Paul C. Dobbs
@steadytiger.bsky.social
Living on Sydney Greenstreet
Haunted by Ida Lupino
Wants to be a Brontë
송강호는 내 부조종사다
Haunted by Ida Lupino
Wants to be a Brontë
송강호는 내 부조종사다
Elisha Cook Jr. He's in my top two desert island pics, The Maltese Falcon and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. In at the birth of noir with Stranger on the Third Floor. Unforgettable in Shane. The Killing. Electra Glide in Blue. The Outfit. I Wake Up Screaming. Messiah of Evil. Just an insane filmog
December 1, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Elisha Cook Jr. He's in my top two desert island pics, The Maltese Falcon and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. In at the birth of noir with Stranger on the Third Floor. Unforgettable in Shane. The Killing. Electra Glide in Blue. The Outfit. I Wake Up Screaming. Messiah of Evil. Just an insane filmog
Great review John. Caine's amused insolence is indeed a joy. "I will bite you, Palmer!" I read the novel recently and it made me laugh that all we know about the character's name is that it's not Harry
November 30, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Great review John. Caine's amused insolence is indeed a joy. "I will bite you, Palmer!" I read the novel recently and it made me laugh that all we know about the character's name is that it's not Harry
Next week sorted
November 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Next week sorted
What a band! Phil Lynott had a rare charisma. I was so happy to get my photo taken with him in Dublin a couple of years ago
November 28, 2025 at 8:46 AM
What a band! Phil Lynott had a rare charisma. I was so happy to get my photo taken with him in Dublin a couple of years ago
I enjoyed this film a lot, and like a dummy I didn’t anticipate the twist (I never do). Castle is well-known for his gimmick cinema of course, but if this is anything to go by, his early career as a jobbing budget director seems well worth a look
One more thing - where can I get this watch?
One more thing - where can I get this watch?
November 27, 2025 at 6:16 AM
I enjoyed this film a lot, and like a dummy I didn’t anticipate the twist (I never do). Castle is well-known for his gimmick cinema of course, but if this is anything to go by, his early career as a jobbing budget director seems well worth a look
One more thing - where can I get this watch?
One more thing - where can I get this watch?
That said, Castle has an auteur touch all his own, with odd diversions that add spice without ever slowing down the story. Then there’s Robert Mitchum in an early big role. He’s already the fully formed Mitch: sleepy tough, soft spoken, four square, V-shaped in a suit. A star is born
November 27, 2025 at 6:10 AM
That said, Castle has an auteur touch all his own, with odd diversions that add spice without ever slowing down the story. Then there’s Robert Mitchum in an early big role. He’s already the fully formed Mitch: sleepy tough, soft spoken, four square, V-shaped in a suit. A star is born
Quite the Val Lewton feel altogether, with a turn from the distinctive Lou Lubin, who was also in The Seventh Victim (he didn’t get a credit in either role), and a sequence that riffs on the Lewton Bus scene from Cat People, though the heroine here is being chased by her own conscience, not a cat
November 27, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Quite the Val Lewton feel altogether, with a turn from the distinctive Lou Lubin, who was also in The Seventh Victim (he didn’t get a credit in either role), and a sequence that riffs on the Lewton Bus scene from Cat People, though the heroine here is being chased by her own conscience, not a cat
When Strangers Marry (1944). Before he was electrocuting audiences or whatever, William Castle directed this neat little noir, Kim Hunter reprising her ingenue in NYC role from The Seventh Victim. She’s in a jaunty beret chasing down a mystery again, but no complaints; ye can’t have too much of that
November 27, 2025 at 6:03 AM
When Strangers Marry (1944). Before he was electrocuting audiences or whatever, William Castle directed this neat little noir, Kim Hunter reprising her ingenue in NYC role from The Seventh Victim. She’s in a jaunty beret chasing down a mystery again, but no complaints; ye can’t have too much of that
November 26, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Gosfield's Wiki page is good. This from Nat Hiken's biography: "The dumpy, spectacularly ugly Maurice Gosfield ambled into an open casting call one day...". Later, Phil Silvers wrote that Gosfield was conceited, in love with himself, and "thought of himself as Cary Grant playing a short, plump man"
November 24, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Gosfield's Wiki page is good. This from Nat Hiken's biography: "The dumpy, spectacularly ugly Maurice Gosfield ambled into an open casting call one day...". Later, Phil Silvers wrote that Gosfield was conceited, in love with himself, and "thought of himself as Cary Grant playing a short, plump man"
