EXECUTIVE SUITE

EXECUTIVE SUITE (1954). Director: Robert Wise.

Avery Bullard, the head of Tredway Furniture Corporation, drops dead on a city street and a war begins over which of the executive directors will take charge of the company. The most interesting aspect of this picture is the opening, in which we see everything from Bullard's point of view (we never actually see Bullard). Then the picture just about talks itself to death, coming to life only sporadically whenever Barbara Stanwyck comes on as Julia Tredwell, wringing her hands, and yelling at one or two of the other characters. What this picture needs is a lot more of Stanwyck and a lot less of June Allyson, who is at her most perfectly cloying as William Holden's drippy wife. Fredric March, Nina Foch, Shelley Winters, Paul Douglas, and especially Louis Calhern all give good performances, however, with Stanwyck being the zippiest. Holden is adequate, and Walter Pidgeon is a bit better than usual in more of a character part. The funniest sections of the film -- which hasn't many laughs, just talk -- have to do with Calhern and his pretty, ever-hungry mistress. Allyson was a lot better in Woman's World, which came out the same year, had a similar premise, and was a much more entertaining movie.

Verdict: Given how little the women have to do in this film, it's a man's world after all. *1/2.

THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS

Bogart and Stanwyck in their only film together

THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (1947). Director: Peter Godfrey.

"Would you like something, officers? A glass of milk perhaps?" 

Sally (Barbara Stanwyck) meets and falls in love with troubled artist Geoffrey Carroll (Humphrey Bogart), then learns he has a wife. Said wife conveniently dies, and Sally and Geoff are married, the two of them residing in Sally's palatial estate along with Geoff's very self-assured little girl, Beatrice (Ann Carter). Then along comes super-sexy Cecily Latham (Alexis Smith), who wants Geoff to paint her portrait and won't take no for an answer. Before long Sally is getting suspicious, especially when she learns that Geoff's first wife wasn't an invalid as he claimed, and that she's developing similar symptoms to what the first Mrs. Carroll had before she died ... 

Based on a stage play, The Two Mrs. Carrolls is a poor man's Suspicion, which was released six years earlier. There's even some business with a glass of milk. At least this is somewhat superior to the next thriller Stanwyck did with director Peter Godfrey, Cry Wolf with Errol Flynn, and the acting is quite good. Stanwyck is better at getting across the vulnerability and terror of the heroine than you might expect (although she does seem to summon up her bravery at the climax rather suddenly), Bogart is fine in all but his most challenging scenes, little Ann Carter proves a superlative child actress in her portrayal of the highly interesting and mature Beatrice, and gorgeous Smith has wicked fun as the slinky and self-absorbed Cecily, with Isobel Elsom scoring as her mother and Nigel Bruce as -- what else? -- a doctor. Anita Bolster is a riot as the saturnine housekeeper, Christine. Crackling good dialogue from Thomas Job (from Martin Vale's play) and a fine Franz Waxman score help a great deal. The last line provides a little wink at the audience. Bogart and Stanwyck play quite well together.

Verdict: No Suspicion, but fun nevertheless. **1/2.

THE GAY SISTERS

THE GAY SISTERS (1942). Director: Irving Rapper.

The Gaylord Sisters have been waiting 27 years for their father's will to be probated, but a stubborn businessman named Charles Barclay (George Brent) refuses to accept their settlement offer. Seems the man has a personal grudge against one of the sisters, Fiona (Barbara Stanwyck), the reason for which comes out as this highly entertaining movie progresses. The other sisters, Evelyn (Geraldine Fitzgerald) and Susie (Nancy Coleman), don't like each other very much, with a true-to-form Evelyn doing her best to steal Susie's beau, "Gig Young" (played by Gig Young, who took his screen name from this picture). Then there's that little charmer Austin, who's sort of been adopted by Fiona. But whose little boy is he really? There are very interesting twists to this very well-acted and directed drama that transcends soap opera due to Lenore Coffee's excellent script and its sheer quality. Stanwyck is excellent, as are Fitzgerald and Coleman, and a large supporting cast including Donald Woods, Donald Crisp, Anne Revere, and Grant Mitchell. Young and Brent aren't slouches, either. Certain to stimulate debate is a scene between Stanwyck and Brent that could be taken as consensual (if cynical) sex or as rape! Irving Rapper, who is in full command of the picture, also directed Deception, The Corn is Green, Now, Voyager, and many others.

