THE AFFAIRS OF MESSALINA (1951)

Rome, 44 A.D. The emperor Claudius is upset at the spendthrift ways of his wife, the empress Messalina. In theory, she is in charge of overseeing public morals, but Claudius doesn't know that, in addition to taking lovers behind his back—her current primary lover is Caius Silvius—she disguises herself at night as a prostitute named Licisca, collects gossip and takes more lovers. Rebel leader Valerius, who knows about her subterfuge, berates her, calling her "the dishonor of Rome." Eventually Claudius feels he has no choice but to sentence Valerius to death, allowing him to commit suicide. Caius struggles between the attractions of Messalina and the pull of the revolutionaries, as Valerius names Caius his successor, and when Messalina tries to bed him while the funeral pyre of Valerius burns, he rebuffs her. Other characters abound, and a scorecard would be helpful to keep track of their loyalties. Mnester, a court advisor; Lucius, Mnester's handsome adopted son who can imitate a finch—I assumed he was Mnester's catamite though we later see him using his finch call as a signal to have sex with Messalina; Narcissus, a rather fey member of the court; Cinzia, a dancing girl who is in danger of being put to death when she fumbles some dance moves during a court dinner (during which it looks like an orgy will break out any minute); Timius, the brave young protector of Cinzia.

At a party/orgy, the oracular witch Ismene, in league with the rebels, foretells the death of Claudius, or as she words it, the husband of Messalina. Claudius is talked into divorcing Messalina and letting her marry Caius so he will be the doomed man, but this is the plan of those who seek Messalina's downfall. Unfortunately, Octavius, one of the senior rebels, thinks that Caius will go through with the marriage and become emperor, betraying the late Valerius. Things head toward a climax during a day of gladiator games when Cinzia (apparently a secret Christian) is magically able to save Timus from being eaten by lions. Later, Timius is spared from being killed by lead gladiator Taurus (apparently a secret rebel). With Claudius having left Rome to oversee a huge delivery of needed wheat at Ostia, Messalina is at the mercy of various men who wish to see her powerless or dead.

At the time it was made, this was the most expensive Italian film ever, and though it's in black & white and is not widescreen, the production is impressive with elaborate sets, great costumes, and good performances. It's sometimes referred to as an early example of the peplum film, but it doesn't feel or look like one. There are swords and sandals but virtually no sweaty bare-chested muscle men, and the script is strong with several plot details threaded together in a literate way. Most of the character names are drawn from history; I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the events but they do follow broadly the same arc presented on Messalina’s Wikipedia page. The two leads, Mexican actress Maria Felix (Messalina) and French actor George Marchal (Caius) are very good; equally impressive are Jean Chevrier (Valerius), Erno Crisa (Timius), Delia Scala (Cinzia), and Memo Benassi (Claudius). Several crowd scenes, especially at the games, are pulled off well. The print I saw had AI generated English subtitles and they certainly seemed complete and accurate. A good example of, if not a peplum, an early historical epic. Pictured at top right are Scala and Crisa; above left, Chevrier. [YouTube]

HIGHWAY 13 (1948)

The Norris Trucking Company has been experiencing a series of accidents which are making headlines, and the latest involves the death of Henrietta Denton, the Norris heiress, when her car plunges off of Highway 13. We meet a number of characters tied to the company. Frank, Henrietta's widower, gets the company to hire George, an old buddy of his, to investigate the accidents. Hank, a Denton driver, is dating Doris, a waitress who works at a truck stop diner called the Clover Cafe, run by her kindly old uncle Pops. George shadows Hank to get to know the drivers and the routes, and soon George suspects that whatever is going on is tied to the Clover Cafe. We know that George thinks that Pops, who does a number of check-ups on the trucks and has a criminal past, is a suspect, but George is sure that Hank is in the clear. A tragic accident (or possibly a planned murder) occurs which puts Hank in the spotlight, and he and Doris have to do some investigating to clear his name. This is a thoroughly average B-crime melodrama with some OK acting and enough characters to muddy the waters as we try to figure out who the villain is. I like Robert Lowery, a beefy character actor perhaps best known for playing Batman in the 1949 serial BATMAN AND ROBIN, and he's fine if a bit dim as Hank. Steve Pendleton gives good sidekick support as George, and Pamela Blake is perky as Doris. There is some folderol about Doris pressuring Hank to get a raise so they can get married, but it's just a plot device to allow him to make contact with Mary, a secretary and potential femme fatale (played by Maris Wrixon). Clem Bevans, who played old men for most of his long career, is Pops, who can be both cranky and amusing; Dan Seymour is a (perhaps shady) insurance investigator; Mary Gordon is Pops' kindly wife; Lyle Talbot has a small role as a detective. The plot twists keep you on your toes, and I must admit that the solution surprised me. Apparently the exteriors were shot alongside an actual California highway (14 rather than 13). Pictured are Lowery and Pendleton. [DVD]

