S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Today's arts and culture show features a local chef up for Best Chef in California , and a trip into the dark world of film noir. I'm Andrew Bracken in for Jade Heinemann here with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and engaged. How a love for Mexico and its diverse cuisine led one Baja chef to bring his food across the border.
S2: When I decide to open Baja here in San Diego , I wanted to express what Mexico is for me.
S1: Then our midday film critics join us to explore film noir and its femme fatales. That's ahead on midday Edition. The James Beard Awards are one of the most prestigious culinary honors in the country. Next week , they'll announce this year's finalists across 25 categories , including Best Chef in California. Two San Diego area chefs are among the semifinalists this year. The contenders include Tara Mansard , the executive chef at Anime and La Cook , and Roberto Alcazar , the executive chef at Valle , which is San Diego's only Michelin starred Mexican restaurant. And I'm here with Chef Roberto to talk about his journey in the culinary world. Welcome , chef.
S2: Thank you. Thank you for opening the doors. Happy to be here.
S1: So this is your first time being nominated for a James Beard Award here ? First of all , congratulations.
S2: Uh , it's a game that I don't know how to play. I've been playing since I came to the US and it's the first time we got the the semifinalist nomination. So. So I mean , that's the thing I don't know what it takes to make it to the finals and then to win in case I , I get to the finals. So. So for me at the end is , is is the same every day. Give my best at the restaurant and and give the best to my staff and and keep pushing. So we'll see if that's the key.
S1: Well just you know , I mean with these kind of awards , with art and culture , it can be really hard to kind of pick a winner , right ? It's not running a race at the same time. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I mean , your favorite restaurant can maybe be the favorite restaurant for somebody else. And that's that's that's the thing. So I mean , just in my own opinion , I keep it real. I keep it myself , I and if they like it , good. If not , I mean , move on.
S1: So Valle specializes in contemporary Mexican cuisine.
S2: So it's a blend of all the ingredients from south of Mexico , the techniques of sort of Mexico , also the ingredients of San Diego with sauce. So local when I say so local , is that literally the fish come from the ocean side , a fish market. We have the farmers market that source also some of the produce for the from the restaurant. That's where I got my purveyors. So with those ingredients and the Mexican techniques and the Mexican instruments , like a molcajete , like a metate , um , we source our corn from Chula Vista and Encinitas. Um , so , so that's that's what it is by. So I mean the menu is a tasting menu restaurant. Right now we say that it's a course. Because we don't count the other small things that we will serve you when you come to dine with us. But it's around 11 courses , a regular seating at the restaurant. So you start with these small bites we call bananas. If I translate bananas , this is snacks. So you will start with three snacks. One of them is like a fish taco , traditionally from Baja. Even that Rubio's take over the world with them. Then you will get in Florida and also you will get a soup. Right now is a black bean soup with cotija foam. And then the courses starts normally with cold dishes , uh , like a crudo , a ceviche. Depending what we have on the market , then we , we , we jump to a roasted onion tart. And the idea is that for that dish is to take a pedestrian ingredient , a so common ingredient , as a white onion , and elevate it into fine dining restaurant. And then we go with a corn based dish because Mexican culture is about corn , about mice. So we will give you a taco. We will give you a tamale. Right now it's a spiny lobster season ending. So we have a couple days more with the spiny lobster. It's not a corn tortilla. It's a sourdough tortilla. And when we were developing this taco , I was like , I mean , if you go to Puerto Nuevo in Rosarito , lobster tacos are in flour tortilla , right ? So I want to keep the tradition. But how how do you make it different ? So I was like , okay , let's do sour dough tortillas. So that acidity into the tortilla will allow you to not have to use that man that much lime juice , you know ? Um , it's good , it's good. I think it's.
S1: Really just here. The the level of detail you're thinking about. Your food here and your cooking is so rooted , as you said , in your experience in Mexico. I mean , I think , you know , sometimes maybe people think about Mexican cuisine as its own thing , but there are many different parts.
