c532c Reviews

The Broken Star (1956)

50s noir western

[21 April 2011]

An obvious western version of a story that was done twice in 1954 (as SHIELD FOR MURDER and PRIVATE HELL 36--with Howard Duff!) where a good lawman goes into business for himself.

This has all the elements: ruthless crime boss, two hired goons, a blackmailer, desperate escape and even a sultry chanteuse singing in a nightclub -er- saloon. Duff's playing is typically stoic, but this adds a bit to his bluff, duplicitous character (the kind Fred MacMurray used to play in DOUBLE INDEMNITY and PUSHOVER)and the rest of the cast does quite well under Selander's assured (well it certainly should be assured by this time!) direction. I particularly liked Douyglas Fowley as the crooked blackmailer. The scene where he and Duff negotiate -- each obviously planning a double-cross -- has a fine, greasy tension to it.

White Pongo (1945)

Surprising

[9/10 · 3 March 2011]

I found this surprisingly lavish for a PRC film, in that it actually offers sets, locations and extras along with the standard guys in gorilla suits (Ray Corrigan?) and creaky stock shots from other old Jungle flicks.

The camera work is above average for PRC as well, indicating that director Sam Newfield may have taken a bit more time and care here. Note the tracking shots as the canoes drift down the river and think of the time & expense to set that up. Or the shots of Pongo crashing through the jungle in the foreground, following the canoes in the background. Again it evinces a bit of extra care (=$) Where most PRC films amaze one by the mere fact of existing, WHITE PONGO stands out--sort of--as a film in its own right, and I wonder what burst of enthusiasm must have led to its creation.

That said, it's still a turkey.

Hamlet (1976)

Quirky and enjoyable

[25 January 2008]

With a visual style that anticipates Guy Madden and some insightful performances, this version is one I'll watch again, despite the fact that the homoerotic overtones held no interest for me. Prospective viewers should be warned that the Ghost is played with full frontal nudity, though it is not a large part -- in any sense of the term. Helen Mirren is amazing as Gertrude and Ophelia. Barry Stanton's Claudius is marvelously slimy. Quentin Crisp's Polonius is charmingly surreal. And the twins do it up quite nicely as Hamlet & Son. But was it necessary to stage the play-within-a-play as an orgy? In all, though, this is definitely worthwhile for HAMLET fans or overs of bizarre cinema.

The Possessed (1965)

A rare find

[14 September 2007]

I saw this on late-night local TV in the early 70s, tolerably dubbed, under the title LOVE, HATE AND DISHONOR, and was immediately taken by it's eerie, VAMPYRE-like style.

It never played on TV again, and in the late 70s to 90s I searched for it in vain. I did catch a reference to it under the title Possessed in the Encyclpedia of Horror Movies.

Finally found a poor quality English-subtitled VHS a few years back from VideoSearch of Miami and enjoyed it once again. I guess I have to add two more lines of text to meet the minimum requirement to post. I hope this is enough

I Mobster (1959)

A Historically significant film... maybe

[15 November 2005]

I, MOBSTER may have some historical significance, of a sort. This may be the first film based on a paperback original. When I say "paperback original" I'm referring to the flood of two-bit (literally, they sold for a quarter) paperback books that were NOT reprints: these books, published by Dell, Gold Medal (Fawcett) Lion and others had a boom after World war II, taking over the newsstands, drug store racks, etc. and hastening the demise of the pulp magazines. Writers like Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson, Jim Thompson and Charles Williams got their start in the paperback originals, and established writers like David Goodis and Cornell Woolrich turned to them for quick money.

Many of these books have now been filmed by the likes of Truffaut (SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER from Goodis' DOWN THERE) Cornfield (THE 3RD VOICE from Williams' ALL THE WAY) and others -- Jim Thompson most frequently --but as far as I can tell, Roger Corman's I, MOBSTER was the first, from an "anonymous" Gold Medal Original, I, MOBSTER, published in 1951.

Can anyone find an earlier?

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

A Fine Film with a Stolen Story

[4 March 2005]

The credits of this fine film say "written and directed by Dario Argento" which is probably half true. Other sources say it's based on a story by Edgar Wallace, which is completely false. In fact, I'll wrestle anyone in the crowd who can show me any book or story by Edgar Wallace with this plot in it.

BIRD... is actually adapted, pretty closely, from THE SCREAMING MIMI, a novel by the great pulp-writer Fredric Brown. Brown, whose works include MARTIANS GO HOME, THE CASE OF THE DANCING SANDWICHES, HONEYMOON IN HELL, WE ALL KILLED GRANDMA, THE MIND THING and many many more, was an enormously skillful writer whose light style concealed a deeper sub-text than you usually find in a books with dumb titles like THE SCREAMING MIMI. In fact, the real meaning of the story is not revealed till the last paragraph, and it will surprise even readers who know there's a surprise coming.

