Brothers: Richard Chamberlain; Jeff Richards |
Peter Falk and Margia Dean |
Brothers: Richard Chamberlain; Jeff Richards |
Peter Falk and Margia Dean |
Maria Montez as Marie Roget |
Knowles and Corrigan |
Raymond Burr with special guest-star |
Perry confers with his client, Lurene Tuttle |
Suspects in Grinning Gorilla |
Kent Taylor and Carole Lombard |
Claude King, Charles Laughton, Ethel Griffies |
Mary Hatcher, Desi Arnaz |
Bus boy turned bandleader Carlos Estrada (Desi Arnaz of Cuban Pete) wants to sign up singer Lolita Valdez (Mary Hatcher) to be a vocalist with his group. Talking to what he thinks is Lolita through a hotel room door, Carlos is highly insulted by the gal's termagant mother, Mama Valdez (Minerva Urecal of That Other Woman). Hating Lolita for "her" remarks, Carlos attempts to find a new singer with which to enter a competition at a carnival in Havana. Through a sequence of events, Lolita winds up accompanying Carlos and his band to Havana, but he thinks she is a woman named "Delores." Meanwhile two opposing agents, Marge (Ann Doran of Violent Road) and Sam (Ray Walker), are both anxious to sign Lolita to a contract that will bring her to New York.
Ray Walker, Minerva Urecal, Ann Doran |
Verdict: Desi has energy to spare but he needs a better script. **1/2.
Richard Conte and Victor Mature |
CRY OF THE CITY (1948). Director: Robert Siodmak. Colorized.
Career criminal Martin Rome (Richard Conte) is laid up in the hospital after a bank job -- during which he shot a cop --goes awry. Lt. Candella (Victor Mature) learns that a woman (Debra Paget) came to see him and is determined to discover her identity. Could Rome have had something to do with a jewel robbery in which an elderly woman was beaten and strangled? Others involved with Rome include shifty lawyer Niles (an excellent Berry Kroeger); Nurse Frances (Betty Garde), who does Rome a big favor; gal pal Brenda (Shelley Winters); and sinister masseuse Rose Given (Hope Emerson). When Rome breaks out of jail there will be more than one death attributed to him.
A lady to watch out for: Emerson and Conte |
Betty Garde deals with Mature while Clark and Conte look on |
Verdict: Terrific film noir with a great cast. ***1/2.
Face Off: Van Heflin and Everett Sloane |
Recruited by Walter Ramsey (Everett Sloane of The Big Knife), the head of the Ramsey Corporation, Fred Staples (Van Heflin) moves with his wife (Beatrice Straight) to New York for an important position. Fred will be working with veteran Bill Briggs (Ed Begley of Odds Against Tomorrow) but doesn't know that Ramsey intends for Fred to be Briggs' replacement. Ramsey is doing his best to get Briggs to quit, yelling at him and humiliating him, but Briggs is determined to stick it out. Ramsey gives all the credit for a joint report to Fred even though many of the ideas were Briggs', leading to a tense boardroom confrontation that may lead to tragedy. Will Fred stay working for Ramsey, a man he admits he hates ...
In the boardroom |
Verdict: The human factor vs. logistics. Good show! ***1/2.
A young woman (Moira Redmond) makes the mistake of telling her unseen lover that she is two months pregnant, and perhaps now would be a good time for him to break from his wife. Unfortunately, this gent has a different idea on his mind. Some time later part of the lady's corpse is found in the garage of a rented house. Detective Fellows (Jack Warner of Dear Murderer) and Detective Wilks (Ronald Lewis) are part of a team assigned to not only find out who killed the woman but who she was. Doing dogged police work (although it seems to take forever for them to bring in someone to work with an identikit) leads to mistaken identities and bum steers. Finally they discover the killer has been hiding in plain sight for quite some time.
Jigsaw is a very absorbing British police procedural with Warner playing an amiable, highly professional detective. Lewis is also good, but he's always more interesting as a bad guy, such as in Stop Me Before I Kill! Yolande Donlan -- who was married to director Val Guest -- really makes an impression as another woman who dallies with the killer, and there's notable work from Redmond, Michael Goodliffe [The Gorgon], John Barron, John Le Mesurier [Jack the Ripper] and others. This is not another British copy of Psycho and focuses much more on the solving of the crime than it does on the crime itself. Guest also directed The Day the Earth Caught Fire.
Verdict: Suspenseful British mystery. ***.
German-born Sandra (Sandra Huller) lives in a Chalet in France with her husband, Samuel (Samuel Theis), and their son, Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner). Sandra is a successful novelist while her husband is a teacher who seems unable to complete his own book. One day Samuel is found lying dead in the snow outside the chalet -- but did he fall, jump, or was he pushed? Eventually Sandra, who has had one-night stands with other women and had a big, tape-recorded fight with Sam not long before his death, is arrested for murder. Her lawyer, Vincent (Swann Arlaud), and his associates, do their best to convince a jury that Samuel, depressed at being a failure at forty, committed suicide. Meanwhile young Daniel struggles with his own conflicted feelings.
Samuel Theis and Sandra Huller |
The film received Oscar nominations for best film, best actress, best director and best editing, but won only for best screenplay. In French and English.
All in all, Anatomy of a Fall is not necessarily a waste of time -- it should hold your attention -- but you'll probably never want to see it again. **3/4.
Rita Hayworth and John Wayne |
Wayne with John Smith |
Claudia Cardinale with Wayne |
Angel Aranda and Barry Sullivan |
Two spaceships, the Argos and the Galleon, led respectively by Mark (Barry Sullivan of Pyro) and his brother, Toby (Alberto Cevenini), respond to a distress signal from an isolated planet. When the Argos lands, the crew members inexplicably begin attacking each other, and the crew of the Galleon, which already landed, are eventually found dead. Regaining control of their minds, Mark, crewmembers Wes (Angel Aranda), Sonya (Norma Bengell), Tiona ((Evi Marandi), and others, are baffled and terrified when some of the dead appear to them, seemingly alive. Something on this planet is a decided enemy of theirs ...
Trapped with the giant alien skeleton |
the crew of the Argos |
Angel Aranda |
Verdict: Very interesting sixties science fiction. ***.
Roy Rogers |
Roy Rogers (Roy Rogers) has been traveling far from home in Cheyenne, Wyoming when he returns after ten years to renew old acquaintances with the likes of surrogate father Gabby Whittaker (Gabby Hayes). his daughter Sally (Sally Payne), and old crush Judy Evans (Gale Storm). He learns that some mysterious rustlers have been causing problems, and he is asked by a Cattlemen's Association to investigate as he won't be seen as a suspicious stranger. Meanwhile Roy meets up with fellow rancher Marian Hardy (Lynne Carver of Everybody Sing), who is keeping secrets, and Gabby's foreman Bob (Bob Nolan), who seems to have a hankering for Judy.
Polite dislike: Gale Storm; Lynne Carver |
Verdict: Okay time-passer with good-looking' Roy. **1/4.
Father Fermoyle (Tom Tryon) faces the KKK |
At his birth it was decided that Stephen Fermoyle (Tom Tryon of The Unholy Wife) would become a priest, and he never questioned it. Seen as being too ambitious by Bishop Glennon (John Huston), Fermoyle is sent to one of the poorest parishes in the nation, where he works with the dying Father Halley (Burgess Meredith). Not certain that he wants -- or ever wanted -- to be a priest, he takes a leave of absence and falls in love with the Austrian woman Annemarie (Romy Schneider) and vice versa, but his faith is reignited and he remains in the priesthood. As he advances at the Vatican due to the patronage of Cardinal Quarenghi (Raf Vallone), he jeopardizes his career by helping a black priest, Father Gillis (Ossie Davis), in Georgia and comes afoul of whip-wielding members of the Ku Klux Klan. Later he goes to Vienna to consult with Cardinal Innitzer (Joseph Meinrad), who has capitulated to the Nazis but is betrayed by them. He manages to escape an attack on Innitzer's quarters and with most of his family present is made a cardinal.
Raf Vallone with Tom Tryon |
Joseph Meinrad with Tryon |
Brothers: Tom Tryon with Bill Hayes |
Whatever its flaws, The Cardinal boasts a beautiful, expressive score by Jerome Moross [The Big Country] and superb cinematography courtesy of Leon Shamroy [The Robe] .
