ONE OF MY WIVES IS MISSING

James Franciscus and Jack Klugman

ONE OF MY WIVES IS MISSING  (1976 telefilm). Director: Glenn Jordan.

Daniel Corban (James Franciscus) is on his honeymoon in a small town when he tells Inspector Levine (Jack Klugman) that his wife walked out after a minor argument and hasn't been seen since. The laid-back Levine tries to be sympathetic but doesn't think there's much to worry about, especially when Mrs. Corban (Elizabeth Ashley) walks in and announces that she's back. The only problem is that Corban insists that he has never seen this woman before and that she is not Elizabeth Corban! Although Corban thinks of every way he can to convince the inspector that he's telling the truth, his "wife" counters his every move, and the situation truly begins to look desperate ... 

Elizabeth Ashley

Three good lead performances are at the heart of One of My Wives, a twisty tale that has been told before and afterwards. Anne Baxter was the harried honeymooner in Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958), then Janet Leigh in Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969). In 1986 came yet another telefilm, Vanishing Act, which starred Elliot Gould as the honeymooning husband. These were all official or uncredited versions of Robert Thomas' stage play "Trap for a Single Man." Like other versions, One of My Wives is suspenseful and intriguing, bolstered by Klugman's pleasant cop, Ashley's increasingly sinister and witchy portrayal, and Franciscus' credibly mounting fear, confusion and alarm. There is also good work from Joel Fabiani as a priest, Milton Selzer as a grocer, and the ever-lovable Ruth McDevitt as a neighbor. 

Verdict: Good version of this oft-told tale. ***. 

FOUR BOYS AND A GUN

Hinnant, Franciscus, Sutton, and Green -- with the gun

FOUR BOYS AND A GUN (1957). Director: William Berke.

Four young neighborhood buddies have their problems. Eddie (Tarry Green) learns that his girlfriend, Marie (Diana Herbert), is dating their boss, who fires him. Ollie (Frank Sutton) has gambling debts that could get his legs broken. Johnny (James Franciscus of I Passed for White), who has a wife and baby on the way and has high hopes for a boxing career, is told he's strictly an amateur with no future. Stanley (William Hinnant) is a little nerd who can't get a girlfriend. To make matters worse, the proceeds for a dance they put together, hundreds of dollars, are stolen by some hoods.

James Franciscus

The "boys" -- with the exception of Johnny -- go on a nasty spree where they mug a cab driver and walk out of an expensive restaurant without paying. They then importune Johnny in joining them in a robbery of the arena where he had his last fight. Unfortunately, during the botched robbery, a police officer with a family is shot and killed. Although technically all four of the participants are guilty of murder, the DA wants to know specifically which one fired the gun. Amidst flashbacks showing events leading up to the robbery, the boys contemplate their future and try to blame each other for what happened.

Frank Sutton and Tarry Green

Four Boys and a Gun is an unusual feature with an intriguing storyline. None of the characters are especially likable, however, even the more sympathetic Stanley and the more mature Johnny. In fact, most of them come off like total creeps. The boys develop some very unlikely nobility at the end, which is otherwise uncompromising. The dialogue as they analyze each other's shortcomings in crude fashion rings true, although the legal aspects are suspect. The performances are too stagy at times, with Sutton making the best impression. Of the four actors, Franciscus had the biggest career, although Sutton eventually played the nasty marine on Gomer Pyle. This was the only film Tarry Green appeared in, although he did have a couple of TV credits. William Hinnant had a few more credits and also did a lot of stage work. He died at 42 in a drowning accident. Smaller roles are played by Frank Campanella as a cop, Nancy Devlin as Eddie's sister, who likes Ollie, and Patricia Bosworth as Johnny's pregnant wife.

Verdict: Something different. **3/4. 

I PASSED FOR WHITE

James Franciscus and Sonya Wilde

I PASSED FOR WHITE (1960). Director: Fred M. Wilcox.

Bernice Lee (Sonya Wilde), who is biracial, finds herself discriminated against by both whites and blacks. She travels to New York, where she discovers that one firm won't hire her -- despite her qualifications -- simply because she's a "Negro." Lying about her race, she gets a good job and begins a romance with a handsome man, Rick (James Franciscus of The Valley of Gwangi), whom she meets on the plane. But when they fall in love, how far is Bernice -- now known as Lila Brownell -- willing to go with her deception, and can she get away with it?

