MAKE HASTE TO LIVE

Stephen McNally and Dorothy Maguire

MAKE HASTE TO LIVE (1954). Director: William A. Seiter. 

At the very beginning of Make Haste to Live, a shadowy stranger arrives at the home of Crys Benson (Dorothy Maguire) -- who has learned that her dangerous husband Steve (Stephen McNally of The Black Castle) has just been released from prison and may be coming to kill her -- and is able to easily open the front door which is not even locked and get inside. This is just one of many problems with the script for Make Haste, but the movie has other issues as well. 

John Howard with a distraught Maguire

Crys (originally named Zena) got away from her husband after she discovered he had shot and killed a cop. He gets away with that murder but winds up going to jail for the murder of Zena in an explosion (it was actually another unknown woman and it may have been an accidental death). Zena has reinvented herself and lives far away from Chicago in New Mexico with her teenage daughter, Randy (Mary Murphy of The Mad Magician). She has a boyfriend named Josh (John Howard of The Mad Doctor) whose proposals she keeps rejecting. The scene when Steve shows up -- something "Crys" has clearly been dreading and is terrified of -- completely lacks tension and impact and is badly muffed. Maguire was certainly a talented actress but in this sequence she acts as if it was only her brother -- whom Steve pretends to be -- showing up instead of the man who spent twenty years in prison for her alleged murder! McNally could also give decent performances but there are a dozen actors who could have made much, much more of this interesting role. For that matter Barbara Stanwyck could also have made a lot more of Crys and her situation. 

Ron Hagerthy and Mary Murphy

The supporting cast, including Howard, Murphy, Ron Hagerthy as her boyfriend, Edgar Buchanan as the sheriff, and Carolyn Jones as Crys' old friend, Mary -- who at Zena's direction tells the authorities she is alive but who is not believed -- are all good, and there is an effective score by Elmer Bernstein [Far From Heaven]. But there are a few too many holes in the plot, and Crys' actions are often senseless. The reactions and attitudes of the two lead characters in an incredibly difficult situation simply do not ring true. There are interesting elements to this that never jell. A bit with a bottomless pit in some Indian diggings being worked by Josh leads to a moderately exciting climax. From Republic studios. 

Verdict: An intriguing situation but you can see why this flick is completely forgotten today. **1/4. 

HELL'S ISLAND

HELL'S ISLAND (1955). Director: Phil Karlson.

Mike Cormack (John Payne) is a former D.A. now working as a security guard. He is hired by a man named Barzland (Francis L. Sullivan) to get back a ruby that he believes to be in the possession of Cormack's ex-wife, Janet (Mary Murphy). Janet divorced Mike so she could marry a wealthy man named Eduardo (Paul Picerni), who is now in jail for the murder of his partner. In Puerto Rosario Cormack tracks down the beautiful Janet and finds himself inveigled into helping her get her supposedly innocent husband out of a penal colony on an island. But there are other factions who still want that ruby ... Hell's Island is a brisk and absorbing crime thriller that features good performances from the cast as well as some interesting twists. Payne makes a good hero, Murphy [The Mad Magician] is delightfully duplicitous, Arnold Moss scores as her friend, Paul, who is also in love with her, and there are nice turns by Eduardo Noriega as Captain Pena and Picerni as the hapless husband. It's obvious that the hefty Sullivan [Plunder of the Sun] and skinny Walter Reed (as Lawrence) are supposed to be a variation on Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, a nice in-joke. Pepe Hern also makes an impression as the bellboy, Lalo, as does Robert Cabal as the ill-fated houseboy, Miguel. Walter Reed played Lupe Velez' husband in two "Mexican Spitfire" movies [replacing Donald Woods] and was also in Flying Disc Man from Mars.

Verdict: Zesty "B" movie with good performances -- and gators! *** out of 4.

LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG

"Touch" Connors and Troy Donahue

LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG (1958). Director: Paul Henreid.

After his days as a romantic lead were over, Paul Henreid became a director of mostly television and often bad B movies such as this. Live Fast, Die Young concerns two sisters (Mary Murphy and Norma Eberhardt) who have a series of misadventures after striking out on their own, with one, Jill, meeting the wrong men and eventually becoming embroiled in criminal activities. Murphy managed to amass 67 credits, including The Mad Magician, while Eberhardt did mostly TV work after this. More interesting cast members include Joan Marshall, who starred in Homicidal as "Jean Arless," Troy Donahue, and Michael [formerly "Touch"] Connors as a couple of bad guys. Gordon Jones [The Green Hornet] plays the girls' unpleasant father. The movie is too tedious to have much entertainment value. Among Henreid's better directorial efforts are the zesty Girls on the Loose with Mara Corday and Dead Ringer with Bette Davis.

Verdict: Moves slow, dies fast. *.

THE MAD MAGICIAN

THE MAD MAGICIAN (1954). Director: John Brahm.

Don Gallico (Vincent Price), who seeks fame as a world-class magician in the Victorian era, is stymied at every turn by his nasty employer Ross Ormond (Donald Randolph). So he makes the man a victim of his buzz saw device in a zestfully ghoulish sequence. This leads into other murders as he takes on Ormond's identity and has to deal with another magician, Rinaldi (John Emery), who covets his latest device, a working crematorium. With a very clever script by Crane Wilbur, The Mad Magician is very entertaining and features a winningly devilish performance by Price as a man pushed to the end of his rope. His knocking off evil people provides a certain catharsis as only a film can do. Mary Murphy is Gallico's assistant, and Patrick O'Neal plays her boyfriend, a visiting New York City police lieutenant. Eva Gabor is Claire, Ormond's wife, who used to be married to Price. Lenita Lane is Mary Prentiss, a mystery novelist who helps O'Neal get at the truth; five years later she would again appear with Price as Lizzie in The Bat. The versatile Jay Novello plays her husband, Frank, as British in this as he was South American in The Lost World (1960); he also played Mr. Merriweather in the classic "Seance" episode of I Love Lucy. The wildest scene has Price trying to get back a valise accidentally picked up by Karen which, unbeknownst to her, contains the head of Ormond! Originally presented in 3-D.

Verdict: Lots of fun! ***.