Nasty plot of betrayal and denouement and yet it’s a quality noir of the time.
Review:
“Successful businessman Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) loves his pretty wife Irene (Helen Walker) more than anything. Little does he know she’s plotting with her lover to kill him. During the murder attempt, Walter is hit hard on the head but lives. The other guy, however, is killed in a car crash and burned beyond recognition.
Believed to have been the man killed in the crash, Walter decides not to come forward. Instead he goes to work as a mechanic in the garage of Marsha Peters (Ella Raines). When Irene is tried for his murder, Walter must decide whether or not to reveal he’s still alive.
Brian Donlevy is pretty good. He’s at his best when his character is angry or edgy. The sappy romantic stuff doesn’t fit him well. Helen Walker is a particularly hissable villainess. Lovely Ella Raines is the good girl. There’s no meat to the part but she does well with what she’s given. Charles Coburn plays the detective out to get to the bottom of things. He’s always fun.
Arthur Lubin’s direction in the first half is great film noir. I loved the scene where the lover tries to kill the husband. The whole thing was brilliantly executed. Then something happens and it’s like a separate movie.
The second half is much less like noir and more like a standard crime melodrama where a girl has to prove her guy is innocent of murder. If the entire picture had been like the first half, I’d say it was one of film noir’s best. But it isn’t. It’s still an enjoyable movie with some good twists and turns.”
My own tuppence ha’penny:
Most reviewers were all for the performance of Helen Walker, the beech tree of a wife, with accolades for other players, whereas I was for Ella Raines from the start … interesting that she was at the same time a Hollywood pinup … and yet a homebody believing in the sanctity of marriage … which she took with her into real life marriage … by marrying a WW2 fighter ace, married to the air force, there was an obvious clash and she refused to live in accommodation on the bases.
It could only have gone one way, esp. with his drinking. She knew what she was marrying, maybe she thought he’d settle for the homelife. Which is exactly the situation in the film, with a wheeler-dealer magnate suddenly finding himself in humble circumstances with her … and with her good but bright mother.
It was this backstory which gave the film an edge for me, plus her sad real life, inc. miscarriages and stillbirth. Just seems to me that my life was with the Helen Walkers … well, not that bad … and somehow not the Ella Rainses. But maybe the Ella Rainses saw me as too maverick to handle or maybe not bewitching enough. Ho hum.
Then there was the question of the beech tree getting her just desserts in the movie … yes or no? There’s much food for thought in this film, a long one at 1h 50m odd, kicking off here at 1420.
Did you notice 7.4m views? Now, if they were 14 or 15, then the gross overacting of the third, trying to be a male, would be fine. These though, according to bios I’ve found, vary between late 20s to early 40s, making them Millennials … and their jokes seem to be about Gen Zees’ habits and fashion statements … cf. the things we go on about here.
My next door neighbours are late Millennial and early Gen Zee respectively … we do get on and have a laugh but no politics can ever be mentioned … not that there is disagreement … they just aren’t interested in politics, fair enough. I said that was fine but politics were certainly interested in them. They bought that one.
Now, given that level of political maturity, Starmer wants to give uneducated 16 year olds the vote?
14. Watching the Watchers
Probably need to be serious again, just this once. Here’s another which turns out, possibly, to be a bit iffy this Bank Holiday Monday (unless you’re not in Britland of course):
13. BBQ weather today
… going anywhere near Liverpool?
12. AKH has an important post up
… about Three Pads Rayner. 🤔 Hmmmm, reminds me of something I recall … can’t quite place it:
By the way, I BS you not … the lead in ad to the clip was … yes … selling sheds. Also, there’s a rumour going around that Andy’s off with his bit of skirt playing bowls … but don’t quote me.
It has been said that there are only 7 basic plots (see Wikipedia for a summary): Overcoming the Monster Rags to Riches The Quest Voyage and Return Comedy Tragedy Rebirth
Taken together with the Rule of 3 this lays out a limited palette from which journalists can … catch your attention.
