SLIGHTLY SCARLET

Rhonda Fleming and John Payne

SLIGHTLY SCARLET (1956). Director: Allan Dawn.

June Lyons (Rhonda Fleeming), who is secretary and more to mayoral candidate Frank Jansen (Kent Taylor), brings her sister, Dorothy (Arlene Dahl) home after the latter gets out of prison. Both women get involved with Ben Grace (John Payne), who is the brains behind a criminal outfit run by Solly Caspar (Ted de Corsia), who has had to take it on the lam. Now Ben tries to take over and get all his ducks in a row, including Jansen, the police chief, and the two attractive ladies -- although things get a bit dicey when Solly suddenly returns from Mexico ...

Such devoted sisters? Dahl and Fleming

Slightly Scarlet is entertaining enough but it has a script that goes all over the place, and Allan Dwan's direction is not strong enough to make up for it. What we're left with is some vivid emoting from Payne, going through his bad guy (but not that bad) film noir phase, a solid Fleming, a vivacious and sluttish Dahl making the most of her scenes, and de Corsia also making an impression as the decidedly nasty and nearly psychopathic Solly. Although Payne does a good job in playing Ben, the screenplay never seems to get a true handle on the guy, so there doesn't really seem to be anyone to root for in this mess. Kent Taylor has a few scenes as the man who becomes mayor but he isn't developed enough to be much of a factor. June seems overly devoted to her sister, a trampy shoplifter and worse who doesn't even seem to care when Solly makes it clear that he's going to murder June.

Payne and Dahl at that beach house

Other players include Ellen Corby as June's very pleasant housekeeper, Roy Gordon [War of the Colossal Beast] as a crusader against Solly who meets a horrible fate, George Wallace [Radar Men from the Moon] as a sullen member of Solly's gang, and Myron Healey [Hot Rod] as another colleague who tries to ventilate Ben to his regret. Solly owns a beach house that can best be described as "fabulous." This is based on as novel by James M. Cain. An RKO-Radio production, it was filmed in "Superscope."

Verdict: Not as much fun as the plot might suggest, but fun enough if you're in an undemanding mood. **1/2. 

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. ***. 

MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID

Esther Williams with Victor Mature

MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID (1952). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

Despite having to wear braces on her legs as a child, Australian Annette Kellerman (Esther Williams) becomes a swimming champion, winning race after race, in her native land. After her father, Frederick (Walter Pidgeon of Forbidden Planet),  has to close up his music conservatory, the two of them head for London and better prospects, where a impresario named James Sullivan (Victor Mature of Samson and Delilah) hires Annette to swim the Thames to create publicity for his new acquisition, a boxing kangaroo. But Sullivan's grand plan to have Annette star in a water ballet at New York's famed Hippodrome, may hit a snag.

Walter Pidgeon, Williams, Victor Mature

Million Dollar Mermaid is the fictionalized story of the real Annette Kellermann (with two "n"s), who was actually arrested for indecent exposure at Boston's Revere beach and designed a more stylish one-piece bathing suit for women to wear. The movie invents some other stuff to create a little more drama, such as a love rival for Sullivan in the form of Hippodrome manager Alfred Harper (David Brian), arguments between Annette and James, and an accident on a film set -- Kellermann made several silent movies --  in which a tank in which she's swimming cracks apart and she's severely injured. The performances in this are all quite good from the leads down to the supporting cast. Even Jesse White is more likable than usual as Jame's friend and associate, Doc. Howard Freeman also scores as Mr. Aldrich, who wants to book Annette for a lecture circuit. George Wallace [Radar Men from the Moon] shows up briefly as a stunt pilot.

Don't lose your grip, honey! 

Hired to handle the water ballet production numbers for the film, Busby Berkeley, pulled out all the stops. There are men skiing down a slope while the ladies rush below them in a watery funnel; men and women diving off of swings high in the air and slicing smoothly into the huge pool beneath them; Esther rising up out of the water as she holds on to a ring and dancers do their kaleidoscopic thing far, far  down below her. George J. Folsey's cinematography is excellent throughout the film as well. At one point Annette, who'd planned on becoming a ballet dancer, gushes over Paylova (Maria Tallchief), but Williams' efforts to perform some kind of underwater ballet are relatively pitiful.

