EXECUTIVE SUITE

EXECUTIVE SUITE (1954). Director: Robert Wise.

Avery Bullard, the head of Tredway Furniture Corporation, drops dead on a city street and a war begins over which of the executive directors will take charge of the company. The most interesting aspect of this picture is the opening, in which we see everything from Bullard's point of view (we never actually see Bullard). Then the picture just about talks itself to death, coming to life only sporadically whenever Barbara Stanwyck comes on as Julia Tredwell, wringing her hands, and yelling at one or two of the other characters. What this picture needs is a lot more of Stanwyck and a lot less of June Allyson, who is at her most perfectly cloying as William Holden's drippy wife. Fredric March, Nina Foch, Shelley Winters, Paul Douglas, and especially Louis Calhern all give good performances, however, with Stanwyck being the zippiest. Holden is adequate, and Walter Pidgeon is a bit better than usual in more of a character part. The funniest sections of the film -- which hasn't many laughs, just talk -- have to do with Calhern and his pretty, ever-hungry mistress. Allyson was a lot better in Woman's World, which came out the same year, had a similar premise, and was a much more entertaining movie.

Verdict: Given how little the women have to do in this film, it's a man's world after all. *1/2.

RHAPSODY

Ericson, Taylor and Gassman

RHAPSODY (1954). Director: Charles Vidor.

"You have an almost neurotic need to be needed. And that man needs no one."

Hollywood always liked to hedge its bets when it came to movies with a classical music milieu, so they made sure in such pictures to include beautiful women, handsome men, and a dollop of sex -- or at least lots of romance. In Rhapsody the beautiful woman is Elizabeth Taylor, who never looked more luscious except perhaps in Elephant Walk, and she has two handsome co-stars, Vittorio Gassman and John Ericson. If that weren't enough, the movie is drenched in the music of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and others. Louise Durant (Taylor) is in love with an up and coming violinist, Paul Bronte (Gassman) and she follows him to Zurich where he needs to finish his studies. Louise is sensitive but a bit too superficial to be able to develop an interest in classical music, so she has no real joy in her lover's eventual success. 

Meanwhile, James Guest (Ericson) an upstairs neighbor studying piano at the same conservatory, is falling for Louise and is there for her when things temporarily fall apart between her and Paul. A love triangle develops, with Louise torn between the man she thinks she loves and the other man who desperately needs her ... La Liz gives one of her best performances in Rhapsody, a spoiled but loving minx who needs the affection withheld by her father (an excellent Louis Calhern) and will do just about anything to get it from the man she loves. Gassman is wonderful as an artistic devil-may-care, for whom Louise will always take second place, and Ericson, who later appeared on TV's Honey West, has probably the best role of his career and runs with it. Other notable cast members include Michael Chekhov as Professor Cahill, Celia Lovsky as a landlady, and Stuart Whitman as another student, among others.

Verdict: Feed your inner romantic! ***.

FOREVER DARLING

Desi Arnaz, James Mason, Lucille Ball

FOREVER DARLING (1956). Director: Alexander Hall. 

Lorenzo or Larry Vega (Desi Arnaz), a chemist working on a new bug killer, is married to Susan (Lucille Ball), who is much influenced by her snobbish cousin, Millie (Natalie Schafer of Female on the Beach), whom Larry can't stand. Larry also feels that he and his wife are drifting apart after several years of marriage. He is hoping to rekindle things by taking her with him on a work-related trip, an idea that doesn't sit well with Susan. Then who should appear in her bedroom one night but James Mason (James Mason), who is actually Susan's guardian angel wearing the face of someone she admires. "James" gives Susan some sage advice, and convinces her to go off on a short trip with Larry so he can test his new insecticide, but things may not go exactly as planned ...  

