A guy makes a decision to use his disease (acromegaly, a progressively disfiguring disease), to go into the movie business playing roles that scare people at a time when horror and crime pix are being made by the hundreds. Good business bet, Rondo, we salute you.

While his face is obviously high hallmark, listen for his voice too, a real add to his performance when it is allowed to work, as it does in The Brute Man (“I won’ hurtja…”)

Maybe he’s NOT a noir guy per se for you purists. But there’s something about his opus – The Jungle Captive (1945), Tales of Manhattan (1942), The Lodger (1944), The Brute Man (1946) – that feels just next door to noir.

He does figure prominently, as The Creeper, in The Brute Man (1946). See a clip, here. This film is solid ’40s noir/horror.

Anyway, for your consideration, another wonderful performer from the heyday in the ’40s. . . Rondo Hatton. Rondo, we hardly knew ye.

Rondo links:

IMDB
Wiki

Nice long list of titles.

You don’t hear much about this little honey of a picture anymore.

Couple of things. . .

Look at that cast! Who ISN’T in this thing ?!

The book was good too. We read it back in the day. Whatever happened to Richard Condon?

LOVE the tagline at the top of the poster ! Imagine trying to get away with a whole paragraph like that today ?

If you rent the DVD, we recommend the hilarious “behind the scenes” bits about how the picture went through stop and start financing for some pretty unusual reasons.

From the film. . .

John Cerruti (Anthony Perkins): Your father spent eleven million dollars to raise your brother up from a skirt-chasing college-boy to President of the United States. For twenty years he told him what to do and how and why he was gonna do it and what would happen when it was done. Your father put Tim in the White House – why? Because that’s where you can generate the most cash; a cold-ass business proposition, like everything else in this society.

Thelma Ritter, Pickup On South Street (1953)

Another great actress, who, incredibly, gets nominated for the Oscar six times yet never wins.

Thelma Ritter Quick Link

She sticks out on our mind for several works:

Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) as Elizabeth Stroud
The Misfits (1961) as Isabelle Steers
Pillow Talk (1959) as Alma
Pickup on South Street (1953) as Moe Williams

She is the wizened sidekick, the pathetic wife and lovelorn wastrel. Always credible, her delivery waits on real emotion and delivers every time. Thelma Ritter. So dependable. So watchable. A gleaming little elf and powerhouse.

Now here’s a guy whose work was phenomenal.

Putting one foot in front of the other for decades, he does it all from completely crazy yet understated bad guys, to sword and sandals pics, D-Day generals and even Larry Slade in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh (his final role before succoming to lung cancer in July, 1973).

And of course a good long run in noir:

Beware, My Lovely (1952) …. Howard Wilton
Clash by Night (1952) …. Earl Pfeiffer
On Dangerous Ground (1952) …. Jim Wilson
The Racket (1951) …. Nick Scanlon
The Set-Up (1949) …. Stoker
Crossfire (1947) …. Montgomery

Among others.

Here’s to you, Mr. Ryan. Chicago-born, ex-Marine, politically Left, rock-solid actor and boxer.

Our favorite role ? Deke Thorton in The Wild Bunch.

No one did “I’ve seen it all, don’t bother me. . .” like Robert Ryan !

Here is another blog with some great stuff on Mr. Ryan’s lesser known films.

Forward.

We’re thinking about how noir can be forward in time. And comedic. Its a mindset. An environment. Independent of time per se . . . Spoofy. Genre-blended sometimes. As in this sci-fi short.

Noir is plastic. No one controls noir elements. They seep and creep in and out of so many works these days.

This gives the purists conniptions. We like that.

Purists are too uptight.

So some people are most comfortable with that context.

Noir, Comfortable? Hmmmm. Specious notion.

And the past is full spectrum . . .

From your 19th century detectives. Some pre-date the work of Poe.

To your classic ’40s shamus.

What’s your favorite period flavor of noir ?

And where does noir meet detective meet mystery meet suspense for you ?