This is it. End of the line. The very last Noir City post of 2012. The final show was a Marsha Hunt double bill, starting with Mary Ryan, Detective.
A female detective (Hunt) goes undercover to bust up a gang of thieves. Which is pretty much all you need to know about the plot.
As I said in yesterday’s post, this film is so rare, even the star had never seen it. It’s a little too light-hearted at times to be classified as Noir, but I still enjoyed it anyway, mostly because of Marsha Hunt’s performance. I can’t remember ever seeing her act tough before, (Muller’s flick The Grand Inquisitor notwithstanding,) and I have to admit it was kind of hot. I loved her hard-ass attitude towards her cellmate and her slapping the tied up guard during a fur heist just to prove she was a real crook. And I was able to forgive the thankfully brief appearance of yet another child actor, a girl this time, because she turned out to be a thief, working a jewelry counter scam with her mom and another woman.
The gorgeous Ms. Hunt was on hand to discuss the film during the intermission, and she looked as effortlessly chic and classy as always. At 93, she’s still a knock out.
On a side note, if you’re interested in vintage fashion from the 30s and 40s, check out her book The Way We Wore.
Next, Kid Glove Killer.
This one, I’d seen. It’s a sort of proto-CSI story about a pair of
“police chemists” (Hunt and Heflin) who use science to solve a series of politically motivated murders.
It gets a little draggy in the middle and Heflin is weirdly unlikable in this role, but Marsha Hunt looks foxy in a lab coat and the forensic angle makes it interesting. It’s cute and charming and there are some pretty funny bits, but again, not really Noir. Still worth seeing on the big screen.
So that’s it, Faustketeers. Hope you enjoyed playing along at home, and hope you’ll make an effort to check out some of these films on my say so.
See ya in Noir City.