Saturday, February 19, 2011

Crack Up (1946)

While casting Crack Up, the filmmakers must have made a clerical error. How else to explain Pat O'Brien playing an art critic and Herbert Marshall a cop? Still, it works because Pat O'Brien is pretty bad ass: he makes art criticism seem like a gritty profession. As usual, he drags me, kicking and screaming into liking him. Herbert Marshall is pretty urbane for a cop, but he is supposed to be an undercover agent from Scotland Yard. I guess that makes a difference.

Despite the weird casting, Irving Reis' highly competent direction ended up selling me on this film noir. Reis seamlessly strings together the various set pieces, including, my favorite sequence: O'Brien on the run from the law in a penny arcade. Deft camera movement and clever editing work together to turn a guy standing around pretending to play a video into edge-of-your-seat action.

The script is less good--at times, not even up to the level of a decently written teleplay. An overly enthusiastic writer gives Marshall a rant about how Americans don't appreciate their law enforcement, thus ruining the surprise revelation of Marshall's cop identity. At least the writers do manage to keep track of the plot twists. I like film noir best when it's not so grand at the expense of logic. If I get to the end of the movie and feel that I've learned something about the nature of good and evil but still don't know who dunnit, I get a little peevish. Yeah, I'm talking about you, Big Sleep! No, of course, I'm not saying that Crack Up is better than The Big Sleep--just that it annoyed me less.

O'Brien plays George Steele, whom we first meet in the throes of an alcoholic bender and apparent mental breakdown. In typically circuitous noir style, we soon learn that he began his evening aboard a train that crashed. The problem? The cops have no record of a train wreck. Even in 1946, they kept track of that kind of stuff. So it's not looking good for our hero's sanity. One of his museum colleagues (Claire Trevor) agrees to help him clear his name. He retraces his steps, beginning with another ride on the same train that made him loopy. So far it's a little Lady Vanishes with a some Spellbound tossed in for good measure.

I'm fine with derivative filmmaking, but in those particular Hitchcock films, it’s the romance that keeps me coming back. Here, Claire Trevor manages to play both gal Friday and mysterious dame. Her friendship with O’Brien teeters on the edge of romance and, although it's not a huge surprise when they hook up, it's satisfying. Marshall provides the third side of the triangle, but that plot element doesn't really work. He and Trevor have no chemistry, and in one scene she admits that he makes her miserable. If it weren't for Marshall’s sudden uptick in energy at the end of the movie, I would want to give him B-12 shots. Eventually, however, he solves the crime with panache and starts to seem like an actor who might be worthy of a detective series of his own.

Speaking of detective series, I let out an internal "squee" every time someone in the movie called O'Brien "Mr. Steele." I can't help but wonder if the creators of my all-time favorite TV show, Remington Steele, weren't referencing Crack Up. If you gave Pat O'Brien's wardrobe to a woman, turned the urbane undercover cop into an urbane undercover con man, kept the references to art theft and forgery, squinted and stood back twenty paces, you might have Remington Steele. 


Thanks to the epic series The 100 Greatest Posters of Noir, I will never take movie advertisements at face value again. This poster is terrible. If Where Danger Lives did a 100 Worst, this might well make the list. The title is too small and the tagline is too big. The cracked font is an obvious concept carried out in a half-assed fashion, and, combined with the green, the whole thing reminds me of a turtle. Claire Trevor looks nothing like the poor woman on the poster, who appears to have a painfully broken leg. Pat O'Brien’s portrait does him no favors, either. Herbert Marshall gets third billing, but his portrait dominates the poster. Maybe the artist was a secret Herbert Marshall fan? Nah: no one with such good taste could turn out this little fiasco.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've always rather liked Pat O'Brien (or maybe just liked the movies he was in, which isn't quite the same thing!). But yes, his name does conjure an image of a cop or a priest for me.
That is a strange poster ... like it's done by a person learning to draw by copying photographs badly ...

Mark said...

Jenny - Wonderful! This film has always been a favorite of mine, and I love your assessment of the poster design - spot on! It's a half-sheet and consequently a recomposed, cut and paste version of the one-sheet, but in this case the big poster is no better. The tag line seems to be the title of the film, and I wish the poster made some reference to art galleries, or at least had a train in it somewhere. Nonetheless, I've always liked the film, maybe because it strays into the art world. Great work on your part, as usual.

Jennythenipper said...

Hey, jnfanblog, I agree. The stereotypical Irish roles cop and priest as well as perhaps a dozen other professions come to mind for O'Brien before art critic.

Hey, Mark, I'm honored you turned up. After I wrote the bit about the poster, I found a copy of the full one-sheet, but I wasn't able to use it in my blog. (You have to tell me your secret for getting high resolution scans of all those film posters.) The best I could do was this lobby card. Like you said, though, the one-sheet is no better.

zzi said...

I'm new. Does it mean . . .
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD)

SteveQ said...

I did another film post.
http://stevequick.blogspot.com/2011/02/where-have-all-weepies-gone.html

The Kid In The Front Row said...

Haven't been here in a while, hope you are well. You give me a headache though because you make me add about 100 films to my 'to see' list each time :P

Unknown said...

Superb post! I've bookmarked your web site as well for the reason that I realized it is actually ducational and I enjoyed reading your posts.it appears like you'll do a fantastic job on the net.

bc laser hair removal

Unknown said...

the content is really good article ... Greetings Introduction Of Us Dr. Bondan ...
= obat aborsi = obat bius

Vimax Pembesar Penis said...

This is such an interesting blog. You are very knowledgeable about this subject. Please check out my site.

alat bantu sex

paulsmith198914@gmail.com said...

Thanks a lot for the awesome read!I know this is an older post, but great nonetheless. ​Ordering dissertation editing services at http://dissertationwriting.services/ has become much easier. Have a try, and you won't certainly regret!

OBAT TELAT BULAN TERMANJUR said...

thanks for sharing 082210743003

Obat Aborsi

Obat Telat Bulan

Obat Penggugur

Jual Obat aborsi terbaik

Obat Aborsi Termurah

Obat Aborsi Terpercaya

Obat Aborsi terbaik
b

jual Obat aborsi termanjur

jual obat aborsi asli

jual obat telat bulan

jual obat aborsi



obat telat bulan

obat telat bulan asli

klinik obat telat bulan

obat telat bulan terbaik

Unknown said...

Blood pressure is sure to rise when watching the comedic genius of Crack Up (1946). From the wacky antics of the protagonist to the clever plot twists, this film is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. A true classic that's not to be missed!