THE FLAMING URGE

Harold Lloyd Jr. 

THE FLAMING URGE (1953). Writer/director: Harold Ericson.

Tom Smith (Harold Lloyd Jr. of Frankenstein's Daughter) moves from town to town because he's always losing jobs by running off to watch fires. The latest town has less fires than usual, so Tom gets a job at a department store, where he is befriended by the owner, Chalmers (Jonathan Hale) --  who also likes to chase fires --and even gets a girlfriend, Charlotte (Cathy Downs of The Amazing Colossal Man). Just as life looks good, a firebug runs amok and the obvious suspect is Tom. The Flaming Urge is a very light-hearted look at the very serious subjects of arson and pyromania, but the cost in lives (although apparently no one ever dies!)  and property is completely glossed over by the superficial screenplay, and most of the movie plays like a comedy. An asset is the casting of Lloyd Jr., a talented and appealing actor with handsome and sensitive looks who makes the most of his rather bizarre role; this is one of the few if only times he was seen to advantage in the movies. Hale is fine but the picture is nearly stolen by Byron Foulger [The Master Key] as Mr. Pender, Tom's fussy supervisor at the store. Even Pierre Watkin shows up as Charlotte's father, and he is typically competent if unremarkable. The movie was filmed in Monroe, Michigan, and unlike a lot of movies made outside Hollywood, is perfectly professional if low-budget. Writer/director Ericson only made this one movie while Lloyd went on to make several more before dying tragically young of a stroke. The movie is seen by some as a "coded gay" film because of the title (reminding one of "flaming queen") and because Lloyd Jr. was gay in real life, but it might be reading too much into things to see his interest in fire as being a metaphor for homosexuality, yet. .. the movie is psychologically dubious in many ways. One of Harold Lloyd Sr.'s films was Fireman Save My Child.

Verdict: Offbeat with a fine lead performance. **1/2.

HAPPY GO LUCKY

"Dreamboat" and jailbird: Phil Regan

HAPPY GO LUCKY (1936). Director: Aubrey Scotto.

Mary Gorham (Evelyn Venable of Death Takes a Holiday) gets a shock when she walks into a Shanghai nightclub. Her fiance, Bill (Phil Regan), disappeared while on a transatlantic flight and is suspected of treason, but there he is singing under the name of "Happy Jack" Cole. Jack still seems happy -- if confused -- when he's confronted by Mary, but he insists that he has never seen her before. Is this a case of amnesia, or something more sinister? Mary's father, wealthy Charles Gorham (Jed Prouty of College Holiday) is delighted to see "Bill" again, but still wonders if his story about being someone else is entirely true. Then there's J. Lansing Bennett (Jonathan Hale of Strangers on a Train), who is the secret head of a spy ring. Happy Go Lucky is an odd movie, a sort of musical with a slightly more complicated plot than usual, and some "serious" aspects to it. Phil Regan, the NYPD detective who became a singer and dancer, (and who ironically served a one-year sentence for real estate bribery years later) is not bad in this (although one could argue that his singing is better than his acting), and has a pleasing personality to go with his good looks. He appeared in films for ten more years, but because they were released by Poverty Row studios like Republic and Monogram never emerged as a major motion picture star. Regan's singing of "Right or Wrong" is a highlight of the movie.

Verdict:  Somewhat different story line for a Republic musical, but still not very good. **.

THE STEEL TRAP

THE STEEL TRAP (1952). Director: Andrew L. Stone.

A bank officer named Jim Osborne (Joseph Cotten), with a wife, Laurie (Teresa Wright), and a small daughter, hits upon a scheme of stealing a million dollars and taking his family to Brazil, where no extradition treaty exists. But getting out of the country with the loot proves no easy feat, as there's one complication after another involving passports in locked offices, missed flights, curious customs men, and the like. The Steel Trap is extremely suspenseful, especially at the nail-biting climax, and the two leads give superlative performances; Cotten is particularly effective. What perhaps prevents this from being a masterpiece is that the characterization is comparatively minimal. Johnathan Hale is fine as Osborne's boss, Mr. Bowers, and there are short appearances by two of the cast members of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman: William Hudson is a bank teller, and Michael Ross, who played the alien giant and the bartender in that film, is a building guard in this one. Wright and Cotten were most famously teamed in the earlier Shadow of a Doubt while Hale was in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. 

Verdict: Quite memorable and tense thriller. ***.

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS

Warner Oland and C. Henry Gordon

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS (1937). Director: H. Bruce Humberstone.

Edwards (David S. Horsley) is piloting a plane that can also fly with a new remote control device, when he takes off for parts unknown. He is later found murdered -- the question is: who killed him, where is the device, who stole it, and who do they intend to sell it to? Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) tries to find the answers to these questions while in Berlin for the Olympics, where Number One Son Lee (Keye Luke) is entered in the swimming competition. Characters embroiled in this mystery include fellow competitor Betty (Pauline Moore); her boyfriend Richard (Allan Lane of King of the Mounties); slinky Yvonne Roland (Katherine DeMille), who sports a much-remarked-upon white fox fur and seems to have a hankering for Richard; Inspector Strasser (Frederick Vogeding), who wishes to demonstrate German efficiency; Cartwright (John Eldredge), who invented the stolen device; filibuster Arthur Hughes (C. Henry Gordon of Thirteen Women), who wants to buy said device; and Hopkins (Jonathan Hale of Strangers on a Train), who also has a vested interest in the proceedings. While not necessarily one of the better Chan films this installment especially serves as a kind of time capsule as it takes place at the historic pre-war Olympics and at one point Chan even travels on the Hindenburg. The acting is good, with Gordon being especially vivid. DeMille -- a Linda Darnell sound-alike -- was the adopted daughter of Cecil DeMille and was married to Anthony Quinn. At one point Lee Chan gets kidnapped; his younger brother, Charlie Chan Jr. [Number Two Son] also appears and is very well played by charming child actor Layne Tom Jr. (He later played both Tommy and Willie Chan.) Charlie Chan at the Olympics is interesting in that it plays around with exactly who the bad guys and good guys are throughout the movie.

