Stan and Ollie

 

Here's a post with some recommended summer viewing. 

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were without doubt the best comedy team in film history. Originally paired during the silent era, they easily made the transition to talkies. During the 1930s they reached the height of their popularity appearing in almost countless features and shorts. 

Their feature films included a number of operettas like The Devil’s Brother, The Bohemian Girl, and the ever-popular Thanksgiving favorite, The March of the Wooden Soldiers, where they provided the comic relief. But the features in which they starred are their best. Below find brief reviews of my favorites features and shorts. 

 

Sons of the Desert.  

Stan and Ollie play next door neighbors who trick their wives so they can secretly attend the Chicago convention of their fraternal order, the Sons of the Desert. Many believe this 1933 film is Laurel and Hardy’s best feature, both a critical success and one of the year’s top ten box office draws. 

The film has one hilarious skit after another and also exults in bone-crushing slapstick. Ollie winds up the target of endless pots and pans and kitchen crockery all hurled with unerring accuracy by his carving knife wielding wife, played by Mae Busch, one of Hollywood’s best comediennes. The film also features Charley Chase as an obnoxious lodge member, and Dorothy Christie as Mr. Laurel’s beautiful shotgun-toting wife. A popular tune, Honolulu Baby, danced by a night club chorus line, has become a cult classic.  64 minutes.

 

Way Out West. 

In this 1937 film Stan and Ollie play two men on a mission to deliver the deed to a deceased prospector’s gold mine to the daughter whom he had left behind with a sleazy saloon keeper and his gold-digging wife. This film is marked by one hilarious gag after another, often repeated.

It also showcases Stan and Ollie’s song and dance skills in three numbers. Stan’s career started as a song and dance man in English vaudeville, and Ollie had a fine voice. Adding to the fun is James Finlayson, a Laurel and Hardy regular, who plays the saloon keeper, and Dinah the mule who plays a key role in some of the skits. 63 minutes.

 

Blockheads.

In this 1938 film Stan and Ollie play wartime buddies who had been separated in the last days of WWI. Twenty years later Stan is discovered still guarding his post in the trenches. Ollie, now happily married, sees Stan’s picture in the newspaper and goes off to visit him in a nearby home for veterans. They meet and Ollie invites him home for dinner.

When they meet, Stan asks if Ollie remembers how dumb he used to be and then claims that he is better now. From that point on he causes a series of hilarious mishaps that wreck Ollie’s car, apartment, and marriage. Ollie’s next-door neighbor is played by the irascible Billy Gilbert, another Laurel and Hardy regular.

 

The Flying Deuces. 

On vacation in Paris, Ollie falls in love with the innkeeper’s daughter only to be heart broken when she reveals there is another man. In a hilarious scene, he attempts to commit suicide by drowning himself in the Seine and insists Stan do likewise. A passerby talks them out of it, and suggests they join the French Foreign Legion in order to forget the girl. 

I suppose the makers of this film tried to capitalize on the success of Beau Geste, a Foreign Legion drama released earlier in 1939. In any event, Ollie never acted better playing the love-sick suitor. The film also includes another of their fine song and dance numbers, as well as Stan’s rendition of the “World is Waiting for the Sunrise,” played on a makeshift harp fashioned out of a bedspring while they wait in prison to be shot at sunrise. 69 minutes. 

 

Big Business.

Stan and Ollie play door to door Christmas tree salesmen in this 1929 silent short. When an irascible homeowner turns them down, one thing leads to another, and a little altercation becomes an all-out battle. This short film is a comedy classic listed by the Library of Congress on the National Film Registry. 19 minutes.

 

The Music Box.

In this short Stan and Ollie play movers charged with the delivery of a player piano to a home atop many flights of steps. They park their horse drawn cart at the base of the steps and proceed to attempt to carry the crate enclosed piano up the steps. They meet one obstacle after another but finally get to the top only to encounter even greater obstacles. This comedy classic is also included in the National Film Registry. 29 minutes.

 

Them Thar Hills.

This 1934 short is not on the National Film Registry but it is still my favorite. Ollie has a large cast on his gout ridden leg, and his doctor, played by Billy Gilbert, claims that the gout is caused by too much high living. He suggests that the boys go camping in the mountains, lead the simple life, and drink plenty of mountain water. 

