BIRTHDAY DIRECTORS OTTO PREMINGER & FRITZ LANG

Birthday of two important directors for Dana Andrews: first and foremost being OTTO PREMINGER, and both shared a game-changing noir as directed instead of just producing the film noir LAURA while making Dana's cop character more tough and classy than the usual grungy gumshoe sleazeball; later he'd direct LAURA stars Dana and Gene Tierney in an edgier noir of the "bad cop" nature, WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS and between is their best, FALLEN ANGEL followed by DAISY KENYON...

Otto's film noirs covered 1944 to 1950 when another European director, Fritz Lang, during the late 1950's piloted a few starring Dana; the news-desk/serial-killer-thriller WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS and the courtroom drama BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT...

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MADISON AVENUE (1961)

The third of four movies starring Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain is the only where Crain plays the sort of "other woman" on the sidelines wherein Dana's MADISON AVENUE mover/shaker is building-up the career of Eleanor Parker. The scenes between Andrews and Crain, though, are the longest and last throughout the entire story.

THE FEARMAKERS (1958)

Another Happy Birthday and Happy New Years both for DANA ANDREWS, born on Jan 1, 1909, a long time ago, but his movies carry on, as his minimalist style of acting seems brand new... here in THE FEARMAKERS (colorized photo) directed by Dana's CURSE OF THE DEMON and CANYON PASSAGE auteur Jacques Tourneur.

TAKE A HARD RIDE (1975)

The seventies' Western TAKE A HARD RIDE seemed to have several sub-genres at play, and yet, despite a small yet important role, Dana Andrews is the best representation since it's not a Blaxploitation despite stars Jim Brown (as Dana's friend), Fred Williamson and Jim Kelly, nor a Spaghetti Western with Lee Van Cleef on their trial, but more a modernized version of the kind of classic rough-and-tumble cowboy picture that Dana himself was a veteran of, from CANYON PASSAGE to THREE HOURS TO KILL, and before and beyond, including his last starring roles, TOWN TAMER and JOHNNY RENO.

FEARMAKERS CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

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