Directed by Christian-Jaque (L'assassinat du Père Noël, Voyage sans espoir, L'enfer des anges).
Written by Henri Jeanson, Christian-Jaque, and Louis Chavance. Cinematography by Louis Page and Christian Matras. Music by Arthur Honegger.
The film stars Louis Jouvert (Un Carnet de bal, Jenny Lamour, La charrette fantôme, Entre onze heures et minuit) as Jean-Jacques Sauvage.
Louis Jouvet was one of the great French leading men, an "A list" actor. He looked a lot like American character actor Ned Sparks, both were stone faced, both were tall, thin, almost appearing gaunt at times. They have similar deliveries of there lines. Both were born in the 1880s and both died in 1950s. Both were big in the 1930s and 1940s.
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| Louis Jouvert lt., Ned Sparks rt. |
Also starring are Gaby Morlay as Geneviève Gonin, François Périer (Nights of Cabiria, The Man Who Never Was, Le Samouraï), as François Nisard, Jean Brochard (Diabolique, Rafles sur la ville) as Jérôme Nisard, Ludmilla Tchérina (The Red Shoes) as Karina the ballerina.
With Hélène Ronsard as La jeune femme, Arthur Honegger as himself / En personne, Léo Lapara as Marchal, Armand Lurville as Le commissaire (as Lurville), Maurice Nasil as Le cousin, Max Bozzoni as Serge, Arthur Hoérée, Louis Seigner as Edmond Gonin, Marguerite Moreno as Tante Jeanne.
Story
Lyon, birthplace of Claudius, yes, that Claudius, Emperor of Rome, I, Claudius. Its at the Junction of the Rhône and Saône rivers with some very beautiful hilly topography.
The opening credits are over stills of a fog shrouded city in the fall season.
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| Montée des Chazeaux, Lyon |
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| Passerelle du Palais de Justice |
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| Louis Jouvert as Jean-Jacques Sauvage |
The man Jean-Jacques lifts his gaze to the buildings in the courtyard. We see what he sees and then our gaze drops down to to a sign that reads. Jérôme Nisard and Edmond Gonin Silk Merchants.
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We cut to two men Jérôme Nisard and Edmond Gonin arguing about money. Watching them is Tante Jeanne and two other men, are cousins also with a stake in the company.
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| Louis Seigner as Edmond Gonin |
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| Jean Brochard as Jérôme Nisard |
Jérôme wants the family business to absorb the 5 million franks he lost on the silk market. Edmond does not want to do this. Edmond offers to buy Jérôme's shares in the company if he needs money. Tante Jeanne tells him to have patience she may die soon, and while Jérôme is cajoling one of his cousins the phone rings.
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| Marguerite Moreno as Tante Jeanne |
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Its the receptionist downstairs, she relates that there is a visitor downstairs who wants to see him but wont give his name. Jérôme tells her no visitors.
After he hangs up, the cousin who he was working on replies that there is one solution to his problem, marry his son François to the Brunet's daughter they are another silk family with lost of money.
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Tante Jeanne asks Jérôme if François would accept such a scheme? Jérôme replies that he won't even ask him. If it comes to that he will sacrifice him. Nice family. We watch as Jérôme walks towards the window, and gazes out.
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| Louis Jouvet as Jean-Jacques |
Down in the courtyard we see Jean-Jacques come out below the window and then after a brief glace around again walk back out under the arch. At the end, we watch him buy a bouquet of flowers. These he takes to an address. There he rings the bell and he gives the flowers to the woman who answers. He's revisiting his old girlfriend Geneviève's place.
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We cut to Jean-Jacques later, walking along the Quai du Docteur Guilleton, beside the Rhône. At just about the same time Edmond is passing in the other direction.
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| Place Antonin Poncet. |
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Edmond ducks down a narrow alley, soon followed by Jean-Jacques.
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Edmond heads up another passage through another building with interior balconys.
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He is soon tailed by Jean-Jacques.
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Edmond pops out on a street again and turns a corner.
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He finally get to his apartment at Place Bellecour, heads upstairs and quickly shuts the door.
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Jean-Jacques spots the apartment number on the second floor and heads upstairs.
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Once in the apartment Edmond calls out to his wife Geneviève, and tells her he just saw Jean-Jacques. The door buzzer sounds off and Edmond instructs Geneviève to hide.
The maid lets Jean-Jacques in and leads him into the parlor.
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| Gaby Morlay as Geneviève Gonin |
Edmond goes into the parlor, and meets Jean-Jacques.
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| You haven't changed either |
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The "Bull Fight" sequence with Eileen Lord and Jake LaMotta from Transitional Noir, Confessions of a Psycho Cat (1967)
The Upturned Glass
Velká Británie, 1947, 83 min.
