OPERATION BIKINI

OPERATION BIKINI (1963). Director: Anthony Carras.

During the days of WW2 a submarine commanded by Captain Carey (Scott Brady) takes on a host of Marine underwater demolition experts, which in turn is led by Lt. Morgan Hayes (Tab Hunter). The sub is to take this gang to the Bikini atoll, where they are to destroy a submarine sunk by the Japanese. It seems this sub has special radar equipment on it that the allies don't want the Japs to get their hands on. Others on the demolition team include Joseph (Frankie Avalon), Floyd (Gary Crosby), Ed (Jim Backus), and William (Jody McCrea). Michael Dante plays Carey's second-in-command. On Bikini, Hayes and his band team up with certain friendly islanders, including Reiko (Eva Six), who has a brief dalliance with Hayes. 

Eva Six and Tab Hunter

American-International Pictures brought together some Beach Party players such as Avalon and McCrea, dropped in Tab Hunter, and "introduced" Hungarian actress Eva Six, who only made two more movies besides this one. Operation Bikini is pretty cheap and largely dull, although there are occasional spurts of action. Avalon, Hunter and the others turn in decent enough performances. Avalon even sings a song during a dream sequence, and proves not to be a bad singer at all. 

Tab Hunter

In the dream sequence Frankie is torn between his "girl back home," played by Nancy Dusina, and a sexy temptress, played by Judy Lewis. Lewis was the daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable. She had 28 credits, including Perry Mason, 77 Sunset Strip and The Secret Storm. The best thing about Operation Bikini is that unlike such films as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea it features a realistic sub and gets across just what it's like to be in a cramped, uncomfortable submarine. 

Verdict: Ultimately, this is pretty much a waste of time. *1/2. 

DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK

Marilyn Monroe

DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952). Director: Roy Ward Baker. Based on the novel "Mischief" by Charlotte Armstrong.

Eddie Forbes (Elisha Cook Jr.) is an elevator operator at Manhattan's McKinley Hotel who wishes he had never let his niece, Nell (Marilyn Monroe), babysit for the young daughter of guests Peter and Ruth Jones (Jim Backus and Lurene Tuttle of The Manitou). For Nell has been disturbed ever since the man she loved died at sea in a plane crash. It doesn't help that she encounters a pilot named Jed Towers (Richard Widmark), whose girlfriend, Lyn (Anne Bancroft of Gorilla At Large) told him to take a hike because she not only feels they have no future but finds him essentially cold. Confusing Jed with the dead man, Nell becomes increasingly unraveled and things look more and more dangerous for her and the little girl (Donna Corcoran) and possibly Jed as well ... Marilyn Monroe is given a pretty tough assignment to play an emotionally disturbed, indeed mentally ill woman in this, and her performance ranges from some quietly effective moments to the occasionally embarrassing one; but all in all she's good and may even manage to wrangle a tear or two from some viewers. Bancroft and Widmark are excellent, and there is also notable work from young Corcoran, as well as Verna Felton (the stern maid on I Love Lucy) and Don Beddoe, as a nosy hotel guest and her husband. Gloria Blondell is a nightclub photographer, Jeanne Cagney plays a telephone operator, and Michael Ross [Attack of the 50 Foot Woman] is the house dick.  The ending to this is rather moving, and none of the major characters are untouched by the experience. This was released by Twentieth Century Fox with big-name leads, but it's essentially a "B" movie with a short running time. 

Verdict: Sad story of a grieving, neurotic woman disguised as a competent little thriller. ***. 

THE BIG OPERATOR

Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren

THE BIG OPERATOR (1959). Director: Charles F. Haas.

Bill Gibson (Steve Cochran) comes afoul of a foul union boss named Little Joe Braun (Mickey Rooney). In his campaign to keep everyone in line and stay out of jail, Braun has Gibson's friend and neighbor -- and an angry union advocate -- Fred McAfee (Mel Torme) beaten, dumped and set on fire. Worse, Braun has Gibson's little boy, Tommy (Jay North), kidnapped, leading to a surprisingly dull and protracted scene when Gibson and his wife, Mary (Mamie Van Doren) drive around -- and around and around -- searching for the kid. The Big Operator is decidedly minor-league film noir of a type, but it is distinguished by some vivid performances. Rooney gets top honors for his sterling portrait of the loathsome mob boss, with Ray Danton also making his mark as Braun's "executioner." Cochran [The Chase], and even Van Doren [Born Reckless], are fine as the parents (in an early scene they express worry over the child and then leave him alone in the house!), and while not a "revelation" as such, Mel Torme [The Fearmakers] is quite good as McAfee. Others in the cast include everyone from Jim Backus and Vampira (Maila Nurmi) to Jackie Coogan and 'Red" Barry, with Ziva Rodann thrown in for good measure.

Verdict: Minor crime film with interesting cast. **.

BILLIE

Patty Duke pulls ahead of the boys

BILLIE (1965). Director: Don Weis.

