Swamp NoirThe double feature of swamp noir shown at Noir City Los Angeles a couple of Sundays ago was pretty lurid stuff. Both took place in the Louisiana bayou, and both featured very strange male bonding scenarios, perhaps due to the steamy, swampy setting. In Cry Of The Hunted (1953), Joseph H. Lewis (of Gun Crazy fame) directs. A security officer (Barry sullivan) chases a runaway prisoner fugitive (Vittorio Gassman) through the swamps. They seem to alternate between beating each other up and sharing cigarettes. In fact, all the characters have bizarre dynamics in their relationships with others. (Barry) dishes out plenty of playful insults to his wife, who takes it in stride and keeps the martinis flowing and the meatloaf coming. William Conrad is the guy after his job and his way with people is not unlike a wild boar in the room. Meanwhile, the fugitive and his wife treat each other like snarling wildcats in heat. Even more lurid was Lure Of The Swamp (1957), directed by Hubert Cornfield. Temptation, violence and greed run amok in hte swamps. Marshall Thompson plays Simon, one of the oddest creatures I've seen in a noir, but not in an overt way. He protrays a guy who takes people out into the swamp on his little wooden boat, which he maneuvers with a long pole. On the outside, he seems like a decent, nice boy until he hauls off and whacks his plain jane girlfriend when she gets overly obnoxious. But some very shady creatures keep appearing, separately trying to seduce him into their criminal swamp activities. Though he's being "worked" and "used" on all sides, he manages to maintain his independence, even while considering running off with the prize himself. Joan Vohs plays a temptress, but she is even more unsettling with her fake smiles and alluring tactics than creepy Henry Bliss, (played brilliantly by Jack Elam), who moves in on Simon, sleeping in a closet until Simon will agree to take him to the hidden loot. Unfortunately, neither are available on DVD. Yet.
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