Squeal At Your Own Risk

Oscar Noir: Week Fourteen

Kiss of Death

Monday, August 23, 2010

Liz and I arrived later than usual, but we were still able to get our usual seats.  We ended up behind the lady from last week that I didn't like very much, but the only annoying thing she did was look for their other friend for the first half hour of the evening.  Liz and I have pretty much decided who Randy is pointing out when he talks about various offenses done in the theater, like snoring...and fighting outside...and saving seats for a lot of people.

We were shown slides of Helen K. Garber's "Urban Noir LA/NY" (2009), which was black/white photos of L.A. and New York City, interspersed with quotes from pulp fiction novels.  I think that I need to read some stuff by Michael Connelly, because I liked his quotes the best.  I especially liked the photographs of L.A., of course, which can be seen on Ms. Garber's website.

The Academy is celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Samuel Goldwyn Theater, so this week and next week's shorts will be dedicated to the opening of the theater.  The president of the Academy at the time, Walter Mirisch, did a short discussion with host Randy, and talked about raising the funds for the theater.  It was actually an interesting discussion, as Mr. Mirisch pretty much would tell someone, "Remember how I supported you for {whatever}?  I'm here to see you to ask for a million dollars for the new Academy headquarters."  Since the Beverly Hills mayor's wife was an Academy member at the time,they also made a deal with the City of Beverly Hills in order to have the neighboring buildings provide free parking to Academy events after regular business hours.  This agreement is to last for the entire tenure of the building.  Wow, the power.

Short:  "Academy Building at 8949 Wilshire Dedication Introduction" (1975)

This had an introduction by Mr. Mirisch, and a tour of the projection room and theater led by Charlton Heston.  It amused many of us when he talked about leaving room for the upcoming technology of 3-D, if that ever happens to become popular. ;)

Cartoon:  "Duck Pimples" (1945)

Yay, Donald Duck!  What is it with the ducks and their connection to Noir,anyway?  Donald's imagination runs wild in this one, due to reading too many mystery books.

Feature:  "Kiss of Death" (1947), screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, story by Eleazar Lipsky, directed by Henry Hathaway, music by David Buttolph, and starring Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark, Taylor Holmes, and Robert Keith

• The film was introduced by Eric Roth, screenwriter for "Forrest Gump", "The Insider", "Munich", and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". 
• Richard Widmark, in his first film, based his character on The Joker from Batman comics.  I wonder if the actors who played The Joker based their characters on this one.  He was creeeeepy.  Great performance, but now I'm scared of him.
• I really liked  Victor Mature's performance as he played the reluctant stool pigeon.  He did a great job in his portrayal as a loving father, a robber, a caring husband, too.  He displayed quite a range in this one part, and it is quite a shame that Widmark's performance got so much more attention.  It seems that everyone agrees that this was Mature's best work.
• I agree with Liz:  so the kids' former nanny (Nettie) goes to Bianco in prison shortly after he finds out that his wife killed herself.  She later says that she always had a crush on him, and subsequently marries him.  Girl, did you go to the prison to pick up the pieces after his wife's suicide?  That's bold and kinda trampy.  You wouldn't think that she was trampy, though, when you see that even as husband and wife, they didn't share a bed. ;)  Yes, I know that this was due to motion picture ratings.
• Karl Malden got applause when he was first shown on the screen.  Did he ever not play some kind of cop? ;)
• I liked Brian Donley as the Assistant D.A.  He had compassion for a fellow father (and used it to manipulate Bianco to play the informant for him), but didn't always get a conviction on his suspect. 
• The film was filmed on location in New York.  It says so right there on the screen a the beginning of the film.
• I loved the moment toward the end when Bianco is confronting Udo, and the music goes silent.  There is just so much tension in the moment when they look at each other, and I was squirming, wondering what was going to happen next.
• I'm glad they used this ending shown instead of the original one.
• Coleen Gray, who played Nettie, was in the audience and did a Q&A with Randy.  She said that she turned down Mature when he hit on her, as she was a married woman.  He thereafter called her "Old Mother Hubbard".  She said that her experience on location at Sing Sing led her to do some volunteer work with prisoners, which she does to this day.  I liked hearing her discuss pretty much everything, especially when she talked about reading "Nightmare Alley" and deciding that she was born to play Molly.  She talked about what it was like to meet and work with her childhood crush, Tyrone Power, and said that she could barely say anything to him because she was in such awe.  Her discussion was just simply a delight.  

Great film, great evening.

Next Noir: "White Heat"