Cry of Midnight (Samuel Khachikian, 1961)

Playing in Berlin (Sinema Transtopia) on May 11, 2023.

In 1961, the Iranian-Armenian Samuel Khachikian, a figure of enormous talent known for his strong female characters and the use of crime cinema motifs, the latter giving him the title of “Iranian Hitchcock”, was at the peak of his success. That year, both titles topping the Iranian box office were his. Indeed, other directors imitated his style and he became the first "name above the title" of Iranian cinema. Cry of Midnight [Faryade Nime Shab], internationally also known as Midnight Terror, was an unofficial remake of Charles Vidor's 1948 film, Gilda. It portrays one of the essential femme fatales of Iranian cinema, Parvin Ghaffari, appearing alongside the popular star Fardin as a young man who becomes entangled with a criminal gang but eventually finds his way back to the innocent girl that he's in love with. – EK

One Way Street (Hugo Fregonese, 1950)

One Way Street, part of the Hugo Fregonese tribute, plays at MoMA on September 1, 18:30. It's a fine 35mm print, previously screened in Bologna in June 2022. – EK

After leaving Britain in bitter resentment, James Mason appeared in Hugo Fregonese’s Hollywood debut, somewhat appropriately, a film about life on the run. Mason plays Dr Frank Matson, a shady physician who takes off with a bag full of stolen money and the girlfriend of a gang leader, hiding out with her in Mexico. But fate knocks loudly on the door, echoing one of Fregonese’s major preoccupations: the encounter with death. “For no matter the tears that may be wept, the appointment will be kept,” the film’s opening title card bluntly announces.

This Gun For Hire (Frank Tuttle, 1942)

“Murder didn't mean much to Raven. It was just a new job”. These lines open Graham Greene's novel about an assassin with a cleft lip who is hired to kill a government minister, only to find himself double-crossed by his contractor. Enraged, he seeks revenge while the police are on his tail. Proving adept at translating many of the book's details to the screen, Tuttle was also chiefly responsible for inventing cinema's angelic killer, in the way he reshaped the image of the disfigured Raven into a shiningly handsome yet darkly destructive messenger of death. (The action was also transferred from pre-war England to wartime California). Given unprecedented freedom, Tuttle wrote a treatment based on the book, which Paramount obtained upon publication in 1936 but had abandoned as unfilmable. 

I Wake Up Screaming (Bruce Humberstone, 1941)

I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1941)

Dir: Bruce Humberstone

Originally titled Hot Spot and even released in some territories as such, this is an indispensable work in the development of film noir. Focusing on the psychological complexions and sexual obsessions of its characters, the film's expansion of noir themes as well as its use of chiaroscuro lighting are pioneering, even if the "wrong man" story doesn't always abide by the rules it has defined and ventures into other, lighter territory.

The murder of rising star Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis) is announced at the beginning of the film and through a series of flashbacks, narrated by her sister Jill (Betty Grable) and the suspects, we learn about how the capricious Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) has turned Vicky from a waitress into a celebrity. During the investigation we are also introduced to a psychotic detective, Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar), who is already convinced of Frankie's guilt and determined to send him to the "hot chair". The framed Frankie and Jill, now in love, embark on their own investigation while Cornell is on their tail.

Alias Nick Beal (John Farrow, 1949)

Alias Nick Beal, publicity still

Written for the catalogue of Il Cinema Ritrovato 2021. -- EK

In 1948 director John Farrow began a close, decade-long collaboration with writer Jonathan Latimer that resulted in ten films, including one marvel (The Big Clock), quite a few greats (Night Has a Thousand Eyes among them), and some obscurities. The intensely engaging Alias Nick Beal, their fourth collaboration, is a dark, claustrophobic variation on the story of Faust (Mindret Lord's original story was titled Dr. Joe Faust) in keeping with the increasingly relevant "political corruption" cycle of the late 1940s (the Oscar for Best Film in 1949 went to All the King's Men). Thomas Mitchell plays Joseph Foster, an ambitious district attorney who meets a shady character who offers to help him in his rise up the political ladder. But there's a price to be paid, especially when one is dealing with the Devil, alias Nick Beal.

