Now, what are the chances?

I've cried myself to sleep at night because of you. She's got you now. She wants you very badly doesn't she? She's willing to run away with you and keep on running and ruin everything for herself. But she wouldn't care because she'd be with you and that's what she wants. Well she doesn't have you now. She'll never have you. Nobody will ever have you! And that's the way I want it! You're nothing but an escaped convict. Nobody knows what you wrote down. They'll believe me! They'll believe me! ~ Madge Rapf from Dark Passage

***

Some of you may already know this, but one of my favorite Bogart noirs is Dark Passage. (I've written about our Dark Passage pilgrammage to Telegraph Hill before.)

Anyway, unbeknownst to The Boy and me until just the other day, one of the cable cars that Bogart rode on in the film is still in use and is, in fact, inscribed with the details inside the cable car.

As soon as The Boy and I heard that, we were impassioned to find that cable car and see for ourselves. But how to find it? There are many cable cars and many lines.

So today, I had to take the Powell Street car to my photo shoot (and later experienced the demise of my beloved PowerShot). About halfway up the hill, I remembered about Bogie and the cable car and looked up... and wouldn'tcha know it... right there! Look!

It says H. Bogart rode on this car -- circa 1946-47 (Dark Passage)

Now, what are the chances of that?! I don't think anyone else on the cable car even saw it, up above the cable car brakeman's head. It was my crazy cool start to a very exciting day.

Damn, I love this city.

Noir Sunday with Red Shoes

Luckily for me, most of today had nothing to do with Football.

There's something so great about living in San Francisco, where you can dress up like whatever you want no matter what day it is and no one will give you a second look. If anything, they'll compliment you ("hey, nice skirt") or just take your photo.

***

Today, me 'n Mr. and Mrs. Red Shoes went to the last (and maybe best) movie of the film noir festival, Sweet Smell of Success.

They're such good sports and embrace a good reason to dress up, just like me.

They were also movie virgins (for this film), meaning that I got to enjoy them enjoying this awesome film for the first time. It was a great audience. Lots of people clapped when certain famous dialogue lines came up.

***

I got to wear some special treasures that belonged to my grandma.

An awesome Lilly Daché hat covered in tiny white flowers.

Her crazy cool sunglasses.

Her little white cotton gloves and her black leather purse.

And the best part was recreating the makeup of the era. I did Joan Fontaine's eyeliner from the movie I saw yesterday, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, and Virginia Mayo lips. I even threw in a couple of beauty marks.

*sigh*

Tomorrow's gonna be kind of boring by comparison. I want to be a gun moll.

"I love this dirty town."

The film noir festival, Noir City 7, continues through this weekend. One of my favorite films-- period-- is showing on the last day, Sunday: Sweet Smell of Success.

(Roger Ebert's Great Movies essay is here, and this in-depth write up on filmsite.org is a detailed walkthrough for us groupies.)

This film has absolutely everything going for it: amazing, crackling, memorable dialogue; well-crafted characters at every level; the incomparable cinematography of James Wong Howe, I could go on and on but if you're really interested, the links above speak better than I could...

This scene below is probably one of the best in the film and shows why the Sweet Smell of Success is worth seeing over and over again.

***

Yesterday morning, the MUNI train I was riding went out of service at Civic Center Station. Rather than wait with the huge, annoyed crowds of people all going my way, I decided to walk the remaining blocks since I was going to be late either way.

Civic Center Station drops you off in the heart of the Tenderloin which, for its bad rep, still is photogenic in its way. The trick is that you just gotta keep walking. You don't hang out and you don't dawdle.

I didn't think too much of these shots at first-- they were something to do while I walked to work, slightly pissed off-- but when you give these images the Noir Treatment, even an early morning photo attains some atmosphere.

Amazing what you can see in 10 minutes sometimes.
And how sometimes black and white makes it easier to see.

See you at the movies.

Happy Free Friday, guys.

Hot Off the Press! More Interviews!

I'm home for a tiny break between the Noir Festival matinee (Chicago Deadline with Alan Ladd and Donna Reed) and Women's Roller Derby tonight.

And wouldn't you know it... two more interviews have come in. While I'm out watching the Bay Bombers tonight, please enjoy the following interviews:

My two favorite blogging sisters, Kath and Margie, at soeurs du jour. (BTW, you might also remember that Kath is my VP from my Tangobaby Presidential Campaign last year.)

A lady who is a passionate artist, writer, tango dancer and a delight to know. And she lives too far away from me. Elizabeth at Working Artist.

More interview questions are floating out there in blogland, awaiting answers, so stay tuned.

The Only Dick Cheney Post I'll Ever Write

It's drizzly and grey and foggy this morning... perfect weather considering that Noir City #7 started last night at the Castro Theatre. (Bill and Iasa, it's really making me sad that you're not here for this film festival.)


I'm just lounging in my La-Z-Boy, wishing so much that Richard Widmark's greatest villain, Tommy Udo from Kiss of Death, had been the one pushing Dick Cheney's wheelchair to the Inauguration.

(Just pretend that Cheney is the old lady in the wheelchair and enjoy.)



