(FILM NOIR) The Clay Pigeon - 1949 ***

A man wakes from a coma in hospital to discover he has been court marshaled and accused of treason against his former inmates at a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Desperate to prove his innocence he turns up at his best friend's house, unaware that he has been accused of his murder. His wife, after initially wanting to get him arrested, decides to give him the benefit of the doubt and goes with him to search for the true murderers of her husband.
It's not a bad film, but not one of the stronger film noirs.

(NOIR) A Woman's Secret - 1949 ***

Susan (Gloria Grahame) lies on the floor shot. Marian (Maureen O'Hara) is found leaning over her with a gun. But is the story as black and white as it seems (did you see what i did there with the black and white...?)
Actually it's not. We discover that Susan is the young protegee of Marian, a popular singer who loses her voice and is desperate to find a replacement. It's a tiny bit like 'All About Eve' but with singing instead of acting. Luke (Melvyn Douglas) is her piano player, and to be honest he's my favourite character (and actor) in the film. He has enough gusto to keep it going, without stepping on the two lead actresses toes. When Susan becomes popular herself, (and appears to catch the eye of Luke, this makes Marian rather jealous. She wants a replacement, but not at the cost of her relationship or career. O'Hara isn't a bad actress, but I've never been particularly into her work, and although Gloria Grahame is the typical femme fatale in noir, she didn't appear to be at her best either.
Worth a watch though, although as one critic remarked - 'There's too much unintended mystery about A Woman's Secret for it to be anything but spotty entertainment'. Sadly I think that might be right.

(NOIR) C-Man - 1949 *

Very poor Noir with Dean Jagger, who plays an Agent on the trail of the murderers of his best friend and boss. It's badly acted, (laughable in places) and incredibly fake. In some scenes Jagger quite obviously fake punches his assailants and the sound is added later. Added to which the quality is horrendous. It's not on par with other noirs I have seen and it's a pity that it doesn't have a higher respect for itself.

The Small Back Room - 1949 ** 1/2

I was a bit peeved to discover at the end that this was a Powell and Pressburger movie. Generally the quality of their films is outstanding, but this didn't do much for me after the first 20 minutes or so. Getting deeper into the film seemed a bit like watching 'The Lost Weekend' and I came out of the experience feeling depressed and miserable.
The lead character Sammy is full of woe and self-pity, in a way that renders him utterly unlikeable, and none of the other characters have anything that I could convey as emphatic personalities. He spends his time working as a scientist doing research in a hidden 'Back Room' in London and drinking the evenings away.
In particular the girlfriend of Sammy was awful. Wimpish, with no self respect or anything about her, she clings on to him like a sack of potatoes, regardless of how badly he treats her.
Not one of the ones I would recommend from the otherwise great duo.

Adam's Rib - 1949 *****

I'm ashamed to say I've never seen 'Adam's Rib' the whole way through, something kept putting me off. Probably Katherine Hepburn who grows more annoying with each film that I see her in. Sometimes I've even had to turn a film off because she is taking up too much screen time. Never fear, she was hilarious in this and complimented Spencer Tracey so very well. 'Adam's Rib' is one of a number of films Tracey and Hepburn did together and you can tell by now how comfortable they are together. Their screen chemistry is perfect, rivaling another of my favourite couples - William Powell and Myrna Loy.
Both act as rival lawyers, defending and prosecuting Judy Holliday who tried to shoot her husband after discovering him with another woman. Tracey believes her guilty of attempted murder full stop, whereas Hepburn takes the sympathetic side of a hen-pecked wife who discovers her husband is an adulterer.
Initially able to separate work from home, the two start off well, but as time goes on, they both become frustrated with each other at court, each believing the other will jeopardize their chances of winning the case which then spills into their home life. The film is fast-paced, intelligent screwball at it's strongest.

(NOIR) Follow Me Quietly - 1949 **

Nowhere near as good as 'Slander' this noir, set as part drama and part documentary, follows the police's efforts in vain to catch a serial killer named 'The Judge' who kills anyone he pleases, without rhyme or reason. The detectives construct a faceless dummy to try and help the police with the investigation. Many 'witnesses' who come forward and see the dummy from the back, are definite that the faceless man is the killer, until it is turned around for them to see. Power of suggestion is a terrifying thing.
It's not the cleverest noir, and this sort of idea has already been done over and over again.

(NOIR) The Crooked Way - 1949 **

Though the idea of this film is a good one, it really didn't play out well to me, and there were far too many plot holes and unlikely resolutions for it to work.

