Heading Down to Poverty Row with "They Raid by Night" + Tom Tryon + More Crime Doctor!

Not everything can be Epic, sometimes you've gotta head off in the other direction, especially when you're relying on Youtube, so last night we took a stroll down to Poverty Row for a surprisingly good (i.e. decent) WW2 commando flick called "They Raid By Night"(1942). Think "Where Eagles Dare" made on a 500 dollar budget and you're on the right track.

A Norwegian general is being held by the Nazis during their occupation of that country. The Brits want to rescue him, so he can lead the Free Norway resistance from safe haven in England. To do this, they assemble a crack team of Canadian (Lyle Talbot), British (Charley Rogers) and Norwegian (George N. Neise) soldiers, give them false identities, and parachute them into Norway. After landing in the woods, they ditch their gear, and in street clothes they saunter nonchalantly into town, where they impersonate workmen.

Almost immediately, however, a snag appears in the form of Neise's former girlfriend (June Duprez). She recognizes him on the street and invites him back to her apartment. What he doesn't know is that she's a collaborator. She sees right through his blue-collar facade, and - suspecting he's in the Resistance - reports him to the local Gestapo chief right after he leaves. This leads to the discovery of the other members of the team. All three manage to elude capture for a while, as the Nazis try to figure out what their mission is in the first place. Finally, they locate the captive General and set up a rescue attempt, using a staged deception to draw attention away from themselves.

Though you're never gonna confuse it with a big studio war movie, you've gotta appreciate the sincere effort put forth by the folks at Producers Releasing Corporation (aka PRC), who serve up a well thought out plot and all the production design they could afford, when it would've been easy to simply toss off a C-Grade cheapie of the type they were known for. Large blow-ups of photographs are used as backgrounds to depict Norwegian village exteriors. They have a single "snowy set" for the woods. Stock war footage is substituted for firefights and a bombing run, but all of this is done with care and comes off well. Much of the budget was likely spent on uniforms; the Nazis look authentic and their Gestapo chief is played with smiling insincerity by the great Victor Varconi, who we saw as Pontius Pilate in DeMille's "King of Kings" a couple years ago, and whose career goes back to the early Silent era.

Clocking in at 68 minutes, "They Raid by Night" would ordinarily rate Two Regular Thumbs Up because of it's low budget, but I'm gonna boost it up one rating for aspiring beyond it's means. Two Solid Thumbs, then, and watch it for what it is, PRC at it's best, giving it The Old College Try for quality.  ///// 

I've also got another Crime Doctor for ya, but I wanna tell you about Tom Tryon first. It's just an anecdote - nothin' fancy - but have you ever heard of him? Think about it for a minute. This Spring I began watching "The Virginian" after buying Season One on Amazon. It's a great show, not only one of the best Westerns ever produced for television but one of the best dramas, period. The quality of the series is evident not only in it's direction and writing, but in it's acting as well, which becomes even more apparent when you see the guest stars that are featured each week. I'm about 15 episodes in, and we've already had George C. Scott, Lee Marvin and Bette Davis, just to name a few. BTW, the Davis ep is on par with her best movie roles.

All of this brings me to the latest episode I've watched, entitled "The Man from the Sea". The guest star in that ep was an actor named Tom Tryon, playing a sailor who travels to Medicine Bow, Wyoming (the show's setting), in search of a place to settle down. While there, he meets and is attracted to a pair of twin sisters (Shirley Knight and Carol Lynley, more amazing guest stars), who are visiting Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb) at the Shiloh Ranch. The plot of the episode involves the sailor's showy personality, as he upstages the regular cowboy characters (Doug McClure, James Drury, et al) in his effort to impress the pretty sisters. But the story takes a turn when we see that Carol Lynley is psychologically disturbed, enough to try and kill her twin Shirley Knight. It's an incredible episode, and at 75 minutes it has all the development of a well written movie. I'm telling you, "The Virginian" is as good as TV gets, but let's get back to Tom Tryon.

Sometime around 1971, he quit acting. When you see him in this episode of "The Virginian", you wonder why he did so (if you didn't know already), because he's very talented and handsome, enough to have had a long and successful career had he chosen.

Apparently in 1968 he saw "Rosemary's Baby" and it so affected him that he decided to try his hand at writing. Following that muse, he chose horror as his milieu, and authored a novel that became incredibly popular. It was called "The Other", and was not only a bestseller in 1971 but was made into a movie the very next year. That movie, which I own on dvd, is one of the scariest films ever made. I haven't read the book - which I'm sure is equally terrifying - but in relating my anecdote, even back when it was published, I recall it being promoted with the author's name given equal billing with the title. The advertisements read "Thomas Tryon's 'The Other' ", as if the reader was supposed to know who he was ("Oh.....it's by Thomas Tryon, I'd better buy it"). The movie was also promoted that way, not bad for a first time author, and he'd graduated from "Tom" to the use of his full first name for formal effect. 

But here's the thing, and I'm gonna give a major spoiler, so if you haven't seen the movie but plan to, read no further.

Here's the thing : I was watching the aforementioned episode of "The Virginian", in which Tom Tryon guest starred, and I noticed that the plot concerned twins. Afterwards I thought, "wait a minute......one of the twins is insanely jealous of the other and wants her dead, in fact she tries to kill her".

And then I thought, "that's the same basic plot from 'The Other', in which a disturbed boy kills his twin brother, with some supernatural accoutrements added to keep the audience in suspense".

Now don't get me wrong. "The Other" isn't a rip off, nor is it cheap in any way. I haven't read the book, but the movie plumbs the depths of psychological disturbance in a child, one who is certainly a sociopath.

But the thing is, that's exactly what's going on with Carol Lynley's character in "The Virginian", only in the person of a young adult instead of a child.

Long story short, I wonder if Tom Tryon used that "Virginian" plot - consciously or unconsciously ala George Harrison and "My Sweet Lord" - to write "The Other", which very likely made him a millionaire as it sold a truckload of books and movie tickets. More to the point, I wonder if I'm the only person who's noticed it. I've Googled and found no other references.

Well anyhow, no harm is done. Tom Tryon is top notch all around. I've only seen him act in this one TV episode, but he caught my attention, and "The Other" is an all-timer, never to be watched with the lights out.

But I'll bet you a nickle he got the idea from that "Virginian" episode, which is very memorable itself. Watch it, then watch "The Other", and see if you don't agree. For the record, Thomas Tryon built a successful writing career from that first book, and is far more remembered as a novelist than as an actor.

And that's the end of my anecdote. Long live Tom Tryon.

Now where was I? Oh yeah, The Crime Doctor! 

The movie was "The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case"(1943). "Jimmy Trotter" (a young Lloyd Bridges) is just out of prison and has come to Dr. Ordway for advice. Should he marry his gal (Lynn Merrick) or is it too soon? "I'm just wondering, Doc, because the town still thinks I'm guilty. I don't want it to rub off on Ellen, so maybe I should wait until I prove myself". The Doc assures him it's okay. "Look Jimmy, you were exonerated at your second trial. You're innocent in the eyes of the law. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks, the evidence showed that you didn't poison your boss. How's your new job going, by the way"?

"Oh, pretty well so far. I'm trying to keep a low profile and I think Mr. Burns likes me".

"That's wonderful, Jimmy. I'd say go ahead and get married, if that's what you want. There's no reason to be self-conscious".

So Jimmy does marry Ellen, but then something bad happens. His new boss is murdered by poison. It's deja vu all over again : someone is trying to frame Jimmy. Crime Doctor to the freakin' rescue!

Sherlock Holmes has nothing on Dr. Ordway, who notices details most other sleuths would miss. When he shows up at the mansion of the late Mr. Burns, for whom Jimmy was working as an assistant, right away he takes note of the cook. She talks funny, using words from the turn of the century. She looks matronly but has youthful eyes and teeth. She also can't cook worth a lick. Why is she pretending to be someone else?

And what about Mr. Burns wife (Rose Hobart)? She's a good 40 years younger than her deceased husband. Did she marry him for his money, as her in-laws suspect? Well, duh. She's obviously first in line to inherit it. She's the prime suspect in the murder, but did she know about Jimmy beforehand? Is that why she used poison - if she did it - to make him appear the culprit?

Have no fear, Crime Doc's got this . He'll nail the killer, but first he'll have to investigate a spooky old nightclub that been's boarded up and gathering cobwebs for ages. He'll also have to deal with a couple of loony pyromaniacs who've got their own interest in the murder. They aren't calling it the Crime Doctor's "strangest case" for nothing. It's safe to say I'm a serious fan of this serial, after only two installments. This one ventures outside the Ten Little Indians box, too, with multiple locations and Crime Doctor psychological profiling techniques on display. I'm highly recommending this movie and all others in the series, even those we haven't watched yet, because we love The Crime Doctor. Yes, you do too! Two Big Thumbs Up. ////

Well, that's all for tonight. Have a wonderful evening and I'll talk to you shortly. Tons of love as always.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)  

 

Two Tremendous Titles : "The Shout" and "A Man For All Seasons"

Last night's movie doesn't quite reach the Fifty Year Gap, but the shabularity of forty three isn't excessive, I don't think, and at the very least warrants a mention. I'm referring to "The Shout"(1978), which my friends and I saw at the theater during it's initial art house run. Back in those days, the use of Aboriginal themes was popular for a while. We'd recently gotten into Art Films with Peter Weir's "The Last Wave, which had a supernatural plot based on the Australian Aborigines' concept of a dream world. There had also been been "Walkabout" several years earlier. I don't think we went to see "The Shout" because of it's aboriginal theme, more likely because it was the hip art house show of the week, but it did turn out to have that particular ingredient, and like "Last Wave", it was spooky as all get-out.

The movie opens at a cricket match, played on the grounds of a psychiatric institute in the English countryside. Tim Curry, in a minor role, plays one of the scorekeepers. He's informed that his partner will be a man named "Charles Crossley" (Alan Bates), whom the head doctor says is "the most intelligent man I've ever met, and extremely well read". We don't know for sure if Crossley is a patient or not, but as the game progresses he starts telling Curry a tale from his past, one so strange that it will cross over into the present time.

John Hurt plays a composer of electronic music who lives with his wife in a small village near the institute. He's also an organist at the local church, and as Crossley tells the story, one Sunday Hurt was playing a service when he (Crossley) wandered in, and waited for him outside when it was over. He said he hadn't eaten for two days, and looked bedraggled, so Hurt invited him home for lunch. He soon wishes he hadn't.

You see, Crossley is a creep of the first order. At the lunch, he's rude, deliberately breaks a wine glass, and explains that he's spent the past 18 years wandering the Australian Outback. Hurt is getting the willies, and jokingly says, "18 years? My goodness, what made you stay so long? Do you have family there or something"? Crossley replies that yes, in fact he does........or did. "I was married to an Aboriginal woman".

John Hurt : "Oh......and did you have children"?

Crossley : "Yes we did.........but I killed them. You see, in Aboriginal society it's legal for a man to kill his children, because he's releasing them into the spirit world".

