THAT BRENNAN GIRL

Mona Freeman

THAT BRENNAN GIRL (1946). Produced and directed by Alfred Santell.

"Who you calling as cold as an igloo? You're not exactly a heatwave yourself!"

Ziggy (Mona Freeman of Angel Face) is an attractive if somewhat hard-boiled young woman  whose mother, Natalie (June Duprez), pretends to be her older sister. Ziggy gets in with a con artist named Denny (James Dunn of It's a Great Life) who has her working for him, but falls for a handsome sailor, Martin (William Marshall of Belle of the Yukon), whom she marries. Martin's wartime death leaves Ziggy with a baby girl and little life of her own, while Denny goes off to jail. Will these two highly imperfect individuals find their way back to each other, and will Ziggy get to keep her baby? 

Freeman with William Marshall

That Brennan Girl is an interesting study of two not entirely admirable or even likable people who turn out to have qualities that ultimately redeem them. Freeman gives a strong lead performance, and she gets excellent support from the pleasant and competent Dunn -- who makes his character more palatable than he could have been -- and a very charming and adept Marshall. June Duprez makes her mark as the mother who set her daughter on the wrong course right from the start, and Dorothy Vaughan is lovely as Denny's very loving Irish mother. Duprez, who reminds one a bit of Linda Darnell, was in everything from The Thief of Bagdad  to the serial Don Winslow of the Coast Guard and had many other credits as well. Watch for the cute sequence when a little baby boy slowly climbs backwards down the staircase!

Verdict: An oddball romance with very good performances. ***. 

THE NIGHT DIGGER

Patricia Neal and Nicholas Clay

THE NIGHT DIGGER (1971). Director: Alastair Reid. Screenplay by Roald Dahl, from the novel "Nest in a Falling Tree" by Joy Cowley.  

Maura Prince (Patricia Neal of The Hasty Heart) lives with her blind and difficult adoptive mother, Edith (Pamela Brown of Personal Affair), in a rambling mansion in England. Maura also works with stroke patients part-time at the hospital, and the doctor, Ronnie (Sebastian Breaks), wishes she would work full-time and hire a companion for her mother. Both mother and daughter do wind up with a companion when a young man named Billy (Nicholas Clay of Evil Under the Sun), shows up wanting room and board in exchange for gardening and fixing up the house. Maura is opposed to the idea but the contrary Edith agrees to take him in. As time proceeds Maura comes to care deeply for Billy, but she has no idea of what he's getting up to in the nighttime. It all comes to a head when Edith, after an accident, insists that Billy leave, and Maura comes to a fateful decision. 

Nicholas Clay

The Night Digger is the rare suspense-thriller -- if that's what you can call it -- that presents three-dimensional characters with back stories and idiosyncrasies (of course Billy's character takes it a step farther). The movie eventually turns into a dark and twisted romance between a lonely woman who looks years older than her age, and a young man whose psychological problems are far worse than she could ever imagine. The film is bolstered by three excellent lead performances -- as well as a sharp turn from Jean Anderson as friend and neighbor, Millicent, among others --  and moody cinematography from Alex Thomson. Bernard Herrmann's score is a bit problematic, as apparently the film was cut after completion and some of the score was inadvertently jettisoned. What we're left with sounds like snippets from previous Herrmann movies. A bit of politically-incorrect humor -- by today's standards -- has to do with one character suggesting that the minister's wife (Yootha Joyce), who has more on the ball than he does, should have been born a man, leading to Edith wrongly assuming that she and her husband are both going to have sex-change operations. Roald Dahl and Neal were still married when this film was made.

Verdict: Unusual dark if strangely poetic psychological study with great performances. ***.   

DELIGHTFULLY DANGEROUS

DELIGHTFULLY DANGEROUS (1945). Director: Arthur Lubin. 

15-year-old Sherry Williams (16-year-old Jane Powell) lives in a girls' school that is paid for by her sister, Josephine (Constance Moore of Buck Rogers), a big Broadway musical comedy star -- or so Sherry thinks; Josephine is actually a burlesque queen known as "Bubbles" Barton. Things come to a head when Broadway producer Arthur Hale (Ralph Bellamy) comes to the school and is impressed with Sherry's talent, but not with her youth. As for her sister, he just can't see putting a burlesque star in one of his "classy" shows. But this being Hollywood, chances are good that one or both ladies will wind up starring in a Broadway show. 

Ralph Bellamy and Jane Powell

Delightfully Dangerous features some excellent performances, with a very young Powell on top of things even at that early stage of her career (this was only her second film). Constance Moore has such style and class that one can't imagine anyone objecting to putting her on Broadway. Ralph Bellamy is Ralph Bellamy, his lack of sex appeal stripping the film of any sexual tension. Arthur Treacher and Louise Beavers are fun as Bellamy's butler and Moore's maid, dresser, and confidante. Ruth Tobey is cute as Sherry's best friend, Molly, and Shirley Hunter makes her mark as a bitchy classmate named Nadine. Christian Drake is appealing as Jimmy Burns, a young sailor and friend of Hale's who is attracted to Sherry when she's all dolled up and looks older than her years. 

It's interesting that at one point Josephine does a parody of the high-pitched soprano style of singing when that's just the sort of thing Powell specialized in. The show that Hale finally puts on is a combo of the old and new, with Straussian melodies interspersed with jive. While some of the production numbers are just plain weird and even a bit dull, the finale is colorful and features some excellent dancing. By far the best number features "Bubbles" on the stage at the burlesque house, doing a sharp, fun and sexy rendition of "I'm Only Teasing." There are some plot similarities to Doll Face which also came out that year.   

Verdict: Another typically unreal but somewhat entertaining Hollywood musical. **1/2. 

BROOKLYN ORCHID

BROOKLYN ORCHID (1942). Director: Kurt Neumann.

Tim McGuerin (William Bendix) and Eddie Corbett (Joe Sawyer) are partners in a cab company. McGuerin is married to Sadie (Grace Bradley of The Invisible Killer), a former burlesque queen who now acts like she's To the Manor Born. Sadie can't stand Eddie's fiancee, Mabel (Florine McKinney of Beauty for Sale), who always needles her about her past. Ducking out from a party honoring the rather obnoxious pianist, Ignatz Rachkowsky (Leonid Kinskey), the two fellows try out Tim's anniversary gift of a fishing pole, and they net themselves a gal who has just tried to commit suicide. This gal, Lucy (Marjorie Woodworth), is angry that they saved her and insists that they take care of her, going so far as to try to move into the McGuerins' high-tone apartment. Tim and Eddie do their best to keep their respective ladies from finding out about Lucy, but she follows them on vacation, where she is pursued by an amorous wealthy man named Goodweek (Skeets Gallagher of The Meanest Gal in Town). Then Lucy runs into Sadie and Mabel and they all compare notes ... 

Brooklyn Orchid -- the title refers to a flower girl contest won by Lucy -- is the second of three comedies featuring Bendix and Sawyer as McGuerin and Corbett. (Brooklyn Orchid is wrongly listed as the first in some sources). The players are all game and adept at this kind of farce -- Kinskey is a riot and Jack Norton (of Fashion Model)  nearly steals the show as an inebriated music critic -- and there are a few laugh-out-loud moments, but the ultimate result is like a TV sitcom that treads overly familiar territory. As good as they are, Bendix and Sawyer are no Laurel and Hardy. 

Verdict: Some limited fun in this amiable comedy. **1/2. 

MURDER IN THE MUSIC HALL

William Marshall and Vera (Hruba) Ralston

MURDER IN THE MUSIC HALL (1946). Director: John English.

Lila Leighton (Vera Ralston) is a figure skater who appears in an ice show on the stage of a music hall. She is contacted by Carl Lang (Edward Norris), who spent five years in the penitentiary for killing a man named Douglas. Now Carl tells Lila that he was only covering for her, that he knows she killed Douglas out of jealousy. Lila is still digesting this absurd accusation when Carl himself is murdered, literally stabbed in the back in his penthouse. With the aid of her boyfriend, handsome conductor Don Jordan (William Marshall), Lila tries to ferret out who killed Carl before she herself is accused of the crime by Inspector Wilson (William Gargan). The suspects include Lila's fellow performers -- Millicent (Helen Walker of Nightmare Alley), Diane (Julie Bishop of Why Men Leave Home), and Gracie (Ann Rutherford) -- as well as Rita Morgan (Nancy Kelley of The Bad Seed), the wife of gossip columnist George Morgan (Jerome Cowan). 

Suspects: Helen Walker, Ann Rutherford, Julie Bishop

Murder in the Music Hall is a well-turned-out mystery from Republic studios starring the wife, Ralston, of the studio head. The plot has interesting aspects, especially concerning a certain blind stranger, although the true identity of this person is obvious from the first. The identity of the murderer, however, is by no means certain but won't come as that much of a surprise, either. Never a particularly great actress, Ralston generally manages to be appealing, as she is in this. Marshall, Norris, Gargan and the ladies are all adept. There are some skillful real-life figure skaters who put on brief acts as well. James Craven, Jack La Rue and Anne Nagle are also in the cast in small roles. Director John English also helmed a number of serials.

Verdict: Acceptable Republic murder mystery with an interesting cast. **1/2. 

BRIEF ENCOUNTER -- Another Viewing

Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard

BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945). Director: David Lean. Produced and written by Noel Coward from his play. 

"So easy to lie when you're trusted implicitly. So easy -- and so degrading."

"Thank you for coming back to me."

Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) is happily married to husband Fred (Cyril Raymond), with whom she has two children. One afternoon at a train station a helpful doctor -- also married with children -- Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) gets something out of her eye for her. They meet again quite accidentally, but sparks strike, and romantic feelings develop. Although the relationship remains emotional and never becomes sexual -- although it almost does -- both Laura and Alec are convinced they are in love. But the guilt they are feeling over their respective spouses almost ruins whatever happiness the relationship is giving them. Finally a choice has to be made. But will Laura be able to accept it?

Johnson and Howard

Brief Encounter is no cheap soap opera but a brilliant examination of a difficult situation that is all too common now as it was back then. Laura and Alec are decent people who do love their spouses, but who can't help but react to a sudden and intense romantic infatuation that seems to come out of nowhere and is nearly overpowering. (Is it really true love? Possibly not.) The movie neither accepts nor judges, but merely presents this situation and its joys and agonies primarily from Laura's point of view. This is not about the heartbreak of the spouses because they don't know what's happening. This is one movie in which the narration is not intrusive but only adds to our understanding. What makes Brief Encounter a masterpiece is not only the sensitive direction, the superb performances from Johnson and Howard and indeed the entire cast, but Robert Krasker's first-rate cinematography. It doesn't hurt that everything is soaked in the strains of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. 

Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey

The humor in the film comes from the antics of station master Stanley Holloway and the lady who runs the food and drink counter, Myrtle (Joyce Carey). Holloway does his best to charm the lady, who is rather common but tries her damnedest not to appear that way. There is also fine work from Everley Gregg as Dolly, the chatty and annoying woman who ruins Laura's last moments with her lover, and Valentine Dyall has a splendid scene with Alec as his friend Stephen, whose flat Alec is using temporarily. "I'm not angry," Stephen tells Alec when he realizes a woman ran out of the flat just before he entered, "just disappointed." One of the film's most trenchant observations is when Laura realizes that even if she were to only tell Fred about Alec decades later when they were both old and gray, it would still hurt him horribly. The movie has a lovely and moving conclusion. 

Verdict: Truly another great movie that just seems to get better and better each time you see it. ****. 

THE ADVENTURES OF FRANK MERRIWELL

Donald Briggs as Frank Merriwell

THE ADVENTURES OF FRANK MERRIWELL (12-chapter Universal serial/1936). Directors: Clifford Smith; Lew Landers. Colorized version.

Famed college athlete Frank Merriwell (Donald Briggs) is beloved by most of his classmates aside from the jealous and bitter House Peters (House Peters Jr.) Merriwell's father has been missing for two years, but Frank learns of a ring that may lead to a treasure. While Frank and his pals ponder this, an evil man named Daggett (Ben Hewlet), who always wears a weird mask, is out to get the treasure for himself. Frank and a whole host of classmates -- and his girlfriend, Elsie (Jean Rogers of Flash Gordon) -- travel by boat in pursuit of clues to the treasure. They eventually find the gold but it is alternately stolen by and taken back from Daggett and his desperadoes. Along the way Frank and his buddies find themselves in mortal danger ... 

Ben Hewlet as Daggett

Frank Merriwell, whose adventures originally took place around the 1890s, was once a very famous fictional character with dozens of stories detailing his exploits. These translate well to the serial medium, and make use of several good cliffhangers: a train smashes into an uncoupled runaway engine; Frank and Elsie are nearly crushed by a towering tree when it crashes downward; Frank is attacked by an escaped lion at the circus etc. The pace of the serial is generally swift, but there are duller detours showing us stage acts, assorted parties, and the unfunny antics of class cut-up, the dufus Harry (Sumner Getchell). 

John King and Jean Rogers

There is some strange casting in the serial. As mentioned the character of House Peters is played by House Peters, Jr., the son of silent film star House Peters. Other classmates of Merriwell's are also played by the sons of (at the time) well-known actors, including Wallace Reid Jr. and Edward Arnold Jr. However, Frank's best buddy, Bruce, is played by John "Dusty" King, who displays an excellent baritone singing voice and later went on to play the lead in the serial Ace Drummond. Adventures of Frank Merriwell, even when colorized, remains a bit creaky and forgettable, despite a couple of decent moments. The villain in this is utterly colorless. 

Verdict: You may be wishing this was over long before it's over! **1/4. 

TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD

Roy sings to dog Bullet

TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD (1950). Director: William Witney. Filmed in TruColor.

Retired actor Jack Holt, playing himself, hopes to sell a batch of Christmas trees at cost so all the little children can have one. Businessman Aldredge (Emory Parnell) sees this as a good way for him to lose money, so his daughter Toby (Penny Edwards of That Hagen Girl) goes out west to see what she can do. She can't convince Holt to change his methods, and comes into conflict with Roy Rogers (Roy Rogers), who heads the Soil Conservation Service. When Jack is injured in a bad fire, little Sis McGonigle (Carol Nugent of Vice Raid) rounds up a bevy of cowboy stars to bring the Xmas trees to market even though the bridge out of town has been set on fire!

Rex Allen yells at Sis to move her ass -- sort of

Republic studios would occasionally bring together many of its western stars in one movie but fans must have been greatly disappointed -- as I was -- to see how little screen time they get in this, which is, after all, a Roy Rogers and Trigger picture. Monte Hale doesn't even get a close up, although Rex Allen and Allan "Rocky" Lane have a little more to do (but not much). Lesser lights such as Tom Tyler, Crash Corrigan, Tom Keene, and Kermit Maynard at least get a little dialogue. Rex yells at Sis to go ahead and plough over the bridge even though it's on fire and collapses just a second later -- good idea, Rex! 

Jack Holt

Jack Holt appeared in only two more movies and died the year after Trail was released. He had started out in silent films in 1914 and amassed nearly 200 credits, including the serial Holt of the Secret Service. George Chesbro, who was a bad guy in many of Holt's movies, also appears in Trail. The title of this flick makes no sense as there's no Robin Hood, and it's stretching things a bit to suggest that Holt is like Robin Hood in his giving his Christmas trees to the poor. The dog Bullet also appears in the movie, and there's a talented turkey named Galahad who is spared the carving knife. Gordon Jones, who played The Green Hornet, is cast as Sis' big brother, and Clifton Young, who began as a child actor in "Our Gang" comedies, makes an impression as the bad guy Mitch McCall. Young was especially notable in Dark Passage with Bogart.

