SURRENDER—HELL! (1959)

Lieutenant Donald Blackburn is stationed in the Philippines at the outbreak of World War II. American forces on Bataan are ordered to surrender, leading to the infamous Bataan Death March during which thousands of American and Filipino prisoners of war died. But Blackburn refuses to surrender, joining several natives as they take to the jungles. A native woman named Delia is especially helpful, tending to Blackburn as he recovers from malaria. He soon falls in with a group of guerillas in high mountain country led by a woman named Pilar, and he more or less adopts an orphan boy named Bruno. After Corregidor in Manila Bay falls to the Japanese, Blackburn conscripts his guerilla fighters into the United States Army, paying them with IOUs that will be honored by the Army after the war. Not all natives are willing to defy the Japanese occupiers by joining up, and eventually Blackburn resorts to signing up a couple of headhunting tribes to fight. Despite some casualties and resistance against them by some locals, the group, which he dubs the 11th Infantry, is successful in fighting the occupiers, most notably by destroying a strategically important bridge. Blackburn and Pilar fall in love, though as they bring to a close their freeing of Northern Luzon, Pilar is captured and eventually dies in Blackburn's arms. In the end, Blackburn's troops are honored by the Army and Blackburn turns over his command to a local officer. This is based on a true story, and Blackburn himself is credited as a technical advisor, but the B-movie budget and behind-the-camera talent are both lacking, and a narrative that has potential ends up rather boring. The handsome Keith Andes (pictured) is fine as Blackburn and he's on screen for almost the entire movie, but there is more telling than showing here; I assume the low budget led to the use of ever-present narration by Andes. There are a couple of action scenes, but mostly narration and conversation carry the movie forward. Susan Cabot (THE WASP WOMAN) as Delia is second billed behind Andes, but vanishes from the film fairly quickly, replaced by Filipino actress Paralumen as Pilar who is fine. It was apparently filmed on location but it mostly looks like sound stages and California locations. Stock footage is used fairly well. Generally, a bland war movie for fans of Keith Andes only. [YouTube]

NEXT TIME I MARRY (1938)

A well-off woman (Lucille Ball) drives slowly past a roadside crew of ditch diggers asking each one if he is married. The first one who says he isn't, though he is very attached to his Great Dane dog Mike, is James Ellison. Ball offers him $500 to marry her immediately, and when he says that's not enough money, she offers a thousand. He says all he needs is $793, so they strike a deal. A justice of the peace marries them; he kisses her, then she slaps him, pays him, and leaves. We find out she’s a heiress about to come into some big money with the stipulation that she's married to a "plain American" man. The problem is that her fiancé (Lee Bowman) is French, so her plan was to marry some poor schmoe to qualify for the money, then head to Reno for a divorce and marry Bowman who, though handsome and charming, is probably a fortune hunter. When the press finds out what's going on, they dub Ellison a Cinderella man which he resents. Ball wants to get to Reno first to file for the divorce, but Ellison traps her in his ride-behind trailer so they will wind up in the city together. At a gas station stop, she ducks out and hitchhikes, but when two men try to assault her, she is saved by Ellison and his dog. Ball and Ellison warm to each other until the press claims he has a wife in Chicago, and Ball discovers a ledger page with the name Caroline, to whom the $793 she paid him will go. Eventually, Bowman catches up with them and Ball travels with him. It turns out that Caroline is the name of a boat that Ellison is making final payments on, and the Chicago wife is not his wife after all. What will happen in Reno? 

This little-known B-movie is one of Lucille Ball's first starring roles after a string of comedic supporting parts at RKO. It's a charming semi-screwball comedy which sort of falls apart in the last fifteen minutes. The screenwriters didn't seem sure what to do once they got to Reno and they threw some creaky plot mechanics in. But enough of the movie works to be a pleasant watch. Ball is very good; it's almost like she's road testing her Lucy Ricardo persona. Ellison, a favorite B-lead of mine, is almost as good as the plain American who falls for Ball but also resents her tricks. Bowman rounds out the main cast quite nicely. With a little tweak of his performance, he could have taken Ellison's role, though the reverse might not work—I'm not sure Ellison could come off as deviously as Bowman does. Director Garson Kanin, better known as a writer (the play Born Yesterday, and some Tracy/Hepburn movies co-written with his wife Ruth Gordon), keeps the pace snappy until the end. In small roles are familiar faces like Mantan Moreland, Dick Elliott, and Cy Kendall. Generally, a nice surprise find. Pictured are Ball and Ellison. [TCM]