OSS 117 IS UNLEASHED (1963)

Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, a secret agent who goes by OSS 117 and who seems closely modeled on James Bond, was featured in several French movies, mostly made in the 1960s. I reviewed two of them some years ago (PANIC IN BANGKOK and MISSION TO TOKYO), liked them, and promised to watch more soon. Five years later, here I am with another one under my belt. It has been determined by Western world leaders that a new kind of atomic submarine which cannot be detected by usual methods is the best chance at world peace, apparently considered a good deterrent since no country could know how close they might be. But someone is experimenting with a MacGuffin device that can detect the subs and a spy named Roos is on the villain's trail in the coastal town of Bonifacio in Corsica. We see him exploring an underwater grotto when he is speared and killed. The people with Roos at the time, a diving instructor named Renotte and his girlfriend Brigitta (who might have also been having an affair with Roos), claim he died in an accident. OSS 117 is sent to investigate. He latches onto Renotte, who escapes to Nice, and Brigitta, who may or may not be a full-scale baddie; sometimes she's a hindrance to OSS 117, sometimes a help. Mayan, the head villain, is testing the MacGuffin in Corsican grottoes, and soon enough, Renotte is killed, people drink poisoned whisky, and various ruses are pulled off to throw people off the track of who's following whom. There are fisticuffs and a well-staged underwater knife fight leading to a climax involving plenty of gunplay. This is the first of the 1960s films, the only one in black & white, and the first of two which stars American actor Kerwin Mathews. (The character is of French descent but grew up in America.) It's well made and fun without getting too jokey—the more obvious Eurospy satires and parodies would come a little later. Mathews is fine, not quite as charming or butch as Sean Connery was as Bond, but light on his feet, able to defend himself, and flirtatious enough with the ladies. In one scene, he kisses a car rental girl who tells him, "You have a gift for the French tongue." The movie looks good, and the underwater photography is particularly well done. Nadia Sanders (Brigitta) and Henri-Jacques Huet (Renotte) are fine, though the main bad guys are fairly colorless. There is a title song about OSS 117 (sadly, not translated in the subtitles) and a solid jazzy score by Michel Magne. Quite low-key enjoyable. I’m sorry it took me so long to get around to this, but I’ll make a point of getting to the last two in the series soon. Pictured above are Huet and Sanders. [DVD]

THE GREAT HOTEL MURDER (1935)

In San Francisco, there's a medical convention going on at the Hotel Mardena. House detective Andy McCabe has a friendly rivalry with mystery writer Roger Blackwood; Blackwood considers himself an expert at solving mysteries but McCabe insists that "anyone can solve a mystery when they write their own answers." The two get a chance to compete when a Dr. Temple is found dead in his room, though it turns out that the dead man is not Temple but Chambers; the two had swapped rooms the night before because Temple's room was where Chambers had spent his honeymoon years ago. Because Chambers' death was from a drug overdose, he is assumed to have committed suicide, but physical evidence suggests that he may not have been alone and that he might have been using binoculars to spy on a hotel room across the street which was occupied by a Mrs. Blake. Then more evidence pops up to show that the dead man wasn't Chambers but a Mr. Blake. Confused yet? I got a little confused trying to write this summary from my movie-watching notes, but while watching, it wasn't too difficult to keep up. As a 70-minute B-mystery, some weakness in the writing is to be expected, and it is a bit talky, but there are some action setpieces involving people getting knocked out and locked in closets, fisticuffs, a car chase, a New Year's Eve party plunged into darkness, and some gunplay before the end, which is a bit abrupt. The acting is solid. Edmund Lowe plays Blackwood as relatively suave and Victor McLaglen plays McCabe as rough-edged, and though the two do have a certain respect for each other, they're not above some dirty tricks to stay ahead in the investigation. Familiar faces in support include C. Henry Gordon, Mary Carlisle, Henry O’Neill and John Wray. It drags a bit and is pretty thoroughly average for a second feature B-movie of the era. Pictured are McLaglen and Lowe. [YouTube]

