Ok, just here to talk about some more films I've watched.
He Walked by Night (1948)- This was an interesting one. This film is a combination of noir and police procedural crime drama that has all that we love of both genres: contrasting black and white photography, shadows, gritty realism, cynicism, the stentorian narration & that oh so brutal violence! The story follows a group of policemen in LA trying to catch an intelligent (well for the most part), shrew, & cold-blooded killer played by Richard Basehart. Basehart's performance is outstanding, unnerving, and creepy! His character is resourceful and keep his tools on hand in odd places. There are remarkable noir setpieces in this that that have all fine shadings and detail that I honestly don't want to spoil as I feel everyone should experience them if they watch this for the first time. All I will say is that the excellent black-and-white photography by John Alton deserves all the praise it gets. This is a small film that is worth watching.
The Great Zeigfeld (1936)- I don't think I have much to say about this one. It was a fun watch with some highlights, but ultimately nothing notable stands out from this picture. William Powell starts as Flo Ziegfeld with his usual dapper & suave persona trying to upstage his pompous and competitive pal played by Frank Morgan. Zeigfeld here is presented as an individual with little faults. Loved all women, but eternally faithful (apparently) to both of his wives. A rogue that is continuously broke, but can still afford a life of luxury, skating on his personality and promotional talent. Luise Rainer is in here as a charming and graceful as ever with a good performance, but one that does raise an eyebrow on how it was Oscar winning. Fanny Brice, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger are all memorable and have their moments. Myrna Loy appears too, but isn't given much to work with and is left underutilized. She and Powell could've used more to make their romance more palatable to develop the relationship between Ziegfeld and Billie Burke. ' The Great Ziegfeld' can be seen as draggy and uneventful and could easily been trimmed down. Aesthetically speaking, most of the big numbers here are ugly in the extreme. They're incredibly stiff, shallow in light of having no real thematic or narrative content, and just seem hollow. I feel the narrative could have been deeper and darker if the film was willing to explore Ziegfeld's flaws and would've given the proceedings more dramatic weight. Even, so it's still a relatively fun harmless watch if you don't mind the story of Zeigfeld being detracted for long periods.
