Anthony Mann's unreleased DEVIL'S DOORWAY and TALL TARGET tonight on TCM (1 Viewer)

[Richard--W]

Some of the best suspense thrillers ever made remain criminally unavailable on DVD. I've just noticed that Turner Classic Movies is devoting an evening to director Anthony Mann. In a couple of hours, you will have the opportunity to see not one but two masterpieces directed by Anthony Mann during his creative peak which are otherwise not released on DVD.

If you liked The Furies (1950) recently released by Criterion, wait till you see Devil's Doorway (also 1950). Mann boiled this western noir longer and harder than he did the other one; in fact it's one of the harshest tragedies ever committed to film. Even more harsh than Border Incident (1949 WB). Followed by The Tall Target (1951), a vastly under-rated sleeper in which special agent John Kennedy tries to thwart an assassination on the night train to D.C., a train seemingly crowded with conspirators, during the Civil War. Take note of the score and the sound track. An historical suspense noir, The Tall Target competes with The Narrow Margin (WB 1952) as the best thriller-on-a-train film ever made. I consider it Mann's best film, and that's saying A LOT.

Two genre-crossing noir masterpieces not on DVD. Don't miss 'em tonight on TCM.

 

[TonyD]

thanks for the heads up, dvr set.

 

[David_B_K]

I already had my DVR set for The Devil's Doorway, which I always found powerful. I didn't remember The Tall Target as being all that interesting. I have not seen it for 20 years, and did not know it was a Mann film, so I guess I will DVR it as well.

Actually, I didn't think I liked The Furies all that much until I watched it again recently. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Richard--W]

Well, did either noir leave an impression on anyone's mind?

Wouldn't you like to see them on DVD?

 

[PatrickDA]

I certainly want them on DVD. BIG TIME! "The Tall Target" is very odd if you factor in the whole 'John Kennedy' and 'sniper in the top floor window' aspects. I get chills up and down my spine when those lines are said. I think Mann did a better job with that sort of genre piece than 60% of Hitchcock's stuff. It's also strange seeing Ruby Dee in the film as it was released in 1951, yet see was nominated for an Oscar in 2008! That's a LONG career! "The Devil's Doorway" is a powerful, stoic film that very few have seen or even heard of. Great black-and-white photography too.

 

[Charles H]

I've always loved THE TALL TARGET: it's almost stoic in its "noirness": it has no score and nearly all of the action is confined to the narrow passageways of the train. MGM released two other historical noirs in 1951: THE BLACK HAND starring Gene Kelly (!!!) in a story about the Mafia in NYC at the turn of the century and THE MAN IN A CLOAK with Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, and Leslie Caron in an atmospheric adaptation of a John Dickson Carr story.