Last night's film was a weird little psychological thriller called "Without Honor"(1950) starring Laraine Day (most famous as Nurse Mary Lamont in the "Dr. Kildare" movies). Here she plays a housewife who is having an affair. As the movie opens, her lover (Franchot Tone) shows up at her house to tell her it's all over. A private detective has been tailing him and has pictures of the two of them together. "I don't know who hired him, but if my daughters see those photos it'll destroy them".
Day is crushed. She's in love with Tone and has justified the affair by saying that her marriage is unfulfilling. She's placed her trust in Tone (and I've gotta step in to say.......is that a great Movie Star name, or what? Franchot Tone. And it wasn't even a made up name).
Where was I? Oh yeah, so Laraine Day has staked everything on Tone leaving his wife. Then she will leave her husband and they can be together; they won't have to sneak around anymore. But now he's come over to tell her it isn't happening. He can't let his daughters find out he's an adulterer. Day becomes distraught at the news, and something happens..........which of course I can't tell you.
Enter Dane Clark. You remember Clark, we just saw him in "The Man Is Armed" a couple nights ago. We noted his dependability as a noir stalwart, but also as an actor of some versatility. He's not a Johnny One Note, so any time you see his name on the marquee your ears perk up, because you might be in for a treat. This time, he plays an Obnoxious Bastard. He's Laraine Day's brother-in-law, and I probably shouldn't tell you this, but he's the one who hired the detective : "To protect my brother Freddie, who's too naive to see through your ladylike act". But that's not his real motive. Clark is a total Mook in this picture, a cunning thug who plays his cleverness as sophistication. He despises his brother's wife and wants to make her feel small now that he knows her secret. For her part, Laraine Day walks around in a trance once Clark shows up. She can't get rid of him and tries to escape out the window of her own house instead.
I can't tell you much more of the plot because it's based on surprise, but the film gets right to the point and wastes no time in it's 66 minute sprint to the finish line. It feels like a one act play, or maybe one and a half acts due to what happens at the beginning, and the entire story plays out over the course of an afternoon. Once again we have a great cast in what appears to be an independent production, and filling out the supporting roles are Bruce Bennett as Day's husband, and the great Agnes Moorehead as the wife of Franchot Tone.
Finally, the subject of adultery is given an understanding take in this case, which is interesting and perhaps insightful as the movie was made in 1950. In similar films from later decades, or even classic noirs from the 1940s, the subject is depicted in starker terms, usually with a high price to be paid by the woman involved in the tryst. Here, we see her inner turmoil instead, and it's spelled out what led her to this place. She's not an angelic figure and this isn't a feminist point of view, but the writing takes things a few steps further than the usual cheating scenario. Day plays it quite well and you feel for her because Clark is such a creep.
A small touch that gives the movie nostaglic value : at one point toward the end, Day's husband comes home from work, blissfully unaware of what is taking place inside his house. He arrives with a delivery man right behind him, to bring in a special present he's bought for his wife : a brand new television set, and by "brand new" I mean not only the tv itself but the very idea of home television. This movie was released in 1950, when the very first tv sets were making their way into the homes of folks who could afford them. Now, before you get technical on me, I'm aware that there were sets in some homes as early as 1939, but they were few and far between. They took up half a living room and would have been experimental in nature, and would've cost a fortune. I am talking about TV for the general public, which would've begun around 1949 and caught on more generally by about 1953 or so. I have an interest in the history of television because my Dad was there at the beginning, as the WLW radio station in Cincinnati acquired television rights in the late 40s, and then Dad got a job at ABC-TV in Hollywood in 1951.
At any rate, it's a kick to see Bruce Bennett (a Western star who also played Tarzan) as a typical 1950s husband bringing home a newfangled TV set. Too bad Dane Clark has to ruin the occasion, but anyhow, even though the movie has some shortcomings, mainly an underdeveloped subplot, it's well worth a watch. As a special bonus, it appears to have been filmed in Northridge or some nearby environ. The address of the Bennett house is 9635 or something very close, which would indicate a Plummer Street intersection on the north/south longitude, and one of the final lines in the picture is "I'll go look in the Orange Grove"!, which the character proceeds to do right before the climax. Give it a look, it'll hold your attention. //////
Now, I swear I didn't plan this, but tonight's movie also stars Franchot Tone. I've gotta take his name a step farther, to let you know that the "t" in Franchot is silent, so it's pronouced "Fran-cho". I learned that years ago when my Mom corrected me after I called him "Franchot" with a hard "t". But the deal is, for me, that I like his name better the way I pronounced it, so forget the Fran-cho. For our purposes, it's Fran - chott all the way. Tonight he stars in "Jigsaw"(1949), in which he plays an assistant district attorney trying to break up an underground hate group in an unnamed big city.
Holy Trump! The script here is incredibly insightful and instructive. Tone has a friend, a star columnist for the city paper, who is trying to expose this group. In his conversational dialogue with Tone, he explains how hate groups are "bottom line" about making money for those who head them up. The particulars are too lengthy to go into, but my goodness it parallels what Trump is doing, especially post-election, to a freaking "T". Trump has made almost 200 million dollars in donations just by pushing his false election claims.
Can you freaking believe that?
More importantly, he got elected president (small case "p"), by stoking hate and division. The first act of this movie, which features the investigation of the newspaper columnist, describes this type of power grab as if it were Trump himself as the subject. Hate Mongering as hugely profitable. And this is 1949.
That's why the movie is recommended, even though the print is so-so and the direction is somnambulistic. At times it feels as if the actors are line-reading their parts at a rehearsal. But the info in the script, about hate groups and the profit margin behind them is quite a revelation, going back as it does to the McCarthy era.
To sum up, watch both of the flicks in this review and get yourself a Franchot Tone fix. His name deserves it. See you in the morning, or in the Orange Grove, or both.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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