If Hurt wasn't freaked out enough already, he's now past that point, and is looking for an excuse to end the lunch and get Crossley out of his house. But his wife (Susannah York) is strangely enjoying it. Because of this, he won't be able to get rid of Mr. Crossley at all. Crossley has soon moved in, with the wife's consent, and is slowly taking over John Hurt's life. That Hurt is a wimp and won't stand up to Crossley doesn't help.

One day Crossley tells Hurt : "I've heard your music. It's empty.......it's nothing. You like to record sounds? I can show you a sound that's more powerful than anything you've ever heard".

"Oh really"?, says Hurt. "What is it pray tell"?

"It's a shout", Crossley tells him, "my shout. I learned it in the Outback and spent eighteen years perfecting it. It can kill a man, so if you want to hear it you'd better stuff your ears".

To humor Crossley, Hurt agrees to accompany him out to the dunes on the coastline. When they get there, Crossley again asks if he's wearing earplugs. "You'd better be, because you'll die". Then he rears back, gathers all his breath, and lets go with a hellacious holler, The Shout of the movie's title. Hurt is knocked backward off his feet. Several sheep in the vicinity keel over dead. Crossley wasn't kidding about The Shout. As they head back home, Hurt is now so thoroughly terrified that he starts making plans to get rid of Crossley for good. To do that, however, he's gonna need some information about the workings of aboriginal magic.

In watching this film for the second time, over four decades later, I became aware of two things : 1) The story is fairly thin, except for the basic plot of a man trying to steal another man's wife. And 2) : in the end, it doesn't really matter because the film creates a mood, a feeling of oncoming dread not unlike that in "The Wicker Man", where an outsider becomes caught in a trap beyond his understanding. "The Shout" works better when you don't read too much into it and simply follow it's creepy tone. It's one of those claustrophobic movies where the handful of characters are isolated from "the real world", so the victim must fend for himself against the villain. Also in this case John Hurt's wife is tantalized by Mr. Crossley and falls under his spell. He's taken a personal item (her belt buckle) to use as a voodoo charm. In short, it's not the plot that grabs you, but the telling of the plot, and in that way, the bookending of the cricket match is a good devise. I remarked that Crossley's story, as he relates it to fellow scorekeeper Tim Curry, would spill over into the present time, and indeed it does, because John Hurt is one of the cricketeers.

"The Shout" works big time due to atmosphere, editing and cinematography. And acting : Bates is so off-putting as Crossley that it's one of those performances (like Anthony Hopkins' "Hannibal Lecter") where you wonder if the actor is that way in real life, haha. John Hurt is exceptional as his prey, a weakling who initially won't stand up for himself. The movie also has incidental music composed by Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford of Genesis, which helps to influence the suspense. It's a film that gets under your skin and stays there - once you see it, you'll never forget it. Two Huge Thumbs Up for "The Shout", one of the great Art House classics of the '70s. Highest recommendation. ///////

Now then : You wanna talk Epic? You wanna talk Tremendous? How about "A Man For All Freaking Seasons"(1966), a movie so awesome I had to alter it's title. It's gotta be one of the most famous films in history. Winner of six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor - a performance by Paul Scofield for the ages. This one falls not into the Fifty Year Gap but into "Pictures I've Never Seen". If I can offer a reason, in this case I think it's because of the title. "A Man For All Seasons" probably sounded to me like a lighthearted Shakespeare comedy, with a lead character like Falstaff or some other hearty Dionysian. Not that that would make it a bad picture, just one that a younger me wouldn't have rushed out to see (nor put in his dvd queue). Until now that is. Because of our Quest for Epic Movies, I knew I had to watch it, I'm very glad I did, and I discovered that - far from being a comedy - it's a deadly serious drama, a religious polemic in the same vein as "Becket", and every bit as great.  

'"Seasons" is the story of Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII. We probably ought to summon Rick Wakeman once again, for navigational purposes, but while we're waiting I'll do my best to continue. More, a friend of Henry's, is visited by the King at the start of the movie. Henry wants out of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, who hasn't delivered him a son. He asks More to give his blessing to a divorce, but More won't do this, telling Henry that divorce is the province of the Pope. "I haven't the authority", he claims. Henry isn't asking for an official decree, just a "nod of the head" from his Chancellor, which in his eyes is as good as the real thing. More won't bend, however. Henry leaves, displeased but accepting his decision as he appreciates More's integrity. However, Henry is no admirer of the Pope and takes the step of naming himself Ruler of the Church of England, in an effort to supplant the Pontiff  and render his divorce beyond question. After doing this, he wants all his subordinates, More included, to take an oath, swearing to this edict, that Henry is indeed the Supreme Christian Ruler. Thomas More, a strict Catholic, won't do this either. His high moral stance and allegiance to God prevent him making such a vow. This puts him at odds with King Henry.

But More is also a lawyer. He knows the penalty for denying Henry's wishes, so he makes it a specific legal point not to disavow the oath. He won't utter it, but neither will he speak against it. Instead, he chooses to remain silent on the matter, which he points out to his family will legally spare him from execution. 

Thomas Cromwell is a prosecutor in Henry's court who despises Thomas More. On Henry's behalf, he's tried and failed to get More to avow the oath. More's repeated refusals so enrage Cromwell that he's looking for any excuse to lock him away in the Tower of London. When a bribe charge won't stick (as More would never accept a bribe), Cromwell persuades an ambitious young clerk (John Hurt again) to perjure himself, and swear that he heard More denounce the oath, which is entirely untrue. More has remained silent on the matter throughout.

A trial is scheduled. If found guilty, More will be sentenced for High Treason, for which he'll face death. His wife and children beg him to say the oath, even if he doesn't mean it. Even Henry will forgive him if he'll just say the words. "But I could never forgive myself", he answers.

The parallels between More's stance and that of Thomas Becket, who sided with the church against King Henry II, are striking, and indeed one wonders if More was influenced at all by Becket, his predecessor as Chancellor by four and a half centuries.

Becket met his death by murder at the hands of Henry II's loyal barons. Though it's easy to Google, I won't reveal the fate of Thomas More. You'd do well to watch both movies on consecutive nights. I raved about "Becket" and I'm gonna have to double down on "A Man For All Seasons" and again call it one of the greatest films ever made, though it's simpler in execution than the earlier movie, which as we noted was nominated for 12 Oscars itself. Like "Becket", "AMFAS" greatest strength is it's lead performances. Scofield's is the stuff of legend, but there's also the turn of Robert Shaw (pronounced Rrribbert Shwaughh), who portrays Henry as a grandstanding madman. You never know if he's going to toast you or call for your head from one minute to the next. Finally, Orson Wells has a small but memorable role as Cardinal Wolsey, who was Chacellor prior to Thomas More and willing to play Henry's political games. 

"A Man For All Seasons" features gorgeous cinematography by Ted Moore and was directed by the great Fred Zinneman, who also made "From Here to Eternity" and "High Noon". If that's not diversity I don't know what is - the mark of an expert Hollywood Craftsman.

Only our highest rating will suffice. Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. A film absolutely not to be missed. /////

That's all for tonight. Have a nice evening, I send you tons of love as always.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Two Short Ones, Both Good : "Madonna of the Desert" and "Just Before Dawn"

We've got a couple of shorties this time, but we love short movies and both are good. Two nights ago we found a flick called "Madonna of the Desert"(1948). No, I'm not talking about Madge in the Mojave, but a Religious Noir about faith, that uses a small statue of Our Lady as it's focal point. In the opening scene, "Nick Julian" (Sheldon Leonard), a racketeer Mafioso type, is talking to an antique dealer in his shop, located in a small town in rural California. The dealer points out an article in a trade magazine, about a clay figure found at a ranch in the desert, a bejewelled statuette of the Madonna created by an artisan in Italy 500 years earlier. "It must be worth a fortune", says Julian. From their conversation we gather that the antique dealer is a crook too, and they set up a plan to steal the Madonna.

Back at his hideout, the slick-suited Julian has a Gal Friday named "Monica" (Lynne Roberts) who he refers to as "Legs". He's discovered, when pulling jobs involving objets d'art, that finesse works better than force. A deception by a woman is ideal. There's no mess to clean up, and by the time the suckers know they've been had, he and Legs will long gone.

So Nick sends her over to the ranch to pretend her car broke down. From there, she'll finagle her way into the house, find where they keep the Madonna and steal it. The plan sounds great in theory, but in practice there's a problem. You see, the ranch is owned by "Joe Salinas"(Don Castle), a man so kind and helpful that Legs can't bring herself to rob him. Her change of heart doesn't come about instantly, of course, but right away, she's softened by his lack of guile. He genuinely cares about her "plight" (the stalled car fraud), and offers not only to repair it, but to give her food and shelter for the night. "You can't be driving through the desert when it's pitch dark", he says. He's also a devout Christian who's not trying to put the make on her, though he does enjoy her company. I should mention that we saw actor Castle recently in "Tombstone : The Town Too Tough to Die" with Richard Dix. We remarked on his charm in that film also, and his resemblance to Clark Gable.

When they enter the ranch house, Monica (not "Legs" when she's with Joe) scans the interior, looking for the Madonna. She finds it on the living room mantle, and pretends to admire it. This brings Joe to her side. He explains it's history (it was found buried on the property), and how it seems to have miraculous properties. "We've had excellent crops ever since we found her, and I've had a lot of personal good fortune too". Monica plays along but in her head she's making plans to take the statue and abscond, as soon as the opportunity presents. Joe has an "Uncle Pete" who lives with him, who's every bit the pessimist to Joe's optimist. But even Pete believes in the power of the Madonna, which starts the wheels of conflict spinning in Monica's heart. Really she wants to get away from Nick Julian and their life of crime, but she knows she can't cross Nick. It'll be curtains if she does. Then the next day arrives and a miracle indeed happens, causing her to alter her decision.

There's to be a wedding that day, of a couple from neighboring families. They're hearty Italian Catholics, so Joe loans them the Madonna for good luck. He asks Monica if she'd like to stay long enough to attend, and she accepts, as at this point she still plans to steal the statuette. But during the wedding a fire occurs. I can't tell you how it's started or what is set aflame, but all the guests are so shocked by the lack of damage that they proclaim it a miracle, attributable surely to the Madonna. No one is more stunned by this than Monica herself. Later that day, back at the ranch, she confesses everything to Joe : the robbery plan, her life of crime, and her association with Nick Julian. Joe then surprises her with a confession of his own. He wasn't always so cheerful. "Monica, I am a veteran of the war. I was left paralysed by shrapnel and the doctors told me I'd never walk again". He goes on to say how cynical he became, until the discovery of the Madonna changed his life. "But it's not about the statue. I mean, that's part of it, but the bigger part is faith. You can have faith too, Monica, faith that you can change your life and get away from Nick".

