Tag Archives: 1948

Film Noir Friday-Sunday Matinee: Road House [1948]

Posted on by
4

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.

Today’s feature is ROAD HOUSE starring Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Richard Widmark, and Celeste Holm.

IMDB says:

At a seedy nightclub and bowling alley near the Canadian border, owner Jefty Robbins (Richard Widmark) is in love with his new cabaret singer, Lily Stevens (Ida Lupino), who only has eyes for Jefty’s best friend, bar manager Pete Morgan (Cornel Wilde). Although he tries to keep his distance, Pete soon falls for Lily’s charms. But when the couple tries to run away together, Jefty and jealous cashier Susie Smith (Celeste Holm) conspire to frame them for a crime they didn’t commit.

Enjoy the movie!

Film Noir Friday: Pitfall [1948]

Posted on by
Reply

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 PITFALL [1948] starring Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, and Raymond Burr.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

Insurance agent John Forbes enjoys a comfortable, suburban home life in post World War II, Los Angeles with his wife Sue and son Tommy. He feels, however, that they should have accomplished more and expresses dissatisfaction with his work and social routine. Former policeman turned private investigator J. B. MacDonald has been investigating an embezzler, Bill Smiley, whom Forbes’ company, Olympic Mutual Insurance Co., had bonded. MacDonald reports that although the embezzler is in jail, he has traced presents bought with stolen funds to Smiley’s girl friend, May Co. model Mona Stevens.

Film Noir Friday: Force of Evil [1948]

Posted on by
Reply

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 FORCE OF EVIL, starring John Garfield, Marie Windsor, and Beatrice Pearson. Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

Joe Morse, an attorney for racketeer Ben Tucker, realizes that thousands of people select the number “776” in the lotteries on Independence day and conceives of a clever scheme to fix that as the winning number on the Fourth of July, thus bankrupting the numerous numbers banks operating in the city and enabling Tucker to gain a stranglehold on the racket. Joe is motivated by Tucker’s promise to consolidate the new syndicate under his brother Leo’s small-time numbers operation.

NOTE: Per YouTube, portions of this film are blocked due to copyright issues in some countries.

Film Noir Friday–Saturday Matinee: Race Street [1948]

Posted on by
Reply

race-street

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 RACE STREET.  It stars George Raft, William Bendix, and Marilyn Maxwell. Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

When San Francisco bookmaker Hal Towers confides in his boss, racketeer Dan Gannin, that a syndicate is trying to force him to pay protection money, Dan reminds him about their recent pledge to get out of the gambling racket. Although Dan offers his best friend a chance to invest in his new, legitimate nightclub, Hal insists on fighting the syndicate. Dan cautions Hal, who is lame, to be careful, but before the night is over, Dan and another childhood friend, police detective Barney Runson, find the bookie lying dead at the bottom of his apartment stairs. Concerned for his friend’s safety, Barney warns Dan not to seek vengeance on Hal’s killers, but allow the law to pursue justice. Dan’s associates, however, expect him to retaliate for Hal’s murder, and Dan obeys the rules of gangster protocol by not revealing anything about the case to Barney. When Dan goes home that night, he is greeted by two well-dressed men who present themselves as “insurance salesmen.”

 

Film Noir Friday — On Sunday: To The Ends of the Earth [1948]

Posted on by
Reply

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 TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH starring Dick Powell, Signe Hasso, Ludwig Donath, Vladimir Sokoloff, Edgar Barrier and Maylia. Directed by Robert Stevenson.

Yesterday’s post, HOP HEADS, was about opium addiction and tonight’s film is about a crackdown on the opium trade. I’m sensing a theme.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

In the year 1935, following a United Nations-sponsored meeting of the World Narcotics Commission, the U.S. Treasury Department, Bureau of Narcotics undertakes a crackdown on the worldwide opium trade. Assigned to the investigation is Treasury Department agent Mike Barrows, who is head of the department’s San Francisco bureau. Mike is familiar with the ruthless ways of the drug traffickers, having witnessed an unmarked Japanese freighter jettison one hundred Chinese slaves off the San Francisco coast to gain enough speed to outrun a U.S. Coast Guard patrol. A life preserver bearing the name Kira Maru , and a view of the offending captain, as seen through binoculars, are the only clues Mike has to go on as he begins his investigation in Shanghai.

