OTTO PREMINGER, S / D

yeah, it's ok

Daisy Kenyon's the masterpiece from this era after Laura.

I like Whirlpool a lot; Jose Ferrer is very funny.

I liked Daisy Kenyon fine but masterpiece seems wild to me, maybe I should revisit... a lot of it just doesn't gel imo, particularly Henry Fonda's thousand yard stare character, seemingly airlifted out of Ford's The Fugitive from the same year.

The warmth and intimacy between the three, the lack of melodrama, etc that put it over. It's nothing like Laura or Preminger's other noir.

Watched The Human Factor last night and thought it was exceptional - I was pretty blown away. If you're a connoisseur of spy movies a la John Le Carre, this one really hits the spot. This Cineaste article captured a lot of what I loved about it (spoilers within, although the first paragraph should give you an idea of whether you will dig this or not):

This 1979 adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel, The Human Factor, was the final film of Otto Preminger’s distinguished, fifty-five-year career, and while far from Preminger’s best-known work, it’s a magnificent capstone, and a quintessential “late film.” Like the final works of some of the other great directors of the period (Howard Hawks’s Rio Bravo [1959] and Hatari! [1962] come to mind, as well as John Ford’s 7 Women [1966], Chaplin’s Limelight [1952], Fritz Lang’s The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse [1960], and especially Yasujiro Ozu’s final films), The Human Factor displays a cinematic mastery that may at first glance appear downright anticinematic. Radically dedramatized and free of stylistic flourishes, it’s a spy film that intentionally goes against the grain of what most viewers expect from the genre—it daringly courts charges of visual blandness, stilted acting, and unmodulated pacing, resembling a run-of-the-mill TV movie rather than a theatrical feature by one of the towering figures of mid-century Hollywood moviemaking. But to a perceptive viewer, this apparent blankness is the manifestation of a hard-earned cinematic wisdom, a transcendence of the youthful urge towards bold effects or self-evident expressiveness. The Human Factor is a brilliant demonstration of the devastating power that can result from eliminating stylistic adornment.

https://www.cineaste.com/fall2013/from-the-archives-the-human-factor

Sold.

Radically dedramatized and free of stylistic flourishes

I just read the book a couple of months ago. A repressed emotional tone would suit it.

Another unexpected credit in Tom Stoppard's screenwriting history (getting one distinguished writer to adapt another always strikes me as odd).... Nabokov for Fassbinder, Ballard for Spielberg, etc.

I enjoyed The Human Factor, tho OP fanatic KJB claims my failure to recognize it as a "masterpiece" indicates a massive blind spot. It's clear that Iman (who is onscreen a lot as Nicol Williamson's wife) is a first-time actor, but what some critics found "bloodless" or "juiceless" in its lack of high-pitched suspense worked fine for me.

I was put off by that bloodlessness in the first half to 2/3 of the film, but I appreciated it by the emotional payoff at the end -- most lives destroyed by international spycraft/tradecraft are destroyed without firing a shot.

I liked The Human Factor just fine, although if I hadn't known who directed it I'd assume it was, I dunno, Ronald Neame or something. Robert Morley is as amusing as ever.

I thought in the strip-club scene that he was being poisoned, from the way his eyes were bulging.

Laura is so batshit lol. I love it. When Laura's beloved maid Bessie goes into (deserved!) hysterics after realizing she's alive, Laura says, "It's okay, Bessie, go make us eggs." *walks regally out of kitchen*

Happy birthday!

I watched two Premingers this year. Was a little disappointed in Laura, but liked Bunny Lake Is Missing a lot.

I told my Laura-related Morbius story at his memorial.

Which can found here, mostly:

The Rouben Mamoulian Poll

Scroll back one for the set-up from Alfred if you need to.

i just watched Fallen Angel last night. A pretty fine noir, and a pretty interesting story. Dana Andrews' conman character is almost on the outside looking in while the grimmer noir story runs parallel to his less-than-savory con angle. it's a pretty unpredictable story, with a bit more heart and less doom than another similar story might possess. Andrews is vv good, Alice Faye is solid as the good girl, Linda Darnell is phenomenal as the supposed femme fatale, who is really more a lonely, sad, and tragic figure who's used and ogled and cast aside by men.

Like most Linda Darnell roles.

Mistakenly thought Jane Darwell

intrigued to check out Forever Amber while it's still on the criterion channel

That’s kind of a sleeper. Remember some good stuff was in it, especially George Sanders and the dogs, haven’t seen it in ages.

Mistakenly thought Jane Darwell

Trying to fight off Rudy Vallee and Howard Hughes, just to name two.