Last night, another late-50s Noir with a touch of melodrama, billed on Youtube as a Drive-In Classic. I'm talking about "The Girl In Black Stockings"(1957), shot on location in the resort town of Kanab, Utah. As the movie opens, lawyer "David Hewson" (Lex Barker) is romancing "Beth Dixon" (Ann Bancroft) at a swanky motel. They've just met, and they're out by the pool when a car pulls in. It's headlights reveal a dead woman on the lawn. Beth screams; Hewson comforts her. "Sheriff Jess Holmes" (John Dehner) arrives. The dead girl is Marsha Morgan, a local hussy. "Edmund Parry" the motel owner decries her. "I'm not sorry she's dead. She was a wanton, vapid predator." Parry (Ron Randell) is an invalid, paralysed except for his toes. He doesn't seem to like women very much, except for his doting sister "Julia" (Marie Windsor) who is also his caregiver.
Hewson, being a lawyer, gets interested in the case. Sheriff Holmes considers everyone at the motel a suspect, and in that sense it's a Ten Little Indians plot. But it's not an everybody-in-one-room movie; the budget is bigger than that. The Sheriff's first suspect is a drunken Indian named "Joe" (Larry Chance), who's found in the nearby hills with a bloody knife.
Also at the motel is an aging movie star (John Holland) and his armpiece, a young starlet played by Mamie Van Doren. She gets hammered at a party and throws herself at the quadriplegic Parry. This infuriates him, because he can't stand oversexed women. There are psychological reasons for his anger, one being his condition. But there's another that I can't reveal. After the party, Van Doren is found dead, her throat cut in the same manner as Marsha Morgan. It seems to have something to do with Parry. Is he really paralysed, or is he faking? Sheriff Holmes startles him by throwing a glass to catch Parry off guard. Does he react and raise his hands? No. Therefore his paralysis must be genuine.
But what about his sister? Sheriff Holmes suspects her, too. She seems overprotective of Parry. Is she killing women who come on to him? There's a racy suggestion by the Sheriff about her motives, pretty advanced for a 1957 film. The topic is not further explored.
As I watched, I didn't like the movie for a while. The acting was stiff, even bizarre. Ron Randell as Parry talks out the side of his mouth in a Gilbert Gottfried voice. Some of Lex Barker's line readings sound like he's trying out for the school play, whereas in other films we've seen him, he's always been pretty good. The soundtrack is constant and oppressive at times, and it telegraphs the desired emotions. This is one weird/bad/good movie. The director doesn't seem to know which way he's going. There's also a smug private detective character who shows up and gets murdered......or does he? He dead, that's for sure. They find him in the pool. But it feels like a red herring and has no real purpose in the story. The screenwriter must have dug himself a huge hole, because he adds a speech at the end, five minutes of straight exposition by Sheriff Holmes, to explain all the plot twists. He even mentions characters you haven't heard of. Look for Stuart Whitman in a small role at the end. Sheriff Holmes goes on and on about him, as if he was a major character. I was going "who the hell is Prentiss"? If anyone can figure out who or what the Sheriff talking about in his speech, they must be a freaking genius.
Other marginal characters walk through the plot. You've heard me talk about "no-fat" scripts? This one is highly saturated! Still, despite my disdain, by the time it was over I was thinking, "that was actually pretty good, in a bad/weird way". Not bad/good like Ed Wood, or a bad drama, just a unique movie, with a solid cast and a bunch of unnecessary but interesting scenes.
If nothing else, watch it for Ron Randell's performance. He looks like he's having fun as he recites lines of poetic anguish in his unidentifiable accent . He and John Dehner keep the whole thing from going off the rails. The "Frankie" character, who I haven't mentioned, is in it for literally no reason! We never find out who he is, or why he's a suspect. He's just a big muscular tough guy that Dehner and his cops are hassling. Then he trips and falls at his sawmill and is cut into a million pieces. It's like they filmed him for a separate movie and inserted him.
Oh, and Hoss Cartwright has a five minute scene as a bartender. It really is a Drive-In Classic after all. Let's be generous and give "The Girl In Black Stockings" Two Big Thumbs Up". If it wasn't so unusual, it would rate Two Regulars at best, but because it's weird (and you might not guess whodunit) it gets the higher rating. It's recommended and the picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night, we saw another good Western from Johnny Mack Brown. In "Boothill Brigade"(1937), he plays "Lon Cardigan", a cowhand who discovers that his girlfriend's dad has purchased all the land in their valley. He's gonna evict the local farmers so he can build a giant ranch, and he's already called in surveyors to start the project. He's also got an enforcer named "Bull" (Dick Curtis), who tells the locals they'd better leave without a fight. And, he's fired all his long time ranch hands and replaced them with thugs.
Some of the farmers vow to stay put. "We've got squatters rights", says their leader. Johnny Mack gives them a speech about how violence won't solve the problem. "Let me talk to Mr. Reynolds", he says. "He's my girl's pa". Johnny talks to the old man (Frank LaRue), but it does no good. Reynolds claims he bought the land fair and square at a government auction. He offers Johnny a job at the soon-to-be-built new giant ranch, but JMB says no, he's siding with the locals. He then visits a lawyer, who goes to the city to investigate Reynolds' claim. The lawyer comes back with bad news: "I'm sorry Lon, but the purchase is legitimate, even if it's morally wrong".
Johnny then partners up with "Calico", the ranch cook (Horace Murphy). He's got a piece of paper - that he stole from Mr. Reynolds's desk - that shows the land is actually owned by a "Mr. Porter" (Ed Cassidy), a valley big shot who owns the mortgage on Reynolds's ranch and is using him as a front man for the land buyout. Now Johnny Mack knows who the real bad guy is. He and Calico trail Mr. Porter to a meeting with the crooked surveyors. Punchouts ensue; Calico can't wait to use "Betsy", his antique rifle. "Just wait until Betsy warms up to those galoots". Calico's the comic relief, played well.
Claire Rochelle is only fair as "Bobby", Johnny Mack's girlfriend, compared to some of the other female Western leads we've seen recently. I think this is a fault of the script, which doesn't give her any featured scenes. All she gets to do is react, here and there, to the dastardly deeds that are afoot, and to Johnny's plans to stop her father, who for most of the movie is portrayed as the villain. Overall though, at 52 minutes, you've got another big time winner. It's the old land grab story again, with twists, such as the teenage kid who wants to shoot it out with Mr. Reynolds, over the way the surveyors have treated his father. JMB gives the kid a speech about how he's too young for guns, and anyway, "once you kill a man, it stays with you forever". That's good Western writing. Too bad they didn't give any good lines to Claire Rochelle. It would have made her a more sympathetic love interest. The bottom line is still Two Big Thumbs up for "Boothill Brigade". Shot once again at the Walker and Jauregui ranches in Placerita Canyon, it's an early effort from our pal Sam Newfield, aka America's Most Prolific Director. The picture is soft but entirely watchable. ///
And there you have it! Two more good ones. I'm still looking for more Zane Greys, and we're gonna delve into other movie cowboys while we continue to scour for Noirs. Maybe we'll try Ken Maynard or Hoot Gibson. Stay warm on this frigid L.A. night (or wherever you're reading from if it's freezing), and don't forget to Swirl The Numbers.
I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment