It’s a perhaps not on the level of the very elite noir films but it’s on that second plane and certainly has great work from Anthony Mann behind the camera and John Alton the DP
I love the cast as well- O’Keefe isn’t awful but he isn’t remarkable either—I think 5 years later this role goes to Sterling Hayden and it’s better for it- he could do the “brute with a good heart” so well. But the rest of the cast is superb, Raymond Burr is perfect as the brutish heavy and John Ireland is as slippery as they come. But, as far as the acting, the one who steals the show is Claire Trevor. She does the voice over (and it’s sublime) and places the girl from the wrong side of the tracks (literally grew up here on “Corkscrew Alley”. It’s an interesting narrative nuance but she, as the narrator, doesn’t really know what’s going on with Burr and Ireland and the gangster’s side of the story
Love the street lamp lighting in the foreground shot used a few times
There’s an amazing scene (and most of the really good scenes are in the last half hour) with the telephone obstructing the mise-en-scene—totally in the foreground and sits there for 20-30 seconds (which is an eternity) and then it rings and it’s an important call. It’s Mann saying “this call is going to change everything” and it’s impeccably done
Again, Trevor is marvelous—there’s a close up on her with her own voice over and building music—it’s an amazing scene
Love the shot towards the end on the boat. It’s night and the light shining in is through the porthole
It’s hard to see the scene of Burr falling and not think of Rear Window
Probably the most famous scene is the fight sequences between O’Keefe and Ireland in the taxidermy shop with the big stuffed Bear. It’s gorgeous mise-en-scene. There is netting obstructing the frame—it certainly has a ton in common with von sternberg’s blue angel
Very sordid tale- banned by Joe Breen moral police but then they hired his son to help edit it
There’s some rough patches as well. There’s a shot of Burr really out of focus and then John Ireland flubs shuffling the cards-
The theremin music—an electronical instrument is quite spectacular and effective. It’s used in horror films and also in lost weekend
[…] Raw Deal- A. Mann […]