Monthly Archives: January 2019

Film Noir Friday–Saturday Edition: Adventure in Manhattan [1936]

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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 ADVENTURE IN MANHATTAN, starring Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea.

Turner Classic Movies says this about ADVENTURE IN MANHATTAN:

To cover the theft of the Koor-Hal ruby, newspaper editor Phil Bane calls in ace crime reporter George Melville. George arrogantly predicts to his fellow reporters the next crime to occur and is proven correct, as always. When an accident takes place outside the pool hall where the reporters congregate, George follows a suspicious woman, Claire Peyton, whom he sees begging one moment, then exiting a store in fancy dress only minutes later. George forces her to have dinner with him, and during the meal, she explains that she left a cruel husband for another man and then left him. That evening, she explains, she is to be allowed to see her daughter for the first time in years, but upon arrival, at her ex-husband’s house she discovers only a coffin.

 

Film Noir Friday: Lady of Burlesque [1943]

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lady of burlesque

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 the LADY OF BURLESQUE (aka THE G-STRING MURDERS) directed by William A. Wellman and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Michael O’Shea.

Gypsy Rose Lee

LADY OF BURLESQUE is based on the novel The G-String Murders written by strip tease queen Gypsy Rose Lee (with ghost-writing assistance from mystery writer Craig Rice).

Craig Rice.

If you’re not familiar with Craig Rice, she wrote mystery novels and short stories, and is sometimes described as “the Dorothy Parker of detective fiction.” She was the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time Magazine, on January 28, 1946.

Before we roll the feature, let’s enjoy one of Gypsy Rose Lee’s dance routines–followed by a clip from a Tex Avery cartoon starring the lecherous wolf character.

Turner Classic Movies says this about LADY OF BURLESQUE:

S. B. Foss, owner of the Old Opera House on Broadway in New York City, promotes his new recruit, burlesque dancer Dixie Daisy, hoping that she will draw a large audience. Dixie’s performance draws cheers from the crowds and from comedian Biff Brannigan, who ardently admires Dixie even though she hates comics because of past experiences with them. When someone cuts the wire to the light backstage that signals the presence of the police, the performers are surprised by a raid, and pandemonium ensues. As Dixie flees through a coal chute, someone grabs her from behind and tries to strangle her, but her assailant escapes when a stagehand comes along.

 

https://youtu.be/U9XP4GA-Z1M

Film Noir Friday: Cry Danger [1951]

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cry danger 1951

 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 CRY DANGER starring Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

As he steps out of Los Angeles’ Union Station, ex-convict Rocky Mulloy, fresh from serving five years of a life sentence for robbery and murder, is greeted by Lt. Gus Cobb, the detective responsible for his incarceration. With Gus is Delong, the decorated, disabled Marine who provided Rocky with the alibi that finally freed him. The cynical Gus invites Rocky and Delong for a drink, and at the bar, Delong explains that, because he shipped out the day after the holdup, he was unaware that Rocky, with whom he and some other Marines had been drinking the night before, was in trouble.

 

Film Noir Friday: Footsteps in the Night [1957]

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Welcome! The lobby of the Deranged L.A. Crime theater is open! Grab a bucket of popcorn, some Milk Duds and a Coke and find a seat. Tonight’s feature is FOOTSTEPS IN THE NIGHT [1957] starring Bill Elliott, Don Haggerty, Eleanore Tanin, and Douglas Dick.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

Los Angeles police detectives Lt. Andy Doyle and Sgt. Mike Duncan are assigned to investigate the murder of Fred Horner, who has been strangled at the Sunset Villa Motel in West Hollywood. Horner’s body was found in the unit occupied by his neighbor, Henry Johnson, who is now missing. Dick Harris, the motel’s owner and manager, is convinced that Henry committed the murder as he had heard the two men arguing. Henry, a gambling addict, explains to his fiancée, Mary Raiken, that during a card game, he went into the kitchen to make some drinks and asked Horner to go to his unit for ice. When Henry emerged from the kitchen, he found Horner dead on the floor, panicked and ran away.

 

The Night Stalker Case Revisited: Insights From the Lead Investigator

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Gil Carrillo, retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant, was  the new kid in the department’s homicide bureau in 1985 when several brutal, seemingly random, murders were committed. Gil discerned a pattern to the crimes which caused him to believe they were hunting a serial killer.  While detectives hunted a killer, the killer hunted human prey. He was dubbed the Night Stalker–his given name was Richard Ramirez.

If you lived in Southern California during the summer of 1985, you likely have vivid memories of the Night Stalker murders.  The crimes changed forever the way many of us lived. We not only locked our doors, we barricaded them. We bought guard dogs. We bought guns. We would never feel completely safe again.

On Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 2 p.m. in the Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium, join two of my friends, Gil Carrillo and Glynn Martin (retired LAPD), for a conversation about the summer of 1985 and the terror of the Night Stalker.

Details for the event are HERE.   

You don’t want to miss this!  I also suggest that you attend the opening of the photo exhibit for Glynn’s book, Satan’s Summer in the City of Angels: The Social Impact of the Night Stalker.  

Details for the photo exhibit are HERE.

 I’ll be at both events, so please come up and say hello.