HOLD BACK TOMORROW

John Agar and Cleo Moore

HOLD BACK TOMORROW (1955). Written, produced and directed by Hugo Haas. 

In an unspecified foreign country, a former hooker, Dora (Cleo Moore), is saved from drowning herself on the very eve that a prisoner named Joe Cardos (John Agar) -- who murdered three people -- is to be executed. Joe wants company for his final request, and since Dora needs money -- or hopes that Joe will strangle her -- she agrees to entertain him in his cell. Joe proves to be grumpy and hostile, and Dora is not certain she even wants to bother trying to make friends with him. But somehow these two dysfunctional individuals manage to form an unlikely romantic attachment to one another (sexual, maybe) ...

Even on Death Row Agar looks great!

Let me make it clear that I can hardly call the utterly-contrived Hold Back Tomorrow a good movie, but it also isn't worthless. Although I can't quite say that Agar is outstanding, he probably gives his best performance in this movie and gets his character across quite well. In her career Moore has rarely risen above mediocrity -- it's almost comical when she says "I haven't eaten for days" but is completely unable to get this across in her acting -- but she is also much better in this film than in others, possibly because her co-star was giving it his all. Agar also looks handsomer than usual.

Beautiful when wet: Cleo Moore

Haas' screenplay is a bit nutty and naive but it does have some good dialogue going for it. Although two of the people Joe strangled may have been rotters, there is virtually no mention of the innocent guard he shot during a robbery (the crime that first got him incarcerated) as this might have made him even less sympathetic. Of course Haas could have created more sympathy for Joe if he'd had him expressing some remorse for the dead man and his family. Joe blames everyone else for his misdeeds, and dopey Dora -- not the brightest bulb in the chandelier by any means, although she's certainly smarter and nicer than Joe -- goes right along with it, swallowing every word. 

Moore and Agar look to the heavens

I won't give away the ending except to say that I find it unlikely that Joe and Dora would ever have really made it as a couple. Whatever their struggles or problems early in life, one can tell that neither have the wherewithal to make much of anything work for them. One of the most amusing aspects of the flick is that Frank DeKova, of all people, plays the prison priest! Harry Guardino has an early role as a cop. The title tune for the picture is rather pleasant. Haas also teamed Moore and Agar up for his earlier film Bait, which is even worse than this! 

Verdict: Certainly an interesting idea and a truly odd romance, but the movie is half-baked and not really credible despite some decent performances. I didn't find it remotely moving. At least it is not an anti-capital punishment polemic. **.  

THE OTHER WOMAN

Hugo Haas and Cleo Moore

THE OTHER WOMAN (1954). Producer/ director/writer: Hugo Haas.

Film director Walter Darman (Hugo Haas) quickly needs a gal, any gal, to say three lines in a scene he's currently shooting. Ambitious Sherry Stewart (Cleo Moore), a member of the crew, is drafted, but does a pretty bad job and is replaced in the scene. Not tightly wrapped, Sherry's anger toward Darman and her allegedly lost opportunity for stardom is blown out of all proportion; she inveigles her boyfriend, Ronnie (Lance Fuller of The She-Creature) to help her get even with the man. It all leads to scheming, blackmail, and ultimately, murder. Yes, this is yet another Haas-Moore collaboration, and while it holds the attention, it never really sizzles as it should. Haas is fine, as always, and Moore is vivid but somehow second-rate. Darman and his father-in-law, movie producer Jack Macy (Charles Lester) have conversations about what constitutes a good movie, although Haas seems to have left out good characterization and dialogue. The movie has a very, very early use of the world "sexist." One character's attempt to come up with an alibi is laughably inept.

Verdict: Low level film noir. **.

HIT AND RUN

Vince Edwards

HIT AND RUN (1957). Producer/ director/writer: Hugo Haas.

Gus Hilmer (Hugo Haas) owns a gas station and employs his younger friend Frankie (Vince Edwards) as his helper. One night they meet a vaudeville dancer named Julie (Cleo Moore), who is determined to find a job or a life where she won't always be on the road. Before long, Gus and Julie are married while Frankie, hot for Julie, simmers on the sidelines. Frankie is sure that Julie loves him instead of Gus, and cooks up a devious scheme ... Hit and Run is a highly-entertaining bit of film noir with some very good performances. Haas is outstanding, and Edwards swaggers around in a way that is both sexy and effective. Moore is also vivid in her portrayal, although Beverly Michaels, who also worked with Haas, might have been even better. Haas and Moore, who were not married in real life, made several films together, and this is one of the best. While it could be, and probably was, dismissed as a low-rent Postman Always Rings Twice (as was Haas' Pickup, which has several similarities to this picture), Hit and Run has its own interest, and the actual "hit and run" murder sequence is very well handled. Edwards [City of Fear], who became famous as TV's Ben Casey, was always at his best playing bad boys like this.