Lon Ballantyne and Sonya Wilde

I Passed for White has a similar premise to the superior Pinky, which came out eleven years earlier. But while both feature interracial relationships, I Passed for White deals with its heroine in the white urban world and has her interacting with her fiance's upper crust family, who are a bit suspicious -- never dreaming she's part black but wondering why she keeps telling false stories about her family. One of the movie's best scenes has her in a nightclub with her husband and in-laws, and encountering her brother, Chuck (Lon Ballantyne), which leads to an ugly scene that clearly suggests that Rick is a racist.

James Franciscus

Sonya Wilde has her moments as Bernice, but at twenty-one she seems a bit inexperienced to completely pull off such a difficult role; she had only a few credits afterward. Many of the other actors offer somewhat obvious and stilted performances, as if they were appearing in a amateur stage play, although James Franciscus is surprisingly excellent as Rick -- it's no surprise the actor went places, however. Of the supporting cast, the most notable are the aforementioned Ballantyne, who is a nice actor, and Isabel Cooley as the sympathetic maid, Bertha. Two other cast members of note are Jimmy Lydon [Strange Illusion] as a friend of Rick's and Thomas Browne Henry [The Robe] as a doctor. Unfortunately, neither has much to do. Fred M. Wilcox had previously directed Forbidden Planet!

Verdict: No Pinky, but it does have several good sequences. **3/4. 

THE MUGGER

Kent Smith, Nan Martin, James Franciscus

THE MUGGER (1958). Producer/director: William Berke. Based on a novel by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter).

An unidentified man is running about the city stealing women's purses and leaving a slight slash on their cheeks. Lt. Pete Graham (Kent Smith of Nora Prentiss), a police psychiatrist, is assigned to the case. He is convinced that it is unlikely the "mugger" will move up to murder, but then a victim, Jeannie (Sandra Church), is found dead. But was she really a victim of this mugger, or did someone else kill her? Suspects in the case include Nicholas Grecco (George Maharis), who was infatuated with the murder victim; cab driver Eddie Baxter (James Franciscus), who was the brother-in-law of the victim; and Franklin Corey (Bert Thorn), who may be hiding a secret from his wife  Graham's fiancee is policewoman Claire Townsend (Nan Martin), who goes out undercover to try to catch the mugger. Dick O'Neill is a police sergeant and Renee Taylor plays a woman who is being followed -- by her husband.

James Franciscus and Kent Smith

The Mugger is a slick, low-budget, generally absorbing feature that in some ways resembles a television crime show. A very young James Franciscus [The Valley of Gwangi] has some good scenes as the cab driver; Smith is reasonably effective; Maharis [Journey to the Unknown] plays his character like a nerd to explain why Jeannie doesn't want to date him; and the other performers are all competent. The most chilling thing about the movie is after the killer is dispatched in a grisly fashion, and an old man who witnessed the death (and doesn't know the person was a murderer) waxes philosophical about the event without displaying a shred of compassion, although this may have to do with some insufficient emoting on the bit actor's part.

Verdict: Okay programmer with some interesting players. **1/2. 

THE VALLEY OF GWANGI

Gwangi goes to church

THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969). Director: James O'Connolly.

T.J. (Gila Golan) runs a circus in turn of the century Mexico with her older friend, Champ (Richard Carlson). Back into their lives comes T.J.'s old boyfriend, Tuck (James Franciscus), who ran out on T.J. some time before. T.J. has a new act, a cute little horse (or prehistoric eohippus) who was found in the desert. But this attraction is nothing compared to the animals inside a hidden valley where the tiny horse came from. There are pterodactyls, a belligerent triceratops, and most of all, Gwangi, a fearsome combo of allosaurus and T Rex that chomps on one luckless fellow (Gustavo Rojo) and is ready for more before a rock slide helps Tuck and the others capture him. This is another in a long line of movies (stretching from before King Kong to Jurassic World and beyond) in which a dangerous creature is put on display and breaks out of confinement, causing havoc. The chief selling point of this is some absolutely amazing stop-motion effects work by Ray Harryhausen, clearly working on all cylinders. Gwangi is a wonderful creation, angry, confused, hungry, snapping and tearing at anything in its way. The sequence when the cowboys attempt to lasso the monster is superb, seamless -- I mean, who needs CSI? Another stunning sequence has the monster entering a huge Cathedral and stalking Tuck and the others while its heavy footsteps reverberate all through the building. There is the infrequent use of unconvincing props of assorted creatures, but generally the FX work is fluid and exacting. The story is based on a script put together by stop-motion specialist Willis O'Brien (King Kong), and it is serviceable. Carlson [Riders to the Stars] and Franciscus [Great White] are fine, as is Laurence Naismith as a paleontologist. Gila Golan appears to be dubbed, along with little Curtis Arden as the orphan boy, Lope. As for the film's romance between Tuck and T.J., one can only imagine the real melodrama will come afterward considering what happens to the circus.

