Table Of ContentCornell Woolrich
from Pulp Noir to Film Noir
ALSOBYTHOMASC. RENZI
Jules Verne on Film:
A Filmography ofthe Cinematic Adaptations
ofHis Works, ¡902 through ¡997
(McFarland, ¡998; paperback 2004)
Cornell Woolrich
from Pulp Noir
to Film Noir
THOMAS C. RENZI
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Renzi, Thomas C., ¡948–
Cornell Woolrich : from pulp noir to film noir / Thomas C.
Renzi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7864-235¡-X(softcover : 50# alkaline paper)
¡. Woolrich, Cornell, ¡903–1968—Criticism and
interpretation 2. Woolrich, Cornell, ¡903–¡968—Film and
video adaptations. 3. Noir fiction, American—History and
criticism. 4. Film noir—History and criticism. I. Title.
PS35¡.O455Z85 2006
8¡3'.52—dc22 200503¡453
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2006 Thomas C. Renzi. All rights reserved
No part ofthis book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Susan Hayward and Paul Lukas in Deadline at Dawn,
RKO ¡945 (National Screen Service Corp., courtesy William Thail-
ing)
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
For my family, relatives, and friends
who have kept me from being
totally engulfed by my noirfantasies
Acknowledgments
To identify the specific moment that inspired a piece of writing would
normally be di‡cult: the genesis of the creative process can depend on any
infinite number ofsources. For me, however, I know exactly when I decided
to write this book—when my brother-in-law suggested that I should. Right
here, I’d like to express my gratitude formally to Roger Pijacki for playing the
muse and prompting me with that subtle challenge. Thanks, Rog.
I also made a couple of long-distance friends who were very kind and
helpful to me along the way. I exchanged emails with Francis M. Nevins, Jr.,
author ofthe only comprehensive biography on Cornell Woolrich. His book
was a rich source of information, both about Woolrich and about the films
adapted from his works.
Mr. Nevins put me in touch with another avid Woolrich connoisseur and
scholar, William Thailing, who became a good friend as a result ofour mutual
admiration for the author’s extraordinary fictions. Mr. Thailing most gener-
ously shared with me several ofthe more di‡cult-to-find films adapted from
Woolrich’s writings, Convicted, Fall Guy, The Guilty, and The Boy Cried Mur-
der. In addition, as owner ofan extensive collection ofphotographs from these
films, he provided many ofthem in this book. Sadly, Mr. Thailing passed away
at the end of 2003, but I’d like to believe that he is in a fine and well-lighted
place where he can appreciate his contribution to this study and still read the
Woolrich stories for which he had such an ardent passion.
Lastly and ofgreatest significance, I’d like to thank the two people most
dear to me. My wife Deborah showered me with generous amounts oftoler-
ance, not only by showing patience with the time I needed to work on this proj-
ect but also by humoring me for my occasional homilies on an author who
was about as crucial to her life as Brussels sprouts. I also must thank my son
Matthew who, at eighteen years old, keeps me vitalized with his spirit, his
sense ofhumor, and his strength ofcharacter.
vi
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Introduction 3
“The Corpse Next Door” (January 23, ¡937) 25
Union City (¡979) 27
“Face Work” (October ¡937) 31
Convicted (¡938) 34
“I’m Dangerous Tonight” (November ¡937) 39
I’m Dangerous Tonight (¡990) 42
“I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes” (March ¡2, ¡938) 47
I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes (¡948) 51
“All at Once, No Alice” (March 20, ¡940) 57
The Return of the Whistler (¡948) 60
“C-Jag” (October ¡940) 67
Fall Guy (¡947) 71
The Bride Wore Black (¡940) 78
The Bride Wore Black (¡967) 84
“He Looked Like Murder” (February 8, ¡94¡) 93
The Guilty (¡947) 97
“Nightmare” (March ¡94¡) 107
Fear in the Night (¡947) 114
Nightmare (¡956) 122
The Black Curtain (¡94¡) 130
Street of Chance (¡942) 134
vii
viii Table ofContents
“Rear Window” (February ¡942) 143
Rear Window (¡954) 150
Rear Window (Television, ¡998) 170
Black Alibi (¡942) 175
The Leopard Man (¡943) 179
“Dormant Account” (May ¡942) 190
The Mark of the Whistler (¡944) 196
Phantom Lady (¡942) 200
Phantom Lady (¡944) 205
The Black Angel (¡943) 213
Black Angel (¡946) 219
Deadline at Dawn (¡944) 230
Deadline at Dawn (¡946) 234
The Black Path of Fear (¡944) 242
The Chase (¡946) 249
Night Has a Thousand Eyes(¡945) 261
Night Has a Thousand Eyes(¡948) 266
Waltz into Darkness (¡947) 276
Mississippi Mermaid (¡969) 285
Original Sin (200¡) 295
“The Boy Cried Murder” (March ¡947) 303
The Window (¡949) 307
The Boy Cried Murder (¡966) 318
Cloak & Dagger (¡984) 322
I Married a Dead Man (¡948) 324
No Man of Her Own (¡950) 328
J’ai épousé une ombre (¡982) 337
Mrs. Winterbourne (¡996) 340
She’s No Angel (Television, 2003) 343
“For the Rest of Her Life” (May ¡968) 345
Martha (German television, ¡973) 349
Bibliography 355
Index 359
Preface
Cornell who? This question—very possibly the same question you are
asking yourself right now—is the one I asked when I first ran across this
author’s name. The question kindled my curiosity, which in turn fired my
eagerness to explore the man further. The result is this book, Cornell Wool-
rich from Pulp Noir to Film Noir. The birth of this project depended on the
intersection ofthree diverse and incongruent elements: Alfred Hitchcock, film
noir, and an o›-hand remark by my brother-in-law.
A colleague once asked me one ofthose classic philosophical questions:
Ifyou were told that all films must be destroyed and you were allowed to save
only one, which would it be? The Birth ofa Nation? The General? King Kong?
Citizen Kane? Singin’ in the Rain? Shane? The Searchers? The 7th Voyage ofSin-
bad? These titles are among the two or three dozen I include on my top-ten
favorites list, so truthfully, I couldn’t make a clear choice. However, ifI were
pressed—really forced into such an unlikely situation—I can admit a slight
bias that enables me to answer that hypothetical question. One particular film
has mesmerized me from the first time I saw it and, over time, has held an
even greater fascination for me the more I study it: Rear Window. Oddly, I had
already viewed it many times before I finally noticed that the story was cred-
ited to some obscure author, one Cornell Woolrich. I had never heard ofhim,
but I made a mental note ofthe name. Then, in a coincidence very much like
a fateful accident in one of Woolrich’s stories, I was loitering in a bookstore
when I came across The Cornell Woolrich Omnibus. Compelled to see how his
“Rear Window” compared with Hitchcock’s masterpiece, I scooped up the
copy and, after reading that one short story, became addicted to the author’s
Svengali-like ability to draw his reader into his fiction. He had a keen sense of
irony and a creative knack for unraveling bizarre plots in a captivating style.
In this one collection, however, I reached a dead end because nearly all ofhis
work, I subsequently learned, was out ofprint.
I might have put it to rest there and then, but I told my brother-in-law
how I “discovered” Cornell Woolrich whose nifty little story Hitchcock had
expanded into an astounding film. Roger Pijacki said very casually, more in
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