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. ***. 

FROM VIENNA WITH LOVE: HEDY LAMARR

FROM VIENNA WITH LOVE: HEDY LAMARR.

This week Great Old Movies looks at the beautiful film star Hedy Lamarr (1914 - 2000), reviewing several of her movies as well as a biography written about her. We look at the film that first brought her to international attention, Ecstasy, and later films in which she did fine work, such as H. M. Pulham, Esq. and I Take This Woman. You can learn more of the biographical facts of the lady's life by reading the review of the book below.

Lamarr was often unfairly considered just a gorgeous manikin, but she could act, even if you might not have considered her for a role in, say, O'Neill or Williams. With the right part and director and sympathetic co-stars, she could often be quite adept and effective, and she could play romantic scenes with the best of them. A documentary of her life is entitled Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story and goes into her considerable scientific achievements (she was no dummy). Several of her films have already been reviewed on this blog -- just type in her name in the search bar on the above left and they will come up.

ECSTASY

Hedy Lamarr in her famous nude scene

ECSTASY (aka Ekstase/1933). Director: Gustav Machaty.

Eva (Hedy Kiesler, soon to be known as Hedy Lamarr) marries an older man named Emile (Zvonimir Rogoz) but he proves to be a cold fish. Eva returns to her father (Leopold Kramer) and sues her husband for divorce; Emile is heartbroken. One afternoon Eve takes a nude swim and runs after her horse -- still naked -- where she encounters a handsome engineer named Adam (Aribert Mog). The two fall in love, and an encounter between Adam and Emile leads to tragedy on more than one level.

German hunk Aribert Mog

Ecstasy is best-known as the film that attracted American movie producers to Hedy Lamarr, who caused a bit of a scandal with her nude scenes. First she is seen from the back as she goes into a lake, then there is a shot of full frontal nudity, then the chase after her horse. She is hidden by bushes in subsequent shots, and covers her breasts when she is discovered by an amused Adam. But forget about the nudity, there is so much more to this lovely tone-poem of a movie, which is by no means a sordid melodrama. There is so little dialogue that this is nearly a silent picture, were it not for the beautiful score by Giuseppe Becce, which despite his being Italian-born, is Viennese "schmaltz" at its finest -- intense, romantic, and full of melody, and yes, the Italian influence is also there. The cinematography (by a trio of photographers) is also quite good.

Lamarr and Mog 

Some people can't get into the movie because it's a bit "minimalist," with, as noted, little dialogue and only the broadest of characterizations. But as you are pulled along by the symphonic score, the photography, and the expressive performances of the cast members, it somehow doesn't matter. There is a very touching sequence at a train station, and the wind-up is also moving. There is a sex scene that is powerful and obvious without being graphic. The direction is very good, although Machaty perhaps overdoes the symbolism with the frequent shots of horses and flies. Whatever its flaws, Ecstasy is a worthwhile and very arresting picture. Mog was a popular leading man in Germany who died at 37 fighting the Russians. Gustav Machaty also directed American films such as Jealousy.

Verdict: This Austrio-Czechoslovakian co-production was  Hedy's fifth film and decidedly one of her most interesting and unusual. ***. 

I TAKE THIS WOMAN

Hedy Lamarr

I TAKE THIS WOMAN (1940). Director: W. S. Van Dyke.

"Time wounds all heels." -- Marcesca.

Georgi Gregore (Hedy Lamarr) tries to throw herself off of an ocean liner due to an unhappy love affair, but she is saved by the compassionate Dr. Karl Decker (Spencer Tracy). Georgi is still dealing with her feelings for the married Phil Mayberry (Kent Taylor), when she gets involved with Karl -- who works at a clinic for low-income patients -- and marries him. But trouble begins when Karl joins a practice that caters to the wealthy, and Georgi runs into her ex-lover, Phil, once more. Can this marriage be saved?

Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr

When I Take This Woman was first released, it came in for a mostly critical drubbing, and over the years has been considered a very bad picture starring a completely mis-matched Tracy and Lamarr. In actual truth, while the film is certainly not excellent, and at one point begins to rip off The Citadel, it is entertaining and very well-acted, with Tracy and Lamarr  playing very well together and making a very convincing romantic couple. In addition we've got some good work from Verree Teasdale as Georgi's effervescent friend, Marcesca, Kent Taylor as Phil, and Mona Barrie [Something to Sing About] as his bitter, heart-broken wife. Laraine Day, Louis Calhern, Frances Drake, and Paul Cavanagh also have notable supporting parts, along with Marjorie Main, Willie Best, Reed Hadley [Racket Squad], Don Castle [Roses are Red], and others.

I Take This Woman, alas, makes the mistake of trying to ape Frank Capra, throwing in a final scene that is sentimental in the wrong way and unconvincing. But the picture is still easy to take, Lamarr looks stunning, and the performances by both stars are quite memorable.

Verdict: Tracy and Lamarr make a better team than you might imagine. **3/4. 

H. M. PULHAM, ESQ.

Hedy Lamarr and Robert Young

H. M. PULHAM, ESQ. (1941). Director: King Vidor. Based on a novel by John P. Marquand.

Harry Pulham (Robert Young), a successful businessman with a mansion, wife and children, thinks back on his life and remembers the woman he fell in love with but didn't marry twenty years earlier. The oddly named Marvin Myles (Hedy Lamarr) is another copy writer in a firm where the young Harry is employed, and the two gradually fall in love. But Marvin is too independent to want to be a proper Bostonian wife, and Harry eventually marries someone else. Thinking that his marriage to wife Kay (Ruth Hussey) has been a failure, he goes to see Marvin again ...

Paging Marcus Welby? Robert Young

H. M. Pulham, Esq. has several notable features: an excellent performance by Hedy Lamarr [Algiers], which is generally considered the best of her career; a very good performance from Young [Honolulu], who seems superficial and miscast at first but handles subsequent scenes beautifully; a memorable supporting cast which includes Charles Coburn and Fay Holden as Harry's parents, Van Heflin as his buddy, and Hussey as his wife; and a truly lovely ending which explains the whole point and purpose of an enduring marriage between two people. Bronislau Kaper's [Them] score is also of note, as is King Vidor\s direction. In a two-shot with Young and Lamarr she leans back and falls into shadow, forecasting her eventual disappearance from his life.

Verdict: Interesting study of one man's life and loves. ***.

LET'S LIVE A LITTLE

Hedy Lamarr

LET'S LIVE A LITTLE (1948). Director: Richard Wallace.

Advertising man Duke Crawford (Robert Cummings) is fed up with women after dealing with his ex-fiancee Michelle Bennett (Anna Sten), a cosmetics queen. Michelle insists upon acting as if the two were still engaged, and Duke desperately needs her to sign a contract. Hoping for a male client, Duke decides to do publicity for a shrink who's written a book, but Dr. J. O. Loring (Hedy Lamarr) turns out to be a woman -- and what a woman! Finding Duke nervous and excitable, Dr. Loring takes him on as a patient, which does not sit well with her boyfriend, Dr. Field (Robert Shayne). Which woman will Duke ultimately wind up with?

Anna Sten and Hedy Lamarr

If Let's Live a Little works at all it is strictly because of the actors, all of whom give very good performances, but they are certainly let down by a script that strains to be funny. The screenwriter even resorts to using a variation of an old Marx Brothers line, with Duke telling Michelle "If I held you any tighter I'd be in back of you." A scene when the two rivals for Duke's affections sit at the same nightclub table could have been witty and scintillating, but falls flat instead. Most of the very few amusing moments in the picture are provided by Cummings, who is at home in this kind of material, whereas he was always miscast in dramas and suspense films. Lamarr is adept, and along with Sten and Shayne there are nice turns by Mary Treen [Swing Parade of 1946] as Duke's secretary and Norma Varden [Witness for the Prosecution] as Loring's nurse. Ernest Laszlo insures that gorgeous Lamarr looks luminescent throughout. Richard Wallace also directed Kiss and Tell.

Verdict: The actors try mightily to put this over but the material just isn't there. *1/2. 

A LADY WITHOUT PASSPORT

Hedy Lamarr

A LADY WITHOUT PASSPORT (1950). Director: Joseph H. Lewis.

