BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY (1952)

BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY (1952). Director: Harmon Jones.

Hillbilly and Hood: Mitzi Gaynor; Scott Brady

Bookie "Numbers" Foster (Scott Brady) is temporarily on the lam with his buddy, Harry (Wally Vernon), when they break down on a back road in Georgia. Coming to their rescue is the cute hillbilly gal, Emily (Mitzi Gaynor), who has just presided over the funeral of her grandpappy.  Left alone in the world, and with Numbers thinking she's a mere child, she agrees to go with him back to New York, along with her two adorable bloodhounds, Nip and Tuck. But will Numbers' girlfriend, Yvonne (Marguerite Chapman), who perjured herself on the witness stand for his sake, take kindly to the fact that Emily  -- who is no child -- is now part of his life?

Nip and Tuck

Supposedly inspired by Damon Runyan-like situations, Bloodhounds of Broadway is an amiable musical with winning performances and a very creaky plot line even for the fifties. The digitally remastered DVD, which also includes a lengthy interview with Gaynor, features brilliant Technicolor and fine cinematography by Edward Cronjager [House By the River]. The score consists of some standards like "I Got a Feelin' You're Foolin'," which features some fancy footwork, and a few mediocre new tunes. "Get along home, Cindy" features some sharp dancing from Gaynor and little Sharon Baird, and "Jack of Diamonds" is an inventive and colorful production number.

Richard Allan, Mitzi Gaynor, Mitzi Green

Gaynor and Brady [Mohawk] make a good team, and there's some notable support from Chapman (who has a brief skirmish with Gaynor in a dressing room sequence); Michael O'Shea as a cop; Mitzi Green (formerly the child star "Little Mitzi") as Harry's sister Tessie; and Richard Allan [Niagara] as Charlie -- Green and Allen are also featured dancers and are, as they say, swell. Mary Wickes has a cameo as a woman who can't grasp that a diaper (or "didy") service is only a front for a bookie joint, and Charles Bronson has a few lines as one of Numbers' gunsels. The two bloodhounds nearly steal the picture and are given a very cute final moment as one pooch steals a smooch from the other. Harmon Jones also directed Princess of the Nile.

Verdict: Not much of a script,. but this is easy to take for the most part and nice to look at. ***.

SPY SMASHER

Kane Richmond

SPY SMASHER (12 chapter Republic serial/1942). Director: William Witney.

Jack Armstrong (Kane Richmond) discovers that his identical twin brother, Alan, is secretly the heroic Spy Smasher. The nefarious Nazi Mask (Hans Schumm) wants to flood the U.S. with counterfeit currency, and that's just one of his schemes, which keep SS hopping through this serial's 12 action-packed chapters. The Mask has a "batplane" which can rise straight up into the stratosphere, and an electric ray gun that can knock airplanes out of the sky. Spy Smasher, which was based on the very popular Fawcett comic book, is full of exciting cliffhangers: SS in a mining car loaded with grenades with a fiery conflagration ahead of him and a steel door in front (1); a torpedo room that floods with water (3); a descending frieght elevator that nearly squashes our hero (5); a conveyor belt with rapidly spinning and deadly blades (6); another mining car that heads directly for a fiery doorway; and others. Our hero appears to die in the penultimate chapter, and someone in his uniform is indeed dead. The serial is full of furious fisticuffs and superior stunt work, and the locations are wisely chosen.

Kane Richmond [Stage Struck] makes just about the perfect serial hero: square-jawed, handsome, imposing, and looking great in his uniform instead of silly. He strikes just the right note as both Jack and Alan. Marguerite Chapman [Man Bait] hasn't that much to do as the nominal heroine/love interest, but Tristram Coffin [Up in the Air], as usual, is notable as a cameraman and quisling secretly working for the Mask. Hans Schumm may not go down in history as one of the more memorable serial villains, but he's effective enough in the part. The music is attributed to Mort Glickman, who bowdlerizes Beethoven's 5th symphony to create some rousing and classy theme music.

Verdict: One of the best of the Republic super-action serials. ***

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE WAX MUSEUM

Victor Sen Yung and Sidney Toler

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE WAX MUSEUM (1940). Director: Lynn Shores.

Convicted criminal Steve McBirney (Marc Lawrence of Jigsaw) manages to escape from the court room, where he makes his way to a wax museum run by crazy Dr. Cream (C. Henry Gordon). With plans to dispose of him, Cream invites Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) to participate in a radio program of unsolved cases wherein Chan and Dr. Von Brom (Michael Visaroff) will try to determine if a man named Rocke was wrongly executed years ago. Naturally the program is to be broadcast from the wax museum, where son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung), who faints more than once, keeps confusing his real father with the wax duplicate. Then someone turns up dead, killed by a poison dart. Suspects, besides McBirney and Cream, include reporter Mary Bolton (Marguerite Chapman of Man Bait); lawyer Carter Lane (Archie Twitchell); old caretaker Willie (Charles Wagenheim of Meet Boston Blackie); engineer Edwards (Harold Goodwin); radio man Agnew (Ted Osborne); Lily Lattimer (Joan Valerie); and the creepy Mrs. Rocke (Hilda Vaughn). This is an entertaining but somewhat oddball Charlie Chan movie with confusing elements that don't quite jell, and the fact that most of it takes place in one closed-in setting doesn't help much, either. Still, it's fun.

