THE PAJAMA GAME

John Raitt and Doris Day

THE PAJAMA GAME (1957). Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen. 

Sid Sorokin (John  Raitt) gets a job in management at a pajama factory and almost immediately comes into romantic conflict with worker and union member Babe Williams (Doris Day). Although the two are clearly attracted to one another, Babe is sure that there will eventually be problems over their taking opposite sides in a struggle over a raise of seven and a half cents. Meanwhile Gladys (Carol Haney), who keeps the books, is exasperated by her boyfriend Vernon's (Eddie Foy Jr. of The Case of the Black Parrot) almost pathological jealousy. When the workers decide to have a slow-down on the job, things come to a head.  

Picture This: Foy and Shaw trip the Light Fantastic

The Pajama Game is based on the Broadway show with songs by Adler and Ross and choreography by Bob Fosse, which is transplanted to the screen along with much of the cast, such as Raitt. Doris Day replaced Janis Paige, but she is quite good, and handsome Raitt is so good -- and has such an outstanding voice -- that it's a wonder he didn't have more film assignments. Haney and Foy are also excellent, as is Reta Shaw, who does a delightful light-on-her-feet number with Foy ("Picture This"). Other musical highlights include Raitt singing the show's most memorable number, "Hey There;" the big production number at the picnic ("Once a Year Day"); and the smoky, insinuating "Hernando's Hideaway." Another well-known number from the show is "Steam Heat," which I confess I've never much cared for. 

John Raitt 

Thelma Pelish makes an impression as Mae, the economy-sized factory worker and wit who certainly stands out in (very) widescreen. Barbara Nichols [Woman Obsessed] as dumb Poopsie is her typical whiny self and even attempts to sing at times. The worst performance is from Ralph Dunn (of The Golden Eye) as boss Myron Hasler, who instead of  being amusing is merely loud and obnoxious, ruining virtually every scene that he's in. It also has to be noted that the secondary love story between Gladys and Vernon has its tiresome moments, especially the nonsense with the latter throwing knives at everyone in the office. Otherwise, Pajama Game is a likable, entertaining, if relatively slight musical comedy with several good scenes and songs. 

Verdict: Fun and tuneful musical with a spirited Day and a rather sexy Raitt. ***. 

THE SCARFACE MOB

Eliot Ness and his Untouchables

THE SCARFACE MOB (1959). Director: Phil Karlson. 

With bootlegging gangsters like Al Capone (Neville Brand of Eaten Alive) -- nicknamed Scarface -- taking over Chicago, it is decided that Federal agent Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) will put together a special squad of incorruptible operatives soon to be known as the "Untouchables" because they cannot be bribed. One of the squad members is Joe Fuselli (Kennan Wynn of The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown), who served time for armed robbery but is anxious to make amends. Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) runs operations while Capote is temporarily in jail. George Ritchie (Joe Mantell), wants to impress his flirtatious wife, stripper Brandy (Barbara Nichols) -- whose uncle is a bookkeeper for Capone -- by volunteering to get info for Ness. Meanwhile the Feds set out smashing breweries, and more than one "untouchable" may come to a bad end. Ness also finds that his fiancee, Betty (Pat Crowley of There's Always Tomorrow), is in danger from the mob. 

Ness vs. Nitti: Stack with Bruce Gordon

Released in theaters, The Scarface Mob was actually the pilot for the TV show The Untouchables, originally shown in two parts on Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse and introduced by both Desi Arnaz and Walter Winchell, who provided snappy narration for the series. As a stand-alone movie, The Scarface Mob is a good if minor crime drama. Stack makes the perfect Ness, and the normally stoic actor even sheds tears when one of his operatives is killed. Pat Crowley is excellent as his fiancee turned wife, who marries Ness as much for protection as out of love (I don't believe Ness' wife was ever seen again on the TV series, although he called her on the phone frequently.) Brand, Gordon, Mantell, Wynn, and Nichols are all on target as well. Bill Williams also plays one of the Untouchables and is fine. 

Prohibition was undoubtedly one of the worst ideas in American politics. It only led to gangsters taking over the now-illegal alcohol industry and badly increased all manner of crime in Chicago and elsewhere. It was finally repealed due to public demand. 

