Each of us has a book or movie or piece of music that we want our friends to not merely enjoy but exult over the same as we do. I've written here two or three times about the film Clash By Night. I first saw this in a triple-feature house in the Sixties and I've been pushing it ever since. Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas in a love triangle that still has the power to shock because of its misery and pain.
Now Megan Abbott has written a extraordinary piece about it for Noir of The Week. Don't miss it.
Megan Abbott:
"On his DVD commentary track, Peter Bogdanovich notes, in passing, that some call Fritz Lang’s Clash by Night (1952) a film noir, which he refers to as a genre. He dismisses such claims on the ground that it is not “a thriller or a suspense piece.” He concedes, however, that it’s “shot a bit like a film noir.” There’s a lot in his comments to irritate noir aficionados, most especially their reductiveness. But what Bogdanovich misses most is the fever that pulses through the movie is the same one that burns through most classic film noir: that constant, brooding fear of sexual betrayal and loss of power. In fact, few movies better capture the post-war mood of gender anxiety and rage."
for the rest go here http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2009/04/clash-by-night-1952.html
I watched this again a few months ago and was amazed at Ryan's intensity. The guy could play angry better than anyone. Or was he playing? Also dug the shots of old Monterey when it was a blue collar town.
ReplyDeleteTerry Butler
Such a great article it was which Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas in a love triangle that still has the power to shock because of its misery and pain. In which Bogdanovich misses most is the fever that pulses through the movie is the same one that burns through most classic film noir: that constant, brooding fear of sexual betrayal and loss of power.Thanks for sharing this article
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