Bodyguard (1948) The Clay Pigeon (1949) Fleischer's first two Noirs

I was going down an alphabetical list.

It was a list of noirs that I haven't seen and one of the "B's" was Bodyguard and one of the "C's" was The Clay Pigeon. Bodyguard was Director Richard  Fleischer's first adult  feature film for RKO.

I actually however watched The Clay Pigeon first, and didn't check to see who was the director. The first thing I noticed was that it starred Bill Williams the "non compos mentis" sailor boy who has to go ship ahoy by 6:00 AM in the Cornell Woolrich adaptation of Deadline At Dawn. The second  thing was a shot later that was re used for the opening credits for The Narrow Margin. So I paused the film and did a quick check and its Richard Fleischer, of course that makes sense he directed The Narrow Margin which BTW was actually filmed just a year after The Clay Pigeon, in 1950.

Anyway back to Bodyguard.

Prior to Bodyguard Fleischer directed a series of sped up shorts called Flicker Flashbacks, these were sped up silent films that were sliced and diced into new material stitched together with a comedy voice over narrative. Hey it was a form of recycling material already owned and Fleischer worked on this type of product with a couple of kid adventure films and documentaries thrown in to the mix for five years. One documentary Design for Death (1947) actually one the Academy Award for best documentary.

Bodyguard was written by Fred Niblo Jr. and Harry Essex and was based on a story  written by George W. George and future director Robert Altman. Cinematography was by Robert De Grasse and music was by Paul Sawtell.

Lawrence Tierney as Mike Carter

The film stars Hollywood tough guy Lawrence Tierney as Mike Carter. Tierney already made three Noirs prior. Dillinger, The Devil Thumbs a Ride and his classic Born To Kill. He's a vicious skunk in all three. Bodyguard is one of his good guy roles. Priscilla Lane is Doris Brewster, Phillip Reed plays Freddie Dysen, June Clayworth appears as Connie Fenton, Elisabeth Risdon as Gene Dysen, Steve Brodie as Fenton, Frank Fenton as Lrt. Borden, and Charles Cane as Capt. Wayne.

Priscilla Lane is Doris Brewster,

The Story a fast paced 62 minutes has Mike Carter (Tierney) as a loose cannon on the LAPD. He and, if you take James Ellroy's great quasi-historical narratives in the L.A Quartet into account, the whole L.A.P.D back in the 40s and 50s were basically the US version of the Gestapo.

Phillip Reed is Freddie Dysen,

Carter cuts corners with little official things like official search warrants and beats the shit out of suspects to get confessions. Nice guy. Looking back through the lens of time knowing what we know now, he probably faked evidence, busted homos and lesbians, made sure all the heroin got pushed in the Black and Hispanic ghettos of Los Angeles, and put a lot of innocent Blacks and Mexicans on death row.

Its interesting to see the difference in the cultural mindset of the time.

After one too many incidents Carter's about to get suspended from the force. When confronted he losses his cool. Here is the first example of Fleischer sprinkling stylistic flourishes throughout the film

This confrontation between Carter and Borden is cut with increasingly tight, in your face closeups. Until Carter hauls off and punches Borden.  I've seen a similar sequence in the Noir Desperate (1947) directed by Anthony Mann where he inter-cuts the closeups  with a clock face. They are both examples of the type of sequences that Italian Director Sergio Leone would later artistically elaborate upon (with the addition of music) into the highest art in his mythic Western showdowns. So Carter after decking Bordon quits the force. He'll wing it as a private cop.

Word goes out on the grapevine and Mike gets propositioned by Freddie Dyson to become the bodyguard of his rich aunt Eugenia Dyson who has been getting death threats. She owns a meatpacking plant which provides another great set in the film. If Fleischer had been working in the late 60s early 70s you just know someone would have had an arm sliced off there. lol

Mike eventually relents. It happens when he's at Eugenia's house returning one of Freddie Dyson's envelopes of increasing sums of  "bait" money (to get him to take the job). While they are standing around in the parlor Eugenia gets sniped at through an open window.

So it becomes a typical action "B" noir."  Mike with the help of his gal pal file clerk Doris, solve the case and clear his name.

Noirsville

Super Chief Sequence

Coming to on the tracks

next to a dead detective

WTF?

The Super Chief nice touch

In another great sequence, Mike wakes up sitting in his car net to a dead man. He's groggy, a bit disoriented. We start to hear a distant horn. Mike's coming out of it a bit more. The horn is louder. We see a light pop up in the cars rear window and as it gets bigger and as the horn blares again we realize we're in the middle of a railroad crossing and the horn is the diesel locomotives of the Super Chief we see barreling down on us.

That sequence alone is worth the watch. Tierney is great in one of his rare sympathetic roles though he is still a bull in a China-shop. The rest of the cast Risdon, Reed, and Brodie all effectively add to the narrative. A nice surprise for a first feature. Screencaps from an online streamer. 6-7/10

The Clay Pigeon stars Bill Williams as Jim Fletcher.

Jim wakes up in a hospital with a bump on the back of his head and no memory of how it got there.  He also over hears rumors whispered between hospital personnel that they want to arrest him one hes recovered for treason. Another patient in the ward tries to strangle him while hes sleeping. The hospital doesn't see too healthy a place.

The Clay Pigeon was written by Carl Foreman (story and screenplay) The same team who worked on Fleischer's first  Noir The Bodyguard reprises their roles, cinematography by Robert De Grasse and the music again was by Paul Sawtell.

Bedsides Bill Williams as Jim Fletcher, the film also stars Barbara Hale (who played Perry Mason's secretary Della Street for any years on the T series) as Martha Gregory, Richard Quine as Ted Niles, Richard Loo as Ken Tokoyama aka The Weasel, Frank Fenton as Lt. Cmdr. Prentice, Frank Wilcox as Navy Hospital Doctor, Marya Marco as Helen Minoto, and Robert Bray as Gunsel Blake.

Bill Williams as Jim Fletcher

So Jim is able to sneak out of the hospital and he heads for his buddy Mark Gregory's place. However Mark is not there but his wife Martha is. Martha is wary of him.

Barbara Hale as Martha Gregory,

She tries to stall him while she tries to call the cops. He stops her. She tells him that Mark is dead and the police say he's the prime suspect. He convinces her that he didn't do it. The fact that Jim (Williams) and Martha (Hale) were married in real life adds to the chemistry that's building between them throughout the film. Jim decides to drive South to Los Angeles after calling another officer, Ted Niles, who  he was interred with in a Japanese POW camp.

So Jim and Martha hit the road South. They discover they are being tailed. They evade them by driving off road. Continuing to drive South, Jim starts passing out while driving. Martha has to grab the wheel when he completely looses conscientiousness and hits up against a guardrail. A local motorist stops to offer assistance. Martha asks him for the nearest doctor.

Flashback

She follows the local to a nearby country doctor. While Jim is out he experiences a flashback to his beating at the Japanese  camp. The doc orders them to rest for a week. When Jim comes to he finds that Martha has checked them into a seaside trailer court. It's another nice touch.

They finally get to Los Angeles and check into a Chinatown hotel. At a restaurant Jim spots "the Weasel" one of the officers at the camp and it goes Noirsville.

Noirsville

Richard Loo as Ken Tokoyama 

Tokoyama  and Richard Quine as Ted Niles

Sequence with footage re-used for opening credits of The Narrow Margin

The film shows Fleischer's ability to tell a story and his building confidence as a feature director. One of many "B" noirs that filled the double bills of countless theaters. Watch also for some nice Chinatown sequences. 6-7/10