{"id":13494,"date":"2016-04-26T12:26:16","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T16:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13494"},"modified":"2016-04-26T12:26:16","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T16:26:16","slug":"br-where-the-sidewalk-ends-1950","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13494","title":{"rendered":"BR: Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WhereTheSidewalkEnds_BR\"Film<\/strong>:\u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0February 16, 2016<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Film Noir \/ Crime<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0A drastic attempt to clean up an accidental death sends\u00a0a hothead detective to his doom in this taut classic from Otto Preminger.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>2005 Audio Commentator with film noir historian Eddie Muller \/ Isolated Mono Music Track \/ Theatrical Trailer \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a> and www.twilighttimemovies.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to peg Otto Preminger\u2019s Where the Sidewalk Ends<\/strong> as a paler work compared to Laura<\/a><\/strong> (1944), especially since the former resembles a packaged reunion of key personnel, with Preminger producing & directing, stars Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney cast as improbable would-be lovers again, Joseph LaShelle again lending his beautiful cinematography, and the setting is once again New York City, but Sidewalk<\/strong> is \u00a0a small little masterwork that shows almost everyone in great form, especially Preminger, whose career would soon swerve into hot-topic dramas, often challenging the stifling Production Code (the topic of \/ literal use of the word \u201cpregnant\u201d in The Moon is Blue<\/strong>;\u00a0drug use in The Man with the Golden Arm<\/strong>, rape in Anatomy of a Murder<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Preminger\u2019s early career as a Fox producer-director is filled with some dynamic noirs, and Sidewalk<\/strong> lives up to its cult status\u00a0as a marginalized genre classic. Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray edition sports a gorgeous HD transfer and the same extras as the 2005 DVD from Fox\u2019s film noir series, plus the addition of a dynamic isolated mono music track showcasing Cyril Mockridge\u2019s score.<\/p>\n

As audio commentator and film noir historian Eddie Muller recounts, Sidewalk<\/strong> was based on a novel by William Stuart and adapted by several writers, but it\u2019s credited Ben Hecht (Barbary Coast<\/a><\/strong>, His Girl Friday<\/strong>, Notorious<\/strong>) that certainly gets the attention for the sharp, bare bones dialogue that nevertheless sets up and deepens characters and their emerging conflicts. The core story of a cop covering up an accidental killing and ultimately ruining his life isn\u2019t new, but the film serves to remind how good Andrews was prior to a waning career that many attributed to years of heavy drinking.<\/p>\n

Det. Dixon (Andrews) has a serious hate-on for local crime kingpin Scalise (All About Eve<\/a> <\/strong>and Mysterious Island<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Gary Merrill, really solid playing a slimy heavy), and when Dixon lethally knocks out a witness to a murder sanctioned by Scalise after an illegal gambling match, the impulsive decision is to scramble up a plan that fingers the kingpin as the real killer.<\/p>\n

Hecht\u2019s script constantly shifts levels of guilt and the discovery of facts among characters to build up irony and tension, and Dixon\u2019s circumstances aren\u2019t helped when the department\u2019s new governing lieutenant Thomas (Karl Malden) rapidly builds a case against an innocent man, taxi driver Jiggs (scene-stealing Tom Tully). It also doesn\u2019t help that the man Dixon killed (Peter Gunn<\/strong>\u2019s Craig Stevens) is the estranged husband of Jiggs\u2019 daughter Morgan (Tierney), with whom he starts to develop feelings.<\/p>\n

The beauty of Sidewalk<\/strong> is that it\u2019s a classic noir and a solid police procedural, with tension mounting as the wrong man is arrested, and Dixon develops a major death wish to right several wrongs stemming from his rash and very bad decision. Contemporary audiences may have wished for a more risqu\u00e9 finale \u2013 being made under the Production Code, it\u2019s no surprise that all guilty persons are punished in some fashion \u2013 but it also makes the finale more intense, as the level of punitive measures (and who metes them out) remains unknown until the last scene. The finale does echo a bit of Leave Her to Heaven<\/a><\/strong> (1945), but then so do many moments within the film as a whole.<\/p>\n

Originality lies in Preminger\u2019s direction which Muller describes as being invisible when the director was in top form, sticking to long takes, and keeping the camera moving to facilitate edits that are often very discrete. Preminger\u2019s use of close-ups is exceptionally powerful \u2013 one tense shot locked to Andrews\u2019 tense face is amazing, and must have been riveting on the big screen \u2013 as are some unusual camera placements, including a single shot that follows a car into and up a service elevator before it pulls away.<\/p>\n

Muller\u2019s commentary is generally solid \u2013 a few silent gaps recur, but it\u2019s its not a consistent problem \u2013 and while there\u2019s admittedly a bit to much self-promotion in dropping the names of his own work as a noir author, Muller often cross-references themes, reiterates familiar tropes, cast members, motifs, and imagery with other genre entries, contextualizing the film\u2019s stature within the history of film noir.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one major flaw, it\u2019s the overuse (if not recurring use) of Alfred Newman\u2019s \u201cStreet Scene\u201d theme which tends to take away from the film\u2019s procedural grimness whenever there\u2019s a lush, formal version of the main theme. Mockridge\u2019s own variations are most startling when they\u2019re reinterpreted as weird, discordant suspense tracks, but unlike Laura<\/strong>, this isn\u2019t a noir with a dreamy romance; there\u2019s mounting guilt, and Dixon\u2019s frequently called away from Morgan because Lt. Thomas\u2019 investigation is moving at fierce speed.<\/p>\n

Sidewalk<\/strong> is also a chilling example of an era predating the establishment and use of the Miranda rights<\/a>\u00a0starting in 1966, in which the police inform a suspect that he \/ she has the right to remain silent and engage a lawyer. Thomas makes a fast assessment of the crime scene and makes Jiggs the only suspect, and he refuses to entertain a different narrative. The result of Thomas’ gleeful power trip has Jiggs grabbed by the police, taken to the crime scene, forced to replay Dixon\u2019s own actions as witnessed by a landlady, and quickly booked for murder. To contemporary audiences, the speed and virtual helplessness of Jiggs\u2019 arrest and charging is pretty terrifying.<\/p>\n

Genre fans will also have fun spotting the superior supporting cast, especially genre character actors Bert Freed as Dixon\u2019s long-suffering partner and friend, unbilled Neville Brand (Stalag 17<\/strong>, Riot in Cell Block 11<\/strong>, Eaten Alive<\/strong>) as Scalise\u2019s main henchman and, er masseuse, and prolific Robert F. Simon in his unbilled film debut. Tierney\u2019s then-husband \/ fashion designer Oleg Cassini has a cameo playing (what else?) a fashion designer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> —\u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Film:\u00a0Excellent Transfer: Excellent Extras: Excellent Label:\u00a0\u00a0Twilight Time Region:\u00a0All Released:\u00a0\u00a0February 16, 2016 Genre:\u00a0 Film Noir \/ Crime Synopsis:\u00a0A drastic attempt to clean up an accidental death sends\u00a0a hothead detective to his doom in this taut classic from Otto Preminger. Special Features:\u00a02005 Audio Commentator with film noir historian Eddie Muller \/ Isolated Mono Music Track \/ Theatrical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[3573,1153,352,353,1711,4404],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3vE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13494"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13516,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13494\/revisions\/13516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}