Universal Noir #1 – Indicator

I’ve loved trawling through Indicator’s series of Columbia Noir box sets so it didn’t take much to get me excited about the start of their next series looking at film noir from the vaults of Universal Pictures.

Their forthcoming set, entitled Universal Noir #1 includes:

The Web (Michael Gordon, 1947)
Larceny (George Sherman, 1948)
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (Norman Foster, 1948)
Abandoned (Joseph M Newman, 1949)
Deported (Robert Siodmak, 1950)
Naked Alibi (Jerry Hopper, 1954)

My brief thoughts on all the titles are below, as well as reviewing the transfers and special features at the bottom of the page.

The Web

Director: Michael Gordon
Screenplay: William Bowers, Bertram Millhauser
Based on a Story by: Harry Kurnitz
Starring: Ella Raines, Edmond O’Brien, William Bendix, Vincent Price, Maria Palmer
Country: USA
Running Time: 87 min
Year: 1947

The Web opens with Leopold Kroner (Fritz Leiber, Sr.) being released from prison after 5 years for embezzlement. The money he was supposed to have stolen came from the company of Andrew Colby (Vincent Price). Worried that Kroner will come for revenge, Colby hires the brash lawyer Bob Regan (Edmond O’Brien) as a bodyguard.

Indeed, Kroner arrives one night and, after crashing what sounds like a violent argument between Kroner and Corby, during which the former is holding a gun, Regan instinctively shoots the parolee.

Whilst Corby seems satisfied by this, Regan’s policeman friend Damico (William Bendix) is suspicious about the situation, so hounds his old buddy. Initially annoyed by Damico’s allegations, Regan eventually begins to develop suspicions of his own and investigates alongside Corby’s secretary, Noel (Ella Raines).

Michael Gordon directed a number of actors to Oscars and is the grandfather of Joseph Gordon Levitt, but he’s hardly a household name. He does solid work on The Web though, with a few nice directorial flourishes here and there. That said, it’s not one of the more stylised noirs and can feel a little talky and stagey. The film remains compelling though, aided by strong performances and sharp dialogue.

Though you could argue the two leads look and sound like a wannabe Bogart and Bacall, they and the rest of the cast are fantastic. They help bring the fairly formulaic plot to a higher level. Price is perfectly cast as the erudite but suspicious Corby and I enjoyed some of the lesser roles too such as Bendix as the police detective on our protagonist’s tail and Corby’s live-in assistant Charles (John Abbott), whose performance suggests a homosexual relationship between the pair.

The way it’s all tied up is a little unconvincing but not wholly unsatisfying. On the whole though, The Web is pretty by-the-numbers and talk-heavy but remains an enjoyable tale of a decent man caught in a dangerous, er, web. Buoyed by a great cast and some sharp dialogue, it’s a strong start to the set.

Larceny

Director: George Sherman
Screenplay: Herb Margolis, Lou Morheim, William Bowers
Based on a Novel by: Lois Eby, John Fleming
Starring: John Payne, Joan Caulfield, Dan Duryea, Shelley Winters
Country: USA
Running Time: 89 min
Year: 1948

In Larceny, John Payne plays Rick Maxon, a con man who is part of a team of confidence tricksters, led by Silky (Dan Duryea). Payne, troubled by his boss’ growing suspicions about him sleeping with his girl, Tory (Shelley Winters), wants to get out of the gang and go it alone.

Payne agrees to go on one last job though. He’s sent out to woo war widow Deborah (Joan Caulfield) and talk her into investing her and her friends’ money into a war memorial for her dead husband. Of course, the plan is to never make the memorial but run off with the money when it’s been gathered.

The con seems to be going smoothly but when Tory shows up, along with some of Silky’s goons, things go sour. As time goes on, Payne starts to develop feelings for Deborah too, so he’s caught in a trap of his own creation.

Larceny has an odd tone. Though most of its characters are immoral con artists, including our protagonist, it’s not as bleak as you might imagine for a noir with such subjects. It plays things fairly light, with a dose of humour aiding this, though the film has an embedded mean streak that gives it a deliciously dark edge.

In having a protagonist that’s a bad guy from the start, rather than the usual noir trope of a decent guy getting dragged into a dangerous world after making one unfortunate mistake, Larceny feels fairly original among its peers.

However, I found both leads a little dull, delivering solid performances but with little charisma or charm. The supporting cast is great though, particularly Duryea and Shelley Winters. Both are among the best actors of the era and are always a pleasure to watch.

So, whilst I would have preferred a stronger leading couple, others are there to pick up the slack and I appreciated the slightly different spin on the noir formula, with a mean edge and villainous lead. It’s another enjoyable addition to the set.