Oblíbené motivy viny a pomsty zpracovává pozoruhodný britský noir Dokonalý zločin. Uznávaný londýnský neurochirurg Michael Joyce (James Mason) vede na univerzitě kurz o psychologii zločinců. V nejnovější přednášce otevře téma zločinů spáchaných zcela příčetnými a navenek normálními osobami. Aniž by to přítomným studentům přiznal, protagonistou jeho případové studie je přitom on sám. Ve flashbacku sledujeme jeho seznámení s matkou dívky, které Michael zachránil zrak. Žena však zanedlouho za záhadných okolností zemře a lékař je přesvědčen, že za to může její švagrová. Postupně začne vykonávat promyšlený plán pomsty...
Snímek se vyznačuje netradičními vyprávěcími postupy: z velké části se odvíjí v retrospektivě a v jednom místě zapojuje i další úroveň vnořeného flashbacku. Část vyprávění si nemůžeme být jisti, zda to, co sledujeme, je minulost tak, jak se skutečně odehrála, nebo Michaelova představa. Diváci jsou neustále znejisťováni a musí si počkat na potvrzení nebo vyvrácení svých hypotéz.
Michaelův příběh je současně použit pro prozkoumání vztahu mezi normálností a šílenstvím, vinou a trestem. Může být vražda v některých případech opodstatněna? Michael začíná jako spořádaný člen společnosti. Jako lékař je obdařen schopností zachraňovat lidské životy (k čemuž dostane příležitost i v závěrečné části filmu), ale stejně tak může člověka o život obrat. Vyvažuje jedno druhé? I pro film noir netypicky temný a bezvýchodný závěr naznačuje, že výčitky svědomí nakonec doženou každého.
Hlavní roli bravurně zahrál James Mason, který byl u vzniku filmu od úplného začátku. Se svou tehdejší manželkou Pamelou Kellino plánovali zfilmovat příběh ze života spisovatelské rodiny Brontëových, ale nakonec se obrátili ke kriminálnímu námětu Jno (Johna) P. Monaghana. Kellino spolu s Monaghanem napsala scénář a zároveň ztvárnila těžko čitelnou postavu Kate Howard, švagrové zesnulé ženy, která se stane terčem Michaelovy odplaty. Snímek se stal solidním komerčním úspěch a ztvrdil Masonův status přední britské hvězdy.
Režie: Lawrence Huntington
Produkce: Betty E. Box, Sydney Box (Triton Films)
Scénář: Pamela Kellino, Jno (John) P. Monaghan
Kamera: Reginald H. Wyer
Hudba: Bernard Stevens
Výprava: Andrew Mazzei
Střih: Alan Osbiston
V hlavních rolích: James Mason, Rosamund John, Pamela Kellino, Ann Stephens a další
Distribuce: General Film Distributors
Premiéra: 17. června 1947
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| Sewer - Unknown |
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| NYC - Louis Faurer |
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| Latin Quarter NYC - Unknown |
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| Carrie Boret |
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| Liam Wong |
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| Crime Scene Photo? - Unknown |
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| Gordon E. McCaw |
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| Dirty Windows - Merry Alpern |
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| Michael Sidofsk |
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ASK EDDIE returns Thursday, June 11, at 7:00 PM PT to our Facebook page.FNF prez Eddie Muller...
Noir Alley [Turner Classic Movies] - Hosted by Eddie Muller!16Mnu Thank you, Maxvayne for the list...
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Directed by Darren Stein (Jawbreaker).
Written by Catherine Eads and Darren Stein. Excellent Cinematography by Rodney Taylor and Music composed by David E. Russo.
This is one of those off the wall surprising sleepers that really hit on all cylinders.
If you have lived a sheltered life and have never gotten out of your comfort zone you may have have trouble relating to this tale.
Living in Montana for 24 years and not in any "Yellowstone" fantasy world, I met real people, characters of all types, who live in grey, wind blasted, clapboard, Sears & Roebuck, mail order ranch houses, in double wide mobile homes, in dilapidated trailers that will never move again, and even in converted railroad boxcars. Shift it all South and a little West a thousand miles.
The Mojave, straddling Nevada and California, is a more sun baked, blast furnace hot version of same.
Most of the locals are either in the mining, tourist and hospitality, or government services industry. Las Vegas and Reno are world class magnets. Sin Cities.
If you live in a Mojave trailer, you'll collect old tires and use them as Nevada Shingles to keep the roof from being blown off. If its located along the two lane you can slap together a roadside stand and sell rocks and cold drinks to the tourists as a side hustle.
Sparkler stars Park Overall (Biloxi Blues, Mississippi Burning) as Melba May, Veronica Cartwright (The Children's Hour, The Twilight Zone TV Series, The Birds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Right Stuff) as Dottie Delgato.
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| Park Overall as Melba May |
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| Veronica Cartwright as Dottie Delgato bringing a Marie Windsor vibe |
Jamie Kennedy (Scream) as Trent, Steven Petrarca as Joel, Freddie Prinze Jr. (She's All That) as Brad.
