Thread: British Crime Fiction....

At the risk of hijacking the thread ..... in films I think of Alec Guinness in The Ladykillers, Lavender Hill Mob, and Kind Hearts and Cornets. More serious crime films from UK ..... Odd Man Out , James Mason, and Michael Caine in Get Carter. Not sure if it was filmed in Britain but I think so, Dial M For Murder is great.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

At the risk of hijacking the thread ..... in films I think of Alec Guinness in The Ladykillers, Lavender Hill Mob, and Kind Hearts and Cornets. More serious crime films from UK ..... Odd Man Out , James Mason, and Michael Caine in Get Carter. Not sure if it was filmed in Britain but I think so, Dial M For Murder is great.

All great films, Jimmy - really like the old type gangster/film noir genre! Cagney/Raft/Edward G/Bogey/Widmark - all excellent, solid films with memorable last lines like poor old Little Caesar, washed up and dying: "...is this the end of Rico?..."



and Cagney in Public enemy: "...I aint so tough..."



and again in White Heat: "...Cody Jarrett finally got to the top of the world and it blew up in his face..."

Interestingly, white Heat was based on a story by Virginia Kellogg. Just call me chauvinist!

Get Carter is one of my personal favourites (I like most of Caines films though, like the Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, the Italian Job...) and it was shot in the UK - Newcastle-on-Tyne/Gateshead. It was an adaption of a book by brit novelist Ted Lewis. Even though Lewis had a hand in the later US version of Get Carter with Sly Stallone in the lead, the two films are miles apart: the former looks pro and hard-hitting, the Stallone version a bit amateurish.

Funeral in Berlin and the Ipcress File were spy novels by brit author Len Deighton.

Talking of spy novels, you can't go far wrong with David Cornwell (aka John le Carre) - premier stuff.

Another old favourite is Dickie Attenborourgh in "Brighton rock" by brit author par excellence Grahame Greene, who also wrote "The Third Man" a Carol Reed production starring Orson Welles, a truly terrific film. Our Man In Havana is another one penned by Greene.

Regards,
Neil

I was maybe 12 years old when they ran White Heat on afternoon TV one weekend. I was 'blown away.' It was in the era of Rock Hudson and Doris Day "Pillow Talk" and that sort of fluff. Tame by today's standards, Cody Jarrett's brutality was shocking to me. Thirty years later, after Quentin Tarantino they would have to actually do 'snuff films' to shock. You mentioned Richard Widmark. His Pickup On South Street and Night And The City were truly great noir films.

I have both of those films, Jimmy! Widmark was another one who left an impression on me - I first saw him as a giggling, soul-less, psycho gangster throwing a tied up woman in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs - "Kiss Of Death", another favourite. There is a remake (late 1990s) with Nicolas Cage in it - another psycho vamp-up, but not in the same league as the original. Interestingly, the lead in the original was Victor Mature, but most people only seem to recall Widmark.

They aren't the same as today's films, granted, but the base emotions that give rise to greed, torture, murder, betrayal, etc are much the same, as are the reasons that otherwise sane, honest people like us watch them. In a way I think they were more honestly portrayed then and people acknowledged what they were - today, everybody else other than the perp seems to be at fault!

Regards,
Neil

Apologies to the OP if Neil and I are hijacking this thread ...... Yes, Widmark pushing the character of Victor Mature's mother down a flight of stairs in a wheelchair was also one of those I saw at a tender age. I can still hear the maniacal laugh after all these years. You mentioned The Third Man, one of the best films I've ever seen. The punch line when Orson Welles revealed himself was a total surprise to me. Carol Reed's The Great McGinty is another fav. Going back to Welles, his The Magnificent Ambersons is also a fav although a different genre.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Apologies to the OP if Neil and I are hijacking this thread ......

Absolutely no problem... the whole purpose of a thread is to generate converstation of people with similar interests..

Originally Posted by Chribo

Absolutely no problem... the whole purpose of a thread is to generate converstation of people with similar interests..

I was beginning to think the same as Jimmy. However, he is more to blame than me - I did add a few novelists names! Jimmy didn't - he has no shame at times...

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

...... Yes, Widmark pushing the character of Victor Mature's mother down a flight of stairs in a wheelchair was also one of those I saw at a tender age. I can still hear the maniacal laugh after all these years...

My dad used to like Widmark, even impersonated him. I knew I was in trouble when he started doing that laugh, although he combined it with Cagney's 'dirty rat' before chasing me. He used to do Burt Lancaster at times, which always confused me - didn't know whether he was angry or happy, but I took no chances. Those were the days, being chased by maniacally gigging father and screaming the houses down. Now you try and tell the young people of today that....

Regards,
Neil

Great early '50s noir with Burt Lancaster was "Kiss The Blood Off My Hands." Filmed in Great Britain and Burt is hard as nails. Unfortunately they sold out and have Burt's character become redeemed at the end.

If we're talking film noir, my favorites are "Touch if Evil", "Out if the Past", "Double Indemnity" and "Night of the Hunter". There is something about Robert Mitchum in "Night if the Hunter" that creeped the Hell out if me the first time I saw it.