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands

Director: Norman Foster
Screenplay: Leonardo Bercovici, Ben Maddow, Walter Bernstein, Hugh Gray
Based on a Novel by: Gerald Butler
Starring: Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Robert Newton, Lewis L. Russell
Country: USA
Running Time: 79 min
Year: 1948

In the wonderfully titled Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (a title that caused controversy, leading to the alternative titles The Unafraid and Blood on My Hands in certain territories), Burt Lancaster plays Bill Saunders, a former prisoner of war now living in England. Troubled and violent, he punches a man in a bar, accidentally killing him. Panicking, Bill goes on the run and hides out in the apartment of a nurse, Jane Wharton (Joan Fontaine).

Bill takes a shine to Jane and pesters her for a while until she too develops feelings for him. Wanting to help the still traumatised Bill get a fresh start in life, Jane gets him a job at her hospital.

Things go swimmingly for a while until Harry Carter (Robert Newton), who witnessed the bar killing, tries to blackmail Bill into helping him hijack a transport of drugs from the hospital. If this weren’t bad enough, Jane shows up in the transport on the day of the robbery, leading to a whole heap of trouble for the pair.

This was my favourite film in the set. Based on a best-selling novel, it was notable for being the first film to be produced by Burt Lancaster and his agent Harold Hecht’s company, Harold Hecht-Norma Productions.

Lancaster likely picked Kiss the Blood Off My Hands as a project to give himself a more meaty role to play than usual. It’s a film about PTSD, before that name was given to the issue. Lancaster’s character had spent 2 years in a Nazi prison camp and the film explores what that did to his nerves and psyche. Jane is also suffering from loss and trauma with the death of her husband hanging over her head. The shared trauma draws the central pair together.

Fontaine’s character is not your typical noir female either. She’s certainly not a femme fatale luring a man into trouble. She’s trying to put Lancaster’s character on the right path. She’s no damsel in distress either. She’s strong and independent. Likewise, though tough on the surface, Lancaster’s character is atypical to the genre, starting out as a criminal and then trying to reform as the film goes on. This is difficult though due to being forever haunted by his past.

The film looks great too. The foggy streets of London are impressively well reproduced on a Universal soundstage in the US. These are lit in a suitably atmospheric fashion by the great Russell Metty, who would go on to work on the likes of Touch of Evil and Spartacus.

High on melodrama and romance, it’s not your typical noir but noir it is, nonetheless. It’s a riveting watch too, driven by two fine performances and moody visuals.

Abandoned

Director: Joseph M Newman
Screenplay: Irwin Gielgud, William Bowers
Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Meg Randall, Raymond Burr, Marjorie Rambeau
Country: USA
Running Time: 79 min
Year: 1949

Abandoned opens with a statement about shocking news headlines and how this is a “true to life story behind such a headline”.

It sees Paula Considine (Gale Storm) arrive in an unnamed city (that looks like L.A.) looking for her sister. After asking at the police station, she attracts the attention of local crime reporter Mark Sitko (Dennis O’Keefe), who follows her to the morgue to check there.

Indeed, Paula’s sister is found dead, classified as a suicide. Paula doesn’t believe her sister would do such a thing though and, as she and Mark do some digging, they believe her sister, who was pregnant but died without her child, may have been caught up in a baby-trafficking ring.

The pair’s search for clues leads them to Mrs Donner (Marjorie Rambeau), who runs the biggest black-market baby ring in the city.

It’s slightly questionable to call Abandoned a film noir but it has shades of the genre, for certain. It’s part of a wave of ‘ripped-from-the-headlines’ crime films that dramatised sensational news stories or criminal activity hot-topics. The film was even given a little added realism through the Salvation Army assisting with the making of the film, allowing the team to shoot some sequences in one of their maternity homes, and a donation was given to the charity following the film’s premiere.

Noir or not, it’s a decent potboiler with a tough edge. There’s no nonsense from the start, as Paula is frankly told to check the morgue for her sister and this only gets grimmer as the sordid details of the baby ring come out. That said, due to the production code the makers had to be careful about spelling some details out too clearly (such as discussing who the father might be to this child of a young unmarried woman).

There’s quite a bit of humour in there too though, to offset the tough subject matter. This comes largely from Mark’s sharp barbs. It’s an odd, possibly distasteful fit with the sensitive, true-crime content perhaps, but it makes for an enjoyable watch.

Some of the characters are quite strong too. Paula and later Dottie (Meg Randall), who goes undercover to help break the ring, are strong, determined heroines. Raymond Burr’s character is interesting too. Playing a private eye working for Mrs Donner, he could have been a simple goon for hire but he’s given some depth and moral complexity by the end.

So, whilst it might take its subject matter a little lightly in places, it’s an enjoyable and fairly original noir-tinged true-crime flick. Like most of the films in this set, it doesn’t outstay its welcome either, keeping things brief and never dawdling.