S2: I mean , when we say Mexican restaurants or Mexican food , I was talking the other day and the thing is that in Mexico , I can have a Mexican restaurant with so many different parts of Mexico that I can focus at restaurant just in Baja food or another restaurant in Oaxaca , food and another restaurant of Yucatan food. So my roots are like I mean , born in Mexico City , grew up for , say , six years in Chiapas and then came to to Baja when I was seven all the way to high school. After high school , I moved to France to study , to be a chef. So the French technique is there and then came back to Mexico and working the best restaurants in Mexico City , and then go back to Puebla and then came back to Baja. So and that's the thing , cooks. We have this gastronomic memory that all the humans have , but we work on that. So we have it more fresh for , for us sometimes mixing and matching flavors , we don't need to cook it in order to say it's going to taste good , because we already have it in our memory. So after living in all these parts of Mexico , when I decide to open Valle here in San Diego , I wanted to express what Mexico is for me , not what is a traditional Mexican restaurant because we have these reviews. If you go and check on Yelp , this place. So this is not a traditional Mexican restaurant. I have never said that a Mexican restaurant or a traditional Mexican restaurant. This is not a place where you're going to find red rice and refried beans and , you know , at enchiladas you will have my own version of what it is. Those ingredients treat it like I like to treat them or like I know. So I don't want to say it. We're fine. That doesn't mean , um , because Mexican food , traditional Mexican food , is not refined. It's rustic. It's made on a method. It's made on a it's chunky. It's. But it's flavor. Um , so what I do in it has to be flavor. It's flavor before everything. And then we move with other , uh , techniques and presentation.
S1: You're obviously a product of all these different places you grew up and then traveling.
S2: I that's , that's , that's I think that made me a cook wanting and liking to eat , not a Junk food ? No candies. It's weird to find a kid that likes to taste blue cheese , that likes to taste these stinky cheeses or these , uh , uh , charcuterie. And I like it. Uh , when I was , I was , I remember in , in pinatas , you know , as soon as it's the pinata time , all kids run to grab the stick , to hit the pinata , because candies are coming. And I used to be the kid staying next to the food , eating because I prefer to eat. What ? You know what was , uh , prepare for the pinata. I mean , mole puzzle , you name it. I was like , yeah , I prefer a big bowl of pozole than whatever was going to fall from the pinata. And my my mom used to travel a lot , so she used to leave us with my , my dad , and my dad doesn't cook. So my dad used to go and buy food prepared in those supermarkets , just those daily containers , and fill it up with the stews and then go home and heat it and serve it. It was terrible , honestly. So I remember asking my mom , like , teach me how to cook. I mean , please , please , I don't I can't eat that. So I used to make my own lunches , I used to , I mean , grab sandwich bread and instead of doing the traditional , uh , I don't know , ham and cheese , I used to grab prosciutto and maybe another cheese of the of the draw of my dad and make my , my sandwich. These , these big or even taking , uh , leftovers from the meal and reheat it at the school because I didn't want to eat just , uh , jelly and peanut butter sandwiches for me was eating for me was so important. And also , I was a boy scout. So when you used to go camping , those noodle cups , they were new.
S1: Like instant noodles. Yes. Yeah.
S2: And and and two neck hands. So all the kids that I want to camp with. They used to carry all this stuff. And I used to carry raw vegetables and and dices of meat and just sharpen a stick and make my , uh. How do you know how to say my skewers ? And then in the fire and then grilling my skewering and cooking for me. And so I become the official cook of my troop. And so , so I think that's that's one thing. Turning to another one. And when I had to to choose what I wanted to study , for me it was really easy to pick that I wanted to be a chef. I never say I want to be a cook. No , I'm nobody wants to , you know , I say , I want to be a chef , but I didn't know that I need to become a a cook and start from the bottom to make all the way to the top. So I wanted to be a chef , and that's how I make it to France and start learning there.
S1: So I want to talk about your other restaurant , Malva. It's in Ensenada. Tell me about Malva. And you know what it means to you and how you kind of juggle between that. And then Valle here on this side of the border.
S2: So Malva was open actually in 2013 , in in June. And it's open after me quitting. To the mother of San Diego. Gas and electric is called Sempra Energy. I was a corporate chef for Sempra Energy. My office used to be here in second and third Street in downtown. I used to cook for the board members , and they have another , uh , piece of , uh , big company in Ensenada. So I used to come and go , uh , from Ensenada to San Diego , and I used to cook for the VIPs , and I mean , Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was our governor and a lot of VIPs. But I was never cooking what I want. I was cooking always dietary Restrictions and doing all the things that corporate do. And I was not happy. So one day I just quit and and of course , my wife jumped into the ceiling like a cat because she was pregnant. And , um , what are you going to do ? I'm like , I don't know , but I'm not happy. I'm not happy. I'm not cooking what I want. So. So I'm start looking for a job until , uh , I was going to move to Monterrey to be the chef of another restaurant. And , and my wife was like , are you really going to move to Monterrey ? Are you going to be happy ? And I was like , I mean , no , but I , I want to have my own restaurants. Why don't you open your own restaurant ? It was like , I mean , I don't have the money. Of course , nobody thinks in his in his dream restaurant as a as a small place , rustic. You know , everybody is thinking at , I don't know , at 3 million. I was looking like a French laundry in Dubai.
