Die seidene Schlinge

Note: this is a review for the full-length UK version of this film entitled NOOSE.

It is always a pleasure to see a film noir that is not only entertaining, artistically satisfying and a little off-beat, but one that is little heard of. NOOSE, a British film from 1948, has many of the visual and plot elements of the American crime dramas made in the forties, and this one even features, unexpectedly, two American stars, Carole Landis and Joseph Calleia. Landis is a fashion reporter who, after getting a story from a girl who is later murdered, wants to get the goods on the man responsible for her death, a notorious and powerful black marketeer, even when she learns that it will entail personal danger to her. She is supported by her newly demobbed fiancé, who enlists a gang of toughs from the local gym to try to bring down the racketeer's empire. Quite a ride from here. --- The story was based on a play by Richard Llewellyn (noted for HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY), but it betrays little of its non-cinematic origins. Director Edmond Greville (a French-English director who began his career working with Abel Gance and ended it with the sleaze classic BEAT GIRL) lends the film considerable artistic flare -- the staging and camera angles will often surprise you; so much so that you sometimes believe you are watching an auteur film. Music is by the great Charles Williams (Dream of Olwen, Theme from the APARTMENT) and adds to the film. The cast is a standout, even though it occasionally seems to work to cross purposes. Carole Landis, who made her last two films in England, was not only an actress, but a singer, USO trouper, and baseball fan (her name came from Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis!). Her career was lamentable spotty and her personal life a disaster, but she was a delight and it is a pity that shortly after this film she supposedly committed suicide (or, as some believe, was done in or something by her married boyfriend Rex Harrison.) Here she is vivacious and gives a performance well beyond that of the usual wise-cracking girl reporter. Derek Farr, always competent, seems bland by comparison and their pairing seems odd -- but the War did produce some odd couples. Joseph Calleia, originally Maltese, was a fixture in Hollywood during the forties and early fifties playing villains in gangster pictures and Westerns. As the kingpin black marketeer of foreign extraction he is simply superb, a performance Edward G. could not have bettered. Rivaling him for film time and stealing all his scenes, though, is Nigel Patrick as the flamboyant Cockney spiv who works for him. Stanley Holloway, known for comedic parts (LAVENDER HILL MOB, MY FAIR LADY) has an unusual dramatic turn as a policeman. --- This film is intriguing and eminently worth seeing, probably more than once, although, on the negative side, it is marred by an unevenness in tone, inconsistent pacing, and editing that disrupts the smooth telling of the story. -- also a few loose ends, such as what was the significance of Carole's character constantly taking her shoes off? Nevertheless, highly recommended for film noir fans!

NOOSE is a well-plotted but oddly uninspiring little crime film which deals with efforts to bring down an Italian black market racketeer operating in London following WW2. His sheer breadth of power means that the authorities are powerless against him, until a lone female reporter decides to write a scoop that brings him out of the woodwork and up against her.

There's some great material in the narrative here, including a completely amoral villain who enjoys using knuckle dusters to beat up women! The stark gang violence makes ahead of its time, but it's a pity that the execution is less than stellar. The film plods when it should grip, and it only really gets going in the last twenty minutes or so, with an unusual and rather powerful climax. It's one of those rare films where the women are both empowered and sexualised, leaving the men looking weak by comparison.

The tragic Carole Landis stars in her penultimate acting role before her untimely suicide and very good she is too: bright, brassy, and running rings around the menfolk. Joseph Calleia and Derek Farr are rather uninspired as the rival protagonists, though we do get the likes of Stanley Holloway in support, and even a brief cameo for Michael Ripper. Nigel Patrick is something of a scene stealer as a loud-mouth spiv, and although his telephone manner is absolutely hilarious, I found his brash character ended up being too over the top for his own good.

I rated this film with 6/10 mainly because the final punch-up by the boxers with the mobster gang was inconsistent, being almost comic slapstick with what had gone before involving which involved killings.As is commonly known Carole Landis had been a girlfriend of Rex Harrison and possibly through blighted affection committed suicide the same year as this film aged 29.Nigel Patrick plays an immoral cockney spiv not so ruthless as his partner an Italian gangster played by Joseph Calleia who is prone to lapse into "Don Giovanni" by Mozart occasionally.Stanley Holloway as the detective plays his part without any of the humour found in many other of his film portrayals.Derek Farr gives an unremarkable workman-like performance as the fiancé of Carole Landis.

I was surprised to find this full length 1948 film on Youtube probably because it is in the public domain and therefore out of copyright.

Edmond Greville brought a gallic sensibility to this vivid evocation of the postwar days when Soho was a byword for criminality and vice, fluidly photographed by Hone Glendinning and ending in a slam-bang finale.

Obligatory American imports Joseph Calleia and Carole Landis both give excellent accounts of themselves as "the nastiest thug in Europe" and his nemesis "the best fashion editor in the business". A uniformly memorable supporting cast include Nigel Patrick in full-on spiv mode, John Salew as Patrick's perspiring courier rejoicing in the name 'Greasy', and Hay Petrie in his creepiest role since he played Quilp as a murderous henchman known only as 'The Barber'.

Joseph Calleia and Nigel Patrick have built up a massive and occasionally underworld organization. When one of their murders comes to the attention of reporter Carole Landis, she begins a series of newspaper articles. Their increasingly threatening reaction does not faze her, but it leads her boyfriend, Derek Farr, into organizing an armed rebellion. In the meantime, slogging police inspector Stanley Holloway is closing in from his own end.

The script is by Richard Llewellyn, based on his stage play. It's been properly opened up for the screen. The problem is that it's shifting tone, from comedy to drama, never quite works. Joseph Calleia, fine actor that he is, is saddled with a heavy accent and tries to be simultaneously funny and terrifying. Patrick's character spends a lot of time as a fast-talking Cockney, more interested in performing his comedy bits on the telephone, until he decides to suddenly take matters into his own hands and take charge.

The result is a movie that is never quite sure what it wants to be, and tries to distract the audience from that uncertainty.