tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19843129645889670042024-02-07T16:16:53.710-08:00I Wake Up Screaming...Adventures in the darkTrishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789458524919729072noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984312964588967004.post-89699313620895763182011-02-17T09:05:00.000-08:002011-02-22T14:28:13.038-08:00<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Impact;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">DOUBLE IDENTITY</span></span><span style="font-family: Impact; font-size: 13pt;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
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</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How thrilling to discover a film you were unaware of, starring actors you may have taken for granted in the past… It happened to me when I stumbled on <i>Tension</i>, a 1949 “B” effort from MGM. <i>Tension</i> isn’t a moody, fatalistic piece in the mode of <i>Out of the Past</i>, nor is it a procedural à la <i>He Walked By Night</i>. It’s a crime thriller with elements of noir that don’t quite add up to the real thing. It has a lot of humor for a film tagged as a film noir. And there’s a rumor that <i>Tension</i> actually parodies noir… but this doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the film.<o:p></o:p></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkVMShSEq8N4IwBlRUD3L1s39Xuw_hgbhlfulgVNA_FPGIuiA6WEXqKVHFVUtsz1LyoqklsSAOQdB1lvnw-7Hn2uHCwVF4NqB6gTXMW6cGheqljIyqvEuu8sZT0Nc0CV66R9eLePAZcYsa/s1600/warren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkVMShSEq8N4IwBlRUD3L1s39Xuw_hgbhlfulgVNA_FPGIuiA6WEXqKVHFVUtsz1LyoqklsSAOQdB1lvnw-7Hn2uHCwVF4NqB6gTXMW6cGheqljIyqvEuu8sZT0Nc0CV66R9eLePAZcYsa/s320/warren.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Our protagonist is mild-mannered pharmacist Warren Quimby, married to Claire, a sultry blonde who picks up men at the lunch counter while he fills prescriptions at the back of the store. Trapped by the belief that he can one day make her happy, he’s eager to please but usually strikes out. Think Elisha Cook, Jr. and Marie Windsor in <i>The Killing</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">. After Claire leaves him for liquor salesman Barney Deager, the humiliated Warren plots revenge, assuming a second identity who can take the fall for Deager's murder. But Warren doesn’t go through with the killing, Deager ends up dead anyway, and the police show up on Warren’s doorstep. Here is where some of <i>Tension</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">’s plot holes and inconsistencies begin to pile up. And frankly, the dual identity angle is more gimmick than noir.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Bh-Zzom2EzuXqeWZV0FVqfMrfVKSZygj663iyIpwkAbHouclEwTjZVuwsHMq7DYN6kVGLZIId9vG51P7sqGt60PkjgfcmByk6zSZ7LnWafB7jx252Nq8nMk_e-mjezfMe_43KkzxFhA-/s1600/tension4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Bh-Zzom2EzuXqeWZV0FVqfMrfVKSZygj663iyIpwkAbHouclEwTjZVuwsHMq7DYN6kVGLZIId9vG51P7sqGt60PkjgfcmByk6zSZ7LnWafB7jx252Nq8nMk_e-mjezfMe_43KkzxFhA-/s320/tension4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sure, the screenplay has problems. But I can overlook them because I’m fully engaged by these characters and by the actors who play them. From the moment Barry Sullivan’s sleazy detective appears over the credits, I’m in. Sullivan’s character works in brilliant tandem with his partner (a smirking William Conrad). Both actors have great timing, ably tossing the ball to one another during their interrogation sequences. Audrey Totter is simply fabulous as Claire. Here's hoping she takes her place in the femme fatale hall of fame.<o:p></o:p></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuf8XXiV5Qd2GcfgIth6qeNQmXMFtgVBOQTBr0UKf-J0kit3Am-36hj-FyKLj-VC7XNRPBBNhLLzH5pF2u6mlSi5Nsw0KBkjRLiuVAGvuIsfgevcWVV1i_DBQUm3UUegGFb5CJSyCe4cf/s1600/Tension2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuf8XXiV5Qd2GcfgIth6qeNQmXMFtgVBOQTBr0UKf-J0kit3Am-36hj-FyKLj-VC7XNRPBBNhLLzH5pF2u6mlSi5Nsw0KBkjRLiuVAGvuIsfgevcWVV1i_DBQUm3UUegGFb5CJSyCe4cf/s320/Tension2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And thank God Richard Basehart wasn’t afraid to play unmanly types. His Warren is fraught with characteristics usually reserved for female characters: pathetic, sex-starved and desperate for approval. As alter ego Paul Sothern he’s smartly turned out with brylcreemed hair, falling for his new neighbor (Cyd Charisse) and seeing Claire for the tramp she is. For those of us who grew up watching Basehart play stuffy authoritarian figures on television, the discovery of his early career in black and white films is a revelation. Between 1948 and 1951, he was the cold-blooded cop killer in <i>He Walked by Night</i>, the gothic husband in <i>The House on Telegraph Hill</i> and <i>Black Book</i>’s dictator-in-waiting. <i>Fourteen Hours</i> is vintage territory for anyone who appreciates the levels of emotional imbalance the young Basehart brings to his work. I like his ability to be a male Gloria Grahame – charmingly askew.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><i><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><i>Tension</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> is one of ten film noirs included in </span><span style="font-family: TrebuchetMS;"><a href="http://www.whvdvd-collections.com/index.php?collection=3&product=110"><span style="color: #red; text-decoration: none;">Warner Bros.' Film Noir Classic Collection, Volume 4.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> It features audio commentary by accomplished film noir scholars Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward, who dutifully give the film a good dressing-down because it doesn’t follow the noir playbook. I get their Clark Kent/Superman and 97-pound weakling analogies – that’s fair commentary. And I understand how the film's music score, self-conscious lighting and references to <i>Double Indemnity</i> suggest parody. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These things make me laugh too – and not in an unkind way.</span><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7HcKWLbwbJpq8L8XhI8QIq4oZJDkp2zcjCdfzsVzZ1bLnmt7rA0RHky-XOlBH9YS9PzhgHTJ0EgVZqfI2IlanDDvrJD-aoSENjZFXxH5C9TrGkmiwnSeGgBuO6_HN5Ru0KJlkIKJ18pmR/s1600/tension5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7HcKWLbwbJpq8L8XhI8QIq4oZJDkp2zcjCdfzsVzZ1bLnmt7rA0RHky-XOlBH9YS9PzhgHTJ0EgVZqfI2IlanDDvrJD-aoSENjZFXxH5C9TrGkmiwnSeGgBuO6_HN5Ru0KJlkIKJ18pmR/s320/tension5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Curiously, Silver complains that the audience might be confused by the motives of Barry Sullivan’s character. What nonsense. Even in the best film noir, isn't there always a moment when you ask yourself "what the hell is going on?"</span><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><b>****************************************************************************</b></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This post is a contribution to <a href="http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/2011/01/for-love-of-film-noir-call-for-posts.html"><span style="color: ##660000; text-decoration: none;">The Film Preservation Blogathon: For the love of Film (Noir).</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=7177"><span style="color: #660000; text-decoration: none;">Learn about the Film Foundation here.</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small;">And help save a film noir. </span><span style="font-family: TrebuchetMS;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=LAWFPAB4XLHAW" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Join us in donating to The Film Noir Foundation.</a></span><br />
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</div>Trishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789458524919729072noreply@blogger.com4