NCTATNY. Nicholas Ray.

"Architecture is the backbone of the arts, you know: if it is real architecture it encompasses every domain. The simple word 'architecture' can just as well apply to a play, a score of music, or a way of life."

That's Nicholas Ray, as quoted in Jenny Jediny's introduction to the latest special feature at Not Coming to a Theater Near You, which begins in earnest today with Evan Kindley's review of They Live by Night, "a film of cave-like hideouts, low angles and heavy shadows, alternating with frantic forward motion."

Updated through 8/24.

Update, 8/20: "A Woman's Secret (1949), Nicholas Ray's second film, is arguably one of the most maligned and ignored films of his career," argues Cullen Gallagher. Also, Knock on Any Door: "Ray is able to elicit startlingly expressive performances from his actors (more expressive than in many contemporaneous films) that challenge any easy judgments from the audience."

Update, 8/22: "Generally, Born to Be Bad has not been credited as a particularly noteworthy effort from Ray, except for the performance of actress Joan Fontaine as the femme fatale, a casting decision that was not even made by the director," writes Jenny Jediny. "However, Born to Be Bad is quite absorbing and entertaining as a mixture of noir and melodrama, the latter genre proving essential throughout nearly Ray's entire body of work."

Update, 8/23: Ian Johnston on On Dangerous Ground: "What starts out as a hard-edged crime thriller, centred on the violent personality of detective Jim Wilson (a superb performance by the ever—reliable Robert Ryan - why wasn't he ever a greater star?), turns into something gentler and more introspective, namely the theme of how a violent, self-loathing man can be redeemed."

Update, 8/24: "With such an enticing backdrop, it's hard to imagine that a film - particularly one co-directed by Josef von Sternberg and Nicholas Ray - could be anything less than stylish and enthralling," writes Thomas Scalzo. "And yet, at nearly every turn, Macao lets us down."

Posted by dwhudson at August 18, 2008 8:35 AM