No.299 : Whispering City (1947)

Whispering City at the IMDb

For no obvious reason the action in this film is book-ended with a man telling the story of the film to a group of people he is taking on a sightseeing sledge tour around snowy Quebec. You’d have thought that they would have preferred to hear about local attractions, but a incomprehensible yokel ranting on about a complicated murder case is fun too.

The story proper opens with a woman slowly dying in a nunnery. She calls in a reporter and gives her a few choice snippets relating to her husband’s death 20 years ago. The lady reporter, Mary, promises to come back later for more gossip but she shouldn’t bother as her source snuffs it off camera ten minutes later.

Mary heads off to speak to rich lawyer Frederic who is aghast at the news that some dark secret may be uncovered. He is wealthy by unknown sources, but spends his cash on sponsoring young artistic talents such as pianist Michel. Michel has his own troubles with a floozy wife who wears a scandalous dressing gown with frilly bits.

We learn that Frederic inherited all of the dead woman’s husband’s cash and needs to silence the tenacious reporter lest she uncover the truth of his benefactor's demise. Opportunity knocks when he visits Michel’s wife and finds her dead through suicide. He pockets the suicide note and convinces Michel that he must have killed her whilst pissed, as you do. He says he can use his lawyer skills to get him off the murder charge - but in exchange he must kill Mary.

Michel is slightly hesitant but is soon sniffing around Mary, using the old wrongly delivered flowers ruse to get into her apartment. Fortunately Mary is so lovely that he starts to fall for her and gives up an easy chance to chuck her out of the window. Frederic isn’t impressed and convinces him to take Mary to the deserted waterfall nearby. Mary smells a rat and takes a gun but we hear a scream and then cut to the ferocious waters below - has Mary been killed and will Michel escape the electric chair? Can justice prevail?

Dating from 1947 this film certainty shows its age and has one of the most obvious cliff-hangers you’ll ever see. It is quite fun however, as the ghostly Mary haunts Frederic into some rather indiscreet confessions. “Killers are haunted” he cries despite being a supposedly successful lawyer. It’s not clear but I’m guessing the ‘whispering city’ of the title is an allusion to the paranoia felt by the villain.

The film looked like a dual language affair with newspapers morphing between French and English headlines. The dashing leading man Michel couldn’t act in English so I’m guessing he was a Frenchman drafted in to balance the numbers.

Mary Anderson, as the cleverly named ’Mary’, was good in the lead - I liked her Tam O’Shanter and her drinking and smoking habits. I thought she must have been Scottish but no, she was from Alabama - must be second generation. It was all very prim with just one wee kiss at the end showing that they were now an item.

The plot was OK with just the right amount of twists and double crosses to keep me onside. There was little in the way of action, with the city and waterfall shots clearly stock footage, but the short run time kept things bubbling along. The main twist was laughable but I liked Mary emerging from the mist on a clearly back lot cemetery set as the baddie bit his knuckles.

Overall this is an average ‘B’ movie film noir that won’t linger long in the memory but didn’t offend or outstay its welcome either.

Best Bit : Cemetery Showdown ‘W’ Rating 16/23

No.198 : Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

Where the Sidewalk Ends at the IMDb

Some gritty film noir cop drama from 1950 now as some heads get cracked and some dames get kissed. We know this is going to be gritty from the off when the film’s title is chalked onto a pavement - none of your sissy titles here!

Our hard bitten hero is New York police detective Mark Dixon who, as the son of a now dead criminal, is trying a bit too hard to show what side of the law he’s on. He’s just been demoted for smacking up the suspects by his by the book commander, Karl Malden. Meanwhile a card game is going wrong. Some gangsters have a sucker in tow, but the mark turns the tables and tries to make off with twenty large. Huge mistake. The mobsters rub him out, but one of their molls fails to play along and gets a smack for her trouble.