It's quite a message, and this scene is reminiscent of ones from "The Enchanted Cottage" and "I'll Be Seeing You", also involving injured veterans and faith. Monica decides to remain in the desert. She's falling in love with Joe, who vows to protect her from Nick Julian. Nick knows where the ranch is located and is bound to come looking, but there's going to be a bump in the road for him as well. A hoodlum named "Tony French" (Donald "Red" Barry) has just been paroled from San Quentin, after taking the rap for Nick in a botched bank heist. He's done five years hard time and wants payback, either in the form of money or Nick's blood. French hears about the Madonna, too, and heads out to the ranch to steal it. Everyone will converge in the desert for a white-knuckle climax.

For a movie with next to no budget, "Madonna of the Desert" is surprisingly well written and acted. The dialogue is meaningful, not trite, and the religious message is never ham-handed. It's also a tough little Noir from the crooks' angle, with Monica's character in the middle, torn between two lifestyles and mindsets. We like what we've seen so far from Don Castle, and Lynne Roberts is very good as "Monica" so we'll have to look for more from her as well. For the record Sheldon Leonard, who plays "Nick Julian" was a big time movie and tv producer, and Donald "Red" Barry, playing"Tony French", was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood, appearing in over 250 Westerns and Noirs.

Two Big Thumbs Up for "Madonna of the Desert". A ton of story and a good message.  ///////      

Going from Don Castle to William Castle, the previous night's movie was "Just Before Dawn"(1946), a quickie programmer from The Crime Doctor series. I'd never heard of The Crime Doctor, which began as a radio serial, but apparently there were ten movies made for the franchise, with some being directed by our old pal Castle, the future horrormeister of '60s Cinema. In "Dawn", the seventh entry in the series, Warner Baxter stars as "Dr. Ordway", a psychiatrist who also acts as a detective, because........um, his patients always seem to get murdered, doggonnit. This time, a diabetic dies when his insulin is switched with poison. Ordway himself delivers the fatal injection, but no one's gonna pin it on The Crime Doctor. Instead, he goes in search of the actual killer, in what amounts to a Ten Little Indians plot. The death occurred at a party, so one of the guests must've done it. But who, and why? Not to worry, Crime Doc's on the case. He uncovers a false identity scheme being run out of a mortuary, by a creep named "Mr. Ganss" (Martin Kosleck). The scheme involves plastic surgery to give hoodlums new faces.........and where do ya think they're getting the faces? Well, it's a mortuary, so if you said "from corpses" you're on the right track.

I very much enjoyed "Just Before Dawn", another Paul Shortino that runs just over an hour. The Crime Doctor is a great concept and well played by Baxter, winner of the first Best Actor Oscar in 1929. We'll definitely be watching the entire series, or as many as we can find on Youtube. The direction here by William Castle employs all his trademarks, the well-ordered frame, high contrast lighting and clean camerawork. Like Hitchcock, he knows how to get the most out of a simple setting.

Two Solid Thumbs Up, then, for "Just Before Dawn". Paging Dr. Ordway.....come in Dr. Ordway.....Crime Doctor to the rescue!

That's all for the moment. Have a great afternoon. Tons of love as always!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

"The Blue Max" starring George Peppard, Ursula Andress and Chames Mason & Mike Judge's "Office Space"

In recent viewing, we've encountered a phenomenon I'll call The Fifty Year Gap, in which we've screened flicks I hadn't seen since childhood. I think the first time we took note of it was in 2018, when I went to the Cinerama Dome to see "2001". That was, in fact, a 50th Anniversary showing of the film (released in 1968), and I made mention of it in my review, not only because of the passage of time and greatness of the movie, but also because I'd only ever seen it twice, both times in the same theater (the first time with my Dad), and most remarkably - fifty years apart, the first time being in 1968, the second during it's 2018 re-release. It was a minor mindblower, how that set of circumstances occured, and it kind of set in motion a desire to re-visit other long-lost movies that I hadn't seen since I was a kid. This in part led to our quest for Epic Films this year, some of which have fallen into The Fifty Year Gap, such as "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" and it's automotive sequel, "Jaunty Jalopies".  

Now we can add another film to the list : "The Blue Max"(1966), starring George Peppard as a German World War One flying ace. There's another story behind the Fifty Year Gap this time. First of all, I believe the Gap is actually fifty four years in this case, which would make it the second longest in passage-of-time between screenings, behind only "Those Magnificent Men" (56 years). "Blue Max" was a 20th Century Fox production, which meant it had Color by Deluxe. Dad was the VP there at the time, and I'm pretty sure we went to the premier of the film, but more than that, what really sticks in memory is that he showed it at my 7th birthday party. Yep. Back then, Dad had enough cache to bring a print home (likely 16mm), along with a movie projector and screen. He did this twice when we lived in Reseda - for my 6th birthday he brought home "The Longest Day", and the next year it was "The Blue Max". On a side note, nowdays in our overprotective era of Helicopter Parenting, you could look back and say "what kind of Dad would show war movies to little boys? The horror"! And indeed, I recall that a Mom or two took their sons home in the middle of "Longest Day" ("I don't want Little Johnny watching this"!), but all in all, despite the way things are now, it was fairly common in the 1960s for Dads to take their kids to war films. The only difference here is that Dad brought the films home.

So yeah, in 1967 at my 7th birthday party, we watched "The Blue Max" (Dad brought along a projectionist from the lab to handle the technical details). As I say, I'm pretty sure we'd already seen it at the premier, and it would've made quite an impression on little ol' me, not only because of the airplanes and flying sequences, but because of Ursula Andress. I remember being both entranced and somewhat frightened by her, and more on that later. Though over five decades would pass before I saw it again, I never forgot "The Blue Max", and was inspired to seek it out by our pursuit of Epic Films in 2021. It wasn't available at the Libe, so I bought a copy from Amazon. Last night I settled in to watch it. 

Peppard plays "Lt. Bruno Stachel", a veteran of the German Infantry who later joins the Air Force. As the film begins, we see him in the muddy trenches of the Western Front, in France. Explosions and death are all around. His experience is horrifying, but he looks up in the air at a dogfight and sees another way to serve his country, in which he will be the attacker instead of the attacked. Cut to an aerodrome in the countryside. Two years have passed. It is now 1918, the final year of the war. Peppard has become a pilot and is reporting for duty with his squadron.  

As was true at the time, most of the pilots in Germany (and probably England, too) were all from aristocratic backgrounds. Peppard takes one look at these men, sipping their champagne in the Officers Room, reeking of class with their in-joke conversations, and takes an instant dislike to them, especially "Willi", who comes from wealth and is the squadron's best pilot. Though they aren't particularly insulting to him, Peppard is standoffish from the men. His farming background is a source of shame that he reverses, to boost himself above them. "I come from nothing, and yet I'm just as good in the air as you are, if not better".

He sees Willi's medal, a beautiful Maltese Cross framed in blue (don't know the gemstone; Topaz perhaps?). "How many kills does it take to earn one"?, he asks. The answer is "twenty", and Peppard sets out immediately to get his first kill. But the English fighter he shoots down is unconfirmed. "There are no witnesses", the Captain tells him. Peppard is furious, further estranging him from his group. He also has a questionable incident where he shoots down a plane that appeared helpless; it's gunner was dead, or so it looked. The captain believes in chivalry and is ready to court-martial Peppard : "You never attack an unarmed pilot"!, he yells.

Peppard has worn out his welcome with the squad, but then Chames Mason steps in.

Did I mention he was in the movie? Oh yes. We love Chames Mason (we love to say his name!), and he plays "General Count von Klugermann", the regional head of the air group. He's been watching Peppard and likes what he sees. "I'm asking you to drop the court-martial", he tells the Captain. "We need men like this, men who are ruthless, if we are to win the war". Being a man of honor, the Captain strenuously disagrees, but his protest falls on deaf ears. Peppard becomes a pet project for Mason, who wants to use George for publicity purposes, to encourage more men from the lower classes to join the air force. "You've seen the bread lines in Berlin", he explains to the Air Marshall. "The people are fighting, losing hope. The poor need a hero, to show them we can still win this war, which we will surely lose without their support".

Now, instead of getting court-martialed, Peppard becomes the poster boy for the Air Force, but what The Count doesn't know is that George has eyes for his wife, Ursula Andress. Okay, now we're getting to her as promised. Peppard first meets her at a party, where she's dancing with Willi, his arch rival. George can see that they're more than just friends, so he inquires around and discovers that Ursula is Willi's Aunt "by marriage". In other words, Mason is his Uncle, so Andress is not a blood relation, leaving Willi free to cheat with her. At the party, she and Willi go upstairs to his room. There's no question what's taking place. George Peppard is now royally pissed that Willi has something he doesn't - i.e. Andress - and he vows to get even, right under the nose of Chames Mason, his champion. This leads to the seduction scenes between Peppard and Andress that left such a memory when I was a kid.

I'm gonna add a disclaimer that I know it's Ursula Andress. Right - of course she's a beautiful woman with an Amazonian body. She was the first Bond Girl and all that. Okay, okay, she's hot. We all know that.

But there's something about her, in this movie at least, that's a bit repulsive. Feel free to disagree but let me explain. I know it's supposed to be her character, "Countess Kaeti", who's a man eating viper, whose lust for sexual conquest is insatiable (and uncaring), but there's a hardness to Andress the actress that makes me wonder if she was this way in real life. Perhaps I'm being unfair, and she's a nice lady who just excelled at playing those kinds of characters, but her sexuality in this movie is so overt, so aggressive and overconfident - while lacking in any feeling - that it verges on pornographic for what I assume was a PG movie. Now, I'm no prude, far from it, but I think this is what left a confused mark on 7 year old me : the bloodthirsty lust of Ursula Andress, who seemed to use her considerable attributes as a blunt instrument. Am I being too harsh? Well at any rate, I'll let it - and her - go. She's just not my type, no matter how stunning, and I'll take my nice 1940s gals over her any day.

Now again, and in all fairness, perhaps it's just her character in the movie, because George Peppard can sense it too. After having his way with her a couple times (or rather, after she has her way), he knows what she's all about. She's the female version of him, utterly ruthless and only after conquest. For George, the ambition is twenty kills and The Blue Max; for Ursula it's to screw as many pilots as she can get her hands on. So they both have basically the same goal, and when the sex is over, they can't stand each other.

Peppard takes his frustration out in the air, by challenging Willi to a game of "chicken" that will have fateful consequences. I can't reveal what happens, but it will lead to the climax of the plot : a make or break test flight for Peppard in the new German monoplane, which is being heralded as a game changer for the war. Mason (aka "The Count" aka "The General") wants George to demonstrate it for the press, to show off it's aerial prowess. But does Mason know of his affair with Andress? If so, does he even care? Or could there be a secret, involving Willi and the coveted Blue Max? 

It's a tremendous film, though unusual in the sense that the two leads are deliberately unlikable. I suppose that makes it a commentary about envy and personal ambition at the expense of others. Those traits have no place in war (nor anywhere else) but sometimes they drive dishonorable men (and women) to rise above their chivalrous peers, with disastrous results. Maybe because the characters were German as opposed to English or American made the "antihero" concept more palatable in box office terms, I dunno, but in any event "The Blue Max" is a must-see. The aerial sequences are incredible, graceful and terrifying all at once. They're beautifully shot (as is the entire film) in 70mm Cinemascope, using authentic WW1 biplanes and even a few tri-planes, including one belonging to The Red Baron who makes a brief appearance. Many fans at IMDB identify "The Blue Max" as the greatest flying film ever made and it's hard to disagree, but even as a war film it's few battle scenes compare with any newer motion picture. During the depiction of trench warfare I was thinking "this is just as good as anything in '1917' ".