Verdict: Entertaining minor film noir with two sexy lovers in search of a victim. ***.

OVER-EXPOSED

OVER-EXPOSED (1956). Director: Lewis Seiler.

"You'd use your grandmother's bones to pry open a cash register!"

The ads for this picture made it seem as if it was a behind-the-scenes story of scandal sheets such as Confidential that were popular at the time, but it's really just another lousy Cleo Moore movie. In this Moore plays Lily Krenshka, who is nearly run out of town before being befriended by an elderly photographer named Max (Raymond Greenleaf) who teaches her all the tricks of the trade. Before long she's been rechristened Lila Crane and is off to Manhattan where she shrewdly and ruthlessly rises to the top of her profession, moving from a "flash" girl snapping photos in night clubs to fashion photographer, as well as being offered photo-journalistic assignments by her boyfriend, newspaper reporter Russell Bassett (Richard Crenna). Bassett fears that all Lila is interested in is making money, and his fears are confirmed when he assumes she sold a photo of a sweet dowager (Isobel Elsom of Ladies in Retirement) having a fatal heart attack to a scandal sheet. With its one-dimensional characters and busy if dull story line, Over-Exposed just doesn't grip. It also suffers from not having a more mesmeric lead actress, although Moore certainly isn't bad, although the scene when she argues with a jealous co-worker played by a vivid and excellent Jeanne Cooper illustrates the difference between acting and merely expressing personality; Moore's chief note is one of petulance. With only a couple of minutes screen time Cooper steals the movie away from the star. Over-Exposed would certainly have been more palatable with a gripping actress like Stanwyck or Crawford in it -- or Cooper in the lead --  but even then it wouldn't have been one of their more memorable movies. Crenna is competent but uninteresting as the boyfriend so its no wonder he only became a leading man on television. Constance Towers is supposed to be in this movie as Shirley but her role is too small to make an impression. The occasional sharp bit of dialogue isn't enough to save this.

Verdict: At 79 minutes it's 77 minutes too long. *1/2.

WOMEN'S PRISON

WOMEN'S PRISON (1955). Director: Lewis Seiler.

"They never get things right in prison pictures."

Convicted of vehicular manslaughter after accidentally killing a child, neurotic Helene (Phyllis Thaxter of The Sign of the Ram) is sent to a women's prison adjacent to a men's penitentiary. Her fellow inmates include Joan (Audrey Totter of The Saxon Charm), whose husband manages to cross over to see [and impregnate] her, returnee Brenda (Jan Sterling of Johnny Belinda), Mae (Cleo Moore of One Girl's Confession), and Dottie (Vivian Marshall) who does pretty bad impressions of Bette Davis and others but does a fairly good job of imitating Ida Lupino, who just happens to play the neurotic and slightly evil Amelia van Zandt, a prison official who lords it over the women's compound. All hell breaks loose when van Zandt is told she better find out how Joan's husband, Glen (Warren Stevens) managed to get in to see her [we never find out] and she begins slapping around the pregnant woman, raising the inmates' ire and leading to a fairly exciting climax. Women's Prison is the kind of junk movie that pretends to have some kind of social conscience while parading superficial platitudes and one-dimensional characters who have little basis in reality. Ida Lupino, with her mostly arch overplaying, does the best she can with terrible material; her real-life husband, Howard Duff (Dante), comes off much better and is quite good as the compassionate prison psychiatrist who thinks van Zandt is a psychopath. Thaxter is fine, but except for scenes when she's victimized gets little chance to etch a real character, and Ross Elliott is also good in his brief turn as her husband. Sterling and Totter aren't bad and Cleo Moore is Cleo Moore. The big trouble with this picture is that it isn't even very entertaining.

Verdict: A pretty bad "Bad Girls" picture. **.

ONE GIRL'S CONFESSION

ONE GIRL'S CONFESSION (1953). Writer/producer/director: Hugo Haas.

Waitress Mary Adams (Cleo Moore) steals money from her guardian-employer, whom she feels cheated her late father, confesses the crime [without giving up where the money is] and goes to jail. When she gets out she gets another job as a waitress, this time working for Mr. Damitrof (Hugo Haas). When the latter gets into serious financial trouble, she tells him where the stolen loot is, leading to some very ironic complications. This is one of seven films Haas directed that starred Cleo Moore, who was not his wife but was obviously one of his favorite co-stars. Moore is okay, but let's just say she's no Barbara Stanwyck and leave it at that. Haas proves to be a better actor than he was a writer or director, although this picture is at least unpredictable and entertaining. Glenn Langan [The Amazing Colossal Man] plays a fisherman Mary dallies with, and Mari Lea is snappy as Damitrof's girlfriend "Smooch."

Verdict:  Perfectly okay B movie melodrama. **1/2.