Last night's movie was "The Brasher Doubloon"(1947), a classic, stylized Noir adapted from a Raymond Chandler novel. George Montgomery stars as Chandler's famous detective "Phillip Marlowe", who takes the case of "Mrs. Elizabeth Murdoch" (Florence Bates), a wealthy Los Angeles widow whose rare coin - a Brasher Doubloon - has been stolen. Marlowe first meets her secretary, "Merle Davis", a pretty, nervous young woman he takes an immediate liking to. The same can't be said for Mrs. Murdoch, a cranky old dame who, it's clear, is used to calling the shots in her life. She describes the circumstances of the coin theft to Marlowe, but when she tries to tell him how to run his case, he gives her back her retainer check and quits.
At his office, a heavy-lidded hoodlum visits, telling him he'd best quit the Murdoch case. "I already did", Marlowe says, "Who're you?" When the guy tries pressuring him to keep his mouth shut about the doubloon, Marlowe kicks his butt and throws him out. But the intrusion prompts him to return to the Murdoch estate, to question Miss Davis and Mrs. Murdoch's son "Leslie" (Conrad Janis of "Mork & Mindy" fame, looking very much like a Titanic-aged Leo De Caprio). Something is up with this odd family: the controlling widow, her deceptive son and their frightened secretary, who is an unofficial "adopted daughter". Marlowe turns on the romantic charm in an effort to get her to loosen up and talk, but she admits she's afraid of men.
At his office again, he catches a man trying to break in. He's "Rudolph Vannier" (Fritz Kortner), a German immigrant and newsreel cameraman by profession. Marlowe adds 2 and 2 and figures he filmed something he's blackmailing the Murdoch family with, and now the dominoes fall as the puzzle comes slowly together. Miss Davis confesses that Leslie Murdoch stole the Brasher Doubloon from his mother's safe, to pay off his gambling debts, which was why the goon (hired by Leslie) visited and threatened Marlowe earlier. But Miss Davis is partially lying. The real reason Leslie stole the coin was to pay off Mr. Vennier, who Marlowe discovers is blackmailing the family over the death of Mrs. Murdoch's husband, who fell from a hotel balcony during the Rose Parade. Vennier was on hand and filmed it, and his footage shows that the husband's fall wasn't the "accident" the family said it was. The police long ago closed the case, but now, if Marlowe can find the film, it will open back up and become a murder.
Leslie Murdoch is in league with the hoodlums, to whom he does owe money to, and he needs to keep the truth under wraps, because his Mom is about to disinherit him. Secretary Merle Davis is caught in the middle, and is being gaslighted by Mrs. Murdoch, who tells her, "Dear, you know I've always protected you from yourself. You can't help what you did, pushing my husband out that window. You have blackouts, so you aren't responsible."
The bottom line is that you can't out-handsome George Montgomery, who we've only known from Westerns when he was an older man. In his thirties, as he is here, he could almost remind one, in manner, of a young Clint Eastwood, and he's way more good-looking than Bogie (the most famous Phillip Marlowe), and, for my money, he's equally cool, which is saying something because I, like everyone, am a huge Bogart fan. We'll have to look for more from George Montgomery.
Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Brasher Doubloon", filmed in classic chiaroscuro black & white, directed by John Brahm, an old pro of crime flicks and Westerns, who also made "Hot Rods to Hell". The picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night, we found an Italian drama called "Time of Indifference"(1964), released toward the end of the era of international cinema. Boy, is this ever a soap opera, and slightly existential, befitting the Italian (and French) style of the early '60s. Paulette Goddard stars as "Mariagrazia", widowed matriarch of a fading upper-class family, who is trying to keep her villa from being foreclosed by the state. She owes money to her suitor "Leo" (Rod Steiger), whose profession isn't clear. He seems to be a politician or lawyer working for the government, but either way, Mariagrazia owes more than she can pay; in fact, she's so broke that the phone has been turned off. She hopes Leo will give her an extension on the mortgage, and he might....on one condition.
Leo is a power-broker but also a lowlife. He's been sleeping with Mariagrazia for ten years, a fact pointed out to her adult son "Michele" (Tomas Milian) by Maria's best friend "Lisa" (Shelly Winters), who was Leo's former plaything. For her part, Lisa now has the hots for the much younger Michele, and lets him know it. And, if Leo wasn't low enough already, he's now got his sights on Maria's daughter "Carla" (Claudia Cardinale), a beautiful but sad 20-something, who - to save the villa - will be required by Leo to sleep with him, thereby turning herself into a prostitute.
There are many levels of sexuality hinted at, including Carla's unconscious jealousy of her mother. Though Leo is infinitely repulsive, she isn't automatically repelled by his advances. Sometimes, she even seeks him out, if only to steal him from her mother, and also Lisa (whom he's still sleeping with also), because with his money, he represents a way out. "No one will have anything to do with a family who can't pay their bills", he tells them. Nobility on the way down is to be shunned. It must be an Italian thing, but at any rate, Leo is running their lives. Everyone but the son is sleeping with him, and there's just the barest hint that son Michele is in love with his Mom, who rejects him, which steers him back to an intellectual analysis of the whole sordid situation. Outside, the rain pours down, signifying collapse. The electricity at the villa goes out. Leo takes advantage of the darkness by trying to rape Carla, then gives up when she cries. He figures he can wait and have her without a struggle later on.
For Michele, losing the villa is one thing, but losing his sister to Leo is another. By now, he's tried every argument of reason to convince his mother and Carla that their association with Leo is "absurd", but when his plea fails, and Lisa won't leave him alone, he goes to a pawn shop to buy a gun. It seems to him the only solution....
Can he rescue his sister and save the villa? This is an existential Italian movie, so the answer might not be cut and dried. Leo is repellent (and seems to know it), but he tries to hold the high ground in his forays with Carla: "Get dressed. You're making a fool of yourself." Michele is the only moral one, and logically sound, but because he's young he almost succumbs to his libido, letting Lisa take advantage of him and getting a little too close to his mother. When she pushes him away, he resorts to his mental prowess, calling everyone out for their hypocrisy. But finally he just says "screw it", because Leo is gonna steal his sister and take away the villa no matter what happens, so Michele decides to kill him. But does he?
This film needs a Criterion restoration. Even with it's present condition, it still gets Two Huge Thumbs Up. Rod Steiger should've gone to prison for this role. He was one hell of an actor, and did some European work before coming back to Hollywood for "In the Heat of the Night". There was often something repulsive and angry about the characters he played; he was never the good-humored guy. The picture is soft but watchable, and Claudia Cardinale is the queen of the sullen but beautiful close-up. ////
That's all for tonight. My blogging music was "Fish Rising" by Steve Hillage, my late night is Handel's Semele Opera. I wish you a nice weekend and I send you Tons of Love, as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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