Sunday was the birthday of Kirk Douglas, December 102 and on the road to immortality that he already has in the cinema. To his health I put 21 Brigade (William Wyler, 1951), a classic film noir, based on a Broadway play. With the dark bug already underway and the long Sunday afternoon I continued with The concrete jungle to continue enjoying with another immortal, Sterling hayden. Immediately afterwards I remembered another of his greats (and by Stanley Kubrick), Perfect heist. Monday touched The postman calls twice. And the original novels came to me that led them to the movies. Three black classics they created WR Burnett, Lionel White and James M. Cain. There they go.
the postman Always calls two times - James M. Cain
Posted in 1934, passes very little of the hundred pages that go faster by its agile narration and its fast actions. Is he best known title probably North American James M Cain, And a milestone of the black genre in the version hard boiled.
Narrated in first person by the protagonist of the novel, the hustler Frank Chambers, reaped great success. He also caused a stir in his time by mixing sexuality and violence that was in a story where the passion, greed and crime they form a perfect triangle.
And the two best-known film versions that have been made also contributed to that fame: the one from the 40s directed by Tay Garnett and starring John Garfield and Lana Turner, and 1981, by Rob Rafelson, with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange as Frank and Cora. I'll stick with the first one, but both knew how to reflect the original tone.
The concrete jungle - WR Burnett
This and the next, Perfect heist, are two of the novels with those losing leads that both abound in the genre and that particularly attract me the most. You may also have to see the face you put on them Sterling hayden, someone born to embody in the cinema both Dix handley, the dangerous underworld bully, as a Johnny clay, the thief of the hit at the racetrack.
Also the two have as background and plot a violent robbery that gets out of hand and ends badly for everyone, brains and collaborators. And both have a distribution coral of characters with their own stories they tell by looking at the reader.
In the case of The concrete jungle, written in 1949, his narration is dry, concrete and without sentimentality. The characters are full of defects, but, in turn, show a customer unshakable towards his companions, so much so that in the end he loses them. Loyalty and love.
And with a good text, only one can come out film adaptation which is considered a masterpiece of the genre. Signed it John Huston in 1950.
Synopsis
Edwin Doc Riedenschneider is a legendary criminal who just got out of prison and has a brilliant plan to steal a jewelry. To seek financing contact the corrupt lawyer Alonzo D.Emmerich, who accepts the proposal, and Doc prepares the coup without suspecting the true intentions of his patron.
To carry out the robbery you need recruit several men as the expert in safes louis ciavelli, to the driver Gus Minisi and the bully Dix handley. The hit is a success and Dix and Doc bring the jewels to Emmerich. But this one, bankrupt by a crazy romance, will try to seize them.