MESSALINA VENUS EMPRESS (1960)

Yesterday I reviewed one Italian version of the life of Roman empress Messalina; this version, made nine years later in color and widescreen, is much closer to the peplum genre. The tone is frivolous at times, more liberties are taken with the historical record, and there is more sex and violence. Yet it is the lesser movie of the two. This begins with Valeria Messalina, as a candidate to be a vestal virgin, and Praetorian guard soldier Lucius Maximus meeting cute (or sexy-cute) in the gardens of Vesta. They sex it up in the woods and he leaves for a two year assignment in Armenia. Meanwhile after the murder of Caligula, Caio Silio approaches Messalina to become the wife of the new emperor Claudius as a way to appease the aristocrats who oppose him. A nobleman instrumental to the plot tries to have sex with Messalina on her wedding night, but she kills him. Later, young Marcello is dispatched by her enemies to kill her, but she seduces him, kills him, and has his head sent to the plotters. Years later, Lucius returns and when he sees her, not knowing that she is the empress, she immediately strips for him and they have sex (again). He's a bit disoriented later when he is introduced to her as Messalina. Her reputation among the people is high, but he finds out that she is behind a plot to evacuate a group of poor people (and, it develops, mostly Christians) and is torn between his conscience and his lustful urges. Believe it or not, his conscience eventually wins. This certainly has its moments, including a free-for-all bar fight (marred by some phony looking fisticuffs), some sexy dancing, and a finale capped by an impressive shot of a slaughter scene. I'm assuming that most of the characters are fictional; aside from Messalina and Claudius, the only other character from the earlier film is the gay Narcissus. Here, our hero gets a happy ending, riding off into the sunset with his Christian teenage groupie Sylvia. British actress Belinda Lee is good as Messalina—sadly, she was killed in a car accident just a year later. Spiros Focas (Lucius) is fine. Ida Galli makes for a perky Sylvia (she'd be at home in a 60s beach movie) and Giuliano Gemma (pictured) is a handsome twinkish Marcello. The print I saw was in fine shape visually but had poor subtitles, no better than those you'd find on YouTube. It didn't get a theatrical release in the States but was shown on television in the 1960s as Messalina. I may have had my fill of Messalina movies, though there are others, including one that pits her against a son of Hercules which I may have to dig up. [Amazon Prime]

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]

ISLAND OF LOST MEN (1939)

In Singapore, nightclub singer China Lily (Anna May Wong) is noticed by Gregory Prin (J. Carroll Naish), a Malaysian plantation manager. He invites her to join him on a trip upriver to visit his digs. His interest, most likely, is sexual, though nothing seems to happen between them; for her part, she notices that he wears a medallion that belonged to her missing father. We eventually learn that her real name is Kim Ling and she is looking for her disgraced father Ahn Ling who is assumed to have embezzled $300,000 from the Chinese government meant to purchase arms. She finds out that Prin hires mostly outlaws and men on the run from their pasts to work as overseers along the river, and she thinks she might find her father there, though she doesn't tell Prin her motive. At the main outpost, we meet Prin's primary overseers: the Chinese Chang Tai (Anthony Quinn) looks young and healthy, but the middle-aged white men Frobenius and Prof. Senn seem a little the worse for wear. We also meet Prin's valet Herbert (and his annoying pet monkey Egbert), who may be a bit obsequious but also maybe smarter than he comes off. Kim and Chang recognize each other; he is a secret service member who is also looking for Kim's father. As they secretly work together, another man, Ballister (Broderick Crawford), shows up, oozing slime that he tries to pass off as charm, and, knowing the situation, is looking to engage in a little blackmail of Prin, keeping quiet in exchange for a chunk of the stolen money. Signs of native uprisings begin to appear. The man in charge of a large trading post at Tenwek quits; Prin lets him, but then has him killed on the river. Chang Tai, suspecting that Ling is being held there, gets himself sent up to Tenwek to investigate. Soon Prin learns Kim's real identity and seems to have the upper hand against Ballister, but Kim finds the stolen money, Chang finds Lin, and when Prin cruelly shoots and kills Herbert's beloved pet monkey, the tables turn.

