Pillaged from David's Facebook posts for the greater enjoyment of Film Alert readers
Victor Mature (Nick Bianco) has his great moment of redemption in what I think is the most emotionally powerful moment of Hathaway's ground breaking Docu-Noir from 1947, Kiss of Death. The entire sequence is filmed within an actual convent orphanage complete with images of Marian Christological love, and Christian resurrection which are also compellingly and powerfully central to Ben Hecht's wonderful screenplay.
Victor Mature (Nick Bianco) has his great moment of redemption in what I think is the most emotionally powerful moment of Hathaway's ground breaking Docu-Noir from 1947, Kiss of Death. The entire sequence is filmed within an actual convent orphanage complete with images of Marian Christological love, and Christian resurrection which are also compellingly and powerfully central to Ben Hecht's wonderful screenplay.
The sheer emotional purity and the impact of this moment, along with Mature's absolutely superb performance makes Tommy Udo's/Richard Wiidmark's third big scene a few minutes later and his violent murder of Mildred Dunnock (Mrs Rizzo) in the wheelchair even more shocking than it already is. Hathaway is one of the great directors of males and male camaraderie, even amongst socially oppositional characters. In Kiss of Death he brings together one of his strongest casts including a tired but sanguine Brian Donleavy, and the fascinating debut of a young Karl Malden, a Method performer straight out of Broadway whose very different performance style gives Hathaway the opportunity to radically block and stage
Malden's first "intrusion" into the police's setting up of Bianco'a new post prison role as snitch. Watching the multiple setups and independent reblocking of two and four shots, with the wider reverse shots which locate Malden outside the primary group is an object lesson for five minutes of inventive decoupage and staging which is what a director like Hathaway can demonstrate with complete mastery of the medium, here simply to attend to divergent performance styles. This isn't simple formula editing or routine staging, it's expressive control through mise-en-scene.
Malden's first "intrusion" into the police's setting up of Bianco'a new post prison role as snitch. Watching the multiple setups and independent reblocking of two and four shots, with the wider reverse shots which locate Malden outside the primary group is an object lesson for five minutes of inventive decoupage and staging which is what a director like Hathaway can demonstrate with complete mastery of the medium, here simply to attend to divergent performance styles. This isn't simple formula editing or routine staging, it's expressive control through mise-en-scene.
The movie birth of 19 year old Lauren Bacall in
Hawks' 1944 To Have and Have Not. I hope the FB compression of the grab displays
enough of that lovely pearly nitrate film grain that suffuses the entire length
of Warner Archive's gorgeous new Blu-ray of the picture. To Have is surely one of Hawk's most free form works, so totally
dedicated is it to the real life meeting and flowering of the Bogart/Bacall
relationship which literally comes to life on the screen.
I especially love the way Hawks and his great
screenwriter Jules Furthman toss out Hemingway's ponderous source after
stealing only the title, and invent this greatest of riffs on four or five
characters getting into trouble and singing a few songs and lighting up the
screen in scene after scene with barely a nod to conventional narrative,
rhythm, plotting, or formal characterization. The movie is so wildly superior
even to something as thoroughly professional (indeed entertaining) as Curtiz'
eminent studio production, Casablanca
I think that the disparity between metteur-en-scene and auteur is nowhere more
openly on display for students of the movies than here in these two related
studio pictures. The director's personality bobs and flows with the actors, and
the writer's work is free enough to endow even the most plot bound bits of
story-telling with air and space for improvisation in both dialogue and
physical performance.
And speaking of good old film grain, I think the
movie's restoration deserves a paragraph of its own. Warner had no O-neg or any
other original elements for To Have
making it one of their most problematic titles for reissue over the years. When
it came to making a new 2K master, Ned Price's team there was able to source
the only high quality prime element, a 35mm fine grain nitrate dupe positive
held by MoMA in New York. Hence the lovely nitrate quality grain and texture that
endows the new transfer with such authenticity. It speaks volumes about such
newly arisen co-operation between major Archives and major Movie Companies that
such a level of trust and co-operation between the disparate arms of the
business is now able to happen. After scanning the dupe positive Warner was
able to progress to a completely new master having performed grading, physical
and digital correction, stabilization and meticulous timing and the result is a
new 4K ready and 35mm archival source which was used for the new BD. Thus does
art, industry, preservation and quality control join hands. This would not have
likely happened without the current state of the Blu-ray market. I dearly hope
such commerce driven film preservation continues into the imminent future of 4K
disc and download/streaming media.
...and now a little discussion about Richard Widmark provoked by Kiss of Death from twosupercinephiles.....
...and now a little discussion about Richard Widmark provoked by Kiss of Death from twosupercinephiles.....
Peter Kemp One of the
creepiest all Hollywood's noir villains.
Noel Bjorndahl Even when he got more respectable, he still
carried that unnerving edge. It all began with his giggling psycho who shoves a
woman in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs in Hathaway's Kiss of Death. It
proved a career making move. Sam Fuller, however, got the very best out of him
in Pickup on South Street in another bent but much more complex performance.
Peter Kemp Indeed,Noel.
Widmark never really seemed to 'shake' loose Udo-ness from his onscreen
persona. I wonder what he might've been 'really' like away from the camera. I
so hope he wasn't boring or bland. Anyone know?
Noel Bjorndahl In interview,
Widmark came across as an easy, affable guy quite proud of his Scandinavian
origins. He cited several later performances that he liked, a number of them
Westerns. He claimed to have enjoyed working with John Wayne on The Alamo
although heour compelling advocacy has fired me up to watch Kiss of Death
again, David. I've always liked it as one of Hathaway's best and toughest films
but I haven't seen it for years. My copy is not arriving until early October.
Peter Kemp Indeed,Noel.
Widmark never really seemed to 'shake' loose Udo-ness from his onscreen
persona. I wonder what he might've been 'really' like away from the camera. I
so hope he wasn't boring or bland. Anyone know?