--Sudden Fear
At my (mostly) weekly visit with a couple friends we decided to watch this film, which all of us have seen
at least a few times, with the audio commentary. The film is about a person who discovers her relationship
is in jeopardy from her partner and she decides to do something about it. (That's so vague, but...) It's a
classic film noir with Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, both Oscar nominated for their roles, and also stars
Gloria Grahame, who is so great in this film. She was also Oscar nominated this year, and WON!, but not
for this film, but for the vastly problematic film The Bad and the Beautiful. (I recently tried to watch that
film again, but just couldn't get through it, so I just fast forwarded to Gloria's few scenes. The fact that
Gloria Grahame was in at least 4 films this particular year, was probably why she won for the role she
was nominated for, though I feel it's the worst of the roles. She was also in the best picture winner
that year, The Greatest Show on Earth, and the film Macao.)
The film historian who did the audio commentary was very good. He allowed for specific lines to be heard,
or an important scene, and was very informative throughout. Film commentaries vary widely across the
spectrum and aren't always very good. I find that the film historians who do commentaries seem to be
the best. They prepare for them and always have something interesting at their fingertips.
I know I didn't relate much about the actual film, but if you like film noir I don't see why you wouldn't be
engaged with this film. It mostly takes place in San Francisco and some of it was shot there, but I learned
from the commentary the finale scenes were shot in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles where many
great film noirs were shot. The city planners demolished it in the late 50's into the 60's because they felt
it was a blight on the city and the best thing to do was to make it vanish, but so many since have a deep
appreciation for the place that it was.
Bunker Hill: For anyone interested, a little info from wikipedia:
Film
In the 1940's and 1950's, Bunker Hill was a popular film setting, especially in the film noir genre, because of its Victorian homes, its rambling hillside apartments and flophouses, its Angels Flight, and its mean (or at least mean-looking) streets. It was used extensively in such crime films as Somewhere in the Night (1946), Cry Danger (1951), Criss Cross (1949), Joseph Losey's M (1951) and Angel's Flight (1965), among many others. In 1966 it was used in the only episode of Perry Mason ever shot in color: The Case of the Twice Told Twist. (The CBS President wanted to know how the series would look in color if they renewed it for a 10th season.) Director Curtis Hanson recreated Bunker Hill in another hilly neighborhood altogether in his Oscar Award-winning L.A. Confidential (1997). Kent Mackenzie made a film in 1956 called Bunker Hill which was about the displacement of the residents who had to make way for construction. Another film by Mackenzie that was set in the area, his neo-realist and semi-documentary feature The Exiles (1961) depicts the lives of a tribe of urban Indians on Bunker Hill in the late 1950's.
Bunker Hill was a destination of many local artists and photographers, some in its heyday, others as it was being demolished and rebuilt. Among the latter was the Los Angeles photographer Ray McSavaney. Angels Flight and its Third Street neighborhood, c. 1930's, were recreated in South Africa for the filming of Ask the Dust (2006) starring Colin Farrell, based on the novel by John Fante, which was set in the district in the 1930's. Fante also wrote a book called Dreams From Bunker Hill. The 2nd Street Tunnel under Bunker Hill is still widely used in film and advertising.