The DVD for the movie has a featurette in which several CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) specialists are highly complimentary of Harryhausen's influential work on this film, of which they certainly should be.

Verdict: Lively Gwangi, and some superb stop-motion effects, make this a winner. ***1/2.

BUTTERFLY

Pia Zadora and Orson Welles -- in the same movie!

BUTTERFLY (1982). Director: Matt Cimber.

In 1937 at the Arizona-Nevada border Kady Tyler (Pia Zadora) comes to live with the father she never knew, a man named Jess (Stacy Keach), who is the caretaker for an abandoned silver mine. Despite their biological connection, Kady and Jess are drawn to one another, something which bothers Jess but doesn't seem to bother the much too free-spirited Kady. Kady's dying mother, Belle (Lois Nettleton), comes calling, along with the man Belle ran off with, Moke Blue (James Franciscus). Then there's Wash Gillespie (Edward Albert), the son of the owner of the mine, and the father of Kady's baby and her fiance. How far will Jess go to get Kady for himself -- and is she really his daughter? Butterfly certainly holds the attention with its intriguing if bizarre situations, as well as some very good acting. Keach takes top honors, with Nettleton a close second, and Franciscus [Youngblood Hawke] also scores in some emotional scenes inside the mine. Pia Zadora [Hairspray] is not bad at all, although one couldn't necessarily call her a great actress -- her pouty looks and attitude fit the part. Orson Welles, of all people, shows up as a judge at two separate trials involving Kady and Jess, and is very effective and amusing. Edward Albert [Galaxy of Terror] is fine as Kady's boyfriend, and in one brief scene June Lockhart and Ed McMahon [!] play his parents -- McMahon is no actor. Stuart Whitman, however, makes his mark as a preacher. This forgotten movie is based on a novel by James M. Cain.

Verdict: Twisted, but interesting, love story. ***.

YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE

YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE (1964). Writer/director: Delmer Daves. Based on the novel by Herman Wouk.

Arthur "Youngblood" Hawke (James Franciscus) is living with his mother (Mildred Dunnock) in a cabin in Kentucky when he learns that Jason Prince (Lee Bowman) wants to publish his novel. Arthur goes to New York where he becomes the toast of the town and promptly begins an affair with actors' agent Freida Winter (Genevieve Page), who is married with children. Meanwhile Arthur's editor, Jeanne (Suzanne Pleshette), is falling in love with him as well. Youngblood Hawke is entertaining and not quite a soap opera, but something about it just doesn't jell. First, while Franciscus isn't bad, he never comes off like a reader, let alone a writer who wins a Pulitzer Prize, and there's nothing remotely poor-Southern-Kentuckian about him (despite Franciscus' coming from Missouri). Then there's the screenplay, which doesn't even seem to make much of an effort to seriously delineate a writer's life or career -- everything is subordinate to his love troubles. It comes across that Youngblood's chief appeal is his sex appeal and not the literary quality of his novels, but the movie misses most opportunities to explore this with depth. Pleshette is okay if unspectacular, but hers is a small secondary role compared to Genevieve Page, who gives a sensitive and outstanding performance as Freida. Eva Gabor [It Started with a Kiss] is a party hostess; John Emery an aging actor; Don Porter [The Norliss Tapes] Arthur's agent; Mary Astor an actress who importunes Arthur to write the play version of his first novel for her; and Kent Smith, Freida's husband. All of these are quite good, but perhaps the best impression is made by Edward Andrews as the acerbic critic Quentin Judd, who rips apart Hawke's latest novel in front of a large gathering. Young Pat Cardi [Let's Kill Uncle] is also effective in the role of Freida's tragic son.

Verdict: Entertaining and fast-moving, but only Hollywood's idea of a writer's life. ***.