BLACK SILK (THAILAND/1961/RATTANA PESTONJI, RATANAVADI RATANABHAND)

Prae is a widow who has consigned herself to wearing a funereal black silk dress since the death of her husband. Her relationship with boyfriend Thom is constantly strained by her refusal to live a life outside the house, but it takes a turn for the worse when Thom is involved in a carefully choreographed murder scheme with his boss Seni. Heavily in debt to his rival Wan, Seni assumes the identity of his recently deceased brother to start life afresh, only to learn that Wan is orchestrating the situation to his own advantage. The proceedings have serious ramifications for Prae who, avoiding the heartbreak of a second bereavement, leaves Thom in favour of religious sanctuary.

Though frequently acknowledged as Thailand’s first film noir (‘noir’ is a bit of a misnomer here as each scene is a rich tapestry of colour), Black Silk has more poignancy than the average thriller, contrasting the metropolitan with the traditional. Certain elements, such as Prae’s position as the widow fallen in with a bad lot, seem to anticipate Đặng Nhật Minh’s marvellous postwar When The Tenth Month Comes, a film that similarly entertains while retaining a sense of realism in its characters. Action in the film is subverted ironically by the inactivity of the camera – a double murder uses a maximum of three angles, with most of the event being caught in a single take. Full credit must go to Ratanavadi Ratanabhand, who brings to the role of Prae a quiet but persistant elegance.

RIDE THE PINK HORSE (USA/1947/ROBERT MONTGOMERY)

Stepping off a bus in New Mexico with just a briefcase, a sarcastic and short-tempered soldier named Gagin begins a search through the town of San Pablo for Frank Hugo, the mobster who killed his best friend Shorty. After tracking down the hotel Hugo is staying at, Gagin bumps into Retz, an FBI agent determined to dissuade him from his vigilante strategy. All the while, Gagin is being stalked by an enamoured peasant girl named Pila who had shown him the direction to the hotel. Disconcerted by the feeling of being followed everywhere he goes, Gagin takes refuge at an aging carousel where he is once again joined by Pila. With time running out, Gagin bites the bullet and decides to take action, no matter what the consequences.

A simple story it may appear, but Ride The Pink Horse builds complexities from the diverse set of characters brought into the loop. Gagin, played by director Robert Montgomery, makes for an unusual protagonist, giving nothing away of his identity or his emotional state (the villagers of San Pablo give him the nickname “the man with no place”). The rural New Mexico backdrop seems curious for a noir film, but the large, open spaces are equally as suffocating as the dark city shadows in most other films of the genre. The photography is masterly, with some brilliantly captured sequences towards the climax. Dark, brooding and effortlessly classy, Ride The Pink Horse is a recommended watch for those tired of the ‘urban thriller’.