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Saturday, January 18, 2020

THE BIG NIGHT (1951)

Between a splashy debut directing THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR/’48 @ R.K.O. and self-exile in Europe post-HUAC & Communist BlackList, Joseph Losey, no doubt already ‘GreyListed,’ made four interesting low-budget indies (‘50-‘51). First & best, THE LAWLESS, a harrowing look at race-hysteria on the U.S./Mexico border. While this one, last of the four, an early entry in the Boomer Generation/misunderstood-youth cycle, feels stale in spite of its fresh subject matter. John Barrymore Jr. blows hot-and-cold in what ought to have been a star-making turn, as the wimpy son of Preston Foster’s ‘dive bar’ proprietor. But after watching helplessly as Pop is beaten in front of him, the kid grows an inch-and-a-half of spine and sets out on a long night to seek revenge. What he finds, in addition to the ‘perp,’ is a philosophizing new friend; putative romance with the man’s intellectually inclined daughter; a reason behind the violence; deep, dark family secrets; and long lost Dorothy Comingore, mysterious drop-out co-star of CITIZEN KANE where she played the second Mrs. Kane then all but disappeared from the screen. (She soon would again.) Best elements here: Hal Mohr’s rapturous, dark cinematography (though some cheap city-street sets stump even him); and fun in seeing Philip Bourneuf, Junior’s new pal, take on the spirit of John Barrymore Sr. when tipsy. Did Junior, ten when his famous father died, notice?

DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned above, THE LAWLESS/’50, which should be much better known.

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