Customer Reviews

Forgotten Noir, Vol. 6 (I'll Get You / Fingerprints Don't Lie)

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VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films presents "FORGOTTEN NOIR 6" ... I'll Get You (1952) & Fingerprints Don't Lie (1951) --- (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Film noir has sources not only in cinema but other artistic mediums as well...the low-key lighting schemes commonly linked with the classic mode are in the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, techniques using high contrasts of light and dark developed by 15th- and 16th-century painters associated with Mannerism and the Baroque...film noir's aesthetics are deeply influenced by German Expressionism, a cinematic movement of the 1910s and 1920s closely related to contemporaneous developments in theater, photography, painting, scultpture, and architecture...opportunities offered by the booming Hollywood film industry and, later, the threat of growing Nazi power led to the emigration of many important film artists working in Germany who had either been directly involved in the Expressionist movement or studied with its practitioners...Directors such as Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, and Michael Curtiz brought dramatic lighting techniques and a psychologically expressive approach to mise-en-scène with them to Hollywood, where they would make some of the most famous of classic noirs. Lang's 1931 masterwork, the German M, is among the first major crime films of the sound era to join a characteristically noirish visual style with a noir-type plot, one in which the protagonist is a criminal (as are his most successful pursuers). M was also the occasion for the first star performance by Peter Lorre, who would go on to act in several formative American noirs of the classic era ... featuring top performances from the '40s and '50s with outstanding drama and screenplays, along with a wonderful cast and supporting actors to bring it all together ... another winner from the vaults of almost forgotten film noir gems

First up we have Eros Films and Lippert Pictures feature "I'LL GET YOU" (aka: Escape Route) (1950) (79 mins/B&W) --- Under Seymour Friedman (Director), Peter Graham Scott (Asst.Director), Ronald Kinnoch (Producer), John Baines (Screenwriter), Nicholas Phipps (Screenwriter), Hans May (Original Score), Eric Cross (Cinematographer), Tom Simpson (Editor) - - - - - the cast includes George Raft (Steve Rossi), Sally Gray (Joan Miller), Frederick Piper (Inspector Reid), Reginald Tate (Colonel Wilkes), Clifford Evans (Michael Grand), Patricia Laffan (Irma Brookes), June Ashley (Girl), John Warwick (Security Chief Brice), Roddy Hughes (Porter) - - - - released March 3, 1951 as our F.B.I. agent (George Raft) illegally enters England following the disappearance of several noted atomic scientists ... as Raft and Sally Gray close in, the terrorists aren't about to give up without a final encounter ... what's behind this cloak and dagger game, will our popular hero of Warner Bros. fame come out of this suspenseful plot with all the answers and a new love life.

BIOS:
1. George Raft (aka: George Ranft)
Date of birth: 26 September 1895 - New York City, New York
Date of death: 24 November 1980 - Los Angeles, California
2. Sally Gray (aka: Constance Vera Stevens)
Date of birth: 14 February 1916 - Holloway, London, England, UK
Date of death: 24 September 2006 - London, England, UK.
3. Seymour Friedman (Director)
Date of birth: 17 August 1917 - Detroit, Michigan
Date of death: April 2003 - Los Angeles, California

Second on the double bill is a Spartan Productions Inc and Robert L. Lippert Picture release "FINGERPRINTS DON'T LIE" (1951) (57 min/B/W) --- Under Sam Newfield (Director), Sigmund Neufeld (Producer), Orville H. Hampton (Screenwriter), Rupert Hughes (Story), Dudley Chambers (Original Score), Jack Greenhalgh (Cinematographer), Carl Pierson (Editor), Harry Reynolds (Editor) - - - - the cast includes Richard Travis (James Stover), Sheila Ryan (Carolyn Palmer), Sid Melton (Hypo Dorton), Tom Neal (The Prosecuting Attorney), Margia Dean (Nadine Connell), Lyle Talbot (Lt. Grayson), Michael Whalen (Police Commissioner Frank Kelso), Richard Emory (Paul Moody), Dee Tatum (Connie Duval), George Eldredge (King Sullivan), Rory Mallinson (Brad Evans), Karl 'Killer' Davis (Rod Barenger), Zon Murray (Defense Attorney), Syra Marty (Syra, the Blonde Model), Forbes Murray (Judge Edwin Monroe), Roy Butler (Bailiff) - - - - released February 23, 1951, our story line rests on the identity of the murderer of a town's mayor by his fingerprints on the weapon ... could there be any doubt could the case be finally closed, could the experts be wrong ... music for opening and closing is a studio organ playing in the background, good old time radio effect ... is there guilt for the murder of the town's mayor is placed on Richard Emory by fingerprint expert Richard Travis during the murder trial because Emory's fingerprints were found on the murder weapon ... local reporter plants doubt in Travis mind about the guilt of Emory ... he decides to investigate further with the help of Sheila Ryan, the dead mayor's daughter and Emory's fiancee ... Travis discovers that the fingerprints are forged and the chase begins ... don't touch that dial you're about to find out all the twists and turns of this film noir mystery ... all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and film noir features like this one.

