Eddie Muller's Dark City Dames
Book Review by Paulette Reynolds
October 18, 2012
Ever wonder about the greater backstory of film noir's finest femmes? What motivated B Dames Colleen Gray, Jane Greer, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Savage, Audrey Totter and Marie Windsor to take that first step onto Hollywood's yellow brick road - and more importantly, what did they do once they got up on the big screen?
Luckily, film "noirologist", Eddie Muller has made it his business to track down these dark dames of such classics as Out of the Past, Detour, Nightmare Alley, The Lady in the Lake and Johnny O'Clock - to uncover the what, the why and most importantly, the "who" of these noir divas. Published in 2001, Dark City Dames is an homage to the femme fatales of the great B film noirs.
Divided into two parts, Dark City Dames chronicles the rise of these tough actresses in the film industry and then catches up with them 50 years later, when their memories are tempered with sharp insights and a few bittersweet regrets. Yes, the fascinating inside gossip on realtionships, splits, and cat fights are all there, plus a revolving door of noir stars, directors, fabulous photos and famous notables generously sprinkled into every chapter. But the words of the women themselves make Dark City Dames one of those can't-put-it-down gems:
Marie Windsor, (who was tagged as 'The New Joan Crawford', only to be typecast as the bad girl early in her career) shares, "I'm so please with all the fuss over film noir...that somebody put a name to all this stuff - to pull it out of the ghetto. We just saw the pictures were cheap. We thought the movie lighting was used to cover up the lack of production values..."
Jane Greer remembers her iconic Out of the Past as "...my Casablanca - only I shoot everybody in the end. I saw the finished film and thought it was pretty good."
Audrey Totter reflects, "Most of the bad girls I played had a reason for being the way they were... Except, of course, the one I played in Tension - she was a bitch, plain and simple."
"It's too bad I wasn't more conscious of managing my career," says Evelyn Keyes, "they gave me a picture and I did it. Only later, looking back... I think that I might have let something slip away."
Coleen Gray, star of Nightmare Alley (who recently passed away) muses, "I always felt like I should apologize for being in Hollywood... I felt that I was never going to work again. I was always surprised when the cast me in another picture."
Ann Savage worked the Poverty Row circuit at PRC and had the good fortune to be directed in the cult noir classic Detour by Edward G. Ulmer. "If Edgar was under any pressure from the short shooting schedule, he never showed it. He was fast, decisive and unflappable. You just couldn't make a mistake – there simply wasn't the time or money to do things over."
Eddie Muller does a fine job connecting fifty years of cinematic history and personal revelations from six film noir B stars into this tell-all book. It's not easy to get even one star to feel comfortable enough to open up for an entire novel, yet Muller manages to get all six to share some very private thoughts: Marie Windsor speaks frankly about the Hollywood Blacklist and the over-bearing Screen Actors Guild, Audrey Totter sighs about her missed opportunity in letting The Killers slip through her fingers and Evelyn Keyes has a good laugh about her many men. (We’ll leave the rest for you to discover.)
Along the way Muller also reveals his own passionate love affair for the genre by focusing on a time and the people who created the most exciting period of movie making. As Audrey Totter sagely puts it, "There's a whole cult around them...Who knew these movies would be so popular 50 years later? They painted with lights in those days - it's a look that just isn't done anymore. The suggestion, the restraint, the style..."
Dark City Dames is a great introduction into film noir, and after reading it, you'll be more than ready to dissolve into Eddie Muller's Dark City : The Lost World of Film Noir (1998). Muller - the founder and president of the Noir Foundation - can also be hunted down in the shadows of TCM, commenting on some of Hollywood's most beloved Film Noir masterpieces.
Book Review by Paulette Reynolds
October 18, 2012
Ever wonder about the greater backstory of film noir's finest femmes? What motivated B Dames Colleen Gray, Jane Greer, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Savage, Audrey Totter and Marie Windsor to take that first step onto Hollywood's yellow brick road - and more importantly, what did they do once they got up on the big screen?
Luckily, film "noirologist", Eddie Muller has made it his business to track down these dark dames of such classics as Out of the Past, Detour, Nightmare Alley, The Lady in the Lake and Johnny O'Clock - to uncover the what, the why and most importantly, the "who" of these noir divas. Published in 2001, Dark City Dames is an homage to the femme fatales of the great B film noirs.
Divided into two parts, Dark City Dames chronicles the rise of these tough actresses in the film industry and then catches up with them 50 years later, when their memories are tempered with sharp insights and a few bittersweet regrets. Yes, the fascinating inside gossip on realtionships, splits, and cat fights are all there, plus a revolving door of noir stars, directors, fabulous photos and famous notables generously sprinkled into every chapter. But the words of the women themselves make Dark City Dames one of those can't-put-it-down gems:
Marie Windsor, (who was tagged as 'The New Joan Crawford', only to be typecast as the bad girl early in her career) shares, "I'm so please with all the fuss over film noir...that somebody put a name to all this stuff - to pull it out of the ghetto. We just saw the pictures were cheap. We thought the movie lighting was used to cover up the lack of production values..."
Jane Greer remembers her iconic Out of the Past as "...my Casablanca - only I shoot everybody in the end. I saw the finished film and thought it was pretty good."
Audrey Totter reflects, "Most of the bad girls I played had a reason for being the way they were... Except, of course, the one I played in Tension - she was a bitch, plain and simple."
"It's too bad I wasn't more conscious of managing my career," says Evelyn Keyes, "they gave me a picture and I did it. Only later, looking back... I think that I might have let something slip away."
Coleen Gray, star of Nightmare Alley (who recently passed away) muses, "I always felt like I should apologize for being in Hollywood... I felt that I was never going to work again. I was always surprised when the cast me in another picture."
Ann Savage worked the Poverty Row circuit at PRC and had the good fortune to be directed in the cult noir classic Detour by Edward G. Ulmer. "If Edgar was under any pressure from the short shooting schedule, he never showed it. He was fast, decisive and unflappable. You just couldn't make a mistake – there simply wasn't the time or money to do things over."
Eddie Muller does a fine job connecting fifty years of cinematic history and personal revelations from six film noir B stars into this tell-all book. It's not easy to get even one star to feel comfortable enough to open up for an entire novel, yet Muller manages to get all six to share some very private thoughts: Marie Windsor speaks frankly about the Hollywood Blacklist and the over-bearing Screen Actors Guild, Audrey Totter sighs about her missed opportunity in letting The Killers slip through her fingers and Evelyn Keyes has a good laugh about her many men. (We’ll leave the rest for you to discover.)
Along the way Muller also reveals his own passionate love affair for the genre by focusing on a time and the people who created the most exciting period of movie making. As Audrey Totter sagely puts it, "There's a whole cult around them...Who knew these movies would be so popular 50 years later? They painted with lights in those days - it's a look that just isn't done anymore. The suggestion, the restraint, the style..."
Dark City Dames is a great introduction into film noir, and after reading it, you'll be more than ready to dissolve into Eddie Muller's Dark City : The Lost World of Film Noir (1998). Muller - the founder and president of the Noir Foundation - can also be hunted down in the shadows of TCM, commenting on some of Hollywood's most beloved Film Noir masterpieces.
COPYRIGHT 2012/2016. Paulette Reynolds. All CineMata Movie Madness blog articles, reviews, faux interviews, commentary, and the Cine Mata character are under the sole ownership of Paulette Reynolds. All intellectual and creative rights reserved.