They attach a camper to their car and drive to the mountains where they park near a deserted house with a nearby well. Unbeknownst to them, moonshiners have just dumped a load of liquor in the well. The boys find the “mountain water” delightfully refreshing, and as they freely imbibe, they get increasingly high. This film also features Mae Busch. 20 minutes.

Most of these films can be viewed on Youtube for free but a few years ago a Laurel and Hardy DVD box set appeared that included an almost complete collection on 10 discs. The tenth disc includes a tribute where comedians like Jerry Lewis and Dick Van Dyke expressed their appreciation and debt to Stan and Ollie.

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Dana Andrews MVP

 

 

Dana Andrews starred in Laura (1944) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), two of the best films of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Today, critics still regard them as among the best films of all time. In Laura he played a police detective in Otto Preminger’s directorial debut, and in Best Years of Our Lives he played an Air Force bombardier returning from WW II in a film directed by William Wyler that swept most of the Academy Awards.

 

Both films are examples of the way the Hollywood studio system could bring together craftsmen and craftswomen to produce almost perfect art. The direction, the writing, the cinematography, the set design, the costume design, and the musical score were all of the highest order. The casts, from stars to featured players, were equally superb.  

For Dana Andrews these two films were the high point of his career and established his screen persona. He was handsome but not a pretty boy, tough but vulnerable, calm and quiet but could seem to contain hidden emotions. He was not nominated for Best Actor in either of these films, but his presence was the central core in each film. In a way, he was like a baseball or basketball player whose largely unnoticed quiet competence keeps the team together on its way to a championship.

 

Dana Andrews in Laura

Laura is a good example. Andrews was surrounded by an outstanding cast who all get their chance to strut their stuff, but they all play off of Andrews. He is the glue that keeps them together. Gene Tierney, one of the most beautiful actresses of all time, catapulted to stardom in the title role. Clifton Webb, in his first screen performance, gave a bravura performance that earned him an Academy Award nomination. A young Vincent Price, and Judith Anderson, a great actress in her own right, rounded out the superb cast.  Credit must go to director Otto Preminger for keeping all this talent in place, but the mere presence of Andrews was essential in bringing them together. 

 

Harold Russell, Dana Andrews,Fredric March

In The Best Years of Our Lives Andrews did not receive even a nomination for Best Actor for his performance in this story of three servicemen returning to civilian life after WWII. Fredric March, a veteran actor, won the Best Actor award, and newcomer Harold Russell, a young naval veteran who had lost both hands in a training accident, won the Best Supporting Actor award. However, I believe that Dana Andrews was again the central core in this film that also featured outstanding performances by Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, and Virginia Mayo.

Andrews plays an Air Force Captain and bombardier who is haunted by horrific dreams and memories of lost comrades. His on-again, off-again, on-again romance with Teresa Wright is played beautifully and is central to the film. He also appears alone in what is a pivotal scene near the end of the film. He has lost his job, and his wife, and a new romance has hit the rocks. He is about to leave his hometown and waits at the airport for a flight to anywhere. He sees some de-commissioned and stripped-down bombers waiting for the scrap heap. He climbs into one and sits in the dusty cabin and the war memories come back. There is no dialogue but gradually we hear the engines starting one by one, and then the sounds of battle run through his head. It is one of the most iconic scenes in film history, filmed beautifully by famed cinematographer Gregg Toland. 

 

In between these two great films, Andrews starred in the 1945 war film, A Walk in the Sun directed by Lewis Milestone. He plays a sergeant forced to take command of a platoon after the death or incapacity of its leaders. His quiet competence keeps the platoon together on its mission. At the same time, he is the central core that keeps a fine cast together. Like most WWII films the platoon is full of characters, and they each get a chance to shine. At my age, it is difficult to watch war films anymore, but I can watch A Walk in the Sun over and over again. It is a faithful adaptation of Harry Brown’s small novel about ordinary men engaged in a dangerous mission, and Andrews’ performance helps to make it a classic. 

Today, it is hard to imagine that most people have not seen these films. I know my grandchildren don’t like to watch black and white films, and even baby boomers at my local senior center have never heard of them. But the directing, the photography, the sets, the writing, the great casts, and the haunting musical scores that permeate these films make them true classics that can be watched over and over again like any great work of art. The fact that Dana Andrews played an unforgettable role in each of these films earns him a place in Hollywood's Hall of Fame.

