Last night's movie was "Radar Secret Service"(1950), an atomic crime caper from our old buddy Sam Newfield, he of the multitudinous 60 Minute Westerns. It comes to us courtesy of Lippert Pictures, who've never given us a bum steer, and here they deliver again, albeit in the compact way we've come to expect from Newfield, with less script development than in standard Lippert productions.
"Bill Travis" (John Howard), the head of the RSS (a new agency) is extolling the virtues of radar, which has been developed for civic uses, like tracking organised crime. Just now, in fact, an agency squad car, complete with radar ball on top, has tracked down a murder-weapon pistol on a sandy beach. We watch the discovery right there inside RSS headquarters on their big-screen TV, which carries the radar feed live.
HQ soon gets word of a plan to steal a shipment of U238, the element for atomic bombs. A note is passed by cafe waitress "Marge" (Myrna Dell) to "Lila," (Adele Jurgens), the striking moll of "Mickey Moran" (Tom Neal), the leader of a gang of warehouse thieves. With this info, Marge - the girlfriend of gang lookout "Blackie" (Riley Hill) - has provided Lila and Mickey with the route of the uranium delivery truck, which is being deliberately sent without escort to appear inconspicuous; just a black panel truck truck all alone on the highway, with no accompanying protection. This makes it easy for Mickey and his hoodlums to hijack it in a tunnel. Now they've got the barrels of U238, for which they already have a buyer, the mysterious "Michael" (Tristam Coffin), a probable terrorist or Communist sympathizer. MIchael also has the hots for Lila, and she for him (she's not loyal to Mickey), which makes for an uneasy partnership between buyer and seller. Much time is spent driving around on old highways in what looks like Santa Clarita, and maybe Camarillo. Highway after highway; this is One Drivin' Movie. I looked on IMDB, but no locations were listed, doggonnit.
There's no major plot. It's just about using the Radarmobile to keep tracking the shifting position of the uranium element, as it gets moved from warehouses to barns in the boondocks, and that's also really cool, because there are lots of old barns situated off of what looks like The Old Road to Newhall. The highways are the best part of the movie, but there are also multiple double crosses to play out. Madge the waitress will have the final say, after Mickey hangs her boyfriend Blackie out to dry. Tom Neal is always good. Too bad he hooked up with Barbara Payton and ruined his life, but he might've ruined it anyway. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Radar Secret Service", a different kind of Sam Newfield film but, as always, directed with his tight professionalism. The picture is very good. ////
The night before, we watched another movie with a less-than-accurate title. "The Great Van Robbery"(1959), obviously is a play on England's Great Train Robbery of 1855, but the whole van heist starts in the opening scene and is over in about 90 seconds. The movie isn't about the heist but about the money laundering of the stolen cash, 150,000 lbs worth. The thieves know it's too hot to spend, it's got traceable serial numbers, so they take it to a big shot fence named "Mr. Cartier", who is only seen in shadow. He offers them 10 pence on the pound, or whatever ten percent is in English money. Though outraged by the offer, they have no choice but to accept it, as Cartier is the only money launderer who will touch that amount of dough.
But the real plot takes off when a businessman in Brazil is busted on a bank transaction that identifies one of the serial numbers. Interpol is notified, which is what the movie is all about, the reach and power of Interpol, in the person of Scotland Yard Inspector "Caesar Smith" (Denis Shaw), who's sent to Brazil to interview the arrested businessman, who turns out to be unconnected to the heist or money laundering. He's merely an importer/exporter (cue George Costanza) who sold 16 tons of coffee to a man who paid in British pounds.
Because the plot stresses Interpol cooperation, we are sent on an Intrepid Chase, with jaunty "continuation" music (meaning "here we go to yet another different country"), as Agent Smith flies from Brazil to Italy to Frawnce, then back to Brazil, firing bullet-point questions at all and sundry, including police El Capitanos and suspects alike, about the whereabouts of the stolen money. He ends up back in England, where, as a last resort, he interviews a coffee broker named "Chase" (Philip Saville), who answers his questions defensively but straightforwardly, causing Smith to dismiss him as an honest businessman offended at being questioned. But because Chase is played by Philip Saville, you know something is up, and of course he turns out to be a ruthless criminal mastermind, and here we must offer a backhanded Thank You to casting directors everywhere, for hiring and typecasting actors and actresses that, once we see their name in the credits, we know who the bad guy is.
The whole movie is about Agent Smith's Relentless Pursuit of the coffee and the cash. The filmmakers make sure you know he's Interpol, which has gotta be second only to the US Mail Police in jurisdiction and badassery, and I'm not even kidding about the USPS police, check 'em out if you want to, no agency is higher in authority. Smith knows judo and though built like a fireplug, he can beat the tar out of two younger and more athletic bad guys. The whole movie is also about actor Denis Shaw's over-the-top bulldog attitude and persistence. You might remember Shaw, whom we recently saw in "Naked Fury" alongside the great Reed De Rouen. Shaw's the chunky guy with the encroaching hairline that's got to be a wig but may not be. He usually plays a Dogged Inspector, and in this film, his search for the stolen money ends about where you'd expect, in a darkened coffee storage warehouse, with lots of stacked coffee bean bags to hide behind for the inevitable shootout with Philip Saville. You knew it was coming, but only in hindsight, because when you first saw the movie - in 1959 when it opened - you weren't as sophisticated about plot formulas. But it's still a good one, because of the invincible Denis Shaw, who may be our new Charles King. Wait a minute, scratch that: No one is Charles King! Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Great Van Robbery". The picture is slightly soft. ////
And that's all I know for tonight. We'll have more 1989 coming up. My blogging music was the masterful "Eldorado" by ELO, my late night is Handel's Belshazzar Opera. I hope your week is going well, and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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