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| Freddie Prinze Jr. as Brad, Jamie Kennedy as Trent, and Steven Petrarca as Joel |
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| Don Harvey as Flint |
Don Harvey (The Deuce TV Series) as Flint, Grace Zabriskie (Norma Rae, The Big Easy, Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks TV Series, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Inland Empire) as Sherri, Sandy Martin (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Barfly, China Moon, Lovelace) as Ed.
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| Grace Zabriskie as Sherri bringing a Twin Peaks vibe |
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| Sandy Martin as Ed |
With Sheila Tousey as Hurricane, Octavia Spencer as Wanda, Glenn Shadix as Award Announcer, Gloria LeRoy (Barfly, Pennies From Heaven) as Maxine, Frances Bay (Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, ) as Raspy, Jack Wallace (Death Wish, House of Games, Boogie Nights, Twilight, Browns Requiem) as Jesse, and Chris Ellis as Buddy #1.
Story
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We get a low angle shot of a two lane blacktop cutting through the Mojave. A gust of wind blows a swirl of dust and trash. A Country Western turn begins and we segue to a highway map that has the films credits appearing as hand written notes on the paper.
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At the end of the credits we are watching a semi truck pull into a trailer park. The truck grill is decorated with a chrome "Lady Luck" sitting naked lady ornament.
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| Gloria LeRoy as Maxine |
Flint goes into the trailer. Sitting at a formica table are Melba, her best friend Hurricane and Melba's Mom Sherri. "Hey!", greetings all around as he takes off his jacket and strips off his T-shirt.
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Flint declares to the girls that it smells like a brewery in here. He opens the fridge adorned with magnets and grabs a beer, tells the girls he's gonna take a shower, and heads towards the john.
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Sherri gives a kiss to Melba and leaves the party. Just Melba and Hurricane are left.
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Hurricane gets up and walks into the kitchen.
Melba: Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be really rich?
Hurricane: Well I don't see much the point.
Melba: Well I think about it every time I fill out my sweepstakes.
Melba goes on to tell Hurricane that she'd buy a new house.
Hurricane: What's wrong with your trailer? Its the nicest one in the park.
Melba: Yea I guess you're right.
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Hurricane offers to do the dishes, but Melba's out of dish soap. Melba tells her she'll go walk down to the Mohawk Minimart and pick some up.
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When she gets back, the trailer has a banging and creaking sound coming from it. Melba assumes its their swamp cooler acting up again so she heads round back to check the hose connection.
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Melba now is hanging out at her mother's and the next day she calls her mother Sherri's favorite phone psychic Wanda who shuffles a deck of cards reads her fortune, telling her that she sees her surrounded by three kings.
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| Octavia Spencer as Wanda |
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That night Mable walks over to see her trailer. Flint is batching for himself, drinking and playing poker with buds. Mable peaks in in the widow and watches, and she overhears Flint tell his friends that he sure don't need Melba.
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Melba then goes and sits in her "al fresco" veranda with all her homemade "tinkle tree" windchimes, made out of crushed pop cans, and miniature hooch bottles.
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She lights a tar bar and begins to sob. She then gets some hoots and catcalls from a beamer convertible carrying Trent, Joel and Brad passing by on old US 91, now the service road along the Interstate. She stands up and waves at them..
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Cut to the Beamer. Trent is sitting on the back of the seat half his body is above the windshield. Brad is driving, bitching about Trent acting queer.
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Joel is depressed, drinking out of a pint booze bottle, and laying down on the back seat. His girlfriend broke their engagement, and hasn't given the ring back.
They are on their way from LA to Vegas to win some quick cash. The right rear tire blows and they pull to the shoulder.
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They hop out and Brad and Trent open the trunk and begin to pull suitcases out until Joel tells them he took out the spare tire to make room for all their stuff. Joel tells them don't worry they can buy another tire.
Brad pulls out his cellphone and calls AAA, while Joel announces that he needs a refill, and he sets out for a roadside bar called The Backwoods Inn. Trent follows.
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Cut to Melba and her mom Sherri. Sherri's solution to Melba's marital problems is making her have a "night on the town." Sherri's rutting around in her jewelry box, and pulls out some fancy tear drop earrings. then finds a fancy dress gown, to do them justice, and finally tells Melba to use the glitter press on nails she has on hand in a draw.
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Cut to Melba, all gussied up pulling into the Backwoods Inn lot.
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Inside Trent, Joel, and Brad are observing the clientele, while waiting for the Beamer's tire to get fixed. Joel remarks that he's never seen more polyester in his life. Trent remarks that its great, that's their life.
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| "I've never seen more polyester in my life" |
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At about this time Melba walks in.
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Brad: Check that out.
Joel: Woah! Somebody actually morphed a human being into a disco ball.
