Re: RARA-AVIS: Richard Widmark

From: jacquesdebierue ( jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com)
Date: 30 Mar 2008


--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Steve Novak <Cinefrog@...> wrote:
>
> The best answer to your question is the article in NYT
yesterday...and the
> assesment of The Night & the City is perfect...probably the most
> accomplished noir film of that
>
era...(cast/direction/DP/locations-decors/themes/script-screenplay....you
> name it)
>

Yes, it's a fantastic film, and in a way Widmark is emblematic of the era. Not an actor in the Cagney-Robinson-Bogart style, but a perfect hardboiled figure in the right films. He was somewhat mysterious, with some of Mitchum's hardness but without the latent spookiness of the latter.

In the end, a relatively low profile actor "who was always there", yet he ends his life recognized as an important figure. He is lucky: often the reverse is true. It helps that the old noirs have been reassessed so favorably, of course.

Best,

mrt



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