Review of "The File on Thelma Jordon"

Movie Title:
The File on Thelma Jordon

Year: 1950

Writers:
Screenplay by Ketti Frings
Story by Marty Holland

Lead Actors:
Barbara Stanwyck
Wendell Corey

Director:
Robert Siodmak

Plot Summary:
Thelma Jordon late one night shows up in the office of Assistant DA Cleve Marshall, who drinks due to a struggling marriage, with a story about prowlers and burglars. Before they know it, they are involved in a love affair. Thelma is also in love with a jewel thief, Tony Laredo, who has persuaded her to go live with her rich aunt, and steal her jewels. During the robbery, she shoots her aunt, but makes it look like an outside job. Through some clever manipulations by Thelma, Cleve is assigned the case and he maneuvers the state's case against her in such a manner that she wins an acquittal. But then Tony shows up. And nothing, from this point, works out well for Thelma, Cleve or Tony.

Why I Think This Is A Classic Movie:

• This is a film noir in the style of the 1944 Billy Wilder film "Double Indemnity" (also starring Barbara Stanwyck as the femme fatale). However, in "Thelma Jordon" Stanwyck (the protag) takes on a more complicated character and there is more sympathy for Thelma's gullible "victim" (Cleve, antag who becomes an ally). While the plot has also been compared to de Toth's 1948 "Pitfall", the film is different from that as well. In Pitfall, Forbes (the protag, played by the hardboiled insurance agent Dick Powell) is similar in many ways to Cleve Marshall, and Mona Stevens (the antag, played by the excitement-loving, vivacious Liz Scott) is similar to Thelma Jordon, However, the sympathy in "Pitfall" is with Mona, while the sympathy in "Thelma Jordon" is with Cleve. It makes a big difference.
  
• The talented cast and crew is another reason why this is a great movie:
  
  
• Actors: The strong performances of Corey (as Cleve Marshall, gullible assistant DA) and Stanwyck (as Thelma Jordon, femme fatale) sell the story. They must construct for us sympathetic characters, so that Stanwyck's act of driving him to the brink of destruction (as well as her own resulting death) has emotional meaning for the audience.
  
  
• Writers: Screenwriter Ketti Frings (1909 – 1981) was an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Her novel "Hold Back the Dawn" was adapted by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett into a 1941 film which was a Best Picture Academy Award-nominee. One of her plays was nominated for a Tony Award and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1958. Story writer "Marty Holland" is a pseudonym of Mary Hauenstein (1919-1971), a novelist who worked as a Hollywood script typist. Her other works include the novel for "Fallen Angel" (1945), directed by Otto Preminger.
  
  
• Director: Robert Siodmak was a film director specializing in thrillers. He directed well over 50 films, including "The Killers" (1946), based on a story by Ernest Hemingway. While not in this case, he often teamed with his younger brother, Curt Siodmak, a novelist and prolific screenwriter (e.g.,The Wolf Man, 1941).
  
  
• Cinematography: George Barnes (nominated 8 times for an Academy Award, winning for Hitchcock's Rebecca in 1940).
  
• As Film Noir of the Week says in its review, this movie is an "underrated and currently grossly ignored gem."
  

My Favorite Moment In The Movie:
I love the scenes between Stanwyck and Corey. The one in the opening, when they are falling in love, are endearing and hook the viewer to want to see more.

My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie:
Thelma Jordon meets with her lawyer (Kingsley Willis, played by Stanley Ridges) in jail, at about the 1:02 point:

Willis: ... Marshall, on the other hand, we don't need to worry about.
Thelma: You thought all this up yourself?
Willis: No, to be honest. I give credit where credit is due. (pulls out a piece of paper.) From your Aunt Vera's friend, "Anonymous", the one who sent me $5000 to defend you. (Reads from the paper.) "Dear Mr Willis, a smart move would be to disqualify the district attorney by hiring his brother. ... " (burns paper with a match.) "Anonymous" has quite a grasp of things, don't you say?
Thelma: You did take the idea.
Willis: I like it. ...

Another quote, after Tony spies on her kissing Cleve (at around the 27 minute point):

Thelma Jordan: Tony, you scared me!
Tony Laredo: I didn’t mean to. I hate to be an eavesdropper.

