Monday, August 22, 2011

Pocket notebook:
The Lady in the Lake

[Lieutenant DeGarmot (Lloyd Nolan) takes notes. Note the bit of business in the background: two cops eating bananas.]

The Lady in the Lake (dir. Robert Montgomery, 1947) is an experiment in point of view, filmed from the perspective of its main character, Philip Marlowe (Montgomery), who is seen onscreen only in a mirror here and there. And that’s why Mildred Haveland (Jayne Meadows) appears to be aiming a gun at you. Yes, you. Look out!


I’m convinced that Meadows’s over-the-top performance in this film is a secret influence on Kristen Wiig.

Lloyd Nolan also appears in what be the most pencil-and-paper-centric film ever made, The House on 92nd Street (dir. Henry Hathaway, 1945).

More notebook sightings
Angels with Dirty Faces : Cat People : Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne : Extras : Journal d’un curé de campagne : The House on 92nd Street : The Lodger : The Mystery of the Wax Museum : The Palm Beach Story : Pickpocket : Pickup on South Street : Quai des Orfèvres : Red-Headed Woman : Rififi : The Sopranos : Spellbound : Union Station

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