Last night's movie was "Storm Fear"(1955), a hostage drama/noir directed by and starring Cornel Wilde as a desperate bank robber. However, this ain't no standard crime film. It takes place at a remote mountain home during a snowstorm, which serves as a backdrop for a convergence of lives and the revealing - almost - of a long held family secret. You want a feel good film? This ain't it - in spades. What begins as a standard home invasion motif turns, by the end, into one of the grimmest, darkest stories we've seen in our years of reviewing. Why do I say this? Because a child is put at the center of the trauma. This is one bleak flick, but if you can stand it, it's very well done. I think Wilde and company set out to make an Acting Movie, because everyone emotes. Standing out above them all is young David Stollery, fourteen at the time, who plays "David", the son of "Fred Blake" (Dan Freaking Duryea), a writer who's sick with what appears to be tuberculosis.
As the movie opens, the Blakes, along with wife and Mom "Elizabeth" (Jean Wallace), are in the kitchen of their house in the New England mountains. Son David has just brought in a fresh pail of milk. In the kitchen with the Blakes is "Hank" (a young Dennis Weaver), their farm hand. He's talking to David about going hunting, but father Fred knows the real reason he's hanging around; he's attracted to Fred's much younger wife. Hank's body language says as much and he can't keep his eyes off her. Hank has bought a radio for the family as a Christmas present. He now asks Elizabeth how she likes it. "Oh, it's nice, Hank. Thank you very much". "Did you notice", Fred says when Hank leaves, "that he didn't ask me how I like the radio"?
Okay, so Hank the handyman has the hots for Fred's wife. That's one thing. But now, the next day when young David is out milking the cow, a car drives up. In it are two men and a woman. The driver is belligerent : "Hey kid! Is that barn big enough to hold this car"? When David stammers, the man doesn't wait. He just pulls in and the three walk right into the house. Elizabeth is in the kitchen. You'd think she'd scream. "Who are you?! What do you want"?! But she doesn't. A look of surprise does cross her face, but when she sees Cornel Wilde, she says "Hi Charlie......what brings you here"? Wilde is "Charlie Blake", Fred's younger ne'er-do-well brother. Charlie leads a life of crime, and - he's been shot. "I can't talk about that now, Elizabeth", he tells her. "I need your help getting this bullet out of my leg". Now, prior to this, even when Hank the handyman was not-so-subtly eyeing her in the kitchen, Elizabeth presented herself as very prim and proper. Pious, even. Her son calls her "ma'am". She commands respect and runs the household, while poor, sickly Fred sits in his bedroom trying to write.
But now that his brother Charlie has arrived, we see a whole other side of the woman. She doesn't ask how he got shot, instead she simply takes a knife and a bottle of rubbing alcohol and excises the bullet, as if she's done this kind of thing before. Charlie thanks her. They seem to have a bond. What could it be, we wonder? Well, before too long, it's obvious she and Charlie once had a "thing". But he's a stone cold criminal. Eventually we find out she was "rescued" from him by his straight-laced brother Fred, who she married. But Fred's old and ill. She doesn't love Fred but he's given her a life of stability.
Now, Fred is surprised to see Charlie as well, but unlike Elizabeth he's not welcoming. "Whatever it is you did, you can stay here tonight. But I want you gone in the morning. And keep away from David, do you hear me"? Charlie promises to leave with his gang at sunup, but what's this about David? Oh well, he's a kid. Of course Fred doesn't want Charlie around him.
Charlie's sincere in his desire to leave. He doesn't want to cause Fred any problems. Unfortunately, however, there's been a storm during the night. You knew one was coming from the title of the movie. Now the gang is snowed in. They can't leave even if they want to, except.........wait and I'll tell you about that in a minute. While they're trying to figure out what to do, everyone goes stir crazy. "Edna Rogers" (the great Lee Grant), the "moll" of the gang, starts scouring the house for a drink. "Hey kid", she asks David, "don't your folks have a bottle of something - anything! - around here somewhere"? If she's a real hoot, the third member of Charlie's gang in not. He's "Benjie", a psychopathic trigger-happy thug. Would you believe he's played by Steven Hill, the aging D.A from "Law & Order"? Yep. Hill (like us all) was young once, and man he's one hell of an actor. He's downright chilling as Benjie, who's gonna cause a lot of havoc before the movie is over. Right now it's all Charlie can do to keep Benjie from beating up his brother Fred, or shooting David. Doggone bad weather. It it wasn't for the snowstorm the gang would be gone by now.
