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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 13, No. 6 |
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NOIRSCARS: Part One
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If they gave Oscars for
crime & mystery movies...
By RON MILLER
of TheColumnists.com
Some fans of crime and mystery films frequently complain to me that their favorite kind of movie is seldom celebrated with Academy Awards. Sure, they concede that the first two "Godfather" films both won Best Picture Oscars and so did "The Silence of the Lambs" and "The Departed" and "No Place For Old Men."
But, they wonder, why not set aside a separate category each year for the best crime or mystery film? That would satisfy the millions of fans out there who feel the Academy has too often overlooked even the most universally acclaimed classics of the genre. Besides, it would start an annual competition that might even result in the making of more good crime and mystery films.
Well, the answer to that is pretty obvious. If they did that, they'd also have to sooner or later bow to pressure from other fan groups to set aside a category for comedies, musicals and maybe even westerns, if they ever start making them again. Once they start doing that, the Oscars would be as unexciting as the Emmys have become.
So, I've decided to take the Academy off the hook for that particular debate and try to satisfy the fans by starting my own annual awards--The Noirscars. Films noir--the grim, shadowy movies about the dark side of human life--are very hot these days and I think the public would welcome annual awards that salute them with their own awards.
But I also think I owe it to the fans to go back and rewrite Oscar history a bit so that we can have Noirscar winners that can stand right alongside the Best Picture winners of all 84 years of Academy Award history.
That said, here's the result of my careful analysis of all the films in this category, go;ing all the way back to 1927-28 when "Wings," an aviation spectacle about World War I, was the first winner of the Best Picture Academy Award.
In chronological order, here are my choices for the Noirscar winners for each year since the Oscars began. This week, we'll cover the years from 1927-1960. We'll continue the presentation next week.
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1927-28: UNDERWORLD German director Josef von Sternberg came from the dark and shadowy world of 1920s German cinema to make this classic silent film in America. George Bancroft, Clive Brook and Evelyn Brent star in the story of a mob lawyer who falls in love with a girl who just happens to be the main squeeze of the gangland boss. It helped invent many of the gangster movie traditions carried on by the American film studios in the 1930s. |
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| 1928-29: BULLDOG DRUMMOND -- Ronald Colman was dashing and romantic in this early talkie that adapted for the screen the mystery book hero created by the writer known as "Sapper." Bored ex-World War I military hero Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, hungry for adventure, helps Joan Bennett rescue her uncle, who's being held captive in an asylum by a demented doctor. This popular film launched a series that eventually stretched to 16 films. |
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1929-30: M Fritz Lang, the German director of "Metropolis" and the "Doctor Mabuse" crime films, made the first great film noir, the haunting story of the manhunt for a child molesting murderer (Peter Lorre) and how the Berlin underworld helps track him down, following the letter "M" chalked on his coat, in order to keep the police from hassling them. Another worthy contender: Alfred Hitchcock's "Blackmail," England's first talking picture--and a durable mystery classic. |
 PETER LORRE in "M" |
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In this grim and exciting Warner Bros. gangster picture, James Cagney climbed to the top of the Hollywood crime mountain as a ruthless thug who shoves a grapefruit in his woman's face, but does a lot worse to his male enemies. Tautly directed by William Wellman. Close runner-up: "Little Caesar," another WB classic, starring Edward G. Robinson as the doomed crime boss from W.R. Burnett's great novel. Masterfully directed by Mervyn LeRoy. |
 JAMES CAGNEY shoves a grapefruit in Mae Clarke's face. |
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1931-32: SCARFACE Paul Muni was riveting in this thinly-disguised film about the rise of underworld boss Al Capone. The film is nearly stolen by George Raft, a real-life hanger-on with underworld figures, who played a coin-flipping gunman who's Muni's right hand man. Directed with vigor by Howard Hawks. Runner-up: "The Black Camel," the best of the early Charlie Chan mysteries, with Warner Oland as Inspector Chan trying to solve the murder of a Hollywood star on location in scenic Hawaii. |
 PAUL MUNI in "Scarface" |