 

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Anna Magnani: The Rose Tattoo

At a local library book sale, I picked up a DVD of The Rose Tattoo, a 1955 film adaptation of the play by Tennessee Williams, one of the foremost American playwrights of the twentieth century. I had seen the film years ago, but my memory of the plot was muddled. I did recall that the film starred Anna Magnani, an Italian actress, and Burt Lancaster, the well-known American film star.

While watching the film at home, I turned to my wife and said that Magnani must have won an Academy Award for her performance, something that a quick online check verified. Magnani played a Sicilian woman who had come to America after her peasant family had arranged a marriage for her with an Italian man working as a truck driver in the American South. Initially fearful of marrying an unknown and unseen man, her fears were overcome on their first meeting. He was a handsome hunk with a beautiful rose tattoo on his formidable chest. He also had a touch of nobility in his blood. She came to adore the man whom she claimed was a baron.

Unfortunately, after fifteen years of marriage the man turns out to be a smuggler who transports more than bananas in his truck. At the beginning of the film, he dies in a truck accident while fleeing the police. She is left alone with a beautiful fifteen-year-old daughter to care for and must eke out a living as a seamstress in her home. Worse gets worse when rumors begin to fly that her beloved husband had been a philanderer.

The rumors foul the memory and reputation of her spouse, and most of the film deals with her efforts to deal with them. Complicating things is the intrusion of another Italian truck driver with a body like her late husband’s but with little else. He is poor and clownish and played well by Burt Lancaster in an unfamiliar role. There is also a subplot involving a budding romance between her daughter and a young sailor.

However, the movie is all Magnani. Tennessee Williams said that he wrote the original stage play with her in mind after seeing her in post-war Italian neo-realist films. He called her “volcanic,” and she certainly is. There had never been anything like her before in American films. In The Rose Tattoo she is earthy, vivacious, and sensual all at the same time. In a word, she is Italian. Subsequently, she would be followed in American by other fiery Italian actresses: Gina Loll0brigida and Sophia Loren come immediately to mind.  

Coincidentally, in 1955 the Best Actor award went to Ernest Borgnine, himself an Italian immigrant, who played a second-generation Italian American butcher in Marty which that year won the award for Best Picture. Looking back I can see that the success of these two films was a remarkable achievement that marked the acceptance of Italian immigrants in America. It took three generations but Rome was not built in a day. 

Since Edward G. Robinson played an Al Capone like ruthless gang boss in the 1930s, Italians had usually been portrayed as either mobsters or cheap hoodlums. There were some notable exceptions but 1955 marked a real turning point. It’s true that mob films like the Godfather were yet to come, but Marty and The Rose Tattoo portrayed Italian Americans as ordinary people, albeit full of life and emotion.

I often think that most people living through great historical changes do not realize what is going on. During the Italian renaissance, for example, I doubt if most people had even heard of Leonardo, Raphael or Michelangelo. I was a sixteen-year-old third generation Italian American living in New York City in 1955 and I do not recall seeing either of these films at the time. I certainly did not think that films like these had any historical importance.

My paternal grandparents had moved out of their Italian neighborhood in Manhattan years before to Woodside, a section of the borough of Queens that was then, as well as now, a true melting pot. On my block facing busy 69^th Street, there was an Italian barbershop on one corner, and an Irish family on the other. In the center of the block my parents lived above a deli next to my grandparents’ home. The deli was run by a German American family as was the neighborhood soda fountain and candy store across the street. My parents could understand Italian but only used it with their parents, not with their children. They wanted their children to be American.

Now that I think of it, perhaps nothing contributed more to the acceptance of Italian Americans than the success of baseball’s New York Yankees. Before his retirement in 1951 the Yankee center fielder Joe DiMaggio had been the best player on the greatest team in baseball. Even after his retirement, the Yankees, led by Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto, went on to complete a string of five straight World Series victories. I think it safe to say that the Yankees were beloved in New York’s Italian American community. It is true that 1955 was not a good year for the Yankees. In that year they lost to the hated Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, and the great DiMaggio’s marriage with movie idol Marilyn Monroe came to an end. 

