CLEO MOORE in “On Dangerous
Ground”
When
I think of supporting actress candidates, I don’t really have a problem
including performers whose roles are essentially cameos, maybe even just one scene. Not if the impression they
create in those few moments has the power to really resonate. “On Dangerous
Ground” is an electrifying little Nicholas Ray noir. It’s dressed up with a
swirling Bernard Herrmann score. One that grabs you by the throat from the
credits on. -but never fights the picture, just elevates an already
impressive vehicle. Robert Ryan stars as a fist-happy cop. Not a stretch,
maybe, but there’s no denying he’s awfully good at it. Yet it’s Ray’s use of
his supporting cast that really startles. In a genre known for colorful side
characters, “On Dangerous Ground” is especially well-cast, each player utilized
to terrific effect. Tired detectives waiting for their pension, barflies,
bookies, crones and stool-pigeons - all seem vivid here, flesh-and-blood rather than stereotypes. Following
a lead, Ryan
ends up at a rundown apartment building, looking for the
girlfriend of a dangerous suspect. Cleo Moore turns out to be that girl – and when
she answers the door, the temperature shoots
up. Wild-eyed, gleaming with perspiration, prowling around the place in a loose
kimono, she looks like June Haver just back from a trip to Hell. Disturbed and reckless. The voice is
breathy and it's intense, getting the most out of some insinuating dialogue. Those
insinuations seem to point to masochism and nymphomania. And behind closed
doors - to get information out of her – Ryan apparently gives her what she
wants (which seems to be rough sex). It’s clear that when her boyfriend finds
out she’s talked, the consequences for her are likely to be lethal. But Ryan
couldn’t care less. She’s just a disposable means to an end. Moore was a brand
new face in ’52. And though there were plenty of other good-looking blondes on the scene,
for sheer carnality - major voltage - there was no one to beat Cleo Moore. Next to her, the Mamie Van Dorens and Joi
Lansings were just pretend. The major
studios may not have been able to handle Moore’s undiluted sizzle.
But Actor/director
Hugo Haas was quick to notice her. She became his muse, starring for (and often
with) him in a string of lurid – but highly
effective – B’s with titles like “One Girl’s Confession”, “Bait” and ”Over-Exposed.”
Moore’s extremely sexy (and pretty terrific) in all of them. Where’s that Cleo
Moore/Hugo Haas box set?
VIDA HOPE in “Women of Twilight”
(U.S. title “Twilight Women”)
With a few exceptions even top
tier British films got limited exposure in the U.S. in the early 50’s.
Low-budget quickies like “Women of Twilight” barely saw the light of day.
Certainly American reviewers rarely bothered with them. But the DVD age has revealed the depth and
breadth of British cinema from the era, most
of it largely unseen on this side of the Atlantic. “Women of Twilight” ’s no
masterpiece. But it’s got a kind of “Caged” vibe –which is to say it’s chock
full of actresses. Good ones. A pre-fame
Laurence Harvey pops up briefly early on as a crooner/gigolo , disreputable
cause of one girl’s downfall. But for
the most part the film’s fully focused on the ladies and gives all of them a
chance to run with the material. It’s
not a prison film, but it does place its characters in
a closed, claustrophobic and pernicious environment. Freda Jackson’s the hissable villain of the
piece. Think Jeanette Nolan with a malevolently cultured British accent ,a sprinkle of Sondergaard and a dash of the Wicked Queen from Disney’s “Snow
White”. She runs a boarding house, ostensibly to help unfortunate girls, but
actually to exploit them . The girls, are mostly in one sort of trouble or
another, mainly unwed mothers. A pre-Moneypenny Lois Maxwell is the latest,
most vulnerable addition to the group. The other roles are divvied up between
an assortment of skilled British character actresses. The kind that probably learned
the ropes from the ground up in repertory theatre. Including Rene Ray (an important star in the
30’s), now very effectively projecting a sad-eyed older but wiser glamour - plus the priceless Dora Bryan, as a good-natured
over-the-hill trollop who cheerfully asks the others to leave the window open a
crack so she can get in after her nightly prowl. But best of all is Vida Hope.
Born in Liverpool barely a generation ahead of the Beatles, her name’s hardly
remembered now. But she was a terrific talent. Given half a chance, Hope was usually splendid.
As in the Brit noir classic “They Made Me
a Fugitive”, where she sends out memorably strange vibes as a woman with her own twisted
reasons for harboring criminal on the run Trevor Howard. An eminently resourceful actress, Hope knew how to make an
impression in more down-market circumstances, too. The ’55 British B “Marilyn”
is a bottom of the bill quickie – an unofficial riff on “The Postman Always Rings Twice”.
Sandra Dorne, the closest thing Britain had to Cleo Moore, has the Lana part.
Vida’s her obsessively devoted bff – that is, until she thinks she’s been
betrayed. Then – watch out! In “Women of Twilight” she’s the villainess’s right-hand
woman. Coarse, sloppy, hot-headed and mouthy one minute, quietly conniving the
next. In the end, she’s not quite as evil as Jackson. But it’s an awful lot of fun watching her push
everybody’s buttons. When I think of the
performances I enjoyed most from ’52, I inevitably remember Vida Hope in “Women
of Twilight”. She’s plain faced and chunky. Nobody would have been offering her
the Kim Novak parts. But – as a
performer – she was genuinely gifted. Unfortunately Vida Hope died young (at 45). Definitely
the kind of character actress whose years of peak accomplishment would probably only have been beginning at that
age. Had she lived, it’s likely she’d have left us with a lot more performances to admire.
Possibly even some Oscar nominations. As
“Women of Twilight” proves, she was certainly good enough.
2 comments:
Vida Hope was 53 when she died in a road traffic accident.She lived at 21 Belsize Cres. Hampstead.
Thanks for the corrected info about her age. It's just a shame she didn't live to share more of her unique talent. A genuinely gifted artist.
Post a Comment