Origin Noir. By Christina Harlin, your Fearless Young Orphan. The Racketeer (1929) Directed by Howard Higgin

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Origin Noir By Christina Harlin, your Fearless Young Orphan The Racketeer (1929) Directed by Howard Higgin The Racketeer was made long before the golden age of film noir.

1 Origin Noir By Christina Harlin, your Fearless Young Orphan The Racketeer (1929) Directed by Howard Higgin The Racketeer was made long before the golden age of film noir. This early crime drama about a Mafioso who falls in love with a scandalous woman foreshadows film noir, most convincingly in the parts of its leading characters. That it does so made me interested in trying to run it through the Noir Scoire. Bear in mind that the print I saw was in dreadful shape dark, grainy, missing cuts of film. Sometimes the poor quality of a film adds to its film noir atmosphere but it s not so in this case. This is simply an old, old movie that hasn t been digitally remastered, or if it has been, they did a bloody poor job of it. A few reasons to seek out the film yourself include that Carole Lombard is in it if you can recognize her through the haze of the film s damage. Another reason is a rather sophisticated romantic plot that is clearly doomed from the start but puts out genuine sparks. And third, despite its brief length (it is barely over an hour long) there is a rather pointed emphasis placed on the ethical shakiness of the police force as well, and we get to know a cop, Mehaffy, who is happy to work both sides of the law to his own benefit. This is not to say the film is brilliant; I wouldn t hold it up next to the original Scarface for example, but neither is it easily dismissed. Let s talk plot. Mahlon Keane (Robert Armstrong) is a crime boss. Each day he is driven to his office by his chauffeur and bodyguard Squid (yeah, I said Squid).

2 The street corner outside Keane s business is on the beat of Mehaffy, who has walked this beat so long that he knows all the players by name. He and Keane are even on rather friendly terms. Keane generously gives money to widows and orphans of fallen police officers, a thousand dollars at one point (a shit-ton of money at the time), trusting Mehaffy to make the delivery of the big bill himself. Although, we do get the feeling that if Mehaffy had decided to pocket the cash, Keane wouldn t have been surprised or angry about it. But Mehaffy has more on his mind than skimming money off a crime boss. He wants to make a career for himself and he thinks he can do so through his intimate knowledge of Keane s comings and goings. Mehaffy cleverly questions Squid about recent murders, trying to trip up the less-intelligent driver into letting slip important information. One of these days, Mehaffy is sure he ll be able to pin something on Keane that will stick. Meanwhile, Keane is having his own drama. He belongs to the best social circles, as you might suppose, and one night attends a charity event. He is welcomed to a table of prestigious people to join in their poker game. Then a new face appears at the party. It s Rhoda (Carole Lombard), who has been involved in a scandal that left her on the outs with the upper-crusty types. She is involved in an affair with an alcoholic concert violinist whose career has been destroyed by his drinking. Rhoda is offered a seat at the poker table by a young woman who is considerably kinder than her snotty mother. As the game progresses, Keane realizes that Rhoda is cheating. Rather than being outraged, he is fascinated. Suddenly it seems the gig is up Rhoda is caught in the act. Quickly Keane covers for her and gets her out of there with her ill-gotten winnings intact. Rhoda needed the money, that much is clear. She has her lover Tony in her dingy little apartment as he suffers through the worst part of alcohol withdrawal. Tony is desperate for a drink, going so far as to trick Rhoda into calling a supplier thinking it is a doctor. But damn it, Rhoda loves the guy. She s going to see him through this, even if he leaves her when it s over. Keane inserts himself into the picture. He makes it clear from the start that he wants Rhoda for himself; she makes it clear that Tony is her man. All right, says Keane, then lets fix Tony. He pays for Tony s treatment in an upscale facility

and when the man has sufficiently recovered, even sets up a comeback, booking venues for Tony, even a tour. I suppose Keane is hoping that Tony will leave when his career is revived.

