Humphrey Bogart Archives

The Big Shot (1942)

Posted on November 7, 2023November 7, 2023 by fenrisfil

So now October is out of the way, it’s tradition here at Screen Wolf to throw in a few classic Film Noir reviews for November (Or “Noirvember” as I call it). November is largely a recovery month for me after hitting up 31 horror reviews for October so I don’t set any particular targets, but there will certainly be more than one. My Noir watch list is almost as large as my horror one so I have no lack of material. The month won’t be exclusive to Noir though like October is to Horror.

Anyway, first up is a double whammy for me as it’s also part of my quest to watch every single Humphrey Bogart movie. This is “The Big Shot” from 1942. Directed by Lewis Seller (Who also worked with Bogart on “King of the Underworld” in 1939) and written by the team of Bertram Millhauser, Abem Finkel and Daniel Fuchs. Bogarts support in this film includes Irene Manning, Richard Travis, Stanley Ridges, and Chuck Chandler.

Every Angle Covered.

The story focuses on Joseph ‘Duke’ Berne (Bogart), a three time loser trying to keep his head down and stay on the straight and narrow after his recent release from prison. Naturally that doesn’t work out as he is encouraged to lead a team in a heist. After meeting the heists mastermind, a lawyer called Flemming (Ridges), he is reunited with his former girlfriend Lorna (Manning), now married to Flemming. She meets Duke in his apartment and encourages him to stay out of the heist, which he does.

Unfortunately a witness incorrectly places him at the scene and not wanting to expose his involvement with Flemming’s wife he get’s the attorney to find him a fake alibi. After Flemming finds out about the pairs involvement he double crosses Duke, who is sent up for life. This leaves him trying to find a way to break out and perhaps get even. However it’s not that simple as innocent lives are being dragged into this, notably a good man named George (Travis), who had provided his fake alibi.

The Wise Guy.

The Big Shot is a one man show, but fortunately for the movie that man is Humphrey Bogart. Since the scene changes mid way through to the prison, the supporting cast shifts with it. Only George following him to lock up, so most of the supporting cast is absent for this middle section. Not that this is a problem, since most viewers turned up to see Bogey anyway. Bogart had a long period playing gangsters for Warner Brothers, but this would be his last appearance for the studio in such a role.

This was one year after he finally made it big with “The Maltese Falcon” and High Sierra. So it’s not a surprise he wasn’t just playing the villain here. He was instead a sympathetic lead, a gangster with a heart. The main theme of the film being focused on his internal struggle between doing what is right and doing what he knows. The movie has solid dialogue and Bogart’s delivery is very good, but the truth is this is a pretty average performance from the screen legend. The rest of the cast do a solid job in support and with them all having fairly limited roles none really had a chance to stand out more.

My New Act Will Kill Ya!

We get a good bit of variety of settings with this movie. We get some bar scenes, a botched heist, a court room scene, the prison section with it’s break out and of course a variety of apartment buildings. The variety adds to the story, but there’s not really much of note for the cinematography here. Really the film feels more like a 30’s gangster movie than a 40’s Noir. True to that, the most notable visuals are the high octane car chases.. Dating the movie a bit further is the prison entertainment show that includes a blacked up prisoner dancing with a life sized gollywog. It was a different time.

The strength here is in the character aspects of the story. Duke has a conscience but is constantly drawn into things but more nefarious characters. This always seems to lead to innocent (Or mostly innocent) people being pulled into the line of fire and Duke being responsible for it. Some of these maneuverings are quite subtle, but when you put it all together you can see the chain of events. For example despite Duke telling his fellow escapee “Dancer” to leave the planning to him, it is him that suggests using Georges job as the warden’s chauffeur to bring items in to the prison to use for their escape. That of course puts a big target on George’s back after Dancer murders a guard while trying to escape.

Duke of Nothing

That said, there is also a lot about the plot that doesn’t really seem to make sense. The only reason Duke is fingered for the heist (Which he didn’t take part in) was because the police encouraged the witness to name him as the person that grabbed her and used her as a human shield. She clearly couldn’t remember and even thought it was the chief of police at one point (Because their photo was on the desk). While the cops of the day may well have worked that way (I couldn’t honestly say), it seems like you’d need more than one very bad witness to pin the crime on Duke. A simple cross examination should have been enough to put doubt in the jury’s mind. It wouldn’t even need the fake alibi.

