Film Pairings — Farley Granger Times 2

Granger and O'Donnell

Farley Granger had a look — corruptible innocence — that worked for those mid-century film noir and black & white B movies. Nice guy makes a mistake and things run amok. Granger turned out to be an Alfred Hitchcock favorite (Strangers on the Train and Rope). However earlier in his gracefully-aged, long career, Granger made a couple of movies that put him on the road to stardom. In the following two movies he is paired with Cathy O’Donnell, the feminine version of corruptible innocence. There was something oddly and attractively androgynous about both of them. There was magic between them.

Edward Anderson's Novel

They Live By Night (1948) — Veteran gangsters help a young and green prisoner (Granger) escape. In return, they expect him to help them in their chosen field of employment.  When he meets a semi-tough daughter (O'Donnell) of grifters (O’Donnell), they both see a way out of their current existence.  The movie, directed by the highly regarded Nicolas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause), was based on a depression-era novel, Thieves like Us by Edward Anderson. Escaping his fellow escapees, as well as the police, proves to be more than he can handle. Character actor Howard Da Silva gives an outstanding performance as “One-eye” Mobley.

Side Street (1950) — While current critics seem to dote on the noir qualities of They Live By Night, I favor this one right up to, but not quite all the way to the end. What could have been the perfect noir turned out to be a perfectly fine police procedural with exquisitely photographed scenes of 1950 Manhattan. Granger plays a down-and out, part-time postman whose wife (O’Donnell) is pregnant. He engages in what he believes to be a petty theft. The opportunity (temptation) practically falls in his lap. Unfortunately there’s nothing petty about his crime. And each time he tries to clear himself, he gets in deeper. Blackmail and a couple of murders later, Granger’s character is running for his life. Anthony Mann directed.

Both films are not only blessed by great cinematography both are able to draw from a stable of under-rated character actors, many of whom will be familiar to fans of “B” films of he era.

Netflix has put both these films on one disc.  If you are staying in and you are looking for some spirits to get in the mood, get a blanket, dim the lights and pour a glass of whiskey. Somehow wine spritzers and tough guys and gals don’t go together.

Film Pairings — White Heat, Rififi, A Night Of American Black And French Noir

Virginia Mayo and James Cagney in White Heat

I may have to give up my mystery writer’s license for my admission: I’ve never liked watching James Cagney and avoid most of his films. But I see now, it’s been my loss. In White Heat, he plays a macho, mama’s boy, a complex character that Cagney pulls off with aplomb. White Heat is on everyone’s list of great gangster films.  It’s also a heist movie with a reliable supporting cast — Virginia Mayo, Edmond O’Brien, Steve Cochran, and a very convincing  Margaret Wycherly as “Ma.”  We’ve got guns and trains, prison violence, car chases and explosions, and still we don’t lose that sense of noir gloom. Virginia Kellogg picked up an Academy Award for Best Writing, and the 1949 film won the Best Picture Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America.

Jean Servais threatening in Rififi

No doubt an inspirational resource for many American crime films to follow, the word for White Heat is “American.”  In 1955, The French produced Rififi a gangster/heist film that epitomized noir.  In all fairness, the story was realized by American director Jules Dassain who had been banned from Hollywood, blacklisted during the notorious McCarthy era of “commie” hunters. Based on the Auguste Le Breton’s Du Rififi Chez Hommes novel, a recently released, over-the-hill gangster brings together a specialized crew to rob a high-end jewelry store.  The meticulously planned (and filmed) robbery is worth the price of admission alone; but the film is not over.   I suspect that anyone wanting to understand film noir would do well to study this masterpiece, not only for its story, but for the superior cinematography which captures the working streets of Paris in the mid-fifties.

If the diminutive Cagney casts a big shadows on the screen as the manic American tough guy, French actor Jean Servais, does it in reverse.  His depression (ennui) is tangible without being melodramatic.   In White Heat, Cagney is so intense we cannot take our eyes off him.  In Rififi, Servais, the central character, almost doesn’t exist. It’s his immense and cool quiet that astounds. However, the last minutes of the film more than confirm the greatness of all that precede it and create a genuine work of art.

If you take in this double feature some night, consume with glasses of champagne or Pernod (if you’re the moody type) because the French are slightly victorious in the match of these two great films.