Trent: I think she's beautiful.
Brad: Don't look now but Little Miss Cherry Bomb is looking our way. She looks hungry.
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Trent: Come on man in her world she's glamorous. She's the sparkler.
Brad: Sparkler?
Trent: Sparkler-o-rama, Glowworm, Glamborella,
Joel: Glitterbug, coachroach.
Melba walks over to their table.
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Melba: Would one of you handsome young men care to dance with a lady? Well I'm a little new at this. I, ah, Haven't been out since, you know, fifteen years of marriage.
Trent: I'll dance with you.
Melba: Why Thankyou darling.
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While dancing Melba and Trent chitchat. We find out that the boys live in LA, are $3,000 behind on their rent and that two of them don't have jobs.
The dance ends and Melba comes back to the table and asks who's next. Joel slides down in his seat and says that he doesn't dance. Brad is chosen by Melba. While they dance Brad tells Melba that he's a Hollywood agent, tells her its all who you know. and gives her a card with his car phone number.
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About that time the boys learn that the Beamer is ready, and they say their good-byes.
When Melba gets back to Sherri's she tells her all about the three guys, and how they looked at her like she was a star and that one of them was a Hollywood agent.
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Sherri thinks they were bullshitting Melba. Then Sherri notices one of the teardrop earrings is missing. Sherri remarks $29,95 down the drain.
Sherri starts dialing the car phone number and Melba grabs it out of her hand.
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Trent answers the phone and Brad does have the earring caught in his jacket. They tell her that they can mail it to her when they get to Vegas, but Melba tells them that she can just meet them at the State Line Casino.
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When she hangs up Melba tells Sherri that she's going to Vegas, She needs a new start, and that she'll hit up her old high school friend Dottie Delgato for a place to crash. Sherri asks who? Melba replies that Dottie was the head cheerleader at Victor Valley High, she went to Vegas and became a showgirl.
Melba relates that she wrote that she was the hottest act on the strip, and that she is always asking her to come visit.
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The boys are killing time gambling at the casino waiting for Melba. When she finally shows she spots Trent at a blackjack table. Trent gives her the earring and Trent continues playing.
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Melba asks where they are staying in Vegas, and Trent replies the Plaza. When she asks when are they heading out Trent guesses as soon as Joel and Brad are back from the buffet.
When the boys get back Trent explains to them that he's winning and wants to play a little longer. Brad whispers to Trent to ditch her.
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After a few hands Trent tells Melba that he has to go to the bathroom and asks her to keep playing his hand for him. Four hours later Melba has amassed a huge pile of cash, and the boys are driving down the strip in Vegas.
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In the Morning, it starts going Noirsville.
Cut to Melba's trailer door. A voice yells action.
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The door opens a crack, and a V.O. announces "Good morning Sir, are you Mr. May?" Flint, sticks his sleepy head out.
Flint: Yea but I didn't do nothing.
Announcer: Is Melba May here?
Flint: Why, what did she do?
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Meanwhile Melba is hitting all the Casinos on the strip looking Dottie. She finds a couple of showgirls in the Tropicana.
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Melba: Uh, excuse me ladies, I hate to bother you, but I, I was wondering if you could help me, find a friend of mine?
Showgirl: What was her name?
Melba: Well Dottie Delgato, well actually she was a friend of mine in high school. [showgirls laughing]
Showgirl: I'm sorry honey but you know what, I don't think you are going to find her around here.
Melba: I beg your pardon?
Showgirl: No see, there's no way in hell that you can stay a showgirl on the strip for over what, ten years
Melba: Ah well she was a really good dancer.
Showgirl: Look honey I don't care if she was fucking Baryshnikov, okay, as soon as your tits start sagging you're outta here.
Melba: Do you know where maybe I could find her?
They send her to old Jessie a manager who has been there 20 years. Jessie asks her what's her name. Melba tell him Dottie Delgato.
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| Jack Wallace as Jesse |
Jessie: Delgato, Dottie Delgato, that name sounds familiar.
Melba: Well she would have been here in the late eighties.
Jessie: Hum, what she do?
Melba: Well she was a dancer.
Jessie: Her specialty, what did she do?
Melba: Well I haven't seen her since high school, she was head cheerleader, she twirled a pretty good baton.
Jessie: Baton huh, oh you mean Lady Luck. I remember her, [chuckles] Lady Luck loves to Fuck. Oh yeah I remember her. She'd get more guys horny with the things she used to do with that baton.
Melba: Do you know where I could find her?
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Cut to a Vegas strip joint. Melba is back stage speaking with Raspy, the female floor manager.
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| Frances Bay as Raspy |
Melba: Dottie Dottie Delgato
Raspy: Dottie Del Taco?
Melba: Delgato.
