elab49
Posts: 52022
Joined: 1/10/2005
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Don't faint I've managed 2 in the same month!
No. 35
The Reckless Moment (1949)
Director - Max Ophuls
Writers - Screenplay (Henry Garson, Robert Soderberg), Adaptation (Mel Dinelli, Robert Kent)
Spoiler-Free Synopsis - Middle class matron deals with blackmail after concealing the accidental death of her daughter's disreputable beau. Lots of spoilers follow.
"he was better than I am - he had no illusions about himself
In 1951 Raymond Chandler wrote to his English publisher lauding a little known author as "for my money
the top suspense writer of them all. The writer was Elizabeth Sanxay Holding and the 3rd of the books Chandler named The Blank Wall has twice reached the screen. Jakubowski referred to her as an important precursor to Highsmith and Rendell and Hitchcock was also a fan, reprinting the story in its entirety in a 1959 anthology. Essentially, Holding's acute psychological perception lends itself to a more thoughtful noir aesthetic
Joan Bennett plays Lucia Harper even though clearly upper-middle class, money is not easy to access to their cost. Her husband is abroad on war work, her "son too young and father too old. So when her daughter becomes involved with an unsavoury character she takes it upon herself to warn him off. The tactic doesn't work and he comes to the house and has a confrontation with her daughter in the boathouse that results in his accidental death (the girl doesn't realise what has happened). Finding the body the next morning, Lucia uses the boat to dump it somewhere else and hopes no connection will be made to their family. Unfortunately Darby was in debt to some lowlife criminals and used her daughter's letters as collateral. Donnelly James Mason comes to collect.
There are several unusual aspects to this noir the first being the obvious the protagonist is female. But this isn't the over-boiled melodrama of a Crawford led noir. The thought processes at work here are far subtler and a more piercing analysis of social responsibility ensues. The basic plot the fateful decision to cover up a death and what falls out from that isn't uncommon. It has been seen from various aspects in films as diverse as Detour and Woman in the Window. Even with a female protagonist in Mildred Pierce or The Accused. But Lucia is clearly trapped before this happens. She is repeatedly questioned on where she has been and where she is going, her son constantly reminded to dress properly social convention reigns supreme. The faηade must be maintained at all cost. Throughout most of the film she keeps everything to herself desperately trying to keep all the balls in the air as she tries to find the money to meet the blackmail demands, visiting loan companies and pawn shops, and worrying over the accounts. The power of this noir lies in the distortion of the social norms. Here she is a prisoner. Nagel emphasises the issues of class and respectability Lucia is, Martin isn't.
Donnelly turns up half an hour in wearing black he closes the blinds and reduces the room to shadows. Mason's Donnelly gives the impression of a beaten down, almost deadened soul. Fallen into bad company he resides in low-key criminality. And, fatefully, he becomes ensnared by Lucia he banters with her father, looks longingly at her life. He gives up his share in the blackmail, he presses his partner on her behalf and, ultimately, he kills for her. She is as damning for him as any femme fatale but their relationship is almost unique in noir he tries to do good for her. But in the end the result is still the same.
His partner Nagel sees this and resents it. He turns up trying to force the cash from Lucia but it is clear he doesn't care about that he calls her names, wants to hurt her for her class or simply what she has done to Donnelly, winning his soul. He blames her for the ruin of Donnelly and truly she is.
Joan Bennett excels in the role like Tilda Swinton after her. After playing ladies of dubious repute for Fritz Lang, the more mature character here was a step change. Mason a truly beautiful man deserved more recognition for his role as the tortured Donnelly who never really had a chance in life and who dies after clearly seeing what it is he can't have. It was his second film with Ophuls after the equally interesting Caught.
As you might expect, the direction is to be praised. The standard city vs. country aesthetic is used the city all seedy bars and low rent hotels (films like Asphalt Jungle and On Dangerous Ground are amongst those that have used this conflict between the 2 locales to indicate different worlds not just different locations). There is repeated unusual and aggressive blocking of the 4th wall when Lucia confronts Darby he blocks her off and, interestingly, when arguing with Donnelly in the car Lucia unconsciously takes control and does the same thing and we see the first real sign of interest he has in her. Nagel looms large over Lucia in the boathouse.
  
The use of smoky atmospheres to denote seedy activity is also noteworthy because of the use of the smokiest cigarette ever seen on film when meeting Donnelly at home Lucia's cigarette tries to create an entire atmosphere by itself the darkness of the city has entered her home. And we have the more standard symbolism the cracked glass of the broken torch after Darby is killed.
 
The most impressive sequence is the discovery and concealment of the corpse. Out for her walk the music (very Hitchcockian) builds up until Lucia spots the body and then, abruptly, silence. She realises who it is, checks to see if anyone else is there and gets the boat. The absence of sound throughout the process of finding and hiding the body creates as much tension as any well-written theme could. Because now she wants no noise hide the body in silence, in secret.
The camerawork continually emphasises movement moving and circling shots repeatedly follow Lucia through the garage, the house, up the stairs a busy and efficient woman at first, a harried one who is constantly followed by people who need something from her later on, never leaving her in peace.
The screenplay writers aren't well known but it is clear that they had substantial input from the star and her husband produced Walter Wanger- as well as director Ophuls. Dinelli and Kent who adapted the story have a stronger pedigree in films like Spiral Staircase and Where the Sidewalk Ends, respectively. Several changes are made from the book and the later remake The Deep End stayed faithful with these alterations. In the book the accident is caused by her father he stays oblivious throughout as he hadn't known the name of the dead man or that he had killed him but making it the daughter works better, I think. The translation from New York and its suburbs to LA have little affect. But the final change is possibly the most significant.
In the book Lucia is suspected (the shopping list that fleetingly looks significant in the film is a key piece of evidence in the book) but Donnelly confesses, but does not die. Ophuls has, however, made a film noir. Donnelly is fatally injured in killing Nagel and dies taking the blame for Lucia she was literally a femme fatale. For Lucia both end the same, however back, trapped, in her social world.
A final note. The daughter goes to art school and the dead man is a dodgy art dealer. Artists and paintings are unusually common in noir whether a featured painting (Laura, Woman in the Window, The Big Heat) or one of the characters (Crimson Kimono, The Two Mrs Carrolls, etc). The convention of the tortured artist seems to fit well into noir characterisation.
Overall, a very classy piece of work, well performed throughout.
Trivia the original choice of director was Jean Renoir, but he was too expensive. Ophuls cost half as much! It would have been interesting as his only real noir Woman on the Beach also featured an artist at its heart.
< Message edited by elab49 -- 15/9/2008 11:28:48 PM >
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RE: My Top Film Noir - 
So just ignore me 
Its also another one i know nothing about... (except from what i have just read)
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