Monday night the A Film at Noir City Chicago was the film
adaptation of Arthur Miller’s award-winning play, All My Sons (1948). The film
starred Edward G. Robinson and Burt Lancaster as father and son respectively.
The movie was introduced by Alan K. Rode, film historian and
author of Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film. He made it clear that this film didn’t
fit the film noir category, but because of its dark thematic elements thought
it would be appreciated by a film noir crowd. He was right. The film was dark
and somber, but it was also superbly acted. Rode noted that photographer-turned-playwright-turned
director Irving Reis overall did a good job directing the film, but thought the
cinematography was a bit static. To be honest, I didn’t notice this (maybe I
need to see it again); I found the subject matter and the performances
compelling enough.
As the father, Edward G. Robinson was terrific. His
characterization was multidimensional, which made Joe Keller a flesh and blood
human being. Joe is flawed for sure, but not entirely unsympathetic. As Joe’s
son, Chris, Burt Lancaster was solid. Physically, he doesn’t resemble
Robinson at all, but his characterization was very strong without any of the
screen chewing that he displayed in I Walk Alone, released the same year. The
other cast members: Louisa Horton, Mady Christians, Howard Duff, and Arlene
Francis were also very good.
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| A tense scene between Howard Duff, Burt Lancaster, and Louisa Horton |
All My Sons was definitely not a film noir, but it was engrossing cinema nonetheless.
The #NoirCityChicago film festival, wraps up on Thursday, August
23, 2018. Looking forward to this festival coming to Chicago
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