#William Nigh

[weirdlookindog]

Anne Gwynne and Ray Corrigan in The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)

[gatutor]

Eric Linden-Jean Parker "Dulce evocación" (Romance of the Limberlost) 1938, de William Nigh.

[sonofshermy]

[schlock-luster-video]

"These cold eyes have watched a thousand men die screaming!"

Here's some original Boris Karloff art inspired by The Ape (1940)!

[movie-titlecards]

The Ape (1940)

My rating: 4/10

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes

William Nigh opens his film noir I WOULDN’T BE IN YOUR SHOES (1948, TCM) with an impressive long shot of convicts waiting for their cell doors to open. Then Mark Stengler’s camera starts low on one death row cell before panning up to reveal a handsome young man and gliding on to introduce the other prisoners, all character types. They stand at the bars staring out in desperation and even hope. It’s a very powerful opening. Then the camera returns to the young man (Don Castle) as the prisoners, in a near-poetic use of repetition thanks to writer Steve Fisher, ask him to explain how he got there. And then Castle delivers the kind of performance you give when you’re waiting for your rich best friend to take you away from all this and give you a job in one of his many businesses, which, mercifully for all, is exactly what happened. He tends to play attitudes rather than objectives. It’s all posing and staring. His leading lady, Elyse Knox, isn’t much better, tending toward the singsong in her more dramatic moments. She, by the way, would retire after marrying football great Tom Harmon and raise much more talented children and grandchildren.

That neither of them can sink the film is a credit to Nigh’s direction and Stengler’s impressive camerawork as well as a whacky Cornell Woolrich adaptation with an overall sense of doom. Castle is an unemployed dancer who throws his tap shoes at some yowling cats outside his window. The next morning, the shoes turn up outside his apartment door. But their prints are also outside the hovel of a wealthy old man (the news report identifies him as a “miser”) who was strangled that night. When Castle finds a wallet filled with older 20-dollar bills, the police trace them and the shoes back to him, and before you can say “ineffective counsel,” he’s on death row. To save him, Knox enlists the help of a police detective (Regis Toomey) who just happens to have fallen in love with her after they met at the dancing school where she teaches. Nigh keeps the pace going so well you may not have time to consider all the plot holes, and the final twist is immensely satisfying.

Toomey is one of the film’s chief assets. His love-smitten flatfoot may be the most complex of the many police officers he played during his career, and he carries it off with impressive subtlety. He even reacts to Knox as if she were one of his better leading ladies, say Barbara Stanwyck or Loretta Young. There are a lot of good character people in the film as well, my favorite being Dorothy Vaughan as a testy neighbor who might hold the key to saving Castle. Of course, the supporting players tend to show up the leads. At one point, one of the death row inmates asks Castle how much time he has left. He responds as if he had been asked how long until his dry cleaning was done. Castle returns the question, and the convict (Bill Walker) invests just two words with a lifetime of suffering. When you see a scene like that, you know someone should be looking for another line of work. And in keeping with my dabbling in future vision, Walker had a long career with almost 200 film and TV credits, including the role of Rev. Sykes in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962).

[bens-things]

I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes (1948) dir. William Nigh

[directorsnarrative]

I Wouldn’t Be In Your Shoes • Director William Nigh

[shadyfiredreamland]

I draw that after reading the book

[weirdlookindog]

The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942) - Spanish herald

[gatutor]

Anna May Wong "Lady from chungking" 1942, de William Nigh.

[schlock-luster-video]

On May 22, 1945, The Ape debuted in Barcelona, Spain.

[secretlittlerandezvous]

Lost In The Woods (And Feelings) - William Eklund

Summary: Y/n and her best friend, hockey player William, go on a week-long camping trip despite having zero experience. As the days go by, Y/n realizes she’s in love with William but believes nothing can happen between.

Words: 849

Y/n had no idea what made her to agree to this.

Camping. A full week of camping.

She and William had been best friends for years, ever since they met back in Sweden. And even after he moved to San Jose for his hockey career, they had managed to keep their friendship intact. FaceTiming at odd hours, sending each other stupid reels, meeting during any kinds of holidays. All that became a new part of their daily routine. And somehow, in between their late-night calls and playful teasing, they convinced themselves that going on a camping trip together was a brilliant idea.

It was not.

“Are you sure you know how to set up a tent?” Y/n asked, arms crossed as she watched William struggle.

“Of course,” he said confidently, before glancing at the tent bag. “I mean… how hard can it be?”

It turned out to be very hard.

“William, that’s not where the pole goes.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Are you a camping expert all of a sudden or what?”

“I don’t have to be an expert to know that the tent is not supposed to be collapsing,” Y/n protested, stepping back just in time to avoid being caught under the falling mess.

William groaned, rubbing a hand down his face before turning to her with his best innocent smile. “Okay, well, time for a different plan.”

Y/n rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “You’re cute,” she muttered under her breath, not realizing she had said it out loud until William shot her a smirk.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly, turning away to hide the blushing.

After what felt like hours and with the help of YouTube tutorials, they got the tent set up. It still leaned to one side more than the other, which made Y/n secretly question its stability.

