What classics did you see last week ? (27 Oct - 02 Nov 2019)
Nov 2, 2019 23:33:07 GMT
spiderwort, teleadm, and 5 more like this
Post by mikef6 on Nov 2, 2019 23:33:07 GMT
Thanks again for stepping up, tele.
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye / Gordon Douglas (1950). William Cagney Production. James Cagney, wanting to get away from the tough guy roles he was assigned at Warner, formed his own independent company with his brother to produce movies, some starring himself, some not. The films were not all that successful. The Cagney company racked up a million dollars in debt. So Cagney found himself back at Warner who promised to pay him a big salary and take care of the debt. Of course, he had to play a gangster. The resulting film, “White Heat,” was a monster hit with audiences and critics alike. So, his own company, with Warner as distributor, fell back on the gangster genre that he had hoped to get out of. In KTG, he plays another crazed killer except, unlike Cody Jarrett in “White Heat,” Ralph Cotter was a lot more thoughtful and a lot less impulsive. After a violent jail break which left three guards and Cotter’s break-out partner dead, he turns to his late colleague’s sister Holiday Carleton (Barbara Payton) for a hide-out and new identity. Cotter keeps several irons in the fire by planning several capers to get money including hold-ups, blackmailing a tough homicide cop (Ward Bond), and marrying into a rich family. While this is no “White Heat” it is still an interesting, creative, and entertaining film. It is also more violent than most crime films of the day. Cagney throws himself into the role with his usual energy, not showing any signs of wanting to be somewhere else. A solid cast of supporting players back him up: Steve Brodie, Barton MacLane, Rhys Williams, Luther Adler, Neville Brand, and Kenneth Tobey among them.
Ward Bond, Luther Adler, James Cagney
Barbara Peyton, Cagney
The File On Thelma Jordan / Robert Siodmak (1950). Paramount Pictures. Assistant District Attorney Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey) is a married man with kids but doesn’t want to go home because his hated father-in-law is coming to dinner. He is getting drunk at his desk when he meets his fate. Thelma Jordan (Barbara Stanwyck) enters his life. Thelma has come to report an attempted break-in at the home of her elderly rich aunt who Thelma is caring for. Cleve and Thelma begin a passionate affair which requires surreptitious meeting and furtive phone calls. Their romantic melodrama goes on for almost a third of the runtime and I was wondering how far it would go when a murder is committed and director Robert Siodmak and his cinematographer George Barnes (Two Hitchcock’s, Spellbound and Rebecca which won him an Oscar) swing into action and do what they do best which is to plunge into a twisty noir world of lies, betrayals, and slippery motives. The story and script by Marty Holland and Ketti Frings keep us on our toes waiting for the next rug to be pulled out from under us. Some bravura scenes. What could have been a routine moment showing Thelma being escorted from the jail to the courthouse becomes an exciting and thrilling event. The musical score by Victor Young should be mentioned at this point. Barbara Stanwyck cements her reputation as a film noir icon. Wendell Corey seems a little weak, but then that is the point of the character he is playing. Paul Kelly is Cleve’s boss in the D.A.’s office. Richard Rober plays a man from Thelma’s past who seems to be stalking her and Joan Tetzel is Cleve’s heartbroken wife. Highly recommended.
Barbara Stanwyck and Paul Kelly (seated), Wendel Corey (standing in back between them)
Thelma drives a 1946 Chrysler Town and Country
Walk East On Beacon! / Alfred L. Werker (1952). Columbia Pictures. Another docu-drama lauding a federal government law enforcement agency narrated by a loud bass voice speaking in a declamatory style. The heroes of this exercise are the agents of the FBI and their attempts to thwart nefarious Commie plots. George Murphy is the head investigator in charge of protecting the secrets of a U.S. scientific development of a new computer. He often speaks to The Chief (Hoover is shown in archive footage). Professor Albert Kafer (vet Scots actor Finlay Currie) is the head scientist of the project. His grown son, another scientist, is being held by the Communists in East Berlin to force Kafer to turn over his calculations. Kafer gets in touch with the FBI and they lay plans to round up the Communist cell operating in Boston (lots of Boston location shooting). Kafer is first approached by Millie Zalenko (Virginia Gilmore). Millie and her husband hide their espionage work behind a camera shop. Gilmore is an interesting figure, unfairly most well-known as the wife for almost 14 years of Yul Brynner. Her biography is well worth exploring. There is an action ending with a rescue at sea and a couple of satisfying moments when the FBI plan comes together. “Walk East” is mildly entertaining, often for Finlay Currie, but has to be counted as one of the least of the docu-drama sub-genre. It and other films portraying American Communism as the ultimate evil were no doubt released to try to placate the government blacklisters who were themselves evil.