Verdict: Credible and entertaining mob movie with very good performances. ***. 

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957). Director: Alexander Mackendrick. 

"You're dead, son. Get yourself buried." 

Powerful newspaper columnist J. J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), who seems to have an incestuous yen for his sister, Susan (Susan Harrison), is determined to keep her from marrying a musician (Martin Milner), and importunes press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) to help him break the couple up. This study of loathsome and immoral characters isn't really about show biz or newspapers or even columnists but it seems almost as hollow at its center as its protagonist. Part of the problem is that you never really believe Lancaster as Hunsecker, although by no means does he give a bad performance. Then the secondary love story isn't that convincing or moving. Susan Harrison and Barbara Nichols have some nice moments -- Milner is okay if a bit stiff -- but the picture is positively stolen by a ferocious, charismatic and altogether splendid performance by Tony Curtis. That's the main reason to watch the film. 

Verdict: Curtis' finest hour. **1/2.

HOUSE OF WOMEN

Jason Evers, Margaret Hayes, Andrew  Duggan, Jeanne Cooper

HOUSE OF WOMEN (1962). Director: Walter Doniger.

Obviously having had a very bad lawyer, Erica Hayden (Shirley Knight) winds up in a women's penitentiary even though she was unaware that her boyfriend was going to commit a robbery as she simply waited in the car. Now she's pregnant, and learns that she'll have to give the child up for adoption if she doesn't get paroled in a certain amount of time. Her fellow inmates include Sophie (Constance Ford), who has a little boy -- children are allowed to stay with their mothers in the prison! -- dizzy former stripper Candy (Barbara Nichols); Addie (Jennifer Howard), a stereotypical lesbian; among others, and the staff consists of new warden Frank Cole (Andrew Duggan); tippling Doctor Conrad (Jason Evers); administrator Zoe (Margaret Hayes); and stern guard Helen (Jeanne Cooper). Other characters include Mrs. Hunter (Virginia Gregg), who serves on the parole board; and Mrs. Stevens (Jacqueline Scott), who is a social worker. Complications develop when Cole falls in love with Erica and he cruelly takes revenge upon her, but the real breaking point comes when the stupid Mrs. Stevens takes away Erica's little girl to foster care a day early -- and just before the child's now-canceled birthday party no less! The situations are awfully contrived in this nonetheless entertaining movie that is basically an imitation of Caged. Duggan, Evers [The Brain that Wouldn't Die], Hayes, Gregg, and others are fine, but Knight [The Couch] underplays terribly; Ford is surprisingly perfunctory during some difficult sequences; and Nichols doesn't quite deliver the goods in her big scene when she makes a speech to the parole board. The movie does boast a suspenseful climax when Ford and the others take over the prison! Walter Doniger also directed The Steel Jungle.

Verdict: If nothing else it's fun -- with some good sequences. ***.

LOOKING FOR LOVE

Connie Francis sings and swings!

LOOKING FOR LOVE (1964). Director: Don Weis.

Libby Caruso (Connie Francis) isn't making it as a singer, so she decides she'll become a housewife instead -- all she needs is the right man. She sets her cap for a standoffish fellow named Paul (Jim Hutton), but he's more interested in her invention, a "lady valet." This somehow gets Libby on the Tonight show where she wows everyone with her singing and winds up with a spectacular career. On the verge of going off on a grand tour, Libby has one last chance to get Paul to marry her ... Looking for Love is utterly ridiculous but quite entertaining, bolstered by a fine lead performance by the highly charismatic Francis. Francis proves to be an outstanding singer as well, doing jazz numbers, ballads, and even "Be My Love" with equal aplomb. In spite of this, Francis only did four real movies. Joby Baker plays a friend who is carrying a torch for Libby, and Susan Oliver really scores as her roommate, Jan. The most intriguing cameo is by Joan Marshall (Jean Arliss of Homicidal) who looks gorgeous and is a lot of fun as one of the women interviewed for a spokeswoman job for the Lady Valet. Jay C. Flippen [Carnival Story] is fine as the manufacturer of Libby's invention -- Flippen's wife wrote the screenplay for this --  and there are guest appearances by Danny Thomas and Johnny Carson. Barbara Nichols [The George Raft Story] has a nice bit as another potential spokesperson until she learns that Libby is taking over her spot on the Thomas show. The snappy songs help a lot and Francis is delightful.

