Eyewitness (1981)

I enjoyed watching Eyewitness even more than I thought I would. Even though I know better, I almost allowed myself to be swayed by the short segments of the film that I watched, more than once, on television and interrupted by commercials. These glimpses gave me the feeling that I wouldn’t like the film all that much. I’m glad I didn’t let them keep me from seeing the film on DVD from beginning to end, without interruption.

Eyewitness introduces its main characters in alternating sequences at the start of the film. (I never did get to see these sequences when I would come upon the film on television.) Viewers know that something is being left out for each character, and the technique builds interest and suspense. The opening credits appear over a pan shot of a building’s boiler room, with machinery working and steam hissing. Viewers learn right away with this sequence that Daryll is a janitor working nights in a large office building in New York City.

(This article about Eyewitness contains spoilers.)

Daryll starts his nightly routine. He interrupts someone leaving the office of Long Ltd. Deever wants to talk to Mr. Long about a misunderstanding concerning someone named Alan (“Aldo”) Mercer. Viewers learn only later that Aldo and Daryll are good friends who met when serving in the Vietnam War. Mr. Long brushes Daryll off and closes his office door in his face. When Daryll goes home at the end of his shift, a large black dog in his apartment attacks him. But this type of staged attack is part of their routine; the dog is Deever’s pet. Viewers also learn that Daryll is obsessed with a news anchor named Antonia (“Toni”) Sokolow. He tapes all her broadcasts.

The film cuts to Toni Sokolow playing the piano as part of a trio. Her father is on violin, her mother on bass. When they finish, her fiancé Joseph gets up in front of the group to talk about raising money to help Jews escape the Soviet Union. He is impassioned about this cause and has no trouble asking the members of the small audience for money. In their midst is a recent immigrant from Russia, and everyone welcomes him warmly.

The next day, Toni Sokolow drives Joseph to the airport. He is off to Israel for more charity work presumably, although neither of them says exactly why he is going. Toni mentions seeing a woman, a stranger, at the recital at her parents’ house. Joseph says little about the woman or about his work trip. When Toni drops Joseph off, she tells him that he is keeping something from her. He admits, “A little.” There is room for doubt in their relationship, for both of them and for the audience, but the reasons for this doubt are unclear.

Daryll is back at work. (He, Toni, and Joseph have yet to cross paths.) He spots someone in red sneakers hiding behind some of the boiler room machinery, but it’s just a ruse by Aldo Mercer, Deever’s friend. Mercer complains about fighting in Vietnam to save the country, only to have all the Vietnamese living now in New York City. Mr. Long is one of them. Deever and Mercer had heard of Mr. Long in Vietnam: He bought and sold everything, including information. Everyone on all sides bought from him, everyone was indebted to him, and no one liked him. Later that night, Daryll investigates Long’s office because of an unusual noise coming from it. He finds Long’s body with his throat cut. Instead of reporting the murder, Daryll leaves the office building for the night. He has his reasons, but they aren’t disclosed until later in the film.

The following day, Daryll is interviewed by the police, specifically by Lieutenant Jacobs and Lieutenant Black. He tries to cover for his friend Aldo. The police detectives know that Aldo was court-martialed for cowardice and that Daryll is a decorated war hero. When Daryll leaves the office building after his police interview, he spots Toni Sokolow waiting to learn more about the murder for her newscast. Daryll approaches Toni and pretends to know something about Long’s murder so he can talk to her. She wants to interview him and get it on tape so that she will have a lead for her news story. Daryll goes along without giving Toni anything definite.

It’s a move that will haunt him: The police detectives suspect both Daryll and Aldo of Mr. Long’s murder. When Toni and her work associates review the tape of Daryll trying to impress her and to convince her that he knows something about the murder, they all believe that he is hiding something.

