Film Noir Friday: Charlie Chan in Shanghai [1935]

charliechaninshanghai

Welcome! The lobby of the Deranged L.A. Crimes theater is open. Grab a bucket of popcorn, some Milk Duds and a Coke and find a seat.

Tonight’s feature is CHARLIE CHAN IN SHANGHAI [1935], starring Warner Oland, Keye Luke, and Irene Harvey.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

Before Honolulu detective Charlie Chan leaves his boat upon arriving in Shanghai for his first visit in years, supposedly a vacation, a man stuffs a note in his pocket warning him not to leave the ship. At the docks, Chan is greeted by Sir Stanley Woodland’s secretary, Philip Nash, and Sir Stanley’s niece Diana, before he is surprised by his son Lee, who was sent by his firm to look into the trade situation there. At a banquet that evening in Chan’s honor, as Sir Stanley opens a jade box supposedly containing a scroll for Chan, he is shot by a gun set to go off from inside the box.

Enjoy the movie!

http://youtu.be/XXx4yir4cs4

Film Noir Friday: A Life At Stake [1954]

ALifeAtStake1954

Welcome! The lobby of the Deranged L.A. Crimes theater is open. Grab a bucket of popcorn, some Milk Duds and a Coke and find a seat.

Tonight’s feature is A LIFE AT STAKE [1954], starring Angela Lansbury, Keith Andes, Douglass Dumbrille, Claudia Barrett, and Jane Darwell..

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

Building contractor Edward Shaw is brooding over his recent business failures, due to his partner’s gambling, when he is approached by lawyer Sam Pearson. Pearson, who scoffs at Shaw’s determination to repay his debts, offers to introduce him to a client who can invest a half million dollars in his company. Curious, Shaw agrees to meet with Pearson’s client, Mrs. Doris Hillman. At the luxurious Hillman home, Shaw is intensely attracted to the flirtatious Doris, who states that she wants to form a partnership with him in which he will build homes on the properties she finds. Doris asserts that Augustus, her much-older, wealthy husband, wants to keep her happy, but Shaw is suspicious of his sudden good fortune. Doris explains that she knows about Shaw’s work because her cousin lives in a home he built, and so Shaw agrees to further negotiations, if the Hillmans supply the funds for him to repay his original investors. Doris promises to ask Hillman about the provision and Shaw leaves, although he finds himself preoccupied with thoughts of the sexy Doris.

Film Noir Friday: Eyes in the Night [1942]

eyesinthenight

Welcome! The lobby of the Deranged L.A. Crimes theater is open. Grab a bucket of popcorn, some Milk Duds and a Coke and find a seat.

Tonight’s feature is EYES IN THE NIGHT [1942], directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Donna Reed and Friday (the dog–who plays himself and steals the show).

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

New York detective Duncan Maclain refuses to allow blindness to interfere with his work, which is aided by his faithful dog Friday, his butler, Alistair, and his assistant, Marty. One day, actress Norma Lawry, an old friend, visits Mac and asks him to help her prevent her stepdaughter Barbara from doing something foolish with actor Paul Gerente. Paul, a cad who had once been Norma’s lover, has convinced Barbara that Norma only married her father Stephen for his money. Mac tells Norma that she doesn’t need a “gumshoe” and suggests that she talk to Paul herself. Paul refuses to listen to Norma’s pleas and insists that he loves Barbara, who is appearing in a local theatrical production with him, even though she is only seventeen. That night, Stephen has to go away on a business trip to test a secret formula on which he has been working for the government. Because Norma is worried about Barbara, she decides not to accompany him and goes to Paul’s apartment. When Barbara arrives, she finds Paul’s dead body and thinks that Norma has killed him, even though Norma insists that he was dead when she arrived.

Film Noir Friday on Saturday: Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion [1945]

boston blackie_booked

Welcome! The lobby of the Deranged L.A. Crimes theater is open. Grab a bucket of popcorn, some Milk Duds and a Coke and find a seat.

Tonight’s feature is BOSTON BLACKIE BOOKED ON SUSPICION, directed by Arthur Dreyfuss and starring Chester Morris and Lynn Merrick. The Boston Blackie films are light-weight and formulaic, but I love them. Former crook Boston Blackie and Police Inspector Farraday  butt heads once again in this entry, the eighth in the series.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

When an illness confines rare book expert Wilfred Kittredge to his bed on the eve of a rare book auction, Boston Blackie disguises himself as Kittredge and offers to conduct the auction for his friend and book store owner Arthur Manleder. Unknown to Blackie, counterfeiter Porter Hadley has manufactured a first edition of Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers to be sold at the auction. On the day of the auction, Blackie, aided by Kittredge’s assistant, Gloria Mannard, sells the book to Alexander Harmon for $62,000. The next day, Harmon discovers that the book is a fake and reports the crime to Inspector Farraday.

Film Noir Friday: Destination Murder [1950]

Destination_Murder- Welcome! The lobby of the Deranged L.A. Crimes theater is open. Grab a bucket of popcorn, some Milk Duds and a Coke and find a seat.

Tonight’s feature is DESTINATION MURDER [1950], directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Joyce MacKenzie, Stanley Clements and Hurd Hatfield.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

During a five-minute intermission between shows, Jackie Wales slips away from his date at a Los Angeles movie theater and climbs into a waiting car. As he rides with a man named Armitage to a nearby house, Jackie changes into a messenger boy outfit, then shoots and kills well-to-do businessman Arthur Mansfield as he stands in his doorway. Jackie’s sprint back to the car is witnessed by Mansfield’s daughter Laura, who later picks Jackie out of a police lineup. Although Laura is unable to positively identify Jackie, she complains when police lieutenant Brewster releases him. Convinced that Brewster is not doing enough to find her father’s killer, Laura undertakes to investigate Jackie herself.