Dish of the Day
Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Today’s “Dish of the Day” has a brief review of mine that was inspired by a post in one of the film related Facebook chat rooms. This includes the Cinema Cafe group (all readers are encouraged to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/902349343110685).
A member created a post on the film noir The Bribe (1949), berating it along with many other contributors following suit in the comments section. I immediately thought of that well worn phrase: “did we see the same picture?” Normally in response to posts about films that are being praised so high there’s no oxygen, I’m on the short list of dissenters. This time, it seemed, I was still with the minority views but found myself “on the other side” extolling this film’s virtues.
The Bribe (1949)
(From left) Vincent Price, Charles Laughton
I'm shocked at the negative responses regarding The Bribe. Even Bowsley Crowther, film critic with the New York Times at the time of the film’s release wrote: "If you plan to put down your money to see the Capitol's The Bribe, we suggest that you be prepared to write off this extravagance as a folly and nothing more. For The Bribe is the sort of temptation which Hollywood put in the way of gullible moviegoers about twenty years ago. It's a piece of pure romantic fiction, as lurid as it is absurd. And if it didn't have several big 'names' in it, it would be low-man on a 'grind house' triple-bill...The only hint which the director, Robert Z. Leonard, gives that he may have meant it all as pure nonsense comes at the very end, when he blows up the place with pyrotechnics. That's the one appropriate move in the whole show." A few other professional critics that I know of, have, more recently, been additionally dismissive.
Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner
Robert Taylor stars as a Federal agent named Rigby assigned to investigate an aircraft engine (part of a war surplus) racket happening on an island off the coast of Central America. Right from the start, the intrigue is heightened by the unusual nature of the criminal enterprise being looked into. Further fascination is added by way of the scheme’s shady but savvy operators all given a cargo load of distinct noir characteristics steered by such topnotch personnel as Vincent Price, Charles Laughton and John Hodiak. The Bribe also employs a deft combination of steamy, sultry and sinister atmospherics to envelop the viewer. For even more noir enticement, Rigby finds himself, quite understandably, at the romantic mercy of a suspect’s wife, Elizabeth Hintten played by Ava Gardner at the pinnacle of her scorchingly seductive prime. Although just a glimpse of Gardner is enough to ignite almost any character’s instant infatuation, Rigby’s conflicted conscience regarding his legal duties versus a burning passion for Gardner’s Hintten is convincingly evolved with creative finesse. This natural inventiveness also applies to how deeply she's implicated in the illegal activities taking place in a pleasing blend of mystery, romance and sympathetic support. Marguerite Roberts’ screenplay, based on a 1947 short story by Frederick Nebel, accounts for the delectable dialogue. Visually, The Bribe is striking due to Joseph Ruttenberg’s cinematography particularly evident at the spectacular pyrotechnical finish. Readers familiar with my past praises may recall I singled out this artist for his work on 1941’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And who better to emotionally enshroud a film noir than composer Miklos Rozsa? Price and Laughton both shine in portraying their carefully illuminated characters. Hodiak is so immersed in his role as Gardner’s drunken ex-pilot husband, I couldn't tell if his severe heart condition was real or part of his performance (perhaps, as it turns out, both, seeing as how the actor tragically died of coronary thrombosis at the age of 41). Robert Z. Leonard directed with confidence and flair. MGM often catches flak for the studio’s antithetically refined films noir and perhaps to a degree, rightfully so. When movies are this cultivated, however, and yet packed with so much nourishing noir goodness, their taste is divine.
All responses are not only welcomed but encouraged in the comments section below.
Hope to see you tomorrow.
A.G.