Verdict: I am not remotely Catholic but I enjoyed this movie -- the religiosity never quite becomes overbearing, it is great to look at, and much more interesting than you might imagine, with a great cast. ***.
Diana Dors and Victor Mature |
Patrick Allen with Mature |
Verdict: Absorbing, well-acted British crime thriller. ***.
Giancarlo Giannini in his screen debut |
As a young boy, Christian came across a mirrored room where his father brutalized and murdered women. Now an adult, Christian (Giancarlo Giannini of Black Belly of the Tarantula) returns to his father's beautiful mansion after the man's death with his wife, Helene (Dominique Boschero), estate trustee Paul (Luciano Pigozzi), and Paul's dizzy blond wife, Brigitte (Mara Maryl). Christian has three months before he will come into complete control of his father's assets, but for now Paul is in charge. Christian is terribly afraid that he has inherited his father's malevolent tendencies, or that one or more of the others are conspiring against him. He also is afraid that his father may still be alive ...
Dominique Boschero and Mara Maryl |
Verdict: Any movie that begins with a quote from Sigmund Freud can't be all bad -- or that good! **1/4.
Sharon Farrell and James Garner |
Garner with Hunnicutt |
Paging Rockford |
Kim Novak and Jack Lemmon |
Jack Lemmon and Fred Astaire |
Desi Arnaz, James Mason, Lucille Ball |
Lorenzo or Larry Vega (Desi Arnaz), a chemist working on a new bug killer, is married to Susan (Lucille Ball), who is much influenced by her snobbish cousin, Millie (Natalie Schafer of Female on the Beach), whom Larry can't stand. Larry also feels that he and his wife are drifting apart after several years of marriage. He is hoping to rekindle things by taking her with him on a work-related trip, an idea that doesn't sit well with Susan. Then who should appear in her bedroom one night but James Mason (James Mason), who is actually Susan's guardian angel wearing the face of someone she admires. "James" gives Susan some sage advice, and convinces her to go off on a short trip with Larry so he can test his new insecticide, but things may not go exactly as planned ...
Arnaz and Lucy |
Forever Darling, alas, is not as good as the other film the Desi-Lucy combo did, the very funny The Long, Long Trailer, but it has its moments. What starts out almost as a somewhat sophisticated drawing room comedy turns into an episode of I Love Lucy as the couple have misadventures while camping, with their plastic boat springing a leak and so forth. It was probably decided that that was what the couple's fans wanted, but it makes the flick a bit lopsided. Nothing much really happens with the whole "guardian angel" idea, making the movie -- but for the delightful performances and a few laughs -- almost seem pointless. Still, it's Lucy! The theme song by composer Bronislau Kaper is pleasant, sung by the Ames brothers over the credits and by Desi late in the picture. He also sang the tune on an episode of Lucy. Marilyn Maxwell appears in a move-within-a-movie sequence with Mason.
Verdict: Has a certain degree of charm and amusing performances, but the script -- an old one dusted off for Lucy and Desi -- could have used some work. **3/4.
Bank teller and medical student Monte Hale (Monte Hale) is in the bank when it's robbed, and becomes the chief suspect not only in the robbery but the murder of the bank president. One of the real perpetrators is Jeff Collins (John Alvin of This Side of the Law), who happens to be the brother of Monte's fiancee Julia Collins (Lorna Gray of Daughter of Don Q). In a foolish attempt to protect the woman he loves from the truth, Monte runs off and then encounters a group in a runaway wagon, whom he rescues. These men turn out to be members of the Riders of the Purple Sage singing group (actually the Foy Willing band), who sign him up without even hearing him sing. Hotel and saloon owner Lucky (Paul Hurst) hires the band, and proves generally helpful to Monte and Julia after she is shot during a stage coach robbery perpetrated by the Marlowe gang. After cutting a bullet out of Julia, Monte is forced to do the same thing for Marlowe (William Haade), the head of the gang, who takes a liking to him. For his part, Monte manages to convince Marlowe that he's really on his side. But will Monte be able to pull off this deception? And what will happen when Julia learns the truth about her miserable polecat of a brother?
Monte Hale |
Verdict: Well-turned-out western musical fare with an appealingly gauche Hale in the lead. **3/4.