Verdict: Entertaining biopic with pleasing performers and that certain MGM gloss.***. 

THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN KIDD

David Bruce, Richard Crane and John Crawford as Kidd

THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN KIDD (15 chapter Columbia serial/1953). Directors: Derwin Abbe [Abrahams]; Charles S. Gould.

"Kidd was sacrificed on the altar of greed and politics."

The amazing thing about this cliffhanger serial is that it manages to get the basic facts straight about Captain William Kidd, supposedly a notorious pirate. In the 17th century Kidd was assigned to track down pirates but legend has it that he became a pirate himself; he was hung for piracy and for murder [he did kill a member of his crew, but this may have been involuntary manslaughter or perhaps even self-defense]. Biographers have suggested that Kidd was railroaded, important evidence suppressed, and this serial supports that view [but perhaps tries too hard to make him out some kind of saint].

In 1697 when the U.S. was still under English rule, Captain Richard Dale (Richard Crane) is assigned to investigate the allegations of piracy regarding William Kidd (John Crawford), and he does so with the aid of his colleague, Alan Duncan (David Bruce). Along the way they are shanghaied, become fugitives, wind up on more than one pirate ship, and finally become part of Kidd's crew, although they are confused by the fact that he doesn't act at all like a pirate. If Dale didn't have enough problems, his superior, Robert Langdon (Nelson Leigh), is willing to betray him at the drop of a hat for his own ends, and in general a great conspiracy regarding Kidd seems to be in place. There are a few exciting cliffhangers, angry Mohawks, storms at sea, and more than one mutiny to keep things humming. Our heroes are thrown in a hay cart which is then thrown over a cliff, tossed into a fiery store room, and tied up directly in front of cannons that are just about to be lighted. In perhaps the most startling cliffhanger, Duncan throws a knife in his friend Dale's back.

Crane [The Mysterious Island serial; The Alligator People] gives one of his best performances in this, and both Bruce and Crawford are fine as Duncan and Captain Kidd. [Dale isn't the brightest fellow. Told to keep his assignment secret, he discusses it with Duncan in the middle of a crowded tavern!] Others in the cast include Marshall Reed [Pirates of the High Seas], effective as the pirate Robert Culliford, George Wallace [Radar Men from the Moon], who is quite vivid as the conspiratorial Buller, Gene Roth as a prisoner, Lyle Talbot, who shows up briefly as a Boston jailer, Michael Fox as a scurvy fellow, and even Eduardo Cansino, Jr,. the brother of Rita Hayworth, as a native; he had only a few credits. One assumes that choreographer Willetta Smith must have been a friend of the producers, as she doesn't make a particularly fetching princess in a couple of chapters. Crawford was in a number of serials, as well as Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl  [not as Kidd, However]. Bruce was Deanna Durbin's leading man in Lady on a Train and was also in Singapore Woman.

The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd has more of a story than most movie serials, fairly good production values and performances, and is entertaining on top of it.

Verdict: If you like lots of sword fights ... ***.

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON (1952). Director: Fred C. Brannon.

Although this is generally considered the sequel to King of the Rocket Men (and the second of three Rocket Man serials), it actually introduces a new character who wears the same helmet, uniform, and rocket pack: Commando Cody, played by George Wallace. Krog (Peter Brocco), an emissary from a Moon colony that needs to relocate to Earth due to atmospheric changes that threaten their survival, leads explosive attacks on US buildings, aided by some human thugs (one of whom is Clayton Moore, the Lone Ranger himself, quite good as a nasty bad guy). Earth decides to take the fight to the Moon, and Cody, pilot Hank (Wilson Wood), and Joan (Aline Towne) take off into Outer Space in a rocket built by Commando Cody. There they encounter Moon ruler Retik (Roy Barcroft), as well as more moon nasties inside tanks. (The tanks and the rocket ship are pretty neat, actually.) William Bakewell is cast as Cody's assistant Ted. Memorable cliffhangers include a flood of molten rock and a genuinely thrilling plane crash, among others. The FX are more than adequate. George Wallace may not be flamboyant or super-macho enough for some, but he imbues his character with a certain amount of quiet, manly dignity.

Verdict: More fun than a barrel of moon-men! ***.