Two Whistlers : "The Whistler" and "Mysterious Intruder", both with Richard Dix

I found us a new serial. Ever heard of The Whistler? It began as a radio show in 1942 and branched out into a movie series two years later. Unlike other "nickname" mystery franchises of the 1940s (i.e. "The Falcon", "The Saint", "Crime Doctor"), "The Whistler" does not appear as a character. Instead, he's a narrator who lurks in the shadows, seen only in silhouette. In watching my first Whistler film, it took me a while to figure out what the deal was, that he wasn't the star, but as far as the story was concerned I was hooked immediately. I ended up watching two Whistlers on consecutive nights, and I've got both of 'em here for your approval. Before I begin, I should point out that there were eight Whistler movies in all, seven of which starred our buddy Richard Dix. I read this information before watching the first film, which I think caused my confusion in assuming Dix was The Whistler. He is not, and in fact - like Lon Chaney Jr. in the "Inner Sanctum" series - he plays a different character in each one. "The Whistler" introduces them all. 

As I did with "Crime Doctor" I began out of chronological order, but for linearity's sake I'm gonna start with the first film, which I watched last night. Entitled simply "The Whistler"(1944), it stars Dix stars as a depressed man who hires a hit man to kill someone. He arranges it through a go-between, but doesn't tell him the target's name, just his address. In addition, he insists the assassin not know his identity. "I don't want to know who he is, either. It's got to be entirely anonymous". Dix then pays the go-between and walks home, to the very same address he provided. He's just put a contract on himself.

It turns out he's feeling guilty about the death of his wife, who drowned in a rafting accident. We're given only sketchy details. Dix had a chance to save her and couldn't. He's been despondent ever since and can't bear the pain. Now he's taken the final step to have himself killed. I suppose he could've committed suicide, but then The Whistler would have nothing to whistle about.

I've gotta take a moment to say that I love his narration. It's not frequent, but every now and then he'll insert an observation in the middle of a scene that's either wry or snide, such as when a killer is about to be caught. It's always an "I told ya so", meaning "I'm The Whistler and I see everything. You should've listened to me sooner".

Dix has put a time frame on the hit, saying it must happen within seven days. But during that time, he gets a telegram saying his wife is alive after all. She's turned up in a Japanese interment camp of all places, and is about to be shipped home. We get no details on how this came about (Japanese internment camp? Please explain!), but anyway, all of a sudden Dix cheers up. His depression evaporates. Now he wants to live, in hopes of reuniting with his wife, but he's got a hitman on his tail (J Carrol Naish) who's very determined. He tries to call it off, but Naish has no idea he paid for the contract, and the middleman has been killed in a shootout with the cops.

At work, Dix has a secretary (Gloria Stuart) who's in love with him but has been keeping her distance, knowing he still pines for his wife. She hoped it would eventually become mutual, but now that his wife has been found alive, she's given up. But then, Dix gets a second telegram, saying "sorry to inform you". His wife has died in the camp after all.  I've gotta break in to say: "Holy Smokes, writers!......why do you do this to Richard Dix"? He was depressed enough to begin with. Now he has a complete nervous breakdown and wanders the streets, disheveled and crashing in flophouses. 

One night, Dix can't sleep. A stumblebum lures him to a rat infested nook in a warehouse. "This is my special place for when the shelter gets too crowded. You can use it too". Dix takes him up on the offer, but it's a trick. The bum tries clobbering him for his wallet. Outside, the hitman has been lurking. He traced Dix to the shelter, then the warehouse, and now he's coming in through a window. 

Watch out, Richard Dix! He's gonna shoot! But when he does, he hits the bum. Dix escapes and his secretary comes to the rescue. By now, she's heard the news that his wife is actually dead. Her love blooms anew and and she rushes in to protect him. ////

That's all I'm gonna tell you about the first Whistler. Are ya ready for the second? Okay, here we go.

It's called "Mysterious Intruder"(1946) and was not actually the second film in the series but the fifth. It was the first one I watched, two nights ago. 

This time Dix plays "Don Gale", an unscrupulous private investigator. As the movie opens, he is visited by an old gentleman who owns a music shop. This man wants Gale to track down a girl he knew years earlier. "Her name's Elora Lund. She'd be a grown woman now, but I've got to find her". His interest isn't romantic. Elora and her mother were customers at his shop. When the mother died, she left behind some antiques. Among them were two cylinder recordings of the Swedish opera star Jenny Lind. The cylinders are the only existing records of Lind's voice and have been shipped to the shop owner by the mother's estate. He's holding them for Elora, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. A wealthy patron has heard about the cylinders and has offered to buy them for 200 grand. The shop owner wants Gale to find Elora so he can tell her she's rich. He has no designs on the money, he just wants to give her the recordings.

But Dix isn't completely straightforward. He tries to trick the shop owner by sending in an imposter to pose as Elora Lund. It looks like he's trying to steal the cylinders for himself. At any rate, the old man falls for it, and is about to give her the cylinders, when a gunman appears from the back of the shop. He's tall, dark, but not really handsome, and he's very threatening. I have to take an aside to say he's Mike Mazurki, who not only had his body switched with Ginger Grant's in the Vito Scotti "Mad Scientist" episode of "Gilligan's Island", but was also name checked in Doodles Weaver's version of "Eleanor Rigby", which Dr. Demento used to play on his radio show. ("Mike Mazurki! Albuquerque"!). To complete the aside, I just Googled Doodles Weaver to see that he was Sigourney Weaver's uncle.

But yeah, so Mike Mazurki shows up with a gun, kills the elderly shop owner, kidnaps the fake "Elora" and makes off with the box of cylinder recordings meant for the real Elora Lund. Dix locates his apartment and shoots him dead. When reporters arrive, he denies wrongdoing in the impostor scheme, claiming it was for investigative purposes. Yeah sure! If you believe that, he's got a bridge he'd like to sell you. Now the police are after Dix, believing he staged the entire setup.

What Dix doesn't know is that the fake Elora double-crossed him. It turns out she was the one who hired Mike Mazurki and let him in the back door of the music shop. They were gonna split the money from the music cylinders and high tail it out of the country. So maybe Dix isn't completely shady after all. Finally, the real Elora shows up. For her protection, he has her stay with an associate of his, a Tough Old Broad Who Knows The Score. Then he sets about clearing his name while the cops try to nail him. Meanwhile, another witness has been murdered : poor Mr. Brown, who owned the store next to the music shop.

Can Dix find the real killers before the police nab him for the deal? Well, it's Richard Dix, so I wouldn't bet against him. "Our fathers came across the prairies, fought Indians, fought drought, fought locusts, fought Dix! Remember when Richard Dix came in here and tried to take over this town"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuy2cOGFfl0

I think we're gonna like The Whistler as much as we do the Crime Doctor. The mood is different : Whistler is grim and fatalistic where Crime Doctor is methodical, deductive, like a procedural. Here's a cool surprise for ya, though : William Castle directs both! He's not the sole director but he did several in each series, and his lighting & camerawork are superb as usual. He directed both Whistlers in this review and works well with Richard Dix, a versatile actor who pulls out all the stops. He reminds me of George O'Brien, who also began in Silents and made his name as a cowboy, but had the range to star in Murnau's "Sunrise", an Expressionist masterpiece.

