Five From A Favorite - The Burning Secret (Robert Siodmak, 1933)
4 comments:
Sam Juliano
said...
Brooding germanic imagery, Drew, from a true master of black and white, Robert Siodmark, in one of his lesser known works, rightly showcased here. He's rightly celebrated for THE KILLERS and CRISS CROSS, but I always revel in THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE particularly.
Thanks for the comment, Sam! I am indeed aware of your affinity for The Spiral Staircase. I like that one quite a bit, though I am more partial to others, including the two brilliant noirs you mention. Siodmak really is hugely underrated, with a heck of an expansive career full of diamonds in the rough, like the movie I've posted about here that contains an expressionist nightmare sequence as visually striking as anything found in his more canonical works.
My favorite of all might be Someone to Remember (1943), one of his more obscure American films that blew my socks off. It reaches a level of tenderness comparable to McCarey. And I love Pièges, one of his French films that anticipates much of his American noir output, and has a short but wonderful von Stroheim performance.
Thanks for the comment, John. I too love Siodmak's noir films. You are quite right that his body of work is pretty large. There's a whole ton of ground left for me to cover as well, but the ones I've gotten around to so far have been highly rewarding.
4 comments:
Brooding germanic imagery, Drew, from a true master of black and white, Robert Siodmark, in one of his lesser known works, rightly showcased here. He's rightly celebrated for THE KILLERS and CRISS CROSS, but I always revel in THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE particularly.
Thanks for the comment, Sam! I am indeed aware of your affinity for The Spiral Staircase. I like that one quite a bit, though I am more partial to others, including the two brilliant noirs you mention. Siodmak really is hugely underrated, with a heck of an expansive career full of diamonds in the rough, like the movie I've posted about here that contains an expressionist nightmare sequence as visually striking as anything found in his more canonical works.
My favorite of all might be Someone to Remember (1943), one of his more obscure American films that blew my socks off. It reaches a level of tenderness comparable to McCarey. And I love Pièges, one of his French films that anticipates much of his American noir output, and has a short but wonderful von Stroheim performance.
Drew,
Not familar with this film but I love Siodmak's noir films. His filmography is fairly large and, at least for me, there is still a lot to explore.
Thanks for the comment, John. I too love Siodmak's noir films. You are quite right that his body of work is pretty large. There's a whole ton of ground left for me to cover as well, but the ones I've gotten around to so far have been highly rewarding.
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