Arnaz and Lucy

Made at the height of the popularity of I Love Lucy, the main strength of Forever Darling is its cast. Not exactly playing the Ricardos, Arnaz and Ball are as wonderful as ever, James Mason -- who probably wondered how he ever wound up in this film -- is classy and excellent, and the ever-adept Louis Calhern [The Asphalt Jungle] nearly steals the movie -- no easy feat -- as Susan's highly amusing father. Then we've also got Natalie Schafer, Nancy Kulp as the maid, John Hoyt and Willis Bouchey as Larry's associates, Mabel Albertson in a brief turn as a reporter, and John Emery in a very funny bit as a psychiatrist who tries to explain to Susan why she's seeing strange men in her bedroom. 

Forever Darling, alas, is not as good as the other film the Desi-Lucy combo did, the very funny The Long, Long Trailer, but it has its moments. What starts out almost as a somewhat sophisticated drawing room comedy turns into an episode of I Love Lucy as the couple have misadventures while camping, with their plastic boat springing a leak and so forth. It was probably decided that that was what the couple's fans wanted, but it makes the flick a bit lopsided. Nothing much really happens with the whole "guardian angel" idea, making the movie -- but for the delightful performances and a few laughs -- almost seem pointless. Still, it's Lucy! The theme song by composer Bronislau Kaper is pleasant, sung by the Ames brothers over the credits and by Desi late in the picture. He also sang the tune on an episode of Lucy. Marilyn Maxwell appears in a move-within-a-movie sequence with Mason. 

Verdict: Has a certain degree of charm and amusing performances, but the script -- an old one dusted off for Lucy and Desi -- could have used some work. **3/4. 

WE'RE NOT MARRIED

Wedded bliss? Fred Allen and Ginger Rogers

WE'RE NOT MARRIED (1952). Director: Edmund Goulding.

"I'll say one thing about our marriage. If there's such a thing as an unjackpot, I've hit it!" -- Ramona

Five couples who were married by a dithering Justice of the Peace (Victor Moore) discover that the man's license only went into affect after the new year, so that their marriages are invalid. Those affected include radio show hosts Ramona and Steven Gladwyn (Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen), who hate each other and only speak during the show; Katie and Hector Woodruff (Eve Arden and Paul Douglas), who have gotten into a rut; Annabel and Jeff Norris (Marilyn Monroe and David Wayne), who have an adorable baby boy; Patsy and Wilson Fisher (Mitzi Gaynor and Eddie Bracken), who are expecting a child; and Eve and Fred Melrose (Zsa Zsa Gabor and Louis Calhern), who are facing an expensive divorce -- for Fred. 

Gabor, Louis Calhern, Paul Stewart

Although there are a few laugh-out-loud moments, We're Not Married has a very insufficient screenplay. Some of the stories have such flat endings that you wondered why anyone even bothered. It also makes no sense to team the adorable Marilyn Monroe -- whose appearances virtually amount to a cameo! -- with the bland and utterly sexless David Wayne; they hardly set the screen on fire. The best episode has lawyer Paul Stewart dictating divorce terms to Louis Calhern, then a certain letter arrives in the mail, but even this segment is completely predictable. For me it doesn't help that Eddie Bracken happens to be one of my least favorite actors ever, although his typically whiny performance is adequate. Calhern, Rogers and others are wasted in this piffle, which could have been a really strong picture with a much, much better screenplay. Fred Allen was once a very popular comedian, although he's virtually forgotten today. Movies like this didn't help.

Verdict: A lot of good actors with generally disappointing material. **1/2.

THE MAN WITH TWO FACES

Edward G. Robinson and Mary Astor

THE MAN WITH TWO FACES (1934), Director: Archie Mayo. 

"The second act is still a fine piece of Limburger." 

