Moe Williams from PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953)

Film noir and its losers...

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If you thought comedy and horror get overlooked at the Oscars, you should have a word with film noir. Noir was consistently ignored by the Academy back in the day, which is why this is the *first* Oscar-nominated performance ever featured on The Losers of Film Noir. Everyone's ultimate character actress Thelma Ritter was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as police informant in Pickup on South Street (1953) and what a deserved nomination that was.

Written and directed by Samuel Fuller, the titular pickup in Pickup on South Street happens on a New York subway. Candy (Jean Peters) gets pickpocketed and pretty soon, things get all spy-y and stuff. Turns out, Candy's wallet contains microfilm of top-secret, well, secrets, passed around by her ex-boyfriend Joey (Richard Kiley). The police need to find out what happened and who the pickpocket is, so they bring in informant Moe Williams (Thelma Ritter). She leads them to Skip McCoy (I know, right?), played by Richard Widmark.

Candy and Skip soon begin a whirlwind romance. And by whirlwind I mean, some of the most insanely hot moments in the film noir universe. Like, damn, the two of them give Gilda and Johnny a run for their money! And much like Gilda and Johnny, Candy and Skip enjoy a rather lovely ending. Which is why they couldn't really qualify for The Losers of Film Noir. Moe Williams, on the other hand... Oh, dear Moe.

Thelma Ritter makes her entrance in Pickup on South Street around ten minutes into it and straight away, there's the Thelma Ritter we all know and love. Her usual loveliness mixed with sassiness and brilliantly delivered one-liners give the film a light-heartedness that feels particulary nice against the backdrop of the Cold War scenario we're watching. So why is she a loser? Why is Moe Williams, the film's comic relief, a loser of film noir?

'Ask a silly question, you get a dopey look.' Moe Williams

Moe Williams is, above all, a mother figure. She has known Skip McCoy since he was a kid. She knows everything about him. And she knows he's in love with Candy. She also knows that Candy is in love with him. She tells him so and though he doesn't want to believe it at first, he ultimatley does, because Moe Williams is trust-worthy. She's efficient, smart, wise and has a heart of gold. But she is also depressed.

'So hard to get up in the morning, and get dressed, and walk the streets, climb the stairs... […] I have to go on making a living, so I can die.' Moe Williams

She's had a hard life. She hasn't known a lot of joy and now we get the feeling she works as an informant in order to have some sort of thrill in her life. Yes, she needs the money, but this is probably not how she wants to get it. But she does it. She needs to feel like her life matters. Her job has led her to become familiar with some of the most powerful people in town, but she needs to feel like she isn't just going to die without having left some sort of significant imprint on the lives of those she's met. Skip McCoy is one of them. Their relationship is sweet and they are clearly very important to each other. Her motherly and nurturing nature towards him and Candy is a comforting thing to see in these cold, dark streets.

Moe Williams has always lived for other people. Which is why her demise is so heart-breaking - I have to say, if I had to pick, this is probably THE most heart-wrenching moment in film noir, ever. Moe 'talks herself into an early grave', and we pray for mercy. Her presence is a breath of fresh air and her absence is stifling. Ritter lost the Oscar to Donna Reed for From Here To Eternity - one of my favorite winners ever in this category - but her performance lives on.

We bid farewell to Moe Williams and Pickup on South Street. Our next loser is an eccentric columnist obsessed with Laura, just like everybody else. The film is Laura (1944), the actor is Clifton Webb and the loser... is Waldo Lydecker.

See you on the sunny side of the street.