Fox Film Noir, Wave Three
The House on 92nd Street (October 8/05)
With its mix of real and fictional footage, The House on 92nd Street is thought to be one of the first docudramas to emerge out of Hollywood. And although there are a few intriguing moments here and there, the film generally comes off as a shameless piece of propaganda for the FBI. The House on 92nd Street initially plays out like a typically overblown '40s documentary (complete with matter-of-fact voice-over from a stolid narrator), but the problem is that most of this stuff simply isn't interesting. Even less successful is the film's actual storyline, which revolves around the efforts of a double agent (played by William Eythe) as he attempts to infiltrate a cell of New York-based Nazis. It doesn't help that virtually all of the film's characters have been painted with extremely broad strokes, with any trace of subtlety completely absent from the screenplay (ie the good guys are really good, and the bad guys are really bad). The bottom line is that The House on 92nd Street isn't even remotely compelling, an issue that's compounded by the total lack of charismatic performances.
out of
Somewhere in the Night (October 10/05)
Somewhere in the Night casts John Hodiak as George Taylor, a soldier who wakes up in a military hospital with a case of complete and total amnesia. His only clues are two notes: one from a jilted lover, and another from a business associate named Larry Cravat. Because Cravat has left $5000 for Taylor in a Los Angeles bank, Taylor figures that's the best place to start searching for his true identity - although it's not long before mobsters and cops are after him, all of whom want to track down Cravat and recover two million dollars he stole some years earlier. Featuring expectedly steady direction from Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Somewhere in the Night is an engaging noir that - due to a particularly complicated screenplay by Mankiewicz and Howard Dimsdale - demands an attentive viewer. Of course, it wouldn't be a film noir without the inclusion of certain elements - tough guys, crafty dames, and some exceedingly hard-boiled dialogue (ie "in about two minutes, a bouncer's coming back in here with no sense of humor; he's a foot bigger than you in all directions") - while the film's labyrinthine storyline effectively keeps the viewer guessing throughout. Having said that, Somewhere in the Night does suffer from a slight case of overlength and the complex plot eventually becomes convoluted - though there is a genuinely unexpected twist towards the end.
out of
Whirlpool (October 10/05)
Despite the involvement of director Otto Preminger and co-writer Ben Hecht, Whirlpool can't help but come off as a sporadically trashy, thoroughly absurd murder mystery. Gene Tierney stars as Ann Sutton, a wealthy socialite who - in the film's opening moments - is caught stealing a pendant she could easily afford. Thanks to the efforts of a charming doctor named David Korvo (Jose Ferrer), the store's owner is convinced not to press charges. As it turns out, Korvo's got his own reasons for wanting Ann to go free and essentially blackmails the woman into accepting an aggressive round of hypnotherapy. Tierney and Ferrer are exceedingly convincing in their respective roles (particularly Ferrer, who steps into the shoes of this sinister hypnotist with apparent ease), while Preminger effectively infuses the film with random bursts of style. And though the movie becomes incredibly ridiculous as it progresses (there's a twist towards the end that's just about laughable), Hecht - along with Andrew Solt - does a nice job of imbuing Whirlpool with snappy dialogue and a relatively quick pace. But the whole thing is far too silly to ever be taken seriously, though it does seem as though that might've been the point.