Verdict: Really the kind of movie they don't make anymore. ***1/2.

CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA

Ronald Reagan and Barbara Stanwyck

CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA (1954). Director: Allan Dwan. 

Sierra Nevada Jones (Barbara Stanwyck), her father, "Pop" (Morris Ankrum), and their friend Nat (Chubby Johnson) are about to stake their claim to the land when a stampede sends all of their cattle running amok, killing the old man and nearly killing the others. A loathsome polecat named McCord (Gene Evans) is in cahoots with an Indian named Natchakoa (Anthony Caruso), who started the stampede. Natchakoa hopes to take control of a tribe of Blackfoot Indians away from his father Red Lance and hated brother, Colorados (Lance Fuller), who is too sympathetic to whites, including Sierra, whom he tries to help. Then there's the mysterious Farrell (Ronald Reagan), who works for McCord but seems to be looking out for Sierra. Rounding out the cast of characters is Starfire (Yvette Duquay), an Indian maiden who is jealous of Colorados' attentions to Sierra. Naturally nothing good can come of all this. 

Stanwyck, Lance Fuller, Chubby Johnson

Barbara Stanwyck was in the final stages of her career when she made this film, essentially a B western with a certified B movie cast, including Ronald Reagan as her sort-of leading man (although Lance Fuller gets more screen time). Stanwyck had done other westerns before and after this one -- and of course did several seasons of The Big Valley on TV -- but Cattle Queen is far below the level of, say, Anthony Mann's The Furies. The cliches don't matter so much because they're almost part of the genre, and Cattle Queen has a workable story, but the movie never really comes alive the way it ought to, and after awhile you just sit there and wait impatiently for it to finally be over. Stanwyck is fine, Reagan is Reagan, the others are all professional, including Myron Healey as an associate of McCord's who gets in a tussle with her, but this is just plain mediocre. It's very odd to see Stanwyck interacting with so many B movie stalwarts, including -- at this point -- Reagan, who would be hosting Death Valley Days in about a decade. Louis Forbes has contributed an arresting score and John Alton's technicolor cinematography is often striking. 

Verdict: Babs in the saddle -- sore. **1/4. 

THESE WILDER YEARS

THESE WILDER YEARS (1956). Director: Roy Rowland.

Steve Bradford (James Cagney) is a successful businessman who has never married but now misses the son he denied twenty years ago and whom he has never known. Steve butts heads, albeit pleasantly, with Ann Dempster (Barbara Stanwyck), who runs the adoption agency that could help Bradford be united with his child, but Ann is opposed to the idea. Steve tries various tactics, including searching for the birth mother he abandoned years ago, and then taking the agency to court. As Steve fights his battle, he becomes closer to a young, unwed mother, Suzie (Betty Lou Keim), who must give up her baby even though she doesn't want to. These Wilder Years couldn't exactly be classified as unpredictable -- and one senses the whole business could have been handled more intelligently by everyone concerned -- but it's a nice, absorbing picture with very good performances. Stanwyck and Cagney not only got along famously while the film was being made, but play marvelously together -- two solid pros uplifting their material. There is also fine work from Walter Pidgeon [Forbidden Planet] as Steve's lawyer; Edward Andrews [Youngblood Hawke] as another small-town lawyer; Don Dubbins as the young man in question; Dean Jones as the son-in-law of the birth mother; Dorothy Adams [Laura] as Aunt Martha; and others. Mary Lawrence and dancer Marc Platt have not a word of dialogue but they certainly register in that moment when Mr. and Mrs. Callahan are given their new baby by Ann. And there's a nice score by Jeff Alexander, as well. One supposes the title was concocted to make this seem like another story of rebellious youth, which it isn't.