S1: Yeah , yeah.
S2: But that's we're talking about several millions. But my wife was like , look , if you wait to save the money to open your dream restaurant , you're never gonna open. So why don't you take something from our savings and open something that you're gonna be happy to ? And start from there. So I follow her advice , and I took some , uh , money from the the bank account and opened. And it was , uh. Really ? It's still a small restaurant. Uh , 35 seats. We opened it that time with the stove from my house. The refrigerator of my house. The blender from my house. And and that's how we started 13 years ago. It has evolved. The restaurant. Yeah , but with a lot of love , a lot of passion. That restaurant made it into the best new restaurant of Mexico. Uh , six months after the opening , we made it into the guide and the Michelin Guide , as I mentioned , restaurant.
S1:
S2: For me , being a chef is being a mentor is being a teacher for me. Leaving cooks or making cooks chefs is leaving a legacy.
S1: That's coming up on Midday Edition. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Andrew Bracken , filling in for Jade Hindman. We're continuing our conversation now with chef Roberto Alcazar , the executive chef at Vale Restaurant in Oceanside. So , chef , with your two restaurants on either side of the border , Valle and Malva.
S2: Uh , and I didn't I didn't know that , um , how challenging was going to be to open in the United States. First , when I was going to open Valley. I was like , okay , this is the profile of cooks that I'm gonna need. You know , I need only graduates from the CIA. I need this , this and that. And it's like , I'm gonna run a really , really high end restaurant with the best cooks. Nobody came to apply from the CIA. And the thing here is , that front of the house and back of the house are trades that normally people don't take it for serious for like a career. Normally our positions that In the front , you will have wannabe singers , wannabe actors , wannabe models , people that are working on that while they're finished their university , while they get their dream job. But they are not dreaming about being a server , or being a captain or being a maitre d. And in Mexico , being a server , being a front of the house person. It's it's a trade , it's a passion , it's a career. I mean , you can go to Mexico just across the border. You go to Tijuana , you go to Cesar Restaurant and you can have grandpa , father and son working in the front of the house. And and they are proud of it and they can make a living. And this has been the challenge for me in the restaurant to show my front of the house that they can make a living from this if they put the passion on it , if they really care to learn and give the best. The hospitality industry in Mexico is in our veins. We run with hospitality. It's a is is a country that is about tourism. We love to receive tourism , but also we are warm. We're warm people. We love to get guests in our houses , in our own house. As soon as you come to my house , the first thing I'm going to ask you. Would you like something to drink ? Did you eat something ? Are you hungry ? And even if you say no , I'll open a bag of chips and put it on a bowl. And that's the difference. And in the back of the house , like , for example , in my restaurant in Malaga , all the cooks went to university to study for cooks. And here in the US , there's I mean , just the schools in San Diego area. They went to bankruptcy in the last ten years. I mean , you don't have culinary schools to study art Institute bankruptcy. Cordon Bleu disappear and et cetera , et cetera , etc. , if you want to study a culinary degree in San Diego , I think you have two places. That's it. And otherwise , you need to move outside of San Diego , and you need a lot of money to , to to pay a CIA , to pay a French culinary institute or to pay any other school. And that's the thing. The thing is that sometimes you don't have the resources for for that. So the cooks that I have to hire , basically I need to hire people that likes to cook , but I need to train them. So it's been it's been hard.
S1: But that's been a priority for you , right ? Really kind of almost like helping the next generation of of chefs too. I mean , how are you thinking about what it means to be a chef now , you kind of talk a little bit about American culture. We have that celebrity chef sort of environment. Yeah , right.
S2: In the past , you used to leave secret recipes , you know , like , oh , chef , this John Smith. Oh , what's his recipe ? No , it was a secret. He died with it. I was like , what ? No. The idea of leaving a legacy is leaving the recipes there so people can continue doing that , but also building careers and helping helping cooks to become chefs. So in 25 years , now that I have been cooking , I can tell you that somebody made me as a chef and I am helping other cooks to be chefs and and that's good. I think that's part of being a chef. Of course , you're talking about celebrity chefs. It's two different.