The Glass Key (Stuart Heisler, 1942)

After the successful Hollywood adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, Paramount joined the race to find another story by the author to bring to the screen. When an initial attempt to make a film based on Red Harvest (with Alan Ladd as the lead) fell through, the studio dusted off one of its older properties, The Glass Key, previously filmed by Frank Tuttle in 1935. 

Albert Maltz on This Gun for Hire

This Gun for Hire (Frank Tuttle, 1942) [Photo: LIFE Magazine]

Interviewed by Joel Gardner between 1975 and 1979 for an oral history series by the University of California. As a part of Guns for Hire: Frank Tuttle vs. Stuart Heisler retrospective, This Gun for Hire will be playing at Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna, August 26, 9:15 AM, Cine Jolly.

***

The financial squeeze that I [was in] became too great in the spring of 1941. My friends Michael Blankfort and George Sklar had gotten work in Hollywood, and we made the decision that I would try also. And as soon as teaching was over, I went out to Las Vegas, New Mexico, because my mother-in-law was ill and my wife had taken our son out there earlier. And then after a few days I went overnight by bus to Los Angeles. And I, for about ten days, slept on a couch in the tiny cottage that the Sklars had. Although he was working, they had not yet accumulated enough money to move into anything better than the very simple little quarters that they had. 

By luck I got a job very quickly. The film director Frank Tuttle had a piece of material--had a novel, actually, by Graham Greene called This Gun for Hire which had been owned by Paramount, and he had worked out a way in which the story might be done which was acceptable. He wanted a  writer just at the time that I came into town and heard about me and knew my work, and I got the job at $300 a week.

Print the Legend: Media Manipulation in American Films

The Sound of Fury (French poster)

A revised (i.e. "censored) version of Jonathan Rosenbaum's original draft which, for comparison purposes, can be accessed here. You won't be surprised to see which parts were eliminated. This was for a programme Jonathan and I curated in Ankara, Turkey. -- EK


Print the Legend: Media Manipulation in American Films
Jonathan Rosenbaum & Ehsan Khoshbakht

Living in the age of "post-truth", "fake news" is a term one can hardly avoid. In American films of the 1950s, this meant a way of manipulating the masses by distorting facts, turning social events of grave importance into a sideshow, even mobilising mobs, from whom those manipulating the dominant narrative would benefit. Today, however, somewhat paradoxically, it can also mean something else: a denial of the lies or acts of corruption exposed by trustworthy media sources, evoking the Newspeak described in George Orwell’s dystopic novel Nineteen Eight-Four, with its famous slogans, "War is Peace" and "Ignorance is Strength".

Tehran Noir in Noir City

My Tehran Noir essay on Samuel Khachikian is republished in issue 25 of Noir City. More about this issue below.

"Issue 25 may be the FNF's most eclectic and wide-ranging issue yet with its focus on International Noir. Our motto, 'It's a Bitter Little World' takes on even more significance when you realize noir is not a specifically American phenomenon. As several of the features in the new issue attest, the noir ethos found expression in cinemas around the world—either contemporaneous with the artistic movement in Hollywood, or inspired by it during the years following. As examples: our cover story, by the always insightful and eloquent Imogen Sara Smith, offers an overview of Mexican Noir; Jake Hinkson offers a terrific introduction to the films of Japanese auteur Yoshitaro Nomura; Brian Light reviews Budapest Noir and interviews the film's director  Éva Gárdos; Ray Banks provides an insightful profile of actor Patrick McGoohan. We're also proud to introduce two new contributors in this issue: Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director of the annual Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, offers a fascinating look at the career of Iranian director Samuel Khachikian, and Lisa Lieberman provides an intriguing exploration of how Hollywood exploited 'Asian exotica,' specifically in film noir. More than 100 sensational pages, including the usual stellar array of theatrical, Blu-ray/DVD and books reviews, plus an outstanding essay by Steve Kronenberg on Roger Corman's The Intruder, and the "5 Favorites" contribution by the legendary comic book writer/artist Jim Steranko. NOIR CITY Issue 25 will really broaden your dark horizons."