Peter Karczag (John Hodiak of Lifeboat) is an immigration officer assigned to Havana, where he pretends to be a man named Josef Gombush. Peter is hoping to get the goods on Palinov (George Macready), who illegally gets people out of Cuba. One of the hopefuls is Marianne Loress (Hedy Lamarr), who is desperate to get back to the United States. Things are complicated when Peter and Marianne meet and fall for one another. Palinov takes Marianne and others on a flight to Florida and Peter follows ...

John Hodiak and Hedy Lamarr

A Lady Without Passport cobbles together elements from other and better movies and comes up with ... nothing. The movie proceeds without ever engaging our sympathies or even much interest for the cardboard characters on display. Although the actors do the best they can, none of them -- not even the formidable George Macready of Gilda -- can bring them to life. There is little if any action until the final minute or so, and it isn't worth waiting for. The movie is short, but not short enough. James Craig is a colleague of Peter's and Steven Hill of Mission: Impossible fame plays another fed.

Verdict: You can hardly wait until it's over. *.

BEAUTIFUL: THE LIFE OF HEDY LAMARR

BEAUTIFUL: THE LIFE OF HEDY LAMARR. Stephen Michael Shearer. St, Martin's; 2010.

This excellent biography scrutinizes the life and career of one of the world's most beautiful women, Hedy Lamarr, who was an Austrian-born Jew and came to the U.S. before the outbreak of WW2. She caused a sensation with a nude scene in the German-language Ecstasy, then made her first movie in Hollywood with Charles Boyer as her leading man: Algiers. Lamarr may not have been an acting genius but she was talented, and gave some perfectly convincing performances in many of her movies, which included The Strange Woman, Samson and Delilah, Crossroads, and White Cargo wherein she famously played the sexy Tondelayo. As for her private life, she had six unsuccessful marriages which had an emotional and financial cost on her and her husbands, numerous boyfriends, and in her later years was immersed in several lawsuits -- in addition to her repeatedly claiming that her expensive jewelry had been stolen -- and more than one arrest for shoplifting. Without the "protection" of the studio system, Lamarr got involved in often disastrous foreign productions, and playing Joan of Arc in Irwin Allen's Story of Mankind did her no good whatsoever. She also got a reputation for being "difficult" at times. Her last film was The Female Animal in 1958, in which John Gavin was replaced by George Nader, who was a better actor. Lamarr got back in the spotlight in her later years when it was revealed that she and composer Georges Antheil had developed technology that eventually led into the creation of cell phones and the like. (For more on this, see the documentary Bombshell.) Lamarr had two natural children, and adopted one boy that she didn't have much to do with in later years. Lamarr was furious about the publication of her ghost-written autobiography, "Ecstasy and Me," failing to vet the book and discovering it portrayed her as a nymphomaniac who had sex with both men and woman. (Shearer states that no evidence of lesbian affairs has ever been uncovered, not that any sophisticated person would care.) Beautiful is a well-researched, very well-written biography that is understanding of its subject without glossing over any of her flaws. Shearer is also the author of the similarly worthwhile "Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life." "Beautiful" would make a good mini-series, if only there was a modern-day actress would could play Lamarr!

Verdict: Excellent bio! ****. 

SAMSON AND DELILAH

Hedy Lamarr and Victor |Mature

SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949). Produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

In Gaza in 1000 B.C. the Danite Samson (Victor Mature), who is a hero to his people, dares to fall in love with Semadar (Angela Lansbury), even though she is a Philistine. Semadar's younger sister, Delilah (Hedy Lamarr) wants Samson for herself, and she is embittered over his rejection of her. When Samson's wedding to Semadar doesn't quite come off, it leads to violence and bloodshed, and Delilah vows to have her revenge.