I vaguely thought it was in August, 64 but it seems it was at Easter and in May … the MSM sensationalising it. As a little kid, I do remember it and promptly grew the hair from crew cut to long, coiffed, with brylcreem, but as I was the only one at school doing it, I soon dropped the grease and went Beatles mop. Later, I tired of that and went back to crew cut, which has pretty well been my hairstyle ever since, with a brief excursion into college cut.
Crew cut was a natural intro to skinhead but too narrow-tapered jeans put me off as much as stovepipes, though kept leather jackets going till recently, mainly bomber, narrowish jeans hems, never flares or bellbottoms … though I had flared guards over the 8” car wheels.
Violent? Nah, not in the sense of going around seaside resorts and glassing people … we used bare knuckles. How old were those mods and rockers? Well 18 for a start, so born 1946 or before … sorry, I was not to be even thought of for many, many years after that … missed that whole scene.
9. Lord Toby’s TDS today included this
8. Meanwhile, across the pond
7. Slow news day today
… as befits a bank holiday … on the other hand, only we have one. Leilani sums up the state of the news so far today:
6. Bless’ed are the flagmakers
… at least in England just now. Plus that pub where two bouncers prevented an English person going in with a CofStG. The footage carefully avoided the name of the pub … it was contrived, the whole thing … see Sun 23 here again … you might like to read it through.
Them desperately want the violence kicking off, presumably so they can find the most immediate fodder for the Ukraine meat grinder … this war MUST escalate in Them’s eyes. Of course, if Vlad were disingenuous and always intended taking Poland, then that’s another matter.
(0635) Morning all. Some low cloud out there, how dare it intrude. (0735)
5. Reading the fine print
Leaving aside Salvini for now or the petition, it’s well worth looking at every word of the south front report on the US missiles. Obviously, south front, being straight Russian, would say that … date was Jan 2024.
It’s becoming more and more difficult to ascribe weight to this report or that. WSJ suggests high bias, as does Richard Kemp … I’m suggesting you need to prioritise your sources into high grade down to guff afa you have been able to determine over time.
For example, you saw the report by QThestorm:
What about a double-double cross? What if it was not debunked at all? What if that FB page, and readers at X know I have an a/c but last used it years ago, so can access the link … what if it was set up after the QT report? All of this takes effort on my part, taking me away from our current business. This is what happened with a set of 100 qs sent me by proKnox people in the Kercher case … Harry Rag said each had been already answered within TDMK and once he came on the scene, the questions sender faded away.
All this is going on. I shall certainly make limited efforts to explore this one, also the one which came up at OoL a day or two ago.
(0756) All right, I did go in via a series of steps, which incidentally gave FB and ggl my login details which I changed and here’s what I found:
So the “community notes” on X were right … it’s a trolling site … done by someone looking like a southern good ole boy … right, left? Who knows, who cares? We learn.
4. Steve at 1139
Bloody Microbe … Salvini Ridicules Macron’s Plan to Send ‘Peacekeeping’ Troops to Ukraine *
Rapper Who Embraced Satan and Mocked Jesus Arrested and Hospitalized After Apparent Mental Breakdown
Leftists Freak Out as President Trump Reportedly Plans to Send Military to Chicago, Including Possibly Active Duty Forces
Over 2.3M People Sign Petition Begging for Clemency for Illegal Truck Driver Who Killed 3 Americans **
The administration of United States President Donald Trump had approved the sale of 3,350 especially-designed, long-range missiles to Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on August 24. ***
Russia To Soon Produce 6,000 Geran Drones Each Month
Rhoda with Richard Kemb on UK civil war
Much more.