Strike [Zarbat] (Samuel Khachikian, 1964)

Bootimar (left) and Jalal in Zarbat

Zarbat
Iran, 1964, Director: Samuel Khachikian

International title: Strike. Script: Samuel Khachikian (uncredited). DoP.: Ghodratollah Ehsani. Editing: Samuel Khachikian. Art director: Hassan Paknejad, Ali Delpazir. Music.: Samuel Khachikian (selection). Cast: Arman (Jamal), Abdollah Bootimar (Dr. Kourosh Imen), Ghodsi Kashani (Shirin), Farzaneh Kazemi (Mozhgan), Jamsheed Tatar (Hossein Aghai), Reza Beik Imanverdi (Reza the Madman). Production.: Azhir Film Studio

The premiere of the film in Tehran

One of Khachikian’s most morbid thrillers, Zarbat actually begins as a melodrama – and a rather tedious one at that – in which most of Iranian cinema’s clichés of class conflict are introduced. Almost halfway into the film, however, Khachikian shifts to a meticulously designed spectacle of terror, as if in revenge for the preceding drama. Characters move into a dark territory of murder and mistaken identities. As in some of Khachikian’s other works, the setting of an ordinary house becomes a site of peril and a stage for perverse pleasures, as the director plays with filmic elements to the point of abstraction. Khachikian explains this as his attempt, after the 1950s, to “revive the alphabet of film” in Iranian cinema: “I wanted to save Iranian cinema from roohozi [a popular and vulgar form of theatre]. From the first day onwards, it wasn't the message or the content that I was concerned with. What I wanted was a precise cinema: action, correct editing, lighting and so on.”

Anxiety [Delhoreh] (Samuel Khachikian, 1962)

Bootimar in Anxiety [aka Horror]

Playing on June 24, 16:15 at Cine Jolly, Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna

Delhoreh
Iran, 1962, Dir: Samuel Khachikian

Int. title.: Horror. Alt. title: Anxiety. Script.: Samuel Khachikian (uncredited). Cinematographer.: Ghodratollah Ehsani. Editing: Samuel Khachikian. Art director.: Hassan Paknejad. Music.: Samuel and Soorik Khachikian (selection). Cast.: Irene (Roshanak Niknejad), Abdollah Bootimar (Behrooz Niknejad), Arman (Jamsheed), Shandermani (Babak), Haleh (Fetneh), Reza Beik Imanverdi (killer with knife). Prod.: Azhir Film Studio

Newspaper ad anouncing the screening of the film in three Tehran cinemas

Sketch to the Screen: Moontide

http://cinearchitecture.tumblr.com/post/141949351817/sketch-to-the-screen-moontide-archie-mayo

The Chase (1946)

تعقيب (آرتور ريپلي، 1946، آمريكا)

مرمت تازۀ دانشگاه يو سي ال اِي از نوآر مهجورِ مردي كه تنها كار شناخته شدۀ كارنامه‌اش جادۀ رعد (1958) است، يكي از فيلم‌هايي كه در نوجواني جيم جارموش روي او تأثير زيادي گذاشت و آواز عنوان‌بندي فيلم را ستاره‌اش، آن مرد تنومندِ خواب‌زد‌ه، رابرت ميچم خواند. وقتي تعقيب را مي‌بينيد احساس مي‌كنيد با وجود مرمت فيلم چند حلقه آن گم شده و به همين خاطر است كه جهش‌هاي روايي، احساسي و منطقي فراواني در فيلم هست. اما نبايد فراموش كرد كه اين فيلمي است تا مغز استخوان B و سينماي B يعني سينماي حلقه‌هاي گمشده. (نه در اين مفهوم كه آن‌ها واقعاً گم‌ شده‌اند، بلكه بي‌پولي هرگز اجازۀ ساخته شدنشان را نداده.)

