I already told you that there was another movie with the same protagonists, which you would already know. In Spain we are more direct and we title it "Perversity".
I've really been looking forward to this reaction. It's my personal favorite Fritz Lang film and I actually love the paintings in this film. Not only are they fascinating to look at but they reflect shy Chris's inner world where he's not restricted by the life he has.
"Next thing you'll be painting women without clothes." "I never saw a woman without any clothes." "I should hope not!" Fun Fact: One of Fritz Lang's personal favorites of his own films. Automobile Enthusiast Fact: The car Johnny (Dan Duryea) pulls up in is a 1935 Packard Super Eight Sport Phaeton. In 2022 these cars can fetch well into six figures at auction. The Rest Of The Story Fact: Twelve paintings done for the film by John Decker were sent to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City for exhibition in March of 1946. Edward G. Robinson's character talks lovingly about art and says he wishes he owned a Cezanne. In real life, Robinson was a great collector of fine art and was considered an expert. Product Placement Fact: Although the beer bottles do not have their labels completely visible, enough of a shape is seen to identify them as Schlitz. The brewery was founded in Milwaukee in 1849. The concept of product placement in the movies was still several decades away, so names were intentionally hidden at the time of this film so legal complications would be avoided.
I believe that's three on a match, and yes, it was considered to be bad luck, with the superstition stemming from WWI, as I understand: At night, in the trenches, and constantly in danger of attack, darkness was an ally. If you wanted a cigarette, and you left the match lit too long, the light would betray you to the enemy. Therefore, you put your match out asap, and did not offer it around to ... two other people, as that might give your location away and cost your life. And, to play with this idea further, there's a movie from this general time period called "Three on A Match", following the lives of three young women. One of them is played by Bette Davis before she hit stardom, and she plays one of the secondary young women.
I have went down the rabbit hole on this one before. Crimean war, Mexican religious superstitions, and even match companies trying to drive up sales lol. I have come to genuinely believe the origin derives from the Boer War. The inclusion of the German Mauser made Boer snipers especially feared. Which would explain how the phrase spread so early in WWI. But who knows.
@@melenatorr You won't thank me for this lol. It is apropos of nothing. Just my compulsion to overshare and add a comment to Henry's algorithm. But when I think of the Mauser, I think of the Boer war. When I think of them both, I think of this passage from the book, The Power of One. A young south African is wrestling with religion. He goes to various people, including his grandfather. "We sat on the steps of one of the rose terraces, my granpa tapping and tamping and lighting and staring squinty-eyed through the blue tobacco smoke over the rusty roof into the pale blue beyond. After a long time he said, “All I know about the Bible is that wherever it goes there’s trouble. The only time I ever heard of it being useful was when a stretcher bearer I was with at the battle of Dundee told me that he’d once gotten hit by a Mauser bullet in the heart, only he was carrying a Bible in his tunic pocket and the Bible saved his life. He told me that ever since he’d always carried a Bible into battle with him and he felt perfectly safe because God was in his breast pocket. We were out looking for a sergeant of the Worcesters and three troopers who were wounded while out on a reconnaissance and were said to be holed up in a dry donga. In truth, I think my partner felt perfectly safe because the Boer Mausers were estimated by the British artillery to be accurate to eight hundred yards and we were at least twelve hundred yards from enemy lines. Alas, nobody bothered to tell the Boers about the shortcomings of their brand-new German rifle, and a Mauser bullet hit him straight between the eyes.” He puffed at his pipe. “Which goes to prove, you can always depend on British Army information not to be accurate, the Boers to be deadly accurate, the Bible to be good for matters of the heart but hopeless for those of the head, and finally, that God is in nobody’s pocket.” He seemed very pleased with this neat summary, which nevertheless wasn’t a scrap of help to me." Apologies in advance.
“Three on a match” was a superstition which goes that if three soldiers lit their cigarettes from the same match, one of the three would be killed or that the man who was third on the match would be shot. Since then, it has been considered bad luck for three people to share a light from the same match.
One of the things (among many) that makes this movie so special is that Edward G. Robinson was a noted art collector and actually owned a Cezanne among other impressionist and pot-impressionist paintings. By the way, I understand that the G stands for his original last name of Goldenberg so please don't leave it out when referring to him.
@@TedLittle-yp7uj Nonsense! Most people called James Stewart "Jimmy Stewart", Larry Fishburne changed his name to Laurence, James Belushi changed his to Jim, Casey Adams changed his name to Max Showalter etc.
@@crose7412 Stewart was always billed as "James Stewart." Many actors change their names for professional reasons: to avoid confusion with other actors, to better reflect their personae, to avoid ethnic typing, and many other reasons. This can happen even after the career begins. that is not unusual even in corporations. E.G. Quantum Computer Services is now AOL, Auction Web is now eBay, and Brad's Drink is Pepsi-Cola. Edward G. Robinson was always and only billed in that fashion and, in his career, never referred to in any other way.
Some points on this film - Fritz Lang was the first director to circumvent the Hollywood production code which stated that a murderer had to be found guilty and executed or killed by some other means, Lang somehow persuaded them that having Chris remaining alive with perpetual guilt was a sufficient punishment. Kitty was seen wearing a transparent plastic raincoat, this was the film makers code for a prostitute which they were banned from saying by the Production code. This was one of the first films not to have any of the main characters being heroes or even having a good character. As well as the three lead characters appearing in both this movie and The Woman in the Window, Thomas Jackson also appeared in both movies and played a police inspector in both. Also Claude Mazard was Dellarowe This film was a loose remake of the 1932 Jean Renoir film La Chienne (The Bitch) and we know which character she was! The character of Chris would not have been allowed to hang himself as suicide was banned by the Production code.
I did not realize the "plastic raincoat" referred to a prostitute. Oh man, first the Production code says "a murderer must be executed or killed by some other means", then they say "he's not allowed to kill himself". So they expect him to slip on a bar of soap in the bathroom or something, I guess. Thanks for sharing these fun facts 😊
@@henryellow It's good to correspond with an enthusiastic film fan. The idea that a criminal had to be shown to get his just desserts was a part of the morality message - Crime does not pay. Suicide at the time was not only a crime but also a sin - against divine law, the worst sort of crime. It gets worse, up until around 1960 attempted suicides who tried but failed would be taken to hospital to recover after which they would be prosecuted and after being found guilty would be given a prison term.
That's how it was back then. Nowadays some movies will show the "bad guys" getting away with it. This is more in line with reality, but it may influence the more susceptible minds. Yes, I've heard about that. Attempted suicide is punishable by law. I felt it was a bit absurd. I guess the idea was "make them think twice about suicide. If they fail, they get jail time."
Joan Bennett went on to star in the horror soap opera, _Dark Shadows._ Her sister was the actress Constance Bennett, who starred in _What Price Hollywood?_ and _Topper._
