THE KILLERS

Virginia Christine, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner

THE KILLERS (1946). Director: Robert Siodmak.

Torpedoes Max (William Conrad) and Al (Charles McGraw) come to the town of Brentwood and (improbably) announce to people in the diner that they are going to kill a guy known as the Swede or Pete Lund (Burt Lancaster), which they do. The rest of the film presents assorted flashbacks from various points-of-view as insurance investigator Jim Reardon (Edmund O'Brien) tries to find out more about "Lund" and the reasons for his murder. Reardon hooks up with former cop Sam Lubinsky (Sam Levene) and discovers that the latter's old friend the Swede, actually Ole Anderson, a former boxer, was mixed up in a robbery plot as well as with a beautiful if duplicitous female named Kitty (Ava Gardner). But before Reardon's investigation is over, those two torpedoes just may have more work to do. 

Waiting for death: Burt Lancaster

The Killers is a fine and memorable piece of film noir. In his very first film, Lancaster gives a strong performance and he is backed up by an old pro in O'Brien. Conrad and McGraw certainly make in impression in their brief but chilling appearances. Levene and Virginia Christine (Anderson's old girlfriend and now Lubinsky's wife) are solid as well. And then there's Ava Gardner in her 27th film, but clearly still growing as an actress. She makes a good impression in the early scenes but doesn't quite cut it in her climactic moments. There are good turns from Phil Brown [Weird Woman] as Nick Adams, Vince Barnett as old Charleston, Albert Dekker as the architect of the robbery plot, Donald MacBride as Reardon's boss, Jack Lambert [The Unsuspected] as a member of the gang, Queenie Smith as Queenie, Anderson's sole beneficiary, and especially Jeff Corey as Blinky. (Charles Middleton plays a farmer but I didn't spot him.) Although Anderson is in some ways an unsympathetic character, you can't help but feel sorry for the miserable way in which he is played for a sucker. The Killers boasts an evocative score by Miklos Rozsa and fine photography by Elwood (Woody) Bredell. 

Verdict: Totally absorbing, very well-acted crime drama. ***1/4. 

MA AND PA KETTLE GO TO TOWN

Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride

MA AND PA KETTLE GO TO TOWN (1950). Director: Charles Lamont.

Pa Kettle (Percy Kilbride) wins another contest for a soda with the prize being an all-expenses paid trip to New York City! At first Pa and Ma Kettle (Marjorie Main) have trouble coming up with a babysitter for their fifteen rambunctious children, but along comes "Shotgun" Mike (Charles McGraw), a thief hiding out in town. Ma at least has some reservations about leaving the children with a complete stranger (although they prove to be more than he can handle), but she thinks he has a kind face, and off they go to Manhattan. There they encounter more problems with Mike's cronies, and discover some marital woes for son Tom (Richard Long) and daughter-in-law Kim (Meg Randall).

Richard Long and Meg Randall

Ma and Pa Kettle were introduced in The Egg and I and proved so popular that they got their own feature, Ma and Pa Kettle. This led into several sequels, of which this is the first. Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town is not only consistently cute and amusing, with great performances from Main and Kilbride and good work from the rest of the cast, but it avoids the cliche of New Yorkers being portrayed as horrible city slickers taking advantage of the Kettles; in fact, the pair actually like New York and the people who live there (although, of course, they're just as glad to get home). Ma and Pa exhibit sheer delight in seeing Manhattan from a cab as they stand up in a hole in the taxi's ceiling, and there's a great bit with Pa dropping a cup of water from the top of the RCA building and encountering that same water later on.

Verdict: Very cute picture. ***. 

THE MAN IN THE NET

Alan Ladd confronts Carolyn Jones

THE MAN IN THE NET (1959). Director: Michael Curtiz.

John Hamilton (Alan Ladd) is an aspiring painter who's brought his wife, Linda, to the country to work on his art -- and keep dipsomaniac Linda (Carolyn Jones) away from the liquor. Unfortunately, the bored and resentful Linda can't stay away from men, either. When John returns from a business trip to New York, he discovers that Linda is missing. Everything goes awry in the second half of this very poor mystery due to suspect developments and a bad screenplay. Half the town converges on Hamilton's home, denouncing him as a wife-murderer, when the townspeople barely know him and there's no reason for them to act like villagers out to get that evil Baron Frankenstein. Worse, John is befriended by a little girl, Emily (Barbara Beaird), who enlists a whole bunch of her little friends into helping John investigate the mystery. The entire second half of the film is taken up with these children, who are cute and not bad actors, but they make the picture resemble a distinctly forgettable Disney movie. Ladd [The Carpetbaggers], his face puffy and years older due to heavy drinking, barely gives a performance, while Jones [Eaten Alive] pretty much steals the show in her vivid portrayal of the screwed-up Linda. Charles McGraw [Roadblock] is typically vital as the town sheriff, and Diane Brewster and John Lupton are effective as family friend Vicki and her handsome husband, Brad (you might call Lupton a "prettier" version of Marshall Thompson). As Brad's father, John Alexander is so terrible you'd have to assume he was given the part as a favor to someone were it not for the fact that he amassed many theater and movie credits; this is not a highlight of his, or anyone else's, resume. Curtiz is defeated by the material.