Verdict: Smooth, very well-played, and poignant. ***.

JOAN ON THE BBC

JOAN CRAWFORD ON THE BBC.

Crawford did a late sixties interview for the BBC which covered her entire career and her thoughts on current movies and performers. At first Joan seemed a bit guarded and not relaxed, and complained how the British seemed obsessed with age (apparently some reporters came right out and bluntly asked her how old she was). "I know some people think there are very few things before my time," she said. She relaxed a bit more as the interview with the young admiring host continued, although when she answered a question she didn't always really answer the question, but said -- as stars are wont to do -- what she wanted to say. She talked admiringly of Bette Davis and said she enjoyed working with her on Baby Jane, calling Davis a "fascinating actress" but saying they really hadn't had time to become friends. She was, however, close friends with Barbara Stanwyck, whom the interviewer compared to her, pleasing Joan. Joan apologized in a way for making negative comments about Liz Taylor's personal life, but praised her acting skills, and said, next to Gable, John Garfield was her most dynamic co-star. Joan said that "I never had a sense of humor about myself until I worked with George Cukor." During the interview she is friendly, smiles, makes amusing comments and reacts to same, but it still comes off, understandably considering her years in front of the camera, as if it's another performance. and while it may not be fair to say she is humorless, she is,as mentioned, holding herself in warily. She expresses the wish that pictures had more romance and glamor, and suggests that Warren Beatty is ornery, while admiring Natalie Wood, whom she feels hasn't reached her potential, that there was no longer any help or guidance for actors as in the studio days. Joan talks affectionately of Lionel Barrymore, but while admiring his genius, admits that John Barrymore could be difficult while making Grand Hotel. Basically Joan is ever the professional, and the interview, while not that probing, is a good one. It probably didn't hurt that Joan seems to like the kind of cute interviewer.

Verdict: Joan talks! ***.

THE OTHER LOVE

Richard Conte and Barbara Stanwyck

THE OTHER LOVE (1947). Director: Andre De Toth.

"I'm not fooled, doctor. I know death is a guest here. Though he sent me his compliments."

Karen Duncan (Barbara Stanwyck) is a successful concert pianist who comes to a sanitarium for treatment of an unspecified illness. She and her doctor, Anthony Stanton (David Niven), find themselves falling for one another, and he suggests that Karen spend many months just resting. But Karen is restless for life, and goes off with race car driver Paul Clermont (Richard Conte) for a romantic and wearying time in Monte Carlo. Trying to evade her fate, Karen only gets sicker ... The Other Love is based on the story "Beyond" by Erich Maria Remarque. Fourteen years after The Other Love was released, Remarque wrote the novel "Heaven Plays No Favorites," which was filmed as the Al Pacino starrer Bobby Deerfield, which also deals with a dying woman and a race car driver. The Other Love proves no more convincing than Deerfield and Stanwyck's fine performance is wasted in a trite, superficial soap opera. Although Stanwyck is never that good at portraying vulnerability, she easily out-acts her two male co-stars. Gilbert Roland has a nice turn as a croupier who tries to take advantage of Karen, and Joan Lorring [The Corn is Green] is notable as another doomed patient in the sanitarium. Natalie Schafer briefly appears to sparkle in that certain sleazy way of hers as a guest at Monte Carlo. Miklos Rozsa' score doesn't help at all. Roland had a much more memorable appearance with Stanwyck in The Furies. NOTE: For more on Bobby Deerfield see Al Pacino In Films and On Stage.

Verdict: Dark Victory this isn't. **.

FLASH ... AND FLESH!