The other issue is Dukes reputation. At one point it’s declared he is pushing 40 (He was 43 at the time). The Warden claims Duke is one of the best criminals out there and had a 20 years career. However, it’s also pretty clearly spelled out that Duke has done three stretches in prison, two of five years and one of ten. So If he’s 40 and spent 20 years in prison, that doesn’t seem to leave much time to actually be the big shot everyone claims he is. Even if he started out very young, he still spent most of his time in prison, suggesting he’s probably not the great mastermind with all the angles covered either. Honestly, it’s a bit messy.

The Verdict

Overall, the movie has strong dialogue (All the more stronger for Bogart’s delivery) and reasonable ideas but is dragged down by notable plot holes. Visuals and music are pretty average and really there isn’t a lot else that stands out about it. I enjoyed the movie for what it was, but there are better Bogart movies and better movies about Gangsters doing the right thing in the end. If you are a fan of star you will enjoy it, but otherwise probably not worth your time. I’m giving this a strong 5.5/10. Falling under a six mostly because I just don’t buy the set up for this one. I should add, the film (Or at least the copy I saw) has not been preserved in especially good condition so this may impact my rating and your own enjoyment.

Avengers Noir

Posted on December 3, 2022December 3, 2022 by fenrisfil

So while “Noirvember” may be over (Meaning November, the month I traditionally watch and review Film Noir I haven’t seen yet), throughout the month I’ve been feeding amusing prompts to Stable Diffusion (An AI art generator) and it seems appropriate to cap off the month by sharing these. This is basically The Avengers and related Marvel Superheroes re-imagined as if the films were being made around 1950 and done for some unknown reason as a hybrid style with Film Noir. Yes it makes no sense whatsoever, especially as most of these heroes weren’t created until the 1960’s or later, but I thought it was fun. So let’s have a look at the cast.

Humphrey Bogart as Iron Man

This is an obvious choice for me. The truth is Bogart is at 5’8”, actually a bit short for Tony Stark, but it doesn’t really matter since the kind of powerful, confident performances Humphrey put out there pretty much makes people just assume he was tall. Certainly I couldn’t pick anyone else for the role as the genius businessman and inventor turned Superhero alcoholic. Bogart of course is most famous for playing “Sam Spade” in the “Maltese Falcon” (1941) and “Rick Blaine” in “Casablanca” (1942), but appeared in many Noirs likely to be seen on top 10 and top 20 lists including “The Big Sleep” (1946), “Dark Passage” (1947) and “In a Lonely place” (1950). The man is a legend and one of the most famous actors of all time.

Glenn Ford as Captain America

Glenn Ford’s most famous Film Noir roles are “Gilda” (1946) and “The Big Heat” (1953). In both he played edgy determined characters that never gave up or backed down. Seems perfect for Captain America. Ford of course actually does have Superhero pedigree, having played Jonathan Kent in “Superman” (1978) and in that film became the man that gave Superman his moral foundation. Still not convinced? Well he also signed up for military service on three separate occasions, refused promotions offered (he thought) for his fame and not service and was frustrated at being kept out of combat.

Sterling Hayden as Thor

At an impressive 6’5” Sterling Hayden has the perfect frame to play the mighty Thor. His looks are just about right too. Hayden’s has strong Noir pedigree including: “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950) “Crime Wave” (1953), “The Come On” (1956) and most famously Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing” (1956). Of those I have to admit to only having seen the first and the last, but I’ll get to the others soon enough! Sterling was also in the running for my Captain America, but I figured it wouldn’t make sense to cast someone as Cap in 1950 that had been a member of the Communist party (Albeit briefly).

Rita Hayworth as Black Widow

Naturally hair colour isn’t that obvious when it comes to black and white, but there are still a few actresses from the genre famous for their red hair and I wanted one of them for Black Widow. Lucille Ball dabbled in Film Noir with 1946’s “The Dark Corner” (1946), but as great as she is there really is only one actress that for the role, Gilda herself, Rita Hayworth. You can see the AI decided to give her red hair in one of the picture regardless of being in black and white and it looks great. Along with “Gilda” (1946) she was also in the Orson Welles’ classic “The Lady from Shanghai” (1947) and “Affair in Trinidad” (1952). If you don’t like the choice, put the blame on mame.

