KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL

John Payne

KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (1952). Director: Phil Karlson. 

Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is trying to rebuild his life after a brief stir in prison, but he has no idea that a certain individual has gathered together three desperate criminals to help him pull off a bank job. Rolfe, who drives a flower delivery truck, becomes the patsy in this scheme and winds up being questioned by police. Then the action switches to Mexico, where Rolfe tries to infiltrate the gang, which consists of Boyd Kane (Neville Brand), Peter Harris (Jack Elam), and Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef of The Big Combo). Rolfe romances Helen (Coleen Gray of Kiss of Death), daughter of retired cop Tom Foster (Preston Foster of I, the Jury), while trying to uncover the identity of the mysterious leader and clear his name.

Lee Van Cleef with Payne

Kansas City Confidential is an excellent piece of film noir, with Payne in top form, and everyone else giving top-notch performances. Lee Van Cleef certainly makes his mark in this as the sinister Tony Romano, and it's easy to see why his formidable screen presence eventually had him hitting it big overseas; this is one of his best performances in an American flick. Jack Elam is effective in a different way, less menacing and more on a perpetual verge of panicking. Coleen Gray makes a feisty and credible leading lady, and Dona Drake of Beyond the Forest saunters sexily and brazenly through her scenes as resort employee Teresa. The film is well photographed by George E. Diskant, and Paul Sawtell, never quite considered in the league of the great film composers, contributes an evocative and exciting score.

Payne with Coleen Gray

Of course Kansas City Confidential mustn't be examined too closely. The leader of the gang wears a mask to hide his identity, but when he shows up later in the movie it's hard to believe that his associates wouldn't recognize his voice and physical shape, nor that they wouldn't recognize each other. I watched this on Amazon Prime where they were offering a colorized version, but the next day when I went to finish it, the color version had disappeared and I watched the rest in black and white. Strange. Vivi Janiss, who played one of the members of the "Ladies Fang and Claw Society" on I Love Lucy, has a small role as a resort guest. John Payne was involved romantically with Coleen Gray in-between his last two marriages.

Verdict: Suspenseful, with an intriguing plot and some impressive acting. ***. 

KISS OF DEATH

Victor Mature and Richard Widmark

KISS OF DEATH (1947). Director: Henry Hathaway.

Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) has already served one term in prison, when in desperation he participates in another robbery and is caught. The D.A. (Brian Donlevy) offers him a deal if he names names, but Bianco refuses to squeal. But when he finds out that his wife is dead and his two adorable little girls are in an orphanage, he wants to see them and changes his tune. Unfortunately, this brings him into deadly conflict with the gleefully sociopathic Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark), who thinks nothing of pushing an old lady in a wheelchair (Mildred Dunnock) to her death in the film's most famous scene. Mature gives one of his best performances in this, and Widmark is also swell, although at times he seems like Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, and at other times like Leo Gorcey of the Eastside Kids. Donlevy is also solid, as is lovely Coleen Gray [The Leech Woman] as Nettie, who loves Nick. Taylor Holmes registers as Nick's deceptively pleasant defense attorney. There are tense scenes that work without music but could have used some. Best shot: a sneering Tommy Udo through the slit in a curtain. This picture almost qualifies as film noir except there's no femme fatale, just a brief appearance by one of Udo's girlfriends. This was Coleen Gray's first major role and she delivers.

Verdict: Well-done and well-acted crime film. ***.

THE LEECH WOMAN

THE LEECH WOMAN (1960). Edward Dein.

"I know you advertised for old women, but the one in the waiting room looks like she's mummified!"

"There's only one trouble with running away -- you always meet yourself when you get there."

June Talbot (Coleen Gray) is a wealthy woman married to an uncaring endocrinologist, Paul (Phillip Terry of Junior G-Men and Hold That Kiss), who can't stand the sight of her now that she's grown older. Both of them have their differing hopes rekindled when they meet 142-year-old Mala (Estelle Hemsley), an ancient native woman who claims that her tribe back in Africa knows the secret of eternal youth. When she travels back home for a treatment, the Talbots accompany her and discover that hormones from the pineal gland are combined with the properties of a certain orchid to create a magical elixir. (Mala is given a very good speech about how men can be distinguished and revered in old age, but old women are treated with indifference and contempt -- yet in her tribe young men are sacrificed so that old women can have one last night of youth and beauty before death!) June manages to run off with the formula, but discovers she has to kill again and again to retain her good looks and freshness. This is basically an E.C. comics story stretched to feature length and quite amusing on that level. Gray is no Bette Davis, but she holds her own as the tormented anti-heroine. She was also in The Phantom Planet and did a lot of TV work. Phillip Terry was one of Joan Crawford's ex-husbands. Grant Williams of The Incredible Shrinking Man and The Monolith Monsters plays June's very handsome lawyer, who dumps his girlfriend (Gloria Talbott of The Cyclops) for June's "niece" when she comes back from Africa all young and sexy. (After the magical transformation, June is perfectly made up -- what a Max Factor miracle! Her "old age" make up is well done.) Estelle Hemsley had only a few credits; she was actually 73 when she made this picture. Kim Hamilton, who plays Mala as a young woman, has had a fairly busy career ever since. John Van Dreelen plays a guide and victim of June's and is very effective; he was a very busy television actor.

Verdict: Lurid and cheap but also entertaining. **1/2.

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947). Director: Edmund Goulding

Tyrone Power gives one of his best performances as Stanton Carlisle, a young man who works for a carnival and inadvertently contributes to the death of an alcoholic co-worker, Pete (Ian Keith). Stan winds up performing a mind-reading act with his wife Molly (Coleen Gray), giving him gullible high society contacts and getting him into business with shady psychiatrist Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker, pictured with Power). This is an absolutely fascinating movie with interesting twists and turns and a powerful, if not entirely unexpected, wind-up (which is somewhat reminiscent of The Crowd). The supporting cast is splendid, with Joan Blondell excellent as Zeena, Pete's partner, and Helen Walker offers a diabolical portrait as the utterly amoral Lilith. There's a terrific scene when Power uses his skill to both charm and undermine an angry Marshall (a splendid James Burke) who's out to shut the carnival down. Well-directed by Edmund Goulding.

Verdict: A crackling good yarn. ***1/2.

THE VAMPIRE

THE VAMPIRE (1957). Directed by Paul Landres.

A small town doctor (John Beal) with a young daughter accidentally ingests some pills created by a dead scientist and reverts into a strange creature that attacks and kills several neighbors. Although he leaves two bite marks on the neck, he is not a vampire in the usual sense, but causes capillary breakdown or something along those lines which causes the bodies of the victims to eventually disintegrate. With its nice-guy-turns-into-tormented-monster theme, the film is along the lines of Neanderthal Man and Monster on the Campus. There’s a skeleton with eyeballs intact that pre-dates a similar bit in 1959's Caltiki. The make up is a little too comical at times, but otherwise effective. The performances from Kenneth Tobey as a cop and Coleen Gray as a nurse-receptionist are solid, but the stand-out is John Beal, who gives a very good and sensitive performance as the haunted, horrified (and horrifying) doctor. The always reliable Dabbs Greer is also good as a colleague – and late victim – of Beal’s. Pretty standard and without much style or atmosphere, but it holds the attention and has several exciting sequences. Gerald Fried's musical score is a plus.

Verdict: Worth a look. **1/2.