Last night's movie was "The Treasure of Monte Cristo"(1949), a good but misleading title for what is actually a crime film. Glenn Langan stars as "Edmund Dantes", a cargo ship's second mate. After disembarking in San Francisco, he plans to visit his family, but no sooner does he cross the street than he sees a woman being preyed upon by thugs. He comes to her rescue, then they go to a bar for a drink. She's "Jean Turner" (Adele Jurgens), who says she's the heiress to a fortune. "That's why those men were after me. My relatives want to put me in an asylum so I can't inherit the money". They're trying to declare her delusional so they'll get the money instead. However, Jean has an out. If she can get married before she turns 25 (in a few months), the dough will automatically become hers. It takes some convincing on Langan's part, and the promise of ten thousand dollars, but he marries her. The next thing you know, they're in a motel in Reno, and in love. That part seems abrupt, as just a minute ago, Langan had to be talked into the marriage (and in an aside, Langan and Jurgens met on this film and got married in real life. They're both buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Chatsworth).
Dantes goes to visit his family (they're Italian; he's adopted), and when he comes back, there's a lipstick message on the motel mirror. Jean has been kidnapped and taken to the asylum. When Dantes goes there to free her, he climbs the facade to the top floor of the building, a Victorian mansion. He enters through a window to find a man in the room. The man gets shot. It turns out he's a resident of what is not an asylum but a boarding house. Jean was never there. The whole thing has been a setup to frame Dantes for murder.
He tries telling his story to the San Francisco cops but they don't believe him. Now he's facing trial and the death penalty. Jean Turner is brought in for questioning and says "yeah I married him, but I'm not an heiress. I don't know why he'd say that. The wedding was impulsive, both of us were drunk. I don't even really know him."
Boy is she screwing him over. She's obviously part of the frame job. Dantes is withering in jail, awaiting a transfer to San Quentin. He's appointed a public defender (Steve Brodie), who gives him a deliberately poor defense. It turns out Brodie is in cahoots with Jean Turner. They know something about Dantes' background that he isn't aware of.
His Italian family help spring him from the joint. Now he's on the run to find Jean and make her talk. She implicates Brodie, but he's got a thug who overhears them. Would you believe the thug is played by none other than Sid Melton? He's dogging me! Well, at least he's not doing a comedy routine this time.
The "treasure" of the title has to do with Edmund Dantes' biological family. It's a subtheme explained toward the end, and it covers why Steve Brodie is framing him. The movie kept appearing on my "recommended" list for the last week, but I didn't click on it til now because I thought it was an adventure film (and nothing against that genre - I enjoy it - but we're doing Noirs at the moment). Despite the inaccurate title, it's a hell of a twisted story. Glenn Langan is excellent as the chivalrous sailor Dantes, who realizes too late that he's been had eight ways to Sunday. Adele Jurgens is a knockout as the blonde bombshell who fools him. And Steve Brodie is one of those actors who you know is gonna be the bad guy. He always plays that role, and the writers don't cloak his position. We know he's a crooked lawyer from the moment he confers with Langan. Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Treasure of Monte Cristo". It's very highly recommended and the picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night we saw another top-notch crime film, "The Miami Story"(1954), about a Mob boss who takes over that city. "Tony Brill" (Luther Adler) is so all-powerful that the Miami PD can't touch him. A congressional hearing is even held (narrated by real life Florida Senator George Smathers) to figure out how to bring him down. Nothing works. He's too good at covering his tracks. Brill learned from Al Capone's mistakes that you never leave a single loose end. Finally, a newspaper publisher and a group of business leaders meet with state law enforcement officials. One of them, a prosecutor, suggests bringing in an ex-Brill associate named "Mick Flagg" (Barry Fitzgerald), who's since gone straight. They put a persuasive ad in the paper that more-or-less forces Flagg to help them. He doesn't want to help; he's a family man living now in Indiana. His life will be on the line. But they offer him 50 Grand and tell him he'll be doing a great thing for Miami. When his son sees the ad, and discovers his true identity, he has no choice but to admit he was once a mobster. To make things right, he agrees to help the anti-Brill group. Then he goes to Miami to pose as a rival gangster.
Once there, Flagg meets a woman named "Holly Abbott" (Beverly Garland, one of our favorites). She's snooping around Miami in search of her sister "Gwen" (Adele Jurgens again). Gwen is the moll of Tony Brill. Flagg uses Holly to get closer to him. When Brill finds this out, he has Holly beaten up. She lands in the hospital, but sister Gwen has no sympathy. "I told you to stay out of my life", she tells her. In an aside, this role is more akin to the "tough broads" Jurgens usually plays. Mick Flagg responds by having the cops close down Brill's casino. Flagg is trying to show that he's got them in his pocket. Brill doesn't know that he's working undercover. Now Brill goes into Scarface mode and plays a trump card on Flagg. Keep in mind his pre-Miami background. I can't tell you what Brill does to make him flinch, but it causes Flagg to (almost) abandon the program.
Brill also has a hitman (John Baer) who figures strongly in the plot. Baer is an expert marksman who will take on any job, no matter how risky. His loyalty makes him Brill's Golden Boy, but he's got a thing for Gwen behind the scenes. This makes him vulnerable to pressure from Mick Flagg. It's an interwoven story of intimidation and reprisal, between one bossman (Brill), who's used to calling the shots, and a sudden, unexpected rival (Flagg, who's actually working with the law). Barry Fitzgerald is implacable as the poker-faced Mick Flagg. Luther Adler gives a realistic performance as the middle-aged Tony Brill, paunchy but still powerful and not used to being challenged. And Bev Garland is first-class as always. Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Miami Story", a gripping organized crime flick. It's highly recommended and the picture is razor sharp. ////
That's all for tonight. I'm working hard on my book. I trust that all is well, and I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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