Noir Alley

[Snarky Oracle!]

It's not exactly noir, but 1956's THE BAD SEED (which I'm rewatching this morning) does a pretty good job of analyzing childhood sociopathy for a '50s movie. An "adorable" little girl (played by Patty McCormick, who would boink Mitch Cooper 25 years later on DALLAS) is a ruthless, born-bad narcissist killer.

Her increasingly-distraught mother is played by Nancy Kelly (if you doubt the validity of astrology, just watch Miss Kelly in this picture -- a Sun in Aries/Moon in Libra like Gloria Swanson, who could be her older twin sister, even down to the voice) who gradually begins to realize her precious daughter is the definition of all evil.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Oh, here's a good one -- THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1947):

 

[ClassyCo]

I like watching this guy's channel. He's good some good noir suggestions in this video, some we've already discussed.

 

[ClassyCo]

10 Film Noir Movies That Were Almost Perfect https://collider.com/film-noir-movies-almost-perfect/

 

[Crimson]

I don't know why I've never watched IN A LONELY PLACE (1950) before, especially since it stars two of my favorite actors of the era. Some years back, I think I read a middling review of the movie and it just got added to my "I won't bother" mental list.

What a shame, because the movie is great! Stylish and cynical but also a reasonable facsimile of realism, the entire film has an air of doomed romanticism and ever present threat. At no point did I anticipate the plot twists.



Next up, perhaps, is THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (1947) with Bogie and Stanwyck; I've also avoided that one for no apparent reason.

 

[Crimson]

THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (1947) -- I should have left this one unseen. Somehow overly melodramatic but very dull, the plot retreads SUSPICION and GASLIGHT. I always thought Stanwyck never gave a bad performance. She proved me wrong! Her only saving grace is that Bogart is even worse. Wikipedia said this is two A-list actors with a B-movie director and it shows. Worst of all, Alexis Smith. If I had known she was in this, I would have skipped it. By far my least favorite actor of the era.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Worst of all, Alexis Smith. If I had known she was in this, I would have skipped it. By far my least favorite actor of the era.

What is it about her you dislike? Is that why you don't like the Lady Jessica plotline?

In 1971, Bette Davis swooned over Alexis Smith's stage performance, asserting that Smith screen roles never did her justice.

 

[Crimson]

In fairness, I've only seen Alexis Smith in maybe 4 films but I've disliked her in all. I find her acting very contrived and artificial, like she was trying to channel Bacall or Tierney or even Dietrich. She reminds me of Lizbeth Scott in the worst way.

As far as Lady Jessica, my objection is a bit more abstract. I think the character is the exact moment DALLAS compromised its identity and began copying DYNASTY or FALCON CREST with all that phoney baloney European glamour. I have no problem with Clayton having a crazy sister, I just wish she had lived in Tulsa and had been played by Dorothy Malone or Ava Gardner or someone earthier.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

In fairness, I've only seen Alexis Smith in maybe 4 films but I've disliked her in all. I find her acting very contrived and artificial, like she was trying to channel Bacall or Tierney or even Dietrich. She reminds me of Lizbeth Scott in the worst way.

As far as Lady Jessica, my objection is a bit more abstract. I think the character is the exact moment DALLAS compromised its identity and began copying DYNASTY or FALCON CREST with all that phoney baloney European glamour. I have no problem with Clayton having a crazy sister, I just wish she had lived in Tulsa and had been played by Dorothy Malone or Ava Gardner or someone earthier.

I really liked her in DALLAS (well, not the second time) and I didn't mind that Jessica had been living in London since she'd been born in Texas. But I do think this is where "the European stuff" (as Larry put it) should've ended -- well, once Naldo was dead, a few months later... After a while, all the Ewings retired to "Yurp" one after the other.

But DALLAS gradually lost any sense of its own identity midway through the series -- and it had once had such a strong identity! FALCON CREST dipping into the European stuff seemed to fit, while DYNASTY never filmed outside of a shoebox and never felt like anything but a shoebox. (Every so often, they'd bring in a new British actress and someone might say something like "London" or "Paris" -- and, as a special treat, Alexis might say "Gstaad." But that was about it)

 

[Crimson]

Maybe I was just feeling generous after the terrible THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS, but I enjoyed ABOVE SUSPICION (1943) more than expected. It's nonsensical claptrap but it's just so earnest in its nonsense that I just went along with it. This is probably Crawford's least interesting era; no longer the shopgirl, not quite the noir dame but she was vibrant and in full star power here. Except the few times he played a heel, Fred Macmurray always seemed genial but dull.

Debatable that this is a noir, but it sometimes gets classified as such.

But I do think this is where "the European stuff" (as Larry put it) should've ended -- well, once Naldo was dead, a few months later

If Jessica was a one-off with DALLAS's dalliance with Europe, I probably wouldn't have minded her much. As is, she seems to me the prelude to all the international shenanigans that would follow.