Raspy: Dottie, oh they all seem to be named Dottie. Dottie, Tammy, Chrystal, Vanna, oh that's a big one now. Did she have a stage name?
Melba: At the Tropicana I believe they called her Lady Luck.
Raspy: That's original, did she play with feathers?
Melba: Not to my knowledge, no.
Raspy: Did she use appliances?
Melba: No, but I think she did things with a baton.
Raspy: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, Lady Luck loves to fuck, yeah. No she's been, I haven't seen her around. Wait, wait, wait, some of the boys said they saw her at The Crack.
Melba: The Crack, where could I find that?
Raspy: Oh honey, you don't want to go there.
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Cut to the red lit entrance stairway to the subterranean shithole known as The Crack. An industrial RLM Shade with a red bulb illuminates cement walls and a pipe railing for the steps that lead down to a pile of trash. We hear music.
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The walls are graffitied. We see the silhouette of Melba at the top of the stair. One side of her silhouette we can see a spray painted outline of a nude woman, enhanced from the waist down with a fuzzy snatch for a crack. Must be the place.
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Appropriately, an outlined erect penis and balls sprouts at her feet. On the right side of Melba's silhouette we can partially read the tags Carrie White above another that is obscured.
Melba, in silhouette slowly, hesitatingly, continues one step at a time down. Perched above her are the crossed legs of a women. Mable stops and stares up.
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Melba: Oh this can't be right.
Ed: Can I help you?
Melba: Um, I was looking for a friend of mine. But I think I'm in the wrong place.
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Ed: Hey we're all looking for someone who isn't?
Melba: Lady Luck.
Ed: You mean Dottie, what are you looking for her for?
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Melba: I'm a friend of hers from high school.
Ed: Look I'm very protective about my girls. What do you want with her?
Melba: I'm in town for a visit.
Ed: Ok, to take her from here?
Melba: No, no I just hadn't seen her in a very long time.
Ed tells her its all right. She's up next why don't you have a seat?
Melba: Thankyou. [Mable stars to turn away then turns back] Do I have to pay a cover charge?
Ed: You gotta dick?
Melba turns away again for a table.
Ed [to a waitress}: Buy this girl a drink.
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After her performance Melba goes with Ed backstage. Ed goes into the dressing room.
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Ed: Are we taking visitors today?
Dottie: Well not unless they have a million bucks, or a cheeseburger.
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Melba: Dottie Delgato you can't stop cheering, can you.
Dottie: Melba May. Lord what are you doing here?
Melba: I decided to come to Vegas and track you down.
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Dottie: I bet you did. You find out about me and Flint?
Melba: Flint, what's Flint got to do with it?
Dottie: You know seeing you reminds me of being in the girl room smoking a joint.
Ed: Ah, you want me to stick around.
Dottie: What for I can handle myself, can't I. Ed, Melba, Melba, Ed, now get out.
Ed: we'll see you upstairs.
Dottie: Yeah
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Melba: Um so what's upstairs, another club, or.
Dottie: Its our apartment.
Melba: Oh, you two live together?
Dottie: Yea, you know its a dump, but she pays the rent.
Melba: She?
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| She? |
Dottie: Melba its the nineties, wake up.
Melba: Is she, is he, is it like a.
Dottie: Melba she's a woman, Ed is short for Edith.
Melba: Does she like looking like a man?
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Dottie: She does everything like a man, do you know what I'm saying? So what brings you here? Don't bullshit me, cause it must have taken an awful lot of effort to find me, cause it took a lot of effort for me to get here.
Melba: Well, Dottie what did you mean about Flint?
Dottie: Are you two still together?
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Melba: No
Dottie: Well good, then this won't hurt so much. You see, I've just been waiting for the day that you were gonna show up on my doorstep, cause I figured, sooner or later you'd find out, that Flint and i were seeing each other, if you can call it that.
Melba: You and Flint are Having an affair?
Dottie: Please, nothing so dramatic. No, you know, once or twice a year he'd blow into town,
Melba: And.
Dottie: Well lets just say he wasn't the only one getting blown.
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Melba: Well it really doesn't surprise me. I've know all along he was scum.
Dottie: Yea, you got that right.
Melba: Well why did you keep seeing him?
Dottie: Why the hell not, you know it's always nice to have a man once in a while. I mean I'm no spring chicken. Besides its was kind of fun to see Ed get pissed off.
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Melba: Why would Ed get pissed off?
Dottie: Because whenever Flint would show up, she knew she was off limits. Let me tell you she gets mighty pissy, when she ain't getting any.
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Melba: What like you and Ed, you mean you and she.
Dottie: What can I say. I'm a dykes bitch. But you know it's free rent.
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Melba: And what Ed would just let you go off with Flint?
Dottie: Look if you're not here about Flint, why are you here?
Melba replies that she left everything and is trying to meet up with some friends she met, and she needs a place to stay. When Dottie finds out that her friends are three boys from L.A. she gets excited, telling her that she would dump Flint too. Melba assures her its not like that.
