Nocturne (1946)

Directed by Edwin L Marin; produced by Joan Harrison

The theory that composer Keith Vincent (Edward Ashley) committed suicide may satisfy Lieutenant Halberson (Walter Sande) of the Los Angeles Police Department, but it doesn’t sit well with his colleague, Joe Warne (George Raft). For him, it’s a case of cherchez la femme, though there are rather too many ‘femmes’ to suspect.

A fairly standard detective movie, Nocturne doesn’t quite fit the standard film noir category. Though it has some elements, it seems more to be trying, than achieving. What else it doesn’t achieve is status good enough to recommend.

The plot is convoluted, relying partly on contrivance. For instance, we know the victim refered to the woman who is in his apartment when he dies as ‘Dolores’. Warne remarks that a similar notation on sheet music should make his job of locating the woman in the case easy. But it turns out that Vincent called all the women in his life ‘Dolores’. Why, we are never told. It seems just a device to lengthen the story.

Interestingly, Warne is first pulled off the Vincent case, and then suspended from the force, for his tenacity, and for upsetting too many citizens. I found the sensitivity of the police toward the public’s complaints to be a contrast to the usual situations in similar movies, in which the police could do pretty much as they liked without repercussions. Which is the more realistic portrayal of the times and place I can’t say.

Raft does a good job as the main character. Warne can take care of himself, but one gets the idea that Humphrey Bogart or maybe Pat O’Brien in one of his detective roles would not have been as long in solving the crime. There is one frustrating scene in which Warne misses the reaction a song has on a woman right at his table, because he is watching for a reaction from a second woman. This doesn’t impress the viewer, though Warne does take a couple of beatings more realistically than other crime-movie characters, and Raft is probably the only actor whose 40 year old character could live with his mother and still come across as tough.

The supporting cast is adequate. Lynn Bari plays the love-interest. She fills her role well, but there is no chemistry felt between her and Raft. For the short time they are on the screen together, he and Virginia Huston, who plays Bari’s character’s sister, seem to have more of a natural connection. John Banner has a small role as a commercial photographer.

The script is nothing special. The physical solution to the suicide / murder mystery seems far-fetched, and certainly nothing that the audience would come up with given the clues, while the motive just doesn’t appear strong enough. The direction gives us one very impressive tracking shot - the opening sequence - which begins over the entire city, then narrows through a wide window to Vincent at his piano. Done with special effects, it is probably the best thing in the film.

Over all, Nocturne is, if not routine, then not unusual, either. It doesn’t entertain or thrill enough to keep the viewer attentive, and interest in the whole story is maintained more to see the matter through than for any other reason.

It Happened in Broad Daylight (a.k.a. Es geschah am hellichten Tag; 1958)

Directed by Ladislao Vajda; produced by Lazar Wechsler and Artur Brauner

Oberleutnant Matthäi (Heinz Rühmann) is leaving the Zurich Cantonal Police to take a job re-organising the police in Jordan. Before he leaves Switzerland, however, he is called to one last murder-scene: that of a small child. Matthäi turns over the investigation to his successor, Lieutenant Heinzi (Siegfried Lowitz), who quickly arrests the peddlar who found the body. After an intense interrogation, the peddlar kills himself, and the case is considered closed. But Matthäi doesn’t believe in the peddlar’s guilt, and begins his own inquiries, which could bring himself - and innocent people - into danger.

A very entertaining and involving crime drama, It Happened in Broad Daylight is almost as interesting in its making; it is a very international film. A Swiss-Spanish-West German co-production, its dialogue is in German (the language of the setting) and stars mainly German and Swiss actors. Yet the principal female player (María Rosa Salgado) is Spanish, playing a Swiss, and there’s an Italian actor (Ettore Cella), while the director is a Hungarian, who made movies in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Britain, as well as his homeland. The picture’s cosmopolitan nature is demonstrated in the version I saw: in German with English sub-titles but with Spanish credits (which gives the title as it must be in Spain: El Cebo (The Bait).