A TRIP TO MARS (1918)

In Denmark, Avanti Planetaros returns home after a stint in the navy looking for a new direction for his life. Professor Planetaros, his scientist father, has just the thing: believing that space is the ultimate frontier, he asks his son to lead a private expedition to Mars in the Excelsior, a spaceship he's building with his friend Prof. Krafft. Another scientist, Prof. Dubius, expresses mocking disbelief in the project, especially when Avanti starts talking about building "bridges between planets," but two years later, the ship, looking like a cross between a dirigible and a biplane, is ready. Avanti leads a crew of volunteers into outer space. During the six months of the trip, unrest sets in, with the heavy drinking David Dane about ready to mutiny. Meanwhile on Mars, the Martians, seeing the ship approaching, pull it in with a tractor beam. The Martians seem, to our eyes, like proto-hippies: human looking folks who dress in white robes, eat only fruit, communicate through a "language of the heart" (which the Earthlings hear as their own language) and are non-violent—we see a flashback to their violent past which they have overcome. A misunderstanding leads to a grenade being set off, wounding some Martians, but the Earthlings repent, are dressed in the Robes of Innocence, take part in the Dance of Chastity, and sleep in the Forest of Love. (Like I said, hippies, except for the chastity thing.) Avanti falls for the Martian woman Marya; she tells him to sleep under the Tree of Longing and if he dreams of her, then they are meant to be together. He does and they are. Soon, Prof. Krafft wants to return to Earth to be with his love, Corona, Avanti's sister, and Marya agrees to go to Earth with Avanti. The Martian elder, Marya's father, is ready for something that seems like assisted suicide and goes off to the Cave of Death. The Martians send the Earthlings home with platitudes like, "Space is the mother of life," and "Love is the force you call God." Happy endings for all except Dubius who, when he learns that the Excelsior is returning successfully, tries to be reconciled with Prof. Planetaros but is instead struck by lightning and killed just as the spaceship lands.

This Danish silent movie is strange, unique and quite wonderful. It's been called the first space opera movie but a modern audience would not really recognize it as such. With a distinct lack of explicit science, it's more an adventure fantasy along the lines of the John Carter novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs or the stories of A. Merritt or H. Rider Haggard. The movie was thought lost until 2006 and it has been beautifully restored, showing off imaginative visuals and special effects that, for the era, are quite good. One part of the very Earthlike Martian landscape looks like Shangri-La did in the 1937 LOST HORIZON. The acting may put off today's viewers, as it's very much of the overwrought silent type, but for silent movie fans it's just par for the course. No one really stands out as good or bad; Gunnar Tolnas is heroic enough as Avanti (great name) and Fredrick Jacobsen is a bit over the top as the villain Dubius. The pacifist utopia of Mars, presented just a year after the end of WWI as a necessary move from the "curse of [spilled] blood," might have been quite welcome by audiences; indeed, the film was apparently a big hit. The film’s original Danish title, Himmelskibet, translates as Heaven Ship. I liked this movie quite a bit and recommend it, particularly to silent films buffs. [YouTube]

VIOLENT MIDNIGHT (1963)

