Historical Dictionary of Crime Films (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts) by Mayer Geoff

Author:Mayer, Geoff [Mayer, Geoff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2012-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) directed by Alfred Werker with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson.

HOLT, PATRICK (1912–1993). A stolid leading man in low-budget films and reliable character actor in larger-budget British films, Patrick Holt began his film career just prior to World War II. After military service, he was offered a contract by Rank and appeared with Joan Greenwood as a protective brother who is worried about his sister’s relationship with a troubled man (John Mills) in Roy Ward Baker’s The October Man (1947). Holt was also the caring parent of an adopted baby in Lawrence Huntington’s When the Bough Breaks (1947). Throughout the 1950s, he appeared in many low-budget crime films, among them his role as a married journalist involved in an affair that leads to murder in Suspended Alibi (1957), the weak businessman who inadvertently kills a colleague in Terence Fisher’s The Stranger Came Home (U.S. title The Unholy Four, 1954), and the chief villain in The Gelignite Gang (1956). Holt also costarred opposite Tom Conway in the murder mystery set in a hospital in Operation Murder (1956). In the 1960s, these medium-budget supporting features disappeared, and Holt continued his career as a character actor until the mid-1980s, specializing in dignified authority figures.

HONG KONG CRIME FILMS. Hong Kong is the capital of heishehui, otherwise known as “black societies,” where Triad gangs have established control over virtually every form of criminal activity since 1945. They also have a close association with the local film industry, which often depicts Triad gangsters in a positive manner. Prior to the mid-1980s, the Hong Kong film industry was better known for its kung fu films. There were, however, some crime films, including Dian zhi bing big (1979), Hang gui (1979), Feng jie (1979), and Sheng gang qi bing (1984).

The crime genre came to life in Hong Kong with Yingxione bense (A Better Tomorrow, 1986). Directed by John Woo and produced by Tsui Hark, the film stars Leslie Cheung, Ti Lung, and Chow Yun-Fat. Woo had to fight hard to cast Chow, as some doubted his ability to transfer his popularity from television to feature films. Woo’s intuition was right, though, and the film made Chow a major star. With his long black coat, his Ray-Bans, and a matchstick in his mouth, he steals the film with his cool demeanor during the action scenes, most notably when he enters a nightclub firing his guns until they are empty, only to retrieve more guns hidden in a pot plant. The plot concerns three Triad members: Sung Tse-Ho (Ti), Mark (Chow), and a new boy Shing (Waise Lee). Complications arise because Ho’s younger brother Kit (Cheung) is a cop. When Ho is released from prison, he tries to go straight, but his old partner (Chow) lures him back to a world of crime. With its stylish violence, shifting identities, and flexible moral boundaries, Yingxione bense set the pattern for subsequent crime films, and the film was a massive success, breaking box-office records in Hong Kong and throughout Asia.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.