Page 44 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 142

44 Issue #142 November 2024 www.sportsenergynews.com

In Reel Time

Hand in Bloody Hand

man, whose five o’clock shadow Spurned at first. . . after all, you tend
A (after several drinks) is seemingly to dislike unwanted fugitives who break
approaching midnight, kills another at into your bedroom and ruin your restful
last call in a drunken fit; evading chasing sleep, Bill is not so easily deterred –
parties, he slips through an unlocked when you’re on the run for murder and
window and gazes upon a beautiful don’t have a job, tracking a beautiful
sleeping woman – a singular moment woman who didn’t turn chirp seems like
that will forever change and intertwine a pretty good use of time.
their lives. . . this is the mysteriously Quick to anger, it really doesn’t take
alluring introduction to the film noir Kiss too long for the violent thug to get
the Blood Off My Hands (1948), directed caught (but not for the murder) – who
by Norman Foster. knew a first offense for punching two
The man is Bill Saunders (Burt people (including a cop) would land you
Lancaster) – an American concentration eighteen lashes from a cat o`nine tails
camp survivor who is grifting in and and nine months of hard labour – they
around London; the woman is Jane didn’t mess around in post-war England
Wharton (Joan Fontaine) – a highly (fun fact – Lancaster wanted actor Harold Photo Submitted
educated yet lonely nurse who lost her Goodwyn to “really lay it on him” for not wear a shirt the next day). Another sun (with a walk on a hilly meadow a
sweetheart during the war, together they authentic effect. . . so much so that the tidbit – Judicial corporal punishment perfect example). . . only to return once
are quite the unlikely pair. leather belt left welts so painful he could was mostly eliminated the very year this more to the chiaroscuro essence of noir.
film was released. . . though it was only It is also worth noting that unlike your
officially abolished in England in 1967. prototypical film noir, there really isn’t
Yet, doing his time softens the young a true femme fatale, though there is a
woman’s resolve. She finds him a job as fascinating long take where the camera
a driver at her work while also spending goes from Dutch angle on one side to the
more time with the chiseled in looks and other several times as Jane starts to doubt
less so in behaviour gent. Soon, he starts herself towards the very end.
courting her (in what could be deemed A story very much of its time, it is
a more dramatic turn in the narrative). not only about the cracks and damage
In business since 2009.
. . but wait, fast-talking Limey Harry found in the post-war London landscape

Carter (Robert Newton) was a witness (though Bill does use this to his advantage
to the murder and has his own crooked as he escapes), but more so the fractured

plans for the tough guy. Will Bill be able psyche of the mind. Yet, even when love
to escape his past and marry the less than starts to do the trick, those wounds felt
dangerous dame? Might Harry dispel by others in and around can continue
Do you need : their love affair by bringing him into to hinder one’s recovery. It is a cold,
another criminal enterprise? Or could unyielding and seemingly fixed game,
poor Jane get sucked into this noxious and one not easy to escape from.
√ a new website for your business ? transgression and sully her own good A unique noir-infused dramatic

√ an existing website redesigned ? name? thriller, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands
What starts out like a top shelf film noir features strong performances from its
√ help with an online store ? takes an interesting turn, transforming two stars (while Newton is fascinating
√ help maintaining a website ? midway into something more akin to a as the somehow fragile yet utterly
melodrama. Opening with mesmeric dangerous user), a genre flip flop (and
√ a website optimized for local search ? shadowy cinematography from Russell flip again) that mostly works, and a
Metty (a special treat finds Lancaster surprising conclusion that is not as
bernadette@dragon ywebcreations.com sneakily lighting a cigarette in the nihilistic as one might expect. So, see the
613.363.7112 woman’s dark room – a small portion of noir based off of the novel Gerard Butler
www.dragon ywebcreations.com his face coming alive for a brief moment), wrote (obviously not the same guy), it’s
the story soon spins off to the daytime a cut above.