I post reviews (here) of Film Noir movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age of Noir, the 1940s and 1950s. I write as an amateur film noir enthusiast, but not an authority as such.

Maybe, like me, you are looking to enjoy films that are different, or of a different era. Films you may not have seen, ones encompassing cynical detectives, seductive femme fatales, flawed sidekicks all tossed together into intricate plots. Not forgetting the snappy dialogue too.

Backstory: Film Noir has its roots in German expressionist cinematography and American crime fiction. During the 1930s Hollywood became a perfect storm of film artists fleeing the threat of Nazi Germany, emigrating to America, and specifically to the Film studios of Hollywood. This included great directors such as Fritz Lang, Jaques Tourneur, Michael Curtiz and Robert Siodmak.

This new dramatic visual style combined with American hardboiled crime stories (noir fiction), emerged during the Great Depression and produced many classic noirs. Some of these writers include: Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, Jim Thompson and Mickey Spillane.

I hope to showcase some of these memorable noir movies here for you. And advance apologies for a mixture of British and US English occasionally and potential spoilers, although I will always try to avoid revealing the full ending. I have applied the link below, to the Amazon.com DVD of today’s featured film. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases).

Inspired by hardboiled detective stories and film noir, I have written the Sterling Private Investigator Series, set in present-day London. I have also posted a link to my books at the bottom of the page.

 

Today’s film is: 

The Breaking Point

USA DVD:  https://amzn.to/3ELGQLw   Blu-ray DVD: https://amzn.to/4idDak9

UK link DVD: https://amzn.to/3XdKl3o   Blu-ray DVD: https://amzn.to/3X9AVpR

 

“A man alone ain’t got a chance”

 

Film Studio: Warner Bros. 1950/B&W

Director: Michael Curtiz

Original Music: Max Steiner

Cinematography: Ted D. McCord

Film Editor: Alan Crosland Jr.

Story: “To Have and Have Not” by Earnest Hemingway

Screenplay: Ranald MacDougall

Main Actors: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter, Juano Hernandez

Produced by: Warner Bros.

Run time: 97 minutes

 

 

Preview

 

Courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Breaking Point is a 1950 American film noir crime drama directed by Michael Curtiz and the second film adaptation of the 1937 Ernest Hemingway novel, To Have and Have Not – the first one having featured Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. It stars John Garfield in his penultimate film role and Patricia Neal.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times lauded the film when it was first released. He wrote, “Warner Brothers, which already has taken one feeble swing and a cut at Ernest Hemingway’s memorable story of a tough guy, To Have and Have Not, finally has got hold of that fable and socked it for a four-base hit in a film called The Breaking Point, which came to the Strand yesterday. All of the character, color and cynicism of Mr. Hemingway’s lean and hungry tale are wrapped up in this realistic picture, and John Garfield is tops in the principal role… Some solid production and photography along the coast and in actual harbours for small boats round out a film which is gripping and pictorially genuine. “According to David Masciotra, the critical consensus is that The Breaking Point is a less famous, but better film than To Have and Have Not.”

 

Synopsis

 

The Breaking Point begins with the genial Harry Morgan (John Garfield) narrating, as his boat, The Sea Queen docks:

You know how it is, early in the morning on the water, everything is quiet except for the seagulls…. a long way off, and you feel great. Then you come ashore and it starts, and then in no time at all you’re up to your ears in trouble, and you don’t know where it began.

From the off, we know that the protagonist (a fishing boat captain) is up against it, broke if not broken, destitute if not defeated. He needs gas and his line of credit has run dry. The only way he can make is living is by chartering his boat for local fishing trips. And he uses the last of his cash to pay for that gas. His wife, Lucy (played by Phyllis Thaxter) tells him she had to use up the deposit money (from the forthcoming trip) to pay the store: “They wouldn’t wait,” she says, dispirited.  “Everyone in town is squeezing me for money,” Harry sighs, as he packs clothes for an upcoming trip.