Nevertheless, 1955 marked the real arrival of Italians in America. The way was open for films like Moonstruck and My Cousin Vinny as well as the Godfather epic with its host of imitators in both the movies and on TV. Of course, it would not be long before pizza would become as American as apple pie.

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Gene Tierney: American Beauty

Gene Tierney was one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age. In the 1940s her great beauty launched her into stardom but she managed to become a fine actress as well. Unfortunately, behind the glamour was a bad marriage, a daughter born severely retarded due to exposure to German measles, and mental illness that ultimately brought an end to her career and almost to her life. 

 Here are the opening lines of her autobiography, appropriately titled, Self Portrait.

“It is a terrible thing to feel no fear, no alarm, when you are standing on a window ledge fourteen stories above the street. I felt tired, lost, and numb—but unafraid.

I wasn’t at all certain I wanted to take my own life, I cat-walked a few steps away from the open window and steadied myself, to think about it. The fact that I could no longer make decisions was why I had gone to the ledge in the first place. What to wear, when to get out of bed, which can of soup to buy, how to go on living, the most automatic task confused and depressed me.

I felt everything but fear. The fear comes to me now, twenty years later, knowing that at any moment I might have lost my balance. Then the decision would not have been mine. On that day, if I jumped or fell, either way would have been all right. There is a point where the brain is so deadened, the spirit so weary, you don’t want any more of what life is dishing out. I thought I was there.”

         

Tierney had been born in Brooklyn in 1920 but was largely raised in suburban Fairfield, Connecticut. Her parents were well off and even sent her to an exclusive finishing school in Switzerland during her high school years. At eighteen her family made a trip to Hollywood, where on a studio tour an executive, struck by her incredible beauty, asked her to take a screen test. A year later, after acting lessons back home and a small part in a Broadway play, she was back in Hollywood under contract to a major studio.

At first the studio did not know what to do with her. There was something exotic about her good looks and she was cast in a number of roles that had little to do with the person she was.

In 1942, for example,  she was cast as a charming South Sea  island girl in Son of Fury, an action adventure starring matinee idol Tyrone Power. In this film she hardly speaks of word of English, but her breathtaking beauty and innocence makes an indelible impression. 

Here is a list of what I consider to be her best films.

 

Laura: In 1944 Tierney became a full-fledged star playing the title role in this murder mystery that is now generally regarded as one of the greatest films of Hollywood’s Golden Age. 

Otto Preminger’s  direction of Laura received an Academy award nomination, and cameraman Joseph LaShelle won the Academy Award for best black and white cinematography. 

The cast was superb. Dana Andrews, playing a police detective, turned in his usual solid performance. In his screen debut Clifton Webb played a sophisticated, acerbic, and influential newspaper columnist, and received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.

Nevertheless, Gene Tierney stands out in Laura. From the opening credits even her portrait on the wall of her beautifully designed apartment dominates the film. But it is not just her looks. She plays a sophisticated urbanite whose  deportment and manner make everyone in the film, even her maid, fall in love with her. Her costumes, designed by famed Bonnie Cashin, are a lesson in how clothes define and make the man, or woman in this case.

 

It is hard to imagine that a whole generation has not seen this film. But the directing, the photography, the sets, the writing, the great cast, and the haunting song and score that permeates the film make it a true classic. It can be watched over and over again like any great work of art.

Leave Her to Heaven: Tierney’s performance in Laura led to a starring role in Leave Her to Heaven, a 1945 Technicolor drama that almost exulted in her good looks as well as the looks of co-stars Cornell Wilde and Jeanne Crain. 

Nevertheless, it is a dark film. Once again, Tierney gets to play a beautiful, accomplished young woman but this time jealousy and suspicion, that today we would call mental illness, lead to the break-up of her marriage and terrible tragedy.

In one unforgettable and terrible scene, her beauty only accentuates the horror of what is going on while she sits placidly in a rowboat while a young boy drowns nearby. Her performance in Leave Her to Heaven, gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

 

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir: In 1947 she starred along with Rex Harrison in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Tierney played an independent young widow with a young daughter who moves into a seaside cottage reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a deceased English sea captain. It is a charming story beautifully told and acted by the principals with a wonderful musical score by Bernard Herrmann.

Whirlpool : In this 1950 suspense drama, Tierney played a sophisticated suburban housewife who turns to a devious hypnotist for help in dealing with a secret mental illness. Her husband, played by Richard Conte, is a psychiatrist who is totally unaware of his wife’s sickness. Perhaps in this film she came closest to portraying her real self and her impending mental illness.