S1: Different categories.
S2: Two different categories that you can choose. Right. But also you leave a career and you leave and you train people. Being in the TV , it's another , it's another. It's part of the trade , but it's another area.
S1: I mean , you've talked about when you kind of made the decision to start your first restaurant , you mentioned your wife was pregnant at the time. I mean , you're a father. I think when we think of the lifestyle of chefs , it can be really stressful or just that environment in these restaurants.
S2: Trades are run by passion. It's different from a career like a doctor , engineering architect or whatever. My dad is a mechanic and I saw that at home. My dad could easily went to any university because his family had the resources. But my dad is crazy about cars. Is still my dad. One day he's gonna pass away. Pass away under a car , and I will have to pull him and take it to the morgue , you know. Um , the same is for me. I don't see myself retiring from my kitchen , but because I like to be in the kitchen , I like to be in , in , in , in the restaurant. And and that's the difference. The difference is that , um. Yes. I realize late in my life that is not the best trait to pick. If you want to be also a father or if you want to have a life balance. Because I work when my family is at home , my high season is when my kids are in vacations. Mother's day is the best day and I can go and celebrate to my mom or my wife. My wife birthday falls on a Friday Saturday. So I'm sorry I have to be in the restaurant and Christmas and New Year's and etcetera , etcetera. And the thing is that , I mean , I have been doing this for 25 years , I get it. But my my kids. They still don't understand why that can't be at home on their birthday. On their Christmas on. It's a special celebrations and and that's for me balance. When I'm not at home , I'm in the restaurant. If I'm not in the restaurant , I'm at home and I try to be 100% at home. It's exhausting because having a nine and 13 year old , when they see that arriving home , the battery goes up full charge for them. Even that they were about to go to bed. They see that and they don't want to go to bed , and they want to play and they want to jump. And and that's the thing sometimes you need to pull the energy from , I don't know where , but what I realized long time ago is that to keep the balance in my trade , I will never be the best , that I will never be the best husband , and I will never be the best chef. You know , like being there and during pandemic happened that I love gardening. And my garden at my house in Ensenada is big. It's it was green , you know , some flowers were magnificent and and the orchard and everything was green. But the restaurant was close. So that's why I was able to focus on my garden. Um , when we reopen restaurants , I didn't have the time for my garden. So my garden started to die and I tried to keep it alive. It was hard. It's hard to to to be in both parts at the same time with the same quality. So , so it's it's hard as a trade. It's hard. But you love it. And I think my family has they understand now they , they do understand. And , and when we decide to move to this country I went to talk to them and I said , hey , the opportunity of Me pursuing a michelin star is possible. Would you take the chance with me ? Because I'm not gonna die happy if I don't get a michelin star. And the first contract that they gave me for value was three years. And I see it's only a three year contract. In three years , we come back. Come on , I. I will get that Michelin star in less than three years. And then we come back. We got the start in a year and a half. And my wife was like , so are we going back ? And I was like , can we go for two ? Uh , I still have a year and a half in our own contract , you know ? My wife was like , yeah , yeah , yeah. She knows I'm not gonna stop. And and they're happy. I think that , for me , is a balance. If they're happy , I'm happy.
S1: Well , you know , we wish you the best. Congratulations again. The finalist for the James Beard Awards. They'll be announced on Wednesday , April 2nd. I've been speaking with Roberto Alcazar , executive chef at Valle. Chef Roberto , thank you so much for sharing more about your journey and your and your great food.
S2: Thank you. I mean , I hope to see everybody at Valle and yeah , let's cross fingers for next Wednesday.
S1: When we come back. We enter the city streets and shadowy world of film noir and meet the elusive femme fatale.
S3: They get to use sex as a weapon and as a means of manipulation. They get to , like , operate in a man's world using men's rules. And I just I love these films for that.
S1: Stay tuned. There's trouble ahead , bub , but Ace Bracken is on the case. So I was sitting in the midday edition studio about 12 noon. I couldn't sleep the night before thinking about how the Padres season opener would play out. Well , then , who knocks on my door ? The usual suspects are midday movie critics. They're here to take us down a dark alley to explore film noir. So who are these unsavory characters ? Well , one is KPBS cinema junkie Beth Accomando. Herself. Well , well , well , Beth , we meet again.
S3: Yes we do.
S1: The other is movie Wallace. Podcaster. Yazdi. Fancy meeting you here , Yazdi.
S4: Oh , Andrew.
S1: Now , Beth never need a reason to talk about film noir , but there's something that makes this discussion timely.
S3: I love film noir , but right now , ongoing at this very moment is Noir City Hollywood , and that is running through Sunday at the Egyptian. This is put on by the Film Noir Foundation , and they run classic noir films. In addition to that , Eddie Muller , who is the TCM Noir Alley host , he also programs and is key with Noir City. Hollywood has just revised his book Dark City Dames , so he's added ten more actresses to the initial list of six. So I feel that that is reason enough to talk about some noir dames. And for those of you who may not know exactly what noir is , this is a term that was coined by French film critics to describe a style of cinema that's rooted in hardboiled crime fiction like Raymond Chandler , Dashiell Hammett and this was fiction in the 40s. It revealed a real cynicism that challenged audiences at that time , and classic noir is usually defined as films made between 1941 and the late 1950s , and the term literally means black film , and that darkness comes not just from the visual look , but also from the dark motives of the characters. So I love this genre because women really get to take charge a lot of time , and they have a lot of agency in these films , and they get to use sex as a weapon and as a means of manipulation. They get to operate in a man's world using men's rules. And I just , I love these films for that. But since we're kind of using Eddie Muller's book as a starting off point here , I decided to pull a clip from one of our interviews. And this is where he explains what makes noir unique , aside from just the stylistic elements.
S5: But for me , Beth , the key to what made noir so unique and special and a bit subversive in Hollywood of that era was that it was the first time that the people who were doing the wrong thing were the protagonists of the films. To me , looking at it from a writer's perspective , that's what really makes something noir. A crime movie in which the central character is a police officer trying to run a crook to ground , and you spend most of the movie with that law enforcement officer who's trying to do the right thing. That's not a film noir. Right. The the film noir is where that officer gets tempted into becoming a criminal , just like the guy he's pursuing. And it's usually for a woman , and then everything goes to hell. And it all turns out badly that that. Then you're talking film noir.
S1: And these do tend to turn out quite badly in the end , right ? Usually we're going to be talking more about noir , and it's hard to do that without its femme fatales , noir dames. And do you have a favorite from the book , Dark City Dames ? That's Jane Greer , and she's what you can describe as a classic femme fatale. Is that right ? Yeah.
S4: Listen , I'm no expert in film noir , but as femme fatales go , I think no one was as fatal as Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. So she , for me , is the , you know , the top of the crop. But I think there were so many actresses from the 1940s and 50s who really come close to Stanwyck , and I'm learning it's an education for me as much as I continue to watch those movies. And I think Jane Greer was one such amazing femme fatale. She was only 22 years old when the movie out of the past was shot , and with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas in it , the film becomes this wonderful study into the art of persuasion. I think all femme fatales can be distinguished by one characteristic , which is they're women who take their problem and make it the problem of the man they have just ensnared. And Jane Greer does this so beautifully and out of the past. She plays Kathy Moffatt , who is someone who lies , who steals , who commits crimes and even then ultimately has her will prevail unapologetically. And you as the audience member , somehow stay with her. So as much as you are transfixed by her childlike face in the movie , you stay with her through all of the machinations of the script. Here is a clip of her character interacting with Robert Mitchum on the beach.
S6: There was a little business , about $40,000.
S7: I didn't.
S6: Take it.
S7: I don't want anything of his or any part of him.
S6: Except his life.
S7: I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know anything except how much I hated. But I didn't take anything.
S6:
S1: What a great line at the end there , too.
S3: And Robert Mitchum's response like , there is something absolutely irresistible about her , even though he knows. I mean , the name of this book is Build My Gallows High and he knows where he's going , but for whatever reason , he can't resist her. And this is one of the reasons why I love noir so much. It sometimes gets labeled as misogynistic , especially with a character like this where she is very predatory and she's bringing all these men to their ruin. But the thing is , she's in total control , and I love that. And that's not something you saw a lot of in movies. And granted , she's not a role model , but role models are boring. I don't want to watch people who are , like , doing good and being nice. Like , movies are meant to kind of expand your horizons and make you think about , like , other things. And so I love her for this. And there's a scene here that I want to play. This is one of my favorite lines in this film , but she's double crossed Robert Mitchum , yet she has not given up on the idea of still manipulating him.
S7:
S6: Look , just get out , will you ? I have to sleep in this room. Let's just leave it where it all is. Get out.
S1: So there's Jane Greer , still kind of pulling his strings , as it were.
S3: He still pulls them till the very end.
S1: And , Beth , you have another femme fatale for us. Who's. Who's that ? Yes.
S3: So one of the things I love about this Dark City Dames book is that Eddie Muller highlights a lot of actresses who are not as well known to the general public as someone like Jane Greer or Barbara Stanwyck. So Audrey Totter is amazing , and she's been in quite a few films , but I think her most memorable role was in a film called tension. And here she plays this young wife to a very kind of mousy Richard Bass Hart. I'm not exactly sure how they got together. She alludes to the fact that in uniform he looked pretty cute , but out of uniform he's not nearly as attractive. So there's a scene where he promises her. He says , I got a I got a surprise for you , honey. And she's all excited. She goes , a new car , a new bracelet , and he's like , oh , that's even better. And he takes her out to show her a very quaint little house. And here's the scene.
S8:
S7:
S8: Kidding me ? It'd be wonderful to live out here , darling. Fresh air , room to entertain. And it's a great spot for kids.
S9: You want to know something ? I think it's a miserable spot. It's 30 minutes from nowhere.
S8: I thought this was what you wanted.
S9:
S8: The FHA even approved the loan. Fine.
S9: Fine. Let them live here.
S8: Come on , darling , at least look at it. You love it. You know it's got everything you want. It's got a big living room. It's got. It's got a real dining room. It's got full sized lives. A wonderful kitchen open back there. You know , it even got a garbage disposal.
S3: That's her honking the horn. Censoring her has been there. She's amazing. She played classic femme fatales , but she also had the range to do other noir dames sometimes , like in a film like The Setup. She was the very loyal supporting wife to this aging fighter. So again , this is another reason why I like the book so much is that it doesn't just focus in on what is most commonly thought of as the female characters in these movies. It's not just about femme fatales. There's this wide range of women characters , and Audrey Totter was great at bringing those to life.
S1: Yazdi , your next pick from the book is Joan Bennett. Is she a classic femme fatale or something different.
S4: I think she still falls in the classic femme fatale category. One of my favorite films of Joan Bennett is The Woman in the window , which is one of the earlier film noirs from 1944. And in this movie , Bennett plays a woman who invites a man she has just met to her home for a drink late in the night. And remember , this was Post-haste code , so the character she plays somehow has to seem virtuous even while she's doing that. Or at least for you as the audience , to not have questions about her morality. And she makes it work. And more than anything else. I mean , she , of course , plays a classic femme fatale where she makes a crime that happens because of her. She kind of passes it on to this man who's got caught in , you know , in her web , so to speak. But more than anything else , this movie is just such a clever , nifty thriller. It's directed by Fritz Lang , who made M and Metropolis , and it features this atypical kind of quiet lead turn by Edward G. Robinson. And it just plays with suspense so well , and so you can almost feel like the screws tighten on all of these characters. And it's a 90 minute , efficient movie where your heart is kind of pacing the whole way through it. It's it's free on YouTube and everybody should really check it out. It's amazing what was done in 1944. We could still learn so much from it. And here's a clip from the movie , which describes the first time that the Joan Bennett character meets Edward G. Robinson as he's staring at a picture of her in the window of a shop , and hence the name of the movie.
S6: Is it yours ? No.
S7: I wish it were. Then I wouldn't have to come over here every so often to watch people's faces.
S6: Because that's what you.
S7: Do now and then when I'm alone. Tonight I was alone. I don't like to be.
S6:
S7:
S6:
S7: One is a kind of solemn stare for the painting.
S6:
S7:
S6:
S7:
S3: I just love how all this dialogue is dripping with innuendo. So.
S1: So. Much.
S3: Much. Yeah. Yes. There's so much fun. I do want to point out about Joan Bennett. She's kind of in the classic femme fatale role here , but she also was in this amazing film a few years later called The Reckless Moment. And this is an interesting hybrid of film noir and the woman's picture. It's by Max And she's this like suburban mom taking care of her kids , cooking meals , and she ends up getting caught up in this blackmail situation. And it's like she's just adding one more thing to her list of to do's for that day. But it's an interesting film because like when she tries to get the money for the the blackmail , she can't get a loan from the bank without her husband's signature , so she can't even , like , find a way to pay this money. James Mason plays the blackmailer , a very kind of sympathetic , nice blackmailer , and in this scene , she kind of reveals how suffocated she feels by her family as she's trying to deal with just this to do list item of getting the blackmail money.