3 and when the man has sufficiently recovered, even sets up a comeback, booking venues for Tony, even a tour. I suppose Keane is hoping that Tony will leave when his career is revived. Now, I m perfectly within my rights to include spoilers for a 1929 film, but I don t think I will. You know all this has to come to a head, probably all in I find people who cheat at cards incredibly sexy. one night that would be the movie-way to go, wouldn t it? I ll just say that the end of the film is both reasonably satisfying yet something of a cop-out, too. They could only do so much with an hour. I m eager to see how this works out on the Noir Scoire. The Scoire doesn t bend well to fit other genres but for crime drama, it comes the closest to working, and I think this one has enough film noir roots running through it to make a respectable showing. Our anti-hero: Mahlon Keane. Yep, our anti-hero is the crime boss, not the cop. The story is told from his perspective. Keane is not an evil man, exactly. Of course we re not privy to every vice he controls, so I can only judge him based on what I see. Therefore I judge him by his treatment of others in the film. He makes no demands of Rhoda, only asks for the chance to help her. He controls his men with mob justice, of course, though he doesn t seem to engage in senseless violence. All his violence is pretty well-planned, haha. Seems like he s a smart, sophisticated man who grew up in an environment where his skills would naturally lead him to this position. Yes, he s flawed, but that s the point. 10/10 As Played by: Robert Armstrong. There is a simply technical problem with judging the performances in this film, because the quality of the movie is so bad that it s impossible to see anyone s face very well, and the audio is not much

4 better. I believe Armstrong s performance was fine, but I m looking at it through a distorted lens. Lucky for us, despite the film s 1929 release, The Racketeer does not suffer from silent film syndrome, which happens when actors in sound movies still perform as if they re in silent films, using huge, exaggerated emotional reactions and bodily gestures. The director fortunately understood that he was making a movie with sound. I m giving the performances a general 8/10 for the sake of fairness. The femme fatale: Rhoda Philbrooke is definitely a forerunner in the femme fatale role. She s a bad girl, center of a scandal, a liar and a cheat, but she s doing it all for love. Though subtle, it is implied that she d be willing to sleep with Keane if it got Tony the help he needs. 10/10 As played by: Carole Lombard. Again, 8/10. The villain: There aren t any innocent people in The Racketeer. From the viewpoint of Keane, the villain is Mehaffy, the cop who is watching the organization even as he feigns aw-shucks friendliness toward them. Mehaffy is planning on making a name for himself in law enforcement. Actually, we should be glad for his actions but he is working in opposition to our protagonist, so Mehaffy s two-faced sneakiness seems bad. 8/10 As played by: Paul Hurst. 8/10. (Of note, Hurst has a rather good interrogation scene, where he tricks Squid into admitting knowledge of a murder.) The crime: Probably all of them! This is the mob, and all vice is under their purview. We don t see much of that. One of Keane s men had to be disposed of for going against the boss. 8/10 The location: A city like any other; apartments, offices, bars, much like we d expect. If The Racketeer was made with any special attention toward cinematography, we are long past being able to see it. 5/10 The mood: This can t turn out well. Well, first, at the time, villains were not allowed to be free and happy at the end of a film. They had to face retribution. Thus we know from the beginning that Keane isn t going to make it out of this. This adds a certain poignancy to his obsession with Rhoda and his willingness to help her even if he gets nothing out of it. 9/10

5 The sex factor: Again we run into the poor film quality as a barrier to seeing the nuances of facial expressions. In spite of that, the attraction Keane has for Rhoda is quick and hot, the moment he realizes she is cheating at cards. There is spark between them. Her love for Tony doesn t actually stop that from happening. 7/10 Overall Noir Scoire: 81% - look at that! A B- for The Racketeer. That s even higher than I expected it to be, and pretty damn impressive for 1929, a good fifteen years before film noir really came into its own.

A Play by Yulissa CHARACTERS. Seventeen-year-old Mexican. She swears a lot, especially when she is mad. She has bad anger issues but won t admit it.

A Play by Yulissa CHARACTERS. Seventeen-year-old Mexican. She swears a lot, especially when she is mad. She has bad anger issues but won t admit it. A Play by Yulissa CHARACTERS Seventeen-year-old Mexican. She swears a lot, especially when she is mad. She has bad anger issues but won t admit it. Twenty-year-old guy. s best friend. He used to be a drug