We open with a flashback to an incident in which a man is shot in the face in a hunting accident that his son blames himself for. Years later, Elliot, the son, is a famous painter who is still haunted by his father's death, and by his experiences as a particularly brutal soldier in the Korean War. We meet his lawyer Adrian, the lawyer's mute chauffeur Max (basically a creepy red herring spook figure), and Elliot's current model Dolores who poses in the nude. She and Elliot had a brief fling some time ago, though now she keeps company with the short tempered leather hood Charlie. One night at a bar, Elliot and Charlie get in a fight and even though Charlie pulls a knife, Elliot kicks his ass. Dolores tries to trap the wealthy Elliot into marriage by claiming she's pregnant by him, but since their affair took place over six months ago, he knows that's not true. Later, Dolores is brutally killed by a knife-wielding figure and Elliot becomes a suspect. The next day, Elliot's sister Lynn arrives in town to attend a girls boarding school where she makes friends with the slutty Alice and the wholesome Carol. Alice flirts with Elliot and later makes out hot and heavy with Charlie—who wastes little time mourning Dolores as he also seems to be sexing it up with Sylvia, a rode hard and put away wet townie but a good gal anyway. Meanwhile, Carol and Elliot get interested in each other. One night at the bar, Charlie gets his revenge and beats Elliot up so badly, he thinks Elliot might be dead, but that doesn't stop him from taking Elliot's car on a joyride with Alice to a skinny dipping spot. Later, Alice winds up dead and when Sylvia suspects Charlie, she calls the cops which leads him to smack her around. Adrian, the lawyer, who acts a bit like a suspect himself, tries to forcibly commit Elliot to an institution in Boston. One other suspect pops in and out of the movie: a nebbishy school employee who is a bit of a peeping tom. The effective climax occurs at night during a storm with possibly two stalker figures in action.

This film was obviously inspired by Hitchcock's PSYCHO (the first killing, presented in silhouette, has some Psycho-shower style shots) and may have been an inspiration to the later Italian giallo films (killers in trench coats and gloves). Produced and unofficially co-directed by cult figure Del Tenney (THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH), this low-budget horror-mystery is actually pretty good on its own terms. The script could have used another draft—I don't think it was ever made fully clear what went on during the opening hunting accident—but the nighttime cinematography and solid acting kept me with it. Handsome Lee Philips (from the original Peyton Place movie) is nicely low-key as Elliot; he is sympathetic while he remains realistically suspicious. James Farentino (Charlie), in his first film role, is convincingly sexy and dangerous; Sylvia Miles is fun as the most mannish looking straight woman  you've ever seen—and if this had been made a few years later, it probably would have been a full-on genderfuck role. Jean Hale (Carol), Kaye Elhardt (Dolores) and Lorraine Rogers (Alice) are all good, as is second-billed Shepperd Strudwick as the lawyer. There’s a tiny bit of nudity but this is definitely a notch or two above the typical drive-in/grindhouse films of the era. Also released as PSYCHOMANIA. Pictured at top are Miles and Farentino; at right is Philips. [DVD]

RED DESERT (1964)

Giuliana (Monica Vitti, at left), married to Ugo (Carlo Chionetti), an upper-level manager at a chemical plant, has recently spent some weeks recovering, both physically and mentally, from an auto accident. As Ugo puts it, her gears aren't quite meshing yet. We discover later in the story that she also tried to kill herself. We first meet her as she takes her son to visit Ugo at his plant, in a landscape that is gray and muddy and littered with junk. In some ways, she seems like an upper-class pampered wife: a nanny takes care of her young son, she has a nice wardrobe, and she is working on opening a shop. However, the shop is in an oddly rundown neighborhood and she can't decide what to sell there, or even what color to paint its walls, and she spends her days walking randomly through a grimy industrial landscape. A visiting executive, Corrado (Richard Harris, pictured with Vitti below right), is looking to hire men to work at a plant in Argentina, and he becomes smitten with Giuliana, visiting her frequently. She seems attracted by his interest, but her demeanor is mostly that of a bored or depressed person sleepwalking through life. For his part, Corrado also feels a little off, a little low-key, letting Giuliana set the (slow) pace of their growing relationship. Eventually they do have sex but it doesn't really change things for either one. Giuliana finally admits, "There's something terrible about reality and I don't know what it is." The movie ends like it began, with Giuliana and her son at Ugo's plant. She sees yellow smoke coming out of the smokestacks and tells her son that it's poisonous. He asks if it will kill the birds, and she says that the birds have learned to stay away from it.

