MY COUSIN RACHEL

Olivia De Havilland and Richard Burton

MY COUSIN RACHEL(1952). Directed by Henry Koster. 

Philip Ashley (Richard Burton of Becket) has been raised by a man whom he has always considered a brother, a father, and best friend, Ambrose Ashley (John Sutton of The Second Face). Now Ambrose has gone off on a vacation from which he never returns. While in Italy, Ambrose met and married an Italian woman with a possibly shady history. Now Ambrose -- who sent strange letters to his cousin, Philip -- is dead, and his widow is coming to visit the estate Philip will inherit. Rachel Ashley (Olivia De Havilland) seems charming, and Philip becomes smitten with her, but he can't shake the feeling that she may not be quite as sympathetic as she seems. That perhaps she was in some way responsible for his beloved cousin's death ... 

Richard Burton

My Cousin Rachel is based on a novel by Daphne Du Maurier, but it is no Rebecca or The Birds, because while Henry Koster is a workmanlike professional he is no Hitchcock. However, if taken more as a romantic drama and not necessarily a suspense film, Rachel is effective and absorbing and has excellent performances. The casting of de Havilland and Burton may seem strange, as they are both representatives of a very different kind of "Hollywood," with Olivia a product of the studio system and Burton an Angry Young Man of the theater. Still, they work together beautifully, and this is certainly a star-making performance for Burton. 

Audrey Dalton with Burton

Olivia de Havilland may not be perfect casting -- she doesn't even attempt an Italian accent -- but her strength is that she never lets the viewer know what she is thinking. No one watching the film can definitely make up their mind about Rachel's guilt or innocence. Audrey Dalton, whose performances can be variable, is lovely as Louise Kendall, someone who has known Philip since childhood and has always expected to marry him, but this is not a certainty once Philip meets Rachel. There's also nice work from Tudor Owen as major domo Seecombe; Ronald Squire as Nicholas Kendall; George Dolenz (father of Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees) as Guido, who may or may not be Rachel's lover. Hamilton Camp [Evilspeak], who plays Philip at age 15, later became a singer. 

Verdict: Not entirely satisfying, perhaps, but entertaining and well-acted. ***.

JOAN ON GE THEATER

"Because I Love Him:" Crawford

JOAN CRAWFORD ON G.E. THEATER.

General Electric Theater was hosted by future president Ronald Reagan. Joan Crawford appeared in three episodes of the dramatic series, which ran for nine seasons:

Joan's first appearance on GET was in 1954 in a story entitled "The Road to Edinburgh." In this she plays Mary, a determined newspaper columnist driving from London to Edinburgh who meets a stranger named Wickers (John Sutton of The Invisible Man Returns) when he comes out of nowhere to fix her flat tire. She gives him a lift, but gets understandably freaked out when he tells her he just got out of prison after eighteen years after murdering his wife's elderly aunt. Fearing for her life, Mary does her best to get help from a hitch-hiking U.S. soldier (Chuck Connors) and the police. Although suspenseful, the wind-up in this episode is especially stupid, and considering the things that Wickers told her about himself, her self-contempt over her unfounded suspicions are ridiculous. **.

Strange Witness: Tom Tryon, Crawford

"Strange Witness" is listed on imdb.com as being an episode of GET as well as of The Joseph Cotton Show: On Trial; possibly a rerun. In the best of her GET appearances, Joan plays Ruth. who takes a lover, David (Tom Tryon), and is trapped in a loveless marriage with Chris (John McIntire.) Chris comes home earlier than expected and tells David, "You should have fixed your face when Ruth did," referring to the lipstick on David's cheek. With the affair out in the open, David cold-bloodedly shoots Chris. As they're deciding what to do with the body, Chris' blind friend, John (Sidney Blackmer) comes a' callin'. The couple think they have it made, but there's a shocking surprise waiting for them. Tryon [The Unholy Wife] is fine as the handsome sociopath; McIntire and Blackmer are excellent; and Joan, despite some "actressy" moments, offers a very good performance. The script was by Gavin Lambert. ***.

Joan's final GET appearance was in 1959. "And One Was Loyal" takes place in the tropics where George Manson (Tom Helmore of Shadow on the Wall) asks if he can briefly enjoy the hospitality of Roger (Robert Douglas) and Ann (Crawford) Howard. Roger is a mean drunk whose tormenting actions resulted in Ann becoming mute. Her ability to speak comes back when Roger is murdered, and George begins to wonder about Ann's actions. Crawford looks radiantly beautiful and makes good use of her very expressive face in this story. **1/2.

In 1953 Joan also appeared in an episode of The Revlon Mirror Theater, in a story entitled "Because I Love Him." In this very weird and contrived bit of fiction, a doctor (William Ching) tells Margaret Hughes (Crawford) that her husband, David (I believe this was Philip Dorn), has only a year to live. She is importuned to keep it a secret, and do everything she can to help him achieve his potential in that year. Despite her devotion, however, David falls in love with a colleague, Ann (Virginia Gray). Now what? While the situation is intriguing, this has a final twist that makes virtually no sense at all. Crawford handles the dubious plot turns even better than expected, and is quite good. **1/2.

MURDER OVER NEW YORK

Ricardo Cortez, Victor Sen Yung and Sidney Toler

MURDER OVER NEW YORK (1940). Director: Harry Lachman.