Dottie: They are all just friends until you do them, and then they are nothing.
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At this point we are at the 52 minute mark and all the major characters are in place.
Noirsville
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Darren Stein along with Catherine Eads have managed to create a sweet and low down slice of reality of people who barely have a pot to piss in or a window to through it out of. The dialogs all ring true and the stylish cinematography by Rodney Taylor draws you right into that world.
The film also has boasts a very nice soundtrack.
Park Overall nails Melba May's naive innocence, Veronica Cartwright is a hoot as Dottie, who in one of her wigs, is a spitting image of Marie Windsor, you have to check it out. Grace Zabriskie is another standout performance, and she brings a lot of "Twin Peaks" cinematic memory to the film along with another Lynch staple Frances Bay.
Sparkler is also a quasi coming of age & poignant coming out film, with Jamie Kennedy, Steven Petrarca, and Freddie Prinze Jr. as the generation X-er's who are also quite entertaining. Sandy Martin brings a Madame Spivy vibe to the film, and Don Harvey is a perfect shit-hawk.
From the original posters it looks as if it was marketed wrong, looks as if they were probably shooting for the teenage demographic when its way more quirky and adult and definitely more in the David Lynch, Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino, John Dahl, and solidly in their Black Comedy Noir wheelhouse. Bravo! 8/10
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| Fine Art America |
Anne Hockens’s listsA list of all the films discussed in last week’s ASK EDDIE episode is...
Paris Theater - Noir City: New YorkWe are in New York, baby!
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| Frank Larson |
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| Unknown |
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| New Amsterdam Theatre - 42nd Street - Times Square - New York Noir |
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| Unknown Model - Camera Club Girl? - Housewife making some quick bucks? How Noir of her... |
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| Subway New York City |
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| Unknown Model - Camera Club Girl? - Housewife making some quick bucks? How Noir of her... |
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| Weegee? |
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| Grasada |
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| Hill Street Tunnel Portal - this side appeared in Criss Cross - Opposite portal was where Audrey Totter ripped up the fight tickets and trew the pieces down on a trolley |
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| Birdland NYC |
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| Arizona Hotel - Van Buren Street - Phoenix - 1940s - Unknown |
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| Unknown Model - Camera Club Girl? - Housewife making some quick bucks? How Noir of her... |
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| Sloppy Joes - Miami Beach? |
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| Unknown Model - Camera Club Girl? - Housewife making some quick bucks? How Noir of her... |
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| Screen cap Scarlett Street |
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| Unknown Model - Camera Club Girl? - Housewife making some quick bucks? How Noir of her... |
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| Gallup, New Mexico - 1966 - David Vestal |
ASK EDDIE - May 28, 2026Last week’s ASK EDDIE is now on YouTube. FNF prez Eddie Muller responds to...
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"Noir Happens!!!"
Directed by Tim Burton (Frankenweenie, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks, Sleepy Hollow).
Written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski and based on Rudolph Grey's book "Nightmare of Ecstasy " the definitive biography of the cult filmmaker.
The excellent B&W cinematography was by Stefan Czapsky (Last Exit To Brooklyn, Edward Scissorhands), and Music was by Howard Shore.
Here, Noir happened again, Noir Visual Style with un-conventual subject matter that never would have been approved by the old MPPC or Legion Of Decency. Ed Wood has an abundance of Visual Style to easily tip Noir for me, bringing it solidly into the Black Comedy Neo Noir fold.
If you are a visually perceptive person you will definitely pick up on the vibe, mood, or atmosphere the excellent cinematography created.
The film stars Johnny Depp (Dead Man, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sleepy Hollow) as Director Ed Wood. Martin Landau (North By Northwest, Johnny Staccato TV series, Outer Limits TV series, Twilight Zone TV series, Mission Impossible TV series) as Bela Lugosi, Sara Jessica Parker (Sex And The City TV Series) as Dolores Fuller, Patricia Arquette (True Romance, Lost Highway) as Kathy O'Hara. Jeffrey Jones (Amadeus, Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow) as The Amazing Criswell. George 'The Animal' Steele as Tor Johnson.
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| Johnny Depp as Ed Wood |
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| Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi |
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| Sara Jessica Parker as Dolores Fuller |
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| Patricia Arquette as Kathy O'Hara |
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| Jeffrey Jones as The Amazing Criswell |
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| George 'The Animal' Steele as Tor Johnson. |
With G. D. Spradlin as Reverend Lemon, Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket) as Orson Welles, Lisa Marie (Mars Attacks!) as Maila Nurmi / Vampira, Bill Murray (Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters) as Bunny Breckinridge, Mike Starr (Millers Crossing, Crime Story TV series, Last Exit To Brooklyn, Goodfellas, Billy Bathgate) as George Weiss. Max Casella as Paul Marco, and Brent Hinkley as Conrad Brooks. Juliet Landau as Loretta King. Ned Bellamy as Dr. Tom Mason, Stanley DeSantis as Mr. Feldman, Rance Howard (Cool Hand Luke, Chinatown, Nebraska) as Old Man McCoy, Korla Pandit, as "Indian musician," cameos from actors who actually worked with Wood on Plan 9 from Outer Space, Conrad Brooks (as a barkeep) and Gregory Walcott (as a possible backer).
