Vintage Pulp

November 9 2020

UNDER COVER OF NIGHT

When the sun's away the crooks will slay.

And speaking of the film noir starring Aldo Ray and Anne Bancroft, we watched it right after finishing the book, and though the novel was pretty dark, the filmmakers decided a little upbeat mood music was on order, so they got the immortal jazz crooner Al Hibbler to sing a theme song. Everybody knows this one. Join right in: Nightfaaaaaaall… and youuuuuuuuuuu… lovely you… underneath the wreath of heaven’s pale blue… you are poetry (possibly haiku)… you are melody (maybe in d minor, the saddest of keys)… You get the idea. Don’t let us turn you off this film. The theme song is nothing the mute button won’t fix.

As we mentioned in our post on the source novel, Nightfall was directed by Jacques Tourneur, the heavyweight talent behind the film noir monument Out of the Past, and he has the kind of skills that make an early shot of co-star James Gregory getting on a bus an artistic achievement. Gregory plays an insurance investigator on the trail of $350,000 worth of missing heist loot, and, as in the novel, the innocent schmuck who accidentally got stuck with it lost it and doesn’t remember how or where. That person is played by Ray, who’s great in this, as he relates his dilemma in flashbacks and desperately tries to deal with the two murderous robbers who originally stole the cash.

Nightfall is no Out of the Past, but it’s a solid film noir entry, well worth watching. Besides Ray and Gregory, the two robbers Brian Keith and Rudy Bond are good, and honey-voiced Bancroft as the femme fatale handles her pivotal role nicely. Credit here also goes to Burnett Guffey, who photographed the movie, and added to his long list of beautiful film noir achievements—Johnny O’Clock, Night Editor, In a Lonely Place, The Sniper, Private Hell 36, Screaming Mimi, and a portfolio of other films. Put Nightfall in your queue. It’ll be worth it—once the theme song is over. It premiered in the U.S. today in 1956

Nightfall, Johnny O'Clock, Night Editor, In a Lonely Place, The Sniper, Private Hell 36, Screaming Mimi, Brian Keith, Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Jacques Tourneur, James Gregory, David Goodis, Al Hibbler, Burnett Guffey, poster art, cinema, film noir, movie review

Vintage Pulp

December 2 2019

VENUS RETROGRADE

Looking back at one of the solar system's hottest celestial bodies.

Anita Ekberg’s film noir Screaming Mimi opened in West Germany today in 1960. We’ve had a look at one West German poster, but today we’ve decided to share another one. This version is similar to the U.S. promo, but the unusual color palette makes it seem like a completely different design. We think’s it’s really beautiful.

West Germany, Die blonde Venus, Screaming Mimi, Anita Ekberg, poster art, cinema, film noir

Vintage Pulp

December 2 2018

BLONDE ATTRITION

Being the object of every man's desire will tend to take a toll.

It took us a while to figure it out, but this is a West German poster for Anita Ekberg’s drama Screaming Mimi, which we talked about a couple of years ago. Die blonde Venus is a pretty generic re-titling, in our opinion, but we do like this unusual visual approach for the poster. The movie is about a woman suffering from the effects of a traumatic event in her past, who takes on a new identity and suffers the double misfortune of being dominated by her lover and targeted by a killer. It’s definitely worth a watch. You can read more about it here. After opening in 1958 it finally premiered in West Germany today in 1960.

West Germany, Die blonde Venus, Screaming Mimi, Anita Ekberg, poster art, cinema, film noir

Vintage Pulp

January 28 2016

ALL OF MIMI

Ekberg as a stripper is a dream come true but she brings a nightmare with her.

Based on a 1949 novel of the same name by Frederic Brown, Screaming Mimi stars Anita Ekberg as a traumatized burlesque dancer who can’t shake the memory of being attacked by a knife-wielding maniac. She’s committed to a mental institution, where her psychiatrist promptly falls in love with her and helps her escape and create a new identity. Now dancing at a club in Laguna Beach, California, she’s the hottest draw in the area and her former doctor is her lover and protector, but also smothers and dominates her. Can the anonymity last? Of course not.

Enter stage right an entitled horndog who won’t take no for an answer. After Ekberg survives another knife attack, the new man in her life—who’s also a reporter—has all the justification he needs to trail poor Anita everywhere she goes, as the doctor meanwhile tries to protect her fake identity and keep her and the reporter from falling into bed together. Chances of success? Probably not very good.

Screaming Mimi is an interesting noir—it was fertile enough to serve as inspiration for Dario Argento’s L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo, aka The Bird with the Crystal Plumage—but its b-movie budget really shows and we think Philip Carey is miscast as the reporter/hero. Carey has no charm at all in this, which renders Ekberg’s interest in him unbelievable. But his performance will be a treat for patrons of the Noir City fest—most will probably remember him from his twenty-four-year stint as the repulsive Asa Buchanan on the soap opera One Life To Live.

Screaming Mimi, Bird with the Crystal Plumage, One Life To Live, Anita Ekberg, Gypsy Rose Lee, Linda Cherney, Philip Carey, Dario Argento, poster art, cover art, cinema, television, literature, film noir, movie review

Intl. Notebook

January 22 2016

THE ART OF KILLING

San Francisco welcomes murder and mayhem for the fourteenth time.

San Francisco’s Noir City Film Festival remains one of the best of its type in the U.S. Its fourteenth incarnation kicks off today in San Fran with Rear Window and The Public Eye. The first isn’t a noir, but fits comfortably on the festival program; the second is a sort of noir, though a newer one, and is an inspired choice, in our opinion. We just wonder whether people who pay for two films noir will be happy with those two selections on opening night. In any case, we take a peek at both films below. Other offerings this year include the Bogart vehicles The Two Mrs. Carrolls and In a Lonely Place, Screaming Mimi, Corridor of Mirrors, The Dark Corner plus more than twenty other titles, and we’ll be taking a look at some of these films throughout the next week.

San Francisco, Noir City Film Festival, The Two Mrs. Carrolls, In a Lonely Place, Screaming Mimi, Corridor of Mirrors, The Dark Corner, Rear Window, The Public Eye, cinema, film noir

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

April 20

1939—Holiday Records Strange Fruit

American blues and jazz singer Billie Holiday records “Strange Fruit”, which is considered to be the first civil rights song. It began as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, which he later set to music and performed live with his wife Laura Duncan. The song became a Holiday standard immediately after she recorded it, and it remains one of the most highly regarded pieces of music in American history.

April 19

1927—Mae West Sentenced to Jail

American actress and playwright Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for the content of her play Sex. The trial occurred even though the play had run for a year and had been seen by 325,000 people. However West’s considerable popularity, already based on her risque image, only increased due to the controversy.

April 19

1971—Manson Sentenced to Death

In the U.S, cult leader Charles Manson is sentenced to death for inciting the murders of Sharon Tate and several other people. Three accomplices, who had actually done the killing, were also sentenced to death, but the state of California abolished capital punishment in 1972 and neither they nor Manson were ever actually executed.

April 18

1923—Yankee Stadium Opens

In New York City, Yankee Stadium, home of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees, opens with the Yankees beating their eternal rivals the Boston Red Sox 4 to 1. The stadium, which is nicknamed The House that Ruth Built, sees the Yankees become the most successful franchise in baseball history. It is eventually replaced by a new Yankee Stadium and closes in September 2008.

April 17

1961—Bay of Pigs Invasion Is Launched

A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. However, the invasion fails badly and the result is embarrassment for U.S. president John F. Kennedy and a major boost in popularity for Fidel Castro, and also has the effect of pushing him toward the Soviet Union for protection.