When Hugh Drake (Frederick Worlock), formerly of Scotland Yard and now with Military Intelligence, is found dead of gas poisoning, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) goes into [relative] action, while son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) kibbitzes. A strange man named Paul Narvo is involved in the murder plot, but even his wife, Pat (Marjorie Weaver of The Great Alaskan Mystery) -- from whom she ran away -- doesn't know who or where he is. Suspects and other characters include the butler Boggs (Leyland Hodgson); Inspector Vance (Donald MacBride); Drake's friend, Kirby (Ricardo Cortez); stockbroker Richard Jeffery (John Sutton); David Elliot (Robert Lowery), special friend of Pat's; the obnoxious Britisher Herbert Fenton (Melville Cooper); and Ralph Percy (Kane Richmond); who is involved with experimental aircraft that may be subject to sabotage. Junior Coghlan [The Adventures of Captain Marvel] has a nice bit as a club employee who helps Chan, and Shemp Howard [Brideless Groom] has an amusing turn as Shorty, who pretends to be the "Great Rashid." The exciting climax has many of the characters in a death-trap on a plane miles high in the air. With Richmond, Lowery, and Cortez in the cast -- as they were in many other Charlie Chan films -- this practically comprises the Charlie Chan Stock Company.

Verdict: Death-traps are always fun! ***.

THE SECOND FACE

Phyllis (Ella Raines) before her makeover.

THE SECOND FACE (1950). Director: Jack Bernhard.

Phyllis (Ella Raines) is a plain but lovely woman who works for a bitter man, Paul (Bruce Bennett), whose pretty wife ran out on him. He sends Phyllis to Los Angeles to stay with a friend, Claire (Rita Johnson of Sleep, My Love), who tries to get her a job with a fashion house as a designer, but since she's required to do some selling on the floor first, she isn't hired due to her appearance. She goes to work for Claire's fiance, Allan (Roy Roberts of The Gale Storm Show), who is fooling around with a client's pretty daughter, and is "romanced" by the slimy Jerry (John Sutton of The Invisible Man Returns), who only wants to use her designs for himself. Phyllis is racing to prevent a possible murder when her car smashes into a truck -- now there's a chance that surgery can make her as attractive as she's always dreamed ... Most of the male characters in The Second Face are pretty loathsome. One guy breaks off with his fiancee by sending a telegram to another person, expecting her to relay the bad news to the rejected woman. An aging businessman (Pierre Watkin) is unspeakably blunt and cruel to Phyllis just to make a point about advertising. Meanwhile no one makes the point that Phyllis' sweet demeanor and feminine, charming aura would certainly make her appealing to some men, and none of her lady friends suggest make up or a new hairdo. In any case, Raines' performance is excellent, and the supporting players are adept enough. Eugene Vale's screenplay is often psychologically astute. Raines also made a good impression in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry but was less effective in Impact. Kathleen Freeman has a nice bit at the end as a homely-but-happy married lady whose husband likes her just the way she is.

Verdict: An appealing Raines helps put this over. ***.

THE SECOND WOMAN

THE SECOND WOMAN (1950). Director: James V. Kern.

Ellen Foster (Betsy Drake) is visiting her Aunt Amelia (Florence Bates) when she meets and falls in love with Jeff Cohalan ( Robert Young) whose fiancee died in a car accident about a year previously. Jeff seems to have had a steady stream of bad luck ever since, especially since he's met Ellen -- his dog is poisoned, his horse breaks its leg in its stall, his house burns down -- and Ellen wonders if someone is out to get him while Amelia's doctor simply thinks Jeff is nuts and doing everything to himself. The film is well-produced, moodily photographed, and suspenseful as it proceeds to the final revelation. (More on which in a moment.) Drake is very good and makes an appealing, sympathetic heroine. Drake was married to Cary Grant for about 12 years, having met him while co-starring with him in Every Girl Should Be Married. Young is quite good at times as Jeff, even if he doesn't quite have the presence and authority of a Grant and at the climax he's painfully perfunctory when he should be passionate and dismayed. While The Second Woman is never in the league of such films as Rebecca and Suspicion, which it tries to emulate, what really sinks it is the utterly ludicrous denouement, which stretches credulity to the breaking point, asking us to believe that someone would cover up something without at the same time giving the individual a strong and believable enough motivation to do so. John Sutton and Jean Rogers add some spice as a once-married, happily divorced couple who pass in and out of the proceedings. Rogers was in several cliffhanger serials including Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars in which she played Dale Arden. The Second Woman was her final credit.

Verdict: Absorbing, but what a wacky wind-up! **.

THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS

THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940). Director: Joe May.

When Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price) is wrongly imprisoned for murdering his brother, his friend Dr. Frank Griffin (John Sutton) -- brother of John Griffin, the original Invisible Man -- visits him in prison and gives him a shot of the formula. Voila! Radcliffe is soon free, wandering the countryside, becoming more and more paranoiac and dangerous as he tries to find out who actually murdered his brother. Like Claude Rains before him, Price gives an impressive performance using only his voice -- following the tradition of The Invisible Man he isn't seen until the very end of the picture. John P. Fulton's effects are outstanding; particularly notable is the way Price is seen as a ghostly spectre in smoke and fog and rain, as well as the effect of his emerging capillaries at the end. Nan Grey is nice as the love interest, and Cecil Kellaway and Sir Cedric Hardwicke are excellent support as, respectively, a police inspector and Radcliffe's friend. John Sutton is also quite good and Alan Napier stands out as a nervous, sinister foreman who knows more than he's telling about the murder. Director Joe May covers the action adequately but the film lacks any real style. The Invisible Man Returns is a more serious film than its predecessor, but it, too, cries out for a more exciting musical score.

Verdict: Not bad sequel if you're game. **1/2.