The Long Dark Reach of Cornell Woolrich’s Noir Thrillers
Cornell Woolrich’s premise that happiness is always just beyond reach grabs hold of noir thrillers Dark City, Beware, My Lovely, and No Man of Her Own.
William Dieterle
Masculine Movie Icon Alan Ladd As the Wounded Outlaw Hero
Red Mountain and Botany Bay showcase masculine movie icon Alan Ladd in his glory, playing wounded heroes on the wrong side of the law.
Film-Noir ‘Peking Express’ Is Hollywood’s First Encounter with Red China
The 1951 film-noir Peking Express (not to be confused with Shanghai Express) should be seen as Hollywood’s first attempt to deal with Communist China in the context of the Red Scare.
Real-Life 1950s Gang Busting Inspired Film Noir ‘The Turning Point’
Remastered and on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber is William Dieterle’s The Turning Point, a noir film at the intersection of several crossroads in America’s early ’50s.
Vincente Minnelli’s ‘Kismet’ Is a Mix of ‘Arabian Nights’ and Hollywood
Warner Archive offers Vincent Minelli’s 1955 version of Kismet, which contrasts nicely with William Dieterle’s 1944 counterpart.
‘The Devil and Daniel Webster’ Compete for the Souls of Their Constituencies
Beyond The Devil and Daniel Websters soul-bartering story, it concerns the collision of “ole time religion” and new world realities, agrarian life crashing headfirst into business, bankruptcy, and “progress”.