Charles Middleton and Buster Crabbe

FLASH .. AND FLESH.

This is another, somewhat unusual, "theme" week for Great Old Movies, focusing on movies revolving around the words "flash" and "flesh." Naturally we've got the third and last Flash Gordon serial, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, and the 1980 motion picture Flash Gordon, not to mention a whole book on the Flash Gordon serials. Then we've got the TV series based on the comic book exploits of the super-hero The Flash. As for "flesh," we've got Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Boyer, among others, in Flesh and Fantasy, not to mention Veronica Lake in her final film, Flesh Feast. Combining both Flash and Flesh, we've got the 1974 parody film Flesh Gordon.

Now who could ask for more?

FLESH AND FANTASY

Who is that masked lady? 

FLESH AND FANTASY (1943). Director: Julien Duvivier.

This is a collection of three macabre stories with a framing device of one man relating the tales to another. The first story deals with a supposedly homely woman (Betty Field) who is given a mask (see photo) that makes her appear beautiful to everyone and that she must return by midnight. In the second story, Edward G. Robinson is given a prediction, which he initially scoffs at, that he will commit murder. The second story runs into the third, which has a high-wire acrobat (Charles Boyer) having premonitions of disaster when he meets a mysterious woman (Barbara Stanwyck) whom he has seen in a recurring dream in which he falls to his death; meanwhile the lady has secrets of her own. In a cast of talented actors, Thomas Mitchell [Theodora Goes Wild] and Dame May Whitty [The Sign of the Ram] almost walk off with the picture and it's quite interesting to see Boyer and Stanwyck together. Alexander Tasman contributed some quirky theme music. Duvivier also directed Lydia.

Verdict: Perhaps less here than meets the eye, but it's well-acted for the most part and entertaining. ***.

BLOWING WILD

BLOWING WILD (1953). Director: Hugo Fregonese.

When Mexican bandits drive them off from their new well, Jeff Dawson (Gary Cooper) and Dutch Peterson (Ward Bond) look for work. They get hired to drive some nitro over bumpy roads. Before this can turn into The Wages of Fear or Violent Road, they next run into old pal Paco (Anthony Quinn), a wealthy fellow who hires them to work on his latest well. Two women get involved in the action: Paco's wife Marina (Barbara Stanwyck), who still has a hankering for her former lover, Jeff;  and stranded nice gal Sal (Ruth Roman), who develops feelings for Jeff as well. This domestic situation is not a good one, and there are still those pesky bandits to deal with. Blowing Wild has its moments -- the bandits chasing after Jeff and Dutch as they careen inside their truck with the nitro; a race between Paco in his car and Marina on her horse -- but the movie can't overcome the fact that the storyline has been done too often and is a little stale. At fifty-two Cooper looks and acts much older, and his semi-love scenes with Stanwyck are never convincing. As for Stanwyck, she really delivers in key scenes, but by and large she (surprisingly for her) just walks through her other sequences with that typical once-removed "Hollywood" acting that often afflicted other stars. Roman and Bond are okay, while Quinn almost walks off with the picture. Juan Garcia is vivid as the slimy bandit leader. Dimitri Tiomkin's score is a decided asset. Frankie Laine sings the title song in his usual over-wrought style.

Verdict: The script nearly defeats this before it begins. **1/2.

SHATTERED LOVE: A MEMOIR Richard Chamberlain

SHATTERED LOVE: A MEMOIR. Richard Chamberlain. ReganBooks; 2003.