Where the Sidewalk Ends:  This little-known film is now recognized as a quintessential film noir classic. It is like a Laura reunion. Tierney is reunited with Laura co-star Dana Andrews, director Otto Preminger, and cinematographer Joseph LaShelle.The film is another psychological crime drama but centers around Dana Andrews who plays a rogue cop. Tierney, still beautiful, played what amounts to a supporting role. 

Her career would continue through the next decade but mental illness although it could not mar her beauty, limited her ability to work and she never regained her previous success or stature.

 In her autobiography, she tells the whole story not only of her screen career but also of her battle with the illness that brought her to the edge of death on that fourteenth story window ledge. Fortunately, her story had a happy ending.

 

 

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Renaissance Exhibition

 At age 86 I know that I will be dead before the museums, galleries, and collections that house the mysterious Renaissance paintings that I have interpreted since 2005 will ever change their labels despite anything I have written. Attempts to correspond over the years with these institutions, and with scholars in the field have elicited few replies. In 2010 This lack of response led me to create Giorgione et al...  where I have posted brief versions of these interpretive discoveries.

Full papers on the major discoveries can be found at academia.edu under Francis DeStefano, or just click on the links below each painting. For the other paintings see the posts on Giorgione et al...  for 2023. Today, I bring them together for readers of The Weekly Bystander with new labels. Enjoy the exhibition.

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                    Giorgione: The Rest on the Flight into Egypt. 

This painting is usually called The Tempest because of the storm in the background. Now we can see that it is Mary who nurses her Child while a young looking St. Joseph stands guard with his traditional staff. The ruins behind him are common in depictions of the Flight into Egypt and the storm in the background can indicate the Massacre of the Infants. Oil on canvas, dated 1509-1510.  Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice. measures 83 by 72 cm,

                    Titian: The Conversion of Mary Magdalen.

This famous painting is usually called Sacred and Profane Love, a title attached to it only in 1694. Scholars have disputed the title and now we can see that the two women are Mary Magdalen as a courtesan, and as a penitent discarding her finery after her conversion. The fictive relief in the center represents, from right to left, St. Paul falling from his horse, Cain and Abel, and Adam and Eve. Oil on canvas. 1514. Borghese Gallery, Rome. 118 cm x 273 cm (46” x 110 “).

       Giorgione: The Encounter of Jesus with the Rich Young Man. 

This painting is usually called The Three Ages of Man from the obvious disparity in age of the three men, but the disparity, as well as the clothing, helps to identify Jesus on the right, wearing a green liturgical vestment, instructing the finely dressed rich young man in the center. St. Peter, typically depicted as a balding older man, is dressed in martyr’s red. He looks out and invites the viewer to participate. C. 1500-1501. Pitti Palace, Florence. 62 cm x 77.5 cm (24” x 30.5”). 

                            Titian: Homage to Giorgione.

This small painting, usually known as The Pastoral Concert and variously attributed to either Giorgione or Titian, can now be seen as Titian’s Homage to Giorgione, his recently deceased mentor and friend. Giorgione is depicted in red finery in the center, but important details indicate that he has died: his face is in shadow; the absence of strings on his lute indicates he will play no more; and the dark sky in the background is ominous. Titian’s portrayal of himself as a young rustic recalls the biblical story of David and Jonathan. The two nude females are the muse Euterpe in different roles. On the left she pours Giorgione’s soul out like a libation, and in the center she hands her musical instrument to Titian. Oil on canvas. c. 1510. Louvre, Paris. 110 cm x 138 cm.

Michelangelo: Behold the Lamb of God.

This painting is always called the Doni Tondo after Michelangelo’s patron, but scholars disagree about who is handing the infant Jesus to whom, and also about the nudes in the background. Now we can see that Mary elevates her Son as a priest elevates the Host at the consecration of the Mass. Joseph kneels as a communicant would do when receiving the Host. In the midground the young John the Baptist looks at the elevated Jesus and proclaims: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” The nudes in the background are the Nephilim or the Giants in the Earth those sinners who could only be destroyed by the Flood in the time of Noah. Uffizi gallery, Florence. c. 1507. Oil and tempera on panel. 120 cm diameter (47.5 ").