I can't recommend it highly enough, you could even screen it for your kid's 7th birthday. I'll bet he or even she will come back to watch it again fifty years later. Two Huge Thumbs Up. /////

The previous night Grimsley came over with a comedy, modern of course and one that I had never seen before : "Office Space"(1999). I'm a fan of Mike Judge, at least his "King of the Hill" series (not crazy about Beavis and Butthead), so I thought "okay, let's give it a shot". 

I'm usually not interested in a lot of modern comedies, because........er...um....most of 'em are stupid. I made an attempt about ten years ago with "Stepbrothers", and it was so bad I had to turn it off. "Deuce Bigelow, Male Gigilo".......I mean c'mon. And anything by the Farrelly Brothers or Judd Apatow, you can have it. I like older comedies, they're funny without being crude or dumb.

At any rate, "Office Space" was a cult hit. You've probably seen it; it is a funny movie, in a goofy but sophisticated way. It isn't going for big guffaws but rather the situational humor that results from working in a soul-deadening environment. and what could be worse than a cubicle office, with an A-Hole middle management boss looking over your shoulder all day long. Such a fate was my worst nightmare when I was young, and Mike Judge is aware of the dread it creates. He nails every aspect of what it must be like, right down to the patronizing tones and phrasing of Gary Cole's nagging instructions to his employees at a tech firm.

"Yeaaaaahhh.......why don't you go ahead and file that TR report for me again, Milton. If you could do that it'd be terrrriffic......". Arrrrrrgghh! I'd jump off a bridge on my first day if I had to work for a guy like that. Ron Livingston and his pals feel the same way, but have a better method of dealing with Cole and all the other A-Holes who run the place, including the cost-cutting "consultants".

The plot is clever and has an easygoing tone, reminiscent of the spirit of the 1990s. Those were great years, doncha think? It's fun to see the boxy computers in use at the time, and there were still no cell phones, even just twenty years ago. "Office Space" is a revenge movie for everyone who ever hated their job, but there's an opposing message also : you aren't stuck in life, you can always find something else. Jennifer Aniston plays Livingston's girlfriend who works in an inane theme restaurant. Her boss is an A-Hole, too.

Two Big Thumbs for "Office Space", and by the way - did you know that Stephen Root, who plays Milton, was also the voice of Dale Gribble on "King of the Hill"? He's pretty good at mumblin'.

That's all for the moment. I hope you had a nice afternoon and I send you tons of love as always.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

The Great Deanna Durbin in "Something in the Wind" and "Cimarron" starring Richard Dix

Last night, another movie from the Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Collection : "Something in the Wind"(1947), in which DD plots revenge on a wealthy family over a secret. Durbin plays radio host Mary Collins. One day, a handsome, formal young man named John Read (John Dall) shows up at her studio, demanding she sign some affidavit. She has no idea what he's talking about. "Now see here, Miss Collins", he begins, ".....you are Mary Collins, are you not?....I have here a stack of returned checks, made out to you by my late grandfather. We know he was paying you to keep quiet about your - ahem - involvement with him, but he's dead now and my family is discontinuing your stipend. If you'll please sign here, we're prepared to offer you a generous settlement, provided you drop the matter entirely".

We gather that Dall's filthy rich grandpa was having an affair with DD, but that's not the case. You see, she has an Aunt also named Mary Collins. She tries explaining this to Dall and he bats it right back: "Oh no, don't try pinning this on your auntie. Grandpa liked young beauties such as yourself. You are exactly his type, but it's over now. I'd advise you to accept our offer and go away".

Well, DD is so mad that she storms off, leaving the papers unsigned. Back at the apartment she shares with her Aunt, she tells the older lady what's just happened. Aunt Mary is quiet for a moment, then confirms it's all true. "I am the one they're looking for, but the family doesn't know me. Mr. Read kept me a secret from them all these years. You see, beginning when I was 19, I was his housekeeper. One day, we were alone together in the mansion, and.....". She leaves the rest unspoken, but her meaning is clear. Perhaps there was a pregnancy as well, but this is a musical comedy so we aren't going down that route. 

What we are gonna do is wind things up, Screwball style, so that plots get hatched, romances become tangled, and - in classic rom/com style - enemies end up in love. But first, Durbin and Dall have gotta hate each other.

When Deanna hears her Aunt's confession, she decides to play along with the Read family's legal demand. She's outraged at their hypocrisy and wants to hit 'em in the only place it'll hurt - their pocketbook. So she goes over to their mansion and tells Dall she's sorry : "I lied to you......I am the Mary Collins you want". Then she asks to sign the papers, but with one revision in the contract. Instead of the five thousand dollar settlement they're offering, she wants one million.

"A million dollars! Now see here, Miss Collins!......". Dall is outraged, but that's the price and DD ain't budging. Now it's time for some intrigue. Despite his overbearing demeanor, John Dall is something of a ladies' man, with a killer smile. His brother Charlie (the great Donald O'Connor) suggests trying another tactic : "Instead of antagonising her, why don't you make her fall in love with you? Then she'll forget all about the money".  Dall agrees with Charlie, and for him, the ploy will serve a dual purpose. You see, he's engaged to the lovely but utterly boring "Clarissa" (Helena Carter), a relationship arranged by his mother. Dall wants out of the engagement; setting up a false affair with Durbin will do the trick. It's also a win-win for O'Connor, because he's secretly in love with Clarissa. So there's your lovers' quadrangle. John Dall isn't sure what he's gonna do with Durbin after she falls for him (if she does), but he'll worry about that later. Now to put the plan into action.

The only problem is that there's another Read to deal with : "Uncle Chester". As played by the classic character actor Charles Winninger, Uncle Chester is one of those great, underhanded-but-sweet "crooked older gentleman" characters that often showed up as relatives in comedies of the '30s and '40s. Uncle Chester is a swindler, the black sheep of the Read family. When we first see him, he's hiding in a basket, listening in on Dall's plan to fool Deanna Durbin. He'll later team up with her to foil it, explaining to DD that "if you can't swindle your own family, who can you swindle"?

There's great comic energy at work, and a half dozen musical numbers as well. Durbin is a sensation, singing in several different styles, from operatic to 1940s pop, to bluesy Broadway. In my opinion, she had the greatest voice in Hollywood. Give her a listen and see for yourself. I first heard of Deanna 20 years ago through my Mom, but I never saw any of her movies until last December when we watched "Christmas Holiday". That was a dark film for her, a noir in which she played a femme fatale, but she was very good and also sang a couple of songs. I remembered, "Oh yeah......that's the singer Mom used to talk about". After that movie, I ordered the Sweetheart Collection which begins with her earlier films, mostly featuring DD as a teenager in the "good girl" roles she was best known for, and ironically, it was those roles she wanted to break out of (and was unable to) that finally caused her to walk away from her career at just 27 years old. In 1949 she got married and moved to France, never to be heard from again.

It's one of the most unusual stories in show biz, because as I've remarked, at one point she was the highest paid female star in Hollywood and bigger box office than Shirley Temple. In this movie, she's all grown up ("Something" was one of her final films), and as you watch her, you think that - had she stayed - she'd likely have become a screen legend on the same level as Judy Garland. She has that kind of talent and charisma. She's also drop-dead gorgeous. But because she quit the business, she's been mostly forgotten, and that's a crying shame (though it apparently didn't bother her much). At any rate, make sure to check out some of her movies, she's fantastic. As for John Dall, he might become our new John Agar. He can do the Smarmy Handsome Guy just as good as Agar, and he even adds a backhanded, toothy charm. He's a one-of-a-kind actor (the kind where you instantly go "there's John Dall, oh boy"!), who you may already have seen in the famous noir "Gun Crazy" (partially filmed in Reseda), or in Hitchcock's "Rope", where he played one of the Leopold/Loeb killers. Yep, he smiled all the way through that role, too!  

"Something in the Wind" is a "let's entertain 'em" flick featuring major talent from a Studio System that just doesn't exist anymore. I've also gotta mention Donald O'Connor, who we're gonna have do a retrospective on. Though he's only in a supporting role here, he gets enough screen time to perform a couple of amazing dance numbers, involving pratfalls and unthinkable acrobatics. He was in a league of his own as a dancer (he's the guy who ran up the wall in "Singin' in the Rain"), and was also a talented comedian, too. Definitely more to come from him. But the star here is Deanna Durbin, who - after only three films that I've seen - goes straight to the top of my list of Hollywood's Greatest. Two Huge Thumbs Up for this movie. //////

The previous night we watched a Western with a theme of social justice. Am I talking about a new movie, made for Woke America? Or perhaps a film that's 90 years old? If you said the latter, your chicken dinner is waiting. "Cimarron"(1931) is the epic saga of a crusading newspaper publisher and his family. Set in Osage, Oklahoma, it begins at the start of the land rush in 1889 and finishes 40 years later, after the state has been transformed by an oil boom.

Our pal Richard Dix stars as "Yancey Cravat", publisher of the only newspaper in Witchita. He's outspoken, a champion of Indian rights among other causes, which doesn't endear him to his conservative in-laws. Yancey's also restless. He's never stayed in any one place for more than five years. Now he's heard about the Land Rush in Oklahoma and wants to move there. "It's free land", he tells his wife (Irene Dunne). She's a proper lady and doesn't want to leave Kansas for the dirt of unknown territory, but being dutiful she agrees to follow Yancey once he stakes out a claim. With their servant Isaiah in tow, he rides to Oklahoma and prepares to engage in the Rush.

It is there that he meets "Dixie Lee", a single woman who is also in the race. She's more than capable on her own, and beats out Yancey for his piece of land. He has to settle for a less-than-prime plot, but comes to admire Dixie Lee for her independence. Later in the film, Yancey will use his training as a lawyer to defend Dixie from charges leveled by the local church ladies, who think she's a prostitute. These two sequences bookend the film and depict it's social message, which stands for inclusion and equal rights. Along the way, Yancey will stand up to the new town's outlaws, befriend a Jewish merchant, and hire a stutterer as his publishing assistant. When his wife arrives, he'll make her co-editor of the paper. He's a very progressive guy.

He eventually leaves town, to fight in the Spanish-American war, so she takes over the paper and ends up running for Congress. So there's a "women in politics" angle, too. Imagine all of that in a movie from 90 years ago. 

I'm leaving out a ton of story, including the oil boom which looms large, but I'll leave you to discover it on your own. "Cimarron" plays like the early sound picture it is, and there are traces of Silent era style in it's production. Dix, for instance, uses exaggerated stage gestures to "play to the back row" as it were, a technique employed in Silent film to substitute for dialogue. He also wears eye liner to highlight his expressions. He's very good in the lead role, however, forthright and spirited as the liberal-minded newspaperman, who also becomes the de facto sheriff and lawyer of Osage, the boomtown resulting from the Land Rush. "Cimarron" won Best Picture in 1931, and though it shows it's age, the story seems brand new. There's also some great camera work in the Land Rush scenes, following the proverbial "cast of thousands" of riders who participate. Based on a book by New York author Edna Ferber, it's worth seeing just for it's historical value, but it's also very well produced and acted, with decades worth of story to digest.

