Two very different interpretations of Woolrich stories can be found in the work of two unlikely directors. The first, Deadline at Dawn, is the only film directed by well known theatrical director, Harold Clurman. The second, The Bride Wore Black, directed by one of the leaders of the French New Wave, Francois Truffaut. Truffaut was tipping his hat to Hitchcock with Bride, but the reasons for Clurman’s venture into the world of Noir is unclear. To further confound reason, the screenplay was written by Clifford Odets!
Deadline at Dawn (1946) RKO Pictures
Not Rated/82 minutes
Directed by Harold Clurman & William Cameron Menzies (uncredited).
Screenplay by Clifford Odets based on the Novel by William Irish (AKA/Cornell Woolrich).
CAST: Susan Hayward (June Goffe), Paul Lukas (Gus Hoffman), Bill Williams (Alex Winkler), Joseph Calleia (Val Bartelli), Osa Massen (Helen Robinson), Lola Lane (Edna Bartelli), Jerome Cowan (Lester Brady), Marvin Miller (Sleepy Parsons).
Under the name William Irish, Cornell Woolrich published Deadline at Dawn. The book is a nightmarish journey through the darkness of the city made by a paranoid sailor due to the death of a woman he meets while on leave. He feels he has to find the killer by dawn or he will be blamed for the murder. Helping him come to that conclusion are the cabby, Gus (Paul Lukas) and the Taxi dancer, June (Susan Hayward).
Harold Clurman was a theatrical director and this was his only feature film. The playwright, Clifford Odets had collaborated with Clurman on the stage and wrote the screenplay based on the William Irish novel. Odets’ treatment surely would be unique. His previous screenplays included: The General Died at Dawn (1936), None But the Lonely Heart (1944), and Rhapsody in Blue (1945/uncredited). Noir was not exactly his niche. Between that and Clurman’s feeling that he was slumming, it is astonishing that the film came out as well as it did. The final result has been credited to William Cameron Menzies who was uncredited as a co-director.
Above: Bill Williams, Susan Hayworth & Paul Lukas in Deadline at Dawn
The film showcases Susan Hayward in glorious black and white by cinematographer, Nicholas Musuraca whose prior credits include the atmospheric photography for Val Lewton’s Cat People (1942), and The Seventh Victim (1943). Atmosphere is what he brings to Deadline at Dawn as well. Hayward’s performance is the center of the film with the vitality that moves the characters through the shadows and into–well–more shadows.
The Bride Wore Black/La marie etait en noir (1968) UA
Not Rated/107 minutes
Directed by Francois Truffaut.
Screenplay by Francois Truffaut and Jean-Louis Richard based on the Novel by Cornell Woolrich.
CAST: Jeanne Moreau (Julie Kohler), Michel Bouquet (Coral), Jean-Claude Brialy (Corey), Claude Rich (Bliss), Alexandra Stewart (Mlle Becker), Michael Lonsdale (Rene Morane).
In 1968 Francois Truffaut released a film that was his tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, and he even went so far as to hire Bernard Herrmann to write the score. For that alone this film is a unique treasure.
The film stars the talented Jeanne Moreau (Jules et Jim) as the bride, Julie Kohler in a performance that enthralls the viewer in her role as the vengeful widow. Her husband is assassinated at their wedding. It is an accident, but that does not seem to matter to the Julie as she takes out the killers one by one.
Truffaut takes Woolrich’s tale and makes it his own, perhaps that is the greatest tribute he could bestow on Hitchcock. Truffaut’s style seems antithetical to Noir and yet, the film works in the same way that Truffaut’s second film, Shoot the Piano Player (1962) became a classic of the genre.
Both of these films are must sees not because of how they fit into the Noir mold, but because of how they don’t.
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Chandler: The Blue Dahlia & Murder, My Sweet