This B-melodrama (no, dear fellow bloggers, it's not noir) is a remake of 1933's WHITE WOMAN, following the main plot beats with lesser stars in the lead parts, but the supporting cast in particular here makes this one worth seeing. Wong is weak and wooden as usual, and practically disappears into the background, both as an actor and a character. Naish, usually an asset, overacts and uses an outrageous accent that sounds exactly like the one Peter Sellers adopted satirically years later when he lampooned Charlie Chan in MURDER BY DEATH. But the movie is saved by others. Anthony Quinn is young and sleekly handsome and in control as the initially mysterious Chang Tai; Eric Blore gets a little more to do than usual as the valet Herbert—he is mild comic relief but also plays an important role in the climax. Ernest Truex (Frobenius) and Rudolf Forster (Senn) underplay their roles while still bringing their characters to life just enough to make us care a little bit about them. Best of all is Broderick Crawford, pictured, as Ballister. For starters, he's far more appealing looking than he usually was; he's beefy but not yet obese, and in some shots is almost handsome. His character is interesting; he appears as a spoiler to Prin's plans but he has to fight to keep the upper hand. The exciting climax plays out between Ballister and Prin, and we're not really sure who we want to win. It's sort of fun to realize about a third of the way in that none of the characters like each other, except Kim and Chang, and they seem more bonded by circumstance than anything else. This comes fairly close to being as good as the original; the presence of Charles Laughton and Carole Lombard in the 1933 film gives it the edge. Not to be confused with Island of Doomed Men or Island of Lost Women or Island of Lost Souls or Isle of Missing Men. [YouTube]

THE MURDERERS ARE AMONG US (1946)

Berlin, 1945, just after the Allied victory. The streets and buildings are ravaged and full of rubble. Hans is a former doctor who has been mentally damaged by the war. Because of trauma—we discover later that he witnessed an atrocity involving murdered children—he can no longer practice medicine and stays drunk as much as he can, having taken up residence in an apartment with broken windows. Susanne, former occupant of the apartment, has just been released from a concentration camp where she's been since 1942. She had a long-term lease on her rooms and returns to take up residence, but Hans refuses to leave so she agrees to let him stay. Slowly, the two become friendly, and he expresses hope that someday, he will be capable of loving her. Mondschein, an ailing optometrist who lives in the building, has been waiting for the return of his son, a German soldier, and goes to a medium to see if she can tell him if his son is still alive. She has a vision of the two of them meeting on a bridge so he keeps hoping. Susanne discovers that Bruckner, a soldier that Hans knew and assumed was dead, is still alive and she encourages him to visit. He is reluctant and when he does, he takes a gun, intending to shoot Bruckner, who was responsible for the massacre that Hans witnessed. He is interrupted by an emergency request for help for an ill child who is having trouble breathing. Hans overcomes his aversion to doctoring and successfully helps the child. It would appear that he is starting on a road to recovery. He and Susanne become a couple and he gets a medical job, but the arrival of Christmas leads to a tragedy for Mondschein and a renewal of trauma for Hans (the massacre happened at Christmas), and on Christmas Eve, Hans sets out to exact revenge against Bruckner.

This was the first feature film to come out of Germany after the war. It has been labeled as the first in a series of "rubble films" which were shot on location in the bombed-out streets of German cities. They usually addressed issues of reconstructing both cities and lives, and often involved the avoidance or acceptance of collective guilt over the war. Directed by Wolfgang Staude, the movie has astonishing visuals, using what I assume are actual sites of destruction for an authentic atmosphere (though it's possible that the apartment scenes were shot in a studio), and a style which invokes German expressionism of the 1920s—lots of shadows and tilted camera angles. An atmosphere of dark gloom hangs over the whole film; near the climax, there's a gorgeous shot of snow in a ruined church, and a remarkable shadow effect as Hans approaches Bruckner. The ending is cautiously optimistic but does not wipe away the darkness that has built, in the film or for the characters. Both leading actors are excellent. Hildegard Knef (Susanne) went on to a successful career in both Germany and Hollywood; Wilhelm Borchert (Hans) continued acting in Germany and also did a lot of German-language dubbing of Hollywood films. Neither of them (both pictured above) strike a false note in their performances. [Spoiler:] The director's intended ending has Hans killing Bruckner on Christmas Eve, but the final version instead has Susanne talking Hans into turning Bruckner into the authorities, which dramatically is probably the better ending. If there's a fault in the script, it's that neither lead is fully fleshed out—that's especially a problem with Susanne who begins as the central character. We learn nothing about her camp stay and she seems remarkably unscarred by her experience. The focus shifts to Hans who is given more backstory as Susanne recedes into the background. But this isn't a major flaw. This noir-flavored melodrama is well worth searching out. [TCM]