Actor Damon Welles (Edward G. Robinson)is appalled to learn that his brother-in-law Stanley Vance (Louis Calhern), isn't dead after all, but has come back into his sister Jessica's (Mary Astor) life and is exerting a seriously unhealthy influence over her. So he cooks up a scheme to disguise himself and ... This dull and predictable movie, based on a minor stage play, wastes the talents of its excellent cast, who give it more than it deserves. Ricardo Cortez plays a theatrical producer and John Eldredge is a playwright. Robinson has such a distinctive face, figure and aura that, fine actor that he is, it's difficult for him to successfully disguise himself. Crisp, well-composed photography is another bonus but nothing can overcome that creaky plot. 

Verdict: Robinson is always worth watching. **.

A LIFE OF HER OWN

A LIFE OF HER OWN (1950). Director: George Cukor. 

Lily James (Lana Turner) leaves her dead-end small town for a life of glamor, modeling, and excitement in New York and gets a little more than she bargained for. After a variety of adventures and mis-adventures, she becomes involved with a married man (Ray Milland) who has a crippled wife (Margaret Phillips). Dismissed as soap opera and "fluff" by the critics at the time of its release and after, this is actually a hard-hitting drama with an excellent script and dialogue by Isobel Lennart. Cukor, well-known as an actors' director, certainly worked his magic on the cast. Lana Turner is first-class throughout, giving what may have been her best performance in films, and Ray Milland, often a Great Stone Face, is much more impressive than usual. Ann Dvorak almost walks off with the movie as the aging model, Mary Ashlon, who is hoping for a comeback that even she realizes is unlikely. Tom Ewell, Louis Calhern, Margaret Phillips and Sara Haden (as a nurse) are also notable. Barry Sullivan superbly delivers a great super-cynical speech near the end of the film. Although one could argue that the movie sticks to a dated sin-and-suffer formula, it actually is true to its essentially dark tone (even though the original ending was softened quite a bit). 

Verdict: Fascinating stuff in its own way and very well-performed. ***1/2.

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1951)

Howard Keel and Betty Hutton in Technicolor!

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1950). Director: George Sidney.

Famed sharpshooter Frank Butler (Howard Keel of Jupiter's Darling) with Buffalo Bill Cody's (Louis Calhern) wild west show, takes on any challenger, but he meets his match in hillbilly Annie Oakley (Betty Hutton), who falls for him but discovers his male pride takes a beating each time she learns a new trick. During their first match she beats him, but she isn't so sure she wants to win the second one at the climax. On this she is advised by none other than Chief Sitting Bull (J. Carroll Naish) of Custer's Last Stand, who comes to see her as his honorary daughter. Will Annie get the man she loves or the prizes?

Naish, Hutton, Calhern

I had trepidation about watching this film because I had always loved the TV version with the wonderful Mary Martin, which was broadcast seven years after this film came out. I was also afraid Betty Hutton would be too overbearing. There are moments in her performance that are borderline, but I must say Hutton is excellent as Annie, capturing both the vulnerability and the pride of the character. Although Hutton does not sing badly (except on "They Say That Falling in Love is Wonderful" in which Howard Keel saves the day), her vocal skills are no match for Mary Martin's (who played Annie in a more feminine and lady-like fashion). In any case, Judy Garland was originally signed for the lead and did a few scenes that survive, and, frankly, she isn't nearly as good as Hutton.

That "handsome devil" Keel

Now we come to Chief Sitting Bull. Although he was in part responsible for the massacre of American soldiers (who attacked first) at Little Big Horn, I guess that even in the 19th century celebrity trumps everything. The chief joined Buffalo Bill's show and stood around signing autographs -- yes! -- and participating in some re-enactments. Annie Oakley did indeed become like a daughter to Sitting Bull, but whether he encouraged her to throw a competition so she'd get her man is debatable. What is not debatable is that Irving Berlin's score is one of his finest, and one of the best of any Broadway musical, responsible for "There's No Business Like Show Business;""" "Doin' What Comes Naturally;" "The Girl That I Marry;" "My Defenses are Down;" "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun;" etc. although it's disappointing that the film excludes "Moonshine Lullaby;" "I Got Lost in His Arms;" "I'm a Bad, Bad Man" (which could have been quite a showcase for that handsome devil Keel); and "Old-Fashioned Wedding."

