SMOOTH AS SILK (1946) and SO DARK THE NIGHT (1946)

SMOOTH AS SILK (1946)
Universal Pictures, 64m
Format: 35mm
6:45 PM, Saturday, August 27th, 2022

SO DARK THE NIGHT (1946)
Columbia Pictures, 71m
Format: 35mm
8:30 PM, Saturday, August 27th, 2022
 
NOIR CITY: CHICAGO 2022
Music Box Theatre, Chicago, IL
Friday, August 26th, 2022 to Thursday, September 1st, 2022
NOIR CITY: CHICAGO 2022 SCHEDULE

Yesterday's NOIR CITY lineup was presented by Turner Classic Movies' Noir Alley host Eddie Muller, who was onsite with a selection of B titles for the day. I attended two of them, each connected to the other by willful women whose actions lead to dire consequences for the significant men in their lives. SMOOTH AS SILK stars Virginia Grey, one of the film industry's great "almost" stories according to Muller. Born in Hollywood, she grew up in the business and never broke through, though she did enjoy a long career as an actress (into the 1970s). She makes quite an impression in this starring role as an energetically egocentric femme fatale.

The taut B noir opens with the conclusion of a court case. Thanks to attorney Mark Fenton (Kent Taylor), well-known drinker and player Don Elliott (Danny Morton) has eluded a manslaughter charge. Don's uncle and trustee Stephen Elliott (John Litel) happens to be a stage producer, and Mark hopes to leverage the situation since his actress fiancée Paula Marlowe (Grey) would like to play the lead in Stephen's next production. Stephen expresses no interest in casting Paula, who winds up with a bracelet from Mark instead of what she really wants. The type of woman Paula is gets definition via a closeup when she learns the drunkard Don stands to inherit $3 million. Paula gets to know Don only to shift her charms to Stephen and his new play "Miracle at Midnight." As Paula goes from man to man in her efforts to further her career as an actress, Mark is left to brood. At that time SMOOTH AS SILK firmly puts a large footprint down in noir terrain, with Mark and his private investigator enveloped by the shadows of venetian blinds, that telltale noir signature for criminal minds at work.

An obvious instance of one of the genre's scheming spider women, all of Paula's thoughts revolve around herself. After one of the men in her life is found shot dead, her immediate concern is she could be accused of the crime. And thanks in good part to the mind work of this beautiful but conniving dame, a once respectable lawman is converted into a murderer, one who arranges evidence as to point the finger at another suspect. Not only that, the same guy labors to convince Don he is the real killer (a fair plan since Don could not recall what happened when a vehicle he was driving terminated the life of a pedestrian). Don is a figure persistently impacted by the noir atmosphere of randomness and instability. Though not the most upstanding member of the community, Don is not the man he is encouraged to believe he is. He is also horribly confused about the nature of Paula, who is exactly like the lead character in his uncle's play, not the polar opposite he imagines her to be. Therefor it might be assumed she is not necessarily much of an actress either; once awarded the role she is merely playing herself. Ironically the Elliott's butler Wolcott (Harry Cheshire) understands Paula best.

A remake of A NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN (1935), SMOOTH AS SILK was directed by Charles Barton, a filmmaker who eventually edged into television, as so many directors did. Cinematography was handled by Elwood Bredell. The screenplay was completed by the combination of Dane Lussier and Kerry Shaw, who adapted the original story credited to Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements. Though an enjoyable little diversion from beginning to end, at a runtime of just over an hour there is a sense that SMOOTH AS SILK comes together a little too quickly in its concluding segments. Another area of weakness is the character Susan Marlowe (Jane Adams), Paula's good-and-decent little sister, is introduced to fall for John Kimble (Milburn Stone), though that plot thread goes unresolved.

Next on the docket was SO DARK THE NIGHT, helmed by director Joseph H. Lewis, a completely self-taught filmmaker who nudged his way into Hollywood based on the career of his older brother Ben Lewis, an established film editor. Joseph proved himself an instinctive storyteller and artist with his B films of the 1940s. His ability to do distinctive work on a limited budget distinguished him from his contemporaries. SO DARK THE NIGHT is an example of filmmaking on a shoestring budget, with locations within five miles of the Columbia lot standing in for the French countryside. Festival host Eddie Muller cited this film as one of the genre's unreliable narratives.

Parisian detective Henri Cassin (frequent bit player Steven Geray in a rare leading role) attempts to take some time off only to find himself engulfed in a murder case. Cassin rents a room at a remote inn, where he attracts the attention of Nanette Michaud (Micheline Cheirel), the daughter of Pierre Michaud (Eugene Borden) and Mama Michaud (Ann Codee). Though Cassin is quite a bit older than Nanette (in that grand Hollywood tradition), she is drawn to his worldliness and sees him as a way out of the country and into the exciting big city lights of Paris. But to the approval of Pierre and the disappointment of Mama, Nanette already has been promised to Leon Achard (Paul Marion), a simple local man of limited financial resources.

The noir universe extends to rural French environs when a triple murder case emerges, with Cassin conveniently on hand to assist hopelessly perplexed local authorities. Both Mama and Nanette embody noir female archetypes fascinated with material things they "deserve," as well as women intent on breaking away from the patriarchal system that dictates who women should marry. Interestingly, Pierre loses both of them after he reinforces the notion that Nanette would be better off with Leon than the much older detective from Paris. A notably noir sense of fatalism takes root when the lifelong bachelor Cassin concludes, "That much happiness just wasn't meant for me." As the multiple murder investigation progresses, the film veers off into a psychological direction in its examination of an accomplished crime investigator on holiday. Suffice is to say his suspicions about his destiny prove prescient.

Director Lewis later would score with the undisputed film noir classics GUN CRAZY (1950) and THE BIG COMBO (1955), though I also think a lot of MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (1945), an intense B noir released the year prior to SO DARK THE NIGHT. The film under review here constitutes a lesser achievement than those titles, though is interesting in its implication that to be married to one's profession is inherently unhealthy and is sure to catch up with you. But at the end of the day, there are too many implausibilities and Steven Geray just is not an appealing lead. Martin Berkeley and Dwight V. Babcock wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Aubrey Wisberg. Director of photography Burnett Guffey probably contributed to the film noir movement as much as anyone, including B movies such as MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS, NIGHT EDITOR (1946) and NIGHTFALL (1956) as well as crucial genre classics like ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949), IN A LONELY PLACE (1950) and THE SNIPER (1952).