Cover of T-Men

T-men, in T-Men (1947), are agents of the U.S. Treasury Department’s law enforcement division.  Early on, the movie more or less informs us that these taxpayer-supported agents do not make that much money (lest moviegoers then were understandably worried about massive federal spending) and, anyway, the story begins with a murder!  Treasury has its work cut out for it.

What happens is that an informer is killed by counterfeiters, and off go two likable-looking T-men (Dennis O’Keefe and Alfred Ryder) to infiltrate the band of culprits.

This is recommendable film noir, better than most pics at presenting the unusual nature of crime investigation.  Granted, the characters are ciphers, but this was perennially the case in old crime movies, and at least the drama in T-Men is rough-and-tumble fun.  What’s more, there are two alluring femme fatales, played by Mary Meade and Vivien Austen (shamefully uncredited; she plays Genevieve).

Directed by Anthony Mann.

The third season of Jane the Virgin, on the CW, has begun, with the married Jane retaining her virginity because hubby Michael has been shot and is in critical condition!

Trauma and pathos are intertwined with mildly comic flashbacks of Jane and Michael developing their mutual crush, and all of this is conventional.  The unconventional stuff is on the periphery, as when Michael’s would-be killer turns out to be Sin Rostro—and what sin there is in this woman!—masquerading as a police officer.  And not just any police officer, but Michael’s partner Susanna!  Is this show crazy, or what?

At least it isn’t just crazy—and it isn’t tiresome yet either.  Gina Rodriguez was brilliant in last night’s episode, as versatile as ever.  And now that she’s playing two roles (sort of merging into one), Yael Grobglas is more of a grabber than she ever has been.

Will the following film ever be out on DVD or Blu-Ray, and not just VHS?

Directed by Claude Goretta, the 1977 French film, The Lacemaker, offers lovely images, lovely music, lovely nude scenes (it’s true), and a compassionate script.  Its plot concerns a doomed romance between a well-to-do student and a shy working-class girl, and its theme is failure:  the failure of the young, the failure of amor, the failure of sex, even psychical failure.  Starring Isabelle Huppert and Yves Beneyton, it is, to me, Gallic art at its finest.

In the tight thriller Don’t Breathe (2016), by Fede Alvarez, three young felons attempt to rob a lot of settlement cash from a blind veteran, but are neither competent nor superhuman enough to best him.  The dude is ridiculously powerful, and himself evil—for one thing, an atheistic quasi-rapist!  He was the wrong monster to pick on, and a body count slowly rises.  Two of the young felons deserve better.

Alvarez is a committed director, never awkward and with a talent for sobering images.  A night-vision camera (or whatever it’s called) reveals the female thief, Rocky (Jane Levy), looking vulnerable as she walks around in pitch black darkness with wide, coal black eyes.  Don’t Breathe is over the top but disturbingly palatable.  It’s a horror show without torture porn.

In the tight thriller Don’t Breathe (2016), by Fede Alvarez, three young felons attempt to rob a lot of settlement cash from a blind veteran, but are neither competent nor superhuman enough to best him.  The dude is ridiculously powerful, and himself evil—for one thing, an atheistic quasi-rapist!  He was the wrong monster to pick on, and a body count slowly rises.  Two of the young felons deserve better.

Alvarez is a committed director, never awkward and with a talent for sobering images.  A night-vision camera (or whatever it’s called) reveals the female thief, Rocky (Jane Levy), looking vulnerable as she walks around in pitch black darkness with wide, coal black eyes.  Don’t Breathe is over the top but disturbingly palatable.  It’s a horror show without torture porn.