Well, that's all I've got for today. Have a nice evening, listen to some Canterbury, tons of love as always!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Lloyd Bridges in "Three Steps North" + "The Strange Mrs. Crane", a minor classic

You don't always get the best results from director W. Lee Wilder, but this time we got lucky, with "Three Steps North"(1951), an Italian/American production starring Lloyd Bridges as an ex-G.I. looking for loot he stashed in Naples. He narrates the start, to give us some background on how he came to hide the dough in the first place. During the war, he drove a truck for the Repple Depple and found out money could be made by delivering contraband. Nothing hard core - just everyday stuff like cigabutts, chocolate and liquor, but over the course of his tour, he earned himself a nice chunk of lira - four million to be exact. Now, don't get too excited cause that translates to just six thousand dollars, but still, that was a fair little nest egg in '51.

So here he is, back in Naples, after serving four years in an American military prison. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he got caught on his final contraband run, but before the MPs could arrest him, he buried his money in a field, "three steps north" of a tree he used as a marker. Now that he's out of prison, he's come back to Naples to dig it up. The trouble is, that the field has since been turned into a cemetery. His tree is still there, and hopefully so is his buried loot, but now it's surrounded by hundreds of white crosses, standing over the graves of fallen soldiers. Every time he starts digging, a visitor appears, causing him to stop and slink away. So he starts to dig at night, but then the caretaker of the cemetery sees him and comes out to investigate. Bridges gives him the excuse that he was visiting "his brother's grave". The caretaker, an unsuspecting man of good conscience, believes him and invites him back to his cottage for a glass of wine. 

From this meeting, a friendship develops, though it is one-sided. Bridges needs to access the cemetery to dig up his dough, so he humors the friendly caretaker. But now the man wants to be his pal. He can't get away to dig.

During all of this, Bridges pays a visit to a Neopolitan gal he knew during the war. They were an Item then. He'd like to start things back up but she won't have him : "You broke your promise, Frank. You left without saying goodbye. I thought-a you loved me, you were going to take me to America". He explains that he got thrown in prison for four years, but that doesn't work either. "How are we a-gonna settle down? You're a-never gonna be able to get a job with-a your record". He then tells her about his hidden money : "I can set us up real good, Elena. I'll even buy you that house you wanted". Now she trusts him again.

But then something happens. You see, to get to Naples, Bridges sailed over on a ship. He didn't have a red cent, so he borrowed a couple hundred simoleons from a fellow passenger, a tough guy who told him he'd better pay it back. Now this tough guy has turned up dead; murdered for his money. The obvious suspect is Bridges, but the Italian cops can't prove he did it. But more to the point, now nobody's gonna believe him about his own buried treasure. If he's able to finally dig it up, everyone's gonna think it was taken from the dead man. That will be all the cops need to nail Bridges. And his girl will doubt his tale of selling contraband. So how's he gonna get his money now, and more importantly, how will he account for it?

"Three Steps North" is a real pot-boiler with a hard nosed performance from Lloyd Bridges. Time and again, he's frustrated in his attempts to recover his money. His "pal" the caretaker keeps turning up at the most inconvenient times. And to make matters worse, now some hoodlums also think he murdered the tough guy. They think Bridges stole his dough and is hiding it (same as the cops), so now they're stalking him, too.

As noted, you don't usually get good work from W. Lee Wilder (Billy's brother), but this time he got one in his wheelhouse and hit a home run. A minor caveat is that this particular print seems chopped up, as if a minute or two of important exposition is missing here and there. This is not extraneous, however, and you will be able to fill in the missing data just by paying attention to the dialogue.

Two Big Thumbs Up for this one, then. It has the feel of an Orson Welles noir like "Touch of Evil", with kooky, exaggerated characters and lots of close-ups. Very highly recommended!  /////

The previous night I found a minor classic entitled "The Strange Mrs. Crane"(1948). A B-Grade Noir with a Grade A script, it runs only an hour but it's no-fat : every detail is an important piece of a puzzle that, when put together, will complete the mystery just as time runs out.

Marjorie Lord stars as "Gina Crane" the attractive young wife of an elderly gubernatorial candidate (Pierre Watkin). She married him, obviously, for his money and power, but makes a good show of being devoted to her husband and his candidacy. At parties and political gatherings, she deflects all attention away from herself to promote his campaign.

"Clinton Crane" so appreciates Gina's commitment that he buys her a mink coat, at a high end boutique in town. Working there as assistant manager is one "Floyd Durant" (Robert Shayne). He has his eye on Mrs. Crane during the transaction. When no one is looking, he sidles up to her and says : "Hello, Jenny. I knew we'd run into each other again. You know I need to talk to you, why don't you meet me at my apartment tonight at 9"? It's not really a request, more like an order. He gives Mrs. Crane his address, then her husband appears and is ready to go home. "The mink is yours, my dear. They'll deliver it tomorrow morning. I see you were talking with Mr. Durant.......do you know each other"?

"Oh, no Clinton. We were just making small talk". But the audience knows better. What we don't know, yet, is why he called her 'Jenny".  

Now, Floyd Durant is a ladies man who's also involved with an employee at the shop, a model named "Barbara Arnold" (Ruth Brady). He's really just stringing her along, but now - because of his chance meeting with Mrs. Crane - he's gonna try to dump Barbara. It doesn't go down well. She shows up unannounced at his apartment just before 9pm, and an argument ensues. A nosy neighbor is watching through his window. At one point Barbara picks up a knife......and I can't tell you any more without ruining an exceptionally clever plot.

I can tell you, though, that Mrs. Crane arrives at Durant's pad at precisely 9pm, as ordered. Inside, the argument between Durant and Barbara Arnold is boiling over. Mrs. Crane can hear it, so instead of knocking, she eavesdrops. 

I can also reveal that 'Jenny' is Gina Crane's real first name. Durant knew her before she married her husband. Finally, something will happen that will lead to a criminal trial. An innocent person will be accused of the crime, and - in a brilliant twist - the guilty party will end up seated on the jury. How's that for turnabout as unfair play?

I was originally gonna give you much more of the plot, but because of the way it's structured - with random details slowly forming a picture - I decided that my usual approach would spoil not only the mystery but the ingenious way it's stitched together.

"The Strange Mrs. Crane" is a dandy little tale of deception and comeuppance. The Youtube print this time is a bit on the soft side, but that shouldn't stop you from watching this fine-tuned fuse burner . Two Big Thumbs Up and, like "Three Steps North", it's very highly recommended. You've got you a double-feechum for tonight! /////

Sorry I'm late. This blog was supposed to be published last night, but yesterday I was out shopping with my sister and missed out on my usual writing time. I've got a couple extra movies in the tank, though, and I'll try to get 'em out asap, maybe even tomorrow, to get back on track. I look back at previous years, and my home page on Blogger shows that I was doing upwards of 340 blogs a year from 2014-2019, and I think "how the Hell did I manage that"? Maybe I was just jabbering away, haha, but with my movie reviews I wanna do a decent job and (especially) write good sentences. That's easier said than done. I've found after years of writing blogs (and one book) that writing is entirely different from talking. I always use the "dude" example : If two Dudes are having a conversation, they can use a single word, and yet because of their "in person" proximity, which includes inflection and body language, each Dude will understand what the other is talking about.

It may go like this : "Duuude.........".

"Dude"!

"Oh yeah, Dude"!

"Doooood........".

And so forth. I was with my Mom once at the car wash on Lindley near Parthenia, and we overheard the following conversation:

" Damn, Dog - that's some f-ked up sh-t".

"Hell yeah, Dog. It is some f-ked up sh-t".

Mom and I never forgot that conversation, not only for it's economy of words, but because each of the two Dogs appeared to know exactly what was being related. But it doesn't work that way with writing. You have to use correct sentences, otherwise you may not only fail to convey the intended message, but you may also get your meaning confused, or accidentally change the tense. On top of that, you've gotta try and be creative, get a good rhythm going, and not use words twice in the same sentence or paragraph (a bad habit of mine that I edit out).

Well anyhow, all of this is to say, again, "sorry I'm late". I do love to write, hope it's not boring to read. Speaking of reading, I've just started "The Little Sleep", a narcoleptic detective novel by Paul Tremblay, and also "Bomber Offensive", the memoirs of Sir Arthur Harris, Commander-in-Chief of the RAF during World War Two.

Hope you're having a nice day. Tons of love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

First Crime Doctor + "Street Scene" starring Sylvia Sidney

Last night I watched the first Crime Doctor movie, entitled "Crime Doctor"(1943). I figured it was time to stop viewing them in random order and go back to the beginning, and in doing so I learned a few things, such as how the Crime Doctor became the Crime Doctor in the first place. Would you believe he might have a criminal past? Keep in mind I said might. We won't know for sure until later in the movie, because when it opens he has amnesia, after waking up the hospital following an assault.

He has no idea how he got there. We do, however, having seen him get pushed from a moving car.  He doesn't know his name, either. The nurses in his ward have taken to calling him "Ordway", after the man his hospital wing was named for. "It's better than calling him 'John Doe' ", says one. Upon leaving the hospital, he chooses that name for himself, being still unaware of his own.

He decides to go to medical school. After graduating, he is now "Dr. Robert Ordway" and continues his education to become a psychiatrist. In helping others to heal their minds, he hopes to heal his own by uncovering his past. Eventually he works with prisoners and is named head of the state parole board.

But a trio of hoodlums is following him. They believe they know exactly who he is, their former crime boss "Phil Morgan", who masterminded a bank job that netted 200 grand. They think Dr. Ordway is faking his amnesia, using it as an excuse to escape his past. I must take an aside here to mention that we saw this same theme presented recently in "Man in the Dark", where Edmond O'Brien was a prisoner who had a brain operation. It removed memory of his criminal past, but he was subsequently tracked by the hoodlums in his gang who thought he was faking it also, so the two films use an identical device.

Back to the story : in the course of his duties, Dr. Ordway meets a social worker (Margaret Lindsay). They fall in love and plan to marry. She wants him to give up his quest to recall the past : "It's not important, Bob. All that matters is us, and the future". But then he reveals that it is important, not just for his own sake but for hers as well. "I was going to have to tell you this sooner or later Grace. There are three men following me who say they know my name. They tell me I am 'Phil Morgan', the leader of a crime gang - their gang. They say I have two hundred thousand dollars hidden away from a bank robbery. They think I'm hiding it from them and they are dangerous. So even though I have no idea what they're talking about, I have to continue to investigate it. You have to be aware of this, I don't want you getting caught in the middle".  

So that's how he became The Crime Doctor! He was already a Doctor, then these mugs who are following him told him he was a Criminal as well. To get to the bottom of it, he had to investigate the Crime.

Crime + Doctor = Crime Doctor! (Pretty impressive, eh?) 

The plot will come to a head when Dr. Ordway is brought to trial for his alleged crime. I shant reveal the outcome, but I can tell you that it leads to personal closure for Dr. Ordway, who can now get on with the business of Crime Doctoring for the remaining nine films in the series. Of the three we've now seen, this one plays most like a traditional noir. I give it Two Big Thumbs Up and recommend you start with it, if you've not already jumped in at random like I did.  ///////

The previous night we had quite a find : "Street Scene"(1931), a riveting pre-Code drama set in a tenement in New York City. It opens on a sweltering Summer evening. Several residents share gossip from their stoops and windows. Nothing else is going on, might as well talk bad about the neighbors. Leading the innuendo is "Mrs. Jones", a scrawny middle aged woman who won't declare her prejudice outright, but who's choice of words gives her away. She more or less thinks any non-Anglo Saxon is scum, and yet because it's not polite to say so, she tries to present herself as sympathetic. Mrs. Jones is played by the great Beulah Bondi, one of the most legendary of all character actresses.

One floor down from her is a Jewish couple. The husband spouts communist philosophy and says things would be alright if only "the people" would rise up in revolt. His wife is a teacher who ignores him and dotes on their college-age son. She's a bigot, too. When her son develops a crush on the story's protagonist, she tells him not to get involved with "that Irish girl. She'll only bring you trouble".

In contrast to these folks is an Italian couple who hate no one. They're presented as the ultimate American Immigrants :  joyous, full of life and just glad to be here. There's a Capote-ish drunk and rascally kids, and then there's Estelle Taylor as the Irish girl's mother. She's a peaceful soul who doesn't have a bad word for anyone. Under her breath, she voices the opinion that people should try to get along and be kind. Taylor is married to an unpleasant and vaguely threatening man (David Landau) with a blue-collar mindset. He doesn't want any ethnics making plays for his daughter, and he suspects his wife is cheating on him. He has the classic excuse of the "good provider" : "I work hard for her. She has everything she needs". Yeah, she has food on the table and clothes on her back, but she lives in a hovel and is trapped in a loveless marriage. Her hubby makes thinly veiled threats, saying "there will be trouble" if his daughter isn't home on time, or if dinner isn't on the table when he wants it.

In the midst of all this maliciousness, a romance does develop between the Jewish boy (William Collier Jr.) and the Irish girl (Sylvia Sidney). He ignores his mother's insults towards her, and also tries to protect her from the major topic of gossip that's developing : Beulah Bondi has spotted her mother following the milkman down the block. She immediately spreads the rumor of an affair. Taylor claims she was only chasing after him to pay her bill. But when the milkman is seen repeatedly showing up at her apartment, when her husband is at work, her excuse doesn't seem to hold water.

All of this negativity from the neighbors will have some consequences when the rumor gets back to Taylor's husband. Meanwhile, Sam (the Jewish boy) wants Rose (the Irish girl) to run away with him, to escape the neighborhood entirely. But she won't desert her mother. She's also got a boss who's trying to put the make on her, offering her an apartment in a nice part of the city if she'll just...........well, you know.

