The CHASE
The Chase, a 1946 film noir movie, has one of the best opening scenes in film history. We open on this down on his luck guy who is clearly one very hungry fella. He stands at the coffee shop front window, on the outside, looking in at the food being cooked on the flat top grill. Boy he sure looks happy, staring down at the sizzling bacon and pancakes being turned over by the cook. He is sporting an almost childlike grin and he's practically drooling down his chin, his eyes shining bright, almost feral.
But this is a film noir so his torment will have to go on unsatisfied because this poor chump doesn't have any money to buy himself a meal. So he just stands there, the stereotypical archetype that we have all seen in those early Bugs Bunny cartoons. You know where they draw a guy that looks like a down and out version of Humphrey Bogart and all he can do is shuffle around, holding out his hand and beg strangers "Hey buddy, can ya spare a dime?"
Well that's this guy, Chuck Scott (played admirably by Robert Cummings), the hero of our story. A very hungry hero. With his stomach sucking back into his spine, Chuck turns forlornly to drag his feet off into the crowd when he spots something on the ground. No way! Could it be? A wallet! he quickly snatches it up and checks the contents. It's full of money!
And that lucky find is the worst thing that could ever have happened to poor Chuck. In the dark city where noir stories like his happen, he would have been much better off missing a few more meals. But that wasn't to be his fate. No, sadly Chuck's fate would involve a vicious gangster and his blood thirsty crew; a damsel in distress who turns out to be a little bit suicidal and who can resist that? Chuck sure will wish he had been able to.
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Joseph Logsdon's video review of The Chase. Joseph has his own Youtube channel that you might want to check out HERE.
Joseph makes some interesting observations about the movie, some I agree with, some I'm not so sure about, but that's part of the fun of listening to other film fans.
His brief review here gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect from the movie in terms of an experience.
He closes out with a statement of pure truth, that you will be thinking about this movie for a long time after you have finished watching it.
Personally I would like to add that you will be surprised at how many times you want to watch it again and again. The doors here at Harem Cinema are always open so come back as many times as you want. We are always glad to see welcome you.
The above scene here above, that Youtube reviewer Joseph Logdon uses as a backdrop for his overview of the movie, is the infamous 'train scene' that I refer to further down the page. You will love this scene when you watch the movie.
Genre: Noir.
Director: Arthur Ripley.
Writers: Philip Yordan (written for the screen by), Cornell Woolrich (book).
Music: Michel Michelet.
Release Date: 16 November 1946 (United States).
Studio / Distributed By: United Artists
Running Time: 86 minutes.
Starring: Robert Cummings, Michèle Morgan, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre.
Interesting Things: "The Hedda Hopper Show - This Is Hollywood" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on November 9, 1946 with Robert Cummings and Michèle Morgan reprising their film roles.
Plea for Help! I do not have a copy of this Hopper Show episode but would love to hear it and share it with you all so, if anyone either has a copy or knows where I can get one, please CLICK HERE to go to the CONTACT page here and let me know. Thank You!
MEET THE PLAYERS
Let me introduce you to the people who take you down this sordid little back-alley into their dark and ugly world. Each, in their own way, is memorable and, even charming in their own, unsavory flavor.
MEET THE VILLAIN
Steve Cochran plays the bad guy of this piece, Eddie Roman and boy-oh-boy is he a piece of work. It has been said that it is the villain and not the hero that makes a story great and those are some large headlines to live up to but Cochran pulls it off. His performance is cold and callous in a way that makes us fear getting on the wrong side of him.
Right from the very moment when you first meet him he makes your skin crawl. He is sitting there like a gentleman getting his nails done, almost the picture of a dandy. How bad a guy can this fop be? you'll think to yourself. But you won't think it for long. He chills our blood as he indifferently backhands a woman, feeds a man to his dog and cold-bloodedly looks out only for his own interests.
