“You're wide open, Joe. I can see into you without looking.”
I hope you enjoyed or at the very least found interesting the film noir that we watched on Monday. Force of Evil is a well-respected example of the genre from 1948, set in New York City and directed by Abraham Polonsky. It is worth noting that both Polonsky and the lead John Garfield (Joe Morse) were investigated by HUAC during the communist scare of the late 1940s/ early 1950s and were eventually blacklisted, or prevented from working on Hollywood movies.
I should say however that it is not necessarily easy to watch films noirs- the acting may seem wooden, the plots too complicated, the atmosphere too oppressive or the soundtrack too jarring. However, it is a rewarding process if you persevere and you soon realise just how much of modern cinema owes to the film noir. You’ll get another chance to watch some noir on Monday when we look at some classic scenes from Jules Dassin’s (1948) Naked City.
Many of themes that I spoke about in the lecture are apparent in Force of Evil. I will pick out just a few here. First, the film was undoubtedly concerned with psychological states. Joe Morse, the key protagonist, was portrayed as a highly confident man with a conflicted conscience- torn between making ‘his first million’ and looking after his brother Leo who ran a small numbers bank in the slums (most probably the Lower East Side of Manhattan) where they grew up. Joe was principled in the sense that he didn’t want his brother to go under when the numbers came in, yet he would not let this stop him from pursuing his own greed. As the plot unwound, we also saw Joe become more paranoid- the scene where the wiretap on his phone is revealed by the clicking as he lifts the receiver is a good example of this. Joe spirals into despair at the end of the film when he realises that his actions and caused the death of his brother. He walks down the stairs to the river bank, where he feels like he has reached ‘the bottom of the world’.
Second, the film fits neatly into the left-wing style of film noir that I mentioned in the lecture. Force of Evil offers a critique of capitalism and the greed and selfishness that this economic system engenders. Indeed it is possible to suggest that Joe, his brother Leo or Doris are not ‘guilty’ or morally reprehensible for working in the illegal numbers racket, they are simply doing what they have to do in order to get by in an unfair system. This is an amoral city, in an immoral system. Leo attempts to be principled by refusing Joe’s offer to work in one of the soon to be legalised betting offices. However, the film shows that principles have no place in capitalism when the humble and honourable Leo eventually ends up dead, having been drawn into the gang dispute. There is also a revealing line earlier in the film where Joe explains that ‘money has no smell’, implying that there is no such thing as ‘dirty money’, or that all money is dirty in some respect. In terms of crime, Force of Evil is fairly typical of films noirs in the sense that it focuses on organised crime. In this film, the underworld of organised crime is shown to be woven intricately into the legal, or respectable world. Indeed, Joe Morse is himself a successful lawyer, albeit a crooked one working for a gangster who runs a numbers game. The message is that organised crime is part of the fabric of ‘ordinary’ capitalism, and that the system could not function without illegal trades and rackets- again, money has no smell.
Third, the city in Force of Evil is shown to be a trap, or a labyrinth. The main spaces of the city are the downtown offices, nightclubs and bars and the slum district where Leo runs his numbers bank and where he and Joe grew up. It is implied to us that Joe has left the ‘old’ neighbourhood- moving up in world, no doubt, - and rarely returns. Yet, during the film, Joe is drawn back to the tenements a number of times, trying to persuade his brother to accept his offer of ‘legitimate’ employment in a big office. Even if Joe feels as if he has left his roots in the poorer part of the city behind he cannot escape them. In fact, it is his self-interested ‘concern’ for his brother that eventually ruins him. A revealing scene, I feel, come close to the end when Joe is seen drowning his sorrows in a jazz bar accompanied by Doris. Doris, who cannot decide whether to fall for the cocky yet vulnerable Joe, is imploring Joe to ‘find an escape’ and to get out of the trap set by the city (which itself is a reflection of the psychic conflict that he is experiencing). Escape from his self therefore also entails an escape from the city, with its traps, cons, entanglements and sentimental lures. Doris appears finally willing to help Joe, yet the news of his brother’s death sends Joe down a final dead end. At the end of the film, Joe is pictured looking up from beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, the bridge perhaps symbolising, at last, a way out of the corrupt city- a force of evil indeed.
