Film & Business Recap
Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on OTA in NYC, ran another film noir I hadn’t seen, The Verdict (1946). Set in London, it stars Sidney Greenstreet as a prosecuting attorney who is fired after sending the wrong man to the gallows. Soon another murder is committed. Is there a connection? The rest of the less than 90-minute running time is spent wondering if once again Peter Lorre is the culprit. Greenstreet and Lorre appeared in nine films together. The Verdict is solid entertainment. It was Don Siegel’s first full length feature after two shorts. He would go on to helm terrific entertainment such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Hell Is for Heroes (1962), Dirty Harry (1971), Charley Varrick (1973) and John Wayne’s swan song The Shootist (1976) — to name a few. He was a big influence on Clint Eastwood, whom he directed five times. The icon dedicated Unforgiven (1992) to him. Siegel passed away at 76 in ‘91… Peter Milne adapted the screenplay from the novel The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill, who was also a playwright. Milne’s screen career spanned 1921-’56, the most familiar title among his 60 credits God Is My Co-Pilot (1945). He passed away at 71 in ‘68… Among The Verdict’s supporting players, I was most interested in Joan Lorring. Born in Hong Kong, she and her mom settled in California in the ‘30’s. Her screen career spanned 1944-’80, the latter half mostly in TV, only 38 titles overall. She also did theater and radio. She was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for The Corn Is Green (1946). Soon her big screen career nosedived mysteriously. She passed away at 88 in 2014. Here are Lorre, Greenstreet and Lorring in character:
The lack of parking at the floating book shop’s usual nook necessitated an alternate site. After a slow start, things picked up considerably in the second half of the session. My thanks to the woman who bought five DVDs, and to Carol, who purchased Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts and two romances by Danielle Steel: Fairy Tale and The Right Time; and to the gentleman who took home vinyl LPs by Gloria Gaynor and Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band; and to the elderly woman who did a swap of Russian books; and to the lovely young woman who overcompensated me for Mortal Danger by Ann Rule, the 13th of her 17 true crime works, and How to Be a Party Girl by Pat Montandon. I have a feeling she’s an exotic dancer. She has several tattoos, a body built for speed, and an eastern Euro accent, and boy did she smell great — while I was sweating profusely in this dang humidity, wondering if I stunk.
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