Verdict: Amiable nonsense with some great singing. **1/2.

MIRACLE IN THE RAIN

MIRACLE IN THE RAIN (1956). Director: Rudolph Mate.

Ruth Wood (Jane Wyman) lives with her mother (Josephine Hutchinson), and hasn't seen her father (William Gargan), who walked out on the family for another woman, in many years. One day she meets a soldier, Arthur (Van Johnson) on leave, and the two begin dating, but Ruth's mother is wary of all men since her divorce and is afraid her daughter will be hurt. Instead Ruth and Art fall in love, even as Ruth's father, who works in a restaurant the couple dine at, tries to build up his courage to get in touch with the daughter he hasn't spoken to in years. Then Art is called back to service ... While the extreme religiosity of the picture may be a turn-off to many, Miracle in the Rain works quite well as a romance, and boasts excellent performances, especially from a wonderful Wyman. Although the story line has some silly digressions, the movie has interesting elements, including the sub-plot with the father, and the New York City locations are well-served by Russell Metty's crisp cinematography. Franz Waxman turned in a superlative score as well. Barbara Nichols and Alan King play honeymooners in the park; Eileen Heckart scores as Ruth's co-worker and friend; and Fred Clark and Peggie Castle (Beginning of the End) are fine as Ruth's boss and an employee he is having an affair with. Arte Johnson is nice as another sympathetic co-worker of Ruth's. The church sequences go on a bit too long and the ending seems a mite dragged out. Whether you buy the "miracle" of the storyline or not, the picture is poignant and you can't help but pity poor Ruth.

Verdict: Well-mounted romance with a superior cast. ***.

BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1956)

BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1956). Director: Fritz Lang.

After viewing an  execution in a prison, writer Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews) and newspaper publisher Austin Spencer (Sidney Blackmer) have a discussion in which the latter wonders if the dead man, convicted on purely circumstantial evidence, could have been innocent. While Spencer is very much opposed to the death penalty, Garrett is thinking more of what a great book it would make if the two of them conspired to make it look as if the latter were responsible for the unsolved murder of a show girl. The idea is to get the innocent Garrett convicted and then whip out photographs Spencer has taken of Garrett planting phony evidence. (It doesn't occur to either of them that by tampering with evidence and obstructing justice they would both be committing serious crimes.) The biggest problem is that the two men don't include Spencer's daughter Susan (Joan Fontaine), who is engaged to Garrett, in the loop. While the whole movie has to be taken with a grain of salt, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt moves at a brisk pace and is quite entertaining, offering a neat twist that most viewers won't see coming. Andrews' stoicism serves him well as Garrett, Blackmer is as good as usual, and Fontaine is simply outstanding in her strongly emotional scenes as Joan. Arthur Franz, Shepperd Strudwick, Barbara Nichols and Philip Bourneuf are also solid in supporting roles. Remade -- quite well -- in 2009.

 Verdict: Invigorating suspense film with neat finale. ***.

MANFISH

MANFISH (1956). Director: W. Lee Wilder.

Brannigan (John Bromfield), the captain of the turtle boat Manfish, has a decidedly uneasy alliance with "the professor" (Victor Jory), who can lead him to a chest of treasure collected by the pirate Lafitte. Swede (Lon Chaney Jr. in what really amounts to a supporting role) is the mate who seems to love the Manfish even more than the Captain does. Tessa Prendagast is the sexy native girl Alita, and Barbara Nichols was "introduced" in the film as Mimi, the singing sometime girlfriend of the captain's. Manfish isn't terrible or terribly boring, it just throws together different elements -- treasure hunts, jealousy, babes and pirates -- that never really jell. Supposedly based on two Edgar Allan Poe stories, the movie has absolutely nothing to do with Poe. Jory gives probably his strangest ever performance. Bromfield and the gals are vital enough, and Chaney is typically mediocre. Bromfield was also in Revenge of the Creature, Three Bad Sisters, and The Furies.

Verdict: Only for the curious. **.