Victim (1961)

قرباني (بازيل ديردِن، 1961، بريتانيا)

اين كلاسيك انگليسي كه بين سينماي نوآر و كوئير با ذكاوت گام برمي‌دارد مدتي است كه توسط كمپاني آمريكايي كرايتريون در مجموعه‌اي به نام «لندن زيرزميني» كه آثار استاد كهنه‌كار ديردن را گردآورده‌ منتشر شده است، اما به هر حال تماشاي مرمت ITV از فيلم مثل اين بود كه يكي از بشقاب‌هاي چيني قرن پانزدهمي را زير آب بگيري (اگر اين كار را قبلاً نكرده‌ايد بگذاريد بگوييم تأثيرش مثل چيست: انگار كه بشقاب را دوباره از نو رنگ كني، همه چيز زنده مي‌شود و برق مي‌زند) و تازه متوجه عمق حضور سايه‌هاي تاريك در صحنه‌هاي داخلي اين فيلم به شدت كلاستروفوبيك شوي.

Mad and Bad: On Cinema's Modern Villains

Rediscovering Voruntersuchung: Those Who Murdered

After the success of collective, Vertov-influenced street urban drama Menschen am Sonntag [People on Sunday] (Siodmaksulmerwilderzinnemann, 1929), which became the calling card for its legendary team, the main creative force behind the film, Robert Siodmak, was given the chance to direct his solo debut feature for UFA, Abschied [Farewell]. Made in 1930, this romantic comedy was an unlikely start for a filmmaker who is mostly known for his pessimistic takes on modern life in the metropolis jungles. Some scholars have argued that Siodmak’s interest in expressionist lighting and major themes of the Weimar cinema didn’t divulge until anther comedy of sorts, Der Mann, der seinen Mörder Sucht [Looking for His Murderer] (1931). It was Siodmak’s third feature which proved to be his first major work and fully explore the themes he later became associated with.
Voruntersuchung [Inquest] (1931) is the story of Fritz Bernt, a doomed young student (a central figure of expressionist films since The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), played by Gustav Fröhlich, who after a bitter quarrel with his girlfriend finds her murdered. Consequently, Fritz, as the primary suspect, is arrested and interrogated by a judge who relentlessly trys to prove Fritz’s guilt. But the tension arises as judge’s son is Fritz’s best friend and his daughter in love with the accused.

Film Ads in Iran, Part 16: Dassin

Film Ads In Iran#27: Elia Kazan

Miles Ahead

آسانسور، جاز و شبي زمستاني

يك آمريكايي (با يك ترومپت) در پاريس

احسان خوش‌بخت

قبل از هرچيز، قبل از لويي مال و حتي قبل از ژن مورو، مايلز ديويس است كه آسانسور به سوي سكوي اعدام را راه مي‌اندازد، يا در واقع آن را، و زمان را، براي موريس رونه و ما متوقف مي‌كند. اولين نُت مايلز روي تاريكي پرده سينما شنيده مي‌شود و بعد نماي آيريسي مثل فيلم‌هاي صامت از چشم‌هاي ژان مورو به كلوزآپي از او در كيوسك تلفن باز مي‌شود. اما حتي بازترين نماي اين عنوان‌بندي هم نشاني از حصر و تنهايي دارد. دريغ از ديده شدنِ حتي گوشي تلفن؛ همه چيز در جهت خيره‌شدن و ستودن مورو سامان يافته. تكرارِ je t'aime كه از هر دو سو گفته مي‌شود مثل نت‌هاي مكمل موسيقي فيلم، سازي مضاعف، عمل مي‌كند. اين آغاز نسخۀ اسپانياييِ آسانسور است كه از نسخۀ اصلي زودتر موسيقي را آغاز مي‌كند (در نسخۀ اصلي، موسيقي بعد از باز شدن نما و كات به موريس رنه مي‌آيد). موسيقي ترومپت‌نواز، آهنگساز و رهبر اركستر سياه‌پوست آمريكايي، مايلز ديويس (1991-1926) ، براي اين فيلم اثري است رمزآميز، محزون، شاعرانه و تكرار نشده در تاريخِ سينما. 

