dahlia"