In addition to Hutton and Keel, there are fine performances from Naish and Calhern [The Asphalt Jungle] and Keenan Wynn, Clinton Sundberg, and little Brad Morrow as Annie's cute baby brother, Jake. Charles Rosher's widescreen, technicolor cinematography is often breathtaking.

Verdict: The cartoon Indians are questionable in this day and age, but the movie has an interesting (if heavily fictionalized) story and lots of great music and performances. ***. 

THE ASPHALT JUNGLE

Sam Jaffe and Sterling Hayden

THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950). Director: John Huston.

"Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor."

Fresh out of jail, Doc Reidenschneider (Sam Jaffe) immediately tries to get a team together for a big-time jewelry heist. Cobby, the bookie (Marc Lawrence), suggests that the wealthy lawyer Emmerich (Louis Calhern) can put up the front money so the operation can be carried out. He also enlists the aid of Dix (Sterling Hayden), a gunsel who only wants to go home to the country, safe cracker Louis (Anthony Caruso of Where Love Has Gone), and bartender Gus (James Whitmore). What none of the men know is that Emmerich is flat broke and planning on running off with the loot -- all of it.

The Adorable One with Louis Calhern

The Asphalt Jungle is a justifiably famous caper movie, although it isn't quite as good as The Killing, which also starred Sterling Hayden and came out five years later. Huston isn't a Hitchcock, and he doesn't play for maximum suspense, but the film is nevertheless absorbing and unpredictable. The robbery itself is, perhaps, less important than the aftermath. Sam Jaffe and Louis Calhern pretty much divide the movie up between them, as both of them are simply superb. But Caruso, Whitmore, and especially Marc Lawrence are also notable, as are Jean Hagen [Singin' in the Rain] as a woman who loves Dix, and the adorable one, Marilyn Monroe, as Calhern's sexy mistress, Angela, who is particularly good in her scenes with the police. John McIntire is also fine as Police Commissioner Hardy. Hayden, who was importuned by Huston to appear in the film, is not on the level of the others, and some times just seems to be merely reciting lines. He has given better performances elsewhere.

The film has a good look to it thanks to the cinematography of Harold Rosson, and although Miklos Rozsa's music is used sparingly, it is always effective.

Verdict: Another sharp, well-paced caper movie with a very interesting cast and characters, and brilliant work by Jaffe and Calhern.***. 

THEY CALL IT SIN

Loretta Young and David Manners

THEY CALL IT SIN (1932). Director: Thornton Freeland.

New Yorker Jimmy Decker (David Manners of Crooner), supposedly a "nice guy", is engaged to Edith Hollister (Helen Vincent). On a business trip to Kansas, he meets up with church organist Marion (Loretta Young) and begins a romance with her. After Jimmy returns to Manhattan, Marion's hateful mother (Elizabeth Patterson) tells her that she is not only "sinful" but was adopted and not wanted in the first place. Marion takes off to New York to find David, as well as work as a musician, but she doesn't know that the guy has a fiancee ...

Loretta Young and George Brent 

In New York Marion gets involved with two other men, Jimmy's friend, Dr. Travers (George Brent) and theatrical impresario Ford Humprhies (Louis Calhern of Athena). The latter character, who hits on women shamelessly and fires them if they don't play ball, is meant to be the true "bad guy" to make Jimmy look better, but that doesn't quite work. In any case, the film has an abrupt, surprising and unconvincing wind-up that -- despite this being a "pre-code" film -- smacks of compromise, although most viewers will be glad that Marion winds up with the man she eventually chooses. There are also some melodramatic and rather absurd complications before the fade-out.

Hateful: Elizabeth Patteron. 

