THREE BRAVE MEN

THREE BRAVE MEN (1956). Director: Philip Dunne. 

Bernie Goldsmith (Ernest Borgnine) is horrified to discover that he's been summarily fired from his government job because he's been deemed a security risk due to an alleged "radical" (i.e. communist) past. He hires lawyer Joe DiMarco (Ray Milland) to defend him. Apparently Goldsmith angered some people because of his activism in minority housing (oddly, the subject of anti-Semitism is never broached). Even after a board presided over by Captain Wingfield (Frank Lovejoy) and Lt. McCoy (Nina Foch) clears Goldsmith, he still can't get his job back or get hired by anyone else. DiMarco takes the case to the Army man, Rogers (Dean Jagger), who had the board's decision reversed. Three Brave Men intelligently examines how gossip and innuendo, jumping to conclusions, and sheer sloppy investigating can ruin someone's life as it did many during the McCarthy anti-communist era. The film also has a nice subtext examining how the whole ordeal has revealed how strong Bernie's marriage to his wife (Virginia Christine) is. Still, it's all a bit matter of fact, with few nuances and shades of gray. Yet the fact that it was even made in 1956 -- years before our deplorable "cancel culture" -- speaks volumes. Dr. No's Joseph Wiseman has a notable cameo as a bigot. 

Verdict: Absorbing story of family's ruination and their struggle back. ***.

THE UNFORGIVEN (1960)

Murphy, Lillian Gish, Doug McClure, Audrey Hepburn  

THE UNFORGIVEN  (1960). Director: John Huston.

A mysterious man named Abe Kelsey (Joseph Wiseman) wanders around the ranch of the Zachary family, and his presence causes consternation in old Mattilda Zachary (Lillian Gish). Apparently Abe is spreading stories that Mattilda's adopted daughter, Rachel (Audrey Hepburn), is not white but a "red injun." Members of the Kiowa tribe seem to think the stories are true, and want Rachel returned to them. Neighbor Zeb Rawlins (Charles Bickford) wants the truth, too, or there'll be no more business dealings with the Zacharys. Then one of Zeb's sons is murdered, Abe Kelsey is captured, and the whole thing comes to a boil ... The Unforgiven has a fascinating but ultimately contrived premise that doesn't make nearly enough of the situation and operates on an almost shamefully superficial level. There are some powerful scenes in the movie, but too many questions remain unanswered. It all ends in a bloodbath wherein the one-dimensional Indians are pretty much picked off like flies and a supposedly "happy" ending is tacked on. For a movie that some feel is about racial intolerance, it is staggeringly racist itself. The acting is generally good, although of the once-removed Hollywood variety, which is particularly evident in the climax. Wiseman is excellent as Abe, demented by loneliness and grief, and Gish [The Cobweb] has a tremendously good moment confronting him for what turns out to be the final time. Burt Lancaster plays Rachel's step-brother, who is secretly in love with her, this being one of the new breed of psycho-sexual westerns (while still being stubbornly old-fashioned as regards Native Americans). Doug McClure overdoes the boyish posturing a bit as Lancaster's youngest brother, but Audie Murphy is effective as his other brother, Cash. John Saxon also makes his mark as a cowboy who may be an Indian, as does Carlos Rivas [The Black Scorpion] in a nearly silent role as a tribe member who may be Rachel's true brother. Kipp Hamilton [War of the Gargantuas] is also good as Zeb's daughter, who is anxious to marry one of the Zacharys, and June Walker is excellent as her mother, Hagar. For obvious reasons, Audrey Hepburn was hardly the best casting choice for the role of Rachel. The attack on the ranch at the climax is admittedly exciting and well-staged, but in some ways unconvincing, while Franz Planer's widescreen cinematography doesn't make the most of the settings, and Dimitri Tiomkin's score, aiming for the unusual perhaps, is one of his worst, only serving to muff some sequences that could have been moving. Apparently director John Huston was hampered from really making the film he wanted to make, resulting in this rather hypocritical exercise.

Verdict: Hollywood Cowboys and Indians -- when it could have been so much more. **.   

THE PRODIGAL

Edmund Purdom and Lana Turner

THE PRODIGAL (1955). Director: Richard Thorpe.