*JH: This is taking on the shape and proportion of the emulsified high-fat offal tube from Dec 17, 1984 while James Hacker was aiming to be PM of GB and NI. **How many middle-easterners signed that I wonder. ***Best read the fine print of this, i.e. go to 1139.
a) The French are overwhelmingly opposed, 84% against 16% who support it, to the elimination of two public holidays proposed by François Bayrou in his public finance recovery plan…
b) A new twist in the Aiton prison affair. At the end of July, the head of the remand center was arrested, charged, and placed under judicial supervision for acts related to the Samy Rebboah case…
c) The US ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, denounced on Sunday, August 24, the “lack of sufficient action” by President Emmanuel Macron and the government against anti-Semitism…
d) Rear seats, headlights, grilles, catalytic converters, batteries… Theft from mass-produced vehicles fuels a parallel market from the Paris region to West Africa.
Zelenskyy Facing Pressure From America And Within Ukraine, Jack Posobiec Reports
Ben Harnwell: America’s “NATO allies” are still trying to drag it into the Ukraine war. Here’s how to stop them
23. This was by two of the 10% I mentioned below
22. To commenters
Have read through all, ta, esp. on dogs. I had a letter from America, asking about what the normies are like here. O’Brien on LBC was mentioned. Ok … don’t think my reply was as good as I could have but firstly tired, a bit ill, plus time … I knew I had to post the evening things.
What I wrote (to) him was:
“That describes the prevailing left mindset here but it’s also so over there … Kimmel etc., AOC. MAGA has helped kill ignorance by starting severe questioning over there.
It’s started here too, resulting in Reform, only for the cabal of three to be straight Uniparty. Most Reform members can’t see it … it’s a big job to explain … we show them evidence every day.
Over there, Megyn Kelly was bad early, plus Lara Logan, but they came good. Emerald Robinson or Wendy Pattison were always good there but we’re finding good ones here now too … big on X but pretty much unknown to the public. The MSM still has a vicelike hold on normies’ minds … many people just don’t want to know. Govt know that and use it. Frightened or just ignorant? Both probably.
This O’Brien is about the worst person on air … Rachel Madcow type … worse than any other arrogant lefty … constant calls for his firing from most people, inc. normies.
Over here, just as there, there are the dissident antiWoke, us, maybe 10%, then controlled opposition calling themselves “right” … we don’t, we’re just antiWoke, anti globocabal. Maybe 25% of the controlled “right”.
Then a huge number of politically ignorant normies, maybe 50% … a mixture … know something’s wrong, have no idea what, apart from this govt and the invaders, they hear Farage who’s controlled opp, interesting he’s to address your congress … it will be lies or our talking points he’s stolen and twisted. He’s like Poinlievre in Canada and Jenrick over here.
Then there are the genuinely bad players, e.g. Fink, Rutte, Obama … maybe 15% with their henchmen and minions.
Part of that whole mix must be the jihadi mob, Chinese, Znists. They alter the percentages.”
We are so used to dealing with each new horror daily, such that if someone asked me to summarise Britons today … that’s a big ask, it’s not what we’re doing day to day. But still a useful exercise. Feel free to add your own take, correct what you disagree with etc.
21. Steve has this by R Starbuck
Cracker Barrel has been one of the most loved brands in America for decades… That changed this week with a logo redesign that infuriated the public but… the problem goes MUCH deeper than a logo.
@CrackerBarrel has gone fully woke and now it’s time to expose everything. Here’s the highlights you need to know:
• Cracker Barrel has funded “all ages” Pride events for many years like Nashville Pride and Third River City Pride.
• Cracker Barrel worked with the far left HRC organization and reportedly sponsored HRC events for 10 years. They even brought an HRC representative to their Tennessee HQ to do a pronoun and transgenderism training. We’ve included photos of this in the video. As a reminder, the HRC supports child sex changes and men in women’s bathrooms. They work to normalize/legalize both things and they work to force transgenderism in the workplace.
• Cracker Barrel worked with a group called Conexión Américas as part of their DEI efforts. This group helps illegal immigrants, providing them lawyers and the executive director opposes President Trump’s deportations.