Lamarr as Delilah

Samson and Delilah is an entertaining movie, but for most of its length it's curiously flat. Some of the minor supporting actors speak their lines as if they were in an old Republic serial and even for 1949 the whole production has an old-fashioned, even cheesy, tone to it. Neither Victor Mature nor even the beautiful Lamarr are especially well-cast. Their performances are good enough by old Hollywood standards, but there are other actors who could have done much, much more with the roles. (Mature would do more costume dramas such as The Robe in the future and his work in them would greatly improve.) Supporting players such as Lansbury; Henry Wilcoxon (as Ahtur, another of Semadar's suitors); Fay Holden as Samson's mother; Olive Deering [Caged] as Miriam, who loves Samson unrequitedly; Julia Faye as the maid Hisham; little Russ Tamblyn [Tom Thumb] as young Saul; and most notably, George Sanders as the Saran of Gaza, come off much better, with Sanders pretty much stealing the show.

The best acting comes from George Sanders

However, Samson and Delilah is worth the price of admission for no other reason than the last ten minutes, in which a humiliated Samson gathers his strength (why did the Dagon-worshipping Philistines let him grow his hair back?) and manages to literally bring the house down on the Philistines. Well-directed and edited, with good FX work, this sequence is a stunner even today. If only the whole movie had been on this level! Victor Young's score is disappointing, but the Oscar-winning costume designs by Edith Head and others are exquisite. The art direction also won an Oscar.

Others in the huge cast include Tom Tyler, Nils Asther, Claire Du Brey, Dorothy Adams, and -- of course --Pierre Watkin. George Reeves shows up as an injured messenger and is good, but he looks so different that I didn't even think this was the same actor who would play Superman a few years later. DeMille himself does the pompous narration that opens the film.

Verdict: Wait -- and wait -- for that great temple sequence! **3/4. 

BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY

Hedy Lamarr

BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY (2017). Director: Alexandra Dean.

Austrian-born and Jewish, Hedy Lamarr fled the Nazis and emigrated to America, where she was turned into a star after appearing in the controversial Ecstasy in her homeland. Her first American film was Algiers with Charles Boyer. A look at her films reveal an actress whose work could be uneven, but who could also offer effective, sensual, and warm performances in such films as Crossroads and Zeigfeld Girl. She turned to producing later on and worked on Edgar G. Ulmer's The Strange Woman with George Sanders. Bombshell concentrates less on her film career and more on her scientific work, which -- incredible as it may seem -- led to the wi-fi and blue tooth of today. Apparently Lamarr conceived of the idea of radio-controlled torpedoes during WW 2 (after reading of all the deaths at sea caused by German u-boats). Her main contribution was the idea of "frequency-hopping" to keep the Germans from interfering with the Allies' signals. This same frequency-hopping led to the cell phones and other devices that are commonplace today. The Navy rejected Lamarr's ideas (developed with the help of a friend, the American composer Georges Antheil), although they apparently used her technology anyway but never acknowledged it (or paid her for it) until she was an elderly recluse who had lost her beauty. Bombshell features interviews with her children, biographers and film critics, as well as comments from Lamarr herself from a taped interview she did with a magazine writer. If you're looking for an intensive exploration of her film work and/or comments from fellow actors, you won't find them, giving this otherwise excellent documentary a feeling of incompleteness. However, what we do get is undeniably absorbing, and the filmmakers were undoubtedly not interested in doing just another movie star bio. NOTE: This documentary can be viewed on Netflix and on DVD.

Verdict: Who knew Hedy was a genius? ***.

EDGAR G. ULMER: A FILMMAKER AT THE MARGINS

EDGAR G. ULMER: A FILMMAKER AT THE MARGINS. Noah Isenberg. University of California Press; 2014.

This excellent biography of a well-known low-budget filmmaker posits the theory that Ulmer would have been one of the giants of the film industry if he had only had a chance with major studios, bigger budgets and stars, and been a more entrenched part of the Hollywood "scene" he had little use for. Born in the Czech Republic, Ulmer was raised in Vienna and had a much more cultural background than the average studio director. Ulmer was taken under the wing of Universal studio head Carl Laemmle, but was quickly thrown out of favor when he fell for the wife, Shirley, of Laemmle's nephew; Shirley and Ulmer were later married. Umer found himself persona non gratis in Hollywood. Instead of working for the more prestigious Universal or another major studio, Ulmer instead toiled for PRC, where he eventually directed the minor classic Detour, along with other less distinguished pictures. Ulmer did get to direct fading stars such as Hedy Lamarr in The Strange Woman and Victor Mature in Hannibal for other studios. Ulmer also helmed foreign productions, Jewish films, "race" (or all-Black) films, and the famous VD movie Damaged Lives as well as such notable pictures as The Black Cat, Ruthless, The Man from Planet X, Bluebeard, and others. A Filmmaker at the Margins is well-researched and well-written. Although it may not convince everyone of Ulmer's genius, it is a first-class biography.

