THE BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE

Van Johnson and Ruth Roman

THE BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE  (1956). Director: Henry Hathaway.

Near the Mexican border, lawyer "P. M." Martin (Joseph Cotten) gets an unwelcome visitor, his brother Donald (Van Johnson), who has just escaped from prison with five years to serve on a sentence for manslaughter. Donald can't cross the border to Mexico, where he wants to be reunited with his wife and children, because of rushing flood waters, and hopes PM will somehow get money to his family who are about to be put out on the street. Meanwhile Donald, using a fake name, meets his ultimately sympathetic sister-in-law, Nora (Ruth Roman of Lightning Strikes Twice), and the partying neighbors, while PM hopes Donald can resist temptation and not take a drink, the very thing that got him into trouble in the first place ...

Joseph Cotten and Ruth Roman

The Bottom of the Bottle certainly sets up an interesting situation, but at times it comes close to sinking under its contrivances. While not perfect casting for the rough-hewn, stupid, and rather unlikable and self-justifying Donald, Van Johnson [The Big Hangover] gives an excellent performance, with Cotten and Roman just a cut below in their portrayals. Johnson has an especially good scene when he's talking to his wife and small children on the phone, his heart clearly breaking from his being separated from them as well as his desperate circumstances.

Jack Carson, Van Johnson and Margaret Hayes

Jack Carson and Margaret Hayes are cast as neighbors, the Breckinridges, who hold frequent parties, with the wife almost recoiling from her husband's touch, setting up the dime store psychological notion that he's out to get Donald (when the latter robs a store of guns and liquor) out of some kind of sexual frustration. (Carson briefly affects a limp wrist as he leads the posse, whatever the heck that means.) There is an unintentionally comical moment when Johnson has a positive, even scary screaming meltdown in front of the Breckinridges and their reaction to this -- because the script has him being thrown out of their home at a somewhat later point -- is hardly what one would expect given his behavior. One gets the sense that most of the characters in this are acting the way they do because the script demands it of them, not because they are real people behaving in a realistic fashion. For instance, Nora's motivations for some of her lines and actions are not satisfactorily explained by her dissatisfaction with her marriage.

Despite its flaws, The Bottom of the Bottle isn't too easily dismissed, not just because of Johnson's performance, but because of the high-quality of Lee Garmes' widescreen cinematography and an effective score by Leigh Harline. There is some amazing stunt work when Donald is nearly run over by a train, and an exciting climatic battle between the two brothers on horseback in the raging river. The film also has a moving wind-up, although many things have not quite been resolved.

Verdict: Not exactly East of Eden, but not without its interesting aspects, and a fine dramatic performance from Van Johnson. **3/4. 

GIRLS TOWN

Mamie Van Doren and Paul Anka

GIRLS TOWN (1959). Director: Charles F. Haas.

Now here's a weird one. Busty Silver Morgan  (Mamie Van Doren) is accused of killing a guy and sent to "Girls Town," which is not a reform school but a home for young ladies who have gotten in trouble with the law and which is run by nuns! There she meets Mother Veronica (Margaret Hayes of House of Women); Vida (Gloria Talbott); tall, gawky Flo (Peggy Moffitt); and Serafina (Gigi Perreau), who has a semi-demented crush on singer Jimmy Parlow (Paul Anka). Talbott practices judo on Van Doren when the latter gets out of line, and Anka delivers a punch to fellow singer/cast member Mel Torme who is, incredibly, cast as a leather jacket-clad borderline thug who goes drag racing at one point! Torme does not sing, but Anka does his "Lonely Boy" and, unfortunately, takes a pitiful stab at "Ave Maria." He fares much better, however, than Cathy Crosby, who makes little impression as the "girl singer." Other cast members include Sheila Graham, who barely appears as another nun; and offspring Jim Mitchum, Harold Lloyd Jr.,( who is killed off early) and Charles Chaplin Jr., who only have minor roles. Elinor Donahue [Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare] of Father Knows Best shows off serious acting chops as Silver's younger sister; Van Doren is Van Doren. Anka and Torme give adequate performances. The Platters sing one number, but for some inexplicable reason the lead singer's face is never shown -- we only see his hands and his back! The orchestra leader Ray Anthony plays a private eye investigating Van Doren. She and Torme were both in The Big Operator with Mickey Rooney.

Verdict: You won't want to miss a single second, but maybe you should miss it anyway. **.

HOUSE OF WOMEN

Jason Evers, Margaret Hayes, Andrew  Duggan, Jeanne Cooper

HOUSE OF WOMEN (1962). Director: Walter Doniger.

Obviously having had a very bad lawyer, Erica Hayden (Shirley Knight) winds up in a women's penitentiary even though she was unaware that her boyfriend was going to commit a robbery as she simply waited in the car. Now she's pregnant, and learns that she'll have to give the child up for adoption if she doesn't get paroled in a certain amount of time. Her fellow inmates include Sophie (Constance Ford), who has a little boy -- children are allowed to stay with their mothers in the prison! -- dizzy former stripper Candy (Barbara Nichols); Addie (Jennifer Howard), a stereotypical lesbian; among others, and the staff consists of new warden Frank Cole (Andrew Duggan); tippling Doctor Conrad (Jason Evers); administrator Zoe (Margaret Hayes); and stern guard Helen (Jeanne Cooper). Other characters include Mrs. Hunter (Virginia Gregg), who serves on the parole board; and Mrs. Stevens (Jacqueline Scott), who is a social worker. Complications develop when Cole falls in love with Erica and he cruelly takes revenge upon her, but the real breaking point comes when the stupid Mrs. Stevens takes away Erica's little girl to foster care a day early -- and just before the child's now-canceled birthday party no less! The situations are awfully contrived in this nonetheless entertaining movie that is basically an imitation of Caged. Duggan, Evers [The Brain that Wouldn't Die], Hayes, Gregg, and others are fine, but Knight [The Couch] underplays terribly; Ford is surprisingly perfunctory during some difficult sequences; and Nichols doesn't quite deliver the goods in her big scene when she makes a speech to the parole board. The movie does boast a suspenseful climax when Ford and the others take over the prison! Walter Doniger also directed The Steel Jungle.

Verdict: If nothing else it's fun -- with some good sequences. ***.