FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN

Grant Williams and George Nader

FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN (1957). Written and directed by Jack Sher.  

A Hollywood studio wants to make a biblical epic about Esther, but their biggest star (whose face we never see) wants 50% of the profits. Therefore it is decided to find a new star and bring in four gals to do a screen test: American Kathy (Julie Adams), whose mother (Mabel Albertson) is pushing her to perform; Viennese Ina (Marianne Koch of The Monster of London City), whose husband recently died in a road accident; Italian Maria (Elsa Martinelli of One on Top of the Other), who appears to be a good-time girl who loves the men, especially the ones with money; and French Vicki (Gia Scala of The Big Boodle), who is trying to hide the fact that she has a husband and small son. 

John Gavin comes on to one of the "girls" 

Mike Snowden (George Nader) will helm the young ladies' screen tests, even though he'd much rather direct the picture itself. His best friend, Johnny (Sydney Chaplin) is a film composer nursing a broken heart and many hangovers. Mike is also friends with wealthy playboy Spencer Farrington Jr. (Grant Williams), who pursues women and does little else but attend parties with that end in mind. Tom Grant (John Gavin) is an actor who is chosen to appear in the tests with each of the ladies. Naturally these four men get involved in varying degrees with the "four girls in town." 

Nader with Gavin

I wish I could report that Four Girls in Town is a trenchant drama about Hollywood or at the very least a real trash wallow, but it's neither, although I can't say I ever found it boring. The acting is generally more than professional -- although none of the cast members really stand out -- and the picture has a good pace, but it just never quite comes alive. Maybe it just needed a few sensationalistic scenes to perk up the viewers' interest. An odd sequence has Mike taking some of the ladies and gents on a nighttime grunion hunt, a sequence that was a little more entertaining in Piranha 2: the Spawning, of all things. Jack Sher also directed The 3 Worlds of Gulliver. 

Verdict: At least it has a very attractive cast! **3/4. 

THE MURDERERS' CLUB OF BROOKLYN

George Nader as Jerry Cotton

THE MURDERERS' CLUB OF BROOKLYN (aka Der Morderclub von Brooklyn/1967). Director: Werner Jacobs.

FBI agent Jerry Cotton (George Nader) and his partner Phil Decker (Heinz Weiss) take on a sinister group operating out of Brooklyn that extorts money from wealthy businessmen by threatening to murder their children. Some of these victims are indeed kidnapped and found dead. The businessmen -- Dyers (Karel Stepanek), Johnson (Helmuth Rudolph) and Cormick (Rudi Schmitt), as well as their sons Bryan Dyers (Helmut Fornbacher) and Burnie Johnson (Helmut Kircher) -- come under suspicion as well. The trail seems to lead to a Salvation Army outpost run by one Nash (Horst Michael Neutze). But the true mastermind behind it all might surprise even Jerry. 

Heinz Weiss with Nader

Murderers' Club is one of the most entertaining and well-made Jerry Cotton thrillers. At one point Phil is kidnapped and left to die in the back of a refrigerated truck, and at another point Jerry fakes his own death in an elevator to draw out the criminals. There's a splendid fight scene atop a speeding freight train. Peter Thomas' score is very effective and employs the annoying Jerry Cotton theme sparingly. Phil is given more to do in this installment than in others. Franziska Bronnen makes an impression as Jerry's efficient secretary, Susan, who even gets involved in the action during a car chase. 

Murderers' Club is the fifth in a series of eight West German films starring Nader as Cotton. The movies were based on a whole slew of German-language thrillers by various authors starring the NYC-based FBI agent. A more recent German movie entitled Jerry Cotton came out in 2010.

Verdict: Exciting and fast-paced West German thriller. ***. 

APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW

George Nader

APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW (1957). Director: Richard Carlson. 