TV's "Dr. Kildare" writes about his life and philosophy of living in this disappointing memoir. While Chamberlain does write interestingly of career highlights such as Shogun, The Thornbirds [with Barbara Stanwyck], appearing on Broadway in My Fair Lady -- he's had a much more interesting career than people might imagine -- he spends too much time gassing off in psychobabble (and I do mean babble) style about new age religion. Just when you're getting interested in some aspect of his professional or personal life -- his reaction when he was "outed" while still being immersed in self-hatred -- off he goes on a tiresome jaunt on the nature of God and such. It's as if Chamberlain, recognizing that he was essentially a good-looking, totally self-absorbed  actor, had to go to all sorts of people for help in getting over himself. He may not even understand that most people don't need to go through all of this just to become more decent human beings. More anecdotes about his early days in television, background on a few more movies, would have been welcome. Chamberlain writes how an older actor told him he became a star before he learned how to act, but this is belied by a Bourbon Street Beat episode -- pre- Dr. Kildare -- in which he gives an excellent performance in only his third credit. He makes no mention of this show and indeed gets through Dr. Kildare in only a few pages. The show lasted for five seasons -- surely there were many more interesting episodes and guest-stars than Gloria Swanson? Nowadays too many celebrities don't just want to give you inside stories of their days in Hollywood, but feel a need to be some kind of guru to the reader. Too bad. After the book was published Chamberlain had a good role on Brothers and Sisters and is still working today.

Verdict: Some good passages nearly lost in a sea of psycho-babble. **1/2.

WILD BILL WELLMAN: HOLLYWOOD REBEL

WILD BILL WELLMAN: HOLLYWOOD REBEL. William Wellman Jr. Pantheon; 2015.

One always has to approach biographies written by the subject's family members -- in this case the author is the son of director William Wellman -- with caution, as there can be a tendency to gloss over anything negative and indulge in hero-worship. In spite of that, this is a fairly solid biography of the director of such well-known films as the classic Wings, A Star is Born, The Public Enemy, The Light that Failed, The Ox-Bow Incident, The High and the Mighty, and others not as well-known nor as memorable. Wellman was a hero during WW 1, but reading between the lines it often comes off that he was sometimes an asshole who constantly needed to live up to his "Wild," macho reputation, threatening and screaming at people and punching them out even when it wasn't warranted. The first half of the book seems rather dependent on Wellman's published and unpublished memoirs, taken at face value, while the second half of the book is an improvement. Wellman Jr. delves into his father's many marriages, relationships with actors and the studio bosses, as well as producers he hated, and he gives him his due as an important and influential filmmaker, although perhaps he will never be seen as "great" as, say, Hitchcock or William Wyler. One big problem with the book is its length; the author includes mini-bios of virtually any figure who knew or worked with Wellman even if the average reader would be instantly familiar with them. Wild Bill Wellman doesn't seem to have been edited, so it is no surprise that Wellman Jr.'s editor turns out to be Victoria Wilson, who wrote the ridiculously over-lengthy and padded bio of Barbara Stanwyck -- apparently she can't edit the work of other authors any more than she can edit her own. Some recommended Wellman movies include Lily Turner, Stingaree, Night Nurse and especially The Great Man's Lady with Stanwyck. 

Verdict: A decent book is almost lost somewhere in here and some things have to be taken with a grain of salt, but this isn't bad as an appreciation of Wellman. ***

THE WOMAN IN RED

Barbara Stanwyck and Gene Reynolds

THE WOMAN IN RED (1935). Director: Robert Florey.

Shelby Wyatt (Barbara Stanwyck) works for the wealthy "Nicko" Nicholas (Genevieve Tobin), riding her show horses, but her job comes to an end when she falls for Johnny (Gene Raymond of The Locket), who also works for Nicko, riding her polo ponies -- seems Nicko has a yen for Johnny herself. Soon the couple are out of work and struggling to survive as young marrieds. There are other complications, such as Shelby's snobbish in-laws and efforts by Nicko to get Johnny back. The cast helps keep the mediocre film reasonably entertaining, with Stanwyck as excellent as ever, and Tobin, Dorothy Tree [The Family Secret], Ann Shoemaker [House by the River], and especially John Eldredge (as another man in love with Shelby) offering up fine support. One big disappointment is that Shelby never gives Nicko the big whack she deserves.

Verdict: Another Stanwyck film in which she's much better than the material. **1/2.

