Stealers Wheel

Perhaps one of the best descriptive titles to ever come out of Hollywood is The Asphalt Jungle (even though it is the title of the book the film is based on). Directed by John Huston, the 1950 title vividly exemplifies film noir: a dark, gritty, dog-eat-dog world – its only difference from the animalistic wilderness is the stark stone and cement infrastructure that frames the vice-filled world. Oh, and are there vices! Each character has his or her own cross to bear – dragging them down into a world of sin and sorrow. As Doctor Erwin Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe), the mastermind of the heist, puts it: "One way or another, we all work for our vice". Youthful gals, wealth and extravagance, liquor, gambling on the horses, and an infatuation for a specific man are just some of the misdeeds you’ll find in this movie. The above mentioned Doctor, recently released from prison, has devised an intricate heist – the take, at least one million dollars. Reaching out to a name he heard bandied about on the inside, he visits a bookie by the name of Cobby (Marc Lawrence). Needing the proper backing, a meeting is set between the man with the plan and a prominent, albeit shady lawyer, Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern).

There is perhaps no better synopsis of Charlie Chaplin’s first full length feature film, 1921's The Kid, than that provided by the filmmaker himself. As the motion picture begins, we read the Title Card: "A picture with a smile - and perhaps, a tear". Already an international superstar at the time, Chaplin decided to give his iconic character of The Tramp a full length feature. Taking five and a half months to shoot the film, it once again reiterates just how much of a perfectionist the man was (as movies during this time were nearly never granted this sort of shooting schedule). Similarly, like the rest of his projects, Chaplin writes, directs, produces, acts in and composes the music for this one. The loveable vagabond that is The Tramp (Chaplin) this time finds himself with a baby in hand. A Woman (Edna Purviance), having had a child out of wedlock and with nowhere to turn, leaves her newborn in a wealthy family’s car – hoping that they will adopt it. In a piece of unfortunate happenstance, the car is stolen by a pair of criminals. Dumping the baby at the first possible chance, The Tramp then stumbles upon it in a filthy alleyway.

Placing us in the back seat with three escaped convicts, director André De Toth makes us culpable from the very beginning in his 1953 film noir Crime Wave. We know that there is an inevitability to the scene, though at first, we do not know exactly what that is. The three unscrupulous amigos are on a crime wave (who would have thunk it?). Pulling up to a gas station late one night, the attendant finds himself knocked out by the group – they then take their sweet time filling their tank and robbing the store. Soon, a cop drives by, circling around when he does not see his friend at the pump. Things turn ugly, leaving one of the criminals shot and the officer dead with two slugs in his chest. Splitting up, gang leader ‘Doc’ Penny (Ted de Corsia) and his thuggish accomplice Ben Hastings (an early role for Charles Bronson – you can tell this as he is credited as Charles Buchinsky) take off, leaving their wounded compatriot to fend for himself.

Depicting a nightmarish landscape of big city nights, with a mix of brightly flashing neon signs and foggy, shadowy landscapes, the classic 1944 film noir Murder, My Sweet, directed by Edward Dmytryk (The Caine Mutiny), is a feast for the eyes. Our reflective narrator is Philip Marlowe (played by Dick Powell in this one), his eyes bandaged in ominous fashion as he recounts the strange tale of his most recent mysterious cases to the circling sharks that are the police – especially lieutenant Randall (Don Douglas). The iconic private detective is, as he says, "just a small businessman in a very messy business". Dmytryk’s canvas oozes a certain visual panache, a perfect example being the way in which Marlowe meets a new client. Gazing out at the flashing neon signs from his office, in certain lights, he sees a face no one could forget (though at first it feels like some sort of vision or premonition). Soon, he realizes that there is a behemoth of a man standing behind him, named ‘Moose’ Malloy (Mike Mazurki) – he is a tough, thuggish giant who lacks brains, but makes up for it with brawn and a stick-to-it-iveness that is difficult to ignore. Marlowe soon realizes that the confused man won’t take no for an answer, so he accepts the money being offered to him and decides to hear him out.