BIOS:
1. Richard Travis (aka: William Justice)
Date of birth: 17 April 1913 - Carlsbad, New Mexico
Date of death: 11 July 1989 - Pacific Palisades, California
2. Sheila Ryan (aka: Katherine Elizabeth McLaughlin)
Date of birth: 8 June 1921 - Topeka, Kansas
Date of death: 4 November 1975 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
3. Tom Neal
Date of birth: 28 January 1914 - Evanston, Illinois
Date of death: 7 August 1972 - North Hollywood, California
4. Sid Melton (aka: Sidney Meltzer)
Date of birth: 23 May 1920 - Brooklyn, New York
Date of death: Still Living
5. Sam Newfield (Director)
Date of birth: 6 December 1899 - New York, New York
Date of death: 10 November 1964 - Los Angeles, California

BONUS FEATURES:
1. Commentary - by Blumberg
2. Trailers:
Bad Blonde
Deadly Game
F.B.I. Girl
Man Bait
3. Photo Gallerys
4. Bios
5. Bonus Videos: "More on George Raft" by Stone Wallace

Great job by the people at VCI Entertainment, hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been Cowboys!

Total Time: 135 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video KPF-557 ~ (4/24/2007)

I'll Get You:
With I'll Get You, a low-budget British spy thriller made in 1952, George Raft has tired eyes, a middle-aged face, and he looks so stolid you'd think he'd need a double just to walk briskly down the street. As always, his flat, tough line delivery makes "I love you" come across with the same lack of emotion as "Drop that gat." So what made him a big-time star? I think at least on one level it was because he seemed without pretension...he seemed exactly what he appeared to be, not an "actor" but a guy making good at a job. It didn't hurt that he was lucky enough to land some first-rate movies in the late Thirties and early Forties. The image and reputation from those years stayed with him through the decline that set in during the middle Forties and just kept accelerating. He was stuck making some awful pictures when producers thought he could still sell enough tickets to help a quickie, low-budget movie turn a profit.

I like George Raft. For some reason I enjoy him especially in many of these B movies from the late Forties and early Fifties. You have to turn off your film appreciation switch and just sit back with your remote control at hand. Some of my favorites that leave critics aghast include Background to Danger, Johnny Angel, Mr Ace, Nocturne, Christmas Eve and even Outpost in Morocco. Raft, wearing Arab pantaloons, had courage to star in that one. Unfortunately, that leaves a number of his starring movies without many redeeming characteristics. I'll Get You is one of those. It's a dull spy movie without pacing or tension. Key scientists are being kidnapped and taken behind the Iron Curtain. One was an American. Another was grabbed in London. British Intelligence is on the case. Steve Rossi (Raft) shows up from America as a top aircraft engineer, but he disappears within minutes of his aircraft landing. He starts asking about someone named Michael Grand while British immigration is trying to find out where Rossi went. Along the way Rossi winds up looking down the wrong end of a revolver held by Joan Miller (Sally Gray), who turns out to be...wait, it also turns out that Steve is...wait...I hate spoilers. Better see the movie. It will take 78 minutes, but will seem longer.

At least you'll be able to meet Sally Gray, if you haven't already. This was her last movie. She was a good-looking woman and a competent actor who had the good fortune in the Forties to co-star in two fine British movies, Green for Danger - Criterion Collection and They Made Me a Fugitive. Both are worth having. She died in 2006, the widow of Baron Mereworth, who also was the fourth Lord Oranmore and Browne. Sounds a lot better than the long-term contract RKO offered her in 1949 if she'd only move to Hollywood.

Fingerprints Don't Lie:
A forged signature...fingerprints that are just too perfect on a murder weapon...a dead crusading mayor...a fingerprint expert who decides to find out how he was fooled into making a mistake that convicted an innocent man. And let's not forget what really makes this murder mystery memorable: A pipe organ playing melodramatic background music, augmented by a groaning chorus of singers.