THE GREEN HORNET (1974) / FURY OF THE DRAGON (1976)

After the untimely death of Bruce Lee in 1973, followed by the huge success of his posthumously released martial arts film Enter the Dragon, anything with Lee’s name attached was guaranteed an audience, so 20th Century Fox released a theatrical feature film drawn from the 1960s Green Hornet superhero TV show. The lead role was taken by Van Williams, but Lee, as the Hornet's sidekick Kato, employed impressive kung fu moves to kick ass and became a breakout star, even though the show only lasted one season—and he is first billed here. The movie was a rather artless editing together of four TV episodes. The backstory, which is not featured in the film: The Green Hornet, a Batman-like crimefighter, is actually Britt Reid, a wealthy newspaper publisher. With his martial-arts trained valet Kato (the two wear small masks that barely hide their identities, as pictured at left), he comes off as a villain to the public but actually helps the police with tough cases. In the first episode, the Hornet discovers the existence of a list of racketeers being targeted for murder by a group headquartered at the high-class Explorer's Club, then finds out that he is next on the list. A two-part episode follows in which a UFO lands and shiny-suited space aliens (or so they seem) are after a new atomic bomb devised by a Dr. Mabuse. Though it's an interesting plotline, it's difficult to get past chuckling at the rather chunky bad guy in an unflatteringly tight silver outfit, although the more dangerous alien is an attractive woman in gold. The last story centers on a tong rivalry in Chinatown. There are no transitions between episodes, and instead of commercials, there are just fadeouts to the next scene. 

The Green Hornet series was played straight, not as camp like the Batman show, but even with TV budgets and cheap sets, this is fairly fun to watch, mostly to see Bruce Lee enliven the fisticuffs scenes with his martial arts moves. A couple of familiar faces crop up, including Tom Drake (the Boy Next Door in Meet Me in St. Louis), Frank Gerstle (a very busy tough-guy character actor) and Mako (a Japanese actor who was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for The Sand Pebbles). The Hornet's car, which Kato drives, is called the Black Beauty but it's a plain old sedan with green headlights and a small handful of tricked-out features. A second theatrical compilation, Fury of the Dragon, came out a few years later. Again made up of four episodes, this is more of a cheat on the moviegoing public, as the TV source for the movie is not in the title and is indicated nowhere in its marketing (see a New York city ad at right). Instead it's presented as though it's a kung fu adventure like Lee’s later films. Rather than coming from Fox, it was released by producer Laurence Joachim who worked on the original series. In addition to being a major league cheat, it's shoddily put together with most of the episodes chopped off at the end with no resolution to the storyline. This is especially egregious with the second episode involving a young cop who is trapped into a theft ring with his older partner. We never find out what happens to either cop. There is also an assassination attempt against Prince Rafia from Kahara, an art heist which targets Britt Reid, and some dope smugglers on a ship. If you just want to see Bruce Lee in action, you'll see some of that, and even the Hornet gets in a few moves, but overall the movie is a shambles. The best moment is when the Green Hornet commands Kato to "activate the Hornet Mortar," a powerful mini-missile shooter on the car. The TV shows have never been released to home video, but these films were released on DVD. Only for Lee fans and those curious about the TV show. Don't confuse with the 1940 serial. [YouTube]

THE MURDER MANSION (1972)

The first fifteen minutes or so of this Italian/Spanish gothic thriller is a confusing mish-mash of incidents that wind up being largely irrelevant to the rest of the movie. On the road to Milan, two people in a green car wind up racing with a motorcyclist, and a couple in a VW also get involved. They all end up lost in fog and take refuge at what looks to be an abandoned mansion near a cemetery. The group includes Fred, the handsome motorcyclist; Laura, a young woman he picked up; the goateed Mr. Porter, driver of the green car who had been coming on to Laura before she switched cars; Tremont, a lawyer, and his wife; Ernest and his mistress Ellen; and Elsa who is meeting Tremont to (I think) finalize her divorce from Ernest, from whom she needs a signature. These folks enter the mansion and discover it’s inhabited by its owner, the sexy but aloof Marta, who tells them that a vampire epidemic caused most of the nearby villagers to leave town. Bolstering her story is a creepy witch and her apparently zombified chauffeur who are wandering around in the fog. The visitors soon discover that the mansion is about as creepy as the foggy exterior, with odd paintings of an occult bent hanging on the walls and mysterious noises coming from the cellar. The witch, who might be Marta's late aunt, and the chauffeur put in apparitional appearances, people start dying (though at least one person, found dead on a meat hook, later shows up alive), and Elsa seems to be going mad.