His sadism is almost like a hobby for him. It doesn't seem to come from any need to achieve an objective other than his own amusement. For instance, when the hero of this story, Chuck Scott (Robert Cummings) does him a good turn and returns something to Eddie that he had lost, Eddie offers him a job as his chauffeur. What a nice gesture! Eddie's not so bad, right? Let's see if you still feel the same way about nice-guy Eddie after you watch the scene with the train. It's a scene that even unnerves Eddies brutal sidekick (Peter Lorre) and leaves you wondering if Eddie is a little bit in love with the idea of dying. Eddie Roman is definitely not someone you want to cross.
MEET THE CHUMP
Chump might seem a bit harsh to call poor, old Chuck Scott, played admirably by Robert Cummings. But remember that Chuck's problems really stem from all of the decisions that he makes along the way. It's a rough road for the hungry fellow we first meet staring in through the coffee shop window at the cook preparing food on the skillet. Chuck, as down on his luck as a man can get, is so hungry that he stands fixated by the very sight of the sizzling food. He leans in so far, desperate to get just a smell of it, that the brim of his hat squished flat on the shop window.
It's an image that makes you feel for the guy, makes you wish you could buy him a sandwich and a cup of steaming joe. You like him even more when he does something decent, proving to you that he's a good sort of guy. But it's a dark city in the world of noir and there are no pure white angels. The second time you watch this movie you will start to notice how self-centered Chuck is and how quickly he betrays.
MEET THE DAME
Michèle Morgan is the damsel in distress. She is held captive in a life she no longer wants, imprisoned by the evil King of the castle, Eddie Roman. It makes you wonder how an innocent little girl like her ever got herself into a sticky predicament like this. The fallen, little angel with the broken wings that can't fly away to free herself. But before you start feeling too sorry for her, just remember that in the concrete jungle where the bad things happen, there's nothing but fallen angels. Just like Chuck, Lorna, desperate as she may be to get away, keeps sinking into the darkness of the noir nights. Yet just when she thinks that suicide may be her only way out, she suddenly sees a new chance to escape. The new driver that Eddie hired. Maybe he would be willing to help her?
WHAT MAKES THE CHASE SO GREAT
This movie aint no Star Wars. Star Wars, the epic, science-fiction-space-opera that literally changed the world and became a box-office phenomenon was, and still is, a great movie largely due to it's incredible special effects. Now that isn't to take anything away from the actors or even the story but when people talk about the Star Wars franchise, they almost never start off by talking about how impressed they were by the acting. To be fair, when you have lightsabers, tie fighters and wookies, who can focus on the acting as well with all of those spectacular things vying for your attention?
So when I say that The Chase isn't any Star Wars, I am being serious. This movie doesn't have any gigantic sets or stage pieces and it doesn't need them. In fact, with this pressure cooker of a film, those kinds of things might just even get in the way of all the tension boiling between the characters on the screen.
The story of what happens to this poor sap, Chuck Scott, captures you right from the very first moments of the movie and doesn't let up until the final frame. That's the magical beauty of film noir, it doesn't offer you any respite but keeps piling up the pressure until you break. That's why noir films like The Chase give us such a rich, satisfying experience that is hard to get anywhere else.
All of the characters are full, completely realized people who's lives we are sneaking a peek at and we become completely involved in what we are spying on. And of course we are entrapped. After all the story is based on the book by the almost mythic figure of the author Cornell_Woolrich.
Below is a well written overview of the book that the film The Chase was based on. Be warned that there are some SPOILERS in it so you might want to watch the movie before you read the book review.
THE BOOK THAT STARTED IT ALL
Based on his original short story "Havana Night" (Flynn's Detective Magazine, December 1942), The Black Path of Fear is the fifth novel in Cornell Woolrich's Black Series. Like much of Woolrich's work, Black Path of Fear deals with the destruction of love, the individual versus the system, and, of course, revenge.
In this case, Bill Scott finds himself on the run from police and trying to prove his innocence after being framed for the murder of the woman he loved, the kept woman of a crime boss he worked for and stole her from. What sounds like a convoluted plot comes across straightforward, as do many of our hero's escapades, as he winds his way through the labyrinthine streets and underworld - from dark, narrow alleys to decrepit opium dens - of Havana.
