Itinerant Spaces in Noir Film and Car Shipping

Gloria Grahame leans over a car with Sterling Hayden in a publicity still from "Naked Alibi" (1954)

The quasi-alien terrain of the border noirs lodges its characters in-between the ‘civilized’ United States and the realm of the unknown. As such, the noiresque borders are conceptually understood as liminal spaces. The films mark patterns of crossing and collision between nation-states and subnational identities.

John Garfield as Frank Chambers washes his car 's windshield in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946)

The social context in which film noir emerged is designated as transitional whose borders are the very markers of a culture of transience. These ‘‘itinerant spaces’’ emerged from common places in the disruptive wartime and postwar American culture and gained an exaggerated presence once transported to the big screen.

Gloria Grahame and Humphrey Bogart take turns at driving a car in "In a Lonely Place" (1950) directed by Nicholas Ray

For example, "Touch of Evil" (1958), "Where Danger Lives" (1950), and "Naked Alibi" (1954) each take place in seedy motels on the US–Mexican border, whereas Americans in "Niagara" and "Road House" (1948) lodge in establishments along the Canadian border. In "Niagara", the cars zip back and forth across the Rainbow Bridge, which spans the Niagara gorge dividing Canada and the United States. On-screen, the automobiles and their anonymous passengers are seemingly locked in a perpetual transnational circuit.

Jane Greer and Robert Mitchum in a driving scene from "Out of The Past" (1947) directed by Jacques Tourneur

‘‘Fill your gas tank and hit the road. The big rolling freeways and the fantastic traffic patterns, monuments to a civilization that moves on wheels.’’ Yet, cars in the border noirs function as instruments of danger. In 'Where Danger Lives', Margo Lannington (Faith Domergue) and Jeff Cameron (Robert Mitchum) travel by car on a paranoid journey through an absurdist post-World War II southwestern border landscape, filled with bizarre characters and surreal small towns.

Jake Gyllenhaal spotted "cozy" with Olivia Wilde

Jake Gyllenhaal attending the premiere of sci-fi thriller "Source Code" in Los Angeles, on 28th March 2011

Olivia Wilde attending the premiere of sci-fi thriller "In Time" in Los Angeles, on 20th October 2011

The New York Post reports that actress Olivia Wilde was spotted dining with Jake Gyllenhaal last night.

The two looked "very cozy" at Chinatown Brasserie, sitting next to each other at a table for eight. "They were in a group but were very cozy with their chairs pulled close together," a source told the paper.

Back in June they were spotted at Chareau Marmont in L.A., but their reps claimed they were just friends.
Olivia Wilde bundles up for a stroll with ex Tao Ruspoli Friday in New York's West Village neighborhood on 18th November 2011

Wilde finalized her divorce from Tao Ruspoli in October, but she's been linked to several actors including Justin Timberlake, Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling, since she and Ruspoli split in February.

Olivia Wilde is caught kissing Jason Bateman on the set of "The Longest Week" in Brooklyn, New York (November 21, 2011).

Olivia Wilde and Jason Bateman continue to film 'The Longest Week' in Brooklyn Heights, Nov 21

Olivia Wilde attending the Museum of Modern Art’s Film benefit in New York (15.11.2011)

Wilde even turned to Twitter to quash rumors she was hooking up with her 'In Time' co-star, Justin Timberlake. "Cool it, honeybadgers. We are just friends and have been for years," she wrote about her relationship with the pop star turned actor. Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Janis Carter (femme fatale in Framed, Woman on Pier 13), Robert Ryan, John Garfield

"The Woman on Pier 13" (original title I Married a Communist) was a pet project of RKO boss Howard Hughes. His meddling delayed the movie’s release until 1951 after HUAC’s halycon days were past, and it bombed at the box office.

The screenplay, has the ‘commies’ work as a bunch of hoods. It is with some irony that 60 years on it is the greed of bankers and not the ideology of leftists that has brought global capitalism to the brink of collapse, so take the red-menace propaganda here with a good dose of salt and you have a top film noir.

Robert Ryan and Laraine Day in "The Woman on Pier 13" (1949) directed by Robert Stevenson

The cast is particularly strong. Robert Ryan plays the former commie, and the lovely Laraine Day (The Locket) his wife. Thomas Gomez is a ruthless commie boss, with Janis Carter (Night Editor, Framed, I Love Trouble) as an undercover commie femme-fatale who mixes politics and love, and William Talman (Armored Car Robbery, The Racket, The Hitch-Hiker, City That Never Sleeps, Big House USA ) is convincing as a carnie moonlighting as a commie hit-man –in his first role". Source: filmsnoir.net

A future of happiness awaits San Francisco shipping executive Brad Collins (Robert Ryan) and his new bride (Laraine Day). Back in his days as a dockworker, Brad was an activist member of the Communist Party. Now the Party has resurfaced like a bad dream in Brad’s life, putting the screws on and threatening to spill his past if he doesn’t play ball and stir up a labor strike.

