This past Saturday evening (January 25) saw the premiere of Try and Get Me! (1950; a.k.a. The Sound of Fury) on The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ as an offering on their Noir Alley showcase, hosted by the Czar of Noir himself, Eddie Mueller. TCM ran Get Me at midnight as part of a… Continue reading From the DVR: The Underworld Story (1950)
Tag: Gangster Movies
Adventures in Blu-ray: Noir Archive Volume 1: 1944-1954
In Jacobellis vs. Ohio (1964), a U.S. Supreme Court case addressing the First Amendment (an Ohio movie theatre banned the 1958 Louis Malle film Les Amants because they believed it to be “obscene”), Justice Potter Stewart made a famous observation about obscenity that has become a colloquial expression today. “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I… Continue reading Adventures in Blu-ray: Noir Archive Volume 1: 1944-1954
Shameless self-promotion…and an important, earth-shattering announcement!
Eighty years ago on this very date, one of the seminal films of the gangster movie genre was released to motion picture theaters…and in revisiting The Public Enemy (1931) for an essay I wrote at Edward Copeland on Film…and More, I was completely bowled over by how well this classic still holds up today. You have James Cagney, of… Continue reading Shameless self-promotion…and an important, earth-shattering announcement!
Movies I’ve stared at recently on TCM #58 (“Back from the dead” edition)
The last time I did one of these “catch-all” reviews of movies I’ve watched on The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ (ka-ching!) was back in May of last year…so I’m pleased to announce that it makes its triumphant return, back by popular demand. (Okay…that may be stretching things a tad…) Sing and Like It (1934) – Racketeer T. Fenny… Continue reading Movies I’ve stared at recently on TCM #58 (“Back from the dead” edition)
“Brains without purpose…noise without sound, shape without substance…”
Seventy-five years ago on this date, Thrilling Days of Yesteryear idol Humphrey Bogart’s landmark role as gangster Duke Mantee was showcased to motion picture audiences in the silver screen adaptation of Robert E. Sherwood’s The Petrified Forest (1936). Bogie had played the role of Mantee in the celebrated Broadway stage hit alongside star Leslie Howard, and when Warner Bros.… Continue reading “Brains without purpose…noise without sound, shape without substance…”
“Did you say ‘gander’?—I wonder how she’d go for a goose…”
In You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939), an otherwise unremarkable Warner Bros. programmer starring Billy Halop as a juvenile delinquent sent to the slammer and Humphrey Bogart as the mook responsible for him being there, there’s a scene set in a prison library in which we see several inmates seated at tables reading intently…and the only… Continue reading “Did you say ‘gander’?—I wonder how she’d go for a goose…”
Movies and stuff I’ve stared at recently during my convalescence #5
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) – Psychiatrist T.S. Clitterhouse (Edward G. Robinson) is conducting research into the criminal mind by hooking up with a gang of thieves headed up by “Rocks” Valentine (Humphrey Bogart) and “fence” Jo Keller (Claire Trevor). As part of the “gang,” the good medico participates in jewel and fur robberies—but finds it’s not… Continue reading Movies and stuff I’ve stared at recently during my convalescence #5
Movies and stuff I’ve stared at recently during my convalescence #4
City for Conquest (1940) – Mom and I have been making our way through many of the DVD entries from Warner Home Video’s Gangsters/Tough Guys boxed set collections and I put this one on for her yesterday. James Cagney plays truck driver Danny Kenny—a working class Joe content with his lot in life but who gets involved in the… Continue reading Movies and stuff I’ve stared at recently during my convalescence #4
Movies and stuff I’ve stared at recently during my convalescence #3
Each Dawn I Die (1939) – It’s been a while since I unspooled this Jimmy Cagney classic…and I kind of forgot how corny it is. Cagney plays Frank Ross, a crusading newspaper reporter whose muckraking expose on a corrupt D.A. (Thurston Hall—who else?) and his stooge (Victor Jory) gets him in a heap o’trouble—he winds up going… Continue reading Movies and stuff I’ve stared at recently during my convalescence #3
Movies I’ve stared at recently on TCM #53 (Walter Huston edition)
Tuesday was a great movie-watching day on what my pal Rick Brooks calls The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ because TCM rolled out a number of rarities to salute birthday boy Walter Huston. I find that the more Huston films I watch from the 1930s—American Madness (1932), The Beast of the City (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), etc.—the more I… Continue reading Movies I’ve stared at recently on TCM #53 (Walter Huston edition)
Thrilling Days of Yesteryear 