15-year-old Billie (a 19-year-old Patty Duke) is a real tomboy who excels in sports, especially track. Before long the coach (Charles Lane) is making her his star player, but she's afraid this won't make her seem feminine enough. Will her new boyfriend, Mike (Warren Berlinger), accept her as an equal, or will she have to change herself to keep him? Billie, which was based on the play "Time Out for Ginger," has a surprisingly feminist perspective, until it completely cops out at the very end. [An entire book, which I have not read, has been written about this movie and its implications.] The elephant in the room, which is never mentioned outright, is that her family deep down probably fears that the boyish, athletic Billie may be a lesbian [or transgender]. She's given a whole song in which she rhapsodizes about discovering she's attracted to boys. The dated aspect of the movie is that even in the sixties there were female athletes, and they weren't all gay. [Not to mention the innumerable movies about tomboys who discover they're "women."] Duke [Curse of the Black Widow] is okay, although there are too many close-ups of her running, her scrunched-up face being positively thrust out at the viewer. A production number of chorus boy/athletes has them acting as if Duke were the sexiest teenager in the world, when actually Jane Greer [Run for the Sun], playing Duke's mother, is a lot more attractive (although Duke looks okay at the end when she's dolled up). Greer is excellent, Jim Backus is quite good as Billie's father, and there's nice work from Susan Seaforth as Billie's sister who, unbeknowst to her family, is married and pregnant. Others in the cast include Billy De Wolfe as Backus' political opponent -- who is not given enough to do -- and Ted Bessell as Seaforth's husband. Don Weis also directed Looking for Love with Connie Francis.

Verdict: Doesn't seem to understand that a woman can be an athlete and a "girl" at the same time. **1/2.

HOLLYWOOD STORY

HOLLYWOOD STORY (1951). Director: William Castle.

Larry O'Brien (Richard Conte) is a producer who becomes fascinated by an old Hollywood mystery, the still-unsolved 1929 murder of silent film director Franklin Farrara. Larry decides to make a film about the murder, and hires an old screenwriter named Vincent St. Clair (Henry Hull of Werewolf of London), who once worked with the victim.  When someone takes a shot at Larry, he realizes the killer is still alive and doesn't want even a chance of the truth coming out. Richard Egan is cast as a police lieutenant, and Jim Backus is Larry's agent, Mitch. An uncredited Paul Cavanaugh [he's not even listed in the cast on imdb.com] plays aging actor Roland Paul, who was always one of the suspects, along with Sam Collyer (Fred Clark). William Farnum, Francis X. Bushman [The Phantom Planet], and Joel McCrea play themselves in cameos. The best performance is given by Julia/Julie Adams, who apparently knows more than she's saying and may have some unknown connection to the crime. This movie is of interest primarily because it was directed by William Castle [Strait-Jacket], but even with that distinction it has still been forgotten. The trouble is that it has very little suspense, a dull mystery, and plays like nothing so much as a TV pilot. However, the cast may hold your attention.

Verdict: One mystery that doesn't need solving. **.

HALF ANGEL

Joseph Cotten and Loretta Young

HALF ANGEL (1951). Director: Richard Sale.

"What the night shift has done to what was once irresistible beauty!"  -- Nurse Kay

Now here's a weird one. Nurse Nora Gilpin (Loretta Young) is engaged to her boyfriend Tim (John Ridgely), but at night she enters a trance state and pays lascivious calls on a man she normally hates, a lawyer named John Raymond (Joseph Cotten). John is convinced he knows Nora from somewhere, but when he tries to speak to her during the daytime, she becomes apoplectic, leading to a trial and various complications. Half Angel seems to be using an old screwball script from the 1930's but it just doesn't work twenty years later, even though both Young and Cotten give good performances. Cecil Kellaway is Nora's father, and Irene Ryan of The Beverly Hillbillies adds a slight bit of fun as Nurse Kay. Jim Backus also has a supporting role. As usual in movies of this nature, Ridgely's character is treated very badly.

Verdict: Sleepwalking and multiple personalities given the allegedly comedic approach. **1/2.

MACABRE

MACABRE (1958). Director: William Castle.

The whole town seems mad at Dr. Rod Barrett (William Prince) because there was nothing he could do to save the life of blind Nancy Tyloe (Christine White), who was married to the Police Chief (Jim Backus) and was the second daughter of Jode Wetherby (Philip Tonge). Barrett had been married to Wetherby's other daughter, Alice (Dorothy Morris), who died in childbirth, but he is now engaged to Sylvia (Susan Morrow). One afternoon Barrett's nurse, Polly (Jacqueline Scott), receives a phone call: an unknown person tells her that Barrett's daughter, Marge (Linda Guderman) has been kidnapped and buried alive -- and is running out of air. This sets Barrett and Polly on a frantic search to find the girl while others around them offer assistance or interference. Macabre is a neat little thriller, generally well-directed by Castle [although there's at least one directorial gaffe at a funeral scene], and well-played by the cast, although some of them seem just a little, shall we say, overwrought. The movie has some good twists along the way as well. Ellen Corby plays Barrett's housekeeper, and she -- like virtually everyone else in the movie -- seems kindly but suspicious. Robb White [Homicidal] did the script from Anthony Boucher's novel "The Marble Forest." Castle manages to sustain a creepy atmosphere throughout.

