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| REVIEWS:
DEATH ON THE CHEAP The Lost "B" Movies of Film Noir |
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Dean
Koontz
" A terrific piece of work, the definitive book
on its subject, and a body slam of nostalgia that knocked me out of my
chair more than once. "
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| Otto
Penzler founder of The Mysterious Press and
the largest mystery bookshop in the world. |
| " The past 20 years or so
appear to have seen more books on film noir than any other movie genre.
When people speak or write about film noir, they invariably invoke Laura,
Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman
Always Rings Twice, The Third Man, and a handful of other
iconic examples of the popular genre. These are A movies, however, made
with substantial budgets by the major studios and featuring the headline
actors and actresses of the time. The B films, with a few notable
exceptions, have largely been ignored. Arthur Lyons, who really knows
his stuff, figured that the world didn't need to read again about
Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain, or Humphrey Bogart and Lizabeth
Scott. Instead, he devotes his intelligent pen to helping us rediscover
the B films, the second features that helped keep movie theaters full in
the 1940s and 1950s. Made for budgets that frequently fell short of
$100,000, with cheap sets and costumes, these plot-driven movies had
little in the way of special effects and nothing in the way of
super-star actors and actresses. Republic was famous for its low-budget
films and serials, as was Monogram, but even the major studios had B
units.
Hugely fascinating information impossible to find without devoting an
inordinate amount of your life to research, which is clearly what Lyons
must have done, fills every page of this tome. In addition to an
overview and chronological history of B films noir, Death on the
Cheap has a comprehensive filmography with title, date, studio,
running time, alternate titles, credits, plot outline, and critique for
each film. There is also a chronology of every B noir film (Lyons
credits 1939's Blind Alley as the first and reckons 1959 as the
end of the genre). Although an unapologetic fan of B noir films, Lyons
has no problem warning potential viewers from the really bad ones, and
he doesn't exactly make his opinions known in a subtle fashion. Take
this example, used to describe Hit and Run, a 1957 movie
involving twins, produced, directed, written by and starring Hugo Haas:
"Yet another smell-o by Haas.... Haas, of course, had to play the
parts of both twins, doubling the pain for the audience."
Lyons, a well-known writer of the superb series of private-eye novels
about Jacob Asch, demonstrates that his writing skills remain equally
high whether he's writing fiction or nonfiction. Death on the Cheap
is one of those rare pleasures, like a box of expensive chocolates that
you can dip into any time and discover a genuine treat.": --Otto
Penzler |
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Gerald
Petievich, author of the books To Live and Die in L.A. and Shakedown
" Most books on the subject of film noir cover
only well-known movies in their filmographies, such as The Maltese
Falcon, Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, The Postman Always Rings
Twice, and so on. But these were all A productions. What Mr. Lyons has
done is dust off those B films that have been sitting on studio shelves,
those which rarely, if ever, appear on television, even at three in the
morning, and has some fun doing it. Thankfully, the terms 'mise-en-scene,'
'aesthetic reversals,' and 'rhetorical form' do not appear in his
text. " |
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| Jay
Fenton |
| " Art Lyons has written an informative,
entertaining book exploring the seldom-entered realm of "B"
film noir. You won't find DOUBLE INDEMNITY, OUT OF THE PAST, or LADY
FROM SHANGHAI in this book. Instead you'll read about SCREAMING MIMI, SO
DARK THE NIGHT, WHEN STRANGERS MARRY, BLONDE ICE and many other
"B" films that showed the gritty noir milieu their
"A" production counterparts often smoothed over. The author
has an obvious love of his subject and has taken the time to research
the films, actors, actresses, directors and cinematographers that
produced this most neglected segment of the film noir cycle. Some of the
film could compete with "A" productions; one or two could
better them; but few authors could write about them as well as Art Lyons
has. And he's included a generous filmography, which will simultaneously
make your mouth water while frustrating your efforts to find on video." |
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| Dark Marc |
| " There's a raging battle going on in the world
of film noir. One camp declares that noir is a genre into itself. The
opposing forces adamantly defend their stance that noir is not a genre,
but a style of filmmaking that can be found in many genres including
Crime, Westerns, & Melodramas. The smart bombs hurled by these film
noir fans, during their debates, are the classic dark thrillers from the
1940's and 50's. Rare and lost films noir from obscure studios
are resurrected, researched, analyzed and debated. Ultimately these
"B" films are offered by both sides as evidence that, the
understanding and classification of classic film noir is still a work in
progress.
The by-product of all this frenzy is that the canon has
expanded into many film titles that haven't been seen in 50 years.
'DEATH ON THE CHEAP' by Arthur
Lyons is absolutely the best and most up to date reference material on
those obscure films that are now at the vanguard of the debate: What
is this thing called film noir? The author's list of movies includes,
dates, run times, directors, production staff as well as actors. A short
review is given about each film and Lyons is realistic about the
qualities of the B films listed. He separates the gems from
the turkeys and explains why. In several chapters the book follows the
evolution of the "B' movie and the studios that cranked them out.
This background is essential in understanding why the classic noir looks
like it does.
While the topic is the stuff that film academics ponder, 'DEATH ON
THE CHEAP' is far from being difficult to read. Actually, this book is pure entertainment and Lyons' sense of humor fits right in as he
reminds us, that after all, we are talking about films with titles like
'Blonde Ice', 'The Man Who Died Twice' and 'Please Murder Me' .
'Death On The Cheap' IS A MUST READ if you love vintage film noir or
want to know more about it! "- Dark Marc |
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