Tony is a relatively minor supporting character but terrifying never-the-less.

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie:
Key scenes are: The Sun-room Scene between Thelma and Cleve (at about the 54-57 minute point) and the Car Scene between Thelma and Tony when she forces him to drive them off a cliff (at about the 1:33-1:35 point).

Movie Trivia:
(1) Stanwyck's original name was Ruby Catherine Stevens and her real-life older brother Malcolm Byron ("Bert") Stevens plays a defense aide in the courtroom scenes (at about the 1:08-1:25 point).
(2) The film is in the public domain and is legally available for free (at least in the U.S.) at: archive.org, and youtube

This post was first published in May 2015 at the great writing blog, Go into the Story, by Scott Myers. Check it out!

Review of “Touch of Evil”

Movie Title:
Touch of Evil

Year: 1958

Writers:
Screenplay by Orson Welles
Based on a novel by "Whit Masterson" (the writing team, Robert Allison Wade and H. Bill Miller)

Lead Actors:
Charlton Heston
Janet Leigh
Orson Welles

Director:
Orson Welles

Plot Summary:

A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town.

Why I Think This Is A Classic 50s Movie:

Strong acting, outstanding direction, and precise camera work to elevate the tension, mark this film as one of the best films in the 1950s. Moreover, “Touch of Evil” is regarded as one of Welles' strongest films.

The movie has been studied extensively by film scholars, some who have
even called it the last of the great film noirs. Indeed, in addition
to many scholarly papers, there is an entire book only about this
movie: Terry Comito (ed.), “Touch of Evil, Orson Welles, director.”

Though the studio interfered with Welles' original editing, there is
now a version in which Welles' edits are restored by the renown editor
Walter Murch, based on Welles' 58 page memo.

The talented cast&crew is another reason why this is a great movie:

Welles has been voted the greatest film director of all time in numerous polls of industry professionals.

Charlton Heston (as the portag), Janet Leigh, and Orson Welles (as the antag) turn in strong performances.

The cinematographer Russell Metty won an Academy Award for Spartacus (1960).

My Favorite Moment In The Movie:

The very carefully scene of Quinlan (Welles) strangling Grandi (Tamiroff) in the hotel room with Susie Vargas (Leigh) in bed, drugged, is one of my favorites. The lighting and camera work are exceptional, adding to the intrigue and suspense.

My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie:

Janet Leigh has a lot of compelling dialog. For example, Grandi and
his henchman Pancho have lured Susie into his office
with an excuse that he has a message for her husband, Vargas. After a
long tense discussion with veiled threats, there is this:

SUSAN
Mr Grandi! You said you had something for my husband ... Don't
you think it's time you gave it to me?
GRANDI
I think it's time he goes back to Mexico City. That's advice. That's
what I got for him!
PANCHO
Shush --
GRANDI
Good night, Mrs Vargas.
SUSAN
Then the conference is over?
GRANDI
Eh?
SUSAN
I'm free to leave?
GRANDI
Free? Who said you weren't free? Nobody was holding you or keeping you
here, Mrs Vargas. Nobody's even laid a hand on you ... you were just
payin' a visit.


The final scene between Quinlan and Vargas is excellent:

VARGAS
Well, Captain, I'm afraid this is finally something you can't talk your way out of.
QUINLAN
 ...you killed him, Vargas.
VARGAS
Come on, now. Give me my gun back.
QUINLAN
 ...you killed Pete. The bullet is from your gun.
VARGAS
You think anyone would believe that?
QUINLAN
They always believe me. Anyway, they'll never believe I killed him.
VARGAS
The gun?
QUINLAN
You're resisting arrest.
VARGAS
How could you arrest me here? This is my country.
QUINLAN
This is where you're gonna die.



Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie


The film opens with a 3:20 long tracking shot, one of the greatest long takes in cinema history.
Here it is on youtube:

This review was done in the style of the GITS series "Classic movies of the 1950s", but never appeared.

