Best buddy to cult film lovers Film Detective follows up its (reviewed) recent 4k and DVD releases of That '50s Hidden Scifi Gem "Flight to Mars" with the September 7, 2021 4K and DVD releases of the "from the vaults" indie noir film "A Life At Stake." Watching the 4K version on a Sony Bravia set with a Sony soundbar PROVES that viewing that edition is even better than seeing it on the silver screen.
The following Detective trailer highlights both the epic noirness of "Life" and reminds us of the range of Angela Lansbury. Her perfectly understated portrayal of femme fatale Doris Hillman shows that she is far more than a maternal teapot and equally motherly novelist who saves 100s of friends-and-family from a seat in Old Sparky.
The sultry opening scene of "Life" evokes very strong thoughts of Tennessee Williams.
Bare-chested principled but disgraced architect/developer Edward Shaw (character actor Keith Andes) does his best James Dean, Tab Hunter, and Howard Roark as he starts his day in his room at a seedy boarding house. The subsequent interaction between "Landlady" (scene-stealer Jane Darwell) and attorney Sam Pearson provides the exposition that sets the game afoot.
The proverbial 25-words-or-less backstory is that the reversal-of-fortune of Shaw is fully attributable to someone who dun him wrong. Rather than hide behind bankruptcy laws ala a certain real-life pharmaceutical company owning family, Shaw is determined to live a life of quiet desperation until he can put right what once went wrong.
Pearson provides salvation in the form of an offer that Shaw (but not the audience) would have been better off refusing. Former real-estate agent/current real housewife Doris wants to back Shaw in a new development.
The initial meeting between Shaw and Doris demonstrates both that most noir couples strive to be Bogie and Bacall and that that legendary couple sets a high standard. However, our leads expertly straining the morality standards of the Hays Code in this scene shows that there is nothing wrong with being number two.
Andes and Lansbury do equally well portraying the parallel increased involvement in the bedroom and the boardroom. This sets the stage for the "Double Indemnity" portion of our program.
One of the best scenes in "Life" centers around a passionate negotiation as to the amount of a life-insurance policy on Shaw that is presented as providing Doris spouse Gus Hillman a safety net as to his investment in the venture.
Lansbury augments her femme fatale role with domination of Doris' younger sister in a manner that prompts strong thoughts of the career-high performance of the former in "The Manchurian Candidate." The role of the "innocent" is to introduce a sibling rivalry that triggers Hitchcockian paranoia in Shaw. A subsequent "accident" sets the stage for the rest of the film.
All of this climaxes with the typical Silver Age 11th hour resolution that fully embraces the Hays Code. The clear message here is that karma is an even bigger bitch than the femme fatale.
The accelerated rush to judgment further reflects a contrast that is a pet peeve.
The brisk 1:15 runtime of "Life" is a literal nice change-of-pace compared to virtually every movie since roughly the '90s. Expressing that most films of the past few decades reflects frustration regarding undue filler, rather than a short attention span. Armchair editing easily proves that 30 minutes of montages and/or unnecessary narration in modern movies should end up on the cutting-room floor.
Detective provides its typically awesome "drawing-room" wrap-up with a brisk 10-minute special-features documentary titled "Hollywood Hitch-hikers: Inside the Filmmakers." This Ballyhoo Motion Pictures production lives up the name of its best-brains production company.
"Hollywood" tells the Lucyesque tale of Golden Age star Ida Lupino leaving Warner Brothers to prove that she knows Jack about making movies (and television series). This comes in the form of Lupino and real-life spouse Collier Young starting the Desiluesque production company The Filmmakers. We learn how the parallels with Lucy and Desi extend to marital woes that aptly involve Young hoping that Lupino would have gotten off her duff.
Detective also includes a breezy informative "Biography, He Wrote" written essay by Jason Ney. Ney provides a figurative 25-words-or-less history on the b-movie career of Lansbury.
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