Verdict: Does right by Ulmer. ***1/2.

THE STRANGE WOMAN

Lovely by candlelight: Hedy Lamarr

THE STRANGE WOMAN (1946). Director: Edgar G. Ulmer.

Jenny Hagar (Hedy Lamarr), hoping to get away from her drunken father (Dennis Hoey), marries the wealthy and much older Isaiah Poster (Gene Lockhart of Something to Sing About), although her heart belongs to his son, Ephraim (Louis Hayward). Naturally there are complications in this household, including the addition of Ephraim's fiancee, Meg (Hillary Brooke of Big Town After Dark). Will Jenny lead both father and son to their doom? And what affect will her husband's associate John Evered (George Sanders) have on Jenny when he finally makes an appearance? This well-titled movie presents a lead character who is indeed "strange," a mass of contradictions, and whose actions you can never quite predict, which keeps The Strange Woman, an odd romantic melodrama, entertaining. The acting in this is quite good all around, with a gorgeous Lamarr generally on top of things but for a few more difficult moments. Among the supporting cast Olive Blakeney [Henry Aldrich, Boy Scout] makes an impression as the housekeeper, Mrs. Hollis. The movie never seems entirely credible, but it is entertaining as you watch and wonder what Jenny might be up to next. Ulmer's direction is a little uneven at times.

Verdict: Strange movie. ***.

ALGIERS

Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr

ALGIERS (1938). Director: John Cromwell.

Hiding out in the Casbah, jewel thief Pepe le Moko (Charles Boyer) falls for Gaby (Hedy Lamarr), the fiancee of a wealthy tourist. But will the woman who adores him, Ines (Sigrid Gurie), be indirectly responsible for his destruction? Algiers is the first American remake of the French film Pepe le Moko, which had only come out one year earlier. Algiers is virtually a scene for scene remake of Pepe -- sometimes even a shot for shot remake -- but it still has the edge on the French original. For one thing, we have Charles Boyer [Gaslight] in the title role, and he is not only much more "romantic"-looking than the rather potato-faced Jean Gabin, but offers a much more nuanced and emotional performance. Although most of her dialogue is virtually the same as in Pepe, Hedy Lamarr  [Crossroads] gives a much warmer and more human delivery, making her character much more likable. Gurie is fine as Ines, although this version is less compassionate toward her than the original, which cuts her out of the ending and has Slimane, the inspector, telling her off for betraying Pepe. Slimane is portrayed by Joseph Calleia [Five Came Back], and it is one of the actor's most memorable performances. Others in the cast include Johnny Downs as Pierrot, Joan Woodbury as his girlfriend, and Leonid Kinskey as L'Arbi. Boyer sings a song (C'est la vie) as Gabin did in the original, but the sequence where Tania sings has been omitted. Another plus for this version is an effective musical score by Mohamed Ygerbuchen and Vincent Scotto. James Wong Howe was cinematographer. Of course in neither version of the story does the romanticized criminal Moko seem that much like a real person. Incidentally, Boyer never says the line "Come with me to the Casbah; we will make beautiful music together"--  more's the pity! Samuel Goldwyn discovery Sigrid Guris, a "Norwegian" actress born in Flatbush, only made a few movies. Remade as Casbah with Tony Martin.

Verdict: More fun in the Casbah! ***.

ZEIGFELD GIRL

HIGH CAMP: Judy Garland on top of poles

ZIEGFELD GIRL (1941). Director: Robert Z. Leonard.

