What a mass of European talent enriched Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s. Though foreign talent had been welcomed in the twenties, with the likes of Lubitsch, von Stroheim, Sjöström and Mamoulian changing the film landscape, bringing a European sensibility and subtlety, it was later with the influx of refugees that Europe became absolutely entrenched in Hollywood product - it's rare to find a film of this era without immigrant names both behind and in front of the camera. Film scores particularly became owned by the Germans - Steiner, Korngold, Friedhofer, Waxman - here it's Adolph Deutsch (orchestrated by Murray Cutter) providing the marvellously moody score to underline Huston and Koch's dark screenplay, the story of three losers who meet and share a sweepstake ticket under the gaze of a mysterious oriental statue. (I love the way its eyes do seem to open in the crucial moment, cunningly filmed by Arthur Edeson.)
But where are my manners? It's intriguing right from the off as Geraldine Fitzgerald knows she's being followed by Sidney Greenstreet and immediately invites him up to her's - I say! He's somewhat put out to find louche Peter Lorre there as well, before getting involved in the spell of Kwan Yin... Only then do we follow their individual stories of doom, featuring Joan Lorring again, Robert Shayne, Marjorie Riordan, Arthur Shields again, Rosalind Ivan, Peter Whitney (the other crook) and Alan Napier. The Lorre-Lorring relationship is the sweetest thing about this tangy concoction.
Negulesco - should you wonder - was Romanian, originally an artist.
No comments:
Post a Comment