Micah (Edmund Purdom) of Joppa is betrothed to Ruth (Audrey Dalton), but on a trip to Damascus he takes one look at High Priestess Samarra (Lana Turner) and is instantly smitten. He asks his father for his inheritance so he can go off and claim this woman, who worships pagan gods such as Astarte and Baal, and his father gives him the money but says he is now "dead to him". But getting to Samarra as a bearded "interloper" might be a bit of a problem. MGM has taken a simple Biblical parable and "fleshed" it out with a story that is pure Hollywood, but quite entertaining on that level. Purdom is fine as Micah, but Turner, besides being a bit too old, seems to have no clue as to the inner thoughts and feelings of the (admittedly underwritten) character she's playing -- she's just saying lines. There's a host of good character actors in the film, including Cecil Kellaway, seen briefly as the governor; Neville Brand [Eaten Alive] as an evil and sadistic soldier, Rhakim; Henry Daniell as the slave, Ramadi; Jay Novello as a merchant; John Dehner as Micah's brother; and Joseph Wiseman as another slave and instigator. Louis Calhern as the High Priest Nahreeb offers one of his rare indifferent performances, as costume dramas aren't his cup of java. "You hunger for [freed slave Asham] as a pig for husks," Micah tells Nahreeb, and even Samarra tells her High Priest that she doesn't like what he does to his slaves. Francis L. Sullivan [Hell's Island] is better as the portly Bosra. Although Paul Cavanagh is listed in the cast, I couldn't spot him. Although he hasn't a line of dialogue as the mute Asham, who comes to work for Micah, James Mitchell is effective; most of his credits were on TV and All My Children. Little Sandy Descher [Them] plays the strange little girl, Jasmin, but she's not very memorable. Highlights of the film include Micah's battle with a determined vulture in a pit of skeletons and a man who sacrifices himself for Baal by throwing himself into a pool of fire. The film's religiosity never becomes overbearing.

Vwerdict: Not exactly the bible, but worth a look. *** out of 4.

DETECTIVE STORY

Kirk Douglas and Eleanor Parker

DETECTIVE STORY (1951). Director: William Wyler.

24 hours in a police precinct focusing on Detective James McLeod (Kirk Douglas) and his efforts to bring down Karl Schneider (George Macready), who helps bring unwanted babies into the world so he can sell them [in the play, Schneider was a simple abortionist]. McLeod seems so crazy to get this guy that his superior, Lt. Monaghan (Horace McMahon), wonders if there's some personal connection to the case, and in an ironic development, discovers that there is -- and it concerns McLeod's wife, Mary (Eleanor Parker). Will these revelations bring about the too-rigid McLeod's ruination? Detective Story is an absorbing and often powerful movie and features some fine performances from Douglas, Macready, McMahon [Quick Millions], and especially the wonderful William Bendix as McLeod's colleague, Brody. Lee Grant [Damian: Omen 2], in her first film, is fine as a likable if bewildered shoplifter; Craig Hill scores as an embezzler in love with the wrong woman; and Cathy O'Donnell offers a sensitive portrayal of another woman who's in love with Hill. There are also some flavorful short appearances by Gladys George [Flamingo Road] and Gerald Mohr; Joseph Wiseman, only in his second film, is perhaps less effective. Eleanor Parker, possibly miscast to begin with, is a bit too showy and mannered at times, although she has her moments. In general, Wyler's assured direction gets the most out of the story and characters and the film holds the attention throughout. O'Donnell and Mohr appeared together in Terror in the Haunted House.

Verdict: Another very fine Wyler feature. ***1/2.

THE GARMENT JUNGLE

THE GARMENT JUNGLE (1957). Director: Vincent Sherman.

Soon after the terrible death of his partner in a freight elevator "accident" -- a horrifying, well-handled sequence -- Walter Mitchell (Lee J. Cobb) welcomes his son Alan (Kerwin Mathews) into the garment business. Alan is disturbed to learn what a hold the mob has on the business with its protection racket, and how they've been terrorizing union organizers. This is basically a poor man's On the Waterfront, and not at all in the same league as that classic. However, there are several good scenes, and there's an interesting cast. Cobb is as good as ever, and Mathews gives it a good try, but his forte was swashbuckling costume heroes like in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, not realistic drama. Richard Boone is more on the mark as a mob boss, as is Robert Loggia as a union organizer and Joseph Wiseman (Dr. No) as one of the garment workers. Wesley Addy has an unusual role as a vicious associate of Boone's. Gia Scala and Valerie French are effective as the ladies involved with the garment workers.