The baddies are more sordid than bad, and there’s a corny ending, but it’s all been so relentlessly skanky up till then that you come away feeling like you need a shower. Terrific stuff - I lapped it up. You've also got the great Maurice Gosfield before he found immortality as Pvt Duane Doberman
November 24, 2025 at 2:34 PM
The baddies are more sordid than bad, and there’s a corny ending, but it’s all been so relentlessly skanky up till then that you come away feeling like you need a shower. Terrific stuff - I lapped it up. You've also got the great Maurice Gosfield before he found immortality as Pvt Duane Doberman
You’d want to wipe your shoes after coming out of the hotel where he works as house dick, and this delicious air of scuzz permeates the whole film. Scott fits right in of course, as do Mary Boland as slatternly landlady in tatty housecoat, and Kay Medford as a brassy moll laughingly called Angel
November 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
You’d want to wipe your shoes after coming out of the hotel where he works as house dick, and this delicious air of scuzz permeates the whole film. Scott fits right in of course, as do Mary Boland as slatternly landlady in tatty housecoat, and Kay Medford as a brassy moll laughingly called Angel
Guilty Bystander (1950) is a Criterion Blackout Noir, and you do wonder how much of it Zachary Scott will remember when it’s all over. He’s after his missing son, but still on a right old bender, stoically declining drinks here, greedily chugging them there, fumes coming off him through the screen
November 24, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Guilty Bystander (1950) is a Criterion Blackout Noir, and you do wonder how much of it Zachary Scott will remember when it’s all over. He’s after his missing son, but still on a right old bender, stoically declining drinks here, greedily chugging them there, fumes coming off him through the screen
Scott Walker on the cover of No Regrets, shirt off, chugging a tin of Newkie Brown
November 24, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Scott Walker on the cover of No Regrets, shirt off, chugging a tin of Newkie Brown
Peter Pan (1953). Was going to use this in a tweens class I have to do, but I’m glad I watched it through first. A sordid work of racist caricatures & violent sexual jealousy. Tinker Bell is as gaudy and treacherous as any noir tramp. Think I’ll play it safe with something from Disney’s woke period
November 23, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Peter Pan (1953). Was going to use this in a tweens class I have to do, but I’m glad I watched it through first. A sordid work of racist caricatures & violent sexual jealousy. Tinker Bell is as gaudy and treacherous as any noir tramp. Think I’ll play it safe with something from Disney’s woke period
Glenn Ford gets bounced like a pinball from corrupt small-town authorities, to Janis Carter’s poisonous femme fatale, to the bottle that almost drowns him. He blacks out twice in this, plenty of blackout for your buck here
November 21, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Glenn Ford gets bounced like a pinball from corrupt small-town authorities, to Janis Carter’s poisonous femme fatale, to the bottle that almost drowns him. He blacks out twice in this, plenty of blackout for your buck here
- He wanted to kill you
- It would have hurt less that way
Framed (1947), a Criterion Blackout Noir. The jaw-dropping opening gets its hooks into you toot sweet. It looks like trucker noir, almost becomes The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, then settles into classic sucker-getting-played-by-bad-girl
- It would have hurt less that way
Framed (1947), a Criterion Blackout Noir. The jaw-dropping opening gets its hooks into you toot sweet. It looks like trucker noir, almost becomes The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, then settles into classic sucker-getting-played-by-bad-girl
November 21, 2025 at 8:31 AM
- He wanted to kill you
- It would have hurt less that way
Framed (1947), a Criterion Blackout Noir. The jaw-dropping opening gets its hooks into you toot sweet. It looks like trucker noir, almost becomes The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, then settles into classic sucker-getting-played-by-bad-girl
- It would have hurt less that way
Framed (1947), a Criterion Blackout Noir. The jaw-dropping opening gets its hooks into you toot sweet. It looks like trucker noir, almost becomes The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, then settles into classic sucker-getting-played-by-bad-girl
“Next time I come out with you I’m going to bring along an extras set of nerves.”
Cagney’s other squeeze in this, Helena Carter, is a much more straightforward and a much less troubling sort of bad girl. She’s wild, but only on the outside
Cagney’s other squeeze in this, Helena Carter, is a much more straightforward and a much less troubling sort of bad girl. She’s wild, but only on the outside
November 20, 2025 at 8:22 AM
“Next time I come out with you I’m going to bring along an extras set of nerves.”
Cagney’s other squeeze in this, Helena Carter, is a much more straightforward and a much less troubling sort of bad girl. She’s wild, but only on the outside
Cagney’s other squeeze in this, Helena Carter, is a much more straightforward and a much less troubling sort of bad girl. She’s wild, but only on the outside
Payton and Cagney explore the connection between raghhh! anger and great sex
November 20, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Payton and Cagney explore the connection between raghhh! anger and great sex
Luther Adler scintillating as ‘Cherokee’ Mandon, despite them putting his makeup on with crayons. Not physically tough, but a very cool customer with a steel core. Put him on an island with Bond and Cagney and you wouldn't bet against him becoming Lord of the Flies
November 20, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Luther Adler scintillating as ‘Cherokee’ Mandon, despite them putting his makeup on with crayons. Not physically tough, but a very cool customer with a steel core. Put him on an island with Bond and Cagney and you wouldn't bet against him becoming Lord of the Flies
Ward Bond is scarier than Cagney in these early scenes. But only because Cagney is holding back. Bond looks like a face on Mount Rushmore, while 50-year-old Cagney looks like he’s carved out of marshmallow. But he's hiding an ace: he's fucking crazy. There’s no doubt who’d win, no-holds-barred
November 20, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Ward Bond is scarier than Cagney in these early scenes. But only because Cagney is holding back. Bond looks like a face on Mount Rushmore, while 50-year-old Cagney looks like he’s carved out of marshmallow. But he's hiding an ace: he's fucking crazy. There’s no doubt who’d win, no-holds-barred
“Three miles out of town and six feet down. All alone. With nobody to lie to.”
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950). Michael Atkinson called Barbara Payton childlike, yet “the most chillingly dangerous of noir actresses.” You can see what he means. She’s fragile as glass until she isn’t. Then she’s lethal
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950). Michael Atkinson called Barbara Payton childlike, yet “the most chillingly dangerous of noir actresses.” You can see what he means. She’s fragile as glass until she isn’t. Then she’s lethal
November 20, 2025 at 8:02 AM
“Three miles out of town and six feet down. All alone. With nobody to lie to.”
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950). Michael Atkinson called Barbara Payton childlike, yet “the most chillingly dangerous of noir actresses.” You can see what he means. She’s fragile as glass until she isn’t. Then she’s lethal
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950). Michael Atkinson called Barbara Payton childlike, yet “the most chillingly dangerous of noir actresses.” You can see what he means. She’s fragile as glass until she isn’t. Then she’s lethal
There’s lots of blue-collar colour in the supporting characters, which I really liked. Half of them have thick European accents, but the film doesn’t see them as foreign. Everyone here is as American as Manhattan
November 18, 2025 at 6:59 AM
There’s lots of blue-collar colour in the supporting characters, which I really liked. Half of them have thick European accents, but the film doesn’t see them as foreign. Everyone here is as American as Manhattan
Some are born hardboiled, some achieve hardboiledness, and some have hardboiledness thrust upon them. Susan Hayward's character is one of the latter. She’s only tough because she has to be, and the armour doesn’t quite cover her tender nature. It’s a finely judged performance, and she looks terrific
November 18, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Some are born hardboiled, some achieve hardboiledness, and some have hardboiledness thrust upon them. Susan Hayward's character is one of the latter. She’s only tough because she has to be, and the armour doesn’t quite cover her tender nature. It’s a finely judged performance, and she looks terrific