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| Lisa Marie Maila Nurmi / Vampira |
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| Juliet Landau as Loretta King |
Ed Wood was born in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1924, and yes his mother would occasionally dress him up as a girl when he was a toddler because she always wanted a girl. As a kid he collected comic books and pulp magazines, listened to radio shows and loved going to movies i.e., Westerns, Monster and Sci-Fi movies and serials were his favorites. Buck Jones and Bela Lugosi were two of his earliest childhood idols. On his 12th birthday he received a Kodak "Cine Special" and one of his first shorts was of the zeppelin Hindenburg as it flew over Poughkeepsie on its way to Lakehurst NJ, and infamy.
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| Bardavon Theater on Market St. Poughkeepsie |
One of his first jobs was as a theater usher, possibly at the Bardavon on Market St., just a twelve minute walk from his house. He habitually raided the theater trash for posters and lobby cards. He also sang, played string instruments, drums, and formed a quartet called "Eddie Wood's Little Splinters"
After serving in WWII's Pacific theater he was discharged at 21 years old in 1946, and moved to Hollywood in 1947 where in the next eight years, he wrote plays, scripts, and even directed some early television pilots, shows (Criswell Predicts (1953-61 TV series (a daily show of 5m duration))) and lots of commercials. This film picks up the story in the early 1950s.
Story
The opening credits are a recreation of the typical kitschy opening sequences of Ed Wood's films including an opening monolog by The Amazing Criswell.
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Criswell: [First lines] Greetings, my friends! You are interested in the unknown. The mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing you the full story of what happened. We are giving you all the evidence based only on the secret testimony of the miserable souls who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, places. My friends, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Can your heart stand the shocking facts of the true story of Edward D. Wood Jr.?
This segues into a shot of the Hollywood sign in the rain and then backs out displaying the City of Angels, and then to the exterior of a small NoHo theater called The Village Playhouse.
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| Bill Murray as Bunny Breckinridge |
Pacing out in the rain is Ed Wood waiting for a theater critic to show. Through the lobby door emerges John "Bunny" Breckinridge a drag queen friend of Ed's. Bunny tells Ed that they can't hold the curtain. any longer.
We cut to the stage and see two men in combat uniforms sitting in a foxhole they are Paul Marco and Conrad Brooks. As they say their lines we see a soaked Ed watching and mouthing their lines. At the finale a deus ex machina angel Dolores Fuller descends on a swing appearing to the soldiers.
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| Max Casella as Paul Marco, and Brent Hinkley as Conrad Brooks. |
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Cut to the rainy exterior of Bordener's a cocktail bar. Inside, sitting in a booth are Ed, Dolores, Bunny, Paul and Conrad.
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A bust, but Ed not phased, points out that at least the critic mentioned the accuracy of the uniforms that Paul and Conrad wore. That's a positive.
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: [Reading the review] Look, he's got some nice things to say here. "The soldiers' costumes are very realistic." That's positive!
Bunny Breckinridge: Rave of the century.
Later that morning Ed and Dolores are in bed. Ed is having second thoughts, questioning whether he has any talent and stating the fact that he is 30 years old and Orson Welles his inspiration, made it at 27.
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We jump ahead a few years and Ed is now working as a greensman for a studio, there he makes useful acquaintances and contacts.
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One contact of which is the studio film editor / librarian who shows Ed interesting footage on a moviola. Ed tells him that he could create a whole film based around the stock footage.
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: Why, if I had half a chance, I could make an entire movie using this stock footage. The story opens on these mysterious explosions. Nobody knows what's causing them, but it's upsetting all the buffalo. So, the military are called in to solve the mystery.
Editor on Studio Lot: You forgot the octopus.
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: No, no, I'm saving that for my big underwater climax.
One day when dropping a palm off in a office he overhears a couple of women laughing over an article in Variety about a producer named George Weiss at a studio named Screen Classics attempting to buy the rights of the Christine Jorgensen Story.
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Ed then he hops in his 1940 Plymouth De Luxe and heads over to Screen Classics.
When he meets Weiss he discovers that the Jorgensen project fell through and that Weiss is stuck with already printed posters with the title "I Changed My Sex."
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Edward D. Wood, Jr.: Is there a script?
Georgie Weiss: Fuck no. But, there's a poster.
