The Big Heat
Human Desire
Film Forum kicked off its indispensable 2-week “Fritz Lang in Hollywood” series last Friday with a great Glenn Ford/Gloria Grahame noir double feature, The Big Heat and Human Desire. I’ve seen both films many times on TV, but neither has ever looked as good as they did in these pristine 35-millimeter prints. I was particularly impressed by Gloria Grahame’s performances in both films, especially by her sympathetic mob mistress to Lee Marvin in The Big Heat. The script is full of classic lines, including her comment to the crooked cop's widow played by Jeanette Nolan, "We're sisters under the mink." Her sacrificial death at the end, cradled in that iconic mink by Glenn Ford as he tries to comfort her in her final moments, moved me as deeply as any noir ending I can recall.
Lang’s expressionistic geometry of paranoia and entrapment, frequently emphasized by overhead shots, is on view in all of his black-and-white Hollywood films, and even in his beautiful color Cinemascope period adventure film, Moonfleet. Another must-see coming next week is his moody, heartbreaking version of the Bonnie and Clyde myth, You Only Live Once.
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