Noir City Notebook 3

[saavedra77]

99 River Street and I Love Trouble didn't strike me as particularly deep, but they were both vastly entertaining:

99 River Street (1953): Washed-up boxer Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) is framed for his unfaithful wife's murder and must pursue the actual killer, her lover, as the latter tries to flee New York with the profits of a recent jewel heist. The coulda-been-a-contender hero is aided by his friend and possible new flame, Linda James (Evelyn Keyes), an aspiring actress. (Am I missing any old-time crime-fiction cliches, there?) Of course, some critics also consider the film noteworthy for its kindasortamaybe self-referential qualities: the spectacles of the boxing ring and the theatrical stage--the protagonists' chosen careers--echo the spectacular entertainment of the movie thriller itself. And the characters think of themselves as performers in their day-to-day lives: Driscoll thinks of the hunt for his wife's killer as a way of recovering the pride that he lost in the ring, and Keyes' drugstore thespian seems to be on one long, high-stakes audition throughout. All the world's a Hollywood backlot, apparently.

Depending on your point of view, I Love Trouble (1948) (not to be confused with the 1994 Nick Nolte/Julia Roberts vehicle, to which it bears basically no relation) could be described as either (a) an homage to, (b) a parody of, or (c) a ripoff of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels. Franchot Tone's Stuart Bailey has Marlowe's dry wit and cynical mien, but with none of the swagger. Instead of being a step ahead of and generally mastering his adversaries, Bailey is more reactive and reliant upon guesswork and bluffing. And the movie's plot builds on the signature complexity of a Raymond Chandler storyline to produce a sort of Rube Goldberg machine of mistaken identities and false leads--elements which all come whirling back into bewilderingly simultaneous motion during the climax. By that point, there's nothing to do but laugh.

Speaking of laughs, this might be a good time to bring up "Pig Day Afternoon", which simultaneously honors the film festival and the Pike Place Market's annual "Pigs on Parade" benefit:

More tomorrow.