Deported

Director: Robert Siodmak
Screenplay: Robert Buckner
Based on a Story by: Lionel Shapiro
Starring: Märta Torén, Jeff Chandler, Claude Dauphin, Marina Berti, Richard Rober
Country: USA
Running Time: 89 min
Year: 1950

The central character of Deported, Vic Smith (Jeff Chandler), is reportedly based on an actual gangster, Charles “Lucky” Luciano. It’s only very loosely inspired by him, but the basic setup of the film fits his story.

We open with Vic arriving in Italy after being deported for his criminal activity in the US. He’s unhappy with the move, missing the glamorous lifestyle he got used to in the States. He is, however, treated like a prodigal son when he’s forced to return to his home town. His family know nothing of his criminal escapades or deportation, only believing that he’s come for a long holiday after his success abroad.

He doesn’t get an entirely friendly welcome though. On top of being constantly under the watchful eye of the US Embassy officials, he’s met by one of his criminal associates, Bernardo (Richard Rober), who wants his share of the $100,000 stolen during their last robbery. Vic denies he has it but, in reality, he has a plan to smuggle it into the country and even make some more from the scheme.

Putting a spanner into the works though is Countess Christine di Lorenzi (Märta Torén). Vic meets her during his stay in Italy and falls for her charms. As the pair get closer, he starts to regret his plans that would hurt what this wholesome woman stands for.

Shot largely in Italy, Deported is an early example of what then was known as a ‘runaway production’, where a film was largely made overseas to use ‘frozen funds’ (studio profits earned abroad that had to be spent locally for whatever reason). It was made when Italian neo-realism was in full flow, so it’s likely attempting to cash in on that with the use of actual locations. It’s very much a Hollywood production though so falls far short of the realist aspects of its Italian counterparts in terms of performance and storytelling. Though making attractive use of its locations, Deported feels more like a travelogue in how the country is depicted, rather than a powerful indictment of the poverty faced on the streets. Though this isn’t totally shied away from.

Unfortunately, as a piece of Hollywood entertainment, it’s still rather lacking. I found it all a bit slow and not very exciting. To call it dull would maybe be pushing it too far, but Deported didn’t have the same hook the other titles in the set had for me. It didn’t help that our protagonist Vic is a bit of an a**hole, so not very easy to root for or invest time in.

Deported isn’t a bad film by any means, but through feeling slightly underwhelming and uninspiring it ended up being my least favourite film in the set. It’s still worth a watch though.

Naked Alibi

Director: Jerry Hopper
Screenplay: Lawrence Roman
Based on a Story by: J. Robert Bren, Gladys Atwater
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame, Gene Barry, Marcia Henderson, Billy Chapin
Country: USA
Running Time: 86 min
Year: 1954

The final film in the set is Naked Alibi. It opens with cop Joseph E. Conroy (Sterling Hayden) witnessing local baker Al Willis (Gene Barry) threaten the life of one of his fellow officers after violence erupted during an interrogation. When the officer shows up dead soon after, Conroy heads straight for Al.

Al has an alibi so gets off but when another pair of cops wind up dead near Al’s bakery, Conroy hassles him again. Once again having an alibi, Al is let free and Conroy is fired after trying to strong-arm a confession from the man.

Conroy won’t give up there though and tails Al in his own time. This takes him to ‘Bordertown’, where he eventually learns the truth and also meets the sexy but downtrodden nightclub singer Marianna (Gloria Grahame), who is the mistress of the married Al.

I enjoyed this one. The innocence of Al and justification of Conroy’s actions are kept grippingly ambiguous in the first half an hour or so of the film, making for morally complex viewing. Unfortunately, the film soon unveils the clear truth behind Al’s facade but it makes for a compelling introduction to the film.

From start to finish the film has quite a pace too. It’s packed with thrills, particularly in the first half. After only fifteen minutes into the film, you get a punchup at a police station, the killing of a cop, a brief chase to bring in Al and then a car bomb!

Hayden is perfectly cast as Conroy. Not only is he a tough and dominating presence, but his own personal demons (of which he had a number) give him a dark edge, allowing for a character whose morals and actions are enticingly questionable. Gloria Grahame is equally effective, right from her introduction where her tired and beaten-down nightclub singer lazily goes through the motions of performing Cole Porter’s sexy number, ‘Ace in the Hole’. These nightclub musical numbers often break up film noirs but here it’s nice that the sequence is used to establish a character beyond just setting her up as ‘sexy’.

Overall then, Naked Alibi is a punchy, no-nonsense crime thriller that offers few surprises (after its initially enticing opening) but plenty of thrills. It’s a fine end to the set.

Universal Noir #1 is out on 14th November on Region B encoded Blu-ray in the UK, released by Indicator. The transfers are all first-rate. The grain is a touch heavy on The Web and Naked Alibi but, otherwise, the films have a sharp, detailed and natural look. The audio is strong too, especially considering the age of the films.

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