It's the story of one man who gives a damn, and by doing so he helps change the culture of the Old West. Late in the film, his now adult son decides to marry an Indian girl. Yancey has returned by then, and he's fine with it, shocking the townsfolk once again. But by this time, they've started to catch up with him, and even have a fancy French hotel to entice tourists.

Two Big Thumbs Up, then, for "Cimarron", a must-see for Oscar historians, fans of early Westerns, and the Great American Saga. Highly recommended. ////

That's all for the moment. I'm gonna head out to the store for some essentials (avocados, chips, salsa, etc), then for a hike. Tonight I'm gonna listen to the new Blackmore's Night, and I'm still working on my book, "The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America". I hope you have a great afternoon. I send you tons of love as always.   xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

"Operation Crossbow" with George Peppard (excellent) & "Shed No Tears" starring Wallace Ford and June Vincent

Last night, another excellent film I'd never heard of : "Operation Crossbow"(1965), a WW2 movie in the mold of "Guns of Navarone" and the later (and recently watched) "Where Eagles Dare". In other words, it's an action/adventure flick rather than a full-on combat movie, involving the infiltration of an enemy stronghold. In this case, it's infused with a historical aspect you'll find quite interesting.

Have you ever heard of the Peenemunde rocket base? If not, you surely know of the V-1 and V-2 "flying bombs" that were developed by the Germans toward the end of the war. The "V"s are sometimes referred to as "revenge" or "desperation" weapons because by the time they were ready for use, the Allies had already invaded France and Germany was near defeat. Still, Hitler felt that if enough "V"s were launched, say 20,000 and especially the V2, London could be destroyed and the tide turned. In that respect he thought the V2 was a last minute game changer. The Peenemunde base was located in northeastern Germany on the coast of the Baltic Sea, and in the movie, British Intelligence has discovered it's existence through aerial reconnaissance. Photographic analysis has further revealed the probability of a rocket being developed there, and the decision is made to bomb it. Peenemunde is more or less put out of commission, but the Germans respond by moving their V2 operations underground, at what appears to be a base on the inside of a mountain.

That is the overall setup, but what's so interesting about "Crossbow" is some of the history it provides. For instance, a fair amount of time is devoted to showing the development of the V-1. You've probably seen a picture of it; it looks like a little jet with a tube on top. In the movie, the Germans are testing it, launching the V-1 on these long upwardly slanting rails toward the ocean. But the tests reveal a navigational issue, a rightward tilt, so their engineers modify the weapon to include a cockpit. Now a crack pilot will fly the V-1 in further tests to analyse the problem. After several pilots are killed, a woman named Hanna Reitsch volunteers. She was a legendary female test pilot and a favorite of Der Fuhrer. She successfully completes her test of the V-1 and figures out the deficiency. From that point, the V-1 is immediately used to bomb London, until the British line their coast with anti-aircraft guns and begin to shoot them down.  

This attention to historical detail is fascinating, and gives the movie an extra dimension missing from similar pictures. In "Crossbow", stars George Peppard and Sophia Loren don't even appear until the 30 and 45 minute marks, respectively. In Loren's case, though she has star billing, it's only to attract box office. Her role as the wife of a Dutch scientist is brief though important (and heart wrenching).

Once the V2 program is moved underground, the only way to attack it is from the inside, through infiltration. Peppard plays a USAAF Lieutenant whose engineering background and fluency in German make him a perfect candidate for the British undercover scheme. They plan to deliver several "rocket scientists" into the facility, under false identities taken from dead men. The "scientists", supposedly Dutch and German nationals either forcibly or voluntarily working for the Germans, will then perform their assigned duties while taking notes on the rocket facility, it's procedures, formulas and protocols.

Ar first, Peppard and his fellow spies are only asked to report their findings back to headquarters. But the German security is tight. "Crossbow" is the ultimate "You vill show us your papers"! movie, and when one of the fradulent "scientists" is discovered and executed, a much closer scrutiny on the rest of them requires a change in plans. A bombing raid is then scheduled to destroy the facility, but only if Peppard and his fellow impersonators can "mark" it for the Lancasters making a night run. This means they'll have to find a way to open the doors of the launch room and turn on the lights. Naturally, everything will hinge on this and the climax of the film will be a hair raising fight to the finish.

I found "Operation Crossbow" surprisingly good. In another historical note, there is a scene depicting the test of a four engine rocket similar to the ones used in our space program. The German project manager explains to Peppard that it's for an all-new weapon, "our New York bomb". In other words, it's gonna be the world's first ICBM. Thank God they didn't develop it in time. But again, the attention to detail is appreciated. Director Michael Anderson (a former assistant to Anthony Asquith and David Lean) stages the rocket test in such a way that it looks straight out of stock footage from the Santa Susanna Field Lab. I've got a whole DVD set of Apollo program tests of the Saturn V rocket, and the scene in the movie compares for realism. For the record, Anderson also directed "The Dam Busters", an absolute must-see movie about the RAF.   

I think "Operation Crossbow" should be seen as well, and as a bonus, we've got our old pal John Mills back too! His role is only minor, but I discovered the movie in a JM search, so I mightn't have found it if not for him. The dvd I watched was good but obviously from a VHS transfer. Are you listening, Criterion? "Crossbow" cries out for restoration. It's not often you get a war movie that works on so many levels - historically, technically and as an action flick with plenty of suspense. For all of this, it warrants Two Huge Thumbs Up. I know I've kept you busy in recent days, but I must once again ask that you watch it tonight. We're on a roll of late, and it really is that good. /////

The previous night  we watched "Shed No Tears"(1948), a Noir ala "Double Indemnity". Wallace Ford and June Vincent play a married couple who fake his death to collect on a life insurance policy of 50 Grand. Ford's twenty years older than Vincent; the only reason she married him was she thought he was rich. It turned out he wasn't, huge bummer. Now, to keep her, he's proposed the insurance scam, in which he'll check into a hotel, set fire to the room, then throw a body out the windum that's wearing his watch. It'll be so badly burned and smashed, from the fire and the fall, that it'll be impossible to identify, except for the watch. That'll "prove" the body is Ford's, and they'll get the insurance dough.

You may be asking : where did they get the body to throw out the windum?

Why, from the morgue of course! Where else does one score a corpse when one is planning an insurance scam? It helps to know the coroner, but Ford's got that angle covered. His real problem is gonna be the wife. June Vincent is not a nice lady. In the Rotten Dame department, she ranks right up there with the gal from "Detour". What happens is that, after the fire and discovery of the body, Ford takes a hike to New York. Nobody'll find him there, so for all intents and purposes, he's "dead". June Vincent is then supposed to put on a convincing act for the cops and insurance investigators, collect the 50 Gees and take a plane to NY. There she'll meet up with Ford and they'll leave the country. But what he doesn't know is that she's got a boyfriend on the side, both younger and more handsome than Ford (whom she couldn't stand anyway). So yeah, she's got other plans for the insurance money, like absconding with her boyfriend. This isn't gonna sit well with Wallace Ford, believe me.

But in the middle, things are gonna get really complicated. Ford's son gets involved because he believes his Dad was murdered. In other words, the plan to fake Ford's death has worked. So the son hires a Private Eye who's a total shark. This guy's a regular Clifton Webb, real smarmy and insulting. He figures out what's actually going on and decides to play everyone against everyone else, so he can blackmail the lot of them and take the money for himself. 

But June Vincent's no dummy and it won't be as easy as he thought. She's also hard as nails, yet sometimes that's a downfall. Poor, passive Wallace Ford is the elephant in the room. He won't forget, which makes him extra dangerous.

It's not a classic, but "Shed No Tears" still rates Two Solid Thumbs Up, for it's complexity and the scowling performance of Vincent, who I hope and pray was a nice lady in real life, cause man she's just awful here, haha. /////  

Well, so there you have it. Another must-see and a worth-watching Noir. As I say, we've really been on a roll, and I can't even recall our last bad movie (shhhh........don't jinx it, Ad!). It's time to head out for my hike. My recent music has been "Pet Sounds" by The Beach Boys, a box set of Bruckner Symphonies, and more Al Stewart. Tonight, maybe some Caravan or Gentle Giant. Have an awesome afternoon, and tons of love as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

An Oddball Noir : "Operation Alcatraz" and "Becket", a Tremendous Epic

Last night I found an odd Noir with a dash of science fiction : "Experiment Alcatraz"(1950), which once again uses the device of medical experimentation on prisoners. Boy, that "Man in the Dark" sure came in handy; this is the second time we've referenced it this week! In that film, Edmond O'Brien was offered his freedom if he agreed to undergo a brain operation, to remove his criminal impulse. In "Alcatraz", a doctor experimenting with radium isotopes believes he has a cure for leukemia. He's tested it on monkeys, now he needs human volunteers, so he arranges to use convicts and the same rules apply. If they agree to be irradiated, they'll be paroled, regardless of the results.

But during the followup, while the convicts are resting in their hospital beds (at the Presidio in San Francisco), a murder occurs. One man stabs another with a pair of scissors dropped by a nurse (Joan Dixon). When questioned, the convict (Robert Shayne) claims it was the radiation that made him do it. "Eddie Ganz was my friend", he tells the medical staff. "I would never hurt him".

His story is accepted and he's allowed to go free, as promised. The axe falls instead on the doctor, whose program is cancelled. The nurse is also fired for dropping the scissors. With their careers ruined, they set out to prove that it couldn't have been the radiation that caused Shayne to commit murder. They become suspicious of his story : how good of friends were he and Ganz, anyway? They knew each other in prison, but convict loyalty is fickle, and subject to many factors. One of which is money.

Now that Shayne is out, he's running a high end boutique. Where'd he get the dough for that? The doc asks around and gets clobbered for his trouble. As a last resort, he and Joan Dixon head back to Alcatraz, where they ask the warden to look for anyone who might've known both Shayne and Ganz on the inside. The warden comes back with Frank Cady (who played the fidgety Sam Drucker on "Green Acres"). Cady's a lifer who once worked in the prison shop with the men in question. He backs up Shayne's story, saying he and Ganz were indeed the best of friends. But then the screenwriter steps in, because the film only runs an hour and we've gotta move the plot forward. As the doc and Dixon are about to leave, Cady asks if they'd like to see his postcard collection. Well, that's out of left field, eh? But he seems a lonely old soul, so they humor him as he takes his postcards from his pocket. "They weren't sent to me. I get 'em from the other inmates. They give 'em to me when they're done reading 'em".