                    Titian: Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine.

Usually called The Madonna of the Rabbit because of the conspicuous white rabbit in the center, the subject of this painting is the mystical marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria. Mary hands her Son to the saint as if she were giving the Eucharistic Host to a communicant. In her other hand she holds the white rabbit, which can now be seen as a symbol of the Eucharistic Host. St. Joseph, in rustic garb, sits off to the side stroking a black sheep that is symbolic of sacrifice. Oil on canvas. c. 1530. Louvre, Paris. 71 cm x 85 cm (28” x 33”).

                                             Giorgione: Judith

This painting obviously depicts the Hebrew heroine Judith calmly standing over the decapitated Holofernes. However, her often discussed bared leg can now be recognized as a device used by Giorgione to indicate a woman in danger of sexual assault. Oil on canvas transferred from the original panel.  c. 1504. Hermitage, St. Petersburg. 144 cm x 66.5 cm (57” x 26.2").

                                Giorgione: St. Sebastian

 This painting is usually called The Boy with an Arrow, but the comparison with depictions of St. Sebastian by Raphael and others is obvious. Giorgione characteristically omits the halo but the young man’s angelic face as well as his red garment indicate the famous martyr. Oil on panel. c. 1505. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. 48 cm x 41.8 cm.

 

                          Giorgione: Conversion of Mary Magdalen. 

The traditional labels, Laura, or Portrait of a Woman, do not fit. Scholars find no evidence for Petrarch’s lover, and no respectable woman would have sat for such a portrait. Details in this painting suggesting both a married woman, and a courtesan can only point to Mary Magdalen. Here, she sees the light and sheds her courtesan’s robe to become a bride of Christ. Oil on canvas mounted on panel. 1506. Kunsthstorisches   Museum, Vienna. 41cm x 34 cm. 

                            Titian: Conversion of Mary Magdalen.

Labelled Head of a Venetian Girl, this early painting by Titian resembles Giorgione’s Laura. Both can now be seen as Mary Magdalen in the process of removing her courtesan’s finery after seeing the light. Later Titian would paint many versions of Mary Magdalen, most of which featured the bared breast, disheveled clothing, and red hair. One even showed the saint with the same multi-colored shawl. Oil on panel transferred to canvas. c. 1509. Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena. 31.8 cm x 23.8 cm (12.5” x 9 .375 “).

                         Titian: Conversion of Mary Magdalen. 

Scholars have questioned the traditional label of this painting as the Roman nymph Flora. Titian painted many images of Mary Magdalen in the process of discarding her courtesan’s garments after her conversion. Her partially bared breast, flowing red hair, and even the flowers in her hand that have sacred symbolism, all point to the great saint. Oil on canvas. c. 1517. Uffizi gallery, Florence. 79.7 cm x 63.5 cm (31.4” x 25”). 

          Giorgione: The Encounter with Robbers on the Flight into Egypt.

This mid-seventeenth centuty copy by David Teniers of a lost Giorgione painting was originally called the Finding of Paris after the legendary account of the discovery of the infant Trojan prince. Scholars attach great importance to this small painting because they think it shows Giorgione's early interest in the Trojan War cycle. However, every detail in the painting fits one of the legends about the biblical Flight into Egypt. The two men on the right are robbers and their cohorts can be seen sleeping in the mid-ground. Mary’s bared leg indicates her danger. The infant Jesus lies on a white cloth on the stony ground and the elderly Joseph sits off to the left. Oil on panel. 1656. Museum of Fine Art, Belgium. 21 cm x 30.5 cm. (8.2” x 12”).

                   Giorgione: The Three Magi behold the Star.

 This painting was initially called Three Philosophers when seen in 1525 in the home of a Venetian patrician fifteen years after the death of Giorgione. Since that time scholars have not been able to agree on which philosophers are depicted. However, there is evidence that Giorgione has depicted the three Magi when they first behold the star of Bethlehem. The sun is setting in the background but the men are lit by another source of light. The colors of their garments are seen in other depictions of the Magi, and represent the gifts they will bring. Oil on canvas. c. 1506-1509. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. 123 cm x 144 cm (48” x 57”).

Palma Vecchio: The Meeting with John the Baptist on the Return from Egypt. 

