We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
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We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
Steve’s 1951 film noirs video is worth a 98% rating to me; but the most disappointing aspect of it is that a poster for the historically routine movie Sirocco is used as the cover one for the entire video presentation.
“Sirocco was a stinker but we had to do it for the money.” said Bogie when discussing a number of his movies in the late 1940s/early 1950s. What he meant was that it was produced by his own company Santana, and because he had capital tied-up in it he had to come on board as its star despite misgivings about it.
IMDB gives Sirocco a 63% rating; The Work Horse credits it with a humble 45%; and Steve himself gives it 61%. One has to wonder why Steve selected its poster for the cover one especially as he has given us droves of other terrific posters in the 1951 video.
Santana Productions Corporation was named after Bogie’s own yacht which was the cabin cruiser in Key largo and Santana made 4 other Bogie movies: Beat the Devil; In a Lonely Place; Tokyo Joe; and Knock on Any Door.
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info and quotes, much appreciated. Glad you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
Regarding the cover poster for the video, I just look for a striking looking poster (or still) and ignore the ratings! I rarely use the no.1 film for a video cover so it can remain a mystery while the viewer is watching. Looking at my ratings sources the lowest score for ‘Sirocco’ was 5.8 which is not too bad. IMDB gave it 6.3 so someone out there liked it. The UMR score seems a bit harsh but than I don’t remember ever seeing the film though it’s in my collection.
There were some strong contenders for Oscar glory that year which included ‘The African Queen’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. Of the 30 noirs on the video the most Oscar nominated was ‘A Place in the Sun’ which won 6 of it’s 9 nominations including Best Director, losing Best Picture to ‘An American in Paris’.
Just two films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – Ace in the Hole and Strangers on a Train. One more scored 9 – Detective Story.
My Video Top 5 –
Strangers on a Train 8.8
Ace in the Hole 8.3
A Place in the Sun 7.9
Detective Story 7.7
The Enforcer 7.5
The UMR Critics Top 5 –
Strangers on a Train 9.0
Ace in the Hole 8.3
On Dangerous Ground 8.0
The Enforcer 7.9
The Prowler 7.9
IMDB’s ‘Ace in the Hole’ trivia – “The original poster art, which was also used in DVD and blu-ray releases, shows the film’s star Kirk Douglas crawling in the cave with an anxious, wide-eyed expression, and gave the impression that he was the one who was trapped. This clever gimmick worked in two ways: First, it gave the first-time viewers the misleading idea that it was the film’s lead character who was in a dangerous situation (which, although not true, was good for the box office). Second, it was even true in a metaphorical way, it symbolized him trying to get out of the dull small town where he was unwillingly stuck for years.
In a memo to Billy Wilder, Kirk Douglas objected to several aspects of Chuck Tatum’s monologue about missing New York City: “No pastrami! No garlic pickles! No Madison Square Garden! No Yogi Berra!”, among other things. Douglas asked, “… what the hell is a Yogi Berra?”. Douglas’ amused secretary told him he was a famous baseball catcher.
Ace in the Hole was the second Billy Wilder film to feature a character who works for the fictitious ‘Pacific All-Risk Insurance Company’, the first being Double Indemnity. This film’s utter and unrelenting cynicism so repulsed 1951 movie audiences that it lost Paramount a fortune. Writer/director Billy Wilder later admitted that it had a negative impact on his career…while also citing it as one of the best films he ever made.”
HI STEVE:
Thanks for all the additional information your feedback provides for me; especially the splendid trivia for Ace in the Hole; and for explaining why you chose Sirocco for your cover poster.
I was beginning to think that you were off your game; and with WH well off his form these days this site would have made for grim reading if the trend had spread.
As it is I agree with you that is exciting to not give away what your No 1 is via a cover poster.
Your lowest score of 5.8 for Sirocco normally represents less than “good” but is certainly OK compared with WH’s 45%; but then he like say Donald Trump and our own BoJo always likes to play the hard man.
His adjusted US gross for it doesn’t do it any favours either: a mediocre $68 million so that it looks like despite casting himself as its star, producer Bogie may not have got much if any of his money back after all.
Anyway enjoy the rest of your weekend and look after yourself. As Luke said to the initially-mercenary Han in 1977’s Star Wars “It’s what you do best!”
I have seen 25 Top 1951 noirs. Favourites are Strangers on a Train, Ace in the Hole, A Place in the Sun, Detective Story, The Enforcer, On Dangerous Ground, Cry Danger, The Prowler, His Kind of Woman, 14 Hours, The Mob, He Ran All the Way, Tomorrow is a Another Day, Cause For Alarm, The Racket, Roadblock, Sirocco and The Hoodlum.
I have also seen The Tall Target, Appointment For Danger, Lightning Strikes Twice, The People Against O’Hara, Gambling House and I Was a Communist For the FBI.