Verdict: Even one of the lesser episodes of Perry Mason (not that there were many) is better-scripted and more entertaining than this. *1/2 out of 4.

THE CRUEL TOWER

THE CRUEL TOWER (1956). Director: Lew Landers.

"I've seen guys with two left feet before, but not on the same leg."

Hungry and needing a job, Tom Kittridge (John Ericson of Rhapsody) goes to work for "Stretch" Clay (Charles McGraw) who is building a kind of water tower in a small town. Stretch has a girl named Mary (Mari Blanchard) even though he already has a wife who's dallying with Stretch's associate, Casey (Steve Brodie). Then there's chubby Joss (Peter Whitney), who is brain-damaged and loyal to Stretch. Unfortunately jealousies and rivalries break out, which isn't so good when men are working high up in the air ... The Cruel Tower might have had more impact had the fellows been working on a skyscraper (as has been erroneously reported elsewhere), but there's still some suspense and excitement, and the tower is plenty high enough for me. Alan Hale Jr. [The Killer is Loose] plays a man who comes afoul of Stretch. The acting is more than okay, with Blanchard [No Place to Land] perhaps making the best impression.

Verdict: Entertaining, with a taut climax, but it just misses being special. **1/2.

THE NIGHT STALKER

Darren McGavin as Kolchak

THE NIGHT STALKER (1972 telefilm). Drector: John Llewellyn Moxey. Written by Richard Matheson.

Reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin), hoping to get back to the big time of New York from Las Vegas, latches onto a story about women being found dead drained of every drop of blood, and runs with it, discovering that an actual vampire (Barry Atwater) is on the loose, leading to a tense climax in the bloodsucker's lair. This high-rated telefilm [a "Movie of the Week"] introduced Kolchak, who returned in a second telefilm, The Night Strangler, before getting his own series, which lasted one season. McGavin is fine, bolstered by performances from Carol Lynley as his girlfriend, Claude Akins as a cop, Kent Smith as the D.A., and Simon Oakland as Kolchak's belligerent boss, Vincenzo. Elisha Cook Jr. and Charles McGraw are also in the cast and are notable. An unlikely aspect of the plot is that Vincenzo wants to suppress the story, which makes no sense as he's in the business of selling newspapers, and a story of vampire killings would certainly garner a hell of a lot of attention!

Verdict: Entertaining time passer with a nifty premise. ***.

ARMORED CAR ROBBERY

ARMORED CAR ROBBERY (1950). Director: Richard Fleischer. 

William Talman, who played Perry Mason's perennial opponent Hamilton Burger on the TV series Perry Mason, is herein cast as bad guy Dave Purvis, who plans an armored car heist and kills off some of the gang members he's supposed to share the loot with. Adele Jergens is cast as club performer Yvonne LeDoux, who's married to a mug named Benny McBride, but has a hankering for the more dynamic -- if not exactly more attractive -- Purvis. Charles McGraw is the tough cop investigating the armored car robbery during which his married partner was murdered. Don McGuire and Gene Evans [of The Giant Behemoth and Park Row) have smaller roles. The picture is minor-league for the most part, but it does boast an exciting and satisfying climax on a runway. NOTE: Armored Car Robbery is one of the films in the new Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 5. 

Verdict: Punchy performances help put this over -- and Jergens is always fun. **1/2.

ROADBLOCK

ROADBLOCK (1951). Director: Harold Daniels. 

Insurance investigator Joe Peters (Charles McGraw) meets a bitter dame Diane (Joan Dixon) at an airport, where she tells the clerk he's her husband so she can board the plane for half fare. Diane wants the good life -- minks, diamonds -- and Joe wants her, even though he only makes $350 a week, chickenfeed by her standards (although certainly not bad for 1951!). Still, Diane can't help but be attracted to Joe, inspiring him to add serious complications to his life. A problem with the movie is that the two lead characters are unsympathetic. Despite his character reversal, McGraw plays it all in one, gruff note with no nuances at all. The movie isn't terrible, just over-familiar without being good enough to make it really interesting. Everything is just second or third-rate. Busy actor McGraw appeared in everything from The Narrow Margin to The Birds. Dixon also appeared briefly in Bunco Squad, but otherwise had very few credits; she's not a bad actress, however. Milburn Stone, who plays McGraw's colleague Egan, had a great many credits, including such serials as Great Alaskan Mystery. 

Verdict: Minor effort in the film noir genre. **.