The Projectors

The Brasher Doubloon (1947)

It’s just another Marlowe Monday. I’m glad it’s not a Sunday. Because my fun day is Marlow Monday. For our noir theme that we’re calling THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR we talking about an adapted film featuring our iconic private dick created somewhere between blackouts by Raymond Chandler. Our third Marlowe Monday feature’s Philip comes off a little more dapper than Humphrey Bogart and Dick Powell. George Montgomery might swag a little more than Powell but still less than Bogie. Montgomery don’t swag like either but his portrayal of Philip Marlowe in John Brahm’s 1947 adaptation of Chandler’s “The High Window” still scratches that hard boiled itch. We’re talking about “THE BRASHER DOUBLOON” and it’s easy to find online. Like here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNJSGYeUivU . You gotta admire the camera technology Marlowe shows off in this one. If that lady wasn’t so worried about a coin she would still be walking around with her nose in the air.
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Nightmare Alley (1947)

THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR is what we’re calling our jam packed noir month all March long and we’re delving into all realms of seedy endeavors. Makes sense that a traveling carnival and freak show might have its own share of sheisters and troubled souls. Stan sees a golden road of fame and fortune through trickery. He’ll use up, sleep with and toss aside all those in his path to get what he wants. One day he meets his match and the cries of the chicken loving Geek beckon him. Maybe pretending he could raise the dead was a bit much. We’re talking about the strange and unique 1947 noir from the prolific screenwriter and director Edmund Goulding called “NIGHTMARE ALLEY” starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, Helen Walker and more. Hear us explain how this whole story can be told in a 10 page Chick Tract. Here’s a link to a good quality version of it: https://archive.org/details/nightmare-alley-1947-720p
 
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M (1931)

For our classic noir themed month every Thursday we will discuss a classic Noir from a non-english speaking country and today’s foreign feature about THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR is a foundational one and influences the entire month. It was all filmed on the cusp of great turmoil in Peter Lorre and Fritz Lang’s home country. Of course we’re talking about Fritz Lang’s masterpiece “M” from 1931. Within two years both of these men will have fled their country but before that they managed to invent some film techniques in this thriller where Peter Lorre plays a serial child murderer. All classes and levels of Berlin society kick the city over in search of a psychotic man. The earliest film we will discuss this month. Of course you can find it online. Here’s a link right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdSL9FvCv0U
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Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR, our celebration of classic noir, continues in abundance and we land on one wild flick involving another iconic private dick that isn’t Philip Marlow. We’re talking about Mickey Spillane’s two fisted dirtbag protagonist “Mike Hammer” as played by Ralph Meeker In Robert Aldrich’s 1955 genre-bending noir, “KISS ME DEADLY”. Some dame that looks a lot like a young Cloris Leachman gets picked up by a two-bit detective. Next thing he knows, she’s dead and he’s knocked out in a car and people seem to be real desperate to find something before he does. Also starring Maxine Cooper and Gaby Rodgers, KISS ME DEADLY is a unique and strange story adapted very loosely by screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides. This noir became wildly influential and we get to the bottom of why. 
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The Set-Up (1949)

We’re crossing into the seedy sporting life for our film noir theme we’re calling “THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR” and what sport feels more noir than boxing? Stoker feels like he’s got one more good fight in him but his poor wife is sick of seeing his battered mug. She doesn’t want the violence to ruin her marriage. Meanwhile, some scuzzy managers are making a set-up bet that they don’t want to let the older boxer in on. Stoker drops any other time so maybe he doesn’t need to know, right?  We’re taking in the rich environments and vivid characters in Robert Wise’s 1949 boxing noir “THE SET-UP” and it’s maybe a little too loose from the themes of it’s original source material (a poem by Jospeh M. March) but a very worthy boxing feature in and of itself. It stars Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias and more. Will Stoker come out on top and get one more chance to hold his head up high or will he help his managers fill a gangster’s pockets? It’s a breezy noir to sit through with an exciting boxing match to boot. Check it out here if you like: https://archive.org/details/1949thesetupnadiepuedevencermecombatetrucadorobertwise
 
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Murder, My Sweet (1944)

