Last night's movie was 'Stranger on the Prowl"(1952), by Joseph Losey, a director whose films we've liked, even if we aren't sure about his politics. Losey was blacklisted and spent most of his career in Europe, where he did good work, making melodramatic pictures high in style and technique, and commercially sound. He's kind of the Douglas Sirk of Film Noir, though his range is wider than one genre. The reason we've got a bug about Losey is because he swore he wasn't a Commie and we'd like to believe him. Not that we support the blacklist, the opposite is true, but we also don't like to see Communist principles romanticized in motion pictures, or made precious by manipulative filmmakers.
What does all of that have to do with "Stranger on the Prowl"? Not a doggone thing. It's another very good Losey production, his "go" at Italian postwar Neorealism, but with a non-Cinema Verite touch. Remember, Losey's a studio guy all the way, and very polished. Paul Muni, one of the true acting greats (and the best Scarface, i.e. non-hambone) stars as a nameless Stranger who, as the movie opens, is trying to stow away on a boat, to get out of Italy. But he hasn't got any money and the captain kicks him off. Losey is now going to separately introduce the other main characters, all of whom have their own storylines. Lives will converge, of course, not like in a roadside diner on a dark and stormy night (there aren't enough characters for that), but in order to build plot as with bricks of a foundation. So after Muni comes little "Giacomo" (Vittorio Manunta), a ten year old boy whose young mother is a washerwoman. They live in a bombed-out building in what might be Sicily (ultra poor) and they can barely make their rent. Mamma wants Giacomo and his younger sister to earn money any way they can, or by helping with her washing orders, but Giacomo would rather play marbles in the street, for money to go see the circus. He loves animals, especially horses. One in particular will serve as the film's metaphor.
Take one part "Bicycle Thief", one part "Les Miserables", and a genius Paul Muni performance, and you've got yourself a compelling, gritty movie, with deliberate (but not overly demonstrative) commentary about the plight of the poor and the hungry. Now, in Italy cica 1952, such commentary was legit, but no more, which is why we don't care for filmmakers who are still railing about the proletariat who doesn't exist anymore. Directors like that just wanna seem cool, like they've read Marx, and their stance has nothing to do with jobs or culture. It's part of a political hive mentality, so in that sense, Joseph Losey was positively neutral.
Anyhow, Paul Muni wants money to pay the boat captain so he can ship out of the country, but all he has is a pistol to sell. It's hinted that he got it in the war, but no one knows. He tries several fences and pawn shops but no one will buy the gun. Hungry, he walks into a pastry shop, takes a bun off the rack and starts eating. The owner tries throwing him out, and he kills her, not on purpose but by putting a powerful hand over her mouth to stop her from yelling, because he doesn't wanna get arrested for stealing. That's your Les Miz reference. Prior to the accidental murder, little Giacomo had just been in the shop and had sneakily stolen some milk, because he lost his mother's milk money in a marble game. Muni sees Giacomo as he's fleeing the scene. He wonders if Giacomo saw him too, and orders him to "follow me down to the dock". They become pals in the Two Outcasts mode, one old, and street-wise-yet-fatherly, the other precocious and adventure-seeking: "Take me with you, please take me with you," the archetype of The Articulate, Emotionally-Aware Moppet. Giacomo's wisdom is a device, of course, because no kid is that world-weary, but don't worry because the movie is mostly a Noir at this point. What we do like about Losey is that he never shoves politics in your face, just little bits and pieces of comments. The other main character is a beautiful shop girl (Joan Lorring) who lives in the same building as Giacomo and his family. She gets caught stealing dresses at work, and is now at the mercy of her big slug of a boss, who insinuates that if she sleeps with him, he'll forget about the thefts. "Let me walk you home," he leers. "Okay," she answers, but she has no choice.
Of course, her storyline will converge with that of Muni and Giacomo. who now sees Muni as a cohort/peer: ("Take me with you! I love horses and the circus!") Muni tells him about his days as a Strongman (a La Strada reference). There's a lot of metaphor and it's well done. There's also dubbed Italian-to-English dialogue that's better synced than in most such films. This upload is from an Olive Films dvd, so it's razor sharp. The movie is really good, its just that, well......you kind of already know the deal. It's as if Losey signed a contract saying "I wanna work within the system, so I won't rebel too much, because I wanna make studio-quality films". Or something like that. He's one of the few directors we examine this closely. He is a top caliber filmmaker, and he got a great performance out of Muni and the kid, so Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Stranger on the Prowl". Very highly recommended and the picture, as noted, is razor sharp. ////
The previous night we found a new chapter serial from Universal called "Secret Agent X-9. Lloyd Bridges stars as "Federal Agent Phil Corrigan", aka X-9, who is charged with stopping the shipment, to Japan, of package containing a synthetic fuel formula. A dragon lady named "Nabura" (Victoria Horne) serves as a go-between for the Axis powers, operating from an island in the Pacific run as a private company by Mafioso Cy Kendall, who claims sovereignty: "We are not affiliated with any nation". Nabura has henchmen-soldiers who are forcing a scientist, as the movie opens, to produce a synthetic fuel which will help Japan win the war. The Japanese and German navies have teamed up to keep open a Japanese shipping lane in order to deliver the aforementioned package. Two previous Secret Agents have been shot dead in their attempts to stop the transfer. That's when Phil Corrigan is called in, and the Germans find out he's no pushover. All of this takes place in the first 20 minute chapter, and because it's from Universal Studios, the production values are high. X-9 is on a ship that gets torpedoed, which serves as the first cliff-hanger ending. It would've been fun to be a kid when these chapter serials were in theaters, wondering what was gonna happen each week, and reading the comic book it was based on. This one was written by Hashiel Dammit, er, I mean Dashiel Hammett. It's a total popcorn flick and a good one. Two Bigs and the picture is widescreen razor sharp. ////
And that's all I know for this evening. My blogging music is a live Rockpalast concert by Wishbone Ash from 1976. I may have mentioned this gig before, but check it out. The lead playing is great (of course) by both Andy Powell and Laurie Wisefield, but Wisefield's Strat tone has to be heard to be believed. My late night is Handel's Solomon Opera. Who d'ya like in the Super Bowl tomorrow? My gut says KC but my head says Philly. I like that I don't care who wins and don't have a dog in the hunt, like last year's Rams; it means I can actually enjoy the game without white-knuckling it, ha-ha.
I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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