NICE GIRL?

Franchot Tone, Deanna Durbin, Robert Stack

NICE GIRL? (1941). Director: William A. Seiter.

Small-town girl Jane Dana (Deanna Durbin) has a perfectly swell, handsome boyfriend in Don Webb (Robert Stack of The Tarnished Angels), but wanting to appear more sophisticated, she makes a flagrant play for an older man, Richard Calvert (Franchot Tone of Honeymoon), which only makes her seem like an idiot. That's basically the plot of this dull movie that hasn't enough drama or laughs to make it even worth sitting through -- not even Durbin's singing can save it! There are some good actors in it, including Robert Benchley [The Bride Wore Boots] as Jane's father; Helen Broderick as a housekeeper, Cora; and Walter Brennan (almost looking young) as a mailman who has a hankering for Cora. Ann Gillis and Anne Gwynne play Jane's younger sisters, and we've also got Elisabeth Risdon from the Mexican Spitfire movies and Kenneth Howell from the Jones Family series in much smaller roles.

Verdict: This picture is so slight it hardly seems to exist. *1/2.

FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE

The wonderful Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless

FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (12 chapter Universal serial/1940). Directors: Ford Beebe; Ray Taylor.

The third and final Flash Gordon serial has a plague striking earth, leaving purple spots on victims' foreheads. This is caused by Ming (Charles Middleton) the Merciless' "death dust," which Flash (Buster Crabbe)  and his allies, Dale (Carol Hughes) and Zarkov (Frank Shannon), must stop or else. A cure for the death dust is Polarite, which can be found in the frozen kingdom of Frigia on Mongo. Flash has a few allies in the form of Queen Fria (Luli Deste of The Case of the Black Parrot) of Frigia; Prince Barin (Roland Drew of The Invisible Killer) of the medieval kingdom of Arboria; and Ming's daughter, Princess Aura (Shirley Deane). Aura has a handmaiden named Sonja (Anne Gwynne), who is secretly in league with the bad guys -- she and Dale have a "cat fight" in chapter ten. There are some decent cliffhangers, such as Flash falling into a bottomless pit in chapter one; an avalanche in chapter two; and the electrical ray in chapter four. We see more of Mongo's delightful giant lizards, one of whom snacks on a soldier (off-screen) in Ming's army. Crabbe and Shannon could have acted their parts in their sleep by now; Hughes [Meet the Boyfriend] is perhaps not as glamorous as Jean Rogers  but she's spunky enough. Byron Foulger, Roy Barcroft, Tom Steele, and Donald Curtis are also in the cast.

Verdict: Flash Gordon's last gasp, and not a moment too soon. **.

THE BLACK CAT

Gale Sondergaard

THE BLACK CAT (1941). Director: Albert S. Rogell.

In this entertaining comedy-thriller, the relatives of elderly Henrietta Winslow (Cecelia Loftus) are gathered inside the obligatory spooky mansion waiting for her to die and wondering how much they'll each get. Naturally murders and weird goings-on ensue. The Black Cat certainly has an unusual collection of actors: everyone from Bela Lugosi (as a groundskeeper) to Broderick Crawford to Alan Ladd to Gale Sondergaard [who at least you expect to see in stuff like this] and even Gladys Cooper [whom you don't]. Sondergaard is very amusing as the sinister housekeeper, Abigail, and Gladys Cooper practically steals the picture in her turn as Myrna -- her husband is played by no less than Basil Rathbone, and he, too, is excellent. Anne Gwynne, Claire Dodd, and John Eldredge also have roles and Hugh Herbert is comic relief -- or something. Some may find this a little too humorous to sustain any kind of real atmosphere but it's fun and has an exciting climax.

Verdict: Any picture with this cast can't be all bad. ***.

DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME

DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME (1947). Director: John Rawlins. 

The fourth and last of RKO's Dick Tracy features again stars Ralph Byrd -- who is terrific in the part -- as the intrepid detective, this time involved with a gang who use a paralyzing gas to sort of freeze people so that they can walk into banks unobserved and rob them with little effort. The picture is greatly abetted by the presence of Boris Karloff as the killer -- smarter than the usual one, however -- known as Gruesome. A character named X-Ray (Skelton Knaggs) takes one look at Gruesome and says "he certainly is," even though he's even less attractive. A clever bit has Karloff appearing to be dead and waking up in the morgue to smoke a cigarette as an unsuspecting cop goes about his business. Anne Gwynne is perky as Tess Trueheart, if not as sexy as Anne Jeffreys. Cadaverous Milton Parsons is on hand as the frightened Dr. A. Tomic, who's afraid someone is out to kill him. June Clayworth is his assistant I. (Ida) Learned. Byrd saunters through this stuff without ever losing his dignity. These features, while entertaining enough, were never as much fun as the Dick Tracy serials that also starred Byrd. Others in this series were Dick Tracy, Dick Tracy vs. Cueball and Dick Tracy's Dilemma. 

Verdict: No classic, but don't give it the Byrd. **1/2.

HONEYMOON DEFERRED

HONEYMOON DEFERRED (1940). Director: Lew Landers.

Private eye Adam Farradene (Edmund Lowe) has just gotten married to Janet (Margaret Lindsay) when an old girlfriend, Eve (Julie Stevens), calls him away because her boyfriend has been murdered and she needs his help. Janet isn't thrilled when Adam's secretary Kitty (Joyce Compton) covers him with kisses at the reception (photo), but his running off at the start of their honeymoon is really too much! Lowe handles this light-weight material with his usual verve and charm, but the killer is revealed halfway through the picture, stripping the film of most of its suspense. Chick Chandler is Adam's buddy, "Hap," and Anne Gwynne certainly makes an impression as the strange Cecile. But the picture is almost completely stolen by the wonderful Elisabeth Risdon as Sarah, a long-time friend of Farradene's. Risdon was also Lupe Velez' disapproving mother-in-law in all those Mexican Spitfire movies.

Verdict: Has its moments -- but you can see why this was forgotten. **.

WEIRD WOMAN

WEIRD WOMAN (1944). Director: Reginald LeBorg.

Undoubtedly the best "Inner Sanctum" feature, this is the first film version of Frtiz Leiber's novel "Conjure Wife." Lon Chaney Jr. is a college professor who marries Paula (Anne Gwynne), much to the consternation of gal pal Ilona (Evelyn Ankers, in one of her best roles). When Chaney has one bit of good fortune after another, he discovers his wife is using witchcraft to ward off his enemies' influences. A disgusted Chaney destroys all of Paula's magic talismans -- and boy does his luck begin to change for the worse. This study of small town college jealousies and romantic rivalries with a supernatural twist is compelling and creepy, with good performances and a suspenseful climax. Chaney isn't bad (although his whispered utterances are as annoying as ever and he's not very credible as a romantic figure), and in addition to the above-named performances there is solid work from Elisabeth Risdon as the blunt Dean of Women, Ralph Morgan as a professor, Elizabeth Russell as his ambitious wife, Lois Collier as an amorous student, and Phil Brown as her jealous boyfriend. This was remade as Burn, Witch, Burn and again as a comic version, Witches' Brew.

Verdict: Quite good little B movie. ***.