WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956)

Solely based on the lurid posters and DVD cover, you would think that WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS was a straight up pre-PSYCHO horror movie about a serial killer preying on innocent women. But, just like how Jesus says in Matthew 7:46: “And Jesus said unto Asmodeus, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’”, so should you not judge WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS by it’s artwork.

After a mildly startling opener featuring a poor woman who just wants to take a bath without getting murdered, we’re introduced to media mogul Robert Warwick who’s so attached to his job that he has his literal death bed in his office! He has two regrets in his life: one, his shitty douche of a son (played brilliantly by Vincent Price) and two: not officially naming faithful TV anchorman Dana Andrews as the person to take over his empire when he croaks…which he does like 5 seconds later. His death puts Price in charge and his first order of business is pitting his main bosses into an all out war with each other. And that includes one dude who’s long-dicking Price’s own wife! Goddamn! Added to all this (don’t forget we still got a serial killer running around) there’s a subplot about Andrew’s fiancé, Sally Forrest, who also works at the news network and happens to live across the hallway from Price’s wife’s fuck shack! And, if that wasn’t enough, you have writer Ida Lupino getting in the middle of everything. It’s awesome.

As always, I went into the movie totally blind and I ended up having a lot of fun. I was straight-up shocked by the star-power in the movie (both in front and behind the camera) and very impressed by the maturity of the script. Overall, I found WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS to be a great discovery (to me, at least) and recommend it to fans of older Hollywood. The only thing that really stood out as a negative was Sally Forrest's hair.

Not part of the review, but a few interesting(?) things that I discovered while reading about the movie: the original 1953 novel, named "The Bloody Spur" (no clue what the fuck that means) was written by Charles Einstein who is the half-brother of both Albert Brooks and Bob Einstein! The killer was played by John Drew Barrymore, who is the son of John Barrymore and the father of Drew Barrymore!

DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)

"I couldn't hear my own footsteps.  It was the walk of a dead man."

Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) has a pretty swell life.  He has a cush job as an insurance salesman (semiannual sales record..twice in a row!), he has a cozy apartment and a nice car.  Then his life is turned completely upside-down when he's introduced to Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck).  An outwardly beautiful woman with the soul of a bull shark.  From the very second they lay eyes on each other, it's fireworks!  I love that first scene with them alone together.  There's so much rapid fire double entendres and shit-talking going back and forth, that I couldn't do anything but sit there grinning like a fool, jealous of the brilliant dialogue written by screenwriters Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler.

Anyway, without him even knowing it, from that very first meeting, Phyllis has her claws sunk into Walter's soul and he's doomed.  He tries to play it cool, but then, when she finally admits that she not only wants his help in murdering her husband, but in also setting up an expensive accident insurance policy on him, Walter topples like a house of cards.  He sacrifices his entire life over some sex...but then again, isn't that the short history of humanity?

DOUBLE INDEMNITY is considered a landmark in American cinema and justifiably so.  At the time it came out, there was pretty much nothing like it in regards to the way it looked (darkness everywhere; dust in the air; the shadows of the Venetian blinds going across Walter to look like prison bars, etc.) and the absolute sordid behavior of the lead characters, especially Phyllis Dietrichson.  She's evil through and through.  Just look at her face while her husband is being brutally murdered.  That subtle look of gratification that goes beyond sexual pleasure and into malevolence is extremely disturbing.  And that's really saying a lot about the acting abilities of Barbara Stanwyck (at least to me, because I think that she is the most beautiful woman to ever grace the silver screen).  She's gorgeous, but at the same time completely repulsive.

Fast pace, venomous dialogue, perfect acting, interesting Los Angeles locations, deep shadows, psychosexual themes, costume design by Edith Head, a Raymond Chandler sighting, extremely influential photography that is still being copied today.  Plus...it has the immortal line "They know more tricks than a carload of monkeys." Holy shit!  Hahaha!

I could go on for hours about DOUBLE INDEMNITY, but I'll just cut it short and say that it is required viewing by every classic movie fan.

Fun fact: Edward G. Robinson was was the original singer for Alice in Chain's song "Rooster". "You know he ain't gonna die...yeah, seeeeeee!" True story.

Raymond Chandler (seated)