Noir Nook: Darkest Noirs
One of the features of film noir that I love most is the sheer “darkness” of the plots, characters, and themes. The darker, the better, in fact – no happy endings for me!
This month, at the Nook, I’m shining the spotlight on two of my favorite films noirs which – perhaps not so coincidentally – happen to be among the noirs I consider to be the darkest. Fair warning – if you haven’t seen these, you might want to take a stroll down a shadowy street and circle back after you’ve checked them out, because this post is going to be heavily spoilerific.
And away we go!
Criss Cross
One of the films that will be on every Top 10 Film Noir list that I ever compile is Criss Cross, released in 1949 and starring Burt Lancaster, Yvonne DeCarlo, and Dan Duryea. Generously employing flashbacks and voiceover narration, the film tells the story of Steve Thompson (Lancaster), an essentially stand-up guy with a fatal weakness for the wrong woman. That woman is Anna (DeCarlo), Steve’s ex-wife, turned girlfriend, turned ex-girlfriend, turned secret lover (whew!). And then there’s callous crime boss Slim Dundee (Duryea), whose marriage to Anna throws a sizable monkey wrench into the proceedings. And things really go awry when Steve covers for a clandestine meeting with Anna by pitching a payroll-truck robbery to Slim.
These three characters clearly furnish a significant portion of the film’s bleak ambience. Steve is passionate but weak-willed and naïve, while Slim has a straightforward, indisputable aura of ruthlessness. But Anna? She’s all over the place – it’s not until the concluding minutes of the film, in fact, that we really see her true, deeply imbedded colors. Is she in love with Steve, or is she just physically attracted to him? Can Steve (or we) believe anything she says? Is she earnest or just a good actress? (And what about Naomi?) (IYKYK)
When we first meet Anna – in a nightclub parking lot during yet another furtive exchange with Steve – she’s nervous and concerned about her lover (“I’m all sick inside,” she shares), and she promises him in a tone overflowing with sincerity that “after this is all over,” she’ll make him forget about the past. Contrast this with her words and actions in her final scene; she leaves no doubt that she comes first in her life and that nothing – but nothing – will compromise her sense of self-preservation.
The Killing
This film is one that I have on both VHS and DVD, and have seen twice on the big screen – with its twisty-turny manipulation of time, outstanding ensemble cast, and perfect ending, The Killing is an absolute banger. The plot is simple: a racetrack payroll heist is carried out by a group of men from various walks, including mousy racetrack cashier, George Peatty (Elisha Cook, Jr.), and beat cop Randy Kennan (Ted deCorsia). The scheme is meticulously designed by Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), who has recently been released from prison after a five-year stint. Johnny provides a clear indication of his motivation for the crime when he declares, “Anytime you take a chance, you better be sure the rewards are worth the risk. Because they could put you away just as fast for a $10 heist as they can for a million-dollar job.” Unfortunately for Johnny and everyone else involved in the robbery, the adage about the best laid plans of mice and men was spot-on: they often go awry.
Speaking of “everyone else involved in the robbery,” these individuals ranged in spirit and deed from a devoted husband caring for his invalid wife to a killer whose last words included a racial slur. It’s this fascinating contrast between good and bad that lays a solid foundation for the overall darkness that permeates the film – it’s rife with virtuous individuals like Johnny’s loyal girlfriend, Fay (Coleen Gray), or his overly admiring pal, Marvin Unger (Jay C. Flippen), but folks like these are overshadowed by the corrupt characters waiting in the wings, like George’s duplicitous, mercenary, and wholly unforgettable wife, Sherry (Marie Windsor).
In addition to the shadowy characters, the film’s last 12 minutes are as bleak as cold concrete, serving up a one-two-three punch of pure noir. First, there’s the scene where the members of the gang (sans Johnny) gather in Marvin’s apartment to divvy up the spoils from the daring racetrack heist, only to have their anticipatory revelry interrupted by Sherry’s lover (Vince Edwards) and his partner. These two fellas aim to walk away with the ill-gotten payroll gains, but less than a minute after they enter Marvin’s apartment, almost everybody is dead. And the hits just keep on coming. Two more bodies are added to the tally when George goes home to confront his wife and later, just when it appears that Johnny and Fay will fly off into the sunset with a suitcase full of cash, their dreams abruptly vanish like smoke in a windstorm – leaving Johnny to offer this dark commentary: “Eh. What’s the difference?”
What are your favorite dark noirs? Leave a comment and let me know . . . and stay tuned as I take a look at more of these uber-grim features in a future Noir Nook post!
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– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub
You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.
Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
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