The first part of the film is so off-putting, I almost quit watching. But once everyone is in the house to stay, things become easier to follow. Though hints of supernatural happenings are everywhere, this is really a gothic old dark house mystery with elements of Agatha Christie and Scooby-Doo. That may seem like a spoiler, but it's fairly obvious from early on that the witch and the chauffeur aren't ghosts. What I won't spoil are the identities of the bad guys and the motivations for their dastardly plans. Even if you think you have it figured out, there are some nice surprises near the end. Visuals are good even if the script has its problems, and the acting is about par for the course. Best are Analia Gade as Elsa (pictured) and Ida Galli as Marta. Everyone else seems a bit stymied by their underdeveloped characters, but that doesn't hurt the film much. The musical score is a bit bombastic at times but effective—cackling shrieks are part of the score. Dubbing is poor (again, par for the course). On balance, I'd say this is worth seeing. Some critics call this a giallo, but fans of that genre will be disappointed. [YouTube]

DARK MANHATTAN (1937)

L.B. Lee's office has a plaque that refers to him as a real estate expert, but he's actually a numbers banker running a kind of clearinghouse for the daily numbers game in Harlem. As such, he has various bookies that report to him. One day, while investigating a fall-off of money from Jack Johnson's account, a pool hall down in a rough area known as The Jungles, he sees young Curly Thorpe breaking up a fight. Curly is talked up by Johnson, so Lee hires him as an assistant, letting him know that, though the numbers game is illegal, he operates in an aboveboard manner. On his first day, Curly shows up dressed to the nines, to the amusement of some of the number runners, but he proves such an asset that Lee's lawyer suggests that Lee follow his doctor's advice and relax, perhaps by traveling. Lee is reluctant to leave his main squeeze Flo who sings at the Club Congo, but after he suffers a heart attack, he stays in bed and lets Curly take over daily operations. Unfortunately, Curly takes a gangster attitude to the business; instead of talking to a bookie who is underperforming, he goes into the storefront with a couple of goons and busts it up good. This leads to gang battles and a police crackdown. He also begins seeing Flo on the side. Lee, called into a meeting of other numbers bankers, vows to end this "reign of terror," though it’s not clear if he knows that it's largely Curly's fault. When Curly announces that he is now Lee's full-fledged partner, Lee leaves for a rest in South America. The cops find numbers slips in Curly's possession and, though he's not arrested, a cop takes down his personal information in what he calls a DOA (dead on arrival) document, implying that Curly will wind up dead if he doesn't watch it. By the end, that document will come in handy.

This Poverty Row race movie is considered the first Black gangster film, though any viewer expecting much in the way of action will be disappointed. Until some gunplay in the last five minutes, the atmosphere is placid, stagy, and fairly artificial, and the sets are bare bones, especially disappointing in the Club Congo scenes. I make a couple of assumptions in my summary because some plot points were a bit unclear. But I found this worth sitting through for the solid acting, especially from Ralph Cooper as Curly. Known as the Dark Clark Gable, he only appeared in a handful of movies (including THE DUKE IS TOPS) but was handsome and projected a confident persona. He's in almost every scene but his character remains fuzzy. His movement from being almost sweet-natured to being violently aggressive isn't motivated, it just seems to happen. The character of Flo (played flatly by Cleo Herndon) adds almost nothing to the narrative. Clarence Brooks is fine as L.B., though he more or less vanishes from the last part of the story. Sam McDaniel, Hattie McDaniel's brother, is Jack Johnson, and Rubeline Glover is the numbers office secretary. I fault the director, Harry Fraser, for the slow and overly emphatic dialogue delivery of much of the cast. This is a bit slow going but different enough in content to make it worth seeing for race movie fans. Cooper is pictured in the center of the photo above. [YouTube]

DORIAN GRAY (1970)

