R578391.
Desert fury. By Hal Wallis Produc-
tions, Inc. 10 reels. (C) 15May47;
L998. E M K A, division of Universal
City Studios, Inc. (PWH); 5Jun74;
R578391.

Hi, my name is Lizabeth Scott and I am quickly becoming THE noir girl. I get a role in a movie opposite John Hodiak, who just did Lifeboat with Alfred Hitchcock. The only other name on this film is Mary Astor and there are two newcomers. One isn’t worth talking about.
The other is Hodiak’s rival for my love. So imagine you’re running lines with six-footer John, who is “sun-bathing”, showing his skinny shoulders and slack belly. Hodiak is calling it in; this is noir and he’s playing a cheap hood and everybody knows how cheap hoods should behave.
His rival has a sunny brown pompadour, electric blue eyes, lashes most girls would kill for, six foot two, shoulders two miles wide, snaky hips, moves with the lightness of a trapeze artist, and works his lovely butt off. This guy wants to take a bite out of Hollywood with those white teeth of his, but he’ll give you that beautiful smile while he does it – when he isn’t smoldering with anger or indignation or standing up to Mary Astor like she wore pants – which she does a lot in this film. Well, which one would YOU rather work with in your next two films? I got MY wish.
Take two. OK I’m me again and there are two scenes here that blew me away. At 6:36, “Tom” forces his boss to give an arrestee what we now call Miranda rights: silence and an attorney. SCOTUS did not hand down the Miranda ruling until nearly 20 years after this film was made. In most noir films the sheriff would beat the crap out of the guy. Not this one. “Tom” makes sure of that, and he does it with a smile, not an uppercut.

Second, right after that is one of those great throwaway lines in noir. Still genuinely smiling, Tom tells Pat that Bendix is in town and Pat doesn't have anything Bendix wants. Then the smile -- along with the eyes above it, and even the voice -- turns steely as he adds, "or have you." It's one of those beautiful transitions Lancaster does in film after film with dozens of directors, and you don't get great transitions out of a tyro unless he's got the goods. Could have set up a plot line about what Bendix has that Pat wants, but noir does this kind of thing all the time.

Then, when Lancaster throws aside his badge so as not to attack Hodiak under color of authority, it is a tiny hint of the physical grace he will show in future roles.

Hodiak sank to supporting roles and B movies. We all know what happened to Lancaster. And aren’t we all glad for him?

Finally, I want you to watch the long take at the end when the car is on fire. Look how much time Lancaster spends with his face away from the camera. Any other actor would have made sure you got the strain on his face as he worked to get the driver out. Not Burt. The muscular strain is all in his back and butt, and that's what you get in the shot. Say it was his first picture and he was a minor character and the director didn't care about giving him the right camera angle. Keep this take in your mind as you travel through the rest of Lancaster's roles, and notice how often he turns his back to the camera.

Most actors do not want to get on film without their faces showing. It stems from the stage, where it was hard to project your voice if you weren’t facing the audience. Facing the camera is also how you capture your keylight, designed to let moviegoers see your expressions, and your closeups. Lancaster had only one stage role – the one that brought him to Hollywood’s attention – and was not trained to hog the light. He knew there was a mike to pick up his dialog. He acted as much with his body language and motion as with his face and voice. He knew that his broad back and slim butt were saleable assets. So he never hesitated to turn them to the camera. I’m sure as many fingers itched to pinch that butt as itched to pinch that punim.