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THE KENNEL CLUB MURDERS A decade before he directed Oscar-winner "Casablanca," Michael Curtiz directed this brisk detective story featuring dapper William Powell as Philo Vance, the hero of a series of best-selling mysteries by novelist S.S. Van Dine. This is a classic whodunnit with criminologist Vance proving a suicide was really a murder. This was the fifth and best in a series of 14 Philo Vance mystery movies made between 1929-47. |
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 MYRNA LOY and WILLIAM POWELL as Nick and Nora Charles |
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Alfred Hitchcock's inventive adaptation of John Buchan's famous mystery novel has been remade several times, but never duplicated for sheer suspense and excitement. Robert Donat learns about a secret espionage plot that foreign powers will do anything to keep him from revealing to the British authorities. That initiates a cross-country race that means constant jeopardy for the hero--and endless thrills for moviegoers. Close competition from "The Glass Key," the first version of Dashiell Hammett's thriller with George Raft trying to solve a mysterious murder case. |
 ROBERT DONAT ...in "The 39 Steps" |
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 HUMPHREY BOGART ...as Duke Mantee |
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1937: NIGHT
MUST FALL was the film version of Emlyn Williams' popular stage play about a psychopathic killer (Robert Montgomery) who makes everybody think he's a real charmer, although girl friend Rosalind Russell is getting a bit suspicious. And what did he keep in that hatbox under the bed? Brrrr. |
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| 1938: THE LADY VANISHES -- Alfred Hitchcock really hit his stride as England's most exciting young director with this fast-moving version of Ethel Lina White's novel "The Wheel Spins" in which a young woman (Masrgaret Lockwood) desperately attempts to convince everybody else on a passenger train that something has happened to the nice little old lady she met earlier on the train. |
 ALFRED HITCHCOCK ...with Margaret Lockwood on the set of "The Lady Vanishes." |
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THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes had been brought to the screen innumerable times already, but nobody else ever got him so right as actor Basil Rathbone did in this first of a long series of Rathbone performances as the world's greatest detective. Hauntingly atmospheric, it's still the best of all the Holmes movies. |
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1940: REBECCA Producer David O Selznick brought Alfred Hitchcock to America, where he remained for almost all the rest of his distinguished career as the movies' master of suspense, and this was his first U.S. picture--a romantic mystery starring Joan Fontaine as the new wife of Laurence Olivier, haunted by the memory of her husband's devilish first wife. This is a masterpiece--and it won the Best Picture Oscar for 1940. |
 JOAN FONTAINE menaced by housekeeper JUDITH ANDERSON. |
| 1941: THE MALTESE FALCON Filmed twice before, Dashiell Hammett's mystery about San Francisco private eye Sam Spade finally came to vivid life under the direction of John Huston, making his first movie, with Humphrey Bogart taking full charge of the Sam Spade character. An all-time mystery classic. Close challenger: "Suspicion," Alfred Hitchcock's edge of the seat thriller version of Francis Iles' novel "Before the Fact" in which Joan Fontaine suspects charming playboy husband Cary Grant is trying to poison her. Fontaine won the Best Actress Oscar that had eluded her the year before. |
 HUMPHREY BOGART contemplates the "black bird" |
| 1942: THIS GUN FOR HIRE Graham Greene's novel "A Gun For Sale" was turned into a star-making vehicle for Alan Ladd, playing a hired killer with a soul, who falls in love with Veronica Lake, who also became a star overnight after this suspenseful thriller captivated the nation. |
 ALAN LADD with VERONICA LAKE ,,,a new hot movie team |
| 1943: THE FALLEN SPARROW John Garfield was marvelous in this tense version of Dorothy B. Hughes' novel about an American who returns from fighting in the Spanish Civil War only to discover he's being tracked by Nazi agents who want to exterminate him. Walter Slezak is magnificent as the nastiest Nazi. |
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1944: DOUBLE
INDEMNITY Billy Wilder's dazzling film noir about an insurance agent (Fred MacMurray) who's lured into helping a sexy wife (Barbara Stanwyck) murder her husband is one of the greatest of all mystery classics. Adapted from the James M. Cain novel. This was a knockout year for noir. Among the other contenders: "Laura," Otto Preminger's classy thriller about a detective (Dana Andrews) who falls in love with the beautiful woman he believes was murdered; "Murder, My Sweet," the second and best version of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely," starring Dick Powell as private eye Philip Marlowe, and "Phantom Lady," Robert Siodmak's haunting version of Cornell Woolrich's classic novel about an innocent man trying to prove he didn't kill his wife. |
