Last night's movie was the fun-but-formulaic "Murder in Eden"(1961), a one-hour Britflick that traces the murdalization of an art critic who is killed after spotting a forgery. Skeeeartlynd Yeeeearrd sends in "Inspector Sharkey" (Ray McAnally), whose chief suspect is the owner of the gallery where the forged painting was to be displayed. The investigation is interrupted by "Genevieve Beaujean" (Catherine Feller), a cute French reporter who's determined to get a scoop for her paper. "She won't take no for an answer," says "Vicki Woolf" (Yvonne Buckingham), the gallery owner's buxom wife, who's having an affair with an art restorer who specialises in the works of the Old Masters. By sheer persistence, Miss Beaujean - who drives a cute French 3-wheeled car - attracts the attention of Sharkey the inspector, who asks her to politely step out of the way, then doubles his request when her hotel room is booglarised by a knife-wielding man, who's seeking the info she's gathered on the killing.
Then the booglar turns up dead, and the inspector asks for Genevieve's help, but too much time is schpent in the middle of the film on repartee and cuteness. There isn't enough suspense, but Genevieve finds out about the affair of Vicki Woolf and the art restorer, and the movie gets good around the 42 minute mark (out of 60). Suddenly, we're in an expensive beach house/art studio, with secret rooms, one way mirrors, and false walls with trap doors leading to the ocean. Then we get a major league curveball, which in this case leads not to a satisfying but bewildering and inconclusive ending, at least I thought so. Good stuff but thin on script, teased out by competent directing and the pouty face of Catherine Feller, and the inspector's reaction to her pouts. We'll give it Two Bigs for style, but it's not that compelling. The picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night, we watched "Boy of the Streets"(1937), a Depression-era drama starring Jackie Cooper as a 16 year old street tough in Hell's Kitchen. "Chuck Brennan" isn't a bad kid, though his sweater is torn from fighting. He's only ever home for dinner; the rest of the time, he's hanging out in the local pool hall with his pals, of whom he's the ringleader. Tonight is Halloween, they're planning tricks rather than treats, and "Spike" (Paul White), the black kid in the gang, is eager to participate in whatever Chuck has up his sleeve. Spike is a good boy who actually has a job (he owns a shoeshine stand), and the neighborhood beat cop is always trying to talk him out of gang life: "Whattaya wanna hang around them mugs for, Spike? You gotta brain in your head." But Spike wants to be accepted by Chuck, who is idolised by the rest of the kids, so he spends his free time running errands for the gang and offers to join in their fights. Chuck says, "no Spike, you're too small." Chuck's Dad (Guy Usher) isn't the best example for his son, telling him "only chumps work for a living". He's proud of Chuck's fighting ability. Dad, an ex-boxer, has big ideas for get-rich-quick schemes, though we only ever see him sitting at the dinner table with his cousin "Flannel-Mouth Farley" (George Cleveland), a freeloader who eats all the Brennan's food. "Mrs. Brennan" (Marjorie Main) is worn to a frazzle. She berates Flannel Mouth in that sassy Midwestern drawl Main was famous for.
Chuck and the gang get called before a judge on Halloween night, but the judge knows all of them and believes they are good kids at heart, so he lets them go with a warning. In a nearby tenement lives "Nora" (Maureen O'Connor), an orphan girl staying with her aunt, until they get evicted and have nowhere to go. Chuck likes Nora, and tries to get her a job as a singer in a small cafe, but two women patrons from a social reform league find out she's only fifteen, and threaten to take her away to live in a home for juvenile delinquents. Chuck and his parents hide her, and a kindly doctor (played by Wild Bill Elliott), who tends to the tenement residents free of charge, takes Nora and her aunt under his wing and protects them. Together, they organize for tenement reform.
Meanwhile, Chuck and his friends are getting into rumbles. At home, freeloader Flannel Mouth and Dad sit around all day playing cards, driving Marjorie Main nuts. At the pool hall, Chuck plans a big fight with a neighboring gang. Little Spike, the good boy, wants to rumble too, but as usual Chuck won't let him. "I told ya, Spike, you're too small. You don't belong fighting, go home." Dejected, Spike leaves, only to get hit by a car. When Spike dies in the hospital, the boys are all sad, and Chuck wants out of gang life. He tries joining the Navy, but the recruiter says "come back on your 17th birthday". With his luck running out, he goes down to the courthouse to talk to his friend the judge, and sees his Dad in there begging for money. Embarassed, Chuck storms out and goes back to the pool hall, where a mobster named Blackie is negotiating to buy the place, to use it as a headquarters for his strong-arm collection "business". Rebellious now at seeing his Dad humiliated, and feeling he's got nothing left to lose, Chuck approaches Blackie to offer his services as a street fighter. This leads to the climax of the movie: will Chuck wind up a Mafia hood, or will his parents and the beat cop be able to rescue him?
This type of film is what you'd call a saga, or cultural drama, of a typical Irish/American family struggling in 1930's New York City with cinematic blarney and pride. You've got the fighting, the singing, an orphan girl, card playing, big dreams/unemployment, and Irish cops, judges, and a gentleman doctor. Wild Bill Elliott is in suit and tie mode again (we like him like this), and Jackie Cooper shows why he was a top teenage star. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Boy of the City". The picture is razor sharp. ////
That's all I know for tonight. My blogging music is "Pawn Hearts" by Van Der Graaf Generator, my late night is the Solomon Opera by Handel, I hope your week is going well, and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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