Young gives an excellent performance, which is no surprise. Manners and Brent are both fine, but it is Calhern who nearly steals the movie from the better-looking gentlemen. Elizabeth Patterson is sterling as usual in a very unsympathetic part that is a far cry from the babysitter on I Love Lucy. The scene when she reveals the truth to her "daughter" is one of the best in the movie. Jimmy is such a clueless idiot that he actually asks his fiancee to take Marion under her wing -- this before either lady even knows what's going on! Una Merkel [Red-Headed Woman]  is also in the cast as a chorus girl friend of Marion's and she is even more ugly and grotesque than usual. George Brent is top-billed with Young even though Manners has the much, much bigger role.

Verdict: Morally ambiguous, but at least it's unpredictable for the most part. **1/4. 

I TAKE THIS WOMAN

Hedy Lamarr

I TAKE THIS WOMAN (1940). Director: W. S. Van Dyke.

"Time wounds all heels." -- Marcesca.

Georgi Gregore (Hedy Lamarr) tries to throw herself off of an ocean liner due to an unhappy love affair, but she is saved by the compassionate Dr. Karl Decker (Spencer Tracy). Georgi is still dealing with her feelings for the married Phil Mayberry (Kent Taylor), when she gets involved with Karl -- who works at a clinic for low-income patients -- and marries him. But trouble begins when Karl joins a practice that caters to the wealthy, and Georgi runs into her ex-lover, Phil, once more. Can this marriage be saved?

Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr

When I Take This Woman was first released, it came in for a mostly critical drubbing, and over the years has been considered a very bad picture starring a completely mis-matched Tracy and Lamarr. In actual truth, while the film is certainly not excellent, and at one point begins to rip off The Citadel, it is entertaining and very well-acted, with Tracy and Lamarr  playing very well together and making a very convincing romantic couple. In addition we've got some good work from Verree Teasdale as Georgi's effervescent friend, Marcesca, Kent Taylor as Phil, and Mona Barrie [Something to Sing About] as his bitter, heart-broken wife. Laraine Day, Louis Calhern, Frances Drake, and Paul Cavanagh also have notable supporting parts, along with Marjorie Main, Willie Best, Reed Hadley [Racket Squad], Don Castle [Roses are Red], and others.

I Take This Woman, alas, makes the mistake of trying to ape Frank Capra, throwing in a final scene that is sentimental in the wrong way and unconvincing. But the picture is still easy to take, Lamarr looks stunning, and the performances by both stars are quite memorable.

Verdict: Tracy and Lamarr make a better team than you might imagine. **3/4. 

UP IN ARMS

UP IN ARMS (1944). Director: Elliott Nugent.

Danny Weems (Danny Kaye, in his film debut) is a hopeless hypochondriac who not only thinks he has every ailment imaginable but convinces others as well (in the film's funniest sequences). Danny is also hopelessly smitten with pretty Mary (Constance Dowling) who only has eyes for Danny's buddy, Joe (Dana Andrews of Where the Sidewalk Ends). Meanwhile, nurse Virginia (Dinah Shore of Follow the Boys) is unrequitedly in love with Danny. Then Danny and Joe get drafted and the two gals join up as nurses, wherein all four find themselves on a ship sailing into the Pacific war zone. Up in Arms is supposedly a remake of Eddie Cantor's Whoopee, with the setting transferred from the wild west to WW2, where the sight of singing and dancing on a ship sailing into combat seems pretty silly. Indeed, although the movie starts off quite well, it soon becomes a little too silly, although Kaye is a wonderful performer and emerged a major star after this. Andrews, Dowling and Shore are marvelous support, and Shore gets to sing two memorable numbers, "Wildest Dreams" and "I Had a Man." A very odd sequence occurs when the two men and the two gals are sitting back to back on a bus, carrying on a conversation while pretending (according to military edict) not to know one another, with the result that it appears as if Kaye and Andrews -- and Dowling and Shore -- are wooing one another! The decidedly homophobic reactions from the other passengers, considering the time period, are a little discomfiting! Other cast members include Lyle Talbot (typically bland as a sergeant); Louis Calhern as a colonel; Margaret Dumont [Shake, Rattle and Roll], looking rather slender in a scene in a movie theater lobby; Elisha Cook Jr., Benny Baker, and George Mathews as fellow sailors; and Virginia Mayo as one of the beauteous Goldwyn Girls -- in short order Mayo would be deservedly co-starring with Kaye in several pictures. Constance Dowling (sister of Doris Dowling) was a pretty, perfectly competent actress, somewhat reminiscent of Veronica Lake, who made her debut in this film and made just a few others, often in Italy.

