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Pulp International - Pitfall
Femmes Fatales Dec 22 2023
FINAL EDITION
I find it fascinating that today's paper says nothing about you, but by tomorrow you're all it will talk about.


Above: Lizabeth Scott looking like she means serious business in a promo photo made for her 1948 film noir Pitfall. Scott was an a-list actress and a noir stalwart, so her movies are usually safe bets. Pitfall isn't her best, but it's certainly worth watching

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Femmes Fatales Nov 23 2023
GREAT SCOTT
Not just another brick in the wall.


Lizabeth Scott, who you see above, has an outsize legacy in film history thanks to her appearances in several film noir landmarks: Dead Reckoning, I Walk Alone, Pitfall, and Too Late for Tears come to mind. She also appeared in Dark City, Paid in Full, The Racket, the bizarre British noir-adjacent melodrama Stolen Face, and others. The above promo image was made when she appeared in one of her best movies—the Barbara Stanwyck headlined film noir The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, from 1946. 

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Vintage Pulp Aug 24 2022
FALL GUY
In film noir you always need to watch your step.


A long while back we talked about the 1948 thriller Pitfall and shared a rare insert poster. Today we're showing you the standard size, usually referred to as a one sheet. Pitfall is worth a watch for a couple of reasons, but mainly because Dick Powell is a very watchable star. When we began this website, back when he was new to us, we called him “solid.” All these years later we now think of him as one of the better stars of his era. 

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Femmes Fatales May 23 2013
SMOKING IN PUBLIC
Just a girl and her thoughts.

Above, Lizabeth Scott is smoking in more ways than one in this promo image shot for her 1948 film noir Pitfall. She was born Emma Matzo, if you can believe that, which makes her real name maybe the second worst in Hollywood history. But her career has to rank as one of the best in the sense that unlike most actresses she began with starring roles, debuting in 1945’s You Came Along, and later appearing in such classics as The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Dead Reckoning and I Walk Alone. She last acted in 1972’s Pulp with Michael Caine, and today, aged 90, is retired and living in Southern California. 

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Vintage Pulp Aug 30 2011
ONCE MORE WITH FEELING
The sins of the past always lead to a Reckoning.

A while back we made fun of some English-language websites for uploading a Japanese poster backwards. Well, now it’s Japan’s turn. Play it again Boggy? Seriously guys? Is that supposed to be phonetic? We think not. Well, it just goes to show you that whatever your language is, written down it’s just a bunch of chicken scratching to billions of other people. In any case, what you’re looking at is a poster for the film noir Dead Reckoning, starring Bogie, not Boggy. In Japan the movie was titled Great Split. At least that’s what the big red writing at bottom says. Platinum-haired Lizabeth Scott co-stars with Bogart, and we think she fares better in this than in Pitfall, which we discussed last week. She’s more alluring here, and has a meatier role to play as a woman with a complicated past.

The film is narrated by Bogart, and his tale is peppered with combat and gambling metaphors as various gambits come up “snake eyes,” or he’s “dealt a joker.” Of course, the real wild card is Scott—is she or isn’t she in with the villains? Bogart’s rational side says yes, but his gut—and groin—are seduced by Scott’s siren song. We mean that literally. Mid-century filmmakers often snuck in vocal numbers for their female starsto perform. Sometimes they fit seamlessly into the plot. In this case—not so much. Scott’s routine occurs at dinner while she’s sitting at the table with Bogie. You can see the thoughts playing on his face, above, and, “This is one freeeaky chick,” eventually loses out to, “I wonder if she dyes her muff?”

In the end, the whole conspiracy—the lies, the murders, the blackmail—is all about money. No shock there. And the head villain is the one with the best suit. Of course. So Dead Reckoning isn’t special, and in fact it borrows from a few other film noirs, but how can we resist it when Bogart sneers lines like: “I haven’t had a good laugh since before Johnny was murdered.”? It’s those hardboiled moments that make Dead Reckoning worth watching. As for the mandatory love angle, strings swell and eyes well, but despite best efforts from Bogart and Scott, their chemistry is a bit, er, boggy. So maybe the Japanese were right after all.