This large painting, currently in storage at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is labeled “Allegory” for no good reason. In the center the infant Jesus embraces his older cousin, who according to legend also escaped Herod’s wrath. This very common scene depicts the acceptance by Jesus of his mission. Mary sits and watches on the left and Joseph stands guard on the right. The Lamb in the background helps to recall John’s words: “Behold the Lamb of God.” Oil on panel transferred to canvas. c. 1510-15. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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French Film Noir

  

 

American films could not be shown in Nazi occupied France during World War II, but after the war the flood gates were opened, and the French became enamored of the dark crime films of the 1940s that French film critics called film noir. Jean Pierre Melville, one of France’s greatest directors, even named himself after the famous American novelist. In Le Samourai, one of his best films, the main character, played by Alain Delon, resembles the young Clint Eastwood in looks and manner.

French filmmakers emulated these American dramas with their dark themes, dark lighting, both indoors and out, and underworld settings. They also humanized the criminals in the way American films like The Asphalt Jungle and Criss Cross did. The French criminals are ordinary men, not psychotic killers. They make their living through crime but usually hope to make enough to retire into normal life. Below are brief reviews of four French film noir.  Although not as well known as Rififi or Shoot the Piano Player, they are among my personal favorites.

 

Touchez Pas au Grisbi: Famed French film star Jean Gabin plays Max, a gentleman French gangster who hopes to retire after pulling off his last most successful heist. However, things go wrong in this French film noir set in the streets of post-war Paris when Max’s partner is kidnapped by rival gangsters and held for ransom.

Max is no psycho or evil villain. He dresses well, and he eats well. He dines at a bistro where the clientele are all gangsters, and the proprietress will not seat strangers or tourists.  We even see him getting ready for bed wearing pajamas and brushing his teeth. His girlfriend is no floozy but a sophisticated gentlewoman. He is also consistently loyal to his partner whose foolishness gets them into trouble  Jacques Becker directed this 1954 film that also featured a young Jeanne Moreau. 94m.    

 

Classe Tous Risques: French director Claude Sautet directed this 1960 crime drama that stars Lino Ventura, a former wrestler turned actor. After hiding out in Milan for over a decade, a fugitive gangland chief, returns to France with his wife and two young sons even though a death sentence hangs over his head. 

Ventura plays a tough guy, and he looks and acts the part, but his character is a devoted husband and family man despite his occupation. His relationship with his two young sons endears him to us. In France, he seeks a normal life, but his old associates have all become respectable businessmen and try to keep their distance. He is only assisted by the young Jean-Paul Belmondo in a role that makes us see why he became such an international star. 104m.

 

Le Doulos: Jean-Pierre Melville directed this 1963 French crime thriller that stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as an enigmatic gangster who may or may not be responsible for squealing on a fellow mobster played by Serge Reggiani. The word “Doulos” is gangland jargon for an informer. Once again, our hearts go out to the criminal who has finally found the right girl, as well as a home in the countryside where he can escape his past and live a normal life. Shot and edited with Melville’s trademark cool, and featuring masterfully stylized dialogue and performances, Le Doulos is a gripping drama right to its tragic ending. 108m.

                  

Le Samourai: Jean-Pierre Melville also directed this 1967 mixture of 1940s American gangster movies, 1960s French pop culture, and Japanese lone-warrior mythology. As noted above Alain Delon, who looks and acts a lot like the young Clint Eastwood, plays a contract killer with samurai instincts. After a successful hit, his employers attempt to kill him rather than pay him off. He becomes hunted by them and the police. 

For some reason we sympathize with Delon’s character as he goes about his business. It is a business, and he shows very little emotion. Like the warriors in the Japanese samurai epics he has his own code of behavior to which he faithfully adheres. A deadly killer, he is still kind and caring toward his girlfriend, a call girl played by his beautiful wife Nathalie Delon. Shot in subdued color, Melville’s masterpiece defines cool. 103m.

These films may be available on streaming services but I still prefer to use DVDs. There are no ads, and the discs often come with interesting commentaries. It is truly amazing that we can all have our own collection of great film art that we can watch over and over again at no cost.

Here is a link to reviews by the famed movie critics, Siskel and Ebert on the German classic "M", and Le Samourai, or watch the brief video below.