Verdict: Amiable nonsense that has little to do with the actual war. **1/2. 

ARCH OF TRIUMPH

Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman

ARCH OF TRIUMPH (1948). Director: Lewis Milestone.

"A refugee without a passport has lost his membership in the human race."

In pre-WW2 Paris two strangers meet and become unhappily involved. One is Ravic (Charles Boyer), who was tortured in Austria by the Nazi Haake (Charles Laughton), and has taken illegal asylum in France. Joan (Ingrid Bergman) is a woman of "easy virtue" whose latest lover has just died. The couple seem to fall in love, but Ravic's illegal status and very real fear of jail and deportation, means he cannot get married. Then there's the added complication of Alex (Stephan Bekassy), with whom Joan gets engaged during a period when she is alone, and who is very possessive of her. Arch of Triumph, based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, should have been a powerful film, and it does have its moments, but it never emerges as the dramatic triumph that it could have been. A big problem -- besides the fact that everything is too prettified -- is that Boyer and Bergman have absolutely no chemistry, and even if one might acknowledge that Ravic might be a rather dour character, Boyer's emotionless and often perfunctory performance -- one of his worst -- doesn't help. Bergman is much, much better, and the picture is nearly stolen by Louis Calhern [Athena] as a friend of Ravic's who works as doorman at a Russian nightclub. Charles Laughton [They Knew What They Wanted] is excellent, as usual, as the repulsive Haake, but much more should have been made of his very final confrontation with Ravic. The fake "prince" Michael Romanoff, who opened his own Hollywood restaurant, plays the captain of the aforementioned club, and is rather unprepossessing. Ruth Warrick comes and goes too quickly to make any impression. William Conrad [East Side, West Side] , who later starred in TV's Jake and the Fat Man, has a terrific bit as a police man who corners Ravic and questions him after the former tends to an injured woman on the street. This is, I believe, the one and only picture made by Enterprise studios.

Verdict: Not terrible by any means, but not at all what it should have been. **1/2.

ATHENA

Jane Powell, Steve Reeves and Edmund Purdom

ATHENA (1954). Director: Richard Thorpe.