Favourite posters and stills are from Strangers on A Train, A Place in the Sun, Detective story, On Dangerous Ground, Cry Danger, The Prowler, His Kind of Woman, He Ran All the Way, Tomorrow is Another Day, The Racket, and Roadblock.
Hi Flora, 25 out of 30 is impressive, I’ve seen 6. My favorites are – His Kind of Woman, The Enforcer, Detective Story, Ace in the Hole and of course Strangers on a Train. I’ve also seen A Place in the Sun. There are plenty here I’m interested in for future viewing.
Thanks again for commenting, always appreciated. Happy you liked the posters and stills.
No: that missing post of yours never did turn up and more’s the pity as I think it would have interested me. You also asked me “Did Bruce read my [ie YOUR] post?” Well, years ago Allied Irish Bank over here ran an ad all the year round encouraging new customers to apply for loans with the slogan “We’re the Bank that likes to say yes!”
I duly called in their local branch and applied for one and when they turned me town I said to the representative “But you have put it about that you’re the bank that likes to say yes.” The rep looked at me as if I had two heads!
In short that invitation on ever page of this site to “Leave a Reply” is only for show these days and only viewers as naïve as I was in my dealings with that bank take the invitation seriously. So get real STEVE.
You then go on to ask “Is anybody home?” Perhaps he is [and you know who I mean by HE] but then maybe like Brer Rabbit in the story books HE has been ‘laying low and saying nuffin.’
Or perhaps HIS new role model is that guy in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray who upon reaching a certain age decided that he had said everything in life worth saying and forever-after declined to engage in conversation.
Look: remember how HE used to get so far down on his knees grovelling to Joel and we all though HE was writing to us from underneath the floor boards? Yet HE never mentions Hirsch now; and when HE has no time for a genius such as Joel it is a bit presumptuous for a couple of ordinary guys like you and me to actually expect HIM to reply to one of OUR posts, don’t you think?
Anyway keep safe and enjoy the rest of your weekend. And by the way in my amateur film buffs group which I’ve mentioned previously on this site ANY Ladd crime film is welcomed as a film noir and we’re happy enough to leave the hair-splitting to pedants like you and WH! “REDS – no sinister moves here! You’re in Ladd’s town now!” – 1940 film poster tag line.
HI STEVE: Thanks for the fine reply. Excellent trivia about Huston /Hayden. I liked Sterling though whilst he had good looks, a brawny tough-guy physique [which would have made him almost a match for Laddie if Sterling had help] and was also an excellent actor he seemed to be missing that one mysterious ingredient that denies many good screen performers top-stardom.
With the possible exception of Joel Hirschhorn nobody seems to know what that ingredient is but you can always tell when it’s missing.
Certainly the ladies liked Sterling. When I was about 10 my 30-something aunt drooled over him every bit as much as Flora seems to admire the exceptionally-handsome Ed Dano [aka Gregory Peck].
I still recall telling my aunt that Hayden had a boat and had gone away with it on a round-the-world seafaring trip, to which she exclaimed “Oh how I wish he had taken me with him – I’d cook and scrub for him anytime!”
BEST STILLS/LOBBY CARDS
1/Backfire
2/ALL for Born to be Bad
3/2 for Convicted
4/Where Danger Lives
5/ ALL for Asphalt Jungle – wow!
6/Mystery Street-Mexican Ricardo Montalban in his leading man days during the “Latin Lover” craze
7/1st for Whirlpool
8/Damned Don’t Cry
9/2 for No man of Her Own – probably what poor ole W o C’s feeling these days!
10/ALL for Sunset Boulevard.
11/1st for Woman on the Run
12/2 for No way Out
13/2 for DOA
14/Where the Sidewalk Ends. Great noir-sounding title!
15/ALL for Gun Crazy
16/2 for Night and the City
17/In a Lonely Place-shot in Manchester?
18/1st one for Walk Softly Stranger
19/Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye – Arguably Cagney’s final TRADITIONAL gangster flick. GUY IN BOOT OF CAR: “Let me out I can’t breathe!” Cagney after firing several bullets into the car’s boot and silencing the captive. “There. NOW you have air!”
20/711 Ocean Drive – future support player Ed O’Brien at the height of his leading man phase. For me a spellbinding actor whether in lead or in support.
21/XTRA TRIVIA Dark City can be regarded as Chuck Heston’ mainstream film debut.
The 17-year-old Chuck as a college student did take the title role though in a 1941 version of the classic Peer Gynt. It was an amateur production of only 16mm and had no soundtrack because of a meagre budget but was given a limited cinema release and some sources -IMDB for instance-call it Chuck’s overall movie debut.
Shortly before making Dark City Chuck played Antony in Julius Caesar released in 1950. It too was a 16mm film that was given a limited movie house release and Chuck was the only paid member of the cast the others being considered amateurs.
Hence as said many sources regard Dark City as Heston’s mainstream debut; and indeed film historians contend that the 1941 Peer Gynt would have vanished from posterity had Chuck not become a mega star.