Handymanic

They say that good help's hard to find
that's sound in both body and mind
When hiring a man
be sure as you can
he isn't the strangling kind


Handyman Robert Ryan menaces Ida Lupino in Beware, My Lovely (Harry Horner, 1952). Image source: Twenty Four Frames

Mash by Night

She claws at him under his shirt
Together they roll in the dirt
To hubby she's married
His baby she carried
But wants to give boyfriend a squirt

Robert Ryan and Barbara Stanwyck Clash by Night (Fritz Lang, 1952).

The Reel Deal

When watching the great Robert Ryan
he acts like he's not even tryin'
As tough guy or heel
he always seems real
Whatever he's selling, I'm buyin'


Actor Robert Ryan was born on this day in 1909 in Chicago, Illinois. Read an article on Ryan's childhood in Chicago, here. Above: Publicity photos for Act of Violence and Caught, both from 1948.

You Can't Cheat with an Honest Man

The waves rise and crash against rocks
as sailors leave wives at the docks
And while they're away
the housewives will stray
Like hens that are left with the fox


Barbara Stanwyck has an affair with projectionist Robert Ryan in Clash by Night (Fritz Lang, 1952), where the roiling sea is used as a metaphor for their elemental passion. The film opens with what amounts to a short documentary from fishing to cannery, where Marilyn Monroe works on the assembly line.

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?

Bold Type-casting

Bob Ryan was born to be bad
As psycho, a brute or a cad
A guy that looked tough
and liked to play rough
who walked around bubbling mad



Above: It was Joan Fontaine, not Ryan that was Born to be Bad (Nicholas Ray, 1950). Top: Robert Ryan in a production still for Back From Eternity (John Farrow, 1957). Below: The actor in 1956, showing a gentler side rarely seen on screen. The face the camera camera revealed led to far more roles as scary tough guys than romantic leads. "Has there ever been a face--rugged and manfully handsome yet fragile with inner agonies promising to explode into volcanic rage--like Robert Ryan's?" --Guy Maddin

G.I. Bill to Pay

He's limped here to settle a score
and sticks his sore leg in the door
To menace the wife
and threaten the life
of a coward he met in the war

Tall dark and scary Robert Ryan barges in on housewife Janet Leigh in Act of Violence (Fred Zinneman, 1948).

Action Packed Act

He's an average American wimp
But nemesis stalks the poor simp
Though it seems like Van Heflin
is non-stick like Teflon
He can't shake the man with the limp.

Limping vet Robert Ryan casts a dark a shadow over the post-war prosperity of Van Heflin and Janet Leigh in Act of Violence (Fred Zinneman, 1948).

Split Second Act

A life since the War has been built
but buried beneath it lies guilt
The idyll can't last
'cause here comes the past
What seemed on the level will tilt



Van Heflin, Robert Ryan and Janet Leigh star in the suspenseful noir Act of Violence (Fred Zinneman, 1948). Heflin is a successful contractor married to Leigh, Ryan is a limping ex-G.I. with a score to settle. Image source: Lost in the Frame, and elsewhere.

Caught and Sold

By dreams of romance she is caught
She's really just something he bought
Though handsome and wealthy
his mind is unhealthy
How twisted he is she'll be taught


Robert Ryan, Barbara Bel Geddes and James Mason star in Caught (Max Ophüls, 1949). Her head full of romantic notions, a naive model marries a remote millionaire businessman. Ryan is terrific as Smith Ohlrig, the cruel, neurotic and paranoid husband, loosely based on Howard Hughes.

Loaded Gunsel

Some G.I.s are hitting the booze
and one has a very short fuse
He fought in the war
but wonders what for
because of his Nazi-like views



Above: The three Bobs: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan in Crossfire (Edward Dmytryk, 1947). Below: Steve Brodie and Ryan.

Shadow of a Bout

They say take a dive, get a cut
Just throw it and keep yer yap shut
But something's not right
A fighter should fight
It feels like a punch in the gut

Robert Ryan in The Set-Up (Robert Wise, 1949). You'll find an earlier Set-Up limerick, here.

The Pain Event

A fighter who let down his guard
by too many bouts has been scarred
Each blow, ev'ry trace
is there in his face
It's lean and it's haunted and hard



Robert Ryan in The Set-Up (Robert Wise, 1947). Welcome to November Noir at Limerwrecks. First up is a tribute to film noir icon Robert Ryan. Ryan had been a boxer before becoming an actor, and had a tough, lived-in face made for film noir. Image source: Only the Cinema.