The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
Fresh from a federal detox facility, a Chicago card dealer comes home clean and hoping to make it as a jazz drummer. His guilt-tripping wife, who is not as disabled as she pretends, an old dealing job, and his former pusher all draw him back toward morphine as an audition approaches.
Otto Preminger released The Man with the Golden Arm without a Production Code seal, since the Code then barred any depiction of narcotics, and the defiance helped crack Hollywood’s censorship regime. It is also remembered for Saul Bass’s jagged title sequence and Elmer Bernstein’s jazz score; the copyright was not renewed.
Background
The Man with the Golden Arm was directed by Otto Preminger and adapted from Nelson Algren’s 1949 novel. Frank Sinatra stars as a Chicago card dealer trying to stay clean after heroin addiction. Preminger released the film without a Production Code seal, since the Code then barred any depiction of narcotics, and the defiance is often cited as a step toward weakening Hollywood’s censorship regime. The film is also remembered for Saul Bass’s jagged title sequence and Elmer Bernstein’s jazz score. Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, and Darren McGavin are in the cast, and the copyright was not renewed, so the film is in the public domain.
What to watch for
Watch Bass’s title sequence, with its angular shapes that set the film’s tone before the story begins. Sinatra’s performance carries the tension, as his character tries to stay clean while his wife, played by Parker, pretends to be more disabled than she is and keeps him tied to the household. The jazz score moves the scenes forward, and his ambition to become a drummer ties the music to his effort to rebuild his life. At 119 minutes it is a substantial drama, and its blunt handling of addiction was unusual for its time, which is a large part of why the film mattered.
