Tonight I finally watched a movie, an excellent British noir from 1947 called "They Made Me A Fugitive". Trevor Howard, noted for many classic performances in films like "The Third Man" and "Brief Encounter", stars as an RAF officer who is back home after the war. He is bored with civilian life and looking for excitement, so he joins a gang of smugglers who operate out of a funeral parlor, using coffins as crates to hide their contraband. The smuggling group is run by a slick, debonair sociopath nicknamed Narcy (short for "Narcissus" because he is in love with himself). Narcy is played by an actor named Griffith Jones, whom I had never previously seen, but he was so great in this role - playing a downright awful character - that I had to go straight to IMDB when the movie ended to find out more about him. And, just as I'd suspected, he was from RADA (the premier dramatic training school in England) and he had also been the head of the Royal Shakespeare Society for a while.
What a great actor!
Anyhow, Trevor Howard should not have involved himself with this group of lowlifes, because he gets framed by Griffith Jones on the very first job he helps to pull off. Howard is made to be the Fall Guy for the murder of a police officer, and he winds up sentenced to 15 years in prison. While he is in there, he is visited by the girlfriend of Griffith Jones, played by the stunning Sally Gray. She knows that Trevor Howard is innocent of the policeman's murder, and she also knows that her boyfriend is an evil guy. During the visit, she vows to help Trevor Howard prove his innocence, and in the process, a love interest is developed, which is important if not imperative for Noir films (not to mention many other types of films).
Very soon after Sally Gray's prison visit, Trevor Howard escapes. Prison escapes were relatively common in the movies in those days, and as you can see, that is how a title like "They Made Me A Fugitive" is derived. None of what has happened is Trevor Howard's fault - except that he shouldn't have joined that gang in the first place.
But he didn't kill the cop, he got framed for it, and so he had to escape from prison (which must have been fairly easy to do in the movies) to prove he didn't do it.
Therefore, he didn't make himself a fugitive; they did. Or more properly : They (with a capital T).
So there you have the name of the movie : "They Made Me A Fugitive". It's the character telling you straight from the horse's mouth, "Hey, listen! I'm innocent! I didn't do it, and I had to escape from prison because it said so in the script, and in Noir Theory it was the only way I could Return Home To Prove My Innocence and Win Back The Girl".
So, he is telling you all of that in just the five words of the title. I love it. :)
It's a really tight film, too, with no extraneous scenes. The story just continues to build until it reaches an explosive conclusion, which of course I shant reveal to you, if for no other reason than it gives me an excuse to use "shant", which I take every available opportunity to use. In this case, the movie was British, so I feel my use of "shant" was warranted.
Two Very Big Thumbs Up for "They Made Me A Fugitive" (those bastards!). A noir right up there with the best of the American offerings, and veddy Brrrittish to boot. Gotta roll them "r"s when you say "British", and use "d"s instead of "r"s in words like "very".
Are you getting the hang of it?
"Veddy good, then". :)
Not much else to report. Felt a little fatigued today, just a biorhythm thing I think, and my left eye has been bugging me a bit lately. It feels like my eye socket muscles are all stretched out and sore. I think it has to do with one eye being less focused than the other, and in my case I think the condition has presented itself because of eye strain and because I don't get enough sleep. So on days when nothing is scheduled, I am trying my best to sleep in.
I got three new Frank Zappa cds in the mail today : "Weasels Ripped My Flesh", "Ruben and The Jets" and "Burnt Weeny Sandwich". I owned "Burnt Weeny" on vinyl as a teenager, but I had never heard the other two. This eve I listened to "Weasels" before I watched the movie. It was a good combination.
Lastly, Elizabeth if you are reading I wanted to say congratulations on the one year anniversary of "Notepainting". It is a beautiful, creative album, from the music to the arrangement of songs, and right down to the awesome cover art.
Be aware of what you have created; know what you can do, what you are capable of.
I hope you are considering more music in the future. :)
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxxo :):)
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