Verdict: Charlie and Jimmy among the cobwebs. **1/2.

ON THEIR OWN

Spring Byington and Florence Roberts

ON THEIR OWN (1940). Director: Otto Brower.

In this final installment of Twentieth Century-Fox's Jones Family series, Mr. Jones, who is not seen (Jed Prouty, who played the role, is not in the movie as he wanted more money) has a nervous collapse after a Building and Loan crash and the embezzlement of several board members. While Jones recuperates, his wife, Louise (Spring Byington), and children have to deal with the fact that they're going to lose their home and their business. After this grim development, Mr. Jones is sent to a sanitarium in California to recuperate, and his family follows, but have severe money troubles. In an incredible and gutsy maneuver that borders on the unethical and even criminal, Louise and her oldest sons Jack (Kenneth Howell) and Roger (George Ernest), manage to "buy" a rental court from the owner, but not before he evicts his non-paying relatives. The family transform the court into a place where entertainers are welcome, not to mention people with children and pets, which infuriates the landlord of the property next door, who's afraid his tenants will complain about the noise and commotion, leading to a battle in court. Spring Byington takes center stage in this final Jones Family film, and runs with it, and the other actors, including Florence Roberts as Granny, are all terrific. Marguerite Chapman, Chick Chandler, ever-grumpy Charles Lane, and Irving Bacon are in the supporting cast. Call me a sentimental slob, but the depiction of the very obvious love these characters feel for one another is sometimes touching. NOTE: Your reviewer has seen all of the Jones Family films with the exception of Young as You Feel, Off to the Races, and A Trip to Paris. In the unlikely event that anyone has copies of these, especially Paris, please let me know!

Verdict: Not the best of the series, but some sentiment and humor and wonderful performances, and a more than interesting wind-up to the Jones Family (mis)adventures. **1/2.

MAN BAIT

MAN BAIT (aka The Last Page/1952). Director: Terence Fisher.

The British film The Last Page was given the zestier title Man Bait  -- with the figure of Diana Dors highlighted in the ads -- when it was released in the U.S. John Harman (George Brent, in one of his last theatrical films) runs a book store in London and cares for his invalid wife (Isabel Dean). He has a loyal assistant named Stella (Marguerite Chapman) and a sexy clerk, Ruby (Diana Dors), who is saucy and always coming in late. A minor incident between the two -- Ruby impulsively kisses John when they're working late in his office -- snowballs into tragedy when Ruby's new friend, the sinister Jeffrey (Peter Reynolds), importunes Ruby to make more of the business and even blackmail her boss. Before long, John is being accused of murder. It seems bizarre that John was planning to take his wife on a holiday, when she proves to be so fatally frail later in the movie. Man Bait holds the attention, but is distinctly minor, although Dors is quite good, as is Reynolds, and Brent and Chapman are more than competent. Eleanor Summerfield also makes an impression as Vi, a woman who is crazy about Jeffrey and jealous of Ruby. This was a Hammer film released and distributed by Lippert in the United States.

Verdict: Competent, if unexciting little programmer. **1/2. 

PARDON MY PAST

PARDON MY PAST (1945). Director: Leslie Fenton.

Just out of the Army, Eddie York (Fred MacMurray, pictured) just wants to open a mink farm with his pal Chuck (William Demarest), but he's mistaken for the wealthy Francis Pemberton, whom he resembles, by a bookie (Akim Tamiroff), whom the latter owes $12,000. This leads to Eddie winding up at Pemberton's estate, where he's mistaken for his lookalike and learns that the real man is pretty much a stinker. In the meantime, Joan (Marguerite Chapman), who looks after Pemberton's little girl, finds herself drawn to a man who seems strangely different -- and much improved -- from the way he was before (Eddie also falls for Joan). Rita Johnson shows up as Pemberton's ex-wife Mary, and Harry Davenport is fun as always as wily Grandpa Pemberton. MacMurray is as amiable and adept as ever in this picture but while there's some fun in wondering what will happen when Eddie and Francis finally meet, the sad truth is that Pardon My Past isn't especially funny, and the sentimental moments don't make up for it. NOTE: The film takes place in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, MacMurray's beloved hometown (although he was actually born in Illinois).

Verdict: Not bad, just blah. **.

THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN

THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN (1960). Director: Edgar G. Ulmer.

Sinister Major Krenner (James Griffith) and tough moll Laura Matson( Marguerite Chapman) break Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) out of prison so he can steal nuclear material for them after being turned invisible. Krenner forces old Dr. Ulof (Ivan Triesault) to work for him by holding his daughter Maria (Carmel Daniel) captive. Krenner hopes to eventually build an army of invisible soldiers. Faust has other ideas of what to do with his new-found ability. Short, fast-paced and well-acted, with good FX work, The Amazing Transparent Man is fun and unpredictable with some suspenseful and exciting sequences. NOTE: Chapman did a lot of television work, appeared in a few movies, and was also in the serial Spy Smasher. Kennedy, who's very effective in the film, was also in The Alligator People and Invaders from Mars. Griffith also appeared in The Vampire (1957). Triesault played the dead Professor Göteborg in Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Verdict: Cheap but snappy. ***.