His wife (supportively) reminds him of her family farm and a potential job: “Don’t give me that propaganda about your old man’s lettuce ranch… Don’t tell me how happy I’d be on a tractor,” he says in rebuttal. “What else do I know, what else am I good at? I’m a boat jockey,” he says in defence. “And that’s all I know.”

After breakfast Harry prepares to say goodbye to his his wife and his young daughters. Outside, they see Wesley Park, his first mate (played by Juano Hernandez) with his shy little boy. “It’s Wesley!” the girls joyously call out. “Don’t be so shy, say hello,” the father encourages his son. Wesley is a likeable man, an African American who Morgan treats as a friend and an equal. And there is clearly a bond between them. Wesley’s son and the two sisters head off to school together, while Harry and Wesley go to the boat in readiness for a charter to Ensenada. Yes, sunny Mexico!

When Morgan’s customers come down the gangway, they are not dressed to fish. The older man, Hannagan (played by Ralph Dumke) is dressed smartly (tie, double breasted blazer and mock captain’s cap), and he has a young woman: Leona Charles (Patricia Neal), on his arm, and she is more fetching than his grubby regulars… In fact, she is blonde, beautiful – and blunt. And she seems to have eyes for the real captain.

Captain Morgan and Leona Charles seem to have an instant dislike for each other (at least at the beginning), and trade barbs at each other.  “You’re a nice girl, so be nice,” he says, finally. “Yeah, nice,” she says as she tosses her cigarette over the side, “no future in it.” When Hannagan is busy fishing off the bow, the seductress starts batting her eyes and tries to seduce the captain. Hook, line and sinker. (To continue the nautical theme).

Upon arrival, Morgan asks if Hannagan wants to pay the balance before they return. Hannagan tells him, “We’re going over to that Rooster place, come by and have a drink and we’ll settle up.”

On the way, Morgan runs into a shady lawyer called Duncan (Wallace Ford) who asks if he wants to take any passengers back with him. “There’s money in it,” he says. Morgan dismisses the offer out of hand. Seeing Hannagan (and Leona) in the bar afterwards, Morgan confirms a return sailing time for the the next day at 10.00 a.m.

However, come ten, Hannagan is a no-show, though Leona (with suitcases and bags under her arms), does show. She tells them Hannagan has done a runner and returned by plane instead. Morgan is in a tight spot, needing eighty bucks to clear the port (fees) and all he has is eighty cents… An unseen breaker indeed.

Morgan recalls the “offer” from the previous night, returning to the bar in search of Duncan, who introduces him to a people smuggler called, “Mr Sing” (Victor Sen Young). Morgan reluctantly agrees to smuggle eight Chinese men to California in his boat. He (protectively) sends his first mate and Leona Charles packing but both are stowaways, emerging from the lower cabin after Morgan has set sail.

The people transfer goes awry because Mr Sing is reticent to pay the promised amount, pulling out a gun instead of his wallet from his inside pocket. A fight ensues and Morgan shoots Sing and throws him overboard. He orders the men to disembark back onto the beach. Returning to Newport, the Coast Guard commandeers the vessel until they have carried out a full investigation of their suspicions.

When Harry Morgan is drowning his sorrows in the local bar, his shapely admirer joins him: Leona Charles. Mrs Morgan later comes in, making it, well, slightly awkward. “You’re the girl he told me about. I had you pictured a little different,” she says glancing at her husband. (Her partner had described her as, “40… she had moles, a lot of them.”). Leona reassures her that nothing happened between them on the trip to Mexico. Mrs Morgan is believing but looking at her husband reaching for yet another bottle of booze, it is not, perhaps, his finest hour.

When Harry’s boat is returned. We learn it is due to a court order arranged by Duncan. Like a rash, he won’t go away… When the creditors are closing in on Morgan, to keep his boat, he has to go cap in hand back to Duncan. He offers him a nefarious job: a charter to some mobsters planning a racecourse robbery. It’s good money but you have the sense Morgan will soon be digging his way out of another hole (or should that be, pumping water out of the bilge)….

