Vintage Pulp

December 21 2023

JACK AND THE BOX

Rise by the camera, fall by the camera.

Above is a promo poster for the 1950 drama Shakedown made for the Italian market, where it was called Jack il ricattatore, or “Jack the blackmailer.” It stars Howard Duff as a photographer whose ambition pushes him across the line into criminality. We talked about it a while back. The poster is signed by an artist we can’t identify—it looks like “e-pic.” We’ve seen other work by this person, but we don’t have a real name or any other biographical info. This is a nice effort, so we’ll an eye out.

Italy, Jack il ricattatore, Shakedown, Howard Duff, Brian Donlevy, Peggy Dow, E-pic, poster art, cinema

Vintage Pulp

September 1 2023

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDREL

Danger there's a Shakedown dead ahead.

If only real life were bounded by the same rules as mid-century cinema. In real life you can screw someone completely to succeed and in many quarters you’re hailed as an amazing talent and can even run for president, but in vintage cinema anyone who succeeds had better do it via fair play or the screenwriters will punish them. In Shakedown, Howard Duff plays an ambitious photographer symbolically named Jack Early, who takes shortcuts to success in San Francisco. He talks his way into a job at a local newspaper, and during his duties quickly reveals himself to be not only ambitious, but amoral. He generates a pile of off-the-books cash with various hustles, and reaches a point where he’s full of himself, reckless, and dressing like he runs a stable of hookers on the side.

It’s not a surprise when, at this point, in an act of utmost hubris he pits two deadly gangsters against each other by using photos of one engaged in a criminal act. When his blackmail results in one crook blowing the other up with a bomb, Early is right there with his camera and is almost killed too. But he gets the photo. It earns him upper tier status among San Fran lensmen, and the best assignments. But even that isn’t enough for him. When one magazine editor offers him top rates for his services, his response is: “The top’s too low.”

Clearly someone suffering from this level of egomania is headed for a mugshot session or a mortuary—the mid-century movie censorship regime demanded it. The only question is how exactly does Early go down. We’ll only tell you that his journey is entertaining, if unlikely, and the film on the whole is a better than average vintage drama, bolstered by the rock solid Peggy Dow in a supporting role, along with Brian Donlevy and Lawrence Tierney as Gangster A and Gangster B. When it’s all over you’ll believe the corrupt always lose—on the screen anyway. Shakedown premiered in the U.S. today in 1950.

San Francisco, Shakedown, Howard Duff, Brian Donlevy, Peggy Dow, Lawrence Tierney, Bruce Bennett, Anne Vernon, poster art, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

March 27 2020

EXECUTING STRATEGY

Gestapo goes to extraordinary lengths to cancel a Czech.

This striking poster for Hangmen Also Die might make you think you’re dealing with a death row film noir, but it’s actually a war drama about the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. When a Czech assassin played by Brian Donlevy shoots the country’s cruel German administrator Reinhard Heydrich and escapes into Prague’s urban maze, the Nazis start executing people to force the population to turn over the shooter. As people die Donlevy struggles over whether to turn himself in.

This was made in 1943 and qualifies as war propaganda, complete with flourishes such as discordant brass when Hitler’s portrait appears onscreen, and a cheeseball closing song with a chorus of, “No surrender!” And to just bang the war drum even more, the movie premiered in, of all places, Prague, Oklahoma today in 1943, and the showing featured hanged effigies of Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini, while regional politicians made a point of attending. That must have been some night.

But while Hangmen Also Die may qualify as propaganda, it certainly isn’t untrue in any major sense. The film’s two architects, German director Fritz Lang and German writer Bertolt Brecht, both left their homeland to avoid the Nazis, and we can only imagine that their personal experiences made this project deeply important to them.

But even people working from personal experience need help, and they get a major boost from co-star Walter Brennan. You’ll sometimes read about him being a great character actor and this movie proves it. Watch him in this, then as the drunkard Eddie in To Have and Have Not, and you’ll find him physically unrecognizable. Only his distinctive voice identifies him as the same person. Meanwhile it’s Donlevy who’s asked to personify the classic moral dilemma of sacrifice for the greater good, and he’s mostly successful at portraying it as a heavy burden. While we wouldn’t call Hangmen Also Diea great movie, there’s no doubt it occupies its niche comfortably.

Czechoslovakia, Germany, Prague, World War II, Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee, Fritz Lang, Bertolt Brecht, poster art, cinema, movie review, nazis

Hollywoodland

October 23 2019

JAILHOUSE ROCK

Watch and marvel as I escape this cage using the incredible power of my court appointed defense attorney.

This odd photo shows Eric Pederson, whose real name was Charles E. Putnam, showing off for photographers after he had been arrested on suspicion of auto theft in Los Angeles today in 1947. He and a companion named Edward Sell were busted by cops inside a car belonging a third party, though both denied they were trying to steal it. Pederson is rock hard in this photo for a reason. He was the reigning Mr. California, a title he won at only eighteen years old. The win sent him onward to the Mr. America competition, but he was beaten for the national crown by future Superman Steve Reeves.

