While Michael Curtiz would go on to make more films (22 more) in the decade following 1950, it is with good reason that I have chosen THE BREAKING POINT as the film to finish out our Curtiz journey. “Noir Czar” Eddie Muller while being interviewed on TCM by Robert Osborn once described this film as” brilliant,” and his favorite Michael Curtiz film; and yes, he … Continue reading THE BREAKING POINT (1950)
The postman always rings twice doesn’t refer to a mail carrier’s methodology of delivery in this 1946 film noir directed by Tay Garnett, starring John Garfield and Lana Turner. This is film noir, friends, so we are addressing the subject of dark and dirty crime. Not just any crime but murder. Mariticide, to be exact. Mariticide is the act of killing one’s husband. Not exactly … Continue reading She Kills Her Husband Once but THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, 1946
Despite urgings from industry colleagues to avoid predicted controversy (especially when three political figures are called out for their well-known antisemitism by name), producer Darryl F Zanuck fought hard to bring Elia Kazan’s GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT (1947) to the big screen. With a love story mixed in, this film tackles the subject of American antisemitism as a cultural experience, much more directly than had been endeavored … Continue reading Nuances of Antisemitism in GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT (1947)
Outspoken & Freckled 