But for Daryll, suspicion begins to fall on Aldo. Daryll is seeing Aldo’s sister, Linda, and she tells Daryll that she is sick of lying. She admits to providing an alibi for Aldo’s whereabouts the night of Long’s murder, but it was a lie. She doesn’t know where Aldo was that night. She asks Daryll if he knows what Aldo was doing, but he doesn’t, which makes him worried about what his friend might be capable of and what he has done.

The main characters are connected in ways that will surprise them when they learn of them. Long was involved in Joseph’s international project to get Russian Jews out of Russia and bring them to the United States. Long channeled the money and was paid by Joseph. But he kept demanding more and more so Joseph killed him. Joseph confesses this to Toni’s parents because they are part of the operation, although they didn’t know that Joseph is a killer until he admits as much to them. He also maintains that Daryll Deever now knows about the operation and the murder of Long and that he will have to kill Deever, too, which sets up the final meeting between Joseph and Daryll.

Daryll Deever is played by William Hurt, and he is terrific in the part. In a memorable scene, he tries to seduce Toni by asking her if her floors need buffing. He describes his process for buffing floors, and he fills it with so much sexual innuendo that Toni pauses long enough for viewers to think she just might say yes. But she declines—for now. She isn’t ready for his advances, and neither of them trusts the other yet.

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of Hurt, but only because of his personal life: He didn’t treat his significant others all that well apparently. But actors’ personal lives have little to do with making a great film meant for theater release. Sigourney Weaver is also great in the role of Toni Sokolow. The two of them have on-screen chemistry, and when they do finally become involved romantically, it is completely believable.

Eyewitness introduces some grand ideas, for instance, Jews escaping oppression in the Soviet Union, and the effects of the Vietnam War on so many people, not just the returning war veterans. But these themes are part of the characters’ lives. The plot is not about international human smuggling or war; it’s about people living in New York City who are coping with these themes and the murder of someone connected to many of them. It’s really a simple story that keeps viewers engaged and ties up its loose ends.

And it is beautifully made. The colors are rich and the shadows are deep. Eyewitness was filmed mostly on location in New York City, which gives it a fascinating backdrop. New York City is so big and so varied that it is almost always a character itself, and it doesn’t disappoint in Eyewitness. The film was released in 1981, so viewers get to see the city as it was then, a little bit of historical perspective.

I watched Eyewitness on DVD, which came with commentary by the director, Peter Yates, and “moderator” Marcus Hearn. This commentary was more like an interview, with Hearn asking Peter Yates about his career and his films, not just Eyewitness. I don’t think Hearn had anything to do with producing Eyewitness, but he was a good interviewer and a fan of Peter Yates, and he made some good points of his own. For instance, the film is a whodunit on the surface, but it is very complex, with many themes, including romance, disillusionment, power, powerlessness, attachment, obsession. He is the one to point out that Daryll Deever transitions from stalker to lover rather successfully. Toni at first wants information from Daryll, but she starts to fall in love with him as the narrative progresses and she learns what Joseph has been doing behind her back.

From the audio commentary I learned that the working title for Eyewitness was The Janitor Can’t Dance, which I think would have worked well, but apparently the producers thought it would confuse viewers. Maybe they were interested solely in the murder mystery and not the relationships between the main characters. The working title is a reference to a story that Daryll tells Toni about his past, and it makes him much more sympathetic than he originally appears. The title for release in the United Kingdom was simply The Janitor.

The film’s commentary is worth a look and a listen. I enjoyed it after seeing the film. I have seen Eyewitness at least twice now, and, like so many noir films, a repeat viewing really helps to catch all the fine details. And I have a soft spot for New York City from the 1970s and 1980s: the city itself, just as it was, and as Peter Yates said in the commentary, is a wonderful backdrop to the story.