I can't really blame Argento for dumping the sub-text of MIMI and filming the story as it's superficially written, and he did a very stylish job of it, but fans of this sort of thing should seek out Brown's book.

And I think the hero's name was "borrowed" from Raymond Chandler....

Hamlet (1969)

A HAMLET of the 60s, for the 60s

[10 January 2005]

Released shortly after Zefferelli's ROMEO AND JULIET, this was advertised as "The Love Story of Hamlet and Ophelia." Well, HAMLET is about a lot of things, but it ain't about the love between Hamlet and Ophelia. More apt is the other tag line: A HAMLET of our time, for our time," because this HAMLET is very much rooted in the late 1960s counter-culture. The actors seem just about to make love in every scene, except for Williamson, who plays Hamlet like a pedantic grad student -- his first speech to Gertrude sounds like he's grading a freshman essay.

Despite this, and despite the fact that Williamson, though about the same age as Parfitt (Gertrude) and Hopkins (Claudius) looks older, there are some worthwhile readings here and there, a couple of good ideas, and I have never seen Rosecrantz and Guildenstern shown more obtrusively -- like obnoxious frat brothers at a wedding. For HAMLET completest, this is worth seeking out.

The Fall of the House of Usher (1950)

A "Found Object" of Cinema

[28 September 2004]

"Found Objects" are those things generally discarded or ignored that somehow possess an intrinsic artistry, and this "Quota Quickie" certainly qualifies. Dashed off in what looks like a couple of weekends on whatever locations were handy, with badly-synchonized sound and wretched acting of pointless dialogue, it nonetheless conveys a genuine creepiness I found oddly haunting. The photography reminds one of the French New Wave, which came along a decade later, with starkly realistic images contrasted with baroque set-ups and disorienting editing. The story -- as much as I could understand -- offers a nightmarish progression through some sort of curse, and a mockingly down-beat ending.

It's in the Bag! (1945)

A Donald Duck Comic on film

[24 September 2004]

Well, actually more like an "Uncle Scrooge" adventure turned into a movie, with acerbic Fred Allen subbing for Carl Barks' peripatetic miser, running into, across and over a panoply of bizarre characters in search of (what else, Uncle Scrooge?) a lost fortune. "Bag" offers the usual Barks-type exotic locales -- there's a byzantine movie theater that seems deliberately Disney-esque -- and colorful characters, here embodied by some surprising Hollywood figures (Rudy Vallee, Don Ameche, Jerry Colonna, etc,)The inevitable encounter with jack Benny is funny enough, but my favorite cameo here was etched by John Carradine as an organ-playing arch-villain, complete with cape and top-hat. Not to be missed!

Double Indemnity (1944)

Chandler's influence....

[2 July 2004]

I was impressed by the subtle changes Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder worked on Cain's novella. The book DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a fast, slick morality piece wherein an amoral hero ("Walter HUFF") callously disregard notions of Good and Evil, only to find that Evil does exist (The things he discovers about Phyllis Dietrichson's past carry quite a shock.. and were omitted from the film.)and that he is sleeping with it. The ending is literally hellish and obviously influenced writers like Jim Thompson.

The film, on the other hand, discards this to play up a love story between Edward G. Robinson and Fred MacMurray. Their mutual respect at the beginning of the film has turned into sad affection by the end, when Robinson lights MacMurray's cigarette, Fred says, "...It was right across the desk from you," Ed answers, "Closer than that, Walter," and Fred replies, "I love you, too." Tellingly, the exchange doesn't seem gay, just the expression of feelings between two men. Chandler knew how to write this and Wilder knew how to film it -- and very well indeed.

The Reward (1965)

Promising premise peters out

[20 May 2004]

A good cast, interesting premise and catchy direction all come to not-very-much here. Max Von Sydow and Gilbert Roland do very well in off-beat parts as a weary pilot desperate for money and a sickly Mexican Cop unwillingly heading up a rag-tag posse chasing across the desert after Ephram Zimbalest as a wanted killer. Emilio Fernandez and Henry Silva add solid support, and Yvette Mimieux is nice to look at, but as the movie goes on -- and on -- there's not much for anyone to do. Serge Bourguignon's direction has its moments, but he apparently didn't care much about keeping up the pace. The result is a film that's sometime interesting to look at but not to watch. It also has the disjointed look of a film that was chopped up rather badly before release. The print aired recently on the Fox Movie Channel also lacks subtitles, which may make the long stretches of conversation in Mexican rather tedious for viewers who don't speak Spanish.

Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)

A fitting coda

[26 February 2004]

In his day, Director Jean Yarborough worked with all the big names in bad movies (Abbott & Costello, The Bowery Boys, Rondo Hatton and Bela Lugosi.) He even did an unacknowledged adventure series with Mantan Moreland battling Nazis in the tropics (KING OF THE ZOMBIES, LAW OF THE JUNGLE.)Capping off his film career with the ignominious twilight of performers like Carradine, Rathbone and Chaney Jr. seems like a destiny chosen for him by the gods of the B-Movies. Is there something of Greek tragedy in this ending, or is it merely poetic justice? At any rate, it was good to see three actors who had all seen much better days putting in one more turn as despicable villains, and it was a fitting coda for a director whose career was always more remarkable for determination than artistry.

The Pearl of Death (1944)

The Case of the Borrowed Ending

[26 February 2004]

Somehow the ending of THE PEARL OF DEATH was picked up and plunked down into MURDER, MY SWEET: The unarmed Detective in the dark, faced up against Miles Mander and a hulking brute, turns the tables through his understanding of the relationships between the characters. I wonder if the writers at RKO ever acknowledged this swipe from Universal? At any rate, both films make good use of lighting and creepy sets to exploit the situation, and both directors (Dmytrick & Neill) know how to use the limited acting skills of Mike Mazurki and Rondo Hatton to best advantage. I liked Rathbone's pithy comment to the Police when they arrive to catch the baddies, "You won't need your revolver. Nor handcuffs. Worthy of a hard-boiled Private Eye in any film noir!

Frankie and Johnnie (1936)

great cast in a disappointing film

[7 August 2003]

Ideal players are unfortunately wasted in Republic's low-budget, low-octane drama. Helen Morgan, that tragic chantoosie, would seem ideally cast as Frankie, but the tired script gives her nothing to do except look a bit trampy, which she does very well. Likewise, slick, superficial Chester Morris embodies the two-timing Johnny of the song perfectly... or he would if he had any worthwhile dialogue. In her last Film Lilyan Tashman is wasted as Nellie Bly. Once or twice, the movie seems about to capture the simplicity of a tawdry ballad, but never quite gets there. A pity all around.

Transatlantic (1931)

fast-paced, snappy and splendid

[7 August 2003]

Made in the early-morning of talking pictures, this belies any notion you might have of early talkies, with fast editing, a deleriously moving camera, and sharp script. Sets are magnificent, with the luxury liner where the action takes place assuming the atmosphere of some Byzantine palace. Best of all, it's capped off with a tour-de-force cat-and-mouse shoot-out through the vast engine room, which James Wong Howe's photography turns into a visual wonderland-maze of catwalks, huge machines and glossy steam. Script, story and playing are all top-notch.

P.J. (1967)

Needs to be seen in its original form

[18 July 2003]

PJ was originally released in the late 60s when movies were rated either "G" or "M"; anything with any questionable content was rated "M" and Studio execs, with the wisdom of their breed, realized they might as well put in as much as they could get away with. The result was some delightfully tasteless sex and violence in films like NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY, DEADLIER THAN THE MALE, GUNN, TONY ROME... and PJ. Unfortunately, when these were released to TV, the studio execs, with the wisdom of their breed, cut out all the best parts and substituted banal "made for tv" scenes. As originally made, PJ contains some really gritty moments that really capture the sleazey aspects of the PI genre. Hopefully, someone will make this available on Video soon.

Hell Drivers (1957)

A fine film with additional interest

[26 September 2002]

HELL DRIVERS is the sort of thing David Goodis might have written had he lived in England. The writing and playing throughout are such as to make genuine heroes out of working-class types without condescending or "ennobling" them. The truckers of HELL DRIVERS are not Noble Savage, just men fit for adventure.

And those of us who were teenagers in the 60s might enjoy the added interest of seeing Sean ("James Bond") Connery, David ("Man from Uncle" McCallum and Patrick ("Secret Agent/Danger Man") McGoohan in featured roles.

P.J. (1967)

lost film

[9 July 2002]

If you've only seen PJ on Television, you haven't really seen it. In the late 60s, censorship was temporarily relaxed: Ratings were "G" for Nothing Offensive, and "M" in case there was anything objectionable. With the wisdom of their breed, Studio execs quickly realized they should try to get away with as much as possible, and films like GUNN, DEADLIER THAN THE MALE and NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY were filled with raunchy (for those days) sex and violence. However, with an eye to TV showing, the studio execs also had alternate scenes shot for these films and the resulting Tv showings were tepid at best. The movie version of PJ has a seamy, tasteless feel totally appropriate to a cheap Private Eye film.