PIECES OF MY HEART: ROBERT WAGNER

PIECES OF MY HEART: A LIFE. Robert J. Wagner with Scott Eyman. 2008; HarperCollins.

Robert Wagner appeared in a number of high-profile movies, such as A Kiss Before Dying, before becoming even more successful as a TV star in middle-age, with such programs as It Takes a Thief, Switch, and Hart to Hart. Wagner -- via Scott Eyman -- writes about his early life and his lousy relationship with his father, his desire to be nothing but a movie star from his youngest days, his marriages to Natalie Wood and Jill St. John, and the tragic night that Natalie drowned. There are some surprises in the book, such as (a very few) details about his four-year affair with the older Barbara Stanwyck, which may have been highly exaggerated. Wagner has a sense of humor, but comes off as a rather superficial third-tier celebrity bashing a few enemies -- such as Natalie's less successful sister, Lana, whom he skewers, and co-star Stefanie Powers, whom he felt betrayed him  -- and justifying some of his bad actions as well. Wagner outs numerous people as gay or bisexual, but remains mum on the rumors surrounding his own sexuality. Although Wagner has pleasant things to say about some gay men he knew, he's not above the occasional stereotypical whack; he comes off as an old-fashioned guy trying to affect a liberal posture. If the book has any value, it is as an insider's look at old Hollywood, the dying (and now dead) studio system, and some of the characters who inhabited that long-ago world, about which much has already been written. The book is entertaining enough but overlong.

Verdict: Hardly essential reading, but Wagner's fans may eat it up. **1/2. 

A LIFE OF BARBARA STANWYCK: STEEL-TRUE 1907 - 1940 Victoria Wilson

A LIFE OF BARBARA STANWYCK: STEEL-TRUE 1907 - 1940. Victoria Wilson. Simon and Schuster; 2013.

Wilson's twenty-years-in-the-making 1000 pp biography of Stanwyck covers the first half of her life and career in great detail. Wilson covers her first marriage to Frank Fay with more thoroughness than previous biographers, and works hard to give the readers a sense of the various time periods and their cultural and political influences throughout the decades covered. Wilson is clearly a fan of Stanwyck's, but she doesn't admire every film or performance, and often offers astute analysis of her pictures and acting techniques. There are no great revelations in the book, however, and anecdotes are often lifted from other books [some of which are mentioned in the notes but, oddly, not in the bibliography]. Unlike some Out biographers like William Mann, Wilson is fairly coy when it comes to sexuality [with more insinuations in the captions than in the text]. Still, the book is well-written and pulls the reader along, even if some of the copious detail -- particularly when it doesn't necessarily pertain to Stanwyck -- can become wearisome at times. The five pound book is just too long.

Wilson has been an editor at Knopf for years, but apparently resisted any and all attempts at editing her own book. For instance, she gives us a mini-bio of Bette Davis for a couple of pages simply because she appeared with Stanwyck in So Big, but neglects to inform us if the two women even got along or not. Why give us a history of all of the Marx Brothers simply because Zeppo becomes her friend and manager? She continues to follow the life and career of Barbara's old friend Mae Clarke [without discussing her performance in Waterloo Bridge] long after the two women have stopped being part of one another's lives. It makes sense to give background info on some of the other people in the Stanwyck life, but not virtually everyone she encountered. Some of this is excusable for the ardent film buff, among which I'm sure Wilson can be counted. Wilson is correct in discussing the original silent Stella Dallas at the point where Stanwyck does the remake, but throughout the book one gets the sense that there was a battle between author and editor and the author won every time. [Wilson makes the mistake many beginners do -- she puts all of her research into the book.] There is also a certain choppiness to some sections as well, with paragraphs that inexplicably run only one sentence when they could easily have been added to the paragraph above, and the like. Steel-True badly needs a stronger editorial hand. It is also disappointing that some material, such as the fate of Stanwyck's adopted son Dion, will have to wait for a second volume when most of us will have forgotten what was in the first!