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Vintage Pulp Aug 24 2011
TRAVAILS WITH LIZABETH
Write a check with your pecker and you may have to cash it with your ass.

We watched Pitfall for the first time yesterday, and like many noirs the main takeaway here is to be thankful for what you’ve got. Dick Powell plays an insurance investigator, and even though he’s married to Jane Wyatt, he loses a philosophical debate with his own penis and ends up in Lizabeth Scott’s bed. But these fast women are never truly single—there’s always a recent ex and a raft of current admirers. Scott’s ex isn’t the main worry, since he’s cooling his heels in county, but her number one admirer is a gumshoe played by Raymond Burr and he's the sinister scheming type who is capable of just about anything.

When the ex eventually gets out of jail, Burr realizes his plan to have Scott is in jeopardy, so he decides to pit the ex against Powell, which should result in one murder and one long prison sentence. Afterward he’ll just scoop up Lizabeth and sail away with her. Did we mention she despises him? Well, no matter—like all sociopaths, Burr figures she’ll come to love him in due time, especially when she finally understands that his violent tendencies are just a symptom of his devotion.

Pitfall is a serviceable noir, but it isn’t top notch. The main problem for us is simply that Lizabeth Scott isn’t alluring enough to make us believe a husband would spurn the lovely and supportive Jane Wyatt. We understand that in real life these matters are complicated, but this is a movie and if Powell is going to stray, we think his marriage should be unhappy, or Scott should have more going for her than a platinum coif. Neither is the case, and so his tumble into Scott’s arms is a bit inexplicable. But hey, we’re quibbling. This is a decent movie, and we recommend it. Pitfall premiered in the U.S. today in 1948.

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Hollywoodland Feb 18 2011
MAXIMUM POWELL
Beware the man whose back is against the wall.

Above is American actor Dick Powell, née Richard Ewing Powell, seen here in a publicity photo for his 1948 film noir Pitfall. Powell’s career was slow getting started, but when he hit his forties he became a noir stalwart, starring in Murder My Sweet, Cornered, Johnny O’Clock, and Cry Danger, as well a number of more conventional melodramas. We’ll have more on Powell later. 

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History Rewind
The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
March 19
1931—Nevada Approves Gambling
In the U.S., the state of Nevada passes a resolution allowing for legalized gambling. Unregulated gambling had been commonplace in the early Nevada mining towns, but was outlawed in 1909 as part of a nationwide anti-gaming crusade. The leading proponents of re-legalization expected that gambling would be a short term fix until the state's economic base widened to include less cyclical industries. However, gaming proved over time to be one of the least cyclical industries ever conceived.
1941—Tuskegee Airmen Take Flight
During World War II, the 99th Pursuit Squadron, aka the Tuskegee Airmen, is activated. The group is the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, and serves with distinction in Africa, Italy, Germany and other areas. In March 2007 the surviving airmen and the widows of those who had died received Congressional Gold Medals for their service.
March 18
1906—First Airplane Flight in Europe
Romanian designer Traian Vuia flies twelve meters outside Paris in a self-propelled airplane, taking off without the aid of tractors or cables, and thus becomes the first person to fly a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Because his craft was not a glider, and did not need to be pulled, catapulted or otherwise assisted, it is considered by some historians to be the first true airplane.
1965—Leonov Walks in Space
Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov leaves his spacecraft the Voskhod 2 for twelve minutes. At the end of that time Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter Voskhod's airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off, was barely able to get back inside the capsule, and in so doing became the first person to complete a spacewalk.
March 17
1966—Missing Nuke Found
Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the deep submergence vehicle Alvin locates a missing American hydrogen bomb. The 1.45-megaton nuke had been lost by the U.S. Air Force during a midair accident over Palomares, Spain. It was found resting in nearly three-thousand feet of water and was raised intact on 7 April.
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