The movie was based on a play and is staged as such by director King Vidor, who gets exceptional performances from his actors. The drama is brutally frank for 1931, but again we're pre-Code. Though adult subjects weren't completely out in the open, they at least were dealt with head on, in honest language. It's interesting to read the viewer's comments on Youtube; many say the film is as topical now as it was ninety years ago when it was made. The consensus seems to be that nothing has changed : "Human nature has always been the same". 

"Street Scene" does have a modern feel, even if the look is Depression-era America. It has above average camera work at a time when most shots were stationary, and the tenement and street are actually part of a two-block long set. A lot went into the making of this movie, I'm surprised never to have heard of it before last night. It plays like a heavy human drama from the 1950s, when Method Acting became the rage. I give it Two Big Thumbs Up and a strong recommendation, especially for the performances of Beulah Bondi, Estelle Taylor and Sylvia Sidney. The Youtube print is crisp, don't miss this one!  ////

That's all for now. Hope you're enjoying the re-opening of everything. Have a great evening and tons of love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Two Air Force Films : "Target for Today (USAAF) and "Mosquito Squadron" (RAF)

Last night I watched a War Department documentary called "Target for Today"(1944), which follows the planning and execution of a bombing mission on German manufacturing plants by the 8th Air Force of the USAAF. The 8th came to England in 1943 to aid the RAF, which until that time had been fighting the air war by themselves.

Coincidentally to the film, I just this afternoon finished a book I've been working on for several weeks : "The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany 1939-45 (Vol. 1)" by Noble Frankland and Charles Webster. This book, the first of four volumes, was written as Britain's official history of the RAF Bomber Command during WW2, and is extremely thorough in it's examination. I learned, over the course of 500 pages, just how complex the arrangements are for even a single operation by the Royal Air Force.

It's not just about getting some Lancasters up over Germany and bombing indiscriminately. There is first an overall strategy that is presented, which comes from the top down (i.e. from the Air Ministry in the case of Great Britain). I had to learn the difference between strategy and tactics, because in "military speak" you hear those two terms all the time, for instance as "strategic" vs. "tactical" weapons. In short, strategy is the overall plan to win the war; tactics are the methods you use to achieve it. In the bombing offensive against Germany, this translated into the strategy, early on, of trying to destroy German oil refineries, the obvious theory being that - without oil - the Nazis couldn't fuel their Wehrmacht. The initial tactics involved making "precision" target runs against the refineries, located in various parts of the country and also in Romania which was occupied by the Germans. But the precision runs were far from precise, due to many factors including weather, German defenses and the lack of technological instruments like radar and bomb sights (both of which came later). As a result of this failure, the tactic of precision bombing had to be shelved (as did daytime bombing runs, which resulted in high RAF casualties). Eventually, the strategy changed too. Oil refineries were scratched as targets in favor of manufacturing plants and the "area bombing" of towns, which was designed to destroy the morale of the German people. Nowdays this would be referred to as "carpet bombing". We first heard that term during Vietnam, and our generation rightly considers it an abhorrent and horrific practice. However, in the case of Nazi Germany, we were fighting an enemy that a) was the soul of evil, b) who had a formidable military, and (most importantly) c) who would not capitulate for any reason, as they thought they were a Master Race who were destined to rule the world.

When you study the subject, you can better understand why Sir Arthur Harris, as Commander-In-Chief of RAF Bomber Command, made the strategic decisions that he concluded would win the war.

At any rate, I'm talking about the book I just finished. The movie was about the contribution of the United States Army Air Force, who flew B17s out of bases in England. The combined effort of the USAAF and the RAF was organised as a single plan of action, by the heads of both forces, and was executed on a round the clock basis in some cases, with the Yanks bombing by day and then the RAF taking over at night.     

The presentation of the documentary is a bit wooden, because real Air Force personnel are portraying themselves and are pretty stiff in reading their lines, but once you get past the "cue-card" dialogue, it's a fascinating and informative film, full length at 94 minutes and concluding with an actual bombing run against the German towns of Anklam and Marienburg, and Gdynia in occupied Poland. The raid included over 400 B17s, and there is a lot of aerial combat footage as well. When you see how fast the German Messerschmitts come at the Flying Fortresses, how quickly they appear out of nowhere and how sharply they maneuver, you can imagine how scary it was to be part of the crew on a heavy bomber. It gives you even more respect for the courage those guys displayed. 

Well, at any rate, Two Big Thumbs Up for "Target for Today", which comes off as part Study Film and part Action Thriller in the form of a documentary. If I have one complaint it's that the filmmakers didn't encourage the Air Force crewmen to relax a little and "be themselves", at least in the scenes on base, away from the action. That "authentic" aspect was what I liked so much about "Coastal Command", a British War Department film similar to this one. In "CC" the pilots appeared to be actors but weren't. They were the real soldiers, just putting a dramatic spin on their roles in the movie, which added a lot to it's appeal. Leave it to the Brits, I suppose, to show off in front of the camera. Everyone's an actor in England. /////

The previous night we watched a regular dramatic war film, "Mosquito Squadron"(1969), the story of a controversial RAF bombing mission against a German "V" weapon development site. Before I begin my review, I should mention that I've been aware of this picture for months, but have avoided it due to strongly negative reviews at IMDB. That night however, it popped up on my Youtube recommendation list yet again. I needed something in a pinch and said "what the hell". I've been reading about Mosquito bombers in one of my books anyway. "Might as well see them in action", I reasoned.

To end this aside, I'll say that the negative reviewers must either be nuts or on a vendetta. If you wanted to say the movie was not a classic on par with "Battle of Britain", I'd agree, but the number of 3/10 reviews is way out of proportion, and there is even a 1/10, with the reviewers going far out of their way to describe how much and why they detest this film. Perhaps it's British fans who are resentful for reasons of historical accuracy or some similar reason. The movie is a Veddy Brrittish production and the Mosquito was a Brrittish plane. Anyhow, this is a lesson (as if you needed one) to once again never pay attention to reviews. From my vantage point, "Mosquito Squadron" was a very good example of the aerial combat subgenre, with above average camerawork and an interesting plot. It does get sidetracked perhaps a bit too much by an aborted romance, but even that applies directly to the emotional repercussions of the story.

In the movie's initial raid, the squad leader is shot down over Germany. David McCallum is named as his replacement. McCallum and the deceased former leader were best friends since childhood. McCallum feels a responsibility not only to honor his memory but to break the news to his wife. She takes it stoically, but leans on McCallum for strength, and in his off-duty hours he spends time with her. It's platonic on his part, but she starts to fall for him, an emotional rebound from her husband's death. McCallum doesn't want to go down that road, but it happens anyway.

Meanwhile, as the new squad leader, he is training his pilots for a run on a very important target : a suspected V3 plant, hidden below a churchyard. The V3, if it existed, would've been Hitler's so-called "New York" weapon, an experimental ICBM that we talked about recently. The Air Ministry has placed prime importance on destroying this plant. The only way to reach it is through a tunnel, meaning that the Mosquito pilots will have to approach from a very low elevation, like 60 feet. McCallum wonders how that will work : "How can we bomb horizontally"?

The answer is a new kind of weapon, a bouncing bomb of the type made famous in "The Dam Busters" (a must-see). Most bombs fall vertically, from a high elevation down to the target. The bouncing bomb is dropped at treetop level, at high speed, so that it skips across the ground to hit a target sideways. In the movie, the Mosquito pilots must deliver their bombs through the tunnel entrance. Anything wide of the mark will be useless. They have ten days to practice, on a mock up at their base, but eventually all are able to hit the spot.

But then another kind of bombshell is dropped by Air Intelligence. They deliver the news to the wing commander that a group of British P.O.W.s have been moved by the Germans into the underground rocket facility. This has been done as "insurance" against an RAF attack. The Nazis are figuring the Brits would never bomb their own men, but they are wrong. The Air Marshall declares that the raid will proceed. "It's too important a target", he states, adding that the lives of the P.O.W.s are expendable when weighed against potential loss of life from V3 detonations. The news is grim enough for the squadron pilots, as they will be the ones who have to deliver death to their comrades. But it gets worse when McCallum discovers that his friend the former squad leader is one of the P.O.W.s at the church. He apparently wasn't killed in the shoot-down after all.

Now McCallum is faced with two moral conundrums : Can he indeed follow the order to bomb the V3 facility, and in doing so bomb his own men? And can he keep the news from his friend's wife, who believes herself to be a widow, and has fallen in love with McCallum?

It's a hell of a setup, and even if the extended romantic aspect distracts from the aviation (which is what some of the fans are complaining about), I found that subtheme to be apt. After all, McCallum now knows that his friend is alive. But he is ordered to bomb the V3 facility, which will kill the man after all. Why not let a sleeping dog lie, he's thinking. His wife believes her husband to be dead; leave it at that. So yeah, I found the storyline engrossing from a human standpoint as well as a military one.  

I'll grant you that David McCallum is not the greatest actor ever to come down the pike, though he deserves a mention for the episode of "Outer Limits" where he has a Gigantic Head. The main reason to watch "Mosquito Squadron" is the 'Skeeters themselves. They're badass little bombers with the speed and agility of a fighter. In my reading I've learned that they were a game-changer in the war, and you get to see plenty of Mosquito action in the movie, the only one I'm aware of that features this airplane.

Let's give it Two Big Thumbs Up. Ignore the critics - if you like WW2 aerial combat flicks you're gonna enjoy "Mosquito Squadron", and if you're like me, you're gonna wonder why everyone wants to condemn it. It's a doggone good movie, the Youtube print is sharp. Give it a watch, highly recommended. ////

That's all for the moment. Have a good evening. Tons of love as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Heading Down to Poverty Row with "They Raid by Night" + Tom Tryon + More Crime Doctor!

Not everything can be Epic, sometimes you've gotta head off in the other direction, especially when you're relying on Youtube, so last night we took a stroll down to Poverty Row for a surprisingly good (i.e. decent) WW2 commando flick called "They Raid By Night"(1942). Think "Where Eagles Dare" made on a 500 dollar budget and you're on the right track.

A Norwegian general is being held by the Nazis during their occupation of that country. The Brits want to rescue him, so he can lead the Free Norway resistance from safe haven in England. To do this, they assemble a crack team of Canadian (Lyle Talbot), British (Charley Rogers) and Norwegian (George N. Neise) soldiers, give them false identities, and parachute them into Norway. After landing in the woods, they ditch their gear, and in street clothes they saunter nonchalantly into town, where they impersonate workmen.

Almost immediately, however, a snag appears in the form of Neise's former girlfriend (June Duprez). She recognizes him on the street and invites him back to her apartment. What he doesn't know is that she's a collaborator. She sees right through his blue-collar facade, and - suspecting he's in the Resistance - reports him to the local Gestapo chief right after he leaves. This leads to the discovery of the other members of the team. All three manage to elude capture for a while, as the Nazis try to figure out what their mission is in the first place. Finally, they locate the captive General and set up a rescue attempt, using a staged deception to draw attention away from themselves.

Though you're never gonna confuse it with a big studio war movie, you've gotta appreciate the sincere effort put forth by the folks at Producers Releasing Corporation (aka PRC), who serve up a well thought out plot and all the production design they could afford, when it would've been easy to simply toss off a C-Grade cheapie of the type they were known for. Large blow-ups of photographs are used as backgrounds to depict Norwegian village exteriors. They have a single "snowy set" for the woods. Stock war footage is substituted for firefights and a bombing run, but all of this is done with care and comes off well. Much of the budget was likely spent on uniforms; the Nazis look authentic and their Gestapo chief is played with smiling insincerity by the great Victor Varconi, who we saw as Pontius Pilate in DeMille's "King of Kings" a couple years ago, and whose career goes back to the early Silent era.

Clocking in at 68 minutes, "They Raid by Night" would ordinarily rate Two Regular Thumbs Up because of it's low budget, but I'm gonna boost it up one rating for aspiring beyond it's means. Two Solid Thumbs, then, and watch it for what it is, PRC at it's best, giving it The Old College Try for quality.  ///// 

I've also got another Crime Doctor for ya, but I wanna tell you about Tom Tryon first. It's just an anecdote - nothin' fancy - but have you ever heard of him? Think about it for a minute. This Spring I began watching "The Virginian" after buying Season One on Amazon. It's a great show, not only one of the best Westerns ever produced for television but one of the best dramas, period. The quality of the series is evident not only in it's direction and writing, but in it's acting as well, which becomes even more apparent when you see the guest stars that are featured each week. I'm about 15 episodes in, and we've already had George C. Scott, Lee Marvin and Bette Davis, just to name a few. BTW, the Davis ep is on par with her best movie roles.

All of this brings me to the latest episode I've watched, entitled "The Man from the Sea". The guest star in that ep was an actor named Tom Tryon, playing a sailor who travels to Medicine Bow, Wyoming (the show's setting), in search of a place to settle down. While there, he meets and is attracted to a pair of twin sisters (Shirley Knight and Carol Lynley, more amazing guest stars), who are visiting Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb) at the Shiloh Ranch. The plot of the episode involves the sailor's showy personality, as he upstages the regular cowboy characters (Doug McClure, James Drury, et al) in his effort to impress the pretty sisters. But the story takes a turn when we see that Carol Lynley is psychologically disturbed, enough to try and kill her twin Shirley Knight. It's an incredible episode, and at 75 minutes it has all the development of a well written movie. I'm telling you, "The Virginian" is as good as TV gets, but let's get back to Tom Tryon.

Sometime around 1971, he quit acting. When you see him in this episode of "The Virginian", you wonder why he did so (if you didn't know already), because he's very talented and handsome, enough to have had a long and successful career had he chosen.

Apparently in 1968 he saw "Rosemary's Baby" and it so affected him that he decided to try his hand at writing. Following that muse, he chose horror as his milieu, and authored a novel that became incredibly popular. It was called "The Other", and was not only a bestseller in 1971 but was made into a movie the very next year. That movie, which I own on dvd, is one of the scariest films ever made. I haven't read the book - which I'm sure is equally terrifying - but in relating my anecdote, even back when it was published, I recall it being promoted with the author's name given equal billing with the title. The advertisements read "Thomas Tryon's 'The Other' ", as if the reader was supposed to know who he was ("Oh.....it's by Thomas Tryon, I'd better buy it"). The movie was also promoted that way, not bad for a first time author, and he'd graduated from "Tom" to the use of his full first name for formal effect. 

But here's the thing, and I'm gonna give a major spoiler, so if you haven't seen the movie but plan to, read no further.

Here's the thing : I was watching the aforementioned episode of "The Virginian", in which Tom Tryon guest starred, and I noticed that the plot concerned twins. Afterwards I thought, "wait a minute......one of the twins is insanely jealous of the other and wants her dead, in fact she tries to kill her".

And then I thought, "that's the same basic plot from 'The Other', in which a disturbed boy kills his twin brother, with some supernatural accoutrements added to keep the audience in suspense".

Now don't get me wrong. "The Other" isn't a rip off, nor is it cheap in any way. I haven't read the book, but the movie plumbs the depths of psychological disturbance in a child, one who is certainly a sociopath.

But the thing is, that's exactly what's going on with Carol Lynley's character in "The Virginian", only in the person of a young adult instead of a child.

Long story short, I wonder if Tom Tryon used that "Virginian" plot - consciously or unconsciously ala George Harrison and "My Sweet Lord" - to write "The Other", which very likely made him a millionaire as it sold a truckload of books and movie tickets. More to the point, I wonder if I'm the only person who's noticed it. I've Googled and found no other references.

Well anyhow, no harm is done. Tom Tryon is top notch all around. I've only seen him act in this one TV episode, but he caught my attention, and "The Other" is an all-timer, never to be watched with the lights out.

But I'll bet you a nickle he got the idea from that "Virginian" episode, which is very memorable itself. Watch it, then watch "The Other", and see if you don't agree. For the record, Thomas Tryon built a successful writing career from that first book, and is far more remembered as a novelist than as an actor.

And that's the end of my anecdote. Long live Tom Tryon.

Now where was I? Oh yeah, The Crime Doctor! 

The movie was "The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case"(1943). "Jimmy Trotter" (a young Lloyd Bridges) is just out of prison and has come to Dr. Ordway for advice. Should he marry his gal (Lynn Merrick) or is it too soon? "I'm just wondering, Doc, because the town still thinks I'm guilty. I don't want it to rub off on Ellen, so maybe I should wait until I prove myself". The Doc assures him it's okay. "Look Jimmy, you were exonerated at your second trial. You're innocent in the eyes of the law. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks, the evidence showed that you didn't poison your boss. How's your new job going, by the way"?

"Oh, pretty well so far. I'm trying to keep a low profile and I think Mr. Burns likes me".

"That's wonderful, Jimmy. I'd say go ahead and get married, if that's what you want. There's no reason to be self-conscious".

So Jimmy does marry Ellen, but then something bad happens. His new boss is murdered by poison. It's deja vu all over again : someone is trying to frame Jimmy. Crime Doctor to the freakin' rescue!

Sherlock Holmes has nothing on Dr. Ordway, who notices details most other sleuths would miss. When he shows up at the mansion of the late Mr. Burns, for whom Jimmy was working as an assistant, right away he takes note of the cook. She talks funny, using words from the turn of the century. She looks matronly but has youthful eyes and teeth. She also can't cook worth a lick. Why is she pretending to be someone else?

And what about Mr. Burns wife (Rose Hobart)? She's a good 40 years younger than her deceased husband. Did she marry him for his money, as her in-laws suspect? Well, duh. She's obviously first in line to inherit it. She's the prime suspect in the murder, but did she know about Jimmy beforehand? Is that why she used poison - if she did it - to make him appear the culprit?

Have no fear, Crime Doc's got this . He'll nail the killer, but first he'll have to investigate a spooky old nightclub that been's boarded up and gathering cobwebs for ages. He'll also have to deal with a couple of loony pyromaniacs who've got their own interest in the murder. They aren't calling it the Crime Doctor's "strangest case" for nothing. It's safe to say I'm a serious fan of this serial, after only two installments. This one ventures outside the Ten Little Indians box, too, with multiple locations and Crime Doctor psychological profiling techniques on display. I'm highly recommending this movie and all others in the series, even those we haven't watched yet, because we love The Crime Doctor. Yes, you do too! Two Big Thumbs Up. ////

Well, that's all for tonight. Have a wonderful evening and I'll talk to you shortly. Tons of love as always.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)  

 

Two Tremendous Titles : "The Shout" and "A Man For All Seasons"

Last night's movie doesn't quite reach the Fifty Year Gap, but the shabularity of forty three isn't excessive, I don't think, and at the very least warrants a mention. I'm referring to "The Shout"(1978), which my friends and I saw at the theater during it's initial art house run. Back in those days, the use of Aboriginal themes was popular for a while. We'd recently gotten into Art Films with Peter Weir's "The Last Wave, which had a supernatural plot based on the Australian Aborigines' concept of a dream world. There had also been been "Walkabout" several years earlier. I don't think we went to see "The Shout" because of it's aboriginal theme, more likely because it was the hip art house show of the week, but it did turn out to have that particular ingredient, and like "Last Wave", it was spooky as all get-out.

The movie opens at a cricket match, played on the grounds of a psychiatric institute in the English countryside. Tim Curry, in a minor role, plays one of the scorekeepers. He's informed that his partner will be a man named "Charles Crossley" (Alan Bates), whom the head doctor says is "the most intelligent man I've ever met, and extremely well read". We don't know for sure if Crossley is a patient or not, but as the game progresses he starts telling Curry a tale from his past, one so strange that it will cross over into the present time.

John Hurt plays a composer of electronic music who lives with his wife in a small village near the institute. He's also an organist at the local church, and as Crossley tells the story, one Sunday Hurt was playing a service when he (Crossley) wandered in, and waited for him outside when it was over. He said he hadn't eaten for two days, and looked bedraggled, so Hurt invited him home for lunch. He soon wishes he hadn't.

You see, Crossley is a creep of the first order. At the lunch, he's rude, deliberately breaks a wine glass, and explains that he's spent the past 18 years wandering the Australian Outback. Hurt is getting the willies, and jokingly says, "18 years? My goodness, what made you stay so long? Do you have family there or something"? Crossley replies that yes, in fact he does........or did. "I was married to an Aboriginal woman".

John Hurt : "Oh......and did you have children"?

Crossley : "Yes we did.........but I killed them. You see, in Aboriginal society it's legal for a man to kill his children, because he's releasing them into the spirit world".