The cops show up after everyone has split and Mark is soon on the trail of the main suspect. The suspect, who’s had a few, takes a swing and gets slapped on the chops for his troubles. Alas he’s a war hero with a plate in his head and promptly drops dead. Mark has a problem - call it in or hide the body? With his roughhouse reputation likely to give him bother, he decides to hide the stiff.

His elaborate plan to dress up as the dead man and buy a train ticket wearing his hat goes well at first but soon circumstance and some solid police work start to unravel his scheme. Unfortunately the gangster’s moll, to whom Mark has taken a shine, gets involved when her taxi driver father starts to get the police’s attention. Mark tries to fit up a local mobster for the crime but soon his own lies come back to haunt him.

Will he do the right thing and come clean or can the frame hold? Is sending a bad man down OK even if it’s for a crime he didn’t commit? and will anyone get some sleep?

Set over one long night this is a superior police procedural with all the grime and backstabbing of an Ed McBain novel. The hero played by Dana Andrews (that’s a man’s name BTW!) is excellent as the driven and ruthless detective. I wasn’t convinced by his motivations especially when these changed after one small peck with the taxi driver’s daughter - still it was in black and white times.

There were plenty of fist fights with the violence realistic and bone crunching. The bad guys were suitably evil and the thin line between them and the cops was expertly drawn by director Otto Preminger. I liked how the perfect alibi was slowly unwound with Malden great in the scene where the eye witness went from convinced to sceptical in five minutes.

It was clear from the off that the bad boy detective would need some redemption but it was hard won and mostly convincing as his hard held beliefs were brought into sharp focus when the innocents started to suffer.

With no top stars, a limited budget and bleak plot this may not be the sort of film you’d look out for but it’s expertly made and has some stand out performances. Well worth looking up!

Best Bit : Punchbag at the Gym ‘W’ Rating 20/23

No.68 : White Heat (1949)

White Heat at the IMDb

James Cagney stars in this 1949 gangster classic as psychotic con Cody Jarrett. The film opens with the Jarrett gang robbing a train and netting a cool $300,000. The blood thirsty raid leaves four dead and the treasury department has had enough. When a nicer member of the gang disobeys Cody’s order to kill an injured comrade the police find the man and a clue. With the net tightening and the gas chamber looming Cody decides to claim responsibility for a lesser robbery, knowing he’ll get two years maximum and beat the train robbery rap.

He thinks he’s smart when the plan works but unknown to him the treasury department agreed the deal with the judge so that they could plant a man in Cody’s cell to trace the stolen cash and other gang members. Things go well at first with the agent, Vic Pardo, winning the con’s trust by saving his neck when a hit from an ambitious member of the gang goes down.

Pardo convinces Cody to agree to his escape plan but things go wrong when Cody hears that his beloved mother has been killed and goes mental. When in the prison hospital Cody forges his own plan and breaks out a group of cons, including Pardo who no longer holds all the cards. Now on the outside Cody decides to settle some scores and arranges a big robbery at a petrol refinery. Can Pardo get a message out to his colleagues or will his cover be blown by a new gang member that the erstwhile cop put away 4 years before?

This is a cracker of a film that is held together by Cagney’s outstanding performance. He genuinely seems evil and unhinged and the scenes he shares with his overbearing mother are classic. Despite his small stature he is a real presence and you can tell the other actors aren’t feigning their fear when he kicks off.

The investigation side of things is well handled by the inside man and there are real scenes of tension as he infiltrates his way into Cagney’s affections. Less good are the treasury men who spend too long explaining their fancy triangulation device that helps track the felons down.

For its era the film is very violent, with gangsters and cops alike being killed by the cartload. There is also some fruity dialogue and wife slapping going on, as well as a few cold bloodied murders. Despite him being a classic screen bad guy Cagney does well to gain a bit of sympathy for his headaches and slutty wife. We’re not very sad when he gets his comeuppance (as he really had to) but we do mourn the passing of a great character.

If you’ve never seen ‘White Heat’ give it a look, it’s easily one of the best gangster/prison break movies ever. Top of the list Ma!

Best Bit : The train raid sets the brutal agenda



‘W’ Score 20/23