George Murphy and Finlay Currie
The Narrow Margin / Richard Fleischer (1952). RKO Radio Pictures. Often described with names like “The Perfect ‘B’,” The Narrow Margin was led by producer Stanley Rubin (River Of No Return, Destry, The Girl Most Likely) for RKO in 1950. RKO was under Howard Hughes at that time and Hughes often jumped in to “improve” other people’s films to everybody’s horror. Hughes held up “The Narrow Margin” for two years, deciding at last to reshoot some scenes or even bump it up to a “A” with Robert Mitchum. Director Richard Fleischer talked his boss out of doing too much harm by agreeing to reshoot scenes that Hughes wanted for another film (“His Kind Of Woman”). Two L.A. cops, Brown (Charles McGraw) and Forbes (Don Beddoe) arrive by train in Chicago on a cold, rainy night to pick up a witness being held in protection from mob hitmen. Mrs. Frankie Neall (Marie Windsor), the widow of a high ranking hoodlum, is set to testify in Los Angeles. Before they can even get her out of her boarding house, assassins strike and kill Forbes. Even though grieving for his partner, Brown hustles her out and gets her on the return train. Except for maybe one minute at the end, the entire rest of the film takes place on the train. Fleischer makes great use of the narrowness and limited movements allowed on a passenger train. We know that at least two of the other passengers work for the underworld, but who else? The attractive blonde lady with the young son? The very large man (he says, “No one likes a fat man except his grocer and his tailor”) who is always lurking in the background? Charles McGraw with his rough face and gravely voice was often cast as killers and gangsters, but he could also be excellent as a tough cop with a touch job to do. Playing Mrs. Neall is the peerless Marie Windsor who cops an attitude and hectors Brown throughout the movie about how incompetent he is in keeping her safe. This is a quintessential Windsor performance. She specialized in gaudy “dames” and here she is at her best. This is a perfect nailbiter. Only one flaw that has always bothered me: near the end, one important character is shot to death but is then never mentioned again – as if it never happened. However, “The Narrow Margin” is not to be missed. An essential in the film noir universe.
Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor
Domino / Brian De Palma (2019). Slack spy thriller from a popular director whose films I have never really liked. Nothing changed after this one. It opens in Copenhagen where two city cops, Christian (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau-Game of Thrones) and Lars (Søren Malling) get a call to look into a domestic dispute. Lars has something on his mind so tells Christian he will talk about it at the end of their shift. Now, anyone who has seen as many as three movies in their life knows that when a cop says anything about the future, he has five minutes to live, max. (This is what starts the plot going so not a Spoiler.) Christian, because of this, goes all rogue cop, and, along with partner Alex Boe (Carice van Houten), chases the terrorist responsible for Lars’ death to Brussels and then to southern Spain for a climax at a bull fight. My pulse didn’t pound a single time.
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye / Gordon Douglas (1950). William Cagney Production. James Cagney, wanting to get away from the tough guy roles he was assigned at Warner, formed his own independent company with his brother to produce movies, some starring himself, some not. The films were not all that successful. The Cagney company racked up a million dollars in debt. So Cagney found himself back at Warner who promised to pay him a big salary and take care of the debt. Of course, he had to play a gangster. The resulting film, “White Heat,” was a monster hit with audiences and critics alike. So, his own company, with Warner as distributor, fell back on the gangster genre that he had hoped to get out of. In KTG, he plays another crazed killer except, unlike Cody Jarrett in “White Heat,” Ralph Cotter was a lot more thoughtful and a lot less impulsive. After a violent jail break which left three guards and Cotter’s break-out partner dead, he turns to his late colleague’s sister Holiday Carleton (Barbara Payton) for a hide-out and new identity. Cotter keeps several irons in the fire by planning several capers to get money including hold-ups, blackmailing a tough homicide cop (Ward Bond), and marrying into a rich family. While this is no “White Heat” it is still an interesting, creative, and entertaining film. It is also more violent than most crime films of the day. Cagney throws himself into the role with his usual energy, not showing any signs of wanting to be somewhere else. A solid cast of supporting players back him up: Steve Brodie, Barton MacLane, Rhys Williams, Luther Adler, Neville Brand, and Kenneth Tobey among them.
Ward Bond, Luther Adler, James Cagney
Barbara Peyton, Cagney
The File On Thelma Jordan / Robert Siodmak (1950). Paramount Pictures. Assistant District Attorney Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey) is a married man with kids but doesn’t want to go home because his hated father-in-law is coming to dinner. He is getting drunk at his desk when he meets his fate. Thelma Jordan (Barbara Stanwyck) enters his life. Thelma has come to report an attempted break-in at the home of her elderly rich aunt who Thelma is caring for. Cleve and Thelma begin a passionate affair which requires surreptitious meeting and furtive phone calls. Their romantic melodrama goes on for almost a third of the runtime and I was wondering how far it would go when a murder is committed and director Robert Siodmak and his cinematographer George Barnes (Two Hitchcock’s, Spellbound and Rebecca which won him an Oscar) swing into action and do what they do best which is to plunge into a twisty noir world of lies, betrayals, and slippery motives. The story and script by Marty Holland and Ketti Frings keep us on our toes waiting for the next rug to be pulled out from under us. Some bravura scenes. What could have been a routine moment showing Thelma being escorted from the jail to the courthouse becomes an exciting and thrilling event. The musical score by Victor Young should be mentioned at this point. Barbara Stanwyck cements her reputation as a film noir icon. Wendell Corey seems a little weak, but then that is the point of the character he is playing. Paul Kelly is Cleve’s boss in the D.A.’s office. Richard Rober plays a man from Thelma’s past who seems to be stalking her and Joan Tetzel is Cleve’s heartbroken wife. Highly recommended.
