DETOUR

Companions in nightmare: Ann Savage and Tom Neal

DETOUR (1945). Director: Edgar G. Ulmer.

Al Roberts (Tom Neal) is a talented pianist with Carnegie Hall aspirations who instead tickles the ivories in a cheap nightclub. His girlfriend, Sue (Claudia Drake), sings at the same club and is sick of her life and the way they are both going nowhere. Sue decides to postpone her marriage to Al and move to California, and a heartsick Al makes up his mind to follow her there by hitchhiking. Unfortunately, Al's life takes a sharp turn for the worse when he encounters two people on the highway: Charles Haskell Jr. (Edmund MacDonald of The Mysterious Mr. M), who offers him a lift but carries a lot of secrets; and Vera (Ann Savage), another hitchhiker who proves more than a match for any man. When Al first meets Vera he thinks she has "a beauty that's almost homely because it's so real." Vera wants to get the basically decent Al involved in a crooked scheme and blackmails him, and he can't see any way out ... Detour is a fascinating bit of low-budget film noir that moves swiftly and features two terrific lead performances (as well as an adept if small supporting cast). Neal is intense and anguished, a poor slob who only wants his gal and a decent life and doesn't know how to extricate himself from a difficult situation. Savage is so hard-boiled that she borders on caricature, but her performance is skillful and vicious, full of nuance, and works every step of the way, whether she's literally spitting out an insult at Al or purring at him in a way she imagines is sexy. Leo Ordody's score makes good use of the songs "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" (from Chopin) -- which is especially appropriate -- and "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me." Detour is well-directed by Ulmer, who makes the most of a limited PRC budget, The film is almost constantly narrated by the hero, but somehow it is not that intrusive. Martin Goldsmith's screenplay is full of good dialogue and interesting observations. I doubt if either Neal [Bruce Gentry] or Savage [Apology for Murder] ever had another part as good.

Verdict: PRC's finest hour? ***.

APOLOGY FOR MURDER

Hugh Beaumont and Ann Savage

APOLOGY FOR MURDER (1945). Director: Sam Newfield.

Toni Kirkland (Ann Savage of Pygmy Island) is married to a much older and wealthy man (Russell Hicks), who has given her no grounds for divorce. Toni wants the money, but she doesn't want him. When reporter Kenny Blake (Hugh Beaumont) shows up to interview Mr. Kirkland, he and Toni are immediately attracted, but Kenny thinks Toni is the old man's daughter. By the time he learns the truth, he's hopelessly smitten, and agrees to help her carry out a plan to murder her husband on an isolated highway. Apology for Murder is a blatant rip-off of both Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, and it's not what you could call unpredictable, but the leads are interesting and offer solid performances. Poor Pierre Watkin is cast in another thankless role as a friend of Kirkland's, and he's just as mediocre as ever. Charles D. Brown is marginally better as Kenny's editor, and Norman Willis makes a minor impression as Toni's amorous lawyer, Allen Webb.

Verdict: I'm sure Billy Wilder lost no sleep over this. **.

PYGMY ISLAND

Billy Barty and Johnny Weissmuller

PYGMY ISLAND (1950). Director: William Berke.

Army Captain Kingsley (Ann Savage of Dangerous Blondes) disappears when she leads an expedition into territory where she hopes to find a certain plant. This plant has unusual properties and will provide "strategic war materials." Major Bolton (David Bruce of Lady on a Train) arrives in Africa to search for Kingsley and confers with the famous Jungle Jim (Johnny Weismuller), who tells him that this plant grows primarily in pygmy territory. Some nasty foreigners led by Leon Marko (Steven Geray)  and his confederate Novak (Tristram Coffin) try to exploit the pygmies, who are led by Makuba (Billy Curtis). Billy Barty [The Day of the Locust] plays the likable pygmy, Kimba; in fact all of the pygmies seem to be played by Caucasian little people. Elephants go on a mini-stampede at one point, crushing a jeep and a truck, and Jungle Jim has an exciting battle with a crazed gorilla that tries to throw him off of a rope bridge into a watery chasm; the picture's best scene. Tamba the chimp gets in on the action as well. While this looks like an ultra-cheap Monogram production, the early Jungle Jim features were released by Columbia.

Verdict: Kind of dull for the most part. **.

AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH BOSTON BLACKIE

Al Hill (?) and Chester Morris

AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH BOSTON BLACKIE (1943). Director: Lew Landers.

"Diamond" Ed Barnaby (Walter Baldwin) gets out a jail and reunites with his grown daughter, Betty (Ann Savage of What a Woman), and tells her he has some diamonds set aside for her future. He tries to leave town for his own protection but is murdered before he can do so. Betty comes to Ed's old friend Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) for help, which he is eager to provide. Boston tries to find the diamonds, discover who murdered Ed, protect his daughter, and stay out of the way of Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) and his associate Mathews (Walter Sande), who still think Boston is some kind of hoodlum despite many evidences to the contrary. Cy Kendall is competent but typically uninteresting as an obese crime lord. Dick Elliott [Up in the Air] and Lloyd Corrigan are also in the cast. A sub-plot has Boston's pal, the Runt (George E. Stone) engaged to a bubble dancer, Dixie Rose Blossom (Jan Buckingham), whose wedding keeps being interrupted.

Verdict: A standard, mildly entertaining BB adventure. **1/2 out of 4.

DANGEROUS BLONDES

Jane gives Miss Ralston a wolf whistle

DANGEROUS BLONDES (1943). Director: Leigh Jason.

Former actress Jane Craig (Evelyn Keyes) is married to popular mystery writer Barry Craig (Allyn Joslyn). Jane's friend Julie (Anita Louise) comes to her with a tale of someone trying to chloroform her in a dark room at the studio where she works, and news of a murder plot during the filming of a commercial later in the evening. Before long Jane and Barry are embroiled in two mysterious killings, which Inspector Clinton (Frank Craven) thinks he has the solution for. Of course it remains for Barry to really explain who the killer is ... Dangerous Blondes is snappy and amusing, if minor, and didn't result in a series about the Craigs, although Keyes and Joslyn are fine in the parts. Others in the cast include Edmund Lowe [Hot Pepper] as an advertising man, William Demarest as a cop, and Ann Savage as Erika McCormick. John Abbott [Deception] makes an impression as the nervous secretary Roland X. Smith, as does Hobart Cavanaugh as Philpot, the elevator attendant. Minerva Urecal appears as a housekeeper and is, as they say, swell. Craven is typically excellent. An interesting scene has Jane giving pretty model Miss Ralston (Lynn Merrick) a wolf whistle.  Leigh Jason also directed Lost Honeymoon.

Verdict: Nothing special but easy to take with quite a few funny moments. **1/2.