Dixon and the doc leaf through the cards, each with a pretty locale on the front. All are addressed to the prisoners. Suddenly, they come to one sent to the dead man : Eddie Ganz. It shows a lakeside cabin on the front, with a message from an "Ethel Ganz", saying she's been enjoying her time there, and looks forward to the day when he can join her. Who is this Ethel Ganz? Eddie's wife? There's no record he was ever married. Looking at the return address, they see it's from Lake Tahoe. A road trip is in order, to locate the cabin and hopefully the mysterious Ethel Ganz. Meanwhile, the doc is constantly on the phone, trying to keep his isotope sample from being destroyed. "The experiment is not at fault"!, he insists.  

As I say, this is a strange little noir that somebody went to a lot of trouble to put together, considering the budget couldn't have amounted to much. But that's the thing - there are multiple location scenes, including Alcatraz, the Presidio army hospital, the tony art gallery Shayne runs, and some nightclubs. The black and white photography is as rich and moody as in any Grade A Noir. The actors aren't well known, but turn in quality performances. You've seen Robert Shayne as a Baddie in Westerns and TV cop shows, and Joan Dixon (a Gene Tierney lookalike), is empathetic and resourceful as the nurse. She has a brother who would benefit from the radiation treatment, and is thus highly motivated to prove it's legit, and did not cause Shayne to kill.

There's not a truckload of plot, but it's made up for in all the ways mentioned. This is one of those "see how much stuff you can pack into an hour" movies, except it's done with location changes and oddball scenarios instead of story. It's also got some cool takes inside the hospital's Atomic Radiation Lab, which gives it a sci-fi tinge. For what it is, I thought "Experiment Alcatraz" was great. The print was razor sharp too, so you really can't go wrong. Two Big Thumbs Up, highly recommended. //// 

Now let's talk more about Epics. There are the films everyone knows, such as "West Side Story" and "Cleopatra", and then there are the ones - equally magnificent - that seem to have inexplicably faded into the woodwork, like "Quo Vadis". But then, there are others for which the lack of acknowledgement is stupefying. Such is the case with "Becket"(1964), viewed the previous night, and which I'd not only never seen before, but had never even heard of, until it turned up in a search for Richard Burton movies.

After watching it, I'm left wondering "how can this be"? It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, for crying out loud. And this isn't a case where I can fall on my sword as a cinematic slacker who has neglected to see a legendary movie. That'll work with "Casablanca", but here, it's not just me. In all my years as a film fan, I've never heard anyone, in any article, tv show or movie review or anything, make a mention of "Becket". You'd think it disappeared after those initial accolades from the Academy, and I'd go a step further to suggest it was wiped off the map. Could this be because it champions Faith? Who knows, and perhaps I'm wrong, but it seems like religious movies haven't worn well in Hollywood. They simply aren't PC, Old Chap. 

"Becket"'s invisibility is all the more astonishing when the movie ends, and you are left anchored in your chair, blown off the freaking map by what you've just witnessed : not just one, but two of The Greatest Performances in Cinematic History, by Richard Burton as "Thomas Becket" the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Peter F. O'Toole, who knocks "King Henry II of England" so far out of the park that they had to call the game. It's not often you root for an extension of a 2 1/2 hour movie, but when you add in a Story for the Ages, and a supporting turn by John F. Gielgud as the King of France, "Becket" could easily have merited the Four Hour Treatment given to "Cleopatra". 

Henry II is a self-centered king, not vainglorious but in need of constant validation. This is provided for him by Thomas Becket, his court administrator on whom Henry relies for emotional and intellectual support. Becket is smarter than Henry, who knows and admits it. He's grateful for Becket's tutelage, and indeed loves Thomas. He tells him so. In turn, Becket is loyal to Henry but that's as far as it goes. When Henry asks, "Do you love me, Thomas"?, Becket replies that he cannot feel love. He is a Saxon, for whom all feelings of the heart have been driven out by the fact he is of a vanquished people. King Henry is a Norman, whose great grandfather was William the Conqueror. The Normans originate from France, and though they've ruled England for a century, they are the hated enemy. By dint of his fate, in being chosen by Henry, Becket has fared much better than his fellow Saxons, most of whom live in abject poverty and are barely literate. But loyalty counts for a lot, when it's as unwavering as Thomas Becket's. He and Henry do everything together; they go falconing, whoring and drinking, and what appears to be a close friendship is enough for Henry, just barely, though he still yearns for Becket's love. For the record, this yearning is played straight, i.e. platonic, though some reviewers see an erotic undercurrent.

All goes well between the two men, but Henry needs money for his army. He wants to go to France to reclaim territory taken by King Louis VII. He appeals to the Archbishop of Canterbury (the highest Christian authority in the land). The church is wealthy and can afford to grant Henry the funding he needs, but the Archbishop won't bend unless he gets a quid pro quo. He wants equal leadership with the King. "There is man's law", he tells Henry, "and then there is God's law. In the matter of rule, both must be honored".

This causes a rift between the throne and the church. Henry knows he needs the Archbishop on his side, but has never been talked down to and won't start now. He stubbornly refuses the Archbishop's offer, but then the problem is solved for him when the old man dies. "I have the perfect solution"!, he tells Becket. "I'm going to make you the new Archbishop of Canterbury".

Becket begs him not to do this, as he foresees it will divide their friendship. He was a church deacon in early life, and will be expected by the Bishops of the Chancellery to side with them in any matter of state.

"Ah, but you've got no faith, Thomas! You've said so yourself", proclaims the King. "I'm just putting you in there as a role player, to ensure we maintain our authority". It's not that Becket feels torn, it's just that he is nonconfrontational and doesn't want to be in the  middle of a political struggle. But whatever Henry wants, Henry gets. Becket accepts the title because it is thrust upon him. He is now the Archbishop of Canterbury, expected to rule in Henry's favor on most, if not every, matter.

But then something happens one day, while Becket is performing his duties. He begins to pray, for the first time in years, and he feels God answer him. He is so overwhelmed that he promises to honor God forever after, and to consider all decisions as Prelate through the Spirit of Jesus Christ. His rediscovery of his faith will eventually bring him into conflict with Henry, as Becket is no longer a rubber stamp for his ambitions. Henry's love for Becket becomes a hatred so fierce that it poisons him. He is obsessed with reestablishing Becket's obedience, and when this doesn't work, he exiles him.     

The situation deteriorates from there, and though we hold out hope for a reconciliation between the two - one which almost materialises - in the end both mens' stubborn resolve prevents a compromise. This brings about the ending that I remarked will leave you anchored in your seat.

Like "West Side Story", and not in an entirely different way, as both films have similar tragic elements, "Becket" is a tremendous motion picture, once again as great as a movie can get. While I don't understand it's lack of recognition, this should not prevent you from avoiding it. In dictionaries of the future, they should put Burton and O'Toole's photographs next to the description of "acting". There aren't enough Thumbs to rate "Becket", so we'll have to go with the highest we've got : Two Gigantic.

Like "West Side", I urge you not to wait on this one. Watch it tonight.  /////

That's all I've got for the moment. Yesterday I got my second Pfizer shot, so I am fully vaxxed. "Two Jabs, Horns Up"!, as Rob Halford would say. My arm is sore, and it feels like I played a little football, but other than that, there've been no aftereffects. So, I'm gonna head out for a hike. Have a great day, I send you Tons of Love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

"Street of Chance" with Burgess Meredeth and Claire Trevor & "West Side Story", as great as a movie can get

Last night we watched "Street of Chance"(1942), another "Man in Jeopardy" noir that employed the same "amnesia device" we saw in last week's "Man in the Dark", with Edmond O'Brien. This time Burgess Meredeth stars, as a guy walking home from work who gets hit on the head with falling debris from a New York City high rise. When he comes to, he shakes off the injury, feeling little the worse for wear, then notices a monogrammed cigarette case in his pocket, and a matching hat lying next to him. Both bear the initials D.N.

"These aren't mine", he tells the cop attending him. "My name's Thompson. I have no idea who D.N. is". The cop gives him a shady look, and a detective follows him home. When he gets there, his wife is astonished to see him. "Sorry I'm late", he says, explaining his accident, but when she still looks badly shaken, he asks what's wrong.

So she tells him :

"Frank........it's wonderful to see you again, but there's something you don't understand. You've been gone for over a year. You didn't come home one day, and haven't been back ever since. I put in a missing persons report, but eventually gave you up for dead".

Now there's a heck of a setup, right? Burgess is dumbfounded as well, so he heads out the door to try and identify Mr. "D.N", he of the fancy monograph. The detective continues to follow him, when suddenly Meredeth is pulled off the street by a frantic Claire Trevor.

"Oh my goodness, Danny! There you are, I've been looking all over for you".

Well, at least he's now got the first initial. She thinks he's someone called Danny, so he decides to play along. Trevor is the housekeeper for a wealthy couple named The Diedrichs. She takes Burgess back to their mansion, instructing him to remain inside. "You've gotta stay off the street, they're looking for you everywhere", she implores. He has no idea what she's talking about, until he does some rummaging after she leaves the room. In a drawer, he finds a headline reading : "Neary Suspected In Diedrich Murder"!

Now he's got both initials for D.N. He's "Danny Neary", or so Claire Trevor tells him, and he's wanted for the murder of Mr. Diedrich's father, the family patriarch. He has no memory of any of this. "But I could never kill anyone"!, he protests, horrified at the thought. "Oh, but you did, Danny......you did", Trevor replies, "and we've got to get you out of here". She tells him of her plan to leave the country : "I've been saving the money. We could leave tonight". From this exchange we gather that Trevor and "Danny" are lovers, and that she is trying to protect him. Indeed, Claire Trevor specialised in playing Loyal Gals Who'd Die For Ya, and she sure is convincing here.

But then Burgess/"Danny" makes another discovery that throws her entire story into doubt. Unlocking an upstairs room, he finds an old woman inside, confined to bed. She looks frightened. Burgess peppers her with questions, to which she responds by blinking, either once or twice. It dawns on him that she's mute, so he devises a game : "Okay, ma'am......I'll ask you a question, and you blink once for 'yes', twice for 'no' ". But just as he's gaining her cooperation, in pops Claire Trevor, who's upset to see him in the room.

"Oh, Danny. That's Grandma. You must never bother her; she isn't well".

This lets Burgess know that he's on the right track, so the next time he sneaks upstairs to talk to Grandma, he's thought up a more precise method of questioning : "Okay, this time when I gonna ask you something, I'm gonna run through the alphabet. When I come to the first letter of your response, you blink to stop me. That way we can spell out all the words of your answer".

This is a fun game, and a terrific device for a Noir, but I must say - while I did enjoy "Street of Chance" very much - you're gonna need to run it by Sherlock Holmes to fully understand the mystery. Maybe you should watch the movie with him, I don't know, but I have several questions for Holmes myself, such as "why was the first wife (Mrs. Thompson) never seen again"? And, "if Meredeth was 'Danny Neary' for a year, how did he become D.N. "? This we are never told. And Claire Trevor would never have explained it, as it wasn't in her best interest to do so.