Athena Mulvain (Jane Powell) and sister Minerva (Debbie Reynolds) -- two of several siblings -- belong to a family of health nuts, vegetarians, numerologists, and body builders run by Grandpa (Louis Calhern) and Grandma (Evelyn Varden). Grandpa is seventy-eight but can swing around the parallel bars with ease. Athena and Minerva find themselves falling for men who don't quite believe in the same things they do, with the former setting her cap for Adam Shaw (Edmund Purdom), a lawyer running for Congress; and Minerva becoming involved with boyish crooner Johnny Nyle (Vic Damone). Both women already have highly muscular boyfriends, Ed (Steve Reeves) and Bill (Richard Sabre), both of whom compete in the Mr. Universe contest at the end of the movie; and Adam has a sophisticated fiancee named Beth (Linda Christian). Will true love win out in the end, or will Adam and Johnny find themselves in some crushing body blocks? Athena is a very silly and kitschy musical with some pleasant songs by Martin and Blane, the best of which is "Love Can Change the Stars," well-warbled by Powell. Powell also does a creditable job with an aria from Donizetti's "Daughter of the Regiment." Obviously wealthy, the Mulvain family come off at first as free-spirited non-conformists who are at one with the earth and all that, but in one of the better scenes Adam tells Grandpa that they are actually intolerant of (indeed obnoxious toward) others who don't think as they do. Athena is typical of so many movies in which supposedly nice people simply decide they want someone for themselves and don't give a damn for the fact that they are already involved with someone else. The actors in this are all good, but Louis Calhern, as he often did, gives the best performance, and there are notable turns from Kathleen Freeman as Adam's secretary and Ray Collins as a political associate.  Calhern and Collins appeared together in Invitation. Steve Reeves is so handsome it's a wonder he ever bothered with the beard that he wore for most of his career. He was a real-life Mr. America and Mr. Universe, and his American career could have been developed, but he didn't want to slim  down the muscles for the role in Samson and Delilah that was eventually given to Victor Mature. Reeves became a name after the Italian Hercules became a surprise hit, and he was reportedly offered the role of James Bond in Dr. No but turned it down. In all but two films, Reeve's excellent voice was dubbed. NOTE: The body builders of the fifties and sixties were a different breed from what you see today, typified by Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose musculature is so overdone that he resembles something that was mutated in an H-bomb explosion. Steve Reeves had a great physique but he was in no way grotesque.

Verdict: The script is rather annoying, but there are some pleasant moments and performances. **1/2.

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.

INVITATION (1952)

INVITATION (1952). Director: Gottfried Reinhardt.

"I'm going to be a spinster, father, all of my life -- but there's an awful lot to be said for it."

Ellen Pierce (Dorothy McGuire) is happy in her marriage to Dan (Van Johnson), but she's disturbed by bitchy comments made by Dan's old girlfriend, Maud (Ruth Roman), as well as a medical condition that often saps her energy. Dan and Ellen's father (Louis Calhern), as well as her doctor (Ray Collins), share a secret that would devastate Ellen if she knew, and which Maud is apparently determined she find out. Although like most movies of this nature you have to take Invitation with a grain of salt, it does present an interesting situation and is well-acted. All of the principal actors underplay effectively (although at times they may underplay too much), which may be attributed to director Reinhardt. This makes Maud seem like less of a caricature, although Roman's good performance might have been more fun if she played it in venomous mode, spitting out her lines; McGuire and Johnson are both fine, and Calhern is as excellent as ever. A difficult scene when Ellen's father makes a certain proposition to Dan is extremely well-played by both actors. Bronislau Kaper's overly brassy score is a disappointment and somewhat weakens the picture.

Verdict: Intriguing soap opera/drama. ***.

FRISCO JENNY

James Murray, Ruth Chatterton, and Harold Huber

FRISCO JENNY (1932). Director: William A. Wellman.

Jenny (Ruth Chatterton) works with her father (Robert Emmett O'Connor)  in his San Francisco saloon and is in love with the piano player Dan (James Murray of The Crowd), although her father objects to their union. The two men are both killed in the great 1906 earthquake and Jenny is left alone with child. This all happens in the first few minutes. Most of the film deals with Jenny's life of crime, with her stable of party girls [prostitutes] and bootlegging activities, as she keeps a scrapbook of her son (Donald Cook)  growing up after she gave him up for adoption. When she is arrested for murdering a colleague, Steve (Louis Calhern), guess who winds up prosecuting her? This is basically a variation of Madame X, which Chatterton starred in only three years before. One is tempted to say that the marvelous earthquake sequence with its still impressive FX work [and very little stock footage of buildings collapsing] is the only reason to watch the movie, but Frisco Jenny does build in power towards the end. As for Chatterton, her character is unsympathetic and her acting is pretty mediocre until the final sequences. This is the artificial Chatterton of The Crash and Journal of a Crime instead of the fine actress of Lily Turner and Dodsworth.