Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Splash by Night



He's boiling and ready to bust
She's burning and set to combust
A duo in heat
they screw in deceit
Two fueled by a fiery lust



Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan (above) torridly Clash by Night (Fritz Lang, 1952), where it isn't fire, but the violent sea which is used as a visual leitmotif. Clash is a romantic melodrama of infidelity. But is it a noir? There's no crime as such, but the threat of sexual violence hangs over the film. The script was based on a play by Clifford Odets. Ryan and other male characters refer to beating, whipping, strangling and cutting up women, and the young couple played by Marilyn Monroe and Paul Andes (below) play-fight and joke about violence throughout. If that isn't noir, who cares?

1 comment:

panavia999 said...

I love this movie and love the verse. Robert Ryan was hot, one of the great actors. They just don't have film actors now like they used to. A movie with Stanwyck and Ryan and directed by Lang? It's got to be good.