And now to ponder breakfast and what Noir Festivities I'll be enjoying today (there is also Roller Derby at Kezar Stadium tonight). I feel a bagel is in my future, which has nothing to do with anything.

Enjoy your day. Watch Kiss of Death.

***

ps.: I lied. I would write more posts about Dick Cheney if the Hague saw fit to put him on trial for war crimes. Is there some sort of write-in campaign we can start? Does anyone know anyone that works at the Hague who could get that ball rolling?

Let Me Entertain You

I really am working on another post, one that actually involves writing and/or thinking, but I keep getting distracted so in the meantime I started this little endeavour based on a recent meme on Willow's blog.

The idea of the meme is to list your favorite films, one for each letter of the alphabet. I started to do that and realized that 1. there were too many for me to select just one of each letter, and 2. I wanted to make it a bit more challenging and interesting.

So I decided to list at least one silent film and one film noir per letter, plus another classic film (maybe a screwball comedy) or another film that's not been as widely seen as it deserves. For the most part, I was pretty successful. Taking mental stock like this made me realize that I've seen quite a few good films in my life. And I love to share them.

Most of these movies are what I would call "desert island films," meaning that I'd have to have a very large island with a small movie theatre because I wouldn't be able to pick just one or two to watch until my rescue a la Robinson Crusoe.

I hope you enjoy this list, and perhaps are nodding your head in agreement with some of the choices, or are at least checking out the links because this took me so long to do that it's not even funny. A person likes to feel that all of their extra-curricular hard work did not go to waste.

Within this list are the treasures of our cinematic heritage. Joan Crawford when she was beautiful. Carole Lombard at her funny sexiest. Jean Harlow in the gown that made her famous. Barbara Stanwyck in her best drama and her best comedy. Why Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton should never be forgotten. The reason why people are still infatuated with Louise Brooks, and the only film where Katharine Hepburn is not annoying. There were still so many other films I could have included but then I'm already getting out of control.

And with that, I go back to finish my cuppa and ponder what I really will say next.
Happy Tuesday.

***

The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Awful Truth and The Asphalt Jungle
Barry Lyndon, Baby Face and La Belle et La Bete
Casablanca, The Conversation and Cabin in the Sky
Dr. Strangelove, Dinner at Eight, Diary of a Lost Girl and Double Indemnity
An Eastern Westerner
The Freshman, Freaks, and Fallen Angel
Grand Hotel, Girl Shy, The General and Gun Crazy
Harold and Maude, His Girl Friday, and Holiday
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It, and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Jane Eyre, La jetée
Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Kid Brother, Key Largo and The Killing
The Lady Eve, The Ladykillers, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Laura
Midnight, My Favorite Wife, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Modern Times and The Mummy
Nosferatu, Night and the City, and The Narrow Margin
Our Man in Havana, Only Angels Have Wings
Paths of Glory, Pandora's Box and Picadilly, Pickup on South Street
Queen Christina, Queen Kelly
The Royal Tenenbaums, Red Dust and Rififi
Stalag 17, Safety Last! and Sweet Smell of Success
Trouble in Paradise, Twentieth Century, and Thieves Highway
Unfaithfully Yours and The Unknown
The Vikings
Way Out West, White Heat, and Witness for the Prosecution
X (???)
You Were Never Lovelier and Yankee Doodle Dandy
Zorba the Greek

Seriously, you guys are going to get me fired.

First of all, I want to say helllloooooooo to all of you new visitors to tangobaby via Blogs of Note.

I love you all. I'm totally blown away that you're here.

Secondly, I am guessing that this shout-out from Blogger is randomly generated (although I am super grateful all the same) because I don't know what I've done of late to be noteworthy. A year and a half ago, I didn't even know what a blog was. But don't get me wrong, this is cool! Thank you!

Thirdly, I hope you'll come back to visit me again and not just this one time and I'll try to visit you all and not be some sort of blog diva who is stuck up and snobbish.

But fourthly, I am probably going to get fired because of this. I seriously have not done any work today and have been totally distracted and just sent a co-worker out to buy me a BLT just so I could write this post.

***

I have some questions about my being discovered (which is funny since I just wrote something about Lana Turner a few days ago--is this the blog equivalent of being a Sweater Girl? Probably not. I don't think I get to quit my day job). Up until this morning, I was just minding my own little bloggy business and cajoling my friends into looking at my photography on flickr and JPG.

Is there some sort of blog guru who selects us? To whom do I say thank you?

Can I quit my day job now? Does this mean I am an expert at something?

Am I going to have to start moderating comments because now I'm going to get all of these spam comments about erectile dysfunction? I would really hate to do that.

***

Just so you know a few things:

I love my little blog. But it's very very random, even to me. If you can make sense out of the myriad brain stuff here, then I applaud you. I just read over my whole list of tags and I'm covering a lot of bases in a very shallow manner. Although if you love old films (especially noir and silents), dance (especially Argentine tango), San Francisco, photography, eating yummy food until you have to unbutton your pants, quoting Monty Python, Dorothy Parker and Carl Sagan, keeping your passport in your wallet just in case and then once in a while having a philosophical moment, then I think we'll get along just fine.

And swearing. Sometimes I swear.