Michelangelo Antonioni became internationally famous for three black & white movies in the early 1960s (L’AVVENTURA, LA NOTTE, and L’ECLISSE) starring Monica Vitti. They become known as the Alienation Trilogy because they seemed to deal with our estrangement from our surroundings and from other people, but they could also be called the Lethargy Trilogy (people tend to be wandering through life without purpose) or the Ambiguity Trilogy (nothing much happens in terms of plot and little is resolved by the end). But like the Star Wars movies and the Indiana Jones movies, a trilogy wasn't enough. Antonioni made one more alienation movie with Monica Vitti but shot it in color. Critics note that the color palette seemed more important to Antonioni than the drama; despite being filmed in drab industrial locations, there are a lot of bright colors—reds, yellows, blues—and he even had grass and vegetation dyed to make it stand out, or in at least one case, where a peddler's fruits are painted gray, not stand out. Like the other three films, there is the promise of a traditional plot though things again end in mystery and uncertainty. Despite all the colors, I find the movie to have an ugly look. For example, the stripes of bright red that run through shots of huge industrial equipment just serve to emphasize the grunginess of the setting. Critics claimed he was exposing our modern world as ugly, but Antonioni went on record as saying that he wanted to show the beauty of industry (and maybe decay) and the necessity of adapting to circumstances. I say, trust the tale not the teller. It may be that we're supposed to see Vitti as slowly accepting her place in her industrial milieu—maybe like a bird, she will learn to avoid the poison—but for me, I don't really see her as much different in the end than she was at the beginning.

Vitti, as always, is beautiful and totally commits herself to her role. Richard Harris tamps down his usual vigor and is quite good (and quietly attractive) as Corrado who seems genuinely concerned with Giuliana but has no idea how to help. At times, you can practically see him biting his lips to avoid expressing too much emotion. The other actors rarely make much of an impression. A lengthy sequence in the middle of the movie has Ugo take Giuliana and Corrado to an odd little party in a rundown shack on an industrial shoreline (which set me thinking of the B-52s "Love Shack"). A mini-orgy seems about to break out in a tiny room, but they're all too enervated to do anything about it. The scene ends with a ship carrying a critically ill person pulling up near the shore and Giuliana freaking out as her companions disappear into fog. At one point, Giuliana's boy loses the ability to walk or stand up, and she fears he has polio, but it turns out he was faking it—why, we don't know; will he be punished, we don't know. As usual with this director, the backgrounds are interesting, sometimes more so than what’s happening in front of them. At two hours, this movie frequently drags. If you only want to sample the alienation movies, go for L'AVVENTURA or LA NOTTE. If you love Monica Vittii, see it. [Criterion Channel]

JENNIFER (1953)

Agnes Langley is hired by Lorna Gale to be the live-in caretaker at the currently unoccupied Gale estate, to replace Jennifer, a cousin and previous caretaker who has vanished. When Agnes stops at a gas station to ask for directions, the attendant warns her away from the mysterious mansion but for no solid reason. Agnes moves in and local store owner Jim Hollis agrees to check on her from time to time. Agnes finds Jennifer's diary which records her unease in the house, and Agnes begins to feel that unease, like she may not be alone in the house. (The tension in these early scenes relies a bit too much on some overdone spooky music used as the background score.) Orin, a college student who works as Jim's delivery boy and handyman at the Gale house, comes off as harmless and innocent, but his prattling on about the mystery of Jennifer adds to Agnes's worries. A bankbook belonging to Jennifer is found and Agnes sees several large deposits in the weeks before she disappeared, and discovers that she may have been involved in a scandal in Los Angeles in which a businessman she worked for committed suicide. This makes Agnes think that Jennifer was blackmailing someone, and that perhaps Jennifer has been killed and her body is somewhere in the house. Slowly, almost despite herself, Agnes begins to fall for Jim, but she's also suspicious that he knows more about Jennifer's disappearance than he lets on, especially when Orin plants seeds of doubt about Jim in her mind. Encouraged by Jim to fully explore the mansion, she finds a wooden crate full of water in the basement, and when she looks in, she sees Jennifer. Or does she?

