Saturday, October 04, 2008

2-for-1 Mitchum, aka Fire Sale

Blood on the Moon (1948)
directed by Robert Wise
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
seen on the screen at Guild Cinema

This, by contrast, teams Mitchum with the "honest" suppliers of Indian reservation beef against an old friend whose sleazy mustache signals trouble the second he tries to stake partners with a sad-sack Walter Brennan doing his best serious grandfather routine. Because it's RKO, the production design, cinematography (by Nicholas Musuraca), and breakneck pace conspire to cover as much unstable ground as possible. They almost make it, but the unexplained (nearly inexplicable) title is an unspoken reminder that not every accomplished B-side matinee was a masterpiece in miniature. It doesn't need to be a masterpiece to be a bargain.

Pursued (1947)
directed by Raoul Walsh
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
seen on the screen at Guild Cinema

I just finished Grant Morrison's 12-issue run on Superman, which, instead of inevitably reducing Superman to Luthor's level, elevated Lex to all-powerful terror. I hope that's enough of a prologue to segue into saying that my movie kryptonite is the family melodrama. The moment mom twists up her face at the prospect of her pretty daughter's marriage to the wrong fool, Walsh's finish line recedes behind the next long bend. Even in New Mexico, shot by James Wong Howe, starring Robert Mitchum, the dull core of angry siblings and intolerant parents cools the aesthetic periphery at an extraordinary rate. I begin to forget the movie even as I'm watching it, except for one or two memorable alleyways and a stray marksman in back of the black.