Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tinear (A) on March 07, 2008 at 18:32:04

mistakenly, taken offense at its humor.
First off, I didn't find the humor very broad, certainly not enough to color this very dark tale of murder.
Mitchum and Jane Russell don't just strike sparks, they're incendiary. God, what a gorgeous woman young Jane was--- statuesque met its definition. And she could act and sing, too.
The film? Well, it had a change of direction after most of it was shot: Sternberg got into a pissing contest with Mitch and guess who won?
The film isn't great by any means, in conventional terms. It isn't particularly noir, except for the cinematography, either. But it is extraordinarily good entertainment with witty dialogue, very good performances, and did I mention that the gloriously beautiful Gloria Grahame also was featured?
Later, the same writer penned, "The Narrow Margin" which was far darker and very different in all respects, except for the intelligence and wit of the dialogue.
Mitchum and Russell should be as famous a pairing as Bacall and Bogie and they never topped this effort.