• Cracker Barrel sponsored the Out & Equal LGBTQ Workplace Advocate Conference and presented a workshop on how Cracker Barrel has made progress supporting LGBTQ+ causes. This group works to push sexual topics and pronouns into the workplace.
• Cracker Barrel was awarded Out & Equal’s 2018 top LGBT ERG group award and they won the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce “Corporate Diversity” award.
• CB created a special “diverse” suppliers program focused on increasing “diversity” among suppliers. To most people this just reads as: less white people.
• Had Coming out day pamphlets passed out at their TN headquarters as well as pamphlets about supporting “LGBTQ YOUTH” and creating “Safe Zones” at work, free from “heterosexist or cwordgendered comments and actions” (X will downrank my post if I spell that word out). If you said anything activists would describe as “heterosexist” then you were told that you’d be “educated” by their LGBT office group.
• CB has had multiple DEI focused employees and had CB employees attend DEI roundtables.
• CB had pride flags at their corporate office.
• CB promoted the Stonewall riot to employees and on their website despite the fact that the Stonewall Inn was reportedly owned by the mafia, rife with drug dealing and also the site of teen “prostitution” for older men.
• Had a Cracker Barrel employee on the HRC’s business advisory council.
• Has ERG groups in the office that are divided by race and sexual preferences.
• A total commitment to DEI policies.
• CB has had MANY activist employees driving this far left policy agenda, including a head of training + management, top execs and a board of directors member who owns a DEI consulting firm.
To put it mildly, Cracker Barrel has forgotten who their core customers are. It’s time for us to remind them. They depend on YOU to keep their business afloat so now YOU have to ask yourself: Do you want to fund people or companies that hate your values? It’s time to remind them who their customers are.
If you think their values don’t align with yours and you’re a customer who wants to speak out, you can write to them here: https://guestrelations.crackerbarrel.com/s/contactsupport Reporters can also call their reporter hotline at: 615-235-4135 or email them: media.relations@crackerbarrel.com
Remember to ALWAYS BE KIND. Many in customer service agree with you. Being rude hurts our cause! I give everyone permission to use my video and what we found to make your own content. You can rip this, clip this, make your own content, etc. You can even monetize my video. Just get this information to everyone you know. We have to take our power back as consumers. Every company needs to get the message that THIS ENDS NOW.
“A really great movie for one of Bogart’s last pictures. His character is hard-nosed, but low key, a man who doesn’t feel the need to prove how tough he is. An excellent supporting cast includes such reliable actors as Paul Stewart, Ed Begley, and Jim Backus as newspaper staff, with Joe DeSantis as the weaselly crook in hiding. Ethel Barrymore is superb as the widow of the paper’s founder, watching as her obnoxious daughters sell off the paper they care nothing about. Martin Gabel hits just the right note as mob boss Rienzi, smiling and affable one minute, snarling and growling threats seconds later.
One of the best scenes has Rienzi pick up Bogart’s editor Hutchinson off the street and offer him a drink in his luxurious limousine. Bogart asks half seriously if he’s being ‘taken for a ride’, and Rienzi claims he’s not a gangster. Moments later, Rienzi loses his temper and smacks Hutchinson in the face. Hutchinson smiles that crooked Bogart grin and says, “That’s more like it”, telling Rienzi he’s showing his true colors at last. The would be respectable businessman is nothing more than a gangster, after all.
This movie is both an antique, in the way it shows how big city dailies were still operating fifty years ago, and surprisingly up to date in its concern with how the public often doesn’t really care about the news, and that a lot of what’s packaged as news is just entertainment. Bogart’s great speech at the hearing to determine the paper’s future is a rouser, as he talks about the importance of a free press.
This movie deserves a wider audience on home video than its occasional cable TV showings. It’s a great Bogart vehicle, and a fascinating story of the newspaper business, and just a fine picture in general.”
