The Scar/Hollow Triumph

[Dr Doran]

I watched a great 1948 noir today, The Scar/Hollow Triumph (it is known by both titles). American sleazebag con artist (Paul Henreid) pretends he is a hungarian sophisticate psychiatrist to escape mob. It's a B movie, but it was great. Some marvelous lines, especially by the secretary whom he seduces to get to the psychiatrist. Have any of you seen this?

 

[Feraud]

I watched a great 1948 noir today, The Scar/Hollow Triumph (it is known by both titles). American sleazebag con artist (Paul Henreid) pretends he is a hungarian sophisticate psychiatrist to escape mob. It's a B movie, but it was great. Some marvelous lines, especially by the secretary whom he seduces to get to the psychiatrist. Have any of you seen this?

I have it on dvd and love it! How great is the reversed photograph situation?

 

[Dr Doran]

I have it on dvd and love it! How great is the reversed photograph situation?

I suspected something was funny when he was looking at the photo in the mirror and you couldn't be sure yourself what you were seeing. But when it turns out that that was a mislead, and it's the photo development in the lab that was screwed up -- clever. In fact, the whole business about the scar being on the wrong cheek was a mislead since it didn't matter in the plot at all. Nicely done since I was expecting that would be the dead giveaway but only the scullery maid noticed! Even his girlfriend didn't notice -- a comment on her shallowness? Brilliant film. The joke is, I got it in a packet of FIFTY movies on dvd from Amazon under the box set name "Great Classics of Suspense" or somesuch, for about 20 dollars in toto. Some turkeys in there, but some bloody classics like this one! (It even has The Stranger with and by Orson Welles, another brilliant brilliant film!)

 

[Feraud]

I suspected something was funny when he was looking at the photo in the mirror and you couldn't be sure yourself what you were seeing. But when it turns out that that was a mislead, and it's the photo development in the lab that was screwed up -- clever. In fact, the whole business about the scar being on the wrong cheek was a mislead since it didn't matter in the plot at all. Nicely done since I was expecting that would be the dead giveaway but only the scullery maid noticed! Even his girlfriend didn't notice -- a comment on her shallowness? Brilliant film. The joke is, I got it in a packet of FIFTY movies on dvd from Amazon under the box set name "Great Classics of Suspense" or somesuch, for about 20 dollars in toto. Some turkeys in there, but some bloody classics like this one! (It even has The Stranger with and by Orson Welles, another brilliant brilliant film!)

I have the same set! lol That box set is a mix of good and bad.
I was sorry they did not develop the reversed scar plotline too much. I thought it was a great gimmick.
The scar on his face mattered at the end of the film when Henreid is intent on meeting his girl at the dock and the gangsters show up.

 

[Midnight Palace]

I love this film also! I have it as part of the "Film Noir Classics" set, it's a 10 disc set with mostly public domain titles. I've actually been surprised at how many people have NEVER heard of this one.

 

[Feraud]

I've actually been surprised at how many people have NEVER heard of this one.

Thanks to Doran for starting this post. There are now a lot of people who have heard of The Scar!
Here is the IMDB page on the film.

 

[Dr Doran]

I have the same set! lol That box set is a mix of good and bad.
I was sorry they did not develop the reversed scar plotline too much. I thought it was a great gimmick.
The scar on his face mattered at the end of the film when Henreid is intent on meeting his girl at the dock and the gangsters show up.

And they didn't believe him when he insisted he wasn't the psychiatrist! Ha ha! Partly because he couldn't turn his fake Hungarian accent off -- he had started to believe his own lie! He was going in and out of the accent, wobbly, in several parts of the movie, such as when he was talking to the secretary after she was onto him. It was out of his conscious control. The irony of getting shot by gangsters in the pay of a gambling boss was wonderful, the very fate he had escaped. It was like a Twilight Zone episode, but longer and more developed. Goshdarned bloody brilliant film, deserving of more viewings by more folks!
..... I have assembled a strictly dress-up film noir society in Berkeley. Restaurant then film the first outing, but probably film then restaurant on the next one so we can discuss the film at dinner. So far we have seen The Seventh Victim,another lovely little film, a semi-horror (or semi-Gothic, as they used to say) noir from 1942 about a prep school girl who has to track down her sister in THE EAST VILLAGE in NY (oooh! scary!) who has fallen into a band of bohemian-elegant devil worshippers. Superb film, brilliantly clad men in DBs throughout. It's these obscure ones that I want to concentrate on showing -- everyone has seen Double Indemnity and Out of the Past already, as brilliant as they are. (To tell the truth, it's this devil worshipper society, as genteel and urbane as they are in that film, that I want to emulate, not because I worship or believe in the devil but because I like the idea of an extremely elegant, erudite secret society that dresses up and meets like that.)

 

[Dr Doran]

I love this film also! I have it as part of the "Film Noir Classics" set, it's a 10 disc set with mostly public domain titles. I've actually been surprised at how many people have NEVER heard of this one.

Amazon? Sounds lovely!

 

[MrNewportCustom]

The joke is, I got it in a packet of FIFTY movies on dvd from Amazon under the box set name "Great Classics of Suspense" or somesuch, for about 20 dollars in toto. Some turkeys in there, but some bloody classics like this one!

Doran, I'll have to get that one. I love lots of movies for one low price.

Speaking of low prices: I have "Mystery Classics". (Fifty-movie pack on 12 DVD collection.) In fact, I have two, if anyone's interested. If you're at John in Covina's BBQ Saturday, I'll bring it with me. First one who asks gets it. I received it as a gift from someone who didn't know (and still doesn't know) that I already have it.