This 1970's update of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray follows the original plot (using the same character names) fairly well. The young and handsome playboy Dorian Gray has his portrait painted by high society artist Basil Hallward. Art dealer (and general bad influence) Henry Wotten encourages Dorian to live a life of giving into temptation while he's young before he turns into "an old and hideous puppet." Dorian takes that advice and wishes out loud that he would stay young and his portrait would grow old instead. Over the years, Dorian becomes a decadent wastrel but remains beautiful while everyone else ages. Wilde leaves most of Dorian's immoral actions unclear, but he leads women to ruin and eventually commits murder. In the end, he slashes up his painting which has become ugly then drops dead; when he's found, his body is old and ugly but the painting again is beautiful. This version, which was promoted as almost softcore porn, would seem to be able to make more explicit what Dorian's decadence consists of, and it does a bit—in addition to ruining women, he ruins some men as well (and has what seems to be a one-off encounter in the shower with Henry, after he's slept with Henry's wife). But though there is some nudity, there is nothing even approaching porn here. The beautiful Austrian actor Helmut Berger is absolutely right in terms of looks as Dorian, but he's too restrained in his performance, just as Hurd Hatfield was back in the 1945 MGM version. The cheap looking portrait features a shirtless Berger in hip-hugging jeans which fails to capture any of Berger's beauty. 

Dorian's first step toward evil, as in the book, is his casual acceptance and rejection of young actress Sybil Vane—when he first sleeps with her, she's a virgin—and she falls so hard for him that her acting suffers. When Dorian sees how bad her performance in Romeo and Juliet is, he cuts her loose, causing her to kill herself, an act about which Dorian feels nothing. The character's gay side, which is only hinted at in the book, is a bit more clearly drawn here, but generally we still have to take the word of others that Dorian has become mad, bad and dangerous to know. Herbert Lom (pictured with Berger) is quite good as Henry, if not quite as good as George Sanders was in 1945, and he gets a handful of Wilde quotations to spout, though not nearly enough to come off as especially witty. Richard Todd is fine as Basil and Marie Liljedahl makes a decent updated Sybil. An actor named Stuart Black is fine as Sybil's brother but he did not go on to an acting career. The look of the film is problematic; though many years are supposed to pass, the whole movie looks like it's set in the mid-sixties. For some reason, the ending here is changed. Instead of stabbing the portrait and falling dead, he stabs himself and falls dead before the restored portrait. I agree with the critics who wish this had been a sleazier feeling movie. Because Dorian mostly remains a handsome cipher, we don't much get concerned with his journey. Aka The Secret of Dorian Gray. [YouTube]

THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (1947)

In 1900 London, widow Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) has decided, one year after the death of her husband, to take her daughter Anna and move out of her mother-in-law's house and live in a small town on the coast. Angelica, the mother-in-law, and Eva, the spinster sister-in-law, are downright angry about her taking a stab at independence, maybe because her maid Martha is going with her. Lucy takes an interest in Gull Cottage, a lovely house which sits right on the seashore, but the local realtor tries to talk her out of it, and she is creeped out a bit by a painting of the former owner, a ship captain named Daniel Gregg, which she is hanging in a dark room. The realtor tells her that Gregg committed suicide and people who have tried to live in the house complain that it's haunted, and Lucy, almost taking the situation as a challenge, decides to stay. On her first night in the house, during a storm, the ghost of Gregg (Rex Harrison) appears. He's talkative but not necessarily friendly, and insists that he didn't kill himself but accidently knocked over a gas heater while falling asleep. They get used to the idea of each other and he decides to let her stay without bothering her, and promises that he can only be seen by her. They get used to each other's company until one day when Angelica and Eva visit to tell her that her gold mine investment has stopped paying dividends. They want her to come back to London and she doesn’t want to. Gregg has an idea: he will dictate the colorful story of his life to her and she can sell it to a publisher. She does, it's a hit, and she buys Gull Cottage outright. She also meets a children's book author (George Sanders) who writes as Uncle Neddy, and the two begin dating. The ghost gets jealous and warns her against Neddy, but he finally realizes that she needs to get on with life, so one night while she's sleeping, he decides to stop visiting, making her think that any memories she has of him are from dreams. Unfortunately, Neddy turns out to be a scoundrel—he's married with children. Will Gregg return, or will Lucy live out her days at Gull Cottage alone? The answer might surprise you.