That night, they sat by the fire, eating burnt marshmallows because neither of them had the patience to cook them properly. The air was cool, stars lit up the sky above them, and for a moment, Y/n let herself pretend that this was just their life.

Just the two of them, away from everything, no worries about distance or careers or the inevitable goodbye waiting for them at the end of this trip.

“This is nice,” William said, stretching his legs out and tilting his head back to look at the stars.

Y/n hummed in agreement. “Even though we are world’s worst campers in history?”

“Especially because of that.”

She smiled, leaning her head against her knees. “I don’t think I’ve laughed this much in a long time.”

William turned his head to look at her, his expression softer than usual. “Me neither.”

The way he was looking at her made Y/n’s stomach flip, but she forced herself to push the feeling away.

As the days went by, Y/n found herself slipping into a dangerous kind of comfort.

…

They got lost on a hike. Twice.

"Are you sure we’re going the right way?" she asked.

"Of course I am," William said, though his eyes were filled with uncertainty.

"That’s what you said twenty minutes ago, and we ended up in the same place," Y/n pointed out.

"Fine. I’ll check the GPS - oh."

"What?"

"There’s no service."

Y/n groaned. "Great. We’re going to die out here. With no water and food."

"Relax," William said, placing his arm around her shoulder. "Worst case scenario, we have to eat berries and live in the woods forever."

"Oh, fantastic. That was totally my life plan."

He grinned. "Could be worse. At least you’re stuck with me."

And that was the problem.

The more time they spent together, the more Y/n realized she didn’t want to be stuck with anyone else.

But she also knew nothing could ever happen between them. He lived in San Jose. His life was there, his career, his future. She was in Sweden, and as much as she wanted to believe in something more, reality was much different.

On their last night, as they sat by the fire, Y/n found herself staring at the flames, lost in thoughts.

William nudged her gently. “You okay?”

She forced a smile. “Yeah. Just thinking.”

“About?”

She hesitated before answering. “How things are going to go back to normal after this. You’ll go back to San Jose, I’ll stay in Sweden…”

William was quiet for a moment. Then, he shifted slightly, turning to face her fully.

“Would you ever move?”

Y/n was taken aback. She turned her head to look at him, trying to read his expression. “Move where?”

He shrugged, but there was something careful about the way he asked. “Anywhere.”

Y/n swallowed, her heart pounding. “I don’t know. Maybe. If the reason was good enough.”

William held her gaze for a second longer before he let out a small, almost nervous chuckle. “Good to know.”

Y/n wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but as he reached over and squeezed her hand lightly, she wondered if maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t as alone in her feelings as she thought.

[bens-things]

The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1935) dir. William Nigh

[aj-lenoire]

i’m gonna rank the invinci-twerps

fully-masked invincible — admittedly i'm compelled by his desire not to conquer the multiverse but reunite with his mother, i wish we'd gotten a scene with our debbie and him. 4/10 mama's boy

unmasked invincible (not pictured) — he seems polite, i like his uniform, and he says he misses william, so again i'm intrigued!! i wish we'd seen them interact, or heard why he misses william. 3/10 lbr probably killed him

scarvincible — i am at least somewhat curious about an evil mark who both betrayed his world and rejected the viltrumite empire. 2/10 fugly on the inside

droopy — what is even the purpose of that stupid little face curtain?? keeping bugs out your mouth while you fly?? certainly didn't help against the zombie robots now did it. 1/10 at least he had a funny line

goggless — the entire point of the goggles was to keep the wind out of your eyes while flying, dumbass. also he is way too hype about murdering even by evil invincible standards 0/10 i AM kinkshaming

bald cap — doesn't know who oliver is, was kind of curious about how he/other marks would react to a half-brother, especially one who's from a 'lesser' species. -1/10 the vibes were rancid

bumblebee — the way he screamed for angstrom after being transported to the sand dimension was so pathetic, but he killed nolan and that ain't nothin! -2/10 NO CAPES

viltrumite — wow you're so cool for doing exactly what your dad told you to do. also you got your ass beat by a furry. -4/10 bootlicker doesn't have an original bone in his body

utility belt — got his neck snapped by the zombie robots that don't even slow our mark down -7/10 try harder

longvincible — what in the 1980s gymrat -8/10 fuck off back to warrior cats

movincihawk — awful name, worse hair, and he sounds exceptionally whingey. i 100% believe this twerp had nothing better to do than someone else's dirty work -10/10 cringe af

armoured invincible — why? aren't you, like, nigh indestructible? what material would be so strong as to provide any worthwhile advantage? -12/10 you look like a knockoff voltron character

the stache — a variant who joined the viltrumite empire should have at least been strong enough to take on one single opponent -14/10 shave that caterpillar off your lip and accept your dad doesn't love you

sporty spice — how is the fleece baggy at the neck but fitted at the hands?? i'm assuming you're the cringefail one who got fried by fuckin POWERPLEX -18/10 OPEN-TOED SHOES

knockoff omni-man — broke eve's leg and killed his own mother -20/10 you have daddy issues and your hair looks stupid

shoulder-markings (not pictured) — might be the leader of the empire in his universe?? -30/10 openly condones enslaving people and eugenics

big ass goggles — you killed rex. fuck you. -100/10

[weirdlookindog]

Black Dragons (1942)