KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL

John Payne

KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (1952). Director: Phil Karlson. 

Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is trying to rebuild his life after a brief stir in prison, but he has no idea that a certain individual has gathered together three desperate criminals to help him pull off a bank job. Rolfe, who drives a flower delivery truck, becomes the patsy in this scheme and winds up being questioned by police. Then the action switches to Mexico, where Rolfe tries to infiltrate the gang, which consists of Boyd Kane (Neville Brand), Peter Harris (Jack Elam), and Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef of The Big Combo). Rolfe romances Helen (Coleen Gray of Kiss of Death), daughter of retired cop Tom Foster (Preston Foster of I, the Jury), while trying to uncover the identity of the mysterious leader and clear his name.

Lee Van Cleef with Payne

Kansas City Confidential is an excellent piece of film noir, with Payne in top form, and everyone else giving top-notch performances. Lee Van Cleef certainly makes his mark in this as the sinister Tony Romano, and it's easy to see why his formidable screen presence eventually had him hitting it big overseas; this is one of his best performances in an American flick. Jack Elam is effective in a different way, less menacing and more on a perpetual verge of panicking. Coleen Gray makes a feisty and credible leading lady, and Dona Drake of Beyond the Forest saunters sexily and brazenly through her scenes as resort employee Teresa. The film is well photographed by George E. Diskant, and Paul Sawtell, never quite considered in the league of the great film composers, contributes an evocative and exciting score.

Payne with Coleen Gray

Of course Kansas City Confidential mustn't be examined too closely. The leader of the gang wears a mask to hide his identity, but when he shows up later in the movie it's hard to believe that his associates wouldn't recognize his voice and physical shape, nor that they wouldn't recognize each other. I watched this on Amazon Prime where they were offering a colorized version, but the next day when I went to finish it, the color version had disappeared and I watched the rest in black and white. Strange. Vivi Janiss, who played one of the members of the "Ladies Fang and Claw Society" on I Love Lucy, has a small role as a resort guest. John Payne was involved romantically with Coleen Gray in-between his last two marriages.

Verdict: Suspenseful, with an intriguing plot and some impressive acting. ***. 

THE SCARFACE MOB

Eliot Ness and his Untouchables

THE SCARFACE MOB (1959). Director: Phil Karlson. 

With bootlegging gangsters like Al Capone (Neville Brand of Eaten Alive) -- nicknamed Scarface -- taking over Chicago, it is decided that Federal agent Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) will put together a special squad of incorruptible operatives soon to be known as the "Untouchables" because they cannot be bribed. One of the squad members is Joe Fuselli (Kennan Wynn of The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown), who served time for armed robbery but is anxious to make amends. Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) runs operations while Capote is temporarily in jail. George Ritchie (Joe Mantell), wants to impress his flirtatious wife, stripper Brandy (Barbara Nichols) -- whose uncle is a bookkeeper for Capone -- by volunteering to get info for Ness. Meanwhile the Feds set out smashing breweries, and more than one "untouchable" may come to a bad end. Ness also finds that his fiancee, Betty (Pat Crowley of There's Always Tomorrow), is in danger from the mob. 

Ness vs. Nitti: Stack with Bruce Gordon

Released in theaters, The Scarface Mob was actually the pilot for the TV show The Untouchables, originally shown in two parts on Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse and introduced by both Desi Arnaz and Walter Winchell, who provided snappy narration for the series. As a stand-alone movie, The Scarface Mob is a good if minor crime drama. Stack makes the perfect Ness, and the normally stoic actor even sheds tears when one of his operatives is killed. Pat Crowley is excellent as his fiancee turned wife, who marries Ness as much for protection as out of love (I don't believe Ness' wife was ever seen again on the TV series, although he called her on the phone frequently.) Brand, Gordon, Mantell, Wynn, and Nichols are all on target as well. Bill Williams also plays one of the Untouchables and is fine. 

Prohibition was undoubtedly one of the worst ideas in American politics. It only led to gangsters taking over the now-illegal alcohol industry and badly increased all manner of crime in Chicago and elsewhere. It was finally repealed due to public demand. 

Verdict: Credible and entertaining mob movie with very good performances. ***. 

THE TURNING POINT (1952)

Alexis Smith and William Holden

THE TURNING POINT (1952). Director: William Dieterle.

"I don't need a speech about honor or integrity -- from either one of you." -- John Conroy.

John Conroy (Edmond O'Brien) is a special prosecutor determined to break the hold that the rackets have on his city. Unfortunately, his good friend, reporter Jerry McKibbon (William Holden), has discovered that Conroy's own father, Matt (Tom Tully of Where the Sidewalk Ends), is a crooked cop in the employ of mobster Neil Eichelberger (Ed Begley), Conroy's chief antagonist. Adding to Conroy's troubles is the fact that his girlfriend and co-worker Amanda (Alexis Smith of Whiplash) is falling for Jerry and vice versa. There's a lot going on in The Turning Point -- a "B" movie with an "A" cast from Paramount and not Republic-- but much of it is handled in so perfunctory a manner that you wonder why the sub-plots -- Conroy's father being secretly corrupt; the love triangle -- were even introduced; Jerry is especially under-developed as a character. Still, the movie has interesting aspects and is well-acted, especially by Begley and Adele Longmire as the terrified witness, Carmelina. Carolyn Jones has a nice turn as another ditsy witness, and Russell Johnson [Attack of the Crab Monsters] briefly plays a cold-blooded hit man, as does Neville Brand. O'Brien's unemotional, reigned-in performance may fit the stoic character, but it also makes it harder to sympathize with someone who's having a really lousy year. The movie cries out