Saw it last night

I saw an excellent film last night, which came highly recommended from the fine folks at Video Vault (http://videovault.com): "The Exiles" (1961). Part drama, part documentary, part time capsule, this rediscovered film takes place in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles at the dawn of the Kennedy Era. It is fascinating to watch, and the crisp black and white cinematography is glorious. The night scenes are wonderful: deep, velvety blacks and luminous whites. The film looked good.

The Los Angeles street scenes looked instantly familiar to me from my youth. I remember the bulbous 1950's sedans, when neon signs had flashing arrows, when Dad's root beer came in bottles, the Lucky Lager "X" logo, and when Bell Telephone put signs outside of bars to indicate public phones within. Very evocative.

It's a story much like the New Zealand Maori film "Once Were Warriors" in that it depicts the social devastation wrought upon a minority group by alcohol; watching it I kept being reminded what a human blight alcohol is. (My own family history is replete with lives damaged by excessive drinking.) The protagonists in "The Exiles" are all American Indians. The film doesn't state that it's better to go back to the reservation than exist with the temptations of the city; the film wisely allows the viewer to draw his own conclusions.

Some scenes include shots of the Angels Flight, the funicular service that used to run up and down Bunker Hill. My Mom took me on it, once, when I was little. It was exciting - at one point the cars look like they're about to collide but don't and pass alongside one another. (Angel's Flight is also the name of a really shoddy late period film noir.)

I suppose in passing I should note that the dilapidated Bunker Hill area of Los Angeles was home to many a film noir scene. Memorably, in "Kiss Me Deadly" Mike Hammer climbs the long stairs which run parallel to the Angel's Flight up to an apartment and comments to an old woman, "Quite a hike." She replies, "So who asked you to come?"

I love film noir patter.

Note: There's an interesting early depiction of what I believe are two gays in the Ritz bar, a white guy and an Asian(!). Interesting...