Pug

I've been busy lately, so not much to post. Here's something from my notebook for an idea that's been rolling around in my head:

The Big Heat

I watched one of my favorite film noir movies this weekend - The Big Heat. Glenn Ford plays an honest cop who doesn't know when to back off in investigating the suicide of a police official with ties to the local crime czar. I think I like it so much because it's very simple but very well done. The story is straight forward, but it hits all the right notes and has some pretty intense stuff for the time. I highly recommend it if you like that sort of thing:

Fox Noir

This month the Siskel Film center in Chicago is running newly restored prints of many of the film noir classics from the Fox library. I saw Night and the City last weekend and it was great to see it on the big screen. The movie is about a down and out hustler in London trying to make one last grab for the brass ring by horning in on the wrestling promotion racket.

Richard Widmark was great, as usual, playing the frantic loser who won't face the fact that he'll never be a big shot, but the real highlight of the movie for me was the grudge match between the old master wrestler, Gregorius and the reigning king of the ring, The Strangler. Gregorius was played by Stanislaus Zbyszko, a real old time wrestler who was 71 when the movie was filmed. The scene was very visceral, filmed in what felt like real time with tight camera shots, long cuts and no music or sound effects.

It was a great film overall. I love the way that old movies were able to throw in some humor without losing the sense of peril or emotional intesity.

Hopefully, I can go and see some of the other movies before month is out.

Saboteur

Last week my wife & I went to an exhibit of production art from Alfred Hitchcock's films at Northwestern (info here). It was very cool seeing storyboards blown up & hung along side a monitor playing the final sequence from the film. My favorites were from the Statue of Liberty scene in Saboteur: