After a weeks-long drought, we found another British Crime Film, "The Straw Man"(1953), which opens with an old lady being followed on a bus. At least, she thinks she's being followed, until her cousin (who's also her roommate), tells her, "Oh dearie, no man would follow you at your age. You're confusing it with that story in the papers, and you read too many of those murder bits anyway."
There's been a headline floating recently, about the murder of a young lady who was indeed being followed. Her killer's been arrested. He's "Link Hunter" (Philip Saville), her ex-boyfriend. Reports from his trial are on the newsstands everyday. "Perhaps you're confusing it with that."
We cut then to the investigation of the case, not the criminal part, which has already been decided, but the insurance angle, and boy, if there's one man more dogged than a British police inspector, it's a British insurance investigator. After all, if the insured dies, the insurance company has to pay out, and Lord knows they don't want to fork over the dough unless they absolutely have to. Link Hinter has an insurance policy of 20,000 lbs, which in 1953 is a fortune. If he hangs, they'll have to pay it off. Investigator "Jeff Howard" (Clifford Evans) is sent out to interview Hunter in his jail cell. He also talks to Link's new wife "Ruth" (Lana Morris), and anybody who knew him closely. Link's an American with few contacts in England. After speaking with these folks, Howard consults a private eye named "Mal Ferris" (Dermot Walsh), who, prior to Link's arrest, Ruth had retained to tail him, to make sure - before she married him - that he was no longer involved with his ex. Ferris and Howard then work together, cross-interviewing each other's suspects, to try and trip someone up in a lie. Howard believes Hunter is innocent, but he's gotta find the real killer before Link is executed.
Midway through, the old lady from the bus tells her cousin, "You know, I don't think I was imagining it after all. But it wasn't me who was being followed, it was that young lady, the murder victim! She was on the bus that day, too. I recognize her face in the paper. And I'd recognize the man who followed her if I saw him again."
The murderer is revealed to the audience at the 35 minute mark. After that, it's up to Ferris and Howard to find out who it is and catch him (or her). As the noose tightens, the killer takes comfort in what he or she thinks is a foolproof plan. "They've got nothing," he (or she) tells a supposed accomplice. Ahh, but we know that's not true; the coppers do have something. Forensics was already at the point, as a lab man explains, where the police (or an insurance company) can compare a carpet fiber on a shoe print with one from somebody's office.
The killer and his (or her) accomplice eventually turn on each other, but not, in this case, for monetary reasons or to lessen the chance of being caught. And just when the actual killer has it all figured out, because "they can't prove it!", he or she doesn't factor in the accomplice's grievance, which is emotional, not monetary.
Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Straw Man". It grabs you from the opening scene and doesn't let go, and there's even a brief moment of the Menacing English Grill at the beginning. We've seen Dermot Walsh in quite a few of these British crime flicks and he's particularly smooth here. The picture is soft but watchable. ////
The previous night, we started another chapter serial. Every so often, the supply of unseen features runs out temporarily. There are nights when we search and search but come up empty. That's when we settle on a serial, and we found another very good one called "Haunted Harbor"(1944). "Captain Jim Marsden" (Kane Richmond) owns two ships. One is in port. The other, under a subordinate skipper, has been declared lost at sea, conveniently - so Marsden's detractors think - with a million dollars in gold bullion aboard. "How sweet is that?" says a rival mariner, "Jim's ship gets lost with all that gold, and right before he was gonna declare bankruptcy." Captain Marsden owes his backer a lot of money and tries to find him in a seaside hotel, to tell him he's gonna pay him back. "My ship will return with the gold, I promise you. You'll get your money, I just need more time."
The backer doesn't care, he's gonna foreclose on Marsden's shipping business anyway. But when Marsden tries to talk to him again, he finds the man dead, murdered at the hands of "Carter" (Roy Barcroft), a chiseler who owed him money. Carter makes his living by stealing gold from the natives of the island of Pua. Now he's worried that Captain Marsden will find out what he's done. Marsden actually has no idea, but sails to Pua with his first mate, to look for a man named Kane, who is rumored to be stealing from the natives and using them for slave labor. Kane is of course Carter, under a fake name. But, in the first episode, on their way to Pua, Marsden and his first mate encounter a hurricane. Trying to avoid crashing into the rocks, they see another ship getting battered in a cove. A woman clings to the mast, nearly swept away in the tumult. Marsden decides a rescue must be attempted, and for the next ten minutes, you will see the most harrowing sea rescue in cinematic (or at least chapter serial) history. Both boats are smashed by torrents of water, wave after wave. I have no idea how they achieved this special effect or what water machines they used, but it's a lot of water. You can see the actors getting smashed.
For me, this is the best part of chapter serials, the adventure stuff, and this is the best we've seen yet. To rescue the stranded woman, the crew has to use ropes and something called a "breeches buoy". Do a wiki search on the term and you'll see why this scene is so nail biting. The woman is rescued, but her ailing father is also aboard the listing ship. Captain Marsden swims to her rescue, in a hurricane-swollen ocean, with a rope tied around his waist. But even when it looks like he might pull them all to safety, the rock cliff above them collapses. Will it crush the ship? Now, that's what I call a cliffhanger. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Haunted Harbor", and we haven't even gotten to the sea monsters yet. The picture is very good. ////
And that's all for tonight. I'm actually just returning from Encino; I was at the Sepulveda Garden Center, a park on Magnolia, near Balboa, where I watched "Twelfth Night" performed by my annual Shakepearean favorites, Shakespeare By The Sea. These guys are so great. If you ever get the chance to see them, go. They tour every Summer, the plays are free (though a donation is encouraged), and what better way to spend a July evening than watching a play by the master of drama and comedy? I've been attending every year since 2014 (except for 2020/21 due to Covid), and I've seen about ten plays now at three different locations. You can still catch them on this tour, in Pasadena tomorrow night, or in Torrance on Saturday July 28. Or, you can drive to San Pedro next week to see their closing shows. That's why they're called Shakespeare By The Sea, because they're based in San Pedro. Go see 'em! ///
My blogging music was "Who Do We Think We Are?" by Deep Purple. My late night is Handel's Esther Oratorio. I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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