M 1951

 

No not the Fritz Lang 1931 version, but the Joseph Losey 1951 remake. The remake follows the original story, a child murderer is loose in the city, this time the city is Los Angeles and the police and city hall are at the ends of their rope trying to nab the murderer. As in the original the low lives, beggars and criminals take over the search and soon have their hands on him where they bring him to trial in a kangaroo court which also follows the course of the original film.

The cast is good led by David Wayne as the killer and a slew of lefties, commies and pinkos many on their way to the House Un-American Activities Committee, jail time, blacklisted and oblivion as their careers lie tattered and torn on the floor of Congress.

The cast included Howard Da Silva, Luther Adler, Karen Morley and Norman Lloyd all victims of the House Committee in various degrees along with non blacklisted actors Martin Gable, Steve Brodie, Raymond Burr, Glenn Anders and Jim Backus. Losey who was an avowed commie was hounded by the committee and finally left the country for Europe, returning for a while, but because of his not being able to find work left for Europe for good and beginning his lucrative 2^nd and 3^rd act in movies.

Filmed in a noir street cinematography look by Ernest Laszlo mostly on actual streets in L.A. Most notably in the run down long lost Victorian neighborhood of Bunker Hill and in the great architectural wonder that is the Bradbury Building which at this time was in failing health. The look of the film has the tattered feel of street photography which adds interest for me. Its not the expressionistic bold look of the original German film,but it has its own down low look. Its 1951 in L.A. And the images are full of details of the time: ashtrays overflowing with butts, small early t.v.s, rotary phones, and lots of signs and images of the period, coca cola signs, run down amusement parks, dingy apartments with low gray light coming through windows, rickety staircases and worn out people. Both versions are their own works of art, and I have been looking for the Losey version for years, I finally found it in a terrific restored version on Rare Filmm. The Cave of Forgotten Films. Not to be missed.