February 13, 1981, release date  •  Directed by Peter Yates  •  Screenplay by Steve Tesich  •  Music by Stanley Silverman  •  Edited by Cynthia Scheider  •  Cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti

William Hurt as Daryll Deever  •  Sigourney Weaver as Antonia (“Toni”) Sokolow  •  Christopher Plummer as Joseph  •  James Woods as Alan (“Aldo”) Mercer  •  Irene Worth as Mrs. Sokolow  •  Kenneth McMillan as Mr. Deever  •  Pamela Reed as Linda Mercer  •  Albert Paulsen as Mr. Sokolow  •  Steven Hill as Lieutenant Jacobs  •  Morgan Freeman as Lieutenant Black  •  Alice Drummond as Mrs. Eunice Deever  •  Chao-Li Chi as Mr. Long  •  Keone Young as Mr. Long’s son  •  Sharon Goldman as the Israeli woman

Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation  •  Produced by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Please Murder Me (1956)

Please Murder Me is surprisingly good, especially considering its very low production values. I wondered how noir it could be: such a polite request in its title, even if it does involve murder! The stars, Raymond Burr (as Craig Carlson) and Angela Lansbury (as Myra Leeds) give a couple of great performances. It’s worth it to see both of them. Lansbury is once again playing the femme fatale. She did the same in A Life at Stake, which is the last film that I wrote about and a noir Lansbury had starred in just the year prior, in 1955.

(This article about Please Murder Me contains spoilers.)

Burr usually plays the criminal in film noir, but not in Please Murder Me. This time, he is the defense lawyer, and his acting throughout—and especially in the bare-bones courtroom (which is probably closer to the reality of many cash-strapped judicial jurisdictions)—still reminded me of his future role in the long-running television series Perry Mason. His character Craig Carlson eventually turns the tables on Myra Leeds, the femme fatale who has been outwitting men for their money until Carlson learns of her schemes.

Please Murder Me is in the public domain. Click here to watch it at the Internet Archive.

The Internet Archive is up after it was taken down by hackers earlier this month. But not all its services are available yet, and films seem to be unavailable still. You can get updates at Internet Archive’s blog by clicking here.

The film starts with Craig Carlson walking at night through what seems to be a rather seedy part of town, with all-night bars, pawnshops, and strip clubs. He stops to buy a handgun, then gets into a cab. He loads the handgun in the cab while the opening credits roll. The cab drops Carlson outside his office building. He enters his office, sits behind his desk, and starts to record his story on a tape machine (Carlson and his office are the low-rent versions of Walter Neff and his insurance office in Double Indemnity). Carlson addresses his story to Ray Willis, district attorney, and he states that he will be dead, murdered, in fifty-five minutes.

Carlson’s story starts in World War II, during the Iwo Jima campaign. He was a captain in the Marine Corps, and his top sergeant was Joe Leeds. They became great friends after Leeds saved Carlson’s life in battle. This backstory helps to explain the close bond between Craig and Lou.

The film now introduces an extended flashback, which begins with Craig admitting to Joe Leeds that he is in love with his wife, Myra. The story switches to Joe Leeds’s point of view, which is a bit disorienting because Carlson is still telling his story into the tape machine. After Joe Leeds hears Craig Carlson’s news, he returns to his own office. His business manager and friend, Lou Kazarian, can see that something is wrong and asks Joe about it. Joe doesn’t want to talk much about it. He asks Lou to mail something for him, then calls Myra to say that he will be home early. When he does arrive home, he finds Myra in their bedroom. He closes the door on the camera, and viewers hear a gunshot.

When the police arrive on the scene, Craig Carlson is already there. Myra called him first, and he was the one to call the police. Myra claims she shot her husband in self-defense. Carlson believes her. One of the law officers on the investigation, Detective Lieutenant Bradley, doesn’t. It becomes clear, in fact, that both the police and the district attorney do not believe anything about Myra’s story and that she did murder her husband.

Myra Leeds goes on trial for murder in the first degree. These courtroom scenes are perhaps the weakest parts of the film. The details revealed are necessary to the story, but the pace is tedious, and there aren’t many dramatic moments, even though Carlson is good at making his points and introducing enough doubt about the evidence. He is eventually able to convince the jury that Myra didn’t kill her husband by revealing that she was in love with another man and that he is the man she loves.