Don't let the confusion prevent you from watching the film, however. It's a great puzzle to get wrapped up in, and as many Youtube fans have noted, the Blinking Game is a lot of fun. On a side note, Adeline de Walt Reynolds, the actress who plays Grandma, was born in 1862, making her the second or third earliest motion picture performer we've seen thus far (our oldest being born in 1859 if I remember correctly). She had a full life before movies, and didn't even begin acting until she was 78! So there you have another interesting detail about "Street of Chance", which gets Two Big Thumbs Up and a high recommendation from moi. ////       

In our ongoing series of Epic Films, we have a new title to add : "West Side Story"(1961), which we watched the previous night. You'd think we'd have already seen it; after all, it's Beyond Legendary - the winner of 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and both Supporting categories. Then there's the music by Leonard Bernstein that has transcended the film to become part of the American Canon. "WSS" is considered to be one of the greatest motion pictures and musicals ever made by every critic and institution in the business. But you're talking to the same guy who's still never seen "Casablanca" and who didn't see "Citizen Kane" until a few years ago, so there's your answer. I've been trying to rectify the situation by scheduling Unseen Epics, which has been my mission this year, and was inspired to see "West Side" by my sister Vickie, who spoke of it last week with high praise. I thought, "that's it. No more excuses. Watch it now or die".  :)

You all know the story : Teenage gangs fighting over territory in New York City. Jets vs. Sharks, whites against Puerto Ricans, aka "PR"s. They're just punks but they mean business. One Jet - the handsome Tony - is trying to go straight. He's got a job and a new girl, "Maria" (Natalie Wood). But she's a PR, and inter-ethnic relationships are strictly verboten in early '60s Noo Yawk, especially among the gangs. No one objects more strenuously than Bernardo (George Chakiris), Maria's brother and the leader of the Sharks. There's already gonna be a major battle to decide turf rights. Now it's become personal, when the Jets leader "Riff" (Russ Tamblyn) asks Tony back into the gang for one last fight. "These streets belong to us and we need your help", Riff tells him.

But with his newfound love, all Tony can think of is Maria. He doesn't want to fight and she begs him to stay away. Tony's loyalty is torn, and he'll try to act as a peacemaker, with tragic results.

The story, as I'm sure you know, is a variation on "Romeo & Juliet". With encyclopedias of information readily available, I'm not going to write volumes about the plot or the movie, except to ratify everything that's been said : "West Side Story" is indeed one of the greatest films ever made, and if you were to put it in the Top Ten I wouldn't argue with you. It's so great on so many levels that it exists in a world of it's own.

There's Russ Tamblyn's dancing, the choreography of Jerome Robbins (who co-directed with Robert Wise), there's the amazing performance of Rita Moreno as "Anita", Bernardo's girlfriend, for which she won Best Supporting Actress. Every performance in the film is nothing short of spectacular. 

There are also the sets, and the beautiful use of color, which dissolves into a blurry kaleidoscope on the sides of the frame, whenever Tony and Maria are together. This shows there is no one in the world but them, their love is all that matters.

As far as the music is concerned, you've heard it all your life, whether you realize it or not. These songs are ingrained in your consciousness even if you've never deliberately listened to them. Bernstein combines Gershwin-like jazz with classical swells and soaring, yearning vocal melodies to create a unique, cohesive soundtrack. He was already known as one of the greatest conductors who ever lived, but he made a permanent mark as a composer, too, with "West Side Story", and it's one of those situations where it's enough to qualify him as a Musical Genius, even if it was the only thing he ever wrote (which it was not).

I must say that I'm surprised Richard Beymer wasn't nominated for Best Actor for "WSS". Not only that, but he should've won, in my opinion. He gives a majestic, luminous performance as Tony, the good guy of the Jets gang. Apparently though, Beymer himself hated his portrayal. He wanted to play Tony a lot tougher. Robert Wise said no, and Beymer was so disillusioned upon seeing the final result that he walked out of a Royal Screening for Queen Elizabeth. That, and his on-set feud with Natalie Wood probably damaged his career, which never again rose to the same heights. But he's incredible in "West Side Story" and I hope after all these years he's reconsidered his opinion of his work. God Bless David Lynch for bringing him out of obscurity for a major role in both the original "Twin Peaks" and it's sequel series in 2017.

Oh yeah, and Natalie Wood was fantastic too. But that goes without saying. "West Side Story" is a movie you live inside. I was blown away by how great it is. I suppose you could say "Well duh, Ad". You've probably already seen it, but on the off chance you haven't, don't wait 61 years like I did. Watch it tonight. It obviously gets our highest rating, Two Gigantic Thumbs Up.  /////

In a final note, you may also be aware that a remake is in the works. I would condemn it in the strongest possible terms were it not for the director involved : Mr. Steven Spielberg. I'm sure he knows not to compete with the original, and I'll be interested to read the early reviews coming in later this year. His version is to be released at Christmastime. I imagine I'll be in line to see it.

That's all for the moment! I'm gonna head out for a hike, maybe to Santa Su. Have a great afternoon, I send you Tons of Love as always.   xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Two Westerns : "Go West, Young Lady" (a hilarious spoof) and "City of Bad Men" (the Real McCoy)

I'm writing from home, off work for a couple weeks, and I've got two Westerns for ya. The first one is a spoof, seen the other night, called "Go West, Young Lady"(1941). This movie was an absolute blast, and reminded me of "Blazing Saddles", albeit in a far less raunchy way (it is 1941 after all). Actually, it's more accurate to say there's no raunch, but the same wise-ass sense of humor is at work. Like "Saddles", it's a send up of the entire genre, and even has a similar premise. Glenn Ford stars as "Tex Miller", the new Sheriff in the lawless town of Headstone, their fourth in as many months. A bandit named Killer Pete is shooting them dead as fast as the townsfolk can bury 'em, and it's gotten so bad that the Judge hasn't had time to write a new eulogy. He keeps using the same one, over and over, and it's getting redundant.

That's why Ford has been sent in by the U.S. Marshal, to restore order. When we first see him, he's riding in on the stage, in the company of "Belinda Pendergast" (Penny Singleton), a Prim and Proper Lady from Back East. They aren't together - they just happen to be in the same coach - and despite Ford's attempt to make conversation, Miss Pendergast won't answer him. She doesn't talk to strange men........until they are ambushed by a pack of rampaging Indians. After Ford throws her one of his six-shooters, saying "I hope you know how to fire this", she proceeds to mow the Indians down one by one, with practiced aim. Ford is dumbfounded.

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that"?! , he exclaims.

"My Daddy taught me".

"Teaching a girl to shoot a gun? I've never heard of such a thing"!

"Well, he wanted a boy. Even called me 'Bill" for short".

And there you have the makings of what will be the film's big mix-up. You see, Miss Pendergast is traveling west to stay with her Uncle Jim in Headstone. Jim (Charles Ruggles) is the town's Big Honcho. He owns the Crystal Palace Saloon (yep, same as in Tombstone), and when he gets word that his brother has sent "Bill" to live with him, he naturally figures "Bill" is a man, and not only that, but "I'll bet he's our new sheriff, too! Imagine that, a Pendergast as sheriff of Headstone! The outlaws'll pack up and leave"!

But when the stage arrives, and "Bill" turns out to be Belinda, Uncle Jim is confused, and very disappointed. He sends her to live upstairs at the Crystal Palace, a move that shocks the local church ladies. Miss Pendergast doesn't understand, so they explain it to her : "Ma'am, there's only two kinda women in the world - the kind that goes in saloons and the kind that don't". But she's not concerned about what anyone thinks. After all, she's from Boston and is "educated and well-bred". Of course, you know that placing the goody-two-shoes Belinda in the context of a saloon is gonna create some hilarious hijinx, especially with dancing girls on hand. And wouldja believe Miss Pendergast can cut a pretty mean rug herself? Oh yeah. You see, "Go West" is also a musical, with Ann Miller on hand to perform the first number. She plays "Lola", the Crystal's headliner, who sings the title track ("Go West, Young Lady") while busting the kind of dazzing tap moves she's known for. But then Miss Pendergast comes on for a pretty slick dance of her own, while singing "Most Gentlemen Don't Prefer a Lady". 

So begins a rivalry between Miller and Miss Pendergast, who Miller thinks is trying to upstage her and steal her man, a bigshot named "Tom Hannegan" (Onslow Stevens). But it ain't so! Belinda only has eyes for Glenn Ford, whom she's fallen in love with. Uncle Jim hopes Ford will marry her and leave town. He wants "Bill" off his hands : "And it ain't like we can't get another Sheriff anyway"! But Ford is sworn to stay until Killer Pete is caught. He's not gonna shirk his duty, so Miss Pendergast is there for the duration as well, much to Uncle Jim's chagrin (and that of the church ladies).

I loved "Go West, Young Lady", which will hold up to repeat viewings just like "Blazing Saddles". I found it's humor to be an unexpected delight, very edgy for it's time, yet clean enough for 1941. It's extremely well cast, and every actor knows just how much to exaggerate his or her role to create caricatures. The satirical dialogue is an absolute riot. I wouldn't be surprised if Mel Brooks is a fan, or if he used the movie as an inspiration for "Saddles". Other great characters include Allen Jenkins as "Hank", a deputy with a Barney Fife complex, Jed Prouty as the hapless "Judge Harmon", and "Killer Pete" himself, who a-speaks-a with an Italian-a accent. He wears a bandanna over his face, of course, but someone's eventually gonna unmask him for all the town to see.

Will it be Miss Pendergast? I can't tell ya, but I can reveal that her feud with Ann Miller will ultimately boil over, and when it does, stand clear! 

Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Go West, Young Lady", which also features songs by the legendary Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, as well as a barbershop quartet known as The Foursome. Boy can these groups play and sing. The musical performances are reason alone to watch the movie, but with a story this funny you don't need an excuse. The Youtube print is excellent, too. Do not miss it, very highly recommended! ////  

Our other Western, seen last night, was "City of Bad Men"(1953), starring Dale Robertson of Carpeteria fame. Remember those commercials from the early '70s? He spoke in that clipped delivery of his :"This is Dale Robt-sn for Carp-teria"........"Carp-ting by Carp-teria". My friends and I loved those commercials and used to imitate his voice, which was deep and throaty. He was about 50 at the time, and that was all we knew him for, the "Carp-teria" commercials. It was clear he'd been a star, but when you're 12 the past is ancient history as we've talked about. But in this movie he's young, tall and handsome, so much so that I didn't recognize him at first, even though his name was at the top of the credits! I kept saying to myself, "who is that actor? I know I know him". One thing that should've given it away is his hair. Robertson has one of the greatest pompadours in Hollywood history. Halfway through the film, I did finally catch on to him ("oh yeah, it's Dale Robt-sn"!), and he plays the leader of a gang of outlaws who ride into Carson City, Nevada on the eve of the heavyweight championship fight between James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons. 

The year is 1897. Robertson and his gang have been in Mexico for a half dozen years, fighting as mercenaries, and they expect to return to the Wild West as they knew it. Instead, progress has come to America, in the form of inventions : automobiles, telephones, electric lights.......police forces. In town, even something called a "shower" is being advertised at the main hotel, in lieu of the baths of old. The plan in Carson City was to rob the National Bank, but now that Dale Robertson sees the crowds gathered for the boxing match, and calculates the ticket price multiplied by probable attendance, he decides they're gonna rob the fight instead. "It's gonna be 120 grand, boys".