This gentle fantasy was part of a postwar trend of movies about ghosts and angels meant to appeal to people who had lost loved ones in combat. Others include It's a Wonderful Life, The Bishop's Wife, The Uninvited, The Canterville Ghost, and with more direct wartime plots, A Guy Named Joe and A Matter of Life and Death. It has a comic touch but by the end, the overwhelming feeling is one of melancholy. [Spoilers:] Gregg never does return, and Lucy remains alone for many years with vague dreamy memories of him. When she dies, Gregg returns and walks with her into the mists of the afterlife. Is this a happy ending? In a way, I suppose, but I was sad for all those years when she might have been in contact with Gregg, as a friend even if romance was, as he claims, impossible. We see that her adult daughter remains in her life, as does the faithful Martha, but we know of no attempts at dating or even socializing that she does during all those years. I guess it left me with much the same feeling as I have at the end of Thornton Wilder's play Our Town: sadness leavened with a little hope. Tierney and Harrison have very good chemistry that stops just short of being truly romantic, though the longing is there just under the skin. I like Lucy's habit of using "Blast!" as a curse word like Gregg does. Some of his hardness rubs off on her, as does some of her softness on him. This feels largely like a two-character drama, even though there are good moments from Victoria Horne as the unlikable sister-in-law, Edna Best as Martha, and Robert Coote as the real estate agent. Natalie Wood is the daughter though she only has a couple of short scenes. The old-age makeup on Tierney is quite well done. Directed competently if without much style or atmosphere by Joseph Mankiewicz. The cinematography is by Charles Lang, and some shots here remind me of shots in The Uninvited, which Lang also did. Of all the supernatural movies listed above, this one has a unique and ambiguous tone. Recommended, though it’s not one I watch as often as some of those others. [DVD]

HARLOW (1965; 2 versions)

Jean Harlow was probably the first sex symbol of the sound movie era. In the 1930s she made over twenty movies, was a box office champ, and mostly played ditzy blondes, though in real life, she was apparently nothing like that. She died in 1937 at the age of 26 due to kidney failure, under circumstances that were never officially clarified. For many years, she remained an object of pop culture interest. In 1964, Irving Shulman published a scandalous tell-all biography of Harlow that became a best-seller, though in the years that followed, most of what he wrote has been shown to be based on rumors or untruths. In 1965, two biopics of her were released, both titled Harlow. The film from Paramount, which starred Carroll Baker, was officially based on the Shulman book but wound up almost totally fictionalized, using very few real characters. The film from Magna, a lower budget affair starring Carol Lynley, hewed a bit closer to the historical record, depicting several real people (Marie Dressler, Louis B. Mayer, Laurel & Hardy), but was shot in what was dubbed Electronovision, having been recorded on video tape and transferred to film, and the image was dark and murky. Neither version was a hit but both followed similar narratives and featured hazy biographical tidbits that continue to be accepted by some as true.

The Paramount film with Carroll Baker has a big studio gloss to it. We meet Harlow as a struggling movie extra doing minor slapstick bits. Her mother (Angela Lansbury, only six years older than Baker) is a driving stage mother and her stepfather (Raf Vallone) is a freeloader who is presented as having lust in his heart for Jean. She finds an agent, Arthur Landau (Red Buttons), who is the good guy of the movie, getting her big breaks and looking out for her mental health when he can—he says she has "the body of a woman and the emotions of a child." (Landau co-wrote the Shulman book and by all accounts, comes out here as way more important than he really was.) She is signed by the fictional Majestic Studios, becomes a star and has a relationship with an actor (Mike Connors) but she marries producer Paul Bern (his real name, played by Peter Lawford) whom she discovers on their wedding night is impotent. He beats her up and eventually kills himself. This sends Harlow on a streak of alcoholic promiscuity (apparently not based on real life) and she dies of pneumonia. Despite the glossy surfaces, this suffers from a lack of real life details—none of the movies she made or the stars she acted with are real, though the Mike Connors character seems based on William Powell with whom she had a long term relationship. Baker looks the part but can't break out of the trappings of soap opera melodrama which overpower the movie, never quite bringing Harlow to life. Buttons, Lansbury and Connors are good as are Martin Balsam and Leslie Nielsen in smaller parts. Pictured at left are Baker and Buttons. [TCM] 