Fingerprints Don't Lie is an awkward, amateurish movie. It lasts 57 minutes. It was shot on a miniscule budget. It tells us a lot about fingerprints. If you watch this dog, look for two things. First is the credit line for the director. The name is Sam Newfield. Between 1926 and 1956 he directed nearly 300 movies, and I suspect they all were as bad as this one. The other is Syra Marty. She plays Syra, a blonde artist's model. She only made three movies. She can't act. But she sure looks provocatively overbalanced in a bathing suit.
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Due diligence for noir lovers: These two movies have about as much connection to the noir genre as Marjorie Main had to Ava Gardner. One is a mediocre spy movie; the other is a mediocre gangster flick. The noir connection resides only with a company's marketing department.

I'LL GET YOU (Seymour Friedman/Peter Graham Scott 1952)
This is the second of three productions from the poverty-row British studio Lippert starring George Raft, after LOAN SHARK released earlier in the same year. Raft, now in his late 50s, had not had much success going it on his own outside of the major studios in the previous decade, and so ended up with Lippert, doing this ultra-cheapie in England in a few weeks. He plays American Steve Rossi, an engineer in England to meet with the mysterious "Michael Grand" (Clifford Evans) who is apparently to give him a job. We are told in an opening narration that several distinguished scientists working in the aerospace and other "sensitive" industries have recently disappeared; apparently abducted, or defecting as spies. Rossi himself disappears of his own accord soon after landing, and makes his way to various locations trying to find Grand. He soon encounters a woman (Sally Gray) claiming to be Grand's secretary Joan Miller - but there's something fishy going on, and before long he's dealing with the British secret service and police.

You won't have to be a genius to figure out pretty quickly that Rossi himself is a lawman, specifically FBI, tasked with finding Mr. Grand, who is apparently behind the various disappearances. It's never made very clear in the film whether the scientists are actually defecting, whether it's all about money, or what - just that it's Rossi's job to find Grand. An attempt at establishin a romance between him and Joan just isn't very interesting - Raft looks positively bored throughout - and the action sequences (a couple of fistfights) are ludicrously choreographed, and the resolution pretty obvious. Still, there's some really nice bombed-out London location work, and the flick doesn't wear out its welcome. Meh.

On the same disc, from the previous year is FINGERPRINTS DON'T LIE (directed by Sam Newfield), an under-one-hour police procedural that is certainly closer in spirit and plot to being "real" noir than the other film, but is if anything less interesting. Artist Paul Moody (Richard Emory) is at the beginning of the film being tried for the murder of the sitting mayor of this nameless city. James Stover, the chief forensic scientist involved in fingerprinting (Richard Travis) proves conclusively that Moody's prints are on the murder weapon, a telephone, and it's known that Moody had visited the mayor earlier in the day and left angrily. Moody is convicted and sentenced to death, but...

Moody's beloved, who turns out to be the Mayor's daughter, isn't convinced. With very little to go on, she convinces Stover to help her find out who really killed her father, and Stover reluctantly (OK, he takes about a minute to convince - remember this is a 57-minute film) agrees. Everything here is pretty much telegraphed - the real heavy is pretty obviously Police Commissioner Kelso (Michael Whalen), as we can figure out from almost the very beginning after being told that the new mayor wanted to clean up the corruption and that Kelso resisted; and the film also has to annoyingly explain in dumbed-down language how finger- and palm-printing work, more than once. The heroic fingerprint expert breaks about a dozen laws to free the guy he helped convict, and the DA and everybody else (except for the real villains) go along with him like it's all no big deal. Cheap on all counts, with mediocre acting across the board; I think the whole film is shot in one to two room sets that look like they're all doing double-duty. And there's a ridiculously annoying short, dumpy, very "ethnic" photographer character who has absolutely *nothing* to do with the plot at all except to provide comic relief, chiefly by never being able to take a picture - except until, you guessed it, the very last frame of film.

There's a nice little featurette on Raft included, previews, and a pretty decent commentary track on FINGERPRINTS, which doesn't alas really make the film come off any better but is in some ways more entertaining than much of the actual dialogue. This disc is really for completists only I think; the other 3 discs in this VCI "Forgotten Noir" series that I've seen have all been considerably more interesting. But, at least neither film wears out its welcome!