Sometimes, such a collaboration can lead to muddle, but It Happened in Broad Daylight runs smoothly, thanks to the direction and script, and the lead actor. Rühmann was one of Germany’s most popular performers, starting in the theatre and moving into comedy films, later taking on more dramatic roles. He is perfectly cast here as the dedicated Matthäi. The other actors are just as good, though it is Rühmann who is the film’s centre. The only face that might be familiar to North American audiences is that of Gert Fröbe, who played the title character in Goldfinger.

The story is tense without being overly dramatic. It creates an intriguing character in Matthäi, who is not the obsessed detective one finds in many similar movies. The parents of the murdered child make him promise to find her killer, and he takes the promise seriously, but it doesn’t overwhelm him. Even leaving the police force in the first place he finds rather regretful, but little more than a natural career move for him. Nonetheless, he becomes dedicated in his hunt for the murderer.

The narrative is not really a mystery for the viewer, since we are shown the killer about three fifths of the way through the movie. But this does not ruin the story. Instead, it adds to the suspense, showing the acceleration toward the next crime from the criminal’s point of view, while Matthäi continues to struggle with finding the culprit.

The setting, for non-Europeans, is also of interest. For the most part, movies provide views and interpretations of Switzerland that look like they are half-travelogue, frequently with obligatory shots of mountains. Switzerland as seen here is rather a more work-a-day country, less intrinsically picturesque, more familiarly bu still exotic.

It Happened in Broad Daylight is an excellent crime and detective film; not a mystery, but exciting and entertaining even so.

Blood Work (2002)

Directed and produced by Clint Eastwood

At the scene of a crime, FBI agent Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood) sees someone he suspected was the serial killer he had been tracking. Giving chase, McCaleb suffers a severe heart attack and collapses. Two years later, the retired McCaleb is approached by Graciella Rivers (Wanda De Jesus), who wants his help in finding the murderer of her sister, killed during a convenience store robbery. When he learns that it was the dead woman’s heart that was transplanted into his chest, McCaleb decides to look into the unsolved felony, but finds old crimes, and old criminals, have yet to be laid to rest.

A largely ordinary crime/thriller, Blood Work nonetheless benefits from its leading man. Eastwood, 72 when he made this movie, may be a bit old for the part, though shaving a few years off that age for McCaleb is not unrealistic. Yet, ironically, it is Eastwood’s age that helps makes the character convincing.

Many movie detectives are weary of their jobs, of the world which they inhabit, the people with whom they must interact. McCaleb is tired, but more physically than anything else. He takes things slowly, gives no indication that he regrets his retirement and is happy to live quietly. Though unstated, it is implied that he was satisfied with catching killers and saving lives. But his bodily condition has put limitations on him, physically, and Eastwood convincingly plays a man who knows these limitations and tries to live accordingly.

De Jesus fills her role adequately, but doesn’t bring anything outstanding to the part. The other actors, except for Jeff Daniels and Paul Rodriguez, are mere place-fillers, Anjelica Huston’s thankless role as McCaleb’s doctor being a surprise. So too is Dylan Walsh as a police detective; though he had had bigger, fuller roles previously, notably in 1994’s Nobody’s Fool, he does little more here than follow Rodriguez about. And Rodriguez is an annoyingly abrasive and callous character of whom a viewer wants to see less.

Daniels makes the most of his contribution as McCaleb’s slacker neighbour, a self-proclaimed loser, who provides the enthusiasm that McCaleb is trying to control in himself, for the sake of his heart.

The story, though rather far-fetched, as many serial-killer movies tend to be, is at least interesting, though the revelation of the murderer’s motivation may be guessed by the more attentive viewer. There are a few good action scenes, but the climax is too drawn out and incredible. There is no reason why McCaleb could not have summoned police support for the confrontation with the killer. The romance between Eastwood and Rivers is understandable but perfunctory, and would probably have been better left as potential than actual.

A decent if unremarkable movie, Blood Work succeeds largely because Eastwood acts his age. For long a macho and robust performer, he leans into his literal weaknesses here, and adds more as the film’s lead actor than as its director and producer.