Scene discussion with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Cliff on the set of Raintree County . All represent Hollywood's first forays into the dark, paranoiac cinematic mood that came to be known as film noir. Part detective story, part gangster, part urban melodrama, film noir is identified best by its shadowy, pessimistic undercurrents. If the genre has a literary source, it is the detective novels of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, both of whom demonstrated sympathies with the Left at a time when the political mood in Hollywood was decidedly reactionary. When You're Dead, has put Dmytryk back in the spotlight after a 20-year hiatus.
All indications are that the irrepressible film legend is happy to be back.
That's the only way I can explain it. Eddie Dmytryk was a gifted filmmaker who had a very specific and innovative way of making movies. Faced with extreme budget and time constraints during the filming of Crossfire, Dmytryk developed a production formula that he continued to use for the remainder of his directorial career. It was very simple. I used to be a weightlifter until about age 70, and I know a great deal about exercise.