Barbara Stanwyck and Paul Kelly (seated), Wendel Corey (standing in back between them)
Thelma drives a 1946 Chrysler Town and Country
Walk East On Beacon! / Alfred L. Werker (1952). Columbia Pictures. Another docu-drama lauding a federal government law enforcement agency narrated by a loud bass voice speaking in a declamatory style. The heroes of this exercise are the agents of the FBI and their attempts to thwart nefarious Commie plots. George Murphy is the head investigator in charge of protecting the secrets of a U.S. scientific development of a new computer. He often speaks to The Chief (Hoover is shown in archive footage). Professor Albert Kafer (vet Scots actor Finlay Currie) is the head scientist of the project. His grown son, another scientist, is being held by the Communists in East Berlin to force Kafer to turn over his calculations. Kafer gets in touch with the FBI and they lay plans to round up the Communist cell operating in Boston (lots of Boston location shooting). Kafer is first approached by Millie Zalenko (Virginia Gilmore). Millie and her husband hide their espionage work behind a camera shop. Gilmore is an interesting figure, unfairly most well-known as the wife for almost 14 years of Yul Brynner. Her biography is well worth exploring. There is an action ending with a rescue at sea and a couple of satisfying moments when the FBI plan comes together. “Walk East” is mildly entertaining, often for Finlay Currie, but has to be counted as one of the least of the docu-drama sub-genre. It and other films portraying American Communism as the ultimate evil were no doubt released to try to placate the government blacklisters who were themselves evil.
George Murphy and Finlay Currie
The Narrow Margin / Richard Fleischer (1952). RKO Radio Pictures. Often described with names like “The Perfect ‘B’,” The Narrow Margin was led by producer Stanley Rubin (River Of No Return, Destry, The Girl Most Likely) for RKO in 1950. RKO was under Howard Hughes at that time and Hughes often jumped in to “improve” other people’s films to everybody’s horror. Hughes held up “The Narrow Margin” for two years, deciding at last to reshoot some scenes or even bump it up to a “A” with Robert Mitchum. Director Richard Fleischer talked his boss out of doing too much harm by agreeing to reshoot scenes that Hughes wanted for another film (“His Kind Of Woman”). Two L.A. cops, Brown (Charles McGraw) and Forbes (Don Beddoe) arrive by train in Chicago on a cold, rainy night to pick up a witness being held in protection from mob hitmen. Mrs. Frankie Neall (Marie Windsor), the widow of a high ranking hoodlum, is set to testify in Los Angeles. Before they can even get her out of her boarding house, assassins strike and kill Forbes. Even though grieving for his partner, Brown hustles her out and gets her on the return train. Except for maybe one minute at the end, the entire rest of the film takes place on the train. Fleischer makes great use of the narrowness and limited movements allowed on a passenger train. We know that at least two of the other passengers work for the underworld, but who else? The attractive blonde lady with the young son? The very large man (he says, “No one likes a fat man except his grocer and his tailor”) who is always lurking in the background? Charles McGraw with his rough face and gravely voice was often cast as killers and gangsters, but he could also be excellent as a tough cop with a touch job to do. Playing Mrs. Neall is the peerless Marie Windsor who cops an attitude and hectors Brown throughout the movie about how incompetent he is in keeping her safe. This is a quintessential Windsor performance. She specialized in gaudy “dames” and here she is at her best. This is a perfect nailbiter. Only one flaw that has always bothered me: near the end, one important character is shot to death but is then never mentioned again – as if it never happened. However, “The Narrow Margin” is not to be missed. An essential in the film noir universe.
Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor
Domino / Brian De Palma (2019). Slack spy thriller from a popular director whose films I have never really liked. Nothing changed after this one. It opens in Copenhagen where two city cops, Christian (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau-Game of Thrones) and Lars (Søren Malling) get a call to look into a domestic dispute. Lars has something on his mind so tells Christian he will talk about it at the end of their shift. Now, anyone who has seen as many as three movies in their life knows that when a cop says anything about the future, he has five minutes to live, max. (This is what starts the plot going so not a Spoiler.) Christian, because of this, goes all rogue cop, and, along with partner Alex Boe (Carice van Houten), chases the terrorist responsible for Lars’ death to Brussels and then to southern Spain for a climax at a bull fight. My pulse didn’t pound a single time.