Movies include: Mr. Moto's Last Warning, He Walked by Night, The Green Glove, Kansas City Confidential, Suddenly, Too Late for Tears, Jigsaw; two Shadow flicks, three Dick Tracy films, six Bulldog Drummond movies, eight Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and many others.


Lee
________________

It's still in celophane.

 

[Dr Doran]

Doran, I'll have to get that one. I love lots of movies for one low price.

Speaking of low prices: I have "Mystery Classics". (Fifty-movie pack on 12 DVD collection.) In fact, I have two, if anyone's interested. If you're at John in Covina's BBQ Saturday, I'll bring it with me. First one who asks gets it. I received it as a gift from someone who didn't know (and still doesn't know) that I already have it.

Movies include: Mr. Moto's Last Warning, He Walked by Night, The Green Glove, Kansas City Confidential, Suddenly, Too Late for Tears, Jigsaw; two Shadow flicks, three Dick Tracy films, six Bulldog Drummond movies, eight Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and many others.


Lee
________________

It's still in celophane.

I've got that box set too. Are you sure The Scar is not in there? Too Late for Tears was great, Jigsaw was wonderful. Didn't that set have Quicksand? Superb little film! I know I've seen Suddenly but I might be confusing it with Suddenly Last Summer, another marvelous flick with a sick payoff only at the end ... "Their greedy gobbling little mouths ..." eccchh.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

I've got that box set too. Are you sure The Scar is not in there? Too Late for Tears was great, Jigsaw was wonderful. Didn't that set have Quicksand? Superb little film! I know I've seen Suddenly but I might be confusing it with Suddenly Last Summer, another marvelous flick with a sick payoff only at the end ... "Their greedy gobbling little mouths ..." eccchh.

No to The Scar. No to Suddenly Last Summer (wasn't that a song by Til Tuesday, the same group that did "Voices Carry"? ) Yes to Quicksand.


Lee
________________________

Now that song, Suddenly Last Summer is in my head! lol

 

[Dr Doran]

No to The Scar. No to Suddenly Last Summer (wasn't that a song by Til Tuesday, the same group that did "Voices Carry"? ) Yes to Quicksand.


Lee
________________________

Now that song, Suddenly Last Summer is in my head! lol

Is Quicksand the one with the young Mickey Rooney? Or is it the one where the guy gets picked up hitchhiking by a driver with fingernail scratches on his face, the driver dies, and then he picks up a woman who was the scratchhappy girlfriend of the driver and who bullies him hideously for the rest of the film?

I'll never forget Voices Carry. Nice song. Absolutely emblematic of the early-mid 80s.

 

[Feraud]

This is what I like about the discounted movie packages. You find some real gems in the group!

The Green Glove is cool!

Movies include: Mr. Moto's Last Warning, He Walked by Night, The Green Glove, Kansas City Confidential, Suddenly, Too Late for Tears, Jigsaw; two Shadow flicks, three Dick Tracy films, six Bulldog Drummond movies, eight Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and many others.

Quicksand is with Mickey Rooney. I lilke this film because the theme of "crime doesn't pay" is sooo heavy handed. It is so 1950s.
Btw, Detour is the film where the fellow is hitchhiking across the country and accepts an innocent ride that turns into a trip to hell!

Is Quicksand the one with the young Mickey Rooney? Or is it the one where the guy gets picked up hitchhiking by a driver with fingernail scratches on his face, the driver dies, and then he picks up a woman who was the scratchhappy girlfriend of the driver and who bullies him hideously for the rest of the film?

Has anyone seen The Hitchhiker with Edmond O'Brien? Ida Lupino directed.

 

[Midnight Palace]

Amazon? Sounds lovely!

This is the set I have

http://www.oldies.com/product-view/2003D.html

 

[Dr Doran]

This is what I like about the discounted movie packages. You find some real gems in the group!
.

A larger metaphor for life? (Cheesy)
That's kind of how I feel about Goodwill except that the discounted movie packs have 30 - 60% good films and Goodwill has that 1% of great clothing that you have to look for (but at Goodwill, you don't have to BUY the stuff you don't want).

And O Midnight Palace, that boxed set from Oldies.com looks great. I think most of those are on the Suspense 50 pack from Amazon though.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Is Quicksand the one with the young Mickey Rooney? Or is it the one where the guy gets picked up hitchhiking by a driver with fingernail scratches on his face, the driver dies, and then he picks up a woman who was the scratchhappy girlfriend of the driver and who bullies him hideously for the rest of the film?

I'll never forget Voices Carry. Nice song. Absolutely emblematic of the early-mid 80s.

Stars Mickey Rooney.

Voices Carry is a big favorite of mine, too.


Lee

 

[Mr. 'H']

Is Quicksand the one with the young Mickey Rooney? Or is it the one where the guy gets picked up hitchhiking by a driver with fingernail scratches on his face, the driver dies, and then he picks up a woman who was the scratchhappy girlfriend of the driver and who bullies him hideously for the rest of the film?

I'll never forget Voices Carry. Nice song. Absolutely emblematic of the early-mid 80s.

Yes that's Quicksand.

No, the second one you refer to is Detour. I love that movie. When I was in NY I went to the street corner where the protagonist and his girlfriend are filemed walking. 77th and Riverside.

 

[kpreed]

Has anyone seen The Hitchhiker with Edmond O'Brien? Ida Lupino directed.[/QUOTE]
I have it on DVD and out of my many Film Noir titles, it is in my top 10.