The Third Man (1949)

One of my favorite movies is The Third Man. In the film, an American writer (Joseph Cotten) tries to unravel his friend's mysterious death in a corrupt post-WWII Vienna run by all four Allied forces. The friend, named "Harry Lime", is played by Orson Welles.

This is one of those movies where I always seem to forget how it ends and what becomes of Harry Lime.

This movie always gets better and better every time I watch it.

I never owned a copy of the film, so recently I purchased the film on Blu Ray from my local Barnes and Nobles. It comes with a terrific commentary and is loaded with special features. My favorite is the short documentary about the real Third Man Museum in Vienna. Not surprising, most of the visitors who attend are Americans.

• More about this movie from Cinema Catharses here
• More from Greenbriar Picture Show here

The Crimson Kimono (1959)

Two close-knit L.A. detectives investigate a stripper's murder in Samuel Fuller's underrated B/W film noir from 1959. Fuller wrote, produced, and directed the picture.

It begins as a mystery crime drama then evolves into a love story. Everything melds together in the end after a climatic street parade chase scene that reminded me of the one in 1993's The Fugitive.

The detectives are buddies, the best of friends. Both served in Korea together. One of the guys is played by James Shigeta (1933 - 2014) and he really impressed me. His character goes through an emotional transformation when he meets Victoria Shaw. There is a moving sequence where his character struggles with his own identity, and wrestles with labels such as "Asian American". It was great to see him take on the lead role in this picture, his only lead role other than The Flower Drum Song. 

Though there is an interracial romance, I didn't think it was the main focal point or a distraction. It added interest to story's love triangle that jeopardizes their friendship and the murder case.

I was delightfully surprised by the performance of Anna Lee in this picture. She plays a wise cracking drunk who helps the detectives throughout the case. A very different Anna Lee than I have ever seen.

Another review of this film from the blog Surrender to the Void

The Maltese Falcon lives on at John's Grill in San Francisco

Last night, a colleague and I had dinner at John's Grill in San Francisco, which is my new favorite restaurant in San Fran.

The theme of the 2-floor restaurant is the classic 1941 film. Movie photos and memorabilia throughout the interior, and there was a nice jazz band playing live music upstairs.

To eat, I had the most delicious seafood cannelloni, which was filled with dungeness crab, shrimp, baby spinach, cheese, and cream sauce.

http://www.johnsgrill.com

Highly recommended dining experience for the movie buff.

Fallen Angel (1946)

A good film noir starring Linda Darnell (one of her first films) and Alice Faye. Dana Andrews is a drifter who finds himself in a remote California beach town near San Francisco. He's a con man who starts his act almost from the moment he gets off the greyhound. But as the film progresses, he actually becomes the one to bring justice to the town.

Supporting performances by Anne Revere as Faye's overprotective sister, Charles Bickford as a lawman, and John Carradine as the strange fortune teller who comes passing through town -- he and Dana Andrews try to out-con each other, followed by a strange seance that exposes the fortune teller for the fraud he is.

This was Alice Faye's last film appearance for 16 years. She retired from films and divided her time between her radio show with husband Phil Harris and raising their family.

More reviews at other blogs here:

Film Noir Archive: Review of Fallen Angel

Classic Movies Digest: Review of Fallen Angel

Laura's Misc Musings: Review of Fallen Angel

Detour (1946)

Saw "Detour" today at the Silent Film Theater in West Hollywood.

Read a blog post about this movie from Avvaganda.com here

Another blog post here