This is a decent psychological thriller; though engaging for much of its length, the solution to the mystery is surprisingly bland; everything could have been cleared up in the first twenty minutes, but then this would be an Alfred Hitchcock Presents half-hour show instead of a 73-minute B-movie. It does have a low-budget feel (the house in particular looks cheap and plain), but the polished cinematography by James Wong Howe gives it a nicely atmospheric look. The acting is a bit too low-key at times, but ratcheting things up too much might have led to a campy tone. Ida Lupino (above left) carries the movie well as Agnes, who is in almost every scene. She's a little highly strung (the reasons for which aren't explored) but mostly stays grounded. Howard Duff, Lupino's real-life husband (pictured with Lupino at right), is casually masculine and understanding as Jim, though leaving open the possibility that he may indeed be dangerous. In some ways, Robert Nichols gives the best performance as Orin whom it is difficult to get a handle on. Is he just a slightly goofy kid or is there more under the surface? Is he actively threatening to Agnes or just accidentally stirring her paranoid fears? His only problem: he's supposed to be 19 but was almost 30 at the time; he doesn’t look like a teenager but he does mostly act like one. The classic jazz standard "Angel Eyes," sung here in a piano bar by its composer, Matt Dennis, went on to become a standard, perhaps best done by the fabulous Ella Fitzgerald. In the movie, it sounds a bit bland, but Ella makes it mysterious and heartbreaking. This movie has flown beneath my classic movie radar but it's worth a look. BTW, there is a strange final shot that seems to indicate something mysterious, but it's not clear what. Ignore it. [Blu-ray]

THE CRIME OF MONSIEUR LANGE (1936)

Monsieur Lange and his mistress Valentine stop at a village inn for an overnight stay. The locals at the bar realize that Lange is on the run from a murder charge. As they debate whether or not to inform the police, Valentine tells them his story. In Paris, Valentine flirted with Lange, an employee of the Batala publishing house. It comes to the attention of M. Meunier, who has loaned a great deal of money to Batala, that the money, intended to shore up the company, was used by Batala for personal items, and he's ready to call in Batala's debt. Lange shows Batala some pulp western stories he's written featuring a cowboy called Arizona Jim, and Batala signs him up for a stand alone magazine, though he gets Lange to sign away all his rights to the character. Arizona Jim is a big hit and soon Batala is putting product placement bits into the stories. Batala has also taken advantage of Estelle, girlfriend of the young and innocent Charles, a buddy of Lange's, and gotten her pregnant. When Batala goes on the run to escape the claims of Meunier, his train derails, killing many passengers. Batala survives and switches clothes with a priest so Batala is reported dead. At the publishing house, Lange leads a movement to keep the business going by running it as a collective. It becomes a success, with Arizona Jim the leader in sales, but soon Batala returns, intending to take back the company. When he tries to assault Valentine, Lange shoots him dead. Will the village drinkers side with him and let him escape?

Though ultimately a crime story, director Jean Renoir has come up with a frothy little concoction of romance, politics and satire. Though Lange (Rene Lefevre) is the title character, this is mostly a kind of slice of life ensemble piece. No other characters come into sharp focus, but in some ways, Lange doesn't either; he's just another nice-guy employee who gets a lucky break. Valentine (played by the single-named Florelle) is even less developed. Batala (Jules Berry) is almost the central character by virtue of his change from a garden variety bad boss to a cheat to a criminal. Charles (Maurice Baquet), another mild nice guy, stands out partly due to having a broken leg for a chunk of the story. The acting is fine but the movie is carried by its tone, story, and vigorous camera style. Some viewers see this as rabble-rousing socialist propaganda, but Renoir himself denied that it was meant to be taken that way, though it's difficult not to see the success of the collectivization as being important to the plot. I liked that Lange became a sort of real-life Arizona Jim, saving the publishing company and killing the would-be assaulter. Pictured are Florelle and Lefevre. [Criterion Channel]

LOVE HAS MANY FACES (1965)

