Suddenly (1954) Lewis Allen

February 25th 2024

Bad movie I have The Munsters : Season One 1964

Pickup on South Street(1953)

Pickup on South Street

In Pickup on South Street, a pickpocket unwitting intercepts microfilm on its way to Communist agents. And they want it back at all costs … Continue reading Pickup on South Street

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I love when the judges scold Hamilton (and Perry!) for "getting into personalities". They're like two little boys being taken to the principal's office.

Rookie of the Year - NBC - December 7, 1955

A presentation of "Screen Directors Playhouse" Season 1 Episode 10

Drama

Running time: 30 minutes

Direted by John Ford

Stars:

John Wayne as Mike Cronin

Vera Miles as Ruth Dahlberg

Ward Bond as Buck Goodhue

Pat Wayne as Lyn Goodhue

James Gleason as Ed Shafer

Willis Bouchey as Cully

Harry Tyler as Mr. White

William Forrest as Walker

Robert Leyden as Willie

Tiger Fafara as Bobby

John Wayne made his first dramatic television appearance in this episode.

Gloria Grahame and Glenn Ford in The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953) Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby, Lee Marvin, Jeanette Nolan, Adam Williams, Peter Whitney, Willis Bouchey, Howard Wendell, Chris Alcaide, Dorothy Green, Dan Seymour, Edith Evanson. Screenplay: Sydney Boehm, based on a novel by William P. McGivern. Cinematography: Charles Lang. Art direction: Robert Peterson. Film editing: Charles Nelson. Music: Henry Vars.  So many of the roles in Glenn Ford's career established him as a figure of middle-American blandness that it comes as a surprise to see the cold-eyed intensity of which he was capable in the role of the vengeful Dave Bannion in The Big Heat. He's still the good guy, fighting crime bosses and corrupt cops, but with the film noir twist that he's willing to resort to some pretty bad means to achieve his ends. He's also a solid foil for Gloria Grahame at her sultriest and a tough foe for Lee Marvin at his thuggiest. We get a glimpse of the more familiar Ford in the scenes with Bannion and his wife and daughter that verge a bit on stickiness, though the more to emphasize Bannion's quest for vengeance after his wife is killed and his daughter threatened by Alexander Scourby's suave mobster, Mike Lagana. (Is it just my prurient imagination, or does the scene in which Lagana is wakened for a phone call by George (Chris Alcaide), his bodyguard, wearing a bathrobe, suggest that George may be doing more to Lagana's body than just guarding it?) The Big Heat is a classic, one of the highlights of Fritz Lang's American career, and it still has the power not only to startle and shock but also to amuse, thanks to a solid screenplay -- Grahame in particular is given some delicious lines to speak, including Debby's classic riposte to Bertha Duncan (Jeanette Nolan), "We're sisters under the mink."

Don't Bother to Knock

I would guess that most of the supporting players in Roy Ward Baker’s DON’T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952, Criterion Channel, TCM, YouTube, On Demand) are better actors than leading lady Marilyn Monroe. In her film debut, Anne Bancroft, as a hard-luck saloon singer trying to break it off with pilot Richard Widmark because he doesn’t have a heart, makes a lot out of an underwritten role and is a knockout lip-synching her songs (dubbed by Eve Marley). But none of them command the camera the way Monroe does (Bancroft would learn to later in her career). Monroe’s role as a mentally disturbed woman whose elevator operator uncle (Elisha Cook, Jr.) gets her a job babysitting at his hotel is the Hollywood version of insanity, which basically means she can do anything they need her to do — dress up in her employers’ things, bully the little girl, mistake Widmark for her dead fiancé — as long as it moves the plot. And what a plot! Basically, Monroe’s Nell suffers dreadfully so Widmark can become a better person. I suppose if you remade the film today she’d have to be gay or a person of color. Anyway, Monroe has effective moments, but it’s all bits. The character as written is an array of tics anyway, but because of Monroe’s bad memory, nerves and reliance on acting coach (and possibly lover) Natasha Lytess, she can’t tie it together. There’s no throughline to her performance. Yet it’s fascinating to see how easily all the mannerisms that made her a star in comedies lend themselves to her role as a psychotic. With all the problems dealing with Monroe, Baker can’t give the film much tension, though there’s one effective scene with the little girl (Donna Corcoran) leaning out the hotel window to spy on other tenants as Monroe fights the urge to push her. Baker and cinematographer Lucien Ballard get some effective shots, particularly some off-kilter close-ups of Monroe. But they also have to include some cheesecake, which now feels exploitative. Widmark is good as ever and makes his character arc clear, and there are nice bits from Gloria Blondell as the hotel lounge’s photographer, Willis Bouchey as the bartender and Verna Felton as a nosy hotel resident. The film also has a terrific score by Lionel Newman, whose opening title music promises a better movie than this one.

pickup on south street |1953|

Pickup on South Street (1953) Samuel Fuller

November 26th 2022

The Garment Jungle (1957)

"There was only one way to stop that organiser."

"Murder?"

"Muscle is muscle; use it to turn a buck, and you mignt as well go all the way. For fifteen years I kept the union off your back and you never asked me how. All you did was grab the benefits!"

“Tell her the rest when you get back.”        

The Horse Soldiers (1959) dir. John Ford

The Inspector

The Inspector – The Andy Griffith Show season 1 With the state inspector coming, Barney rushes out to get a prisoner and returns with Otis, who’s drunk. Ralph Case arrives, doesn’t like what he sees and starts writing down violations. Andy, who was out, comes in with a birthday cake for Otis and Case questions his methods. He leaves ready to recommend impeachment. (more…)

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