Tension (1949) Direction: John Berry
A really cool Film Noir thriller with the HOT Audrey
Totter (i.a. Lady in the Lake) as a trashy nymphomaniac and
Femme Fatale, and
with the equally good Richard Baseheart as her henpecked
husband Warren Quimby.
Richard Baseheart was unforgettable in some other Film Noir films as
in the 1948 He Walked by Nightas the Killer and in Anthony Mann's
1949 The Black Book historic noir as Robespierre. Great actor.
Poor Warren slaves at night as the manager of his Pharmacy
Drugstore in an attempt to get some money. Meanwhile his slutty wife
Claire (Audrey Totter) throws herself at anyone who seems to have some
dough over for her, she's almost an prostitute, and WOW!
Audrey Totter is great in the role, Horny and Hot! But, when she leaves
for REAL with a rich lover, then her miserable husband thinks
about getting revenge. In the role as the cute neighbour we get to see
the graceful dancer Cyd Charisse, who's mostly known for her
many film musicals and the narrator voice is done by Barry Sullivan
who's playing the unortodox cop Bonnabel.
The film was presented in 4:3 fullscreen original ratio, black &
white, mono. A commentary audio track with Alain Silver and Elizabeth
Ward with some short audio clips with Audrey Totter, the featurette
"Tension.Who's Guilty Now?" (5 minutes 40 seconds), a trailer
Where Danger Lives (1950) Direction:
John Farrow
Noir with lust, desperation, flight, brain damage and
.... a femme fatale.
The genre icon Robert Mitchum, the virile favourite loser always seemed
to be the victim of the malevolent forces of fate, and in this
film he's the doctor Jeff Cameron. One day a suicidal woman is hospitalized,
she's Margo Lannington (a fine Faith Domergue, another
actress i had never heard about) and Jeff and Margo soon become a lovers
couple.
Jeff gather some courage and is about to speak with her rich father
(Claude Rains) about them marrying, but something is wrong ....
Faith Domergue? Wiki says became a scream queen in trashy
1950's sci-fi and horror movies, and that she made gialli with Lucio
Fulci and Alberto De Martino. I've seen Martino's very average 1971
L'uomo dagli occhi di ghiaccio (The Man with Icy Eyes) but i
can't remember seeing her in it? (Read more about this giallo in my
Giallo & Eurocrime page 2)
The film was presented in 4:3 fullscreen original ratio,
black & white, mono. A commentary audio track with Alain Silver
and James
Ursini, the featurette "Where Danger Lives - A White Rose for Julie"
6 minutes, and a trailer