Edward G. Robinson as The Incredible Hulk

I wanted Edward G to factor in somewhere along the line and I thought it’d a fun choice for the Hulk so here we are. Although more famous for his gangster movies of the 1930’s (Especially “Little Caesar” (1931)), Robinson appeared in quite a few Film Noirs, including one of my personal favourites “Scarlett Street” (1945). He also appeared opposite Orson Welles in “The Stranger” (1956) and had a supporting role in one of the most famous Noirs of all time (Indeed number one on many lists), “Double Indemnity” (1944). Robinson often plays intelligent vulnerable men with a dark burden and aggressive angry men out to prove themselves. Works pretty well in the role for me

Dana Andrews as Hawkeye

Dana’s most famous Noir is “Laura” (1944), but he appeared in several including “Fallen Angel” (1945) and “Where the Sidewalk Ends” (1950). On top of that he was the protagonist in the Horror classic “Night of the Demon” (1957) and played Lt. Ted Stryker in the movie “Zero Hour!” (1957), a mostly forgotten movie outside the fact it was remade into a comedy in 1980, that comedy would be called “Airplane!”. Yes, he was the original Stryker. Andrews definitely deserves a spot on the team. Hawkeye is as good as any.

James Cagney as Nick Fury

Art AI’s can’t do eyepatches to save their uh… programming. But anyway when casting Nick Fury (The original Nick Fury, not the “Ultimate” version, who was basically always Sam Jackson even before the movies), I wanted a veteran that would be a bit older than the rest of the cast and play the elder statesman. Cagney is perfect. Not only is he one of the greatest on screen badasses in movie history he managed to find his way into a couple of Film Noirs late in his career. The fantastic “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” (1950) and the absolute classic “White Heat” (1949). It’s a shame the AI couldn’t do the picture any better, but you try getting one to draw an eye patch on someone!

Harry Belafonte as Falcon

The truth is there isn’t a huge amount of choice for black Film Noir stars, but there are a couple of really good ones . The first is Harry Belafonte, primarily a musician but also a pretty good actor. He starred in and produced the Film Noir classic “Odds Against Tomorrow” (1959) and the often overlooked post apocalyptic drama “The World, the Flesh and the Devil” (1959). Outside of his music and acting careers Belafonte was an important member of the civil rights movement, making him the perfect person for Falcon. I have no idea why the AI drew a rocket ship on that last picture, but I still like the picture.

Lauren Bacall as The Scarlet Witch

I decided not to go with a natural red head for Scarlet Witch as I really wanted to get a role for Lauren Bacall and I figured she’d look good dressed as Wanda. The AI generated pictures seem to agree so I feel it was a good move. Lauren of course is most famous for her work with Humphrey Bogart (So I should probably have cast her as Pepper Potts, but I needed a Wanda), including the classics “To Have and to Have Not” (1944), “The Big Sleep” (1946) and “Dark Passage” (1947).

Orson Welles as THANOS

Could it be anybody else? Orson Welles is perhaps the ultimate movie villain actor. This is why when casting the voice of “Unicron” in “Transformers the Movie” (1986) there was only ever one choice. But his villains in Film Noir include “Professor Charles Rankin” in “The Stranger” (1946), the legendary “Harry Lime” in “The Third Man” (1949) and “Captain Hank Quinlan” in “Touch of Evil” (1958). Three of the most memorable villains in the genre. So Naturally only he could be Thanos and it helps that he sort of has the right look for the character too. These pictures sort of show degrees of morph between Thanos and Welles but they all look cool.

Sidney Poitier as Black Panther

This is another obvious one. cis a legend whose most famous film is the neo-noir “In the Heat of the Night” from 1967. However, he was actually in a couple of proper Film Noirs (i.e. ones between 1940-1959) too, ” No Way Out” (1950) and “Edge of the City” (1957). While not the first black actor in Hollywood to lead a mainstream movie (That would be Sam Lucas way back in 1914) he was arguably the first to become a true movie star. For decades he was the symbol of what could be achieved by a talented and determined black actor and he inspired generations of actors that followed in his footsteps. Oh and he wasn’t just dealing with racial prejudice, in an era ruled by musicals he couldn’t sing due to being tone deaf.