Verdict: Overbaked melodrama. **.

DR. NO [revisited]

DR. NO (1962). Director: Terence Young.

Asked what he thought of the film adaptation of his novel "Dr. No," Ian Fleming replied thusly: “Those who've read the book are likely to be disappointed, but those who haven't will find it a wonderful movie. Audiences laugh in all the right places.” Well ... score one for Fleming, who was right on target: the book was better. Still, Dr No is an entertaining, essentially well-made thriller which introduced James Bond 007 to the world (notwithstanding the Casino Royale television production) and started the practice of him giving out with black comedy quips which were not in Fleming's novels. Dr. No also began the practice of featuring a cinematic Bond who was much less dimensional than he was in the books. Bond is assigned to investigate the disappearance of two agents in Jamaica, and comes afoul of the sinister Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman), who is taking over the guidance systems of the super-powers' missiles. The best and most suspenseful sequences have to do with Bond trying to keep from being captured by the doctor's men on his island of Crab Key. [Although the fictional James Bond has a scar on his cheek, this detail has always been omitted from the films.]

Although the movie is relatively faithful to Ian Fleming's novel, there were quite a few changes made. Felix Leiter does not appear in the book, but he shows up briefly in the film in the form of Jack Lord. Bond winds up with a tarantula in his bed instead of the much more dangerous giant centipede that appears in the novel [the deadliness of the tarantula has always been greatly exaggerated]. There are no birds or bird dung on Crab Key, and we learn what the doctor is up to almost from the very start. Honey (Ursula Andress) does not have a broken nose, but she does relate the story, as in the novel, of dropping a black widow spider into the bed of a man who raped her. [Although no reference book states this outright, Andress appears to be dubbed; for one thing the Swiss actress has a British schoolgirl accent, and her voice sounds different from subsequent film appearances.] Dr. No is working for SPECTRE instead of for the Russians, and at the end Bond enters a tunnel simply as an escape attempt – it is not “doctored” with Dr. No's traps as a test of endurance as in the novel. Finally, there is no giant squid at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps the filmmakers felt the audience just wouldn't buy this [to date there is no live giant squid in captivity.] 

Handsome and well-produced, Dr. No is not a great movie, but it is a good one, and a not-bad introduction to the World of 007. There is one rather dumb moment, when Bond kills Professor Dent, who is in the employ of Dr. No. While one can't blame Bond for wanting to snuff Dent, who has tried to kill him more than once, what about keeping him alive for questioning? The cast members give adequate to excellent performances with Wiseman the best as the sinister and strangely elegant Dr. No.

Verdict: Definitely has its moments. ***.

DR. NO

DR. NO (1962). Director: Terence Young.

The film that introduced James Bond 007 to moviegoers is not a classic, but it does hold the attention and establish the filmic counterpart to Ian Fleming's literary creation. The black comedy quips came from the screenwriter, not Fleming, whose Bond was a bit more dimensional than he has ever been in the movies [although Timothy Dalton, and then Daniel Craig, perhaps came closest]. In this Bond is up against the sinister part-Chinese mastermind Dr. No (an excellent Joseph Wiseman), who takes control of missiles on behalf of SPECTRE. In the novel his front was a guano operation, but the filmmakers decided to – if you'll pardon the expression -- drop the s--t and make a few other changes. Gone are the broken nose on Honeychile Ryder (a probably dubbed Ursula Andress, looking luscious), the three-inch scar on Bond's cheek, and the giant squid that nearly makes a meal out of 007 at the end of the novel. Instead of running Dr. No's survival test tunnel as in the book, Bond simply crawls through an access tube to escape. The tarantula that nearly bites Bond when he's in bed is relatively harmless; Fleming used a much more deadly giant centipede instead. Some nice scenery and scenic design helps, but this is nowhere as good as the book. Still, it led to a great many more Bond films, some of which were excellent.

Verdict: Fun if you're in the mood. **1/2.

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