Three young ladies are chosen to join Ziegfeld's Follies (Ziegfeld himself is never seen): Sandra (Hedy Lamarr), who is married to a jealous, out-of-work violinist, Franz (Philip Dorn) but is courted by the handsome singer, Frank (Tony Martin); Sheila (Lana Turner), who has a truck-driving boyfriend, Gil (James Stewart) but who is drawn to the wealthy Geoffrey (Ian Hunter); and Susan (Judy Garland), who has been working for years with her has-been father, "Pop" Gallagher (Charles Winninger), who is afraid he'll be nothing without her. Pop tries to get Susan to sing in a hokey, super-fast, old-fashioned style -- as the director, John (Paul Kelly) puts it "they quit beating a song to death ten years ago" -- but when she delivers "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" as a ballad the whole audience is moved. (Of course, it makes little sense that the diminutive Garland would ever have been hired as a showgirl, and in one scene in fact she is told that she is not a showgirl, so I'm not certain what she was supposed to be doing before her singing talent was discovered.) This is one of probably dozens of films that look at the trials and tribulations of three women hoping for success in show business -- you can even include Valley of the Dolls in the bunch, for that matter -- and while the melodramatics are cliched and not that interesting, the picture is still quite entertaining. Busby Berkeley put together the production numbers, the best of which is Garland's "Minnie from Trinidad," which definitely turns into high-camp when Garland is lifted high above the stage atop poles at the finale! Garland is swell, Lamarr is beautiful and effective, and Turner isn't quite up to her more dramatic scenes, in which she tends to over-act, to put it mildly. Turner is chosen to be the gal who nearly winds up in the gutter, but even when she becomes a drunk she still looks glamorous! Jimmy Stewart is miscast and somewhat perfunctory in this, although he gets plenty of scenes. Eve Arden shows up once or twice doing her usual schtick; Fay Holden appears briefly as Lana's mother ("I didn't raise my boy to be a Ziegfeld girl," she says to Jackie Cooper when he imitates his sister); Paul Kelly orders the show girls around but isn't really given a character to play; and Tony Martin has a handsome face, a beautiful voice, and is charmingly smarmy as Frank. There are notable if quite small, supporting performances from Rose Hobart as Martin's neglected wife, and Renie Riano [Nancy Drew -- Detective]  as Annie, Lana's wise-cracking maid. I've no doubt Ziegfeld gals, especially the more popular ones, were paid comparatively well, but Lana's apartment looks like something a major film star like Joan Crawford might have lived in! But that's the movies! NOTE: Not to be confused with The Great Ziegfeld in which the great Ziegfeld actually appeared.

Verdict: Likable musical with attractive players. *** out of 4.

DISHONORED LADY

DISHONORED LADY (1947). Director: Robert Stevenson.

"You're a voluptuous pain in the neck."

"I'm mad about you -- in my own foul way."

Beautiful New York City magazine editor Madeleine Damian (Hedy Lamarr) tries to kill herself out of what seems to be ennui and is counseled by a rather patronizing psychiatrist (Morris Carnovsky), who encourages her to start a brand new life for herself. She meets a handsome scientist, David (Dennis O'Keefe), who lives upstairs and falls in love, but then her past intrudes, in the form of sleazy lover boy Felix Courtland (John Loder) and even sleazier former co-worker Jack Garet (William Lundigan). When Madeleine is accused of murder, David turns against her in the snap of a finger! [Why anyone would expect such a beautiful woman not to have admirers and previous boyfriends ... !] Lamarr [Crossroads] and the other actors are perfectly fine in this, but the screenplay is a load of rot. Paul Cavanagh and Natalie Schafer [Female on the Beach] are their usual adept selves as Madeleine's former associates, and there are appearances by Margaret Hamilton as a landlady, and Douglass Dumbrille as a prosecutor; both are swell. (Ms. Damian is quite a woman: it's not that she doesn't scream at the sight of a mouse, but that she's actually able to grab and pick up one of the little vermin without trouble! Faster than a mouse? Sure!)  It's fun to watch those two blond Hollywood pretty boys, O'Keefe and Lundigan [The White Orchid], having a knockdown, drag-out battle -- guess who wins? Lundigan is effective in an unusual bad boy role for him.

Verdict: An attractive, competent cast doesn't hurt, but oh that story! **.