Barbara Stanwyck as The Wasp

You can’t do Film Noir casting without having Barbara Stanwyck involved somewhere. I haven’t actually cast Ant Man (Maybe if I do a part two some time), but back in the 80’s when I was regularly reading Marvel comics I preferred The Wasp anyway. Barbara is most famous for being the most famous of all femme fatale in “Double Indemnity” (1944), but she has appeared in a large number of Film Noirs including: “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” (1946), “The Two Mrs. Carrolls” (1947), “Sorry, Wrong Number” (1948), “The File on Thelma Jordon” (1949), “Clash by Night” (1952) and “Witness to Murder” (1954). If there is a Queen of Noir it is Barbara Stanwyck. I think part of what made her so great was her ability to play broken and flawed women and if you know the comics, you know that does somewhat resemble The Wasp.

Robert Mitchum as Doctor Strange

Another actor that I simply had to include is Robert Mitchum, but it helped that he actually looks perfect for the part of Doctor Strange. At 6’1” he is no Asgardian but tall enough to look imposing and Mitchum’s intense features and world weary eyes really make me thinks of the Sorcerer Supreme (Which will always be Doctor Strange as far as I’m concerned). Mitchum’s biggest Noir roles are “Out of the Past” (1947) and “Night of the Hunter” (1955), but he appeared in a huge number including: “Crossfire” (1947), The Big Steal (1949), Where Danger Lives (1950), The Racket (1951), Macao (1952) and Angel Face (1952). He also took on the mantle of Phillip Marlowe in the 1970’s with “Farwell My Lovely” (1975) and “The Big Sleep” (1978).

Peter Lorre as Loki

Peter Lorre is another legendary Film Noir actor and I couldn’t help but feel he would actually be perfect as Loki (At least if you ignore that he is 5’3”). If anyone was born to play a trickster god it is probably Lorre. The AI seemed to agree because it did a great job with him. Peter’s first villainous role of note was in a sort of Proto-Noir, the Fritz Lang masterpiece “M” (1931), but he went on to appear in what many consider the first official Noir “Stranger on the Third Floor” (1940) and followed that up with the “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) and “Casablanca” (1942) along with a several more Noirs over the next decade. On top of this, he is in one of my favourite comedies of all time “Arsenic and Old Lace” (1944).

Sydney Greenstreet as Odin

After I cast Peter Lorre as Loki really it was no decision at all to cast Sydney Greenstreet as Odin. Though I have to admit he also looks a bit like Prince Vultan from Flash Gordon here, but I’m happy with it. Sydney of course appeared alongside Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. After the success of those movies the studio naturally tried to pair as many of them together again as possible and so Sydney went on to do “The Mask of Dimitrious” (1944) and “Three Strangers” (1946) with Lorre and “Conflict” (1945) with Bogart.

Robert Ryan as Red Skull.

Another Film Noir regular, though he played a mixture of protagonist and antagonist I thought he would make a good Red Skull. I’m not sure if these pictures are still recognisable as Ryan but they do look pretty cool. Ryan’s noirs include: Crossfire (1947), “The Set Up” (1949), Clash By Night (1952), and “Odds Against Tomorrow” (1959). His characters were often brash, bitter and aggressive. Not the perfect fit for Red Skull but it’ll do.

Richard Conte as The Kingpin

I really wanted to throw another villain into the mix and one that made a lot of sense to me is Richard Conte as The Kingpin. Conte has played several evil mob bosses over the years perhaps more famously in “The Godfather” (1972) as Don Corleone’s rival, Barzini. But he also played crime bosses in the Film Noir’s “Cry of the City” and “The Big Combo” (1955). All of which make him the perfect pick for this role. His other Noir’s include “Somewhere in the Night” (1946) and “The Sleeping City” (1950), “The Blue Gardenia” (1953), “The Big Tip off” (1955).

John Garfield as Spider-Man

Last but not least, I had to add a Spider-Man. Even though he is my favourite superhero, he wasn’t my focus for this little exercise in AI creativity. However I felt that John Garfield would be a good pick (especially given he shares a surname with an actual Spider-Man actor). Garfield was an actor famous for playing brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. Not that Spidey is really a brooder, but can be pretty rebellious and is definitely working-class. His roles in Film Noir include “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1946), “Body and Soul” (1947), “Force of Evil” (1948) and “Jigsaw” (1949).

Marvel Noir movie poster, apparently for a new hero called “Marnorr”.