If Hurt wasn't freaked out enough already, he's now past that point, and is looking for an excuse to end the lunch and get Crossley out of his house. But his wife (Susannah York) is strangely enjoying it. Because of this, he won't be able to get rid of Mr. Crossley at all. Crossley has soon moved in, with the wife's consent, and is slowly taking over John Hurt's life. That Hurt is a wimp and won't stand up to Crossley doesn't help.

One day Crossley tells Hurt : "I've heard your music. It's empty.......it's nothing. You like to record sounds? I can show you a sound that's more powerful than anything you've ever heard".

"Oh really"?, says Hurt. "What is it pray tell"?

"It's a shout", Crossley tells him, "my shout. I learned it in the Outback and spent eighteen years perfecting it. It can kill a man, so if you want to hear it you'd better stuff your ears".

To humor Crossley, Hurt agrees to accompany him out to the dunes on the coastline. When they get there, Crossley again asks if he's wearing earplugs. "You'd better be, because you'll die". Then he rears back, gathers all his breath, and lets go with a hellacious holler, The Shout of the movie's title. Hurt is knocked backward off his feet. Several sheep in the vicinity keel over dead. Crossley wasn't kidding about The Shout. As they head back home, Hurt is now so thoroughly terrified that he starts making plans to get rid of Crossley for good. To do that, however, he's gonna need some information about the workings of aboriginal magic.

In watching this film for the second time, over four decades later, I became aware of two things : 1) The story is fairly thin, except for the basic plot of a man trying to steal another man's wife. And 2) : in the end, it doesn't really matter because the film creates a mood, a feeling of oncoming dread not unlike that in "The Wicker Man", where an outsider becomes caught in a trap beyond his understanding. "The Shout" works better when you don't read too much into it and simply follow it's creepy tone. It's one of those claustrophobic movies where the handful of characters are isolated from "the real world", so the victim must fend for himself against the villain. Also in this case John Hurt's wife is tantalized by Mr. Crossley and falls under his spell. He's taken a personal item (her belt buckle) to use as a voodoo charm. In short, it's not the plot that grabs you, but the telling of the plot, and in that way, the bookending of the cricket match is a good devise. I remarked that Crossley's story, as he relates it to fellow scorekeeper Tim Curry, would spill over into the present time, and indeed it does, because John Hurt is one of the cricketeers.

"The Shout" works big time due to atmosphere, editing and cinematography. And acting : Bates is so off-putting as Crossley that it's one of those performances (like Anthony Hopkins' "Hannibal Lecter") where you wonder if the actor is that way in real life, haha. John Hurt is exceptional as his prey, a weakling who initially won't stand up for himself. The movie also has incidental music composed by Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford of Genesis, which helps to influence the suspense. It's a film that gets under your skin and stays there - once you see it, you'll never forget it. Two Huge Thumbs Up for "The Shout", one of the great Art House classics of the '70s. Highest recommendation. ///////

Now then : You wanna talk Epic? You wanna talk Tremendous? How about "A Man For All Freaking Seasons"(1966), a movie so awesome I had to alter it's title. It's gotta be one of the most famous films in history. Winner of six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor - a performance by Paul Scofield for the ages. This one falls not into the Fifty Year Gap but into "Pictures I've Never Seen". If I can offer a reason, in this case I think it's because of the title. "A Man For All Seasons" probably sounded to me like a lighthearted Shakespeare comedy, with a lead character like Falstaff or some other hearty Dionysian. Not that that would make it a bad picture, just one that a younger me wouldn't have rushed out to see (nor put in his dvd queue). Until now that is. Because of our Quest for Epic Movies, I knew I had to watch it, I'm very glad I did, and I discovered that - far from being a comedy - it's a deadly serious drama, a religious polemic in the same vein as "Becket", and every bit as great.  

'"Seasons" is the story of Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII. We probably ought to summon Rick Wakeman once again, for navigational purposes, but while we're waiting I'll do my best to continue. More, a friend of Henry's, is visited by the King at the start of the movie. Henry wants out of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, who hasn't delivered him a son. He asks More to give his blessing to a divorce, but More won't do this, telling Henry that divorce is the province of the Pope. "I haven't the authority", he claims. Henry isn't asking for an official decree, just a "nod of the head" from his Chancellor, which in his eyes is as good as the real thing. More won't bend, however. Henry leaves, displeased but accepting his decision as he appreciates More's integrity. However, Henry is no admirer of the Pope and takes the step of naming himself Ruler of the Church of England, in an effort to supplant the Pontiff  and render his divorce beyond question. After doing this, he wants all his subordinates, More included, to take an oath, swearing to this edict, that Henry is indeed the Supreme Christian Ruler. Thomas More, a strict Catholic, won't do this either. His high moral stance and allegiance to God prevent him making such a vow. This puts him at odds with King Henry.

But More is also a lawyer. He knows the penalty for denying Henry's wishes, so he makes it a specific legal point not to disavow the oath. He won't utter it, but neither will he speak against it. Instead, he chooses to remain silent on the matter, which he points out to his family will legally spare him from execution. 

Thomas Cromwell is a prosecutor in Henry's court who despises Thomas More. On Henry's behalf, he's tried and failed to get More to avow the oath. More's repeated refusals so enrage Cromwell that he's looking for any excuse to lock him away in the Tower of London. When a bribe charge won't stick (as More would never accept a bribe), Cromwell persuades an ambitious young clerk (John Hurt again) to perjure himself, and swear that he heard More denounce the oath, which is entirely untrue. More has remained silent on the matter throughout.

A trial is scheduled. If found guilty, More will be sentenced for High Treason, for which he'll face death. His wife and children beg him to say the oath, even if he doesn't mean it. Even Henry will forgive him if he'll just say the words. "But I could never forgive myself", he answers.

The parallels between More's stance and that of Thomas Becket, who sided with the church against King Henry II, are striking, and indeed one wonders if More was influenced at all by Becket, his predecessor as Chancellor by four and a half centuries.

Becket met his death by murder at the hands of Henry II's loyal barons. Though it's easy to Google, I won't reveal the fate of Thomas More. You'd do well to watch both movies on consecutive nights. I raved about "Becket" and I'm gonna have to double down on "A Man For All Seasons" and again call it one of the greatest films ever made, though it's simpler in execution than the earlier movie, which as we noted was nominated for 12 Oscars itself. Like "Becket", "AMFAS" greatest strength is it's lead performances. Scofield's is the stuff of legend, but there's also the turn of Robert Shaw (pronounced Rrribbert Shwaughh), who portrays Henry as a grandstanding madman. You never know if he's going to toast you or call for your head from one minute to the next. Finally, Orson Wells has a small but memorable role as Cardinal Wolsey, who was Chacellor prior to Thomas More and willing to play Henry's political games. 

"A Man For All Seasons" features gorgeous cinematography by Ted Moore and was directed by the great Fred Zinneman, who also made "From Here to Eternity" and "High Noon". If that's not diversity I don't know what is - the mark of an expert Hollywood Craftsman.

Only our highest rating will suffice. Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. A film absolutely not to be missed. /////

That's all for tonight. Have a nice evening, I send you tons of love as always.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Two Short Ones, Both Good : "Madonna of the Desert" and "Just Before Dawn"

We've got a couple of shorties this time, but we love short movies and both are good. Two nights ago we found a flick called "Madonna of the Desert"(1948). No, I'm not talking about Madge in the Mojave, but a Religious Noir about faith, that uses a small statue of Our Lady as it's focal point. In the opening scene, "Nick Julian" (Sheldon Leonard), a racketeer Mafioso type, is talking to an antique dealer in his shop, located in a small town in rural California. The dealer points out an article in a trade magazine, about a clay figure found at a ranch in the desert, a bejewelled statuette of the Madonna created by an artisan in Italy 500 years earlier. "It must be worth a fortune", says Julian. From their conversation we gather that the antique dealer is a crook too, and they set up a plan to steal the Madonna.

Back at his hideout, the slick-suited Julian has a Gal Friday named "Monica" (Lynne Roberts) who he refers to as "Legs". He's discovered, when pulling jobs involving objets d'art, that finesse works better than force. A deception by a woman is ideal. There's no mess to clean up, and by the time the suckers know they've been had, he and Legs will long gone.

So Nick sends her over to the ranch to pretend her car broke down. From there, she'll finagle her way into the house, find where they keep the Madonna and steal it. The plan sounds great in theory, but in practice there's a problem. You see, the ranch is owned by "Joe Salinas"(Don Castle), a man so kind and helpful that Legs can't bring herself to rob him. Her change of heart doesn't come about instantly, of course, but right away, she's softened by his lack of guile. He genuinely cares about her "plight" (the stalled car fraud), and offers not only to repair it, but to give her food and shelter for the night. "You can't be driving through the desert when it's pitch dark", he says. He's also a devout Christian who's not trying to put the make on her, though he does enjoy her company. I should mention that we saw actor Castle recently in "Tombstone : The Town Too Tough to Die" with Richard Dix. We remarked on his charm in that film also, and his resemblance to Clark Gable.

When they enter the ranch house, Monica (not "Legs" when she's with Joe) scans the interior, looking for the Madonna. She finds it on the living room mantle, and pretends to admire it. This brings Joe to her side. He explains it's history (it was found buried on the property), and how it seems to have miraculous properties. "We've had excellent crops ever since we found her, and I've had a lot of personal good fortune too". Monica plays along but in her head she's making plans to take the statue and abscond, as soon as the opportunity presents. Joe has an "Uncle Pete" who lives with him, who's every bit the pessimist to Joe's optimist. But even Pete believes in the power of the Madonna, which starts the wheels of conflict spinning in Monica's heart. Really she wants to get away from Nick Julian and their life of crime, but she knows she can't cross Nick. It'll be curtains if she does. Then the next day arrives and a miracle indeed happens, causing her to alter her decision.

There's to be a wedding that day, of a couple from neighboring families. They're hearty Italian Catholics, so Joe loans them the Madonna for good luck. He asks Monica if she'd like to stay long enough to attend, and she accepts, as at this point she still plans to steal the statuette. But during the wedding a fire occurs. I can't tell you how it's started or what is set aflame, but all the guests are so shocked by the lack of damage that they proclaim it a miracle, attributable surely to the Madonna. No one is more stunned by this than Monica herself. Later that day, back at the ranch, she confesses everything to Joe : the robbery plan, her life of crime, and her association with Nick Julian. Joe then surprises her with a confession of his own. He wasn't always so cheerful. "Monica, I am a veteran of the war. I was left paralysed by shrapnel and the doctors told me I'd never walk again". He goes on to say how cynical he became, until the discovery of the Madonna changed his life. "But it's not about the statue. I mean, that's part of it, but the bigger part is faith. You can have faith too, Monica, faith that you can change your life and get away from Nick".

It's quite a message, and this scene is reminiscent of ones from "The Enchanted Cottage" and "I'll Be Seeing You", also involving injured veterans and faith. Monica decides to remain in the desert. She's falling in love with Joe, who vows to protect her from Nick Julian. Nick knows where the ranch is located and is bound to come looking, but there's going to be a bump in the road for him as well. A hoodlum named "Tony French" (Donald "Red" Barry) has just been paroled from San Quentin, after taking the rap for Nick in a botched bank heist. He's done five years hard time and wants payback, either in the form of money or Nick's blood. French hears about the Madonna, too, and heads out to the ranch to steal it. Everyone will converge in the desert for a white-knuckle climax.

For a movie with next to no budget, "Madonna of the Desert" is surprisingly well written and acted. The dialogue is meaningful, not trite, and the religious message is never ham-handed. It's also a tough little Noir from the crooks' angle, with Monica's character in the middle, torn between two lifestyles and mindsets. We like what we've seen so far from Don Castle, and Lynne Roberts is very good as "Monica" so we'll have to look for more from her as well. For the record Sheldon Leonard, who plays "Nick Julian" was a big time movie and tv producer, and Donald "Red" Barry, playing"Tony French", was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood, appearing in over 250 Westerns and Noirs.

Two Big Thumbs Up for "Madonna of the Desert". A ton of story and a good message.  ///////      

Going from Don Castle to William Castle, the previous night's movie was "Just Before Dawn"(1946), a quickie programmer from The Crime Doctor series. I'd never heard of The Crime Doctor, which began as a radio serial, but apparently there were ten movies made for the franchise, with some being directed by our old pal Castle, the future horrormeister of '60s Cinema. In "Dawn", the seventh entry in the series, Warner Baxter stars as "Dr. Ordway", a psychiatrist who also acts as a detective, because........um, his patients always seem to get murdered, doggonnit. This time, a diabetic dies when his insulin is switched with poison. Ordway himself delivers the fatal injection, but no one's gonna pin it on The Crime Doctor. Instead, he goes in search of the actual killer, in what amounts to a Ten Little Indians plot. The death occurred at a party, so one of the guests must've done it. But who, and why? Not to worry, Crime Doc's on the case. He uncovers a false identity scheme being run out of a mortuary, by a creep named "Mr. Ganss" (Martin Kosleck). The scheme involves plastic surgery to give hoodlums new faces.........and where do ya think they're getting the faces? Well, it's a mortuary, so if you said "from corpses" you're on the right track.

I very much enjoyed "Just Before Dawn", another Paul Shortino that runs just over an hour. The Crime Doctor is a great concept and well played by Baxter, winner of the first Best Actor Oscar in 1929. We'll definitely be watching the entire series, or as many as we can find on Youtube. The direction here by William Castle employs all his trademarks, the well-ordered frame, high contrast lighting and clean camerawork. Like Hitchcock, he knows how to get the most out of a simple setting.

Two Solid Thumbs Up, then, for "Just Before Dawn". Paging Dr. Ordway.....come in Dr. Ordway.....Crime Doctor to the rescue!

That's all for the moment. Have a great afternoon. Tons of love as always!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)