Verdict: Interesting Chan entry. **1/2.

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN Preview Version

A dramatic moment from "Strangers"

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951). Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

Guy Haines (Farley Granger from Rope) is a well-known tennis player who is recognized on a train by an alleged fan named Bruno (Robert Walker). During conversation with Guy, weird Bruno suggests they swap murders -- "criss cross" -- so they can each get away with killing the person they most hate in the world. For Guy it's his estranged wife, Miriam (Laura Elliott), while for Bruno it's his wealthy and disgusted father (Jonathan Hale). Guy doesn't take either Bruno nor his suggestion seriously, but that won't stop Guy from carrying out his part of the plan ... and making it clear that if he doesn't kill Bruno's father he will be framed by Bruno for Miriam's murder. Strangers on a Train has an excellent premise [from a novel by Patricia Highsmith], some compelling and imaginative sequences, and a knock-out lead performance by Walker, but somehow ... Strangers on a Train is the type of film that can give you a different impression each time you see it. This is the version that was first shown in previews [also known as the "British" version although it was never really shown anywhere except during previews], and it isn't much different from the release version aside from a few minor cuts. Granger is also quite good, Hitch's daughter Patricia scores as the sister of Guy's new fiancee (Ruth Roman), but Roman's thankless part has her mostly reacting to others and looking perturbed. Marion Lorne, who was later memorable as dithery Aunt Clara on Bewitched, is notable as Bruno's rather pixilated mother, and Leo G. Carroll has yet another good appearance in a Hitchcock film [in between Spellbound and North by Northwest.] Norma Varden of Witness for the Prosecution figures in a highly interesting scene in which Bruno displays his strangulation technique for a party guest and things get a little out of hand [see photo]. The film's highlight is the climax involving a runaway merry-go-round, more on which below. Walker plays in a more epicene fashion than usual, probably to underline Bruno's ambiguous sexuality; while it would be offensive in the 21st century, it works for the movie and is not that overt. Laura Elliott, who is very good as Miriam, who needs attention from men due to her own insecurities [and Guy's falling into an upscale circle without her], also appeared on Bewitched years later playing Louise Tate under the name "Kasey Rogers." She appeared in Two Lost Worlds the same year as Strangers.  

The last time I saw Strangers I thought Hitchcock spent too much time covering Guy's tennis match just before the climax, but this time I was bothered by something else. STOP READING IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THE FILM. Let's look at the ending. First, one of the cops pursuing [the wrong suspect] Guy, shoots at him and stupidly hits the elderly operator of the merry-go-round. The cop doesn't even look embarrassed. Another old man crawls under the out-of-control merry-go-round to get to the controls, and when he gets there pushes the switch to STOP in one sudden motion instead of doing it slowly so that the merry-go-round will safely grind to a halt. Of course the sudden stop causes a disaster, which suddenly seems a lot more important than the main storyline. [This makes for a bravura bit of excitement but one can only imagine that the old man is an "idjit."] We never learn what happened to him, the operator who was shot, the cute little boy Guy rescues after Bruno tries to throw him off the revolving platform, nor the other children on the merry-go-round. We see rescue workers in the background, but Hitch focuses on the two principals [understandably]. The cop who inadvertently caused the whole tragedy seems to show no concern over the injured and presumably dead people in the background and still doesn't even look embarrassed. By creating this disaster scene, Hitch has over-powered the main storyline! Another problem is that while the merry-go-round scene is very well done, the editing isn't quite as sharp as it could have been. But let's face it. We Hitchcock fans are always ultra-critical because we expect so much of The Master.

Verdict: Just misses being top-drawer Hitchcock, but next time I watch it I may disagree! ***.

THE SAINT IN NEW YORK

THE SAINT IN NEW YORK (1938). Director: Ben Holmes.

New York City is having such a horrendous crime wave, that Inspector Fernack (Jonathan Hale) goes in search of Simon Templar, better-known as The Saint, to offer him a commission to take on the mob using methods that could not necessarily be condoned by the police. While this holds the attention for the most part and has a couple of suspenseful scenes, it sort of runs out of gas before the conclusion. Sig Rumann is excellent as Hutch Rellin, one of the gang leaders, but Kay Sutton doesn't make too much of an impression as Fay Edwards, who betrays the "big fellow" who oversees the others out of love for Templar. However, they could not have found a more appropriate Saint than Louis Hayward, who has just the right way with the material, "light" and steely at one and the same time. A host of good character actors bolster the proceedings. Jack Carson and Ben Welden are especially good as two nasty characters who come afoul of The Saint.

Verdict: Has its moments. **1/2.