 

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Film Noir Favorites 2025

Dark themes, stark camera angles, and high contrast lighting are the characteristics of films of the 40s and 50s that were later called called "film noir" by French film critics who fell in love with them after WWII. These films tell realistic stories about crime, mystery, femme fatales, and moral conflict. Most were originally conceived as low budget “B” movies but many are now regarded as ground-breaking suspense classics with great acting, writing and directing. 

                                          

The Maltese Falcon. Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor star in this 1941 film that some consider the best detective drama ever, as well as the first true film noir. Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Elisha Cook Jr. are the criminals who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a priceless, jewel encrusted statuette. John Huston directed and wrote the screenplay based on the Dashiell Hammett story. 101 minutes. CC.

Sorry, Wrong Number. Barbara Stanwyck stars as a wealthy, bedridden woman who dials a telephone number one night only to overhear two men plotting to murder an unidentified woman. This 1948 film is a classic example of suspense and terror. Stanwyck received an Oscar nomination for her performance. Burt Lancaster co-starred.  89 minutes. CC. 

Phantom Lady. Ella Raines, Franchot Tone, and Alan Curtis star in this 1944 film directed by Robert Siodmak whom many consider the best of all film noir directors. A man is convicted of murdering his wife but the woman who can testify to his innocence has mysteriously disappeared. Elisha Cook appears as a hep cat drummer. 87 minutes. CC.

The Killers. Burt Lancaster stars in his film debut along with Ava Gardner and Edmund O’Brien in this 1946 heist drama. For no apparent reason,two hit men, played by Charles McGraw and William Conrad, gun down a gas station attendant in one of filmdom's most memorable openings. An insurance investigator tries to get to the bottom of the story with tragic results. Robert Siodmak directed this classic based on a story by Ernest Hemingway. 103 minutes. No captions.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Barbara Stanwyck stars as the wealthiest and most powerful woman in a Midwestern factory town. However, she shares a dark secret with her unhappy, alcoholic husband played by Kirk Douglas in his film debut. When an old acquaintance comes to town, things fall apart. Directed by Lewis Milestone, this 1945 film also stars Van Heflin and Lizabeth Scott. 116 minutes. No captions.

 Kiss of Death. Victor Mature and Collen Gray star in this 1947 suspenseful drama of betrayal and violence. Mature plays an Italian American hoodlum who goes to prison rather than squeal on his associates after a botched jewel robbery. Directed by Henry Hathaway the opening scene where the criminals try to make their getaway in a crowded elevator is iconic. This film also provided a breakout role for Richard Widmark who plays a psychopathic murderer with a cackling laugh. 99 minutes. CC.

Double Indemnity. Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray star in this 1944  film classic directed by Billy Wilder. An insurance agent falls for the beautiful wife of a client to whom he has just sold a life insurance policy, and then they scheme to bump him off. Stanwyck, sporting a cheap blond wig, plays one of the great film femme-fatales. Edward G. Robinson is magnificent as a claims investigator. 107 minutes. CC.

The Spiral Staircase. Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, and Ethel Barrymore star in this 1945 ground-breaking suspense thriller directed by Robert Siodmak. Mc Guire plays a young woman, who despite having lost her speech in a childhood trauma, serves as a caretaker for an elderly bed-ridden women in one of the creepiest mansions ever. On a dark and stormy night a murderer is on the loose. The film also features Elsa Lancaster and Rhonda Fleming. 84 minutes. CC. 

The Street with No Name.  Richard Widmark again plays a psychotic gangster and Mark Stevens is an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates  the criminal gang in this 1948 documentary style film based on FBI files. The film is a tense, taut thriller with excellent filmnoir cinematography. 91 minutes. CC.

The Big Heat. Glenn Ford, and Gloria Grahame star in this 1953 film noir directed by Fritz Lang. Ford plays a police detective out for revenge against a vicious gangster played by a young Lee Marvin. 90 minutes. CC.

The Third Man. Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard star in Carol Reed’s 1949 film noir classic, universally regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. Set in post war Vienna, the film brought together a great writer, a great director, a magnificent cast, a great setting, innovative black and white cinematography, and a wonderful music score. 104 minutes. No captions.

Most of these films are available on streaming services but I prefer to watch DVD versions with no commercial interruptions. The DVDs often include informative special features and commentaries as well as closed captioning (CC) for the hearing impaired. 

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