Saturday, March 24, 2007
ZERO SUM GAME
I am holding a
Film Festival.
I first saw Mostel as a kid. It would have been around the early fifties. Maybe earlier.
It is possible that I saw Dubarry Was a Lady because my first recollection is that he was funny.
That film is not on disc.
We will never know.
From the minute I saw him I thought of him as very special. In my heart.
His history (at the link) is really fascinating. I love the story of his painting in the museum.
All this was brought about by seeing him again in The Producers. Mesmerizing.
So I am going back through some of the films.
Today's film was
This is a Humphrey Bogart noir police procedural. It is pretty good, actually. It is one of those that you could have figured out the answer to the riddle yourself because the clues we see are the same as the ones Bogart sees.
The film also has some other favorite character actors; Everett Sloane and Ted Di Corsia.
Mostel plays a nebbish thug. He is apprehended inside a church and we see him being brought out forcefully; a cop at each arm and leg with him roaring his unique roar.
He soon quiets down and becomes a bit of a sad sack. Somehow he tugs at our hearts even as he talks about his willingness to off someone (with an ice pick). He is a key witness.
He holds all his scenes. Bogart has to push him around and yell to stay on top.
The Mostel imp is inside the character and you can see it.
In a way he is using his nebbishness as protection. I had no doubt but what he would have used the ice pick if given a chance.
The photo above is at about the same time as this film.
It is a good look at the kind of yoeman's work Mostel used in the movies before he got blacklisted and well before his return as a major theatrical star.
I am not going to bother rating these films as there is no point. I am watching Zero not the movie.
Labels: films, noir, Zero Mostel