"Duck Soup" review

Duck Soup (1933) was written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby (songwriter team), Arthur Sheekman, and Nat Perrin. By three-time Academy Award-winning director Leo McCarey, Duck Soup starred the four Marx brothers (Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx) and Margaret Dumont.

Plot Summary:
The small (fictional) country of Freedonia is in financial trouble and before wealthy, and recently widowed, Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) gives them any more of her millions, she insists that Firefly (Groucho) be appointed their leader. The Sylvanian Ambassador Trentino tries to foment a revolution and to woo Mrs. Teasdale, becoming the antagonist to Firefly's protagonist. Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) act as spies who try to steal Freedonia's war plans (but switch sides when it's convenient), while Bob Roland (Zeppo) is Firefly's secretary. It seems like every time war comes up, a song breaks out.

Why I Think This Is A Classic 30s Movie:
This is an excellent example of a romantic musical comedy built around the theme of war. Film critic Roger Ebert said,

"The Marx Brothers created a body of work in which individual films are like slices from the whole, but Duck Soup is probably the best."

My Favorite Moment In The Movie:
The mirror scene is a classic, copies in numerous films and TV shows. This scene was a contribution of director Leo McCarey, a revival of an old vaudeville act.

My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie:

I think Groucho and Chico have the funniest scenes. They are peppered with
puns like this:

FIREFLY

I suggest that we give him ten years in Levenworth, or eleven years in Twelveworth.

CHICOLINI

I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll take five and ten in Woolworth.

And they are also interspersed with lots of slapstick, like this:

FIREFLY

You know, I'd be lost without a telephone. Now - where were we?
Oh, yes - I just made you Secretary of War. The first thing you do
is buy ammunition -- you buy it from me and I get 10% commission.

CHICOLINI

What do I get?

FIREFLY

You get half mine and I get half yours.

CHICOLINI

I don't want to buy ammunition -- we no gotta war.

GROUCHO

Then we've gotta start one. Do you know how to start a war?

CHICOLINI

Sure, that's easy. You gotta insult somebody.

Groucho suddenly slaps Chico across the face with his gloves. Then he presents to Chicolini his card in the professional manner of an experienced duelist.

FIREFLY

My card.

CHICOLINI

(Laughing)

That's a-no good. You gotta insult somebody from another country.

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie:
While the story is that of a lightweight romantic comedy (Firefly from Freedonia and Trentino from Sylvania both pursue Mrs Teasdale, leading to war between their contries), the key theme is not so much romance but funny/silly aspects of war.

Movie Trivia:

• Benito Mussolini took the film as a personal insult and banned it in Italy.
  
• When the residents of Fredonia, New York, protested the movie because they feared that the similar-sounding nation would hurt their city's reputation, the Marx Brothers told them to change the name of their town to keep from hurting their movie.
  

Trailer:

This post also appeared as a guest post on May 2016 in Scott Myers' great Go Into the Story Blog. His blog is the best out there for screenwriting advice. Check it out!

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - classic international movie

Movie Title: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (or Lady Vengeance)

