pseudopodium
. . . Fingers at the Window

. . .

Movie comment: Fingers at the Window, 1942

This busy little B is powered by ridiculous story and clever script (sole movie credit of Rose Caylor, Ben Hecht's collaborator and wife), enthusiastic acting (notably Lew Ayres, about to be interned as a conscientious objector), and gorgeous urban cinematography.

Holding special interest is a scene in which Ayres crashes a professional meeting of psychiatrists, quickly slips off his hat and slips on wire-framed glasses (the disguise, I fear, is thin), and introduces himself as "Dr. Stephen Dedalus of Ireland. And this is Mrs. Dedalus."

As far as I know, that throwaway is the first reference to James Joyce in a commercial film, with The Third Man a far second in 1949.

It's bound to be the first reference to James Joyce in a commercial film about axe murderers.

 

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