Shades of Gothtober in Noirvember
Creepy crime recommendations, vintage pressbooks & more goodies
Hiya, pals.
I’m trying this on for size as another informal way to do what I love doing: promoting fun, weird, great, and not-so-great old movies. Here’s the plan for now: every week or so I’ll pop up with a few classic film recommendations, a posy of screencaps, and some fun links at the end. No admission fee, because this is what I do for fun.
October is a hard month for me to let go of. So my first set of Noirvember picks (all streaming for free) are creepy, intermittently misty, and horror-adjacent. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Ladies in Retirement (1941)
Since her family’s decline into poverty, Ellen Creed has supported her mentally ill sisters by working as a housekeeper. Now she attends to the whims of Miss Fiske, a self-indulgent ex-chorus girl, generously “pensioned off” by her gentlemen friends. Desperate to save her sisters from the asylum, Ellen briefly convinces Miss Fiske to shelter her disruptive siblings. When that plan backfires, just how far will Ellen go to provide for those she loves? And how long can you conceal a dire secret in a little cottage on the moors?
This is a masterful period thriller, helmed by Charles Vidor, whose chiller Double Door and psychoanalytic proto-noir Blind Alley are likewise worth a watch (to say nothing of Gilda). Ladies’ creeping camera, well-choreographed use of windows and depth, and Victorian decor all make for an unsettling delight.
In the role she called her favorite, Ida Lupino gives a quietly tortured performance, dour yet tender. The atmosphere of oppressive guilt and paranoia builds mercilessly; the film encloses us in the stifling, cruel world that drives Ellen to cruelty. Lupino’s then-husband Louis Hayward is memorably charming as her n'er-do-well nephew, just clever enough to land himself in trouble. Elsa Lanchester and Edith Barrett are insightful and lovable as, respectively, the cantankerous and dreamy sisters.
The Spiritualist a.k.a. The Amazing Mr. X (1948)
Walking by the sea one moonlit night, wealthy widow Christine (Lynn Bari) meets a man who seems to know all about her. He is Alexis, a charismatic medium who promises to contact her late, lamented husband. Soon Christine’s romantic sister (Cathy O'Donnell) falls under Alexis’s spell too. Is he a fraud? Well, this is a noir, so the answer won’t exactly shock you. But don't worry. Like a cunning swindler, this tale has plenty of twists and turns to keep you on the hook.
The Spiritualist paradoxically combines cynicism with a sense of wonder, brought to glowing fullness by John Alton's miraculous cinematography. Under the direction of Bernard Vorhaus, Turhan Bey, often relegated to exotic menaces or just eye candy in Hollywood films, shines as the charismatic, multilayered antihero. Bari and O’Donnell are simultaneously sympathetic and exasperating, compelling and flawed as the credulous dames.
Corridor of Mirrors (1948)
Cozily contented with a husband and children, Mifanwy (Edana Romney) receives a telegram that plunges her back into the shadows of the past. Once upon a time, she was a thrill-seeking London socialite who became involved with mysterious dandy Paul Mangin (Eric Portman). Mifanwy uncannily resembles a portrait in Mangin’s collection. He insists that they knew and loved each other in another time, but that affair ended in violence. Will history repeat itself?
I’m wild about several noirs/crime movies narrated by women: Decoy, Raw Deal, Secret Beyond the Door…, the last of which would make a perfect companion to this movie. Corridor of Mirrors is not merely haunted by a woman’s voice, but drenched in feminine fantasy. Notably, Romney shared screenwriting credit. If Vertigo (to which this film is sometimes compared) grasps the agony of the situation from the woman’s side, Corridor of Mirrors explores the perverse ecstasy. The power of Mifanwy’s demonic laughter opens the film and anticipates its surreal climax.
Smothered in brocade, bejeweled to the passionate eyebrows, rapturously overwhelming in its art direction and use of reflective surfaces, Corridor of Mirrors paints a Gothic dreamscape so lush that its shortcomings melt away in my memory. In his directorial debut, Terence Young displays a knack for allowing preposterous events to unfold with gripping earnestness, an ability that would serve him well on the Bond franchise. As the enigmatic Mangin, Eric Portman’s controlling aesthete is also worth the price of admission, particularly in moments of despair and stoic determination.
Bits & Bobs
Join me in drooling (and chuckling) over this 1959 British Pathé video which shows chic Edana Romney, star of Corridor of Mirrors, renovating a cottage. I want to pull a Sherlock Jr. and leap right into the screen to go antiques shopping with Romney and Zachary Scott (!!!) in late 50s London. Sigh.
Did you know you can browse dozens of old Hollywood pressbooks (especially from Warner Brothers) on the Media History Digital Library? A few favorites for Noirvember: Danger Signal, Deception, Flight from Destiny, and Conflict. Apologies in advance for the distraction this collection may cause you.
El Vampiro Negro is out on Flicker Alley Blu-ray. Harrowing film in a beautiful restoration.
I’m resolving to watch more non-American noir this Noirvember. Alas, I do not speak Spanish, so I was delighted to find this YouTube channel that offers many Argentinian films with good English subtitles.
Good time of year to revisit this American Cinematographer piece on John Alton.
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Wow. Ladies in Retirement....great...! Thanks!