Producer/director: FRITZ LANG. Screenplay: Virginia Van Upp, from a story by Norman Krasna. Photographer: Charles Lang, Jr. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Ernest Fegté. Set decorator: A. E. Freudeman. Music: Kurt Weill, Boris Morros. Songs, "The Right Guy for Me" by Kurt Weill and Sam Coslow; "You and Me" by Ralph Freed and Frederick Hollander. Film editor: Paul Weatherwax. Music director: Boris Morros.
Copyright 10 June 1938 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 1 June 1938. U.S. release: 3 June 1938. Australian release: 20 August 1938. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward (as the top half of a double bill with Dr Rhythm): 20 August 1938 (ran 2 weeks). 10 reels. 8,425 feet. 93 minutes. (7/10 DVD, non-commercial outlets).
SYNOPSIS: Mr. Morris owns a large department store and makes it a policy to hire ex-convicts. In a weak moment, one of them (Joe Dennis) decides to rob the place and organizes the others to help.
COMMENT: A very curious film noir indeed. Lang saw it as a comedy, but that's certainly not the view the studio took — and advertised. Under Lang's typically forceful direction, some of the performances are too powerfully intense for comedy. In fact, they're almost too much for drama.
The other striking feature of the movie is Kurt Weill's operatic score.
Really, I would describe "You and Me" as just an ordinary women's weepie melodrama, were it not for the powerful acting, the atmospheric score, and the superbly noirish photography by Charles Lang, Jr.
Copyright 10 June 1938 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 1 June 1938. U.S. release: 3 June 1938. Australian release: 20 August 1938. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward (as the top half of a double bill with Dr Rhythm): 20 August 1938 (ran 2 weeks). 10 reels. 8,425 feet. 93 minutes. (7/10 DVD, non-commercial outlets).
SYNOPSIS: Mr. Morris owns a large department store and makes it a policy to hire ex-convicts. In a weak moment, one of them (Joe Dennis) decides to rob the place and organizes the others to help.
COMMENT: A very curious film noir indeed. Lang saw it as a comedy, but that's certainly not the view the studio took — and advertised. Under Lang's typically forceful direction, some of the performances are too powerfully intense for comedy. In fact, they're almost too much for drama.
The other striking feature of the movie is Kurt Weill's operatic score.
Really, I would describe "You and Me" as just an ordinary women's weepie melodrama, were it not for the powerful acting, the atmospheric score, and the superbly noirish photography by Charles Lang, Jr.