Verdict: Strictly for die-hard Stanwyck fans who will enjoy it; others beware. ***.

THE FILE ON THELMA JORDAN

Original title: Thelma Jordan."

THE FILE ON THELMA JORDAN (1950). Director: Robert Siodmak.

"Maybe I am just a dame and didn't know it. Maybe I like being picked up by a guy on a binge."

Concerned with possible burglars at her elderly aunt's estate, Thelma Jordan (Barbara Stanwyck) goes to see an assistant district attorney named Miles Scott (Paul Kelly) but winds up with another ADA, Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey) who happens to be rather bored with his wife (Joan Tetzel) and children and their vacations and falls hard for Thelma while on a bender. The plot has various intriguing twists and turns as the two carry on a heated affair while Mrs. Marshall and the kids wait at the beach. Then, wouldn't you know it, someone gets murdered ... Stanwyck gives another fine performance in Thelma Jordan, and Corey is quite good as well; this is an actor who has hidden facets as well as versatility. Stanwyck plays one of her most unsympathetic characters but you're with her right from the start. Tetzel and Kelly are also fine, and Gertrude Hoffman is just right in her brief appearance as Thelma's aunt. No, this is no Double Indemnity, but it's absorbing and has a few tricks up its sleeve. To accept some of the more absurd plot turns takes a definite "suspension of disbelief," however. Some of Corey's best performances were in No Sad Songs for Me, The Big Knife, and his debut film Desert Fury, and he also somehow wound up in Women of the Prehistoric Planet.

Verdict: Stanwyck smoulders in grand style. ***.

SHOPWORN

Barbara Stanwyck and Regis Toomey

SHOPWORN (1932). Director: Nicholas Grinde.

Kitty Lane (Barbara Stanwyck), a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, winds up as a waitress in a literally greasy spoon where she meets David Livingstone (Regis Toomey). David wants to marry Kitty, but his termagant, selfish mother (Clara Blandick) refuses to countenance the idea of her son, who's studying to be a doctor, marrying a common waitress, and trumps up charges against her with the aid of an odious judge friend [it's quite satisfying watching Toomey give this creep a knock-out punch]. Years later Kitty has become a famous Broadway star, of course, and David comes calling ... can this love be rekindled and will mama allow it to happen? Stanwyck is fine in a Joan Crawford rags-to-riches role, and Toomey is very adept and appealing. The developments are unlikely, the script mediocre, but the stars manage to put it over if nothing else. Zazu Pitts plays yet another dithery friend of the heroine's. Blandick is fine as the mother from Hell. Toomey later did such TV shows as Shannon and Grinde directed a great many movies, including a few Boris Karloff thrillers such as The Man They Could Not Hang.

Verdict: Stanwyck is almost always watchable in anything and she's made worse. **.

JEOPARDY

Ralph Meeker sexily enjoys Stanwyck's discomfiture

JEOPARDY (1953). Director: John Sturges.

Doug Stilwin (Barry Sullivan), his wife, Helen (Barbara Stanwyck), and their young son, Bobby (Lee Aaker), are vacationing in Mexico at an isolated beach where Doug used to fish with Army buddies. A big piece of timber on a wobbly jetty falls and pins Doug's leg to the ground, and he can't pull it out or wiggle free no matter how hard he tries. There are about four hours before the tide comes in and completely covers his head, so Helen takes off in the car to get help. Unfortunately, she goes from the frying pan to the fire when she enlists the aid of Lawson (Ralph Meeker), a murderer who is wanted by the police... Jeopardy is a harrowing suspense film bolstered by good performances and some frightening situations. Although one could argue that Stanwyck may not always get across the variety of emotions Helen must be feeling as she deals with Lawson and worries about her husband, she adds an interesting sub-text of sexuality to her scenes with Meeker, as if Helen -- despite the inappropriateness of it -- can't help but find virile, sexy bad boy Lawson quite attractive [she doesn't resist all that much when he grabs her and hungrily kisses her]. Sullivan gives one of his best performances, a man understandably close to panic, completely dependent on his wife, and who has to remain strong for the sake of his plucky son. Little Lee Aaker is an especially talented child actor and the perfect complement to the actors playing his parents, and Meeker manages to make his character a little more dimensional than others might have. Jeopardy is a good, suspenseful movie, but it could have used another twenty minutes and even more character development.