The stolid Robert Ryan plays a San Francisco shipping executive who's changed his name to escape his shameful past as a Communist Party member, but here the Commies are like the mob: Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in.

Janis Carter is pretty entertaining as the Commie femme fatale, who returns to help blackmail Ryan's Brad Collins (or Frank Johnson the Commie) into sabotaging labor negotiations at the San Francisco pier.

Janis Carter (1913 - 1994)

After graduating with two degrees (Arts and Music) from Mather College (Western Reserve) in Cleveland, Ohio in 1935, Janis Carter headed to New York with aspirations of embarking on a musical career in opera. However, when the Met offered her an audition, a case of nerves assured her failure and an end to that ambition. Landing on her feet, she got a part in the Broadway musical, I Married An Angel. Darryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox attended the opening night and was impressed enough with Janis to offer her a contract.

She arrived in Hollywood in February, 1941, and stayed for 12 years making more than 30 movies for 20th Century Fox, MGM, Columbia, and RKO. After leaving Hollywood for good, Janis headed back to New York and began a career working in television. She became the hostess of the NBC quiz show, Feather Your Nest, working with Bud Collyer. In 1956, Janis married Julius Stulman and retired from show business. With the same enthusiasm she had shown in other areas of her life, she involved herself in cultural activities of her community serving in various capacities throughout the years, primarily in Sarasota, Florida.

Janis Carter and William Gargan in "Night Editor" (1946) directed by Henry Levin

"Janis Carter is the female lead in two of Columbia’s “Whistler” pictures, The Mark of the Whistler (1944) and The Power of the Whistler (1945), but I couldn’t have picked her out of a lineup of other glamorous B-movie blondes from the ’40s until I saw her as the death-obsessed femme fatale with a heart of ice in Henry Levin’s "Night Editor" (1946).


A scene from "Framed" starring Glenn Ford and Janis Carter, directed by Richard Wallace in 1947

Janis Carter and Glenn Ford on the set of "Framed" (1947)

The part Janis Carter plays in Richard Wallace’s "Framed" is more nuanced and less irredeemably evil than the role she played in "Night Editor", but she’s still a nasty piece of work. Soon enough, Paula’s evil schemes become apparent to the viewer, if not to the booze-addled Mike. She’s only working in a greasy spoon to troll for a patsy that she and her boyfriend, Steve Price (Barry Sullivan), need for a scheme they’ve got cooked up. And Mike fits the bill. Framed is a programmer that benefits greatly from having a rising star like Ford in the lead role.

Lana Turner and John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) directed by Tay Garnett

It’s a B movie that’s clearly cast in the same mold as Double Indemnity (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), but I think it succeeds wonderfully on its own terms. The script by Ben Maddow (based on a story by John Patrick) evolves naturally as it chugs forward, and never seems too contrived. Shifting loyalties and the yearnings of the main characters drive the story forward, and it never felt as if plot points were being checked off.

Patricia Morison and John Garfield in "The Fallen Sparrow" (1943) directed by Richard Wallace

Richard Wallace, the director of Framed, was a hard-working studio hack. His career as a director spanned from 1925 to 1949 (he died in 1951), during which he made 46 features and 15 shorts. Of the films he directed that I’ve seen, Framed is one of the best". Source: ocdviewer.com

Smoking Hotties (Classic & Modern Actors)

"The best way to stop smoking is to carry wet matches"

Humphrey Bogart as gangster 'Baby Face' Martin in "Dead End " (1937) directed by William Wyler