Our theme song, sung by Nancy Wilson, includes the line, "Love has many faces and I mean to kiss every one," so this might be a long movie. We begin on a beach in Acapulco as the body of a young beachside gigolo, Billy Andrews, washes up on shore. The police assume suicide—his last words the night before as he headed out to sea were, "I want to find where the sun goes down"—but leave open the possibility of murder. He's wearing a bracelet with the words, "Love is thin ice" engraved on it, which is traced to rich American socialite Kit Jordan (whom we discover later made headlines years ago as Kathryn Lawson Chandler when she got an abortion) who lives in a gorgeous house above the beach. She admits to having had a fling with Kit before her recent marriage to Pete Jordan, himself a former golddigging beach boy who lives off of Kit's money. In fact, it seems that the entire beach is filled with tanned, well-built, Speedo-clad beach boys out to give rich American women a good time, for a price. Kit and Pete are unsettled and snarky to each other. She notes that when there are others around, "we don’t zing, zing, zing each other." He replies, "We just drink, drink, drink." Hank is another beach boy (maybe beach bum is a better word as he is near 40) who is currently mentoring the young (20-something) Chuck. Hank latches onto the vacationing middle-aged Margot which leaves Chuck with her friend Irene. The group is soon joined by Carol, Billy's fiancée, searching for answers concerning Billy's death. Kit resents her presence (as Carol verges on blaming Kit for Billy's death) but Pete takes a shine to the innocent young Carol and the two embark on a dragged-out "will they or won’t they" game of guilty flirtation. Back at Hank's place, he seduces the very willing Margot then snaps a picture of her sleeping naked in his bed to use as blackmail to get more money out of her. For her part, Margot lets him know she was willing to bankroll him indefinitely, but his tactics have turned her against him. Chuck, who is not as hard-edged yet, gets disillusioned seeing what Hank has resorted to. Our central triangle (Kit, Pete, and Carol) gets sorted out in a climax which involves all concerned present at a matador training session which turns potentially deadly.

I was having a hell of a lot of fun during this movie's first two-thirds: sun, sand, ocean, cocktails, women in bikinis and, most importantly, men in bathing suits. It's prime soap opera material and the actors are all game. Lana Turner, in one of her last big movie roles, still looks great and is perfect as the bitchy but suffering rich lady. It's a little unclear how much we're supposed to like or dislike her, but ultimately I think she has to suffer a bit too much by the end (mild spoiler: Pete finally does reform and agrees to get a paying job). Cliff Robertson (Pete), only a couple of years younger than Turner, is just as good as the "hero," accepting of being kept by his wife but also restless and, once Carol enters the picture, a bit ashamed. The manly, hairy-chested Hugh O'Brian (Hank) walks a nice line between being proud of being a gigolo and coming to realize that he may be getting a bit old for the part. Stefanie Powers (Carol) comes up a bit short, partly because the role is not fleshed out very well. Also, as a supporting player, she comes in second to Ruth Roman (Margot) who gives an excellent performance in a role she probably could have phoned in. Ron Husmann is very cute and sweet as the newbie Chuck, and Virginia Grey is fine as Irene. Ricardo Montalban's brother Carlos has a small role as a matador.

I was never quite able to decode the Kit/Pete relationship. It seems like the screenwriter, Marguerite Roberts (who later scripted True Grit) couldn't decide if one or the other was to blame for their mildly decadent entanglement. Traditionally, we'd blame the woman for emasculating the man, but here, both come off as rather numb to their situation, and Pete's traditional masculinity doesn't really seem threatened. Partly due to this, the movie doesn't, for me, hit the camp mark; it's all a little too serious with no one, not even Turner, going over the top (even though Turner has a dozen fabulous costume changes and was dressed by the legendary Edith Head). However, as other viewers have noticed, the film could be mined today for queer content as Hank and Chuck, usually seen together, chests glistening in their Speedos, come very close to coming off as an on-the-lowdown gay couple, with Chuck giving Hank some worshipful glances now and then. The only real misstep is the last fifteen minutes—the bull training segment drags on and on and provides an overly melodramatic climax. But I'm just quibbling here; I quite liked this and could make it regular summer viewing. At top right, Turner and Robertson; at left, O'Brian and Husmann. [Amazon Prime]