Tonight's movie was once again titled in the first person. Like last night's "I Killed That Man", we have another case where the protagonist feels a need to be declarative. His statement also ends up becoming the movie's title : "I Live On Danger" (1942).
Oh you do, do you? Well bully for you. ;)
How about the John Wayne vehicle "They Were Expendable"? I am not an English major but I suppose that title is in the second person? First person or second, or even third, what is the deal with these declarative statements posing as movie titles? More importantly, why are they telling me this? Why not just allow me to watch the movie, and I will discover for myself that "They Were Expendable".
In other words, why do you need to tell me in advance? :) Why have a title that announces itself?
I jest, of course, but I enjoy reading some of these old "statement" titles just so I can poke fun at them.
"I Live On Danger" was the second of the Alpha dvd releases I found at West Valley Libe on Sunday. You may know Alpha. They are sort of like the anti-Criterion. Alpha takes old films that are in the public domain, meaning that they have no current copyright, and they release them "as-is", with no restoration or cleaning up whatsoever. Alpha dvds often look like somebody recorded the movie on a VCR, straight off a tv set. Still, the company serves a purpose, because Alpha dvds are inexpensive (five bucks average) and they dig up old flicks you've never heard of, like "I Killed That Man" or "I Live On Danger".
Hey, maybe it's the same guy, the one who killed that man and who, as a result, lives on danger......
Maybe he's the one declaring all the movie titles.
Don't ask me to figure it all out because I wanna hold on to the few remaining brain cells I have left, but I do know this much : Chester Morris stars as Jeff Morrell, a hotshot radio reporter from NYC. He works in the field, chasing leads and hoping for a promotion to his station's overseas affiliate in London. Morrell does everything he can to break a story, but is always getting upstaged by the "company man" Dick Purcell, an in-studio announcer who never gets his hands dirty. Purcell reads on-air the nightly headlines that are the results of Morrell's hard work, and Morrell is frustrated. But one night, Morrell is out in the Mobile Truck with his engineer and they come across a disaster : a passenger ship in the harbor is on fire. Morrell reports from the scene as the ship burns and lives are lost. He's already got a scoop that might help him to overtake his rival Purcell, but then the sea delivers him a newsman's gift.
Washed ashore in the waves is one of the ship's passengers : a young woman, barely alive. Morrell recognizes her from a photograph in a recent newspaper. She is the sister of an escaped parolee who is suspected in the murder or a gangland bookie. The parolee is later thought to have gone down with the burning ship. His sister swears he was innocent. She may know who the real killer is, and it may involve a conspiracy that reaches up to the highest levels of city government.
Now, intrepid reporter Jeff Morrell has not merely a scoop, but the story of a lifetime. But will he be able to break it without getting killed himself? Will he fall in love with the sister (Jean Parker) along the way?
I have come to really like the acting of Chester Morris. I've seen him in perhaps half a dozen films by now, and he's a unique presence. In his earlier roles from the 1930s, he seemed like a holdover from the Silent era, wearing excess eye makeup and using the exaggerated mannerisms and facial expressions that were standard acting techniques in the days before sound. He also had a slicked back, chopped off haircut, so he looked like a relic from the 1920s, and he maintained that look into his later career in the 1940s and beyond. But even though he at first seemed to be overacting, he was always very good. Something about his style stood out, and you remembered him in every film he was in. I did, anyway. He is matinee-idol handsome yet just a bit goofy looking, and he uses this to add a comic edge to his performances. Morris seems extra energized in his roles, adding a touch of deliberate caricature whether playing Good Guy or Hoodlum.
He is very good here as the reporter Jeff Morrell, and the movie has a much more involved plot than I was expecting. Because it was an Alpha dvd release, I thought it was going to be another Poverty Row production, and though the print was "Alpha quality" (meaning not too good, lol), the movie itself was made by Paramount, and while it is a B-Movie, it was one of the better ones because of a marginally higher budget, which equals better writing, etc.
Jean Parker is wholesome as the female lead. I've also seen her before, she was probably cast mostly in sympathetic roles such as this one.
There are many other characters who have plenty of screen time, mostly Mooks played by actors who you know by face if not by name.
I give "I Live On Danger" Two Unqualified Thumbs Up. The print is sub-par, but unlike last night's Monogram release, no excuses need be made for the plot. It's pretty doggone good. The movie as a whole is recommended for fans of Noir, and for anyone who appreciates Chester Morris, or who wants to appreciate him. :)
I am gonna get the "Boston Blackie" dvd set of 14 films, available on Amazon. Those were one hour serials in which Morris played the lead. We'll watch 'em sometime next year, oh boy! :)
Well, that's all for now. I am really hustling today. I got a late start because Pearl had an appointment at the foot doctor. Now I am off to the produce mart for an Avocado Score. I'm addicted to 'em, what can I say?
See you tonight at the Usual Time! (man, I'm gonna get this afternoon/evening blog situation straightened around if it's the last thing I do, haha.....)
Tons and tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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