Smoking Hotties (Classic & Modern Actors) video featuring stills of classic and modern actors/actresses caught smoking, prey of cigarettes: Gloria Grahame, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Ida Lupino, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Linda Darnell, Sylvia Sidney, Lizabeth Scott, Ingrid Bergman, Ann Sheridan, Joan Bennett, Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Dolores Moran, Mary Astor, Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, Marlon Brando, Ann Savage, Tom Neal, Jane Greer, Lana Turner, John Garfield, Frank Borzage, Dan Duryea, Gina Lollobrigida, Glenn Ford, Victor Mature, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Marie Windsor, Jeanne Moreau, Cleo Moore, Alan Ladd, Jan Sterling, Susan Hayward, Dorothy Malone, Barbara Stanwyck, Ella Raines, June McCall, Jeanne Cagney, Doris Dowling, Fred MacMurray, Robert Mitchum, Mamie Van Doren, Hazel Brooks, Patricia Neal, Frances Day, Sterling Hayden, Barbara Nichols, Jean Harlow, James Dean, Kate Winslet, Drew Barrymore, Jaime King, James McAvoy, Jennifer Connelly, Melánie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Sean Penn, Anna Karina, Lindsay Lohan, Josh Hartnett, Sienna Miller, Al Pacino, Evan Rachel Wood, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Pattinson, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Pfeiffer, Megan Fox, Uma Thurman, Sherilyn Fenn, Connie Nielsen, Robert De Niro, Amber Heard, Winona Ryder, Liv Tyler, Elizabeth Hurley, Montgomery Clift, Cary Grant, Tippi Hedren, Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, Rita Hayworth, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Lombard, Jean Seberg, Matt Dillon, Paul Newman, Keanu Reeves, Shannyn Sossamon, Eva Green, Ryan Phillipe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hedy Lamarr, Diane Lane, Jack Lemmon, Martin Sheen, Ann Dvorak, Elisha Cuthberth, William Holden, Lou Reed, Helena Bonham-Carter, Keira Knightley, Gregory Peck, Mae West, Jennifer Aniston, Jane Wyman, Olivia Newton-John, Gary Cooper, Angelina Jolie, Juliette Binoche, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paz Vega, Stephen Dorff, Johnny Depp, Steve McQueen, Tallulah Bankhead, Shirley McLaine, Jayne Mansfield, Ramsey Ames, Gwyneth Paltrow, Linda Fiorentino, George Raft, Geraldine Page, Faye Dunaway, Wynne Gibson, Tab Hunter, Brad Pitt, Zoe Kravitz, John Travolta, Mickey Rourke, Al Pacino, Anne Hathaway, Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jacqueline Onassis, Monica Bellucci, Ryan Gosling, etc. Songs "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" & "Love is Here" by Artie Shaw and "Fool For A Cigarette, Feelin' Good" by Ry Cooder.

A Sunday's Disappointment

Today I felt disappointed, so much even I cried, and it felt imprudent, humiliating, beneath me, beyond the situation, unforeseen tears came brimming my eyes like a drowning flow.

“If you've never eaten while crying you don't know what life tastes like.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

‎"He knew the risks, he didn't have to be there. It rains... you get wet" -"Heat" directed by Michael Mann.

Snow White and the Huntsman trailer starring Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron

"Snow White and the Huntsman" trailer, starring Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron as Snow White and Evil Queen Ravenna, directed by Rupert Sanders (release on 1st June 2012)

Scan of Charlize Theron in Laha magazine, November 2011

Evil queen: “do you hear that? it’s the sound of battles fought and lives lost. once pained me to know that i’m the cause of such despair. but no, their cries have give me strength. beauty is my power. mirror, mirror on the wall. who is fairest of them all?”

Mirror: ”you are the fairest but there is another destined to surpass you. consume her heart and you shall live forever".

Evil queen: ”find me someone who does not fear the dark forest to hunt her down".

The huntsman: ”why she has such value?”
Evil queen: ”that is not of your concern”
The huntsman: ”if i refuse?”
Evil queen: ”lips red as blood, hair black as night, bring me your heart, my dear dear snow white.“

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, second-best box office opening

"Love is a universal migraine, A bright stain on the vision, Blotting out reason” -poet Robert Graves

Kristen Stewart in a Press Conference for "Breaking Dawn" at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, on 6th November 2011

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at the Los Angeles premiere of "Breaking Dawn", on 14th November 2011

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at the UK premiere of "Breaking Dawn" on 16th November 2011


The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (Trailer)

While it wasn't quite able to reach the series high mark, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1's outstanding estimated $139.5 million opening indicated that the sexy teen vampires are as popular as ever. Breaking Dawn's $139.5 million opening is second-best among Twilight movies behind 2009's New Moon ($142.7 million).

That's a small gap, though, and Breaking Dawn still managed to claim fifth place on the all-time opening weekend chart behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 3 and New Moon.

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner in Entertainment Weekly photoshoot


Kristen Stewart wore a stunning blue J. Mendel gown for this evening's premiere of Breaking Dawn Part 1 at the Nokia Theater in LA. She stopped to chat on her way into the screening, and revealed that while she imagined her Twilight wedding "a million times" she never actually looked down to see what she thought the dress would look like.
She was relieved to see the gorgeous, but still mysterious, dress Carolina Herrera designed just for Bella Swan. As for saying farewell to Bella, Kristen feels like she already has, but she will always have the memories.


Breaking Dawn lead actor Robert Pattinson who reprises his role as the vampire Edward Cullen recently shared how he handled some of the difficult scenes, how these momentous scenes challenged him and how does he sees himself beyond the Twilight saga