 

Things to like

*The opening narration has been changed from Hemingway’s original lines (To Have or Have not) which are a bit more vivid, and the location is in Havana, but here, sailing into shore, it sounds rather poetic all the same… The peaceful solitude (of the sea) is interrupted by trouble and bills. We can all relate to that.

*With her husband getting romantic overtures from the arresting Leona Charles, Lucy Morgan changes her hair colour to blonde and cut short in a similar style. The reaction from her family is quite amusing. “Really mother, we’ll be the laughing-stock,” her little girl admonishes, “the absolute laughing-stock.” Her husband asks quizzically: “When did that happen?”

*Duncan (wonderfully played by Wallace Ford) is a shyster. In his dapper cream-coloured panama hat and blazer, he knows all the tricks but has no stomach for violence. He’s the middleman to Mr Big, sleazing around looking for his next victim and ready with the money-making proposal. He always shows up after things go awry, tabling more dubious offers and lifelines.

*Morgan’s young daughters add plenty of levity to the somewhat sombre script. They are oblivious to their parent’s economic woes, just wanting to do go to the movie theatre (and see the same film again); or listen to a favourite radio show; or one sister hogging the bathroom, “she’s always in there,” says the other. And much to the annoyance of their father, slamming the door each time, they leave. Amy and Connie Morgan are charmingly played by child stars, Sherry Jackson and Donna Jo Boyce. The children here, are a welcome addition to the story and help flesh out Harry Morgan’s family life, and his motivations.

 

Quotes

Duncan: “You could do a lot with that money.”

Harry Morgan: “Not in jail, I couldn’t!”

***

Duncan: “Hey, you wanna meet a nice girl? She’s just got a divorce.”

Harry Morgan: “You’re poison.”

Duncan: “Think it over.”

***

Leona Charles: (asking about Morgan’s wife) “Is she pretty?

Harry Morgan: “She’s got something for me. We’re something together… Spoils everything else for me.”

Leona Charles: “How do you know till you try?”

***

Harry Morgan: “Do me a favour; where can I find Hannagan?”

Leona Charles: “I don’t know.”

Harry Morgan: “Where did you meet him?”

Leona Charles: “In Sunday School.”

***

Lucy Morgan: “I heard there was a girl on the boat. I heard she was pretty.”

Harry Morgan: “Not very. Hannagan’s girl. I wouldn’t say she was pretty.”

Lucy: “I just wondered.”

Harry: “She had moles. A lot of them…”

Lucy: “How old was she – with her moles?”

Harry: “Oh, not more than 40. She had nice legs on her.”

(She slaps him on the cheek).

Harry: “What was that for?”

Lucy: “For noticing her legs.”

 

Summary

The Breaking Point is beautifully directed by “Casablanca” director, Michael Curtiz. It features a distressed family man, Harry Morgan who is haunted by the spectre of failure. One might say, he is almost heroically willing to do anything to stave off poverty, but he begins crossing the (criminal) line in order to do so. Temptation seems to be everywhere: the money on offer to carry out those criminal deeds and a (kind of) femme fatale who promises excitement away from his mundane life. Supporting him is his wife who loves him (and whom he loves) and his two daughters. This is his motivation, but the more in debt he gets, the worse his decision-making becomes. Will he ultimately succumb to these temptations?

The setting, a coastal town and The Sea Queen add a slice of melodrama to the story, creating a sort of noir adventure film. The light (the sea) and the dark (the hardships) are contrasted nicely. The leads are excellent, particularly the abrasive Morgan (Garfield) who is intense and believable. A nod to Phyllis Thaxter who plays the supportive role with a nice balance of sympathy and poignancy. She watches the man she loves become discouraged and more and more cynical.

The story is gritty and raw and wholly entertaining, and the direction is tight and compelling. It serves up a punch-to-the gut ending too, which leaves the viewer reeling. Not one you will forget in a hurry.

 

 

 

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