Film Noir Reevaluated, Part I

سينماي نوآر: يك ارزيابيِ تازه

بيش از حد بزرگ شده‌ها در برابر قدرندیده‌هاي دنياي نوآر

نوشتۀ اريك بيتنر (Eric Beetner)

ترجمۀ مهيار افشار (ويژۀ يادداشت‌هاي سينماتوگراف)

همه ما فکر می‌کنیم که فیلم‌های کلاسیک را خوب می‌شناسیم، ولی با مروری در جنجال‌های رسانه‌ای و تبلیغاتی اغلب درمی‌یابیم که فقط داریم حرف‌های دیگران را تکرار می‌کنیم. اما شاید بهترین راه برای دریافت پاسخ واقعی، نگاهی دوباره به فیلم‌های قدیمی و يا جدیدِ کمتر دیده شده و کشف دوباره ارزش‌های آن‌ها باشد.

شما می‌توانید به لیستی که انستیتوی فیلم آمریکا با عنوان «صد فیلمی که قبل از مرگ حتماً باید ببینید» معرفی کرده، نگاهی بیندازید. اما آنچه که ما عمیقاً از آن لذت می بریم، کاملاً درونی و شخصی است و همان است که مهم‌ترین عامل ایجاد پيوند ما با فیلم و يا هر هنر دیگری است. حتی شاید شما نسبت به شخصی که در این زمینه تحصیلات دانشگاهی دارد، نظر متفاوتی در مورد این که کدام فیلم بهتر است، داشته باشید.

هر چند فیلم‌های نوآر شاخص کمتر موضوع جدل قرار می‌گیرند. برای مثال، غرامت مضاعف (1944)، نوآر یا غیر نوآر، فیلم بزرگی است، هستند بسیاری فيلم‌هاي دیگر که لقب نوآر را به زور با خود حمل می‌کنند و یا حتی بسیاری اوقات به صف مقدم بحث رانده می شوند.

شاید برای مردم معمولی تعداد فيلم‌هاي نوآر از ده دوازده عنوان تجاوز نکند، اما اگر واقعاً می‌خواهید به علایق دیوانگان فيلم‌هاي نوآر پی ببرید باید فيلم‌هايي بسیار فراتر از آن فهرست کوچک را ببينيد.

آنچه ما انجام داده‌ایم یک نظر سنجی غیررسمی است میان متخصصان بزرگ و پیشروی این ژانر، و پاسخی که آنها به این سؤال داده‌اند: «کدام فيلم‌هاي مشهور را خسته کننده و کدام را لایق توجه بیشتری می‌دانيد؟»

فیلم‌هایی که بیش از حد مورد توجه قرار گرفته‌اند از نمای دور بد به نظر نمی‌آیند. آن‌ها فقط بیش از آن‌چه لایقش بوده‌اند قدر ديده‌اند، آن هم با هزینه کردن از فيلم‌هاي دیگری که در اصل بهتر بوده‌اند. آن‌چه که در ادامه می‌آید فهرستي است از فيلم‌هاي نوآری که شاید کمی در مورد آن‌ها اغراق شده، و در برابر هر کدام پیشنهاد دیگری است از فیلم‌هایی که کمتر دیده شده‌اند و شاید خیلی راحت هم نتوان بدستشان آورد، بنابراین کشفی ارزشمند خواهند بود.