That’s All Folks

I hope this was an amusing bit of randomness for you. I figure whether you enjoy Film Noir, AI Art or Marvel Superheroes there is something here to amuse you. I didn’t originally intend to make this a post, but after generating so many imagines I thought it would be nice to share

The Enforcer (1951)

Posted on November 24, 2022November 29, 2022 by fenrisfil

Today’s review is the 1951 Humphrey Bogart movie “The Enforcer” also know as “Murder Inc.” in the UK and based off the real life Murder Inc that committed around 400 murders between 1929 and 1940. A Bogart movie I haven’t seen before is a rarity in itself, but a Film Noir with Bogart in I haven’t seen is pretty much unheard of. Yet here we are. So let’s dig in!

The movie was directed by Bretaigne Windust and Raoul Walsh, not as one unit though, the movie was Windust’s but after he fell ill Walsh was brought in to finish the movie. Walsh refused to take credit, but still a good portion of the film was his work. It was written by Martin Rackin. The supporting cast includes Ted de Corsia and Everett Sloane (Both appeared in “Lady From Shanghai”) and Noir regular Roy Roberts (“He Walked By Night”, “Force of Evil”). It was Bogarts last movie for Warner.

Death of a Witness.

The story begins with a close escort and guard of Joseph Rico (de Corsia) a star witness on a trial that is due to start the following morning. The witness is scared though and after an assassination attempt, tries to escape from the precinct only to fall to his death. As the only witness to the case, District Attorney Martin Ferguson (Bogart) is left with no choice but to spend the night going over all the case notes to try and see if he can find something he has missed that may lead to a second witness or some other piece of evidence.

What follows is a series of flashbacks following the police investigation and the story of the gangsters as they come into contact with the police and Ferguson. It follows them unravelling an organisation created to sell murder, taking out “Contracts” on “Hits”. Eventually leading them to the ringlead Albert Mendoza (Sloane) and the original assassination, the only he carried out himself. There was something they missed though, something that can change the entire case when they figure it out, if they figure it out before the villains….

Cops and Killers.

This is very much a film whose strength is in the plot and not characters. While Bogart’s performance is top notch I’d be hard pressed to tell you much about his characters personality outside of “determined to get his man”. While he is the lead, he actually has very little screen time since the majority of the story is told via flashbacks where his character is not present. As a result it’s sort of a selection of short stories where a selection of criminals basically get centre stage.

Fortunately they aren’t just two dimensional hoods, but none of them especially stands out. The best of the bunch is Ted de Corsia’s “Rico”, who due to the way much of the narrative works in reverse chronological order, goes from terrified coward, to cold blooded mob boss and then street level thug. The films real antagonist though, Sloane’s “Mendoza” is unseen for the vast majority of the movie.

Right From That First Crazy Day

The plot though is interesting and unique in how it unravels the mystery. The majority of the story is told in flashbacks, bookended by fairly action heavy sequences involving the two key witnesses. We start out at one point in time, near the end of the story, but after they lose their witness and start going through the police files we see a police investigation from the start through to the current time. However, that investigation unravels the story of criminal events (Though witness statements) from the end, back towards the start. The final reveal being how the whole thing started off and what ultimately the investigation is all about. Effectively there are two timelines, the police and the criminals, one going forwards and the other going back.

Of course flashbacks are heavily utilised in the Film Nori genre with many of the most famous Film Noir’s being almost entirely flashbacks (Occasionally narrated by a dead guy), so it’s not unusual, but effectively having flashbacks within flashbacks is a little different. One of the nice touches is because they go out of their way to not show you Mendoza during the opening, so between that and the slow unravelling the audience is very much in the same position as the cops and the clue to bringing down Mendoza is there for all to see but small enough that most won’t. It’s well played out.

Everything But Himself.

Visually the film has it’s moments, such as Rico’s foolish attempt to climb a ledge of a building. But mostly the high pace and relatively short length of the movie gives little time to really indulge in that aspect of noir. Really it’s not surprising some critics don’t even consider this movie a Noir, but I would argue that as the film is built largely around flashbacks of people revealing the story of their own undoing it is very much a noir, even with the police framework. The police, even Bogart’s D.A. Ferguson are barely characters in this, they are just a narrative device to tell the story of the criminals self destruction. So it works for me.

Conclusion

Overall the film is solid and has a great plot, but lacks interesting characters and provides little in the audio/visual department that I found memorable. Bogart does a good job but has nothing to work with, making this one of his least interesting performances and not quite enough to raise the movie to the upper tier of Noir. I do like that plot though, it’s interesting both narratively and for the subject matter (Loosely based on the real life Murder Inc.). So with that in mind I’m giving this a narrow 6.5/10.