Movie Review: The Fake (1953)

Genre: Crime Drama

Director: Godfrey Grayson

Starring: Dennis O'Keefe, Coleen Gray, Hugh Williams

Running Time: 80 minutes

Synopsis: American private detective Paul Mitchell (Dennis O'Keefe) is in London to solve the mystery of recently stolen Leonardo da Vinci paintings. After thwarting another attempted theft, he meets Tate Gallery employee Mary Mason (Colleen Gray) and suspects her disgruntled father Henry (John Laurie) is creating fakes to help conceal the thefts. Wealthy benefactor Sir Richard Aldingham (Hugh Williams), Tate director Randall (Gerald Case), and insurance investigator Smith (Guy Middleton) are all interested in the outcome of Mitchell's sleuthing.

What Works Well: This British production strides confidently into the haughty art world where criminal behaviour is more about ego than greed. Many of the scenes are filmed at the Tate, and director Godfrey Grayson commits to a nightime Noir aesthetic filled with shadows and stark light sources. O'Keefe is sturdy in the lead role, and the romance with Gray is pleasingly slow-to-blossom and carries the thorns of ulterior motives. The soundtrack playfully interprets Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

What Does Not Work As Well: Some of the plot details jump to conclusions, including rushed determinations of fakes and originals and Mitchell immediately suspecting Henry Mason's involvement. Some of the cloak and dagger scenes are unnecessarily drawn out, while in contrast the final act short-changes the antagonist perspectives as it hustles towards the ending.

Conclusion: Not a masterpiece, but still a fine picture.



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Movie Review: The Killing (1956)

A high-tension heist movie, The Killing counts down the hours towards an audacious robbery from the perspective of the gang members. Attention to detail collides with a strained domestic relationship, yielding exquisite drama.

Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) was only recently released from prison. He promises his devoted girlfriend Fay (Coleen Gray) that his next heist will be a big one, allowing them to start a new life together: he plans to rob $2 million from the racetrack on the day of a high-stakes race.

Johnny's assembled gang includes veteran con man Marvin (Jay C. Flippen) and two racetrack insiders: cashier George (Elisha Cook Jr.) is desperate to buy nice things for his demanding wife Sherry (Marie Windsor), and bartender Mike (Joe Sawyer) needs money to help care for his sick wife. Police officer Randy (Ted DeCorsia) is also involved, and he plans to use his cut to pay-off debts to ruthless mobsters.

Johnny also hires brawler Maurice (wrestler Kola Kwariani) and sharp-shooter Nikki (Tim Carey) to cause distractions on the day of the robbery. The plans appears solid, but Sherry is ambitious, deeply unsatisfied in her marriage, and having an affair. She extracts information from George and provides it to her boyfriend Val (Vince Edwards), jeopardising all of Johnny's plotting.

An adaptation of the book Clean Break by Lionel White, The Killing is written and directed by Stanley Kubrick as a tight and crisp exposition of heist planning. Using documentary-style narration and subtle jumps in time to sharply define the characters and cover their actions leading up to the all-important seventh race at the track, Kubrick weaves a gripping tale of crooks coming together to execute the perfect robbery, except that the criminals themselves are far from perfect.

Cramped sets, stark light sources, dark shadows, sweaty, crumpled close-ups and remarkably fluid camera movements define a visual style coiled with tension and a sense of doom. For all the meticulous planning leading up to the robbery, this group of men is simply too flawed to pull off a heist of this magnitude, and their character weaknesses create an undercurrent of pending calamity. Johnny is going for a much larger haul than any of his previous jobs, now with the understanding that prison is prison so he might as well aim big. Marvin is small time, cashier George is meek and insecure, police officer Randy is dense enough to get into debt with the mob, and bartender Mike is no criminal.

Notwithstanding exceptions like Fay, men like this tend to attract the wrong kind of woman, and sure enough Sherry instigates the rot. George is too stupid to notice that contempt is the only emotion his wife feels for him, and she senses an irresistible opportunity to get rid of him and get rich doing it. As the pathetic George, Elisha Cook Jr. is a doleful presence, emerging from behind his cashier window to create a black hole of creeping ruin.

The 85 minutes of running time are perfectly paced. On several occasions Kubrick stops the clock just as the seventh race is about to start, and rewinds to fill in more preparation details and further increase expectations. By the time the gang swings into action and every man plays his role, all the groundwork appears to pay off, with the added bonus of one racist meeting quick justice. 

But the final act is the anarchy of the universe descending upon Johnny, mundane rules and an agitated small dog having never factored into his planning. The beauty of a plan coming together is only surpassed by the potency of unanticipated randomness.



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The Movies Of Coleen Gray

All movies starring Coleen Gray and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Kiss Of Death (1947)

Nightmare Alley (1947)

Red River (1948)

Kansas City Confidential (1952)

The Fake (1953)

The Killing (1956)

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Movie Review: Nightmare Alley (1947)

A dark story of unconstrained ambition, Nightmare Alley is a richly textured drama exploring the limits of human desire fueled by greed and delusion.

Stan Carlisle (Tyrone Power) works with a scrappy traveling carnival, helping mentalist Zeena (Joan Blondell) with her show. She used to have a classy revue with Pete (Ian Keith) using a language code to pretend to read minds. Now Pete is reduced to a state of perpetual drunkenness.

Stan is an orphan, abandoned by his family at an early age and eventually raised in a convent. An ambitious risk-taker with a gift of oral communication, he seduces Zeena into teaching him the code, while romancing fellow carny Molly (Coleen Gray). He marries Molly and together they leave the carnival and use Zeena's code to establish a popular mentalist act at big city nightclubs.

But Stan wants more. He meets equally ambitious psychologist Lilith (Helen Walker), and her confidential audio recordings of patient sessions provide an opportunity to target the wealthy. Now encroaching into fraud, deception and profiting from private information, Stan creates a moral quandary for Molly.

A captivating character study, Nightmare Alley accompanies one man on a journey from the squalor of a cheap traveling carnival to the bright lights of swish big city and back again. Jules Furthman adapted the William Lindsay Gresham book into a powerful and purposeful script, packing poignant moments alongside performance highlights to track Stan's trajectory. Edmund Goulding directs with a firm hand and a noir spirit, maintaining control of a sprawling, multi-chapter story full of surprises.

Some moments reach exceptional heights of subtle emotion. In a long scene, the inebriated and quickly fading Pete demonstrates just how easy it is to create a beguiling illusion. Ever the quick study, Stan later puts this lesson to good use in distracting a Marshal intent on shutting down the carnival. Most profound is a stunning exchange between Molly and Stan, as she finally draws a line in the sand and confronts his out of control hubris.

Nightmare Alley is elevated by featuring three strong women characters. The seasoned Zeena has been around the block of fame and gives Stan his break after falling under his spell. Molly is the great love of his life and is devoted to her man, including any unconventional action needed to save him. And Lilith is his intellectual equivalent from the posh side of the tracks, and the one woman potentially as conniving as he is.

Exceptionally well defined, all three women remain true to who they are and abide by their principles, unmoved by Stan's fluctuating fortunes. They are brought to life by stellar performances from Joan Blondell (wary), Coleen Gray (ardent) and Helen Walker (icy).

Meanwhile Tyrone Power delivers what is probably the best performance of his career. Personable, irresistible, capable, dangerous, seductive, scheming and rapacious but never exaggerated, Power finds space for all of Stan's complexities in an astounding milestone.

Uncompromising and meticulously crafted, Nightmare Alley is a dream achievement.

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