Year: 2005

Writers: Jeong Seo-kyeong, Park Chan-wook

Lead Actors: Lee Young-ae, Choi Min-sik

Director: Park Chan-wook

Plot Summary: Beautifully shot and told in a non-linear fashion via a mixture of flashbacks and dialog, Lady Vengeance is the story of how protagonist Lee Geum-ja rights the wrongs in her world. The story (from the characters POV) begins with Lee Geum-ja's unfortunately involvement with the kidnapping and murder of a 5 year old boy, Won-mo. The antagonist Mr. Baek not only murdered that young boy but kidnapped Lee Geum-ja baby girl and threatened to kill her too if Lee Geum-ja didn't confess to Won-mo's murder. She did and serves 13 years in prison. Her daughter was adopted by a kind couple in Australia. In prison, Lee Geum-ja underwent an apparent spiritual transformation earning her the nickname "Kind-Hearted Geum-Ja." In fact, unknown to the prison authorities, she orchestrated n elaborate murder of the most aggressive (the "Witch") of the inmates in her cell-block. This earned her both respect and a debt from the victims of the Witch, a debt that, when she is eventually released, that includes gifts of food, shelter, and weapons. Now free, Geum-ja discovers that her teenage daughter, now estranged and called Jenny, was adopted by Australian parents. They exchange letters and Jenny agrees to a short visit to South Korea to bond with her biological mother. Lee Geum-ja discovers Mr. Baek is now a children's teacher at a children's preschool and has continued his string of child murders. Unknown to him, Mr Baek has married an ex-convict Geum-ja planted with him. Mr. Baek is afraid of Geum-ja and tries to have Geum-ja and Jenny kidnapped by associates. In the ensuing battle, Geum-ja kills both kidnappers (with an ornately beautiful double-barrelled pistol), while Mr. Baek is subdued by his wife. Lee Geum-ja is distressed by the murders Mr Baek has caused while she was in prison and searches for clues as to who the victims are. She discovered Mr Baek's cell phone is attached to a charm bracelet, which each charm represents a child he has killed. She uses that to track down the parents and relatives of the your children Mr Baek kidnapped, tortured and murdered. She gathers them all in an abandoned schoolhouse, where they all meet in a large classroom. The outraged group of parents and grandparents heatedly deliberates on Mr. Baek's fate, tied up in a room nearby. They decide as a group to take turns torturing Mr Baek, they decide what weapons to use based on how their own child died, and who would be allowed to kill him (a grandmother using a pair of school scissors from her grandson's classroom). The film ends with Lee Geum-ja giving her daughter a white cake and instructs her daughter to "live white" (a Korean symbol of purity). Jenny tastes the cake and says Geum-ja should live pure too. As the white snow falls around them, Geum-ja buries her face in the white cake, sobbing, while Jenny wraps her arms around her.

Why I Think This Is A Classic International Movie

This movie handles like no other the vengeance theme from the female perspective. It's also a great example of Park Chan-wook's brilliant use of visuals.

My Favorite Moment In The Movie

There are too many beautifully shot scenes to list! One of the most powerful scenes is the group scene with the relatives of the murdered children in the abandoned school house. The aggressive camera work and (stage) play-like setting is very affective.

My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie

Lee Geum-ja is feeding the Witch in the prison hospital. Lee Geum-ja wears a yellow prison uniforn, which is the mark of a prisoner with good behavior. The Witch BELCHES into Lee Geum-ja's face. Lee Geum-ja smiles sweetly.

WITCH
Sorry. Nasty, huh?

GEUM-JA
That's quite all right. I enjoy helping you.

WITCH
Thanks, Geum-ja. You are really kind-hearted. You understand that I only like plump girls, right?

GEUM-JA
Of course. I'll eat a lot and plump up for you. So, you just keep taking lots of food and medicine.

The Witch falls off her bed. Lee Geum-ja smiles sweetly.

GEUM-JA
Hurry up and die.

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the visuals are great. The beautifully lit scene where Lee Geum-ja chases down her kidnappers with the ornate double-barrelled pistol reminds us of the more famous "Kill Bill" (from 2003) without at all being derivative. The climax scene, with all the relatives in gloves and raincoats preparing to kill Mr Baek, is unlike anything in any vengeance movie I've ever seen.

Trivia: It is the last in Park Chan-wook's Vengeance series ("Sympathy for Mr Vengeance", "Oldboy", "Lady Vengeance"). Among several Asian film associations, the film was nominated for many awards (Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Lighting, Best Music, Best Editing, etc), and won Best Actress (Lee Young-ae), Best Film.

Trailer"


This post was originally published Oct 2016 in Scott Myers' great blog, Go Into The Story, https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/classic-international-movie-lady-vengeance-6aa4d50e5d8d

A counter-example to Chekov's gun?

Chekov's gun is a well-known rule of writing. As Chekov himself said,

"Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there."

Did Chekov follow his own rule?

No (at least, not literally).

In his 1887 "The Avenger" (available online here), Chekov's character Fyodor Fyodorovitch Sigaev spends quite some time in the gunsmith's shop considering buying a Smith&Wesson, before changing his mind and buying a net for holding dead quails. It's a funny story, and highly recommended, but no guns go off.

On a lighter note, Matt Nix (creator of Burn Notice, among other TV series), made this student film: