Jane Greer movies on TCM: Seductive noir femme fatale excelled in other typers of genres and roles
Today is neither Jane Greer’s birth nor death anniversary. Even so, Turner Classic Movies is devoting Saturday evening/night to the dangerously seductive star of a number of (mostly) RKO productions of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Who’s complaining?
The Big Steal (1949)
TCM will be airing Jacques Tourneur’s 1947 film noir Out of the Past, perhaps Greer’s best-known film and performance, in addition to another less well-regarded crime drama, Don Siegel’s Mexico-set The Big Steal, featuring Greer, her Out of the Past costar Robert Mitchum, William Bendix, Patrick Knowles, and silent era veterans Ramon Novarro and Don Alvarado.
The Big Steal may not be as stylish as Out of the Past, but on the plus side it’s not nearly as labyrinthine.
The Company She Keeps (1951)
Next is Jane Greer at her finest as a good girl gone bad – or bad girl attempting to go good – in John Cromwell’s The Company She Keeps.
This all-but-forgotten melodrama is a must for a couple of other reasons: Personable, handsome Dennis O’Keefe and Lizabeth Scott, Paramount’s sultry answer to Warner Bros.’ Lauren Bacall – and a stunning film presence even though Scott wasn’t exactly the world’s greatest actress.
Run for the Sun (1956)
We would also cautiously recommend Run for the Sun. The plot is intriguing – a couple (Greer, Richard Widmark) is hunted by Nazis (!) in some Central American jungle – but Roy Boulting’s handling of the proceedings made me yearn for Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel’s The Most Dangerous Game, of which Run for the Sun is a remake.
Having said that, Run for the Sun has two good things going for it: Jane Greer, of course, and Joseph LaShelle’s color cinematography.
Jane Greer movies: TCM schedule (EDT)
8:00 PM OUT OF THE PAST (1947)
Director: Jacques Tourneur.
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb, Steve Brodie, Virginia Huston, Paul Valentine, Ken Niles, Dickie Moore, Theresa Harris.
97m10:00 PM THE BIG STEAL (1949)
Director: Don Siegel.
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix, Gilbert Roland, Ramon Novarro, Don Alvarado.
71m11:30 PM THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS (1951)
Director: John Cromwell.
Cast: Lizabeth Scott, Jane Greer, Dennis O’Keefe.
83m1:00 AM STATION WEST (1948)
Director: Sidney Lanfield.
Cast: Dick Powell, Jane Greer, Agnes Moorehead.
80m2:30 AM RUN FOR THE SUN (1956)
Director: Roy Boulting.
Cast: Richard Widmark, Trevor Howard, Jane Greer.
99m4:15 AM DESPERATE SEARCH (1953)
Director: Joseph Lewis.
Cast: Howard Keel, Jane Greer, Patricia Medina.
71m
notes
Jane Greer movie schedule via the TCM website.