Paul Baxter (George Nader) once had a reputation as an outstanding reporter, but that reputation has been demolished by his alcoholism. His girlfriend, Penny (Joanna Moore), wants to stand by him -- despite the attitude of her highly disapproving brother, Lt. Spencer (Brian Keith) -- but she's reaching the end of her limit. Paul begs her for one last chance, and then fate intervenes. Paul almost literally runs into a gangster, Dutch Hayden (Frank DeKova), after he has supposedly just been shot down in the street by cops a moment before. Now there are two questions: will anyone believe that a notorious drunk like Paul actually saw Hayden, and will the real Hayden arrange to have Paul knocked off before anyone takes him seriously? 

George Nader and Frank DeKova

George Nader was a better actor than people gave him credit for, but the problem in this film is that he never quite comes off like a dissipated drunk -- he should look much, much worse for one thing. Moore makes a sympathetic girlfriend, Keith is on target as usual, and DeKova nearly walks off with the movie. Another important player is Virginia Field, who plays Hayden's girlfriend, the lady who fingered him without the cops being aware that it was actually Hayden's lookalike brother (talk about brotherly love). Nader and DeKova have a good confrontation scene near the end. The script doesn't really make the most of an interesting situation, but it's a fair to middling melodrama. Actor Richard Carlson directed several other films besides this one, as well as episodic television. 

Verdict: **1/2.  

MAN AFRAID

George Nader

MAN AFRAID (1957). Director: Harry Keller.

A man sneaks into a child's bedroom window and runs into the boy's mother, hitting her in the face and temporarily blinding her. When her husband, minister David Collins (George Nader), comes to her rescue he winds up inadvertently killing the intruder. Although not charged with any crime, Collins learns that the dead man's father, Carl Simmons (Eduard Franz), is following his little boy, Michael (Tim Hovey), around town in a threatening manner. Collins' wife, Lisa (Phyllis Thaxter), feels helpless because her eyes are bandaged. As Simmons becomes more and more bold, going so far as to invade Collins' very home, the minister tries to get Lt Marlin (Harold J. Stone) to take some kind of preventative action. But will it all come too late?

Nader with feisty Mabel Albertson

Man Afraid is a solid suspense film with very good performances. Nader has always been under-rated because of his participation in such films as Robot Monster, but he's fine in this, as are Thaxter and little Tim Hovey, an appealing and talented child actor. Reta Shaw offers a little spice as a nurse hired to look after Lisa, and Mabel Albertson certainly makes her mark as Simmons' tippling and fairly obnoxious landlady. Stone also makes the policeman more obnoxious than he needs to be. Tom Nolan is also notable as Michael's friend, "Skunky," who is neglected by his father (Judson Pratt), an aggressive newsman. He tells the sympathetic Collins that his father claims he makes too much noise "but when I'm dead they'll wish I was able to make any kind of noise." Franz is effective in a near-silent role.

Nader with Phyllis Thaxter

Man Afraid is well-photographed in CinemaScope by Russell Metty, and has a very good score by Henry Mancini. Keller's direction is adroit, and the climax is tense and exciting. One odd sequence concerns a boxing match between little boys in an actual arena, a match that Michael participates in! Considering that the "burglar" entered the Collins' house when the couple was home, and immediately snuck into the boy's bedroom, one has to wonder exactly what the man was after, but this aspect goes unexplored. Harry Keller also directed Nader in The Female Animal and The Unguarded Moment. 

Verdict: Absorbing suspense film with good performances and a satisfying conclusion. ***. 

THE VIOLIN CASE MURDERS

Sylvia Pascal and George Nader

THE VIOLIN CASE MURDERS (aka Schüsse aus dem Geigenkasten/1965). Director: Fritz Umgelter. 

FBI agent Jerry Cotton (George Nader) is called in, along with his partner, Phil Decker (Heinz Weiss), by their boss, Mr. High (Richard Munch) to investigate what becomes known as the "Bowling Gang,' due to the location of their hide-out. The gang seems to be run by Christallo (Hands E. Schons) but he takes his orders from the nasty Dr. Kilborne (Franz Rudnick). These fellows, including a man named Percy (Helmut Fornbacher), carry weapons in violin cases (like something out of the forties) and think nothing of murdering without mercy anyone who gets in their way. Pretending to be a drunk who witnessed the group's activities and wants to join up, Jerry infiltrates the gang and discovers that they plan to blow up a school to create a distraction for their latest caper. 

Jerry and Percy (Helmut Fornbacher) after a fight

"Jerry Cotton" was a character as popular in Germany and Finland as James Bond was in the US or UK. He appeared in a huge series of novels over many decades, written by a variety of authors. When it was decided to make a film of his exploits, an American actor was chosen to play the U.S. agent, and many sequences were filmed on American locations, such as New York City, where that bowling alley HQ is located. George Nader, who had previously played the insurance investigator on the TV show Shannon, is fine as Jerry, and there are a host of excellent German supporting actors. Sylvia Pascal is cast as Christallo's girlfriend, and Heidi Luplot is her ill-fated sister, Mary. Nader uses his real voice in this English version while the other actors are dubbed.

Nader with Heinz Weiss

The Violin Case Murders is a treat, a fast-paced, very well-directed, and skillfully edited action-suspense film with some taut and beautifully choreographed fight scenes. There's also a clever bit with the bad guys using rolling oil cans, set on fire, to try and trap Phil Decker. One problem with the movie, however, is the music with its martial Jerry Cotton theme (which Jerry even whistles at one point) and jazzy carnival-like rifts that threaten to dissipate the exciting atmosphere at any moment. One can imagine how good this might have been with a different, more suspenseful score. Nader appeared in several more Jerry Cotton movies. 

Verdict: Despite the music, this plays. ***.  

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX

Jeanne Crain

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX (1955). Director: George Marshall.

In the old west of 1880 there are range wars between three towns who are all trying to get the lawful county seat by getting their hands on the papers inside a big safe. The men have been gone for a long time but when they finally come home with the safe, Matt Davis (George Nader) and Liza McClure (Jeanne Crain) finally get hitched. Unfortunately, before the marriage can be consummated, the safe is stolen and the war is back on. Liza and the other ladies decide to take a page from Aristophanes "Lysistrata" and hole up in a fort, withholding favors and everything else from the men folk until they give up fighting. Considering that men are "the second greatest sex," it us up to the women to set things right.

'With All My Heart" George Nader

I had heard of this flick for years but had trepidation about it because I was afraid it might be terminally cute, but while it's not quite a laugh-riot, it's still an entertaining movie. It is also a musical, with several songs by teams I'd never heard of. Things get off to a lively start with "What Good is a Woman Without a Man?" Matt (dubbed) sings a nice romantic ballad to Liza ("With All My Heart") and Reverend Maxwell (Keith Andes) leads the men in a rousing chorus of "Send Us a Miracle." And then there's the dancing, with which the picture really distinguishes itself.

Dancer Tommy Rall as Alf

The chief dancer in this is Tommy Rall [World in My Corner], who plays Alf Connors. First he is featured in an outstanding post-wedding number when he competitively dances with two other men who drop from exhaustion while he goes on to triumph. Later he does a ballet as his wife Katy (Kitty Kallen) dreams about him. As for the acting in this, Jeanne Crain makes the perfect leading lady, and Bert Lahr [Mr. Universe] makes a good impression as her father, Job. Jimmy Boyd is fun as Job's teenage son, who is always asking about S E X although -- as usual -- Job hasn't a clue as to how to discuss it with him. George Nader is fine as the hero, and we've also got good work from Paul Gilbert [So This is Paris] as a traveling salesman, Edna Skinner as the old maid schoolteacher who falls for him, and even Mamie Van Doren as a pretty maiden who sets her cap for the town preacher! George Wallace is one of the men trying to get the safe away from Matt and the others. Not as good as the earlier Seven Brides for Seven Brothers but fun.

Verdict: Say what you will about it, it's different. ***. 

THE FEMALE ANIMAL

Heartbroken: Hedy Lamarr

THE FEMALE ANIMAL (1958). Director: Harry Keller.

Tippling unhappy aging actress Vanessa Windsor (Hedy Lamarr) almost has an accident on her film set, but she is saved by handsome extra Chris Farley (George Nader). Entering into a romance with Vanessa, Farley moves into her beach house as a "caretaker," but he bridles at the thought of being seen as a gigolo. He accidentally gets involved with a pretty blond named Penny (Jane Powell) -- also coming to her rescue -- and is unaware that she is actually Vanessa's daughter. The fur will fly when Vanessa finds out she's competing with her own daughter for the man she's falling in love with ...

Jane Powell as a "drunken slut?" 

The Female Animal was forty-four-year-old Lamarr's last picture. It's likely that she wasn't crazy about being cast as Jane Powell's mother,  as Powell was only fifteen years younger, although Lamarr was still quite beautiful. She also gives a good performance in this, vividly bringing to life the sad situation of a successful woman who fears aging and being alone in the twilight years but who is doomed to meeting mostly men who just want to use her. Her emoting makes her character more sympathetic than she might have been. Most of Powell's great pictures [Seven Brides for Seven Brothers] were also behind her at this point, but she was obviously trying to broaden her range -- as a drunken slut, no less! -- and succeeds admirably, giving a terrific performance as a young woman who feels abandoned by her self-centered mother -- Vanessa fears the public even knowing that she has a daughter that age.

George Nader and Hedy Lamarr

George Nader is also good in the film, and there are notable turns from Jan Sterling as a fading actress with a yen for younger men, James Gleason as a bar owner, Jerry Paris as Chris' buddy, Mabel Albertson as Chris' landlady, and Ann Doran as Vanessa's sympathetic nurse. The movie is, in essence, a soap opera, but it works quite well on that level, and features the occasional saucy line, although it does not boast what one might call a brilliant screenplay.  Harry Keller also directed The Unguarded Moment with Nader and Esther Williams (also trying to broaden her range).

Verdict: No Sunset Boulevard, perhaps, but entertaining and generally well-acted. ***. 

THE UNGUARDED MOMENT

George Nader, Esther Williams, John Saxon 

THE UNGUARDED MOMENT (1956). Director: Harry Keller.

High school music teacher Lois Conway (Esther Williams) receives insolent mash notes from an unknown young admirer who later nearly assaults her and breaks into her house. When she learns his identity, the young man, Leonard (John Saxon of The Unforgiven), accuses Lois of coming on to him and the school board seems to agree. Lt. Harry Graham (George Nader of Carnival Story) thinks Leonard is a creep who needs to be arrested -- and may even be responsible for a series of rape-murders in town -- but the naive Lois still thinks of this 18-year-old man as an innocent "boy." It's a question if Lois will lose her job or maybe her life before everything is resolved.

John Saxon

In these "me too" days, The Unguarded Moment is still a relevant and timely picture, especially in the way it turns the perpetrator into a victim. (It's interesting that even today some people call this early study of sexual harassment "trashy." Why?) This was Williams' first dramatic role after appearing in many musical comedies with diminishing returns, and she's fine, and plays well with George Nader, whose character starts falling in love with her and vice versa. This was not John Saxon's first movie but he received a play-up in this, with him being singled out at the end as a "new personality." His performance is good, although he isn't quite up to the more emotional moments. Edward Andrews, an actor who somehow always exudes a negative aura no matter what part he's playing, is excellent as Saxon's woman-hating father, whose wife ran off years before. Les Tremayne, Eleanor Audley, Jack Albertson and Ed Platt are all credible in supporting roles. Not a great suspense film, but this holds the attention and isn't entirely predictable. It does sort of gloss over Leonard's inappropriate behavior a bit too much. Esther Williams followed this up with the lamentable Raw Wind in Eden. Although she did not do the finished screenplay, the story for this film was co-written by no less than Rosalind Russell.  

Verdict: Interesting cast and a still timely theme. ***. 

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS: A Biography of ROCK HUDSON

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS: A Biography of ROCK HUDSON. Mark Griffin. HarperCollins/2018.

This welcome if imperfect new biography of Rock Hudson looks back at the man's life and career and sexuality with some reflection, generally without employing too breathless a tone. Mercifully, it dispenses with the notion that there was anything real about Hudson's marriage to essentially lesbian Phyllis Gates, who was hoping for a cushy lifestyle as Mrs. Rock Hudson. It looks at Hudson's early days, his ambitious and ultimately successful attempts to get into the movies, the early influences and patrons who helped him achieve his goal, and his many friends and romantic partners -- such as actor Craig Hill [The Flight that Disappeared]--  some of whom are quoted extensively in the book. Understandably anxious to put all of his research and sources into the book, the author sometimes quotes people who I would consider suspect (do we need to know that Hudson supposedly "took" Mamie Van Doren on her kitchen floor?) and there are, perhaps, too many quotes from Phyllis Gates' unreliable, phony and totally discredited memoir, as well as long-time companion Tom Clark, who "in'd" both himself and Hudson in his own autobio. The business that Hudson may have fathered a child during his early years is never satisfactorily resolved. Griffin includes quotes from Hudson's two best friends, Mark Miller and his partner actor George Nader (via Nader's diary), and mentions the assertion from some that they may have manipulated Hudson into leaving them most of his money. Mark Christian's lawsuit against Hudson's estate, claiming Hudson never told Christian he had AIDS, is also scrutinized, and found wanting. Some women claim affairs or "interest" from Hudson as if they want people to think they are simply so sexy that they can temporarily turn a gay man straight, but this book pretty much portrays Hudson as essentially gay and not bisexual in any meaningful way. Griffin does not ignore Hudson's work in films (All That Heaven Allows; Pillow Talk; Seconds), on television (Macmillan and Wife) and in the theater (Camelot, etc.)  and analyzes his subject's thoughtful approach to his performances in different media. There are continuous testaments throughout the book as to Hudson's kindly and helpful nature -- he didn't just give career boosts to his boyfriends -- which makes it odd that he stayed away from his dying mother for six months, despite her wanting to see him, simply because he couldn't deal with her condition -- what sort of son is that? But when all is said and done, Hudson may have been a decent guy for the most part, but a movie star is a movie star is a movie star, more of a creature, an invention, than a real human being, although All That Heaven Allows does its best to humanize him.

Verdict: Readable, informative and entertaining. ***. 

FLOOD TIDE

George Nader, Michel Ray, Cornell Borchers

FLOOD TIDE (1958). Director: Abner Biberman.

Former playboy Steve Martin (George Nader of Shannon) has fallen in love with his neighbor, Anne (Cornell Borchers), but they have to contend with the jealousy and manipulations of her crippled ten-year-old son, David (Michel Ray). Another concern is that David may have lied when he told the police that another of his mother's suitors, a man named Halloran (Russ Conway), dumped a drunken friend into the ocean after an argument, causing his death. While Steve deals with his on-again/off-again romance with Anne, he does his best to bond with the boy, and also find out the truth about Halloran, who is serving time in jail for a crime he may not have committed. Flood Tide is an interesting and unusual romantic drama that greatly benefits from a excellent performance from the young Ray, who was actually fourteen at the time (looking younger) and by any standard was one of the most talented child actors in pictures. (Ray made only a few films, including The Brave One, Space Children, and Lawrence of Arabia before retiring from the movies to further his education and becoming a multi-billionaire.) In contrast, George Nader, who is at least competent in this and was seen to much better advantage in other parts (such as "Self-Defense" on Alfred Hitchcock Presents), is a trifle perfunctory, as if he's afraid of showing too much emotion. Cornell Borchers is much better as David's sympathetic, but slightly unstable mother. Flood Tide is not an out and out thriller, but at times is threatens to turn into The Bad Seed with a sex change, and while we are always aware that this is a tormented ten-year-old boy, his behavior is very borderline and even criminal at times. Steve's attempts to play child psychologist, however, are often pitiful. Joanna Moore [Monster On the Campus] is fine in a small role as one of Steve's girlfriends, and Troy Donahue shows up very briefly as a young man on the beach who reports that David is ill. Cornell Borchers had mostly German credits and only one film and one TV appearance after this film was released. She and young Ray also appeared in The Divided Heart and she was Rock Hudson's leading lady in Never Say Goodbye.