S7: It's going to be hard for me to go to Los Angeles and get the money. I promised Father and David the car tomorrow. If I want it , there'll be questions. I've been to Los Angeles once this week. That means more questions. You don't know how how a family can surround you at times.
S10: No I don't.
S7: I'll have to have time to think. I can't just get the money like like that.
S1: Beth , your final pick from the book is someone who pretty much challenges some of these stereotypes you've been talking about , about noir dames. Tell us about her.
S3: Yeah , Marie Windsor is great , and she's somebody who also has rain. She gets to play the Femme Fatales. She gets to play kind of just the tough dames. She was in Stanley Kubrick's The Killing as a genuine , really nasty little femme fatale.
S11: I'm sick. Sherry , call an ambulance.
S7: The doors behind you.
S11: Take a cab.
S3: She had kind of a more nuanced dame in force of evil.
S12: If that's what you want for love. You can't use me.
S7: You're not strong or weak enough.
S3: But there's a really interesting role that she had in Narrow Margin , which is a classic noir. And as Yazdi mentioned about the length on these films , like they're so tight and efficient , it's amazing what they can do in 90 minutes and less so in narrow margin. Here , she shares a scene with Charles McGraw. He's a cop. She's a mobster's wife who needs protection on a train because she's heading to court to testify. But this is a film that's all about kind of misdirection and misidentifying people. And so this scene just kind of gives you an idea of who she is , but also maybe not taking everything at face value.
S7: You're beginning to show real genius.
S6: You smooth that out a.
S13: Little , making this other dame the target shows you're using your head.
S6: For your information , I didn't rig it that way.
S13: Well , if you didn't , the Da is entitled to a refund.
S6: Sister , I've known some pretty hard cases in my time. You make them all look like putty. You're not talking about a sack of gumdrops. It's gonna be smashed. You're talking about a dame's life. You may think it's a funny idea for a woman with a kid to stop a bullet for you. Only I'm not laughing.
S13: Where do you get off being so superior ? Why shouldn't I take advantage of her ? I want to live. If you had to step on someone to get something you wanted real bad , would you think twice about it ? Shut up ! In a pig's eye , you would. You're no different from me. Shut up ! Not till I tell you something. You cheat. Badge pusher. And we started on the safari. You made it pretty clear I was just a job.
S6:
S13: Okay , keep it that way. I don't care whether you dreamed up this gag or not , you're gone right along with this. So don't go soft on me. Once you handed out a line about poor Forbes getting killed because it was his duty. Well , it's your duty , too. Even if this dame gets murdered.
S6: You'll make me sick to my stomach.
S13: Well , use your own sink.
S1: What a line there. I wonder if you can just share what your favorite film noir movie. What should I watch this weekend ? Yazdi. Gosh.
S4: Gosh. A detour. Detour is a film which I absolutely love. I think it just does everything perfectly. It's so dark from the beginning. Nobody has any virtue , and I love that.
S3: I mean , out of the past is like my go to noir. Whenever I feel the need for , like , a little sip of noir like that will always satisfy my craving. And we're only talking about , like , the American ones. I mean , noir was done all over the globe , and there are amazing ones from France and Italy and even Japan and Mexico. Mexico. Yeah. So there's a huge world of noir.
S1: World to explore there.
S3: And it never gets old.
S1: Well , that wraps up our noir edition of Midday Movies. I hope you've enjoyed traveling the streets of this dark city. Eddie Mueller's book Dark City Dames is available now , and the Noir City Hollywood Film Festival continues through Sunday at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles. If you want to dive more into this dark world , you can find more podcasts on Film Noir at KPBS. Cinema junkie. I again want to thank our Usual suspects , KPBS Cinema Junkie , Beth Accomando and movie Wally's podcaster Yazdi. Until next time , watch your back out there.
S3: Don't land in a wooden kimono. Yeah.
S7: Yeah. It's the.
S13: Bad joke with all the. Punchlines.
S11: Punchlines.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm Andrew Bracken. KPBS Midday Edition airs on KPBS FM weekdays at noon , again at 8 p.m.. You can find past episodes at KPBS or wherever you listen. Thanks again for listening. Have a great day.
