FEATURE LIST
silky bleakness they deserved. Hell. even fellow pulpmeister .lames M. Indemnity. itselfscreening at the (iFl’on Aug 5)) and Bob Rafelson (Nicholson. Lange and a floury kitchen table in IIIU Postman .i-lln'ayzv Rings 'I‘n'iee). but for ( ioodis there was no l luston. no i lawks. no Kubrick. no l’eckinpah.
What the season does have though. is a mtmber of prime examples of the almost casual artfulness of l lollywood's production-line expertise: for it demonstrates how even the journeyman film-maker. one who tackled every kind of assignment the studio tossed at him. could turn out a final product of grittyaccomplishment. 1057‘s IIIi‘ Burglar(screening at the (il-‘l‘ on 21 August). the only one of his novels (ioodis himself adapted for the screen. was the first film by Paul Wendkos. who passed through this fatalistic Philadelphia-shot story of a jewel thiefin an unlikely career that lurched from experiemntal theatre work to the teen romance guffof (iidge! (ioes Hawaiian. Still. his (ioodis movie remains one of the highlights of his output. and the same could be said of veteran craftsman Delmer l)aves. whose daring use of the subjective camera in the first half hour of Dark I’assage (August 5). that‘s before the escaped convict has his plastic surgery and
Lott Nightfall, above Dark Passage, top right The Burglar. bottom right The Moon In The Gutter.
turns into l lumphrcy Bogart. still looks ably realised today.
While one of the masters of chiarascuro. Jacques 'l'ourneur (check out the lighting in his 1942 milestone (a! People). effectively moved outdoors for the suspenseful Night/all (Aug 15). which has Aldo Ray as an innocent man trying to elude the cops in the ('atskill Mountains. it's really only in l’rance that (ioodis‘s paperback worldview has attracted the attention of true aficionados. From the l'lfllc‘s onwards the dowmnarket .S’erie Noire reprints of pulp American crime fiction saw the existential angst of their tortured heroes match the absurdist concerns of the contemporary literary scene. and it was the lirench New Wave of cinephile directors who were able to turn this atmosphere of thematic doubt into a hesitant. rough-hewn new film-making style that was to prove highly influential.
Francois ’I‘ruffaut supplied the original story for .lean-I .uc ( iodard’s seminal Breathless. and a year later in 1%0 was to return to the same seedy milieu of petty criminality with his own feature Slum! IIH’ I’ianfsl (August 1). where the despairing atmosphere of the source is actually somewhat brightened up by the intoxicating cinematic verve ofa young director throwing the camera
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around with style and purpose. In fact. it’s that element of noir chic that continues to fascinate tyro French auteurs as can be seen from the recent extravagances of Jean-Jacques Beneix's critically- reviled (ioodis adaptation IIIi' .lImm In IIIV (IiaIer(August 19). and l.eos ('arax‘s extraordinary feast of surface pzazz IIIF .Vig/II Is Young (August 36). However. (‘laudc Miller‘s gruelling version of Patricia llighsmith's I‘la's Sweet .S'I't‘knexs (August 28. followed by seminar) shows that the tangled moral
pain in public ambiguities of the best crime wrting can sometimes mean that the content and characters rather than joyoust excessive visuals can still sometimes win the day.
()n their native ground the success of Beneix. (‘arax and [-uc Besson‘s Subway (August 26) have maintained a high level of public interest in the hard-boiled aesthetic. In Britain however. these writers remain less well known. with a cursory scout around lidinburgh‘s bookshops unable to turn up one (ioodis ttovel on the shelves. For those whose appetites are whettcd by the film season however. the good news is that several of his novels are available in the imported Black
Lizard imprint (Night/all. IIIt' Burglar and Show! I‘lie I’ianisl)
which your bookseller w ill be happy toorder for you. Alternatively it might be worthwhile checking out
the Zomba Books’ Black Box series.
a splendid enterprise that brings together several novels in one big-value paperback. lhe ( ioodis edition comprises IIIt’ Moon In 'I'Ize (jailer. Dark I’ass'age and Slum! IIIt' I’ianis‘l again. while Rear Hint/ow. IIIU Brit/e ll'rn'i' IfIai'Ix' and ll'aII: Into Danger make up the ( ‘ornell \Voolrich. and the .lim ’l'hompson selection includes 'Iilie (ielaway. Killer Inside .lIi‘ and I’M/t I357).
The sheer density of mo\ ie adaptations amongst that little list of titles ( l litchcock. 'l'rul'laut. l’eckinpah. 'l‘avernier) should giv c some idea of the rich vein of moral transgression. twisted duplicity and twisted sexuality mined by (ioodis and his contcmporaries’ journey through the long dark night of the typewriter. and its eminent suitability for transposition to the shadowy side of the cinema screen.
I'iH' (Irnn/Iy Sit/uh' rum it! [he (i/asgrm I'i/m Him/rethrong/ion! slagasl. am/a x/n'i iii/Iv prepared (/msleron IIIi’ n ri/eranif {/n' arm/wt I'Ul'lli'y am/ I‘IIIli’\ ( wine at Hang a [II I’(' (ll'u'I/tlh/U II'HHI IIIi' i t'IIi'it'
The List lb'luly ll) August [Usug
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