Verdict: As unsettling at times as it is entertaining. ***.

A TASTE OF EVIL

Barbara Parkins and Barbara Stanwyck

A TASTE OF EVIL (1971 telefilm). Director: John Llewellyn Moxey.

After starring in the mediocre The House that Would Not Die, Barbara Stanwyck appeared in a second ABC "Movie of the Week" for producer Aaron Spelling, and this time the results are more felicitous. Susan (Barbara Parkins) was raped as a child by an unknown assailant on the grounds of her family estate. After years of therapy in Europe she returns home to her mother, Miriam (Barbara Stanwyck), the strange handyman John (Arthur O'Connell), her uncle and now stepfather Howard (William Windom) and sympathetic Dr. Lomas (Roddy McDowall). It isn't long before her shadowy memories of the assault begin to plague her, and she also keeps seeing the corpse of Uncle Howard, whom she suspects of the rape, in various places -- the trouble is that Howard is alive. A Taste of Evil has a tricky screenplay by Jimmy Sangster (The Nanny, Hysteria, Scream of Fear etc.) that contains some surprises, and good performances from the entire cast. Without giving too much away, it is safe to say that Stanwyck offers a chilling portrait of one of the worst mothers who ever existed on celluloid. She doesn't gnash the scenery as lesser actresses would do, but wisely underplays and is that much more memorable and formidable, making this one of her better latter-day assignments. Some people see this as a remake of the Sangster-written Scream of Fear, but despite similarities the movies are quite different.

Verdict: Interesting enough on its own terms but Stanwyck really makes it worth watching. ***.

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

Barbara Stanwyck

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE (1962). Director: Edward Dmytryk.

"I know what it's like to love someone and not be able to do anything about it."

In the novel A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren, the protagonist, Dove Linkhorn, is a 16-year-old drifter who winds up in the sex business when he's paid to deflower [supposed] virgins for eager voyeurs. In the Hollywood adaptation, Dove is now thirty [played by British Laurence Harvey], a former caregiver for his dying father, and is shocked to discover that his lady love, Hallie (Capucine), has become a prostitute at a famous New Orleans brothel. The story is still set in New Orleans in the 1930's, but everything else is screenwriters John Fante and Edmund Morris' invention and has virtually nothing to do with Nelson Algren. Dove has gone to work for the Italian store owner Teresina (Anne Baxter) while hoping to re-connect with Hallie, a sculptress who is now hooked up with brothel owner Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck), who seems to think Hallie is her personal property. Courtney's husband Dockery, (Don "Red" Barry) has lost his legs, and Jo deludes herself that her feelings for Hallie are not lustful [this latter business is more tacit than explicit]. When Dove does his damnedest to get Hallie back, all Hell breaks loose, resulting in tragedy. The "Doll House" is the least bawdy "bawdy house" that I've ever seen on film, and I've no doubt some viewers at the time had trouble figuring out whether Hallie was a prostitute or not. Jane Fonda has a supporting part as Kitty, another lost gal who winds up at the Doll House, and Richard Rust, who played the bellboy who marries the blond in Homicidal, is vivid as one of Jo's nastier associates. The performances are okay, with Fonda and Stanwyck, especially Stanwyck, taking top honors, although the material is far beneath the latter. It's pretty much beneath everyone, in fact.

Verdict: Vaguely entertaining and well-made but kind of schlocky in spite of it. **