Cornell Woolrich is probably one of the best writers that still charts in unknown territory. Often labeled as the ‘Godfather of Noir,’ and having been the inspiration for a number of films, his legacy of stories still languishes in the lower echelons of critical and established literature.
He was born in 1903. His life was tempered with alcoholism and paranoia, and he was believed to have been gay. An infection in one of his legs became gangrenous, making an amputation necessary in 1968, and that same year he would suffer a fatal stroke. That sense of being haunted, tragic and questioning would be source material that he would riff on best.
I want to make it clear that it’s a tough task to recommend which Woolrich book to start with. He’s regarded as a pulp writer, which is certainly true, to a certain extent, but he was also capable of rousing up a masterpiece, and did so on a few occasions. There were more misses than hits, but he was a prolific author, and when he was good, he was one of the best.
I read the following books of his in this order, so take note:
Phantom Lady (1942)
Rendezvous in Black (1948)
I Married a Dead Man (1948)
The Bride Wore Black (1940)
Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1945)
All are good, though Bride Wore Black is the weakest, leaving the other four as masterworks. It’s somewhat disputed as being too pulpish for it’s own good, but some fans make a case that Phantom Lady is the best Woolrich novel; I can’t really disagree with that. It’s largely understood that Rendezvous in Black is Woolrich’s undisputed masterpiece, and technically, I believe it is. It was I Married a Dead Man that was selected for inclusion by the Library of America as the sole Woolrich offering in their collection, as part of an anthology on roman noirs, edited by Robert Polito (Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s & 40s); that novel, too, is brilliant. But Night Has a Thousand Eyes didn’t really have much of a critical reception to it, and I picked it up largely unconvinced that it would have the same power over me as the other books, but I was stunned to discover just what a moving, and haunting book it really is.
I think then that Night Has a Thousand Eyes is a good place to start if one has never had the common-sense to read a Woolrich book. It’s filled with the signature Woolrich staple of having a twist of bad luck become increasingly, and hideously realized. Everyday American men and women faced with the grim prospect of a looming sense of fate that quickly turns sinister. It’s largely a sense of the American Dream gone horribly, and irrevocably wrong, and the quiet struggle of being faced up against elements that are stronger than you are, and which get the better of you until you’re faced with an oncoming defeat.
The book deals with a mysterious case involving a man who can see the future, a trick he claims to have had since he was a little boy. Enter a rich, older man and his spirited daughter, and the old man’s growing obsession with knowing what the future holds for him as the mysterious stranger offers up his visions of moments to come. At some point, the police get involved, and one cop in particular has to figure out if this is just a classic con-job and a shakedown for cash, or if this curious oracle is a bit of something more…
I’m not going to spoil anything else.
What can I say, but that it’s so very beautiful in the way and manner in which it has been written. That the writing is so classy, polished and sophisticated; attributes that are rarely considered with Woolrich, but are terms I find best to describe him. Its writing harks back to a different era of the Americana experience, at a time when life should have been so much easier than it is now, and when men wore fedoras, and took them down and tipped them to a passing girl. It’s very quaint, and a bit naive, and it makes the shattered innocent lives of these characters just so much more painful to bear witness to. Woolrich so skillfully takes the dreams and longings of a different era and crushes them in an agonizing bloodbath that mocks hope, promise and just the downright ability to win in savage and thrilling fashion. I never thought, personally, that a really good thriller could make you cry, but reading Woolrich taught me otherwise.
If I had to sum up Night Has a Thousand Eyes, I would say that it’s just a very elegant thriller. There is a psychology at work in Woolrich’s books that makes you feel like you’re right there with the characters, and getting a peek into the secret places of their hearts, and it’s on good display in this one. I was very touched by the little people in this book, and was absolutely crushed when they lost it all.
I’m going to have a lot more to say about Cornell Woolrich soon, but in the meantime, I very highly recommend that everyone should take a look at this one, as it’s a damn good read.
And watch out for lions should they ever haunt you.