THE CONSPIRATORS

THE CONSPIRATORS (1944). Jean Negulesco.

Paul Henreid stars as Vincent Van Der Lyn, aka "the Flying Dutchman," a spy who is up to his neck in intrigue in Lisbon. There he encounters a beautiful woman, Irene (Hedy Lamarr), with a much older husband, as well as a group of anti-German spies headed by Ricardo Quintanilla (the very un-Spanish Sydney Greenstreet, pictured). When Vincent is framed for the murder of an agent in his hotel room, he manages to escape from prison and sets out to find out who set him up. There is some suspense during the jail break, as well as during the climax in a casino, but The Conspirators is a distinctly third-rate, often illogical and ludicrous spy trifle that seems to take four hours to get nowhere. A host of fine character actors -- Kurt Katch, Victor Francen, among others -- add to the film's limited enjoyment level, but Greenstreet hasn't enough to do and Peter Lorre has even less.

Verdict: Skip it! *1/2.

EXPERIMENT PERILOUS

EXPERIMENT PERILOUS (1944). Director: Jacques Tourneur.

In 1903 Hunt Bailey (George Brent), a psychiatrist, gets involved with the Bederaux family, who are keeping secrets. Nick Bederaux (Paul Lukas) wants Bailey to examine his wife, Allida (Hedy Lamarr), whose behavior, he believes, is having a negative effect on their cute little boy (a charming, uncredited child actor). Bailey suspects that it's Nick who's having a negative effect on his beautiful wife, but then Bailey is falling in love with her. Surprisingly, Tourneur does very little with this material, but the script might have even taxed Hitchcock. Slow, unconvincing and dull, there's no suspense and no peril in the movie until the very last few minutes. Albert Dekker is a friend of Bailey's and Margaret Wycherly is his maid, Maggie. The material gives the actors little to work with, but Lukas comes off best.

Verdict: An experiment in tedium. *1/2.

WHITE CARGO

WHITE CARGO (1942). Director: Richard Thorpe.

"I am -- Tondelayo."

1942 audiences must have gotten awfully impatient waiting for the lusty new Hedy Lamarr to show up as the sexy Tondelayo because she doesn't make her entrance for a full thirty minutes (over a third of the running time.) But after that she certainly causes a lot of mischief. Tondelayo is an Arabian-Egyptian beauty (she was Black in the original story) who does her best to ensorcel the men supervising the tending of rubber plants on a lonely outpost in Africa. Her latest target is Langford (Richard Carlson), who's continuously hoping to get "acclimatized" to the environment. Tondelayo also has a hankering for Larry Witzel (Walter Pidgeon), Carlson's belligerent co-worker. Frank Morgan is the tippling doctor who seems more interested in getting stewed than in fraternizing with Tondelayo. Lamarr isn't bad as the temptress, and the others offer vivid performances as well, with Morgan the cast stand-out. Amusing, entertaining picture takes a while to get started but once it does it's fun.

Verdict: Let Tondelayo make you "tiffin." **1/2.

CROSSROADS

CROSSROADS (1942). Director: Jack Conway.

Parisian government official David Talbot (William Powell) winds up in the center of a mystery when a man who tried to blackmail him claims that he is actually petty thief Jean Pelletier, who appropriated Talbot's identity after a train crash. As Talbot has amnesia, even he can't be certain that he isn't Pelletier. This situation is complicated by Henri Sarrou (Basil Rathbone) who claims that he and Pelletier committed a robbery that resulted in a man's murder, and Michelle Allaine (Claire Trevor), who says that she and Pelletier -- Talbot -- were once lovers. This last is especially distressing to Talbot's wife Lucienne (Hedy Lamarr). The suspenseful film doesn't reveal the truth about Talbot until nearly the end, and the acting is great. Powell and Lamarr play very well together, Powell a bit more intense than usual and Lamarr giving one of her loveliest interpretations. Rathbone is perfection as the oily Sarrou, and Trevor is tough and saucy as Michelle. Margaret Wycherly nearly steals the picture from everyone as Pelletier's old mother, however.

Verdict: Very engaging mystery. ***.