But the "boys" are a bunch of Bad Hombres (hence the movie's title), and they don't agree on Robertson's change of plans, especially when he locates his ex (Jeanne Crain) and starts trying to rekindle the flame. She's now engaged to the fight's promoter, further complicating matters. As he falls further for Crain, Robertson is offered a job by the local sheriff, to stand guard at the box office during the fight. If he accepts, he'll be deputized as an officer of the law. "My boys will hang me if I do it", he muses, but because he can't resist true love, he takes the job, telling his gang it's just a ruse. "It'll get me closer to the money", he says. The plot will build on this thread of suspense : is Robertson being honest with his men, and sticking to the plan to rob the fight, or is he loyal to the sheriff, as a deputized lawman, to look good in the eyes of Jeanne Crain?   

The action takes a while to develop, but Robertson's laconic style is contrasted by the more aggressive energy of the "bad men" of the title, and what a freakin' cast it is! In Robertson's gang are Lloyd Bridges as his brother, Leo Gordon as a henchman, and then you've got Richard Boone as the gang's arch enemy "Johnny Ringo". You've also got James Best (of "Rolling Thunder" fame) in a small role as a deputy, and finally........drum roll please.....you've got Mr. Reeves as a spectator at the fight! Yes indeed, and he starts a punchout when some galoot is blocking his view!

Holy smokes, folks. I mean, for half the movie you're sitting there trying to recognize Dale Robertson, and then at the end, the instantly recognizable Mr. Reeves pops up. And we just walked by his house today, as we always do......

Well, my goodness, such is life, no? One minute you're drawing a blank, the next, there's Mr. Reeves. Please don't bother him, as a favor to my Mom, but definitely watch "City of Bad Men", a contextual Western that pits the outlaws against human progress, which is fast outmoding their lifestyle. It looks great in Technicolor and gets Two Big Thumbs Up. I've only given you the basics of the plot, so watch it in depth for yourself and enjoy. ////

That's all for tonight. Have you heard the new song by KK's Priest? If not, Google it and get back to me with your opinion. My take is that it's nothing new in the Metal Realm, but it has an energy I find missing from the current version of Judas Priest, a rawness that's been refined out of JP's production. While it's not a song I'll be whistling on my daily rounds (and I miss the old Judas Priest hooks), I still appreciate the try for authenticity in this day and age, and I'll be ready to attend the first KK show in Los Angeles, as soon as it's announced. He founded Judas Priest and was always their heart and soul as far as I'm concerned.

Props to ya Ken. ////

See you tomorrow morning, tons of love as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Finding Richard Dix : "Tombstone : the Town Too Tough to Die" and "Eyes of the Underworld"

Here's an actor I don't think we've seen before : Richard Dix. Born in 1893, he was an early star of Westerns who made a successful transition from Silents to sound. Dix was famous enough to have been referenced in Olson Johnson's legendary "Blazing Saddles" speech, and was also nominated for Best Actor for his role in "Cimarron", which won Best Picture in 1931. It was negligent on our part that we hadn't watched any of his films, but we've remedied that situation and now have a Richard Dix Twofer for your approval, beginning with last night's "Tombstone : the Town Too Tough to Die"(1942). Dix stars at Wyatt Earp, in what may be one of the first motion pictures about the notorious lawman, who died in Los Angeles only 13 years prior. The movie includes the gunfight at the OK Corral, though it's just part of the story, which is mainly about Earp and his friendship with a young drifter named Johnny Duanne (Don Castle).

As the movie opens, an outlaw named Curly Bill Brocious is shooting up the main drag of Tombstone. He and his boys do this whenever they get drunk, which is like clockwork. The sheriff is afraid of Bill and does nothing to stop his hell raising. Then the Earp brothers ride in. Everyone knows Wyatt from his exploits in Dodge City, where he cleaned up what had been the most lawless town in the west. Tombstone now holds that title, and the citizens want Earp to replace their weak-kneed sheriff. Earp says he's retired and is just passing through, but after Ike Clanton shoots a young kid in a gun battle, he changes his mind. Accepting the sheriff's badge from the mayor, Earp and his brothers Virgil and Morgan set about to make Tombstone a place of law and order. First on Wyatt's agenda is to shut down Curly Bill. Little does he know Bill's got the mayor in his pocket.

I have to cut in here to mention that over the past couple years, I watched in it's entirety the complete tv series "Tombstone Territory", which starred Pat Conway as Sheriff Clay Hollister. The time frame is the 1870s - 1880s, about the same as when Wyatt Earp is said to have been sheriff, so I don't know why they use a different character, but at any rate, many of the other western legends of that time are portrayed in various episodes, including Curly Bill Brocious, who appears in the very first one. And the plot of that first episode is the same as the first act of this movie : The sheriff (Earp in the movie, Hollister in the tv show) decides to co-opt Curly Bill rather than confront him. He does this by bringing up the issue of cattle taxes. "Now Bill, you know there's a tax on all those steers you rustled. So even though you stole 'em, you've still gotta pay the tax. Unless you wanna help me out in another way, then I might be willing to overlook it".

"Oh, and what way is that, Wyatt"?

"By helpin' me collect from all them other thieves, like the Clantons and McLaurys".

Curly Bill is a shrewd character and makes the wise choice to help Earp, whom he can't outdraw in any event. The two of them ride from ranch to ranch, enforcing not only the cattle tax, but also the one on silver. The local miners, including the aforementioned bad guys, are used to getting off scot-free in this regard, and resent Earp's crusade. Their grumbling about him gets louder until it boils over into into a plan to shoot him dead. The showdown is of course the famous Gunfight.

I mentioned that Wyatt Earp died in 1929, and once again the notion of time trips me out, because we think of the Old West (or the Wild West) as ancient history. It certainly feels that way, when we look at old black and white or sepia photographs from that era, some of which are tintypes. The cameras used back then required time exposures to capture a portrait, making the subjects look stiff yet blurry in their poses, adding to the perception of antiquity. The clothing, hairstyles (including facial hair) and everything about the era seems like it was hundreds of years ago instead of just 150, but what really blows my mind are the connections we can make between our lives and the folks who lived then. Take the Civil War for instance, which began in 1860, twenty one years before the Gunfight at the OK Corral, or a full generation earlier.

My Mom used to tell the story of an old man who lived on her street in Canton, Ohio when she was a little girl. "He was a veteran of the Civil War and was very senile. He used to sit on his porch, and the only thing he ever said was 'five, five and five' ". I always remembered Mom's story because of the "fives". I mean, what a weird thing to say, right? But the point is, the guy was in the Civil War. So that's only One Degree of Kevin Bacon from him to us, with Mom in the middle. And it's the the same with Wyatt Earp. Mom would've been six when he died, so the Old West isn't as far back as we think. 

Getting back to the film, Dix plays Earp as every bit the classic Hollywood cowboy, and looks the part with his pencil thin moustache. His Earp is smiling but stern, as if he's thinking "looks like I've gotta teach Curly Bill another lesson. When will he ever learn"? I don't know how realistic his portrayal is when compared to more recent (and supposedly authentic) ones, like Kurt Russell's or Kevin Costner's, but the screenplay was based on a book by Walter Noble Burns, called "Tombstone, an Iliad of the Southwest". It was written in 1927, so it can be considered early source material, and as such, it's probably reliable. 

Edgar Buchanan is crude and boisterous as Curly Bill, who's intelligent enough to know when he's overmatched, but also unable, in the final analysis, to control his criminal impulse. You'll see when and why. As an actor, Buchanan was known to my generation as old "Uncle Joe" from the tv series "Petticoat Junction". The theme song had him "movin' kinda slow" but here he's the life of the party. Interestingly, Doc Holliday is just a marginal character in this film, his history sketched to just a few perfunctory details. And Ike Clanton (Victor Jory) is portrayed as a coward. 

The main plot line follows the actions of Johnny Duanne, who arrives in town with nothing but self assurance and a Gable grin. He needs dough and is immediately secured by an advance from Curly Bill, against a promise to join his gang. But then he meets Wyatt Earp at the Crystal Palace Saloon. He likes Earp, who brings out the better angels of his nature. Johnny's loyalties are then torn for the rest of the picture. Pulling for the good side is Frances Gifford, the Song and dance gal from the Crystal Palace. She loves Johnny and wants him to go straight. We saw Gifford pre-pandemic in "Tarzan Triumphs", and haven't forgotten her, but will Johnny?  

Overall, "Tombstone : the Town Too Tough to Die"is a faithful adaptation of the well known Tombstone story, in this case given the Hollywood Studio treatment, '40s style. For me, it was something of a minor classic, and I'm surprised it's not more well known. Two Big Thumbs Up, highly recommended.  /////

Our other Richard Dix film was "Eyes of the Underworld"(1942), seen the previous night. It popped up on a list of film noirs, which led to our Dix discovery. He plays a police chief with a secret in his past.

The movie opens with headlines trumpeting steel and rubber shortages caused by the war. A radio announcer informs us that this has led to an increase in auto theft, the cars being sold for their raw materials. A crooked city councilman is behind the theft ring. He's so shifty that he's brought down a state investigator to try and pin the spree on the Lawndale police chief (Dix), as the brains behind the racket.

The councilman chooses Dix because of a secret in his past that one of the car thieves knows about. Dix was once in prison, for embezzling money from a bank. He's long since paid his debt to society, however, and gone straight. Still, he doesn't want his son to know. Also, his secretary (Wendy Barrie) is in love with him. Dix fears it could ruin their marriage plans. So, he decides to resign, on the councilman's "advice". He also breaks off his relationship with Barrie. She knows he doesn't mean it; something's wrong. She confronts him about his actions and he spills the beans. "Now you know", he tells her. 

"Oh, you fool! Did you think that would make me stop loving you"?!, she replies. Strengthened by her faith in him, he goes undercover to nail the councilman and break up the theft ring. His m.o. is to just play up the "retirement" angle, so the crooks will think he's out of the picture. Then he and his loyal driver (Lon Chaney Jr.) go behind the scenes and start asking questions, to find out where the bad guys keep the cars. Cheney gets emotional and threatens to pound anyone who won't talk. I think it's a staple in his contract, but he's great at it.

Dix seems to be a Hollywood Good Guy in the Gary Cooper/Randolph Scott mold, except he predates both of those guys, and has more of a Matinee Idol look. He's a capable actor, though, with plenty of charisma, so we'll be looking for much more from him, and in fact we have "Cimarron" coming up. I've just reserved it from the library. As for "Eyes of the Underworld", it's a fast moving 61 minuter, a solid noir, and with Dix and Lon Chaney, you absolutely can't go wrong. Two Big Thumbs Up. ////

That's all for the moment. I apologize for the delay in posting, as this blog should've appeared yesterday, but we'll get back on track with the next one. Look for it tomorrow night.

Have a great day. Tons, tons, and more tons of love!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)