Ed tells Weiss that he is especially qualified to write and direct because he secretly likes to wear woman's clothes and that he knows what it's like to live two lives.
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Edward D. Wood, Jr.: I like to dress in women's clothing.
Georgie Weiss: You're a fruit?
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: No, not at all. I love women. Wearing their clothes makes me feel closer to them.
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| Mike Starr as George Weiss |
Georgie Weiss: You're not a fruit?
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: No, I'm all man. I even fought in W.W.2. Of course, I was wearing women's undergarments under my uniform.
Weiss throws him out.
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Ed dispirited gets drunk in Boardner's lounge until he runs out of cash. Then while on his way to the De Luxe he passes The Hollywood Mortuary a funeral parlor with a coffin display and spots Bela Lugosi laying in a coffin.
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He walks in and stands by the coffin. Bela opens his eyes.
Bela Lugosi: This is the most uncomfortable coffin I've ever been in. Your selection is quite shoddy. You are wasting my time.
Eddie tells Bela the he was his favorite star.
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Edward D. Wood, Jr.: Mr. Lugosi, why are you buying a coffin?
Bela Lugosi: I'm planning on dying soon.
They start walking down the street on the sidewalk.
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Edward D. Wood, Jr.: Boy, Mr. Lugosi, you must lead such an exciting life! When is your next picture coming out?
Bela Lugosi: I have no next picture.
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: You gotta be joking, a great star like you? You must have dozens of them lined up!
Bela Lugosi: Back in the old days, yes... Now, no one gives two fucks for Bela.
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: But you're a big star!
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Bela Lugosi: No more. I haven't worked in four years. This business, this town, it chews you up, then spits you out.
[pauses]
Bela Lugosi: I'm just an ex-boogeyman.
When Lugosi stops at the bus stop, Eddie is surprised that he doesn't drive and offers him a lift.
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The gist of the sequence is that Eddie realises that Bela is broke and could use the money and that he can use Bela as star power for the Weiss film.
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When he finally gets home he tells Dolores that something wonderful happened, she thinks he got the job but Eddie explains he met Bela Lugosi.
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Eddie goes back to Screen Classics and Georgie Weiss.
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Georgie Weiss: So, what was the important news you couldn't tell me on the phone, again?
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: Well, I started thinking about what you were saying about how your movies need to make a profit. Now, what is the one thing, if you put it in a movie, it'll be successful?
Georgie Weiss: Tits.
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: No, better than that. A star.
Georgie Weiss: Kid, you must have me confused with David Selznick. I don't make major motion pictures; I make crap.
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: Yes, but if you take that crap and put a star in it, then you've got something.
Georgie Weiss: Yeah. Crap with a star.
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Noirsville
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| Rance Howard as Ols Man McCoy |
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| Korla Pandit, as "Indian musician," |
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This is a very entertaining Bio Noir not only about Ed Wood but it also can be extrapolated to reflect similar stories for all exploitation films. John Waters and his weird counterculture friends as his cast comes to mind immediately.
In the late 1950s and 1960s all an exploitation film had to do to make all its money back was to play two weeks in a grindhouse theater.
Burton and Czapsky do a great job recreating what exploitation film production was all about, with a cast that gives us very convincing performances. Bravo! 10/10
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| Frank Eber |
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| Rayan |
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| Signed Above |
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| Unknown |
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| Gypsy |
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| Martin Lewis |
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| Pasquale Tauura |
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| Unknown |
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| Unknown |
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| Unknown |
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| Leslie Patterson Sapp |
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| Highway Host - Mesa, Arizona - Unknown |
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| 8th Ave - New York Neo Noir - Unknown |
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| Hanging out at St. Marks Place - East Village - Fred W. McDarrah |
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| Neon Funeral Home - How Noir is This |
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| Baby Dolls - Dallas-Fort Worth - Unknown |
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| Streetwalkers - Unknown |
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| Motel Nude - Tan lines - At least her carpet matches her drapes..... - Unknown |
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| Greg Gerard |
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| New York Neo Noir - Bruce Martin |
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| Grozdan Milovic |
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| Los Angeles Subway - Unknown |
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| Los Angeles Noir - Follies Burlesque - Girls on F Street |
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| Pennsylvania Railroad - West Philadelphia elevated parallel to Schuylkill River - Unknown |
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| Unknown Model - How Noir of her.... |
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| Shabaz |
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| Unknown Pole Dancer - Stripper - Unknown |
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| Passion Play - Mickey Rourke and Megan Fox |
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| Watts Riot - Unknown |
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| Shower Girl - Barry Mahon |
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| Rt 66 Henning Motel - Newberry Springs, California - Unknown |
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ASK EDDIE returns Thursday, May 28, at 7:00 PM PT to our Facebook page.FNF prez Eddie Muller...
Heart of Noir
Noir By the Shore
Ten intense beach scenes where the noir waves get rough