Luther Heggs

I double-checked and it is indeed Tinto Brass' Salon Kitty. In the interest of keeping things moving:

Kudama

If I could just figure out what that is in his hand...

Luther Heggs

A literary adaptation, of sorts.

Luther Heggs

That's a doll belonging to the dead little girl in the shot.

Can't you just tell this is the bad guy from his creepy office decor?



And here's his freaky-eyed assistant:



The bad guy plot in this movie would be repeated years later in a Charles Bronson thriller.

Kudama

If I'd have seen this I'd know from the monster in the frame from the third shot.

Luther Heggs

I imagine more people in the US have heard the soundtrack to this movie than have actually seen it. If you've ever spent time overseas, this movie (and others in its series) used to be a broadcast TV staple. Here is our hero - technically also seen in the second shot via stunt double - explaining to our heroine how he faked his own death with a bottle of ketchup.



The actor playing the lead is probably best known Stateside for three things: his appearance in a famously bad movie; his connection to a very famous screen idol; and his later career as a ground-breaking sci-fi novelist.

And here's a bonus shot of our heroine wearing just a bra, skirt, thigh boots, and a bullet-proof vest:

Luther Heggs

This may give you a sense of the time and place:



And here's the movie's title encapsulated in one shot.



This movie franchise, based on a series of pulp novels, is getting a "re-boot" that's filming now.

obscurelabel

Der Tod im roten Jaguar, of course ...

Kudama

Can we start a "Guess That Comic Book by Panel" game? I'm hopelessly outclassed in movies.

You guys are too much!!!

(Awesome shit. I've rented more cool movies from this game than any other source I can think of. )

obscurelabel

Kudama, I'm a fraud. I'm pretty sure this is right, but it's based on Googling from LH's clues and not on me recognizing the West German "Jerry Cotton" film series (which I didn't). Based on "science fiction novelist" and "actor" I found George Nader, who:

-was in the notoriously bad "Robot Monster" (1953)
-was the companion of Rock Hudson's longtime male secretary, and he and Hudson covered for each other to convince Hollywood they were both straight
-wrote one of the first gay-themed science fiction novels in the 1970s.

So from there it was to IMDB to find something that matched the final shot and it appeared that the red Jaguar title was it. (After all this, I hope I'm not wrong). I think that LH knew that this title would need a lot of clues.

Kudama

I've made at least one guess based on IMDB research in conjunction with the player's clues. I called myself a cheater and was assured by someone that research counts as part of the game.

Your research kicks ass over the research I did. There's no way in Hell that you're a fraud!

obscurelabel

That was me!

OK, I'm pretty certain that my guess was right. George Nader fits the clues, there's a Jerry Cotton movie being made in Germany for release in 2009, and the "Death in a Red Jaguar" title has to be right (right?)

There weren't many pre 1960 movies in the last thread, so here's one:

Kudama

This Gun For Hire?

Kudama

obscurelabel

No, but like it, one of the best noirs of the 40s.

Here's a couple of shots of the leading lady:





This could be interpreted as a description of the main plot element:




If you're celebrating Christmas, have a happy one, and I will probably be back late tomorrow afternoon.

Kudama

did not help.

Luther Heggs

Sorry to be late in responding, but my monitor crapped out on me. That's correct, of course, and if you've never seen a Jerry Cotton movie, you owe it to yourself to check out at least one. You get plots of Byzantine complexity; bevies of scantily clad women in constant and gratuitous peril (and a central hero who cares more for his car than any of them); the most insane and cheapjack stunts outside of a HK movie; the exquisite scoring of Peter Thomas; and some of the ropiest rear-projection imaginable trying to hide the fact that no one involved in filming ever sets foot on American soil. The earlier four B&W movies are more violent and arguably better made; the latter four color efforts have some wondrously loopy logic-defying plots and more dangerous stunts.
Also, Chrome is a pretty good sci-fi novel.

Kudama

I can't wait!

(Sorry about the monitor. )

obscurelabel

If there are any big noir fans reading this thread, they would know this one immediately from this shot:



Here are a couple of others that might help ...

More on the subject matter:



The second billed player (I always have to remind myself that he is not Edmond O'Brien):



The leading man, about one second after the first shot in this post:

Mondo Kane

D.O.A?

Oh nervermind ("not Edmond O'Brien")

obscurelabel

Not D.O.A.

Some more clues ...

The plot concerns the numbers racket in New York City in the 1940s.

The dynamic leading man (in an expressionistic shot here) died before age 40.




Both the screenwriter/director and the star suffered professionally after testifying before the HUAC in the 1950s.

The film is on the Library of Congress U.S. National Film Registry.

obscurelabel

Here's an unobscured shot of the movie's star:



Interestingly, for this film, IMDB lists as an uncredited cast member (he would have been about six at the time) an actor who currently has a recurring role as the title character's father in a popular network sitcom . I ff'ed through the movie a couple of times, though, and couldn't spot him.

Luther Heggs

I feel like a tool, but - Force of Evil.

obscurelabel

BUT WHY? We haven't had much from the 40s so I didn't know if the dearth of guesses was due to unfamiliarity or disinterest. In any case I felt like adding some more obvious clues since I want to see something else in the thread ... so thanks for picking it off ... SOMEBODY had to.

Force of Evil is correct. Supposedly Beau Bridges is in this as a mobster's son, but I couldn't find him. If the thread readers are really unfamiliar with it, I highly recommend it, it's very strong and consistent from start to finish (a lean and mean 78 minutes), and probably the charismatic Garfield's best role.

Luther Heggs

I dunno, I guess I was thinking it's bad form or something to offer another answer so soon. But you're right, somebody had to.