Verdict: Another treat from William Castle. ***.

THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK

THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK (1950). Director Earl McAvoy.

Sheila Bennett (Evelyn Keyes) is not having a good day. Her faithless boyfriend Matt (Charles Korvin) plans to dump her as soon as she delivers gems that she stole, and is in fact carrying on with her younger sister, Francie (Lola Albright). Even worse is that Sheila has smallpox, is deathly ill, and is infecting nearly everyone she comes into contact with. Sheila's need to get even with Matt overrides everything else in this absorbing and well-acted suspense film. Keyes is excellent, and she's well supported by those already named and others in an interesting cast, which includes everyone from Richard Egan (treasury agent) and William Bishop (doctor)  to Dorothy Malone (nurse), Arthur Space (another doctor) and even Jim Backus as a bartender. Keyes also made a positive impression in a very different role with Peter Lorre in The Face Behind the Mask. Well-directed by McAvoy, who only helmed two other pictures.

Verdict: Zesty film noir with a sterling lead performance. ***.

ADVANCE TO THE REAR

ADVANCE TO THE REAR (1964). Director: George Marshall.

During the civil war, Union brass are so dismayed by a unit of screw-ups headed by Colonel Brackenbury (Melvyn Douglas), that they reassign them to a backwater outpost -- then realize that they made a dreadful error: a consignment of gold is coming and needs to be guarded by the screw-ups. In the meantime rebel spy, Martha Lou William (Stella Stevens), engages in a cat and mouse game with Brackenbury's second-in-command, Captain Jared Heath (Glenn Ford). Can Brackenbury's men manage to keep the gold out of rebel hands? This is a generally amiable if distinctly minor comedy with a few amusing sequences and characters. Douglas, of course, gives the best performance, but the others are good as well, including Jesse Pearson, who played Conrad in Bye, Bye Birdie, as a soldier with an odd attraction for horses. Jim Backus [I Married Joan], Whit Bissell [The Family Secret], Joan Blondell [Nightmare Alley], and Alan Hale Jr. [The Killer is Loose] are also in the cast.

Verdict: If you think the Civil War was funny ... **1/2.

GREAT OLD TV: I MARRIED JOAN

I MARRIED JOAN. A collection of episodes from this classic fifties sitcom (1952 - 1955) starring Joan Davis has been put together on a two-part four-DVD set. I loved this show when I was a kid, but I wasn't certain how it would hold up after so many years. I must admit that at first it seemed pretty silly, with Davis a deft comedienne on her own terms but not quite a genius on the level of I Love Lucy's Lucille Ball. The scripts seemed even more childish than Lucy's could be on occasion. Then I saw some of the more memorable episodes of I Married Joan and the full magic of the show -- and of Davis -- came through, and I suddenly remembered after all these years why I had enjoyed it so much when I first saw the reruns years ago.

COLLECTION ONE: In “Joan's Haircut” Joan gets one of the hot new “panda” haircuts for her class reunion but then feels like putting a bag over her head when she can't get used to it. In “New House” she and hubby Jim Backus ["Thurston Howell" from Gilligan's Island] put down a down payment on a hew home only to learn that another couple has done the same thing – and both couples are equally determined to move in! Joan and Brad have an argument while showing movies from their trip to Hawaii in “Home Movies.” “Honeymoon” features a flashback to Joan's disastrous honeymoon where her new husband spent most of the trip trapped in a closet. “Alienation” is a slightly risque episode in which Brad believes that Joan has been entertaining a variety of lovers.

COLLECTION TWO: Lee Patrick guest-stars as a tough hospital clerk when Brad gets a couple of “Broken Toes.” To impress a snotty “friend” [played by Adele Jergens] Joan buys a hugely expensive dress she can't afford in “Clothes Budget.” [Fritz Feld marvelously plays the dress shop owner and there are also appearances by Bernard Gorcey and “Clara” from the I Love Lucy “operetta” and other episodes.] At a hat shop Joan gets into a cat fight with a touchy lady that she doesn't realize she'll be having dinner with later in “Acrobats.” Joan finds out that she's apparently allergic to her own husband in “Allergy.” A smooth lecturer with wonderful manners creates “Jealousy” in Brad and other husbands.

I Married Joan could be much racier than I Love Lucy. Joan's daughter Beverly Willis played her sister Beverly in several episodes. Joan's wise Aunt Vera was played in other episodes by the “speed it up!” lady from the chocolate factory episode of I Love Lucy ["Job Switching"]. Two episodes that are not included in this collection but I wish had been: Joan innocently drops a piranha in with Brad's collection of tropical fish. And tries to stuff or do something to a chicken while taking some kind of course in school. Now those I'd really love to see again!

Verdict: Lots of fun! ***.