Verdict: Absorbing, and sometimes moving, in spite of itself. ***. 

THE MILLION EYES OF SUMURU

Shirley Eaton as the evil Sumuru

 THE MILLION EYES OF SUMURU (1967).  Director: Lindsay Shonteff.

 Back in the 1950s Sax Rohmer, the creator of Fu   Manchu, decided to start another series about a  mysterious master villainess named Sumuru.  There were five books in this series. I've only  read two of the five books so far, and they are  fun, if below the fiendish and suspenseful level  of the Fu Manchu novels. But they are all  masterpieces compared to this woeful film  adaptation. In this Sumuru (Shirley Eaton), like  in the books, wants to create a new golden world  via her female helpmates and doesn't care who  she has to kill to get it. Tommy Carter (Frankie  Avalon) and Nick West (George Nader) are  some kind of agents out to stop Sumuru from various plots and assassinations. Million Eyes is cheap and cheap-looking, but the worst problem is the approach, which is meant to be light, even tongue-in-cheek, like a sixties spy film, but instead comes off as stupid. The shame of it is that Eaton [Your Past is Showing] not only looks beautiful in her dark wig but gives an excellent performance, perfectly embodying Sumuru in a way that would probably have pleased Sax Rohmer. The less said about Frankie Avalon, who wandered in from a beach party movie, and  George Nader [Shannon] the better. Nader was capable of some excellent performances, such as in a sixth season episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but he doesn't seem to have a clue as to how to play his role in a mish mosh like this. As in the novels, Sumuru has a habit of turning her enemies into stone. Wilfred Hyde-White adds a touch of class as Colonel Baisbrook and Klaus Kinski [Circus of Fear] is sort of fun as President Boong and his double. That same year James Coburn starred in In Like Flint, which was also about an all-female organization trying to take over the world. Maybe the screenwriter was a Sumuru fan.

Verdict: Both Sumuru and Sax Rohmer deserve better. Hell, even Frankie Avalon does! *1/2.

CARNIVAL STORY

Anne Baxter and George Nader

CARNIVAL STORY (1954). Director: Kurt Neumann.

"If you were starving to death, howling for food, I wouldn't throw you a rotten bone."

In this arresting and amusing melodrama, a female pickpocket named "Willie" (Anne Baxter) joins up with an American circus traveling in Germany. She falls hard for her first benefactor, Joe Hammond (Steve Cochran), but winds up doing a high-diving act with Frank Collini (Lyle Bettger). The third man in her life is photographer Bill Vines (George Nader), not to mention the circus owner Charley (Jay C. Flippen) and the mute strong man Groppo (Adi Berber). While hardly a filmic masterpiece, Carnival Story is very entertaining and Baxter gives a riveting performance, be it great acting or not. The supporting cast is also quite good, and there's a nice, evocative score by Willy Schmidt Gentner. Part Italian opera, part E.C. horror story, part masochistic romance, the movie is a lot of fun. Neumann also directed Kronos and Mohawk.

Verdict: Anne chews up the scenery, the dialogue, and everything else -- good for her! ***.