We’re getting noir month rolling real strong with this hard-boiled theme we’re calling THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR and every Monday in March we’re discussing a different adaptation centered around Raymond Chandler’s archetypical P.I., Philip Marlowe. This movie happens to be the first feature to depict the character on the big screen. Bogie may edge out in swag but Dick Powell’s rendition delivers nicely in Edward Dmytryk’s 1944 classic “MURDER, MY SWEET” an adaptation of Chandler’s “Farewell, My Lovely”. Powell is the big lead with co-stars Anne Shirley, Claire Trevor, Mike Mazurki & Otto Kruger. A foundational film noir with a few clever tricks that make it stand out that includes a nice little psychedelic medicated dream-sequence. Marlowe also gets clubbed in the back of the head in every story. The CTE implications are unreal. Check out the film here: https://archive.org/details/murder-my-sweet-1944
 
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The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

We’re wrapping up our first full week of THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR and you can call it a FEMME FATALE FRIDAY FEAST with a cold side of murder. The original platinum blonde, Lana Turner, is in deep with a wily drifter and they set in motion a plot of murder so that her sad sap husband can be out of the picture while they move on with their happy lives. We’re talking about Tay Garnett’s 1946 adaptation of the steamy James M. Cain novel “THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE”. It stars Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway & Hume Cronyn. Will these tragic lovers find a way to be together or will their desperation be their undoing? Shout out to that cat, by the way. It really stole the show. Absolutely wild how it just climbed the step ladder like that. I love cats. They’re always up to something. 
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Il Bidone (1955)

It’s classic noir month, a theme we call THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR, and every Thursday in March we go overseas and away from the Hayes code for some Noir classics beyond the English language. Some greatly influenced by classic American noir and one that helped influence it. Today we break the seal on Frederico Fellini for the show and discuss a whimsical crime tale involving some swindlers that may be amongst the worst scumbags we see all month. They dress like clergy and con peasants out of their money and it seems as much a playful hobby as it is a moneymaking endeavor. It’s a “Left Handed Endeavor” you might say. It’s all a party until wives, estranged daughters and children stricken with polio come into the picture. We’re discussing Fellini’s 1955 Italian crime tragedy “IL BIDONE” starring Broderick Crawford, Giulietta Masina & Richard Basehart. That New Year’s party seemed to be popping. Probably would have been more fun if you didn’t have to keep checking your pockets. Of course we got a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8cdmtZiMUM
 
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They Live by Night (1948)

THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR is this month’s theme and that means classic noir 5 days a week. Bob loves this shit so we’re all gonna overdose on it. No drug use under the Hays Code, though. We got ourselves a lovely little “noirmance” from “Rebel Without a Cause” director Nicholas Ray. This is actually Ray’s debut film and it’s a very worthy noir gem that most folks may not have heard about. We’re talking about “THEY LIVE BY NIGHT” from 1948. It stars Farley Granger and Cathy O’Donnell in an incredibly sincere and believable romance that is cornered by the dark realities of the kind of world that all of our characters this month are forced to live in. A beautifully shot love story that connects until it inevitably rips you apart. This world is too hard on true love.
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Gilda (1946)

Alright, you scoundrels. March’s theme of THE LEFT HAND ENDEAVOR is in full effect. That means all classic film noir, see? That means dangerous dames and Switchblade Sammies out the wazoo, see? We’re going a little bit beyond the typical top 10 noir suggestions but we definitely got some heavy hitters out the gate and today is no exception because we’re talking about Charles Vidor’s iconic and influential film from 1946, “GILDA” starring the bright and shiny Rita Hayworth alongside Glenn Ford. Your grandpa or great grandpa might have busted to this movie back in the day. Perhaps they watched it and then went home to contribute to your lineage while thinking of that hair whip. Them boys up in Shawshank sure got their sheets sticky over it. This influential film has pretty bizarre plot points and plenty of hair whipping going on but it looks sharp as hell and establishes what initially feels like the ultimate femme fatale. It becomes a bit more of a romance than other noir selections this month. You might call it a “Noirmance”. We also talk a little bit about the Hays Code and how that may have effected some classic noir choices. All in glorious black and white. Oh hey, look at what I found: https://archive.org/details/gilda-1946_202106
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