Pederson generated plenty of publicity off that and other bodybuilding competitions, which led to a Your Physique cover painted by none other than George Quaintance. Since Quaintance painted only about a dozen of these, this was quite an honor. From there Pederson was able to launch a long pro wrestling career, which is how he’s mainly remembered today. At one time he had Hollywood aspirations, but ended up managing only one role—a bit part as a wrestler in 1951’s Civilian Coast Guard, starring Brian Donlevy and Ella Raines.

We weren’t able to find out how his auto theft arrest turned out, but considering his seemingly unbroken timeline from bodybuilding competitions to wrestling, it’s safe to say the charges were pleaded down to a misdemeanor or dismissed altogether. Which just goes to show that even quasi celebrity is helpful in L.A. Or maybe the cops gave him a break in exchange for bodybuilding tips. In any case, Pederson retired from wrestling in 1961 and died in 1990, but the Quaintance painting guarantees he’ll be remembered as long as people collect great magazine art. We have more from Quaintance here, here, and here.

Los Angeles, Mr. California, Your Physique, Civilian Coast Guard, Eric Pederson, Charles E. Putnam, George Quaintance, Brian Donlevy, Ella Raines, Steve Reeves, magazine art

Vintage Pulp

May 7 2015

SECOND GLASS

It may be the second version but it’s first rate.

Above is French poster art for La Clé de verre, aka The Glass Key, the second Hollywood adaptation of Dashiell Hammet’s 1931 novel. We’ve shared other Glass Key materials, but never talked about the film. Suffice to say this Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake vehicle is excellent—much better than This Gun for Hire, which starred the same beautiful pair (Ladd and Lake appeared together in seven movies). Complicated, engrossing, and liberally spiced with excellent action and Hammett’s wit chanelled through Jonathan Latimer’s screenplay—“My first wife was a second cook at a third rate joint on Fourth Street”—The Glass Key is mandatory viewing. It’s also interesting for its cynical look at American politics, portrayed as corrupt, built on lies, and fueled by legalized bribery. That much hasn’t changed. The first Glass Key was made in 1935 with George Raft in the lead, but this remake from 1942 is the one to watch. Its French premiere, delayed for years due to World War II and its aftermath, was today in 1948.

France, La Clé de verre, The Glass Key, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy, George Raft, Dashiell Hammett, Jonathan Latimer, cinema, film noir, movie review

Vintage Pulp

October 15 2014

MASTERFUL KEY

Glass Key paperback art is tops thanks to another Italian master.

Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy, and Veronica Lake’s film noir The Glass Key, which was Hollywood’s second try at Dashiell Hammett’s novel, premiered this month in 1942. To be exact, it opened yesterday in New York City and throughout the U.S. on October 23. The poster most often seen online is the theatrical release version we showed you several years ago, but alternates were produced and two of them appear below. What we really wanted to share, though, is this great paperback cover from UK-based Digit Books. It’s from 1961 and features the art of Italian illustrator Enrico de Seta, who we’ve mentioned before. If you haven’t watched The Glass Key we recommend it, and if you haven’t read the book, just know that it was Hammett’s personal favorite.

Italy, Britain, New York City, Digit Books, The Glass Key, Dashiell Hammett, Enrico de Seta, Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, poster art, cinema, cover art, literature, film noir

Vintage Pulp

October 23 2009

ART OF GLASS

Glass Key poster does black and white in blazing color.

American promo art for The Glass Key, based on a Dashiell Hammett novel and starring Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd, and Veronica Lake. We’ll have more on this slightly overlooked film noir later, but for now we’re showing you the poster because it’s great, one of the better promos of the period, we think. The Glass Key premiered in the U.S. today in 1942.

The Glass Key, Dashiell Hammett, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy, poster art, cinema, film noir

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 9

1967—ChÃ© Executed in Bolivia

A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed in Bolivia. In an attempt to make it appear as though he had been killed resisting Bolivian troops, the executioner shoots Guevara with a machine gun, wounding him nine times in the legs, arm, shoulder, throat, and chest.

October 8

1918—Sgt. York Becomes a Hero

During World War I, in the Argonne Forest in France, America Corporal Alvin C. York leads an attack on a German machine gun nest that kills 25 and captures 132. He is a corporal during the event, but is promoted to sergeant as a result. He also earns Medal of Honor from the U.S., the Croix de Guerre from the French Republic, and the Croce di Guerra from Italy and Montenegro. Stateside, he is celebrated as a hero, and Hollywood even makes a movie entitled Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper.

October 8

1956—Larsen Pitches Perfect Game

The New York Yankees’ Don Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series against hated rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is the only perfect game in World Series history, as well as the only no-hitter.

October 7

1959—Dark Side of Moon Revealed

The Soviet space probe Luna 3 transmits the first photographs of the far side of the moon. The photos generate great interest, and scientists are surprised to see mountainous terrain, very different from the near side, and only two seas, which the Soviets name Mare Moscovrae (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire).

October 6

1966—LSD Declared Illegal in U.S.

LSD, which was originally synthesized by a Swiss doctor and was later secretly used by the CIA on military personnel, prostitutes, the mentally ill, and members of the general public in a project code named MKULTRA, is designated a controlled substance in the United States.