The Wrong Man

Henry Fonda, wrongly imprisoned in Alfred Hitchcock's
The Wrong Man (1958).

From February 14 through 21, June and Art is participating in For the Love of Film (Noir):  The Film Preservation Blogathon.  The June and Art letters are still here, but during this week they will be embellished with film noir images and other supplementary material.

Through this blogathon, over 80 bloggers are hoping to raise significant funds to support the work of the Film Noir Foundation and restore The Sound of Fury, a 1950 film noir starring Lloyd Bridges.  Please contribute to the effort by going to this link (if it’s working!) or through the donation buttons on host sites Ferdy on Films
and the Self-Styled Siren.

Now here’s today’s letter from Art:

Wednesday, February 15, 1950

20 Cooper St.

Southampton, NY

Dear June,

In the bleak universe of film noir,
innocent men are always being
lured into traps and accused of
crimes.  Here Orson Welles is the
innocent sailor framed for murder
in the 1947 film noir classic
The Lady from Shanghai.

I heard a story today that made me wonder.  You know how Bruno is still upset about Mary?  Well, on Sunday morning, Herb (Mary’s new boyfriend) got a phone call.  They’d had a fire in his home – it burnt a TV set among other things.  I couldn’t help but wonder where Bruno was.  So I asked him.  He says he was in church.  Good alibi.

Thank you for the nice Valentine.  I love you too and miss you very much already, darling.  I made it safely home after leaving your house as you can see.  I went 20 miles an hour all the way.  It must have taken over 45 minutes to get from
Riverhead to Southampton!

He sure looks like he could be
guilty.  Humphrey Bogart stars as
a wrongly accused screenwriter in
Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place
(1951).  In this case, wrongly
accused does not mean nice.
Moral ambiguity is endemic in
film noir.

We had a fairly busy day at Roulston’s.  People are still asking Bruno about his car accident.

I went to the movies tonight and met Joe Cerullo when I came out.  We went up street and had a cup of coffee.  I think Joe lives at night and sleeps all day now.  Tomorrow I go to painting class.

Be sure and write.  Let me know if you’re coming home.  I never give up hope, darling.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love you very much.  Goodnight for now my wonderful valentine,

Lots of love,

Art

Of course, the Bruno of the "June and Art" letters is innocent.
Nevertheless, it's hard not to think of another Bruno who imagined
that he had devised the perfect alibi:  Robert Walker's classic portrayal
of Bruno Anthony in Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951).
He is seen here with Farley Granger as Guy Haines, the much duller hero.

(Tomorrow – June wonders why humans torture themselves.)

© 2011 Lee Price