The Magna film, which uses more real names, begins with Harlow (Carol Lynley, at right) doing small roles for Laurel and Hardy. Actor William Mansfield (this film's version of William Powell, played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) mocks her ambitions to be more than a sexy extra, but he comes in and out of her life and eventually encourages her in her career. Mom (Ginger Rogers) and Stepdad (Barry Sullivan) remain stereotyped figures, only out for what they can get from Jean. She becomes a star and gets career advice from grand old acting lady Marie Dressler (Hermione Baddley) with whom Harlow appeared in Dinner at Eight. MGM is not mentioned but Louis B. Mayer signs her to a contract. She marries Paul Bern (Hurd Hatfield), still impotent but no longer a physical bully, even though she calls him a "pathetic cripple." Again, the drinking (mixed with gambling) and promiscuity. She turns her back on her career, studying acting briefly with Maria Ouspenskya, returns to Hollywood and seems to be back on the road to success when she becomes ill—no explanation given—and dies a glamorous Hollywood death. As with the Baker film, soap opera is the rule and her life is treated with no real understanding or detail. Lynley is slightly better than Baker, but neither one is very good. Zimbalist is fine, but Rogers almost fades into the background in a role that should have had more energy. The most obvious problem with this movie is the video shooting. It was filmed in eight days, so it could be released a month before Paramount's version, and it looks rushed, with long takes and some uncomfortable close-ups. The film is difficult to find, and unfortunately the print on Amazon Prime is awful; it’s in pan-and-scan and was clearly taped off of a TV showing with a huge loss of visual detail. Both films seem to have been largely forgotten, and even Harlow herself is mostly unknown today except to film buffs, despite her being name-checked in Madonna’s 1990 hit song "Vogue." If you don't already know Harlow, my advice would be to skip both of these movies and catch her on TCM where her movies still show up with some regularity. Most of her MGM output is also available on home video. [Amazon Prime]

GIRL IN THE HEADLINES (1963)

At the opening, we seem to be witnessing a fashion shoot of a sexy female model asleep in a chair, but actually it's a crime scene: the girl, Ursula, was shot dead in her apartment and the police are taking photos. Leading the investigation are Inspector Birkett and Sgt. Saunders. The only clues found at the apartment are the gun, hidden in the toilet tank, and a ball point pen found outside. Because of an annoying barking dog upstairs, the two interview her neighbor, a popular TV actor named David Dane whom Birkett suspects of being gay. Other persons of interest include Ursula's mother, Mrs. Gray, who has been more or less estranged from her daughter ever since Ursula had an abortion in her teen years; Perlita, another model; Perlita's husband Hammond and his brother Jordan who have some shady connections about town. Clues lead the cops to a gambling club called Blakeney's where an older woman named Lavalle, a former opera singer (of whom Birkett is a fan), is glimpsed looking ashamed to be seen there. I took lots of plot summary notes but they don't really need to be summarized here except to note that, before all is said and done, there is a visit to a rather sad little gay bar where another murder occurs, some blackmail attempts, and the discovery of a drug smuggling ring. Most of these wind up being red herrings, and the final solution to the reason behind the murder of Ursula is a true surprise.

The word that comes to my mind in thinking about this British mystery film is “likable.” Despite the fairly sordid circumstances in which most of the characters are engaged (and, despite the American title, The Model Murder Case, Ursula is more known as a high class call girl than a model), this is a briskly paced, if somewhat cluttered, cop movie, and the two cops are the main draw here. Ian Hendry, as Birkett, is excellent as a good-natured and thoughtful family man (a young Jane Asher plays his daughter). He shares, with the film, a slight homophobic bent; when Birkett's wife wonders if David Dane might have wanted to marry Ursula, he replies that "Dane might like to be married to me." The scene in the gay bar ends with all the patrons getting arrested despite the fact that absolutely nothing untoward was going on. Of course, it’s worth remembering that homosexual acts were still illegal in Britain until 1967. Before his looks got thick and craggy, apparently from alcoholism, Hendry was a handsome man and he commands the screen well. His sidekick Saunders is played by Ronald Fraser who, with his beefy face and squinty eyes, might have been pegged as comic relief; though he does a bit of that here, he's mostly taken seriously and is respected by Birkett. The two have a great bantering chemistry and I would love to have seen them reprise their roles. Jeremy Brett, later famous as Sherlock Holmes on British television, is almost shockingly handsome as Jordan; Peter Arne plays his brother. Margaret Johnston, memorable in BURN, WITCH, BURN, has a couple of good moments as Ursula's mother, and James Villiers, who often played snooty types, is David Dane. The actress who plays Ursula, only seen as a corpse in the first few minutes, is uncredited and no one seems to have figured out who she was. Plot strands multiply though it all remains mostly easy to follow, and, somewhat oddly, as the movie features more action in its last twenty minutes, it also slows down a bit. Still, this is a delightful find. Pictured are Hendry and Fraser. [YouTube]