***

I am having a hard time keeping up with the comments (and was even before this explosion of attention) so please be patient with me (I'm older than you think) and just know that I am thrilled you're here even if you think you hear the crickets chirping on my end. I'll try to write back. I just have to not get fired from my day job until I get a call from my new agent.

Thanks for making my day. Now I don't hate my outfit as much.

xoxo

ps.: If you are a new reader here, then I should tell you that I never have a movie reference on the blog just willy-nilly. There are too many good movies that people don't know about and I'm just doing my share to be bossy and make sure that you see them.

Above is a photo for the noir Fallen Angel, which is a great flick and Linda Darnell is H-O-T. Hot hot hot and so is Dana Andrews. So rent it.

Finding Dark Passage

Our weather came back to its senses (thank goodness). The heat wave is over.

Our fog is back!

I wore a coat and boots today.

A happy San Franciscan again.

***

One of the reasons I love living in San Francisco is because of the movies.

Not for the latest movies at the cineplex downtown, but to see movies where I can catch a glimpse of history in my own town.


Back in the day, San Francisco was the location of choice for many wonderful films (and I'm not talking about cheesy business like Mrs. Doubtfire and Basic Instinct).

Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, Hitchock's Vertigo, Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation, the classic San Francisco noir D.O.A., just to name a few...these films and many others are a visual time capsule of San Francisco.

Whenever I see one of these films, as much as I am enjoying the story itself, I am loving every exterior shot, wanting to see how much of these locations are left the way they looked in the film. Sometimes those places are gone and only film preserves their memory, but lucky enough, some locations are still left with some semblance to years past.

***

I have, in more recent years, become a Bogie appreciator. I will admit that it took me longer to recognize his quiet demeanor and love him for his style than some other actors I adore. But now I love him.

I finally saw the movie Dark Passage last week, being on my to-watch list for a while. Filmed in many locations in San Francisco, including Market Street, Telegraph Hill and Fort Point, I think it's the best pairing of Bogart and real-life love (and wife) Lauren Bacall, even though the movie did not do well at the box office. But it's a true noir, with all the requisite twists and dark characters, except that this movie has a happy ending.

What turned out to be a fun pilgrimmage this weekend was to find the Malloch Apartments on Telegraph Hill, where the lovely Bacall takes in wrongly accused, recent San Quentin escapee Humphrey Bogart.

Located on a crazy steep incline, otherwise known as the Historic Telegraph Hill District, this Art Deco wonder of an apartment building stands on a cliffside overlooking the entire bay.

I pictured Bogie up there, in his hideout from the cops, with Lauren Bacall playing "Someone To Watch Over Me" on the phonograph, while I stood at street level, wishing it was all real.

And it kinda was.

Remembering Richard Widmark

I wanted to take a moment to pay tribute to and recognize a wonderful actor who just passed away: Richard Widmark. What I notice more and more today with contemporary movies is that there just aren't actors of this his caliber anymore. Which is probably why I don't see many new movies at the cinemaplex these days.

Richard Widmark had a long and varied career, but he first became a star by playing baddies. Except for Jimmy Cagney, I can't think of an actor who made a bad guy more nefarious and strangely charming than Widmark.

I had a really hard time just choosing three movies that I would recommend if you have never seen him before. But I think I would have to start with Pickup on South Street, Kiss of Death, and the amazing Night and the City. Once you see these films, you'll be hooked on Richard Widmark just like I am.

Here's a super terrific scene from Pickup on South Street. It's the first movie I ever saw Widmark in, and it's a fantastic noir that will have you wrapped up in the plot from beginning to end.

Fade to Black

Noir City, the 6th Annual San Francisco Film Noir Festival, starts this Friday.

I really didn't know much about film noir until I came under the tutelage of The Boy. For such an irrespressibly cheery fellow, he certainly loves these dark, gritty tales of tough guys and tougher dames.

As always, watching these films as they were intended to be seen, in a rare classic movie house--The Castro Theatre--sitting amongst hundreds of avid film buffs, makes events such as this and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival a huge treat.

I'm reviewing the program schedule to find the films I most want to see. I'm not that much of a diehard noir enthusiast that I will miss a milonga or a class, but there are several movies that are on my list.

One film I own on DVD but would love to see big and bold on the screen is Gun Grazy. This B-movie is a cult classic, and the over-the-top dramatics of the femme fatale, played by Peggy Cummins, will stay in your mind for a long time. A while back I found this great super-condensed version of Gun Crazy, which captures a lot of the spirit of the film in a mere couple of minutes.

Bart: "We go together, Annie. I don't know why. Maybe like guns and ammunition go together."

Gun Crazy from LadyRebecca on Vimeo.

PS. Two other movies on the festival roster that I highly, highly recommend besides Gun Crazy are the original D.O.A. (which has great footage of San Francisco in the 50s) and Jules Dassin's gripping noir, Night and the City, starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. And speaking of Jules Dassin, my all-time favorite movie of his is Rififi, the jewel heist movie that was the mother of them all. If you can't make it to the festival, all of the above-mentioned movies are on DVD.

A Favorite Scene from Double Indemnity

And they're only getting started!