A man named Eddie, after suffering a head wound from fighting in the war, comes to L.A. after the doctor who treats him mentions that it might be the only way he can bump into people who know him and can help him find his identity. He does meet some people he knows (of course it's not like that is unlikely in a place as huge as Los Angeles) but they don't recognise him as the person he thought he was. Instead, he is recognised as a dangerous gangster who went missing from the police. It's a weird film. It's not particularly good, and the acting is quite wooden.

(NOIR) Jigsaw - 1949 ***

'Jigsaw' isn't a bad film, but it has a lot of plot holes and inconsistency which made my head spin. Franchot Tone is great in noir usually, but seemed a bit weak here. The jigsaw refers to a murder at the beginning of the film that is initially labeled a suicide which then 'surprisingly' turns out to be a murder. Tone is the one who has to crack it, by infiltrating himself in with a crime boss known as 'Angel.'
Not one of the stronger noirs, but one that you should see nonetheless.

(NOIR) The Gangster - 1949 *

Oh dear. This is one of the very weakest noirs I have seen and I'm pretty sure the acting was some of the worst as well. I have never heard of Barry Sullivan which is probably a good thing given that he has as much star quality as a damp tea cloth. 'Belita' (who is apparently so wonderful that she doesn't need a surname) was equally as bad and did a lot of moaning and crying and long drawn out looks at Sullivan. (All her years as an ice skater obviously didn't help her acting skills). The story is predictable (a man controlling an underground racket) and the ending is also predictable. In fact, most of the film is predictable. I wasn't predicting how bad literally EVERY actor would be in their part however. That did come as a surprise. It was as if each actor had only been given 10 minutes to rehearse before being filmed. 

(NOIR) The Big Steal - 1949 ***

I caught this film at my dad's last weekend and was desperate to see it. It has been on my list of noirs to see for ages. Jane Greer and Robert Mitchum team up again for a crazy journey through Mexico as Mitchum chases Greer's thieving fiance after being accused himself of theft. A slightly different noir owing to the fact that most of the action takes place on long car drives and outside in the sweltering heat (noirs are typically inside in the dark and centred around apartments, offices and drugstores) but captivating nonetheless. I enjoyed it and love William Bendix. 

(NOIR) Impact - 1949 ****

Wow. For a relatively unknown film noir this was an excellent nail - biter. Brian Donlevy is brilliant as the spurned husband of suitably evil fatale Ella Raines. Desperate to get rid of her doting husband so that she can be with her lover, Raines plots for her lover to meet Donlevy and see that he has an accident in their car. However, things go very wrong when Raines' lover dies by mistake and Donlevy is left unconscious and battered. Raines believes that her husband is dead. Her husband has other ideas.
Really tense and interesting noir with a very original storyline. One worth watching.

(NOIR) The Reckless Moment - 1949 ***

I actually thought this was a very mediocre film. It was slow and nothing much seemed to happen until the last few minutes which resulted in a bizarre and slightly over-the-top climax. Joan Bennett was very frumpy and I found her performance to be less than average. James Mason as the blackmailer turned good guy was about the only saving grace of the whole thing. A jumbled mistake that I wish I hadn't watched.

(NOIR) Knock on any Door - 1949 ****

Nicholas Ray of 'Bigger than Life' fame directed this exciting courtroom drama starring Bogart at the height of his stardom.

Bogart's character acts as a charged up lawyer who takes the case of a disturbed man from the same slums as he, against the wishes of his colleagues. He feels empathy for the young man and also feels guilty for letting the man's father be wrongly put to his death after a botched criminal trial a year beforehand.

The whole film is basically Bogart talking, and Bogart acting his socks off. He's utterly faultless in this movie, and the passion he portrays as he holds the whole courtroom speechless is pretty amazing. There are also scenes interspersed with him talking that show us the story of the criminal's life and how things led up to him being on trial. The film has a tremendous climax and I think this is one hell of an underrated film, partly because I never hear anyone talking about it or mentioning it in lists about Bogart.

One thing I was really interested in was that the quote 'Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Good Looking Corpse' was first mentioned in this film, going on to become James Dean's iconic line, and I had always believed that Dean himself made up the phrase.

(NOIR) Criss-Cross - 1949 ****

A very well done thriller-noir from director Richard Siodmak who went on to direct 'The Killers.'

Burt Lancaster gives a gripping performance as a man who gets caught up with his ex-wife and her mobster husband. It's not one of the best film noirs out there but it sure is worth a watch, and I think the academy award for acting in this film should go to the totally underrated Dan Duryea who steals practically every scene he is in. Yvonne DeCarlo is a beautiful femme fatale but I found her performance to be a bit wooden and her role probably would have to been better suited to someone like Claire Trevor or Gloria Grahame.

However, Lancaster is a good half good/half bad guy and I will have to check to see if he has been in any other film noirs of the 40s.