 BARBARA STANWYCK ...a villainess in "Double Indemnity" |
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One of the sexiest mystery movies ever filmed, Alfred Hitchcock's version of Francis Beeding's novel "The House of Dr. Edwardes" stars Gregory Peck as the mentally-disturbed man who believes he's the new head of a psychiatric clinic and sexy Ingrid Bergman as the psychiatrist who falls in love with him in spite of her reservations about his identity. Their love scenes are torrid and the music, cinematography and the dream sequences by Salvador Dali combine to make this a guilty pleasure forevermore. Runner-Up: "Detour," the low budget classic by Edgar G. Ulmer with Tom Neal as a hitchhiker who gets tangled up with femme fatale Ann Savage, who leads him into murder. |
 GREGORY PECK embraces INGRID BERGMAN in "Spellbound" |
| 1946: THE BIG SLEEP -- Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe, directed by Howard Hawks with Lauren Bacall as his love interest and a script by William Faulkner from a Raymond Chandler mystery. What more need one say? This is the definitive American detective movie, never surpassed. Close contenders: "The Postman Always Rings Twice," the third version of James M. Cain's novel, but the first to be filmed in the U.S. With John Garfield as the drifter who's lured into helping Lana Turner murder her elderly husband. A classic noir; "Notorious," Aflred Hitchcock's own concoction, a spy thriller with Ingrid Bergman marrying Nazi agent Claude Rains in order to penetrate his plan for another Nazi Reich while her spy contact, Cary Grant, pines for her on the sidelines; "The Lady in the Lake," based on the Raymond Chandler novel, with Robert Montgomery directing himself as detective Philip Marlowe and using a strange style in which the camera represents Marlowe and we only see him when he steps in front of a mirror. |
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| 1947: OUT OF THE PAST -- Jacques Tourneur's classic noir, adapted by Geoffrey Homes from his novel "Build My Gallows High," in which tough guy Robert Mitchum helps gambling racketeer Kirk Douglas track down his runaway girl friend (Jane Greer)--and falls in love with her in the process. Close contenders: "Kiss of Death," which introduced sneering Richard Widmark as the villain's villain by having him push an old lady in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs; "Dark Passage," Delmer Daves' version of the David Goodis novel about a San Quentin prison escapee (Humphrey Bogart) trying to prove his innocence of murder. Daves' shows us everything from Bogart's point of view until he has plastic surgery--and we finally see him as Bogart! |
 ROBERT MITCHUM ...new Hollywood tough guy |
| 1948: SORRY, WRONG NUMBER -- The movie version of the famous radio play in which bedriidden wife Barbara Stanwyck, connected to the outside world only by telephone, learns that her husband (Burt Lancaster) is sending a hit man (William Conrad) to murder her. Runner-Up: "Key Largo," John Huston's all-star film version of Maxwell Anderson's play about a gangster (Edward G. Robinson) holding guests hostage in a Florida hotel during a tropical storm. Claire Trevor won an Oscar as his drunken girl friend. |
 BARBARA STANWYCK learns she's going to be emurdered in "Sorry, Wrong Number." |
| 1949: THE THIRD MAN -- Carol Reed's dynamic masterpiece from Graham Greene's story about a paperback novelist (Joseph Cotten) who comes to Vienna right after World War II and discovers that his old pal Harry Lime (Orson Welles) wasa black market profiteer who "died" mysteriously. An instant noir classic with a sizzling zither music score by Anton Karas that revolutionized movie background music. Runner-up: "White Heat" with James Cagney as a psycho gangster who promised his mama someday he'd be on the "top of the world." |
 ORSON WELLES ...as Harry Lime in "The Third Man" |
| 1950: SUNSET BOULEVARD Unforgettable noir by Billy Wilder with William Holden as an ambitious, but unsuccessful Hollywood screenwriter who becomes the plaything of a reclusive, demented former silent movie star (Gloria Swanson) who thinks he can help her make a Hollywood comeback. Close contenders: "In A Lonely Place," a very dark noir from the book by Dorothy B. Hughes about another Hollywood screenwriter (Humphrey Bogart) who may or may not be a serial killer; and "The Asphalt Jungle," John Huston's terse version of W.R. Burnett's novel about the planning of a major robbery by a gang of thugs. With Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern and a memorable performance by the young Marilyn Monroe as Calhern's girl friend. |
 GLORIA SWANSON ...ready for her close-up |