I hope you enjoyed or at the very least found interesting the film noir that we watched on Monday. Force of Evil is a well-respected example of the genre from 1948, set in New York City and directed by Abraham Polonsky. It is worth noting that both Polonsky and the lead John Garfield (Joe Morse) were investigated by HUAC during the communist scare of the late 1940s/ early 1950s and were eventually blacklisted, or prevented from working on Hollywood movies.
I should say however that it is not necessarily easy to watch films noirs- the acting may seem wooden, the plots too complicated, the atmosphere too oppressive or the soundtrack too jarring. However, it is a rewarding process if you persevere and you soon realise just how much of modern cinema owes to the film noir. You’ll get another chance to watch some noir on Monday when we look at some classic scenes from Jules Dassin’s (1948) Naked City.
Many of themes that I spoke about in the lecture are apparent in Force of Evil. I will pick out just a few here. First, the film was undoubtedly concerned with psychological states. Joe Morse, the key protagonist, was portrayed as a highly confident man with a conflicted conscience- torn between making ‘his first million’ and looking after his brother Leo who ran a small numbers bank in the slums (most probably the Lower East Side of Manhattan) where they grew up. Joe was principled in the sense that he didn’t want his brother to go under when the numbers came in, yet he would not let this stop him from pursuing his own greed. As the plot unwound, we also saw Joe become more paranoid- the scene where the wiretap on his phone is revealed by the clicking as he lifts the receiver is a good example of this. Joe spirals into despair at the end of the film when he realises that his actions and caused the death of his brother. He walks down the stairs to the river bank, where he feels like he has reached ‘the bottom of the world’.
Second, the film fits neatly into the left-wing style of film noir that I mentioned in the lecture. Force of Evil offers a critique of capitalism and the greed and selfishness that this economic system engenders. Indeed it is possible to suggest that Joe, his brother Leo or Doris are not ‘guilty’ or morally reprehensible for working in the illegal numbers racket, they are simply doing what they have to do in order to get by in an unfair system. This is an amoral city, in an immoral system. Leo attempts to be principled by refusing Joe’s offer to work in one of the soon to be legalised betting offices. However, the film shows that principles have no place in capitalism when the humble and honourable Leo eventually ends up dead, having been drawn into the gang dispute. There is also a revealing line earlier in the film where Joe explains that ‘money has no smell’, implying that there is no such thing as ‘dirty money’, or that all money is dirty in some respect. In terms of crime, Force of Evil is fairly typical of films noirs in the sense that it focuses on organised crime. In this film, the underworld of organised crime is shown to be woven intricately into the legal, or respectable world. Indeed, Joe Morse is himself a successful lawyer, albeit a crooked one working for a gangster who runs a numbers game. The message is that organised crime is part of the fabric of ‘ordinary’ capitalism, and that the system could not function without illegal trades and rackets- again, money has no smell.
Third, the city in Force of Evil is shown to be a trap, or a labyrinth. The main spaces of the city are the downtown offices, nightclubs and bars and the slum district where Leo runs his numbers bank and where he and Joe grew up. It is implied to us that Joe has left the ‘old’ neighbourhood- moving up in world, no doubt, - and rarely returns. Yet, during the film, Joe is drawn back to the tenements a number of times, trying to persuade his brother to accept his offer of ‘legitimate’ employment in a big office. Even if Joe feels as if he has left his roots in the poorer part of the city behind he cannot escape them. In fact, it is his self-interested ‘concern’ for his brother that eventually ruins him. A revealing scene, I feel, come close to the end when Joe is seen drowning his sorrows in a jazz bar accompanied by Doris. Doris, who cannot decide whether to fall for the cocky yet vulnerable Joe, is imploring Joe to ‘find an escape’ and to get out of the trap set by the city (which itself is a reflection of the psychic conflict that he is experiencing). Escape from his self therefore also entails an escape from the city, with its traps, cons, entanglements and sentimental lures. Doris appears finally willing to help Joe, yet the news of his brother’s death sends Joe down a final dead end. At the end of the film, Joe is pictured looking up from beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, the bridge perhaps symbolising, at last, a way out of the corrupt city- a force of evil indeed.
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