 

Film Noir Friday: The Dark Past [1948]

Posted on by
Reply

the-dark-past-sm-web

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. Today’s feature is THE DARK PAST starring William Holden, Nina Foch and Lee J. Cobb.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

After observing a police lineup, Dr. Andrew Collins, a police psychiatrist, focuses on a young man whom he believes he can help overcome the deep hurt that causes him to act as a criminal. When a colleague questions his ability to redeem criminals, Collins tells him the story of how he came to work for the police: Several years earlier, Collins had been a practicing psychiatrist and college professor. One weekend, he, his wife Ruth, and his son Bobby leave for their cabin in the country. That same day, murderer Al Walker escapes from jail, holding the warden hostage.

Film Noir Friday: They Made Me A Fugitive [1948]

Posted on by
Reply

they made me a fugitive_criminal

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 THEY MADE ME A FUGITIVE (aka THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL) starring Sally Gray and Trevor Howard.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

Narcy, the mastermind of a black market operation run out of the Valhalla Undertakers in London, informs his confederates, Soapy, Bert, Curley, Aggy and Jim, that Clem Morgan, a former soldier, will join their organization. Later, Narcy meets Clem at a bar and is immediately attracted to Clem’s girl friend, Ellen. The following day, when Clem arrives at Valhalla, he is stunned to find Ellen in Narcy’s office. Then, when Clem discovers drugs mixed in a shipment of nylons, he tries to renege on his arrangement with Narcy, who explains that this was a one-time favor for another criminal. Privately, Clem tells Ellen that he intends to pull out after the next job. That night, Narcy, who distrusts Clem, frames him with Soapy’s help, for the hit-and-run murder of a policeman, and Clem is sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

Film Noir Friday: Ruthless [1948]

Posted on by
Reply

ruthlessWelcome! 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 RUTHLESS.  It was directed by Edgar Ulmer who also directed DETOUR and THE BLACK CAT and stars Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Diana Lynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Lucille Bremer and Martha Vickers.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

Horace Vendig shows himself to the world as a rich philanthropist. In fact, the history of his rise from his unhappy broken home shows this to be far from the case. After being taken in by richer neighbors he started to exhibit an obsessive and selfish urge to make more and more money, loving and leaving women at will to further this end.

Film Noir Friday–Saturday Matinee

Posted on by
Reply

train-to-alcatraz-movie-poster-1948

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 TRAIN TO ALCATRAZ [1948] directed by Philip Ford and starring Donald Barry, Janet Martin and William Phipps.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

A train en route to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary carries a prison car filled with men planning and hoping for escape, while police do all they can to contain them. When the train stops at Varneyville, future Alcatraz inmate Tommy Calligan is loaded onto the prison car, where he is introduced to fellow prisoners including Doug Forbes and Bart Kanin, a personal enemy of Tommy’s. After Tommy acquaints himself with the men in the car, he relates to Forbes the story of how he came to loathe Kanin.

Film Noir Friday: Race Street [1948]

Posted on by
Reply

race-street

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 RACE STREET.  It stars George Raft, William Bendix, and Marilyn Maxwell. Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

When San Francisco bookmaker Hal Towers confides in his boss, racketeer Dan Gannin, that a syndicate is trying to force him to pay protection money, Dan reminds him about their recent pledge to get out of the gambling racket. Although Dan offers his best friend a chance to invest in his new, legitimate nightclub, Hal insists on fighting the syndicate. Dan cautions Hal, who is lame, to be careful, but before the night is over, Dan and another childhood friend, police detective Barney Runson, find the bookie lying dead at the bottom of his apartment stairs. Concerned for his friend’s safety, Barney warns Dan not to seek vengeance on Hal’s killers, but allow the law to pursue justice. Dan’s associates, however, expect him to retaliate for Hal’s murder, and Dan obeys the rules of gangster protocol by not revealing anything about the case to Barney. When Dan goes home that night, he is greeted by two well-dressed men who present themselves as “insurance salesmen.”