Verdict: Boo! Hiss! Let's see more of Monte Hale! **. 

CLIMAX! -- CASINO ROYALE

Barry Nelson with Michael Pate

CLIMAX! Season One; episode 3. "Casino Royale" by Ian Fleming.  1954. Director: William H. Brown Jr. Colorized. 

Nearly ten years before the film Dr., No, the character of James Bond was unveiled for the viewing public for the first time on an hour-long episode of the anthology series, Climax! Based on Ian Fleming's very first Bond novel, it follows the story rather closely: Bond -- now an American agent with "Combined Intelligence" -- must prevent the Soviet agent, Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre) -- or The Cipher -- from winning a bundle at baccarat as he has amassed huge debts which will hopefully end his effectiveness as an agent. Bullets nearly take out Bond at the very opening, and later he is subjected to torture (although nowhere near as horrific as in the novel) in a bathtub. 

Linda Christian and Peter Lorre

Although not English, Nelson makes a very adept Bond (although it's disconcerting to have him referred to as "Jimmy".) He exudes competence and class in equal measure. Matching him is Linda Christian (of The Happy Time), as French agent Valerie (a variation on the British agent Vesper Lynn). She has to deliver some romantic dialogue during a very difficult moment and comes through with flying colors. Michael Pate also scores as another agent, Clarence (as opposed to Felix) Leiter. The one disappointing cast member is, surprisingly, Peter Lorre, who fails to make Le Chiffre menacing even when he is employing pliers on Bond in a fiendish manner. By this time the actor had become too avuncular -- he simply is too perfunctory and weak as the villain. 

Roth, Lorre, Nelson, Christian

"Casino Royale" was presented LIVE, and there are no slip-ups that I could see throughout the production. Telewriters Antony Ellis and Charles Bennett intelligently adapt the source material, cutting out some of the more gruesome moments (such as a bomb meant for Bond killing two Soviet agents). The novel was an excellent introduction to 007, who is much more dimensional than he ever was in most of the films, and this TV version is quite well-done. The show is hosted by William Lundigan and Gene Roth plays one of Le Chiffre's hoodlums. Linda Christian was married to Tyrone Power for several years; after their divorce she married Edmund Purdom and that union only lasted a year.

Verdict: Very interesting Bond piece is more than just a curio. ***. 

THE MEANEST GAL IN TOWN

Zazu Pitts and El Brendel

THE MEANEST GAL IN TOWN (1934).  Director: Russell Mack. 

Tillie Prescott (Zazu Pitts) owns a small town clothing store and has been keeping company with barber Chris Peterson (El Brendel) for a decade. Chris tells her he won't marry her until he can afford a second barber chair. Tillie decides to splurge on $300 for the chair, but discovers that Chris has installed a sexy lady -- a stranded actress named Lulu (Pert Kelton) -- as his manicurist. Tillie stops speaking to Chris and winds up being taken advantage of by a slick salesman named Jack (Skeets Gallagher). Chris determines to get Tillie's store back for her while Jack and Duke Slater (James Gleason) compete for the favors of Lulu. Will true love win out in the end?

Pert Kelton as Lulu

 The Meanest Gal in Town is a cute picture with good performances and many funny moments. Pert Kelton was the original Alice on The Honeymooners -- first playing the character on Cavalcade of Stars -- and also played Marion the Librarian's mother in The Music Man. Mae West had appeared in two or three films by 1934 and Kelton at times seems to be channeling her (perhaps deliberately), although in general Kelton has her own style. 

Verdict: Amiable comedy with gifted players. ***.