This moment in the courtroom was supposed to be dramatic, I suppose. Viewers already know about the affair, but apparently no one in the courtroom did. How did the police and the district attorney investigate this crime and never learn about the affair between Craig and Myra? And wouldn’t a love affair provide the perfect motive for both Craig Carlson and Myra Leeds? I wondered about both these points, but apparently no one in the courtroom did. And the screenwriters never addressed them. Somehow, Myra Leeds is found not guilty of murder.

After the verdict, Lou Kazarian wants to talk privately with Craig Carlson about Joe Leeds. Viewers learn that Lou never mailed the letter that Joe had given him before he was killed. Lou had forgotten all about it and didn’t find it until after the murder trial was over. He never noticed before that the letter is addressed to Craig Carlson, and he is anxious to deliver it now in person.

This letter turns the story around. Joe acknowledges that his marriage was loveless. He describes Myra in one of my favorite quotes from the film: “She isn’t a woman. Myra’s a disease.” Craig Carlson now learns a lot about Myra, details that he should have learned during the murder trial if he, the police, and the district attorney had been more thorough. Myra Leeds was never in love with her husband Joe or with Craig Carlson. Her first and only love is Carl Holt, a starving artist who could never hope to give Myra the life that she has always wanted. She decided long ago that she was going to get it for both of them herself, in her own way.

Craig Carlson decides to beat Myra at her own game. But he doesn’t plan murder or fraud; he insinuates himself into her life and into Carl Holt’s. Before too long, Myra has to worry about Lou’s letter and whether Craig will hand it over to Carl. Then there is the case file that Craig has started on her while he is digging up more evidence. The plot turns into a cat-and-mouse game that is a lot of fun to watch. And the title, believe it or not, doesn’t give all that much away.

Please Murder Me may be a B movie with a low budget and minimalist sets, but it has a great plot that really picks up after the courtroom drama, especially with the arrival of Joe Leeds’s letter. Both Raymond Burr and Angela Lansbury seem cast against type, Burr because he is a lawyer instead of a criminal, which was his usual role in film noir, and Lansbury because she is the femme fatale used to getting her way instead of the mystery writer from Murder She Wrote. The two of them make the film so much more enjoyable because they give so much to their roles. Another actor to watch for is Denver Pyle as Detective Lieutenant Bradley. If you are used to seeing him in supporting roles in 1960s sitcoms, his role here will come as a pleasant surprise.

And I could swear this film has a connection to The Dick Van Dyke Show. Carl Holt’s artist loft reminded me of similar artist lofts in a couple of episodes used in The Dick Van Dyke Show. I am thinking in particular of “October Eve” in season 3 and “Draw Me a Pear” in season 5. A little redecorating, new camera angles, more expensive film stock—and voilà! It may be my own simple nostalgia for The Dick Van Dyke Show that makes the connection, but it adds a little more fun to the viewing experience for me.

March 1956 release date  •  Directed by Peter Godfrey  •  Screenplay by Al C. Ward, Donald Hyde  •  Based on a story by Ewald André Dupont, David T. Chantler  •  Music by Albert Glasser  •  Edited by Kenneth G. Crane  •  Cinematography by Alan Stensvold

Angela Lansbury as Myra Leeds  •  Raymond Burr as Craig Carlson  •  Dick Foran as Joe Leeds  •  John Dehner as District Attorney Ray Willis  •  Lamont Johnson as Carl Holt  •  Robert Griffin as Lou Kazarian  •  Denver Pyle as Detective Lieutenant Bradley  •  Alex Sharp as the police sergeant  •  Lee Miller as the patrol officer  •  Russ Thorson as the judge

Distributed by Distributors Corporation of America  •  Produced by Gross-Krasne, Inc.