Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir

I met Eddie at a lecture in San Francisco during the Noir Festival at the Castro Theater, and this guy really knows his stuff. He is the quintissential renaissance man; a writer, a thinker, and (more than likely) an artist. His books do nothing less than to amaze the reader how a man so young coud have gained so much knowledge about a genre that happened before his birth.

One of the most challenging roles for an actress is that of a femme fatale. She must exhibit far more than mere treachery. The femme fatale must convince audiences that what the poor male succumbing to her charms is experiencing is plausibly merited. She must exhibit the kind of overpowering appeal combined with a Svengali manner to sell audiences that the poor man's captivated fascination is plausibly worth it. Otherwise the whole story falls flat.Eddie Muller writes about women who accepted that challenge and surmounted it convincingly. Jane Greer is a classic example. While only 22 when she appeared opposite Robert Mitchum in the classical noir work, "Out of the Past," she revealed a native intelligence and air of sophistication of a woman who had been around forever. Mitchum, while fully aware of her treachery, found himself incapable of turning away until it was too late and he was ultimately doomed.Ann Savage was a former model who found her niche as a femme fatale in one of the most remarkable low budget triumphs in Hollywood annals, "Detour," directed by independent film genius Edgar Ulmer, who took a no frills, low budget project and carved out a classic by using limited space to commanding advantage. Tom Neil could not get away from Savage, who exuded a suffocating presence on the hapless musician, who was trying to reunite with his singer girlfriend in Los Angeles. Savage clearly had other ideas.Marie Windsor was a willowy former beauty contest winner who traveled from her small Utah hometown to Hollywood in search of fame. Her height was a turnoff initially in her career and she was compelled to work in a lot of low budget westerns before getting her opportunity to shine, which she did in Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing." Her scenes as the faithless wife in love with gigolo Vince Edwards and her shamefully sadistic usery of husband Elisha Cook Jr. serve as a dramatic highlight of a superb, hard-hitting movie about an ex-con played by Sterling Hyden, who seeks to engineer a holdup of a racetrack on the biggest pay day of the season. The more Cook begs and implores, the more savagely biting the wisecracks which emanate from Windsor, but in the final analysis the henpecked husband hits back in a way neither she nor Edwards are able to anticipate.Coleen Gray and Audrey Totter are also included in Muller's work. His penetrating interviews enable the reader to get familiar with the personalities and their lives away from the cameras. Gray played the girlfriends of Sterling Hayden and Tyrone Power in two noir gems, "The Killing" nnd "Nightmare Alley," while Totter was the love interest of detective Philip Marlowe, played by Robert Montgomery, who also directed, in Raymond Chandler's "The Lady in the Lake."

Some 50 years ago, the women of this book worked in relative obsurity amidst the shadows of large studios during film noir's heyday. Now with the resurgent popularity of the film noir genre, these actresses are finally being recognized for the keen talent they possess and the effect they had on a generation of movies.None of these women are household names because none of these women were given the star publicity treatment that Myrna Loy, Joan Crawford and others were givne during the same time period. But their stories are every bit as interesting and author Eddie Muller tells them wonderfully.Muller is obviously a fan of folm noir, but does not let this color these biographies. Rather, Muller deftly allows the six actresses featured here to tell their own stories. The result is an honest, touching and insightful view into the Hollywood moviemaking era of the late 30s to early 50s. Each actress' life is chronicled from the time she was born until the present. The personalities shine through as Muller shows the different ways in which each woman found a love for acting and was later "discovered" by Hollywood. The result is poignant. From the exhileration of the "big" movie to the sorrow at the death of a spouse, each life is fascinating. A great book!

A sequel of sorts to Muller's earlier Dark City, which was a spirited surveillance of the terra incognita of film noir. Here, he selects six dark stars of the noir cycle, women who left an indelible impression on film history but never achieved supernova status; each of had to be available for a follow-up interview half a century after their heyday (alas, the sensational Marie Windsor died before publication but after contributing). The women in question are Jane Greer, Audrey Totter, Windsor, Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray (does she belong?), and Ann Savage. More than mere thumbnail bios, the profiles here blend to form a vivid snapshot of the B-movie business in the 40s. Muller's style is a left-handed homage to the snappy prose of the scandal sheets, bringing to mind the Kenneth Anger of Hollywood Babylon (except Muller is much more humane). When the stars share their peccadillos (and they have more than their share), he neither snickers nor wags a finger. The concluding reveries by these phenomenal women show what a false firmament Hollywood was, and that there's a lot more to life -- good and bad -- than installation into the pantheon of the silver screen. The only thing that could have made this book better would have been the inclusion (and Muller admits in his preface that it was impossible) of Lizabeth Scott and Claire Trevor. By the way, the then-and-now photographs are extraordinary. Strongly recommended.

"Dark City Dames": The Wicked Women of Film Noir is a fascinating book about some extraordinary screen actresses from the "good old days" of Hollywood. Eddie Muller's unique work is definitely not the typical coffee table volume composed for Hollywood nostalgia addicts. His superbly researched profiles of six noted actresses from the film noir genre; Coleen Gray, Jane Greer, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Savage, Audrey Totter and Marie Windsor, create real life drama from the femme fatale images of the past. Mr. Muller cleverly organized his book with two chapters for each actress, past and present. In every instance, all of the profiled women freely share their triumphs and disappointments, their loves and heartbreaks. While many of the insider stories and tidbits offered by Mr. Muller will amuse and titillate the reader, it is the admirable spirit, determination and character of these women that truly touched my heart. A case in point was the late Marie Windsor, a prime example of a unique talent who never realized her supernova screen potential. Toward the end of her life, Miss Windsor was desperately ill, taking care of a sicker husband, supporting a stepson, managing a household and holding down an important position with the Screen Actors Guild. Through it all, she remained determined to perservere and was ever grateful for a good life fully lived. Mr. Muller adroitly weaves the central themes of film noir, Hollywood and the studio system through the book, but the actresses and their fascinating personal lives earn the deserved star billing. "Dark City Dames" is a must for the film noir buff, but is a terrific book for anyone who enjoys the indomitability and compassion of the human spirit. They don't make movies like they used to, because they don't have actresses like these six around anymore.