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Alfred Hitchcock turned Patricia Highsmith's best-seller inside out and came up with perhaps his greatest thriller about a psycho mama's boy (Robert Walker) who wants to "swap" murders with tennis star Farley Granger and actually completees his half of the "deal" by strangling Granger's wife. Loaded with classic moments. Worthy contender: "Detective Story," William Wyler's version of the Broadway play about turbulent life in a New York police precinct, beautifully acted by Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker and a superb supporting cast. |
 ROBERT WALKER, right, proposes a swap of murders to Farley Granger in "Strangers On A Train." |
| 1952: THE NARROW MARGIN Another flawless noir about a detective assigned to protect a female witness from hit men while she's being rushed by train to the trial location. Directed with high style by Richard Fleischer with marvelous performances by Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor. Also worthy: "Sudden Fear" with Jaon Crawford menaced by Jack Palance in San Francisco under director David Miller. |
 MARIE WINDSOR ...great film noir femme fatale |
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Fritz Lang proves he's still the noir king of directors with deteective Glenn Ford going up against the mob and most especially vicious thug Lee Marvin. With Gloria Grahame as Marvin's much-abused moll. |
 LEE MARVIN and GLORIA GRAHAME have a violent romance. |
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Alfred Hitchcock pumps up a short Cornell Woolrich novel into a suspense masterpiece as photographer James Stewart, hampered by a leg in a heavy cast, spies on apartment house tenants with his telefoto lens and begins to suspect neighbor Raymond Burr has murdered his wife. Grace Kelly and Thelma Ritter help out, but watch out when Burr discovers he's been nailed! |
 JAMES STEWART sees a murderer from his rear window. |
| 1955: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER Actor Charles Laughton's only film as a director is an all-time classic, based on the Davis Grubb novel about a phony Depression Era preacher (Robert Mitchum), who's really a serial killer determined to track down his runaway stepchildren and slice them up. Mitchum is bone-chilling, but he's no match for silent movie star Lillian Gish, who protects runaway kiddies with her shotgun. Worthy Contender: "Kiss Me Deadly," Robert Aldrich's violent, dark version of Mickey Spillane's novel with Ralph Meeker as Mike Hammer. |
 ROBERT MITCHUM ...as a murderous preacher |
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Director Stanley Kubrick's first hit movie, based on Lionel White's novel "Clean Break," is the story of a racetrack heist being planned by Sterling Hayden and his gang of losers, chief among them wonderful Elisha Cook Jr., whose disrespectful wife (Marie Windsor), keeps him firmly under her thumb. |
 STERLING HAYDEN in "The Killing." |
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Billy Wilder's all-star version of Agatha Christie's play, a courtroom suspense drama with Charles Laughton as the defense lawyer trying to keep Tyrone Power from a murder conviction with Marlene Dietrich very effective as Power's wife. |
 MARLENE DIETRICH and CHARLES LAUGHTON in the courtroom. |
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1958: TOUCH
OF EVIL - Orson Welles' best film of his later period, a bordertown thriller with Charlton Heston as the Mexican lawman hero. Janet Leigh as his Anglo wife and Welles himself, corpulent and wearing a false nose, as a corrupt lawman who's into all kinds of bad stuff. Close Second: Hitchcock's "Vertigo," his moody and psychological mystery with James Stewart as a detective who's obsessed by Kim Novak , trying to remake her into the missing woman he once loved. |
 ORSON WELLES ....corrupt and corrupted |
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Hitchcock has Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint scrambling across the face of Mt. Rushmore with serious bad guys after them--the same bad guys who almost crop-dust Grant to death earlier in the film. A suspenseful chase sequence of a movie that never has a dull moment. |
 CARY GRANT runs like hell to avoid being crop-dusted. |
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1960: PSYCHO Hitchcock again, breaking all the rules with Robert Bloch's tale of a nutcase (Anthony Perkins) who runs a broken-down motel where larcenous Janet Leigh unfortunately decides to take a refreshing shower, blissfully unaware that she's about to be carved up with a very sharp knife. Worthy Mention: Francois Truffaut's "Shoot the Piano Player," his French noir-style version of David Goodis' novel "Down There," about a former concert pianist (Charles Aznavour) who winds up working in a dive and getting involved with a gang of killers. |
 JANET LEIGH screams after reading the script of "Psycho." |
OUR PRESENTATION OF THE NOIRSCARS CONTINUES NEXT WEEK.
©2012 by Ron Miller.
This column first posted Feb. 20, 2012.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series.
You can comment
on this column online. Please address your message to either
"The Editors" or Ron Miller via our TALKBACK page. Send your email message to Syndpack @ aol.com
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