Four Noirs for Free
I may have mentioned this around these parts before, but there are few things more frustrating to a classic film lover than to read a glowing recommendation about a movie that they’re unable to find. Well, the Noir Nook doesn’t go for frustration, so this month, I’m serving up four first-rate, lesser-known noirs for you to check out – and you can see them on YouTube . . . for free, even!
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Cry Vengeance (1954)
Mark Stevens (who you might recognize from films like The Dark Corner [1946] with Lucille Ball, or the Olivia DeHavilland vehicle, The Snake Pit [1948]) stars in this feature as ex-cop Vic Barron, who has recently been released from San Quentin after a three-year stretch for bribery. He instantly heads for Ketchikan, Alaska, bent on revenge against Tino Morelli (Douglas Kennedy), the mobster Vic thinks framed him and planted the bomb that disfigured Vic and killed his wife and daughter. What Vic doesn’t know is that he’s barking up the wrong crook – the real culprit is a hood named Roxey (played by the endlessly oily Skip Homeier), who trails Vic to Alaska with a diabolical plan to put him away for good.
Stevens made his directorial debut with this feature – he would go on to helm films like the time-worthy Time Table (1956), and episodes of television shows including Studio 57 and Wagon Train. In Cry Vengeance he turns in a versatile and touching performance of a man tortured by the tragedies of his past and twisted by the vendetta that threatens to destroy his future.
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Shakedown (1950)
I’ve had an all but unwatchable VHS copy of Shakedown in my collection for several decades, so you can imagine my delight when I discovered a first-rate print on You Tube. In this well-done feature, Howard Duff is a positive stinker as talented but completely unscrupulous photographer Jack Early. When he parlays his dodgy penchant for “just happening to pass by” noteworthy events into a newspaper job, Early’s quest for fame and fortune kicks into overdrive – but he gets far more than he bargained for when he befriends mobster Nick Palmer (Brian Donlevy) and becomes involved with Palmer’s rival Harry Coulton (Lawrence Tierney).
After seeing Howard Duff in slightly more upstanding roles in noirs like Brute Force (1947) and Private Hell 36 (1954), it was a bit of a shock to watch him play such an absolute heel, but he was perfect for the part; his pleasantly handsome face and trustworthy demeanor provided the ideal mask for the corruption beneath. And the film was directed with skill by actor-turned-director Joseph Pevney in his first time behind the camera, resulting in a well-paced feature and an ironic ending worthy of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
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House of Strangers (1949)
With a cast headed up by Richard Conte, Susan Hayward, and Edward G. Robinson, and direction by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, House of Strangers is a don’t-miss. It doesn’t contain such familiar noir characteristics as voiceover narration, or a knucklehead everyman done in by a femme fatale – for that matter, there’s no femme fatale at all – but it’s got enough cynicism, desperation, and bad choices to satisfy any shadowy sweet tooth. The story focuses on Conte’s character, Max Monetti, who, at the film’s start, has just been released from prison after serving seven years. We learn all about Max and his family, and the reason for his incarceration, in the film’s flashback – the Monetti clan includes patriarch Gino (Robinson), a prominent bank owner with an inclination toward illegal business practices, and four sons, of which Max is clearly Gino’s favorite. When Gino is arrested for his unconventional banking policies, three of his sons turn on him, Max winds up in prison for his efforts to save him – and Max emerges from his confinement with a determination to pay his brothers back in spades for their disloyalty.
House of Strangers is brimming with memorable characters and standout performances – Robinson is excellent as the headstrong family head; Conte’s vengeful ex-convict is cold as frozen steel – and just as hard; and Hayward plays Max’s plain-speaking, long-suffering lover, who tries to talk him out of his plans for revenge.
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Wicked Woman (1953)
One of my absolute favorite low-budget noirs, Wicked Woman stars Beverly Michaels as Billie Nash, who seems to exist by wandering from place to place, finding whatever employment she can, and sponging off as many gullible fellas as possible before moving on again. When the film opens, she’s just arrived in some nameless town, and before long, she’s living in a rundown (but respectable, mind you) rooming house and working at a local tavern run by Matt Bannister (Richard Egan) and his dipsomaniac wife, Dora (Evelyn Scott). In the blink of an eye, she’s attracted Matt’s attentions, along with those of creepy Charlie Borg (Percy Helton), who lives across the hall in the rooming house and would do almost anything to spend time with Billie (from giving her his newly cooked dinner, to altering her clothes, to “loaning” her money, with collateral being the promise of a date on her night off). The film’s action revolves around the relationship between Billie and Matt, her fantasies of “dancing and making love and being serenaded” in Mexico, and just how far she’s willing to go to make her dreams a reality.
Billie is not your normal, garden-variety femme fatale, in the tradition of the Phyllis Dietrichsons and Kathie Moffats of the world. She’s not polished, or even overly calculating – she’s just getting by the best way she can. She unwinds from the stresses of life with cigarettes and a swig of gin, her astrology magazine, and her favorite record played on her portable wind-up phonograph. There’s no next week for Billie – there’s barely a tomorrow; her plans are for right now, and whatever she needs to do to get her through right now, she’ll do it. (And if that means stealing your man, well . . . that’s the way the cookie crumbles.)
I hope you’ll check out these four YouTube freebies – you’ll be glad you did!
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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.
If you’re interested in learning more about Karen’s books, you can read more about them on amazon here:
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