There aren't many twists or surprises in Black Path of Fear, but that's not why one reads Woolrich; the focus of the story is on the main character's despair and loneliness, and how redemption, vengeance, or the occasional ally, do little to console those who have lost love.
The Black Path of Fear is my favorite title in the Black Series, for while likely intended to describe a lone man's flight from injustice or pursuit of justice, it can also stand as a description of life itself, and how all people are loners struggling to hang on to that brief glimmer of light that the rest of the world seems determined to extinguish at any given chance. _ Review by S. Michael Wilson. Follow him on Amazon to read more of his book reviews. He has written about some of my all time favorites and maybe some of yours too.
Eddie Muller, a well known aficionado of the film noir genre, describes the differences between Woolrich's book and this movie with these words "The Chase (UA), was a much wilder ride. Screenwriter Philip Yordan threw out the map (The Black Path Of Fear) in the middle of the trip, and seemed happy to arbitrarily change destinations thereafter. Director Arthur Ripley didn't even bother with the brakes. As a result, The Chase is as spellbinding as a car wreck." - An excerpt from his own book, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir.
You really can't call yourself a film fan and certainly not a film noir fan if you don't have a copy of this movie in your private library. But, unlike these gritty, dark movies, lady luck is with you today and she's rolling the dice in your favor. You can get The Chase AND Bury Me Dead. That's right, it's a classic DOUBLE FEATURE offer.
Don't deny yourself, treat yourself!
One click on the button below and both of these movies will be yours. And if you need an excuse
to spoil yourself a little, then just go and read the reviews about what other movie fans, just like you and me, are saying about it. Oh and if you know of a better deal out there somewhere,
don't be shy, post it in the comments below so that we can all get the benefit!
A DIFFERENT ACTRESS
Joan Leslie, probably best known for her role as Velma in the 1941 Humphrey Bogart film, High Sierra, was originally slated to play Lorna. Would Joan have delivered a better performance than Michèle Morgan? We will never know for sure but we can each form our own opinions and then engage in a lively debate about it. I mean, that's part of the fun of being a film fan, isn't it?
So let's start the argument...I mean conversation. Who do you think would have been better in the role of Lorna, Michèle Morgan or Joan Leslie? Use the comments section below to voice your opinion.
If you are unfamiliar with Joan's body of work, take a look at her in the classic Bogey movie High Sierra by clicking on the button below and adding it to your DVD collection.
So, if Joan Leslie was signed to play the role of "Lorna" on 6 Mar 1946, what happened? Why didn't she end up playing the part? Well as it turns out, Joan was still under contract to Warner Bros. and had not obtained a release from them that would allow her to perform the role.
In a story that just rings of Old Hollywood drama, the studio refused to lend Joan out and even went so far as to obtain a restraining order on 18 Apr 1946 to prevent her from appearing in pictures for other producers! Wowee! Those old studio guys played hard ball.
In what could be described as a hissy-fit, Joan then attempted to get out of her contract with Warner Bros. But the WB boys were not so keen to give her what she wanted as her contract with them still had three years to run. Joan's argument that was, since she had signed her initial contract with Warner when she was a minor, she had the right to disaffirm her contract when she reached the age of consent. Which is exactly what she did in Feb 1946. On 25 Mar 1947, the district court of appeals upheld a 23 Apr 1946 ruling that freed Leslie from her Warner Bros. contract. - Source: American Film Institute.
RADIO SHOWS
In what is now quaintly called Oldey Times, families used to gather around the wireless radio and settled in to listen to radio plays. Probably the most famous of these radio dramas is the infamous War Of The Worlds broadcast delivered by Orson Welles and his The Mercury Theatre on the Air. Broadcast as a Halloween episode on Sunday, October 30, 1938. The show is now legendary as having caused a mass panic among people who thought it was a real event and that aliens were really invading our Earth.
Well the good news is that those days are not over. Some of those early radio readings are still available and Harem Cinema is proudly presenting them to our loyal listeners.
The Black Path of Fear on Suspense March 7, 1946
The Black Path of Fear on Suspense: August 31, 1944
Michèle Morgan or Joan Leslie?
Who do you think would have made a better Lorna?