But wait. I was gonna tell you about a possible solution. You see, young David notices that his Mom is sympathetic to "Uncle Charlie", and he takes a liking to him too. Charlie, if he weren't a bank robber - we now know this because the news has been broadcast on the radio - might be a decent guy. He's kind to David and protects him from the crazy Benjie, and David likes Charlie in return, looks up to him even. But "Uncle Charlie" still has that criminal instinct, and when David tells him he knows the way over the mountains to the highway, instead of saying "no, I won't let you do that", he allows (actually asks) David - a child of twelve - to lead him and the gang over the steep, snowy slope. It's freezing outside, none of the gang are climbers, Charlie's got a bullet wound in his leg, and Benjie's a freakin' nut case. And they want a kid to take them over the mountain? Yeah, so maybe "Uncle Charlie" ain't so benevolent after all. Fred tries to stop them, to no avail. He hasn't got the strength to fight. Wife Elizabeth tries as well. Any feeling she had for Charlie is gone now. "You're just a bum and you always were"!, she shouts at him. He and Benjie tie her to a chair and, with Edna following along, they head out into the snow with David in the lead. Who would make a twelve year old kid do this? I told you the going would be grim, but it's gonna get a lot worse.
I don't think I'll reveal any more of the plot, except to say that Fred leaves the house with a gun to try and stop them. He may be tubercular (or perhaps he's a recovering alcoholic, or maybe both), but as David's father he's gonna put up a fight. There's also Hank the handyman. Remember him? He goes hunting on that mountain. What if he's out there now and he sees them? Worst of all, what if crazy Benji gets the better of limping Charlie? And what about Edna? How's she gonna make it without a drink?
I mentioned the acting. If you're a Dan Duryea fan (which you should be) and you're used to seeing him play fast-talking hoods or slick ladies' men, watching him at death's door as the poor, emasculated Fred is a revelation. He shows himself to be one of the greats here. Cornel Wilde had range as well. He gives a complex performance as "Charlie". You empathize with his respect for his brother Fred and Elizabeth, and his early commitment to David, then you are repelled when he uses the boy to set him free, endangering David's life in the process. Jean Wallace gives strong support as his mother Elizabeth and Steven Hill is scary as mentioned, but in the end - and man, it's a harsh ending - it's David Stollery who steals the picture. He was a Disney child star who went on to become an automobile designer (according to Wiki he designed the 1978 Toyota Celica). If his performance here is any indication, he could have had a long career as an actor. You're gonna need another box of hankies for this one, mainly at the end, though as noted it's one our darkest crime stories overall. Still, it gets Two Big Thumbs Up from yours truly. It's highly recommended if you can handle it and the picture is razor sharp. /////
The previous night we watched "The Unholy Four"(1954), a mystery with a touch of Noir from director Terence Fisher, best known for the Hammer classics "Horror of Dracula", "The Curse of Frankenstein" and "The Devil Rides Out" among others. Starring William Sylvester (of "2001" fame) as "Phillip Vickers", a man with amnesia, the story plays out like a chess game, with expository dialogue in place of action. The legendary Paulette Goddard co-stars as Sylvester's wife "Angie". As the movie opens, he's returning home to their estate. He's been gone for four years but at least his dog recognizes him. He sees a friend's car in the garage. Has the guy taken up with his wife? We hear these thoughts play out in his head. He drives down to a cottage by the boathouse. Apparently he's wealthy though it's never explained. Three of his friends are there but not his wife. "Where is she"?, he asks. "And aren't you surprised to see me"?
They all thought he was dead. He's got a scar on his forehead (wait a minute! didn't we just see this when Greta Gynt brained her husband with a coffee cup?). We learn that four years ago he was on a fishing trip with the three friends in South America. One of them conked him on the head. All three had the hots for Angie, his wife. But which one tried to kill him? He's going to find out, if the culprit doesn't frame him for another murder first.
You may have a hard time keeping up with what's going on as it's explained by William Sylvester, but you'll be captivated by his somnambulistic performance. He walks around in this movie, hypnotising viewers with his faux English accent, and wait a minute here - who's English and who isn't? Where does this flick take place anyway? It's gotta be England because the social secretary's English and so are the cops. And how many folks have a social secretary? She has a lifetime beef against William Sylvester who she blames for the death of her father (it's a corporate thing). Could it have been she who hit him in the head? Well no. She wasn't part of that long ago fishing trip. It's a good bet, however, that she's framing him for the murder of another of Paulette Goddard's suitors. The police inspector'll figure it out so don't worry. Just go with what Sylvester tells you. He'll walk you through the story. His friends will try to confuse you and Paulette Goddard will protect herself.
The fans at IMDB didn't like "The Unholy Four" but I did. In fact, I like even more when I think about it and consider William Sylvester's performance. It takes a lot of concentration to maintain that level of languor and yet he does it. And he's still intense enough to remain pissed off, even though he's about to fall asleep. This is a movie where you don't have to worry if you like (or can follow) the plot. It's all about the atmosphere, and the atmosphere is hypnagogic. Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Unholy Four", the picture is razor sharp. ////
That's all I've got for tonight. I finished reading "Landslide" by David Wolff which I recommend if you can stand more Trump, and I've now begun "Coup in Dallas", yet another book on JFK, but this one is written by the late, great H.P. Albarelli, who brought you "A Terrible Mistake", about the death of Frank Olsen, a CIA chemist. That book was a landmark of research and revelation. I expect "Coup" to be nothing less. I wish you a pleasant evening and I send you Tons of Love as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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