Film Noir: "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

[Andykev]

Wow just finished this fine DVD from the Fox Film Noir collection.

Starring Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, with Gary Merrill, Bert Freed, Tom Tulley, and Karl Malden....

Great scenery, filmed in classic Noir style.

In this hard-hitting mystery drama, Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) is a cop who loathes hoodlums so much that he's demoted for slugging suspects. On a murder case, even though he suspects a hood named Tony Scalise (Gary Merrill), he looses his temper and kills another suspect. He then falls in love with the man's widow (Gene Tierney), but stands by her as her father (Tom Tully) is charged with the murder. Ultimately, Dixon realizes he must find a way to clear the older man without implicating himself.

The Dana Andrews/Gene Tierney match is great. They worked together in LAURA, which was a much better film. The supporting cast is well acted, and you will recognize their faces from many other great classic films and later television, such as Karl Malden, who was also in many great films such as I CONFESS, ON THE WATERFRONT, and A STREETCAR NAMES DESIRE, as well as the Streets of San Francisco.

The DVD quality is excellent.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

Well, I like WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS more than LAURA. Shrug.

Good movie, for sure. Good ending.

Director Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, Out of the Past) complimented both Dana Andrews and Robert Mitchum on the same trait. He said they both LISTENED better than other actors he'd worked with.

Well, I am a huge Mitchum fan and a mediocre Dana Andrews fan, but coupled with a very good director in Otto Preminger, Andrews has made some real good flicks, and that's one of 'em.

 

[Andykev]

Mitchum vs. Andrews

You bet Robert Mitchum is a great actor, and I think I like him better than Andrews..in most pictures, such as Out of the Past, The Racket, Crossfire, Cape Fear, even his TV mini series "The Winds of War". Great.

However, Dana Andrews is great in of course the great classic, Oscar winning "The Best Years of Our Lives"...superb. And then there is The Ox Bow Incident", Laura, State Fair, Boomarang, "Night of the Demon" (horror film, cheezy), ..and then the career decline into bit parts and TV.

Dana Andrews was quite a versatle actor, and I think the roles he played in the Film Noir era were well done.

 

[maintcoder]

Don't forget...

Dana Andrews in The Purple Heart as the captain of a bomber shot down over Japan that inspires his men - even through the brutal torture they receive - to remain true to their cause when answering only one question would (potentially) save their lives. Sure it is a typical WW2 propaganda film, but it is a moving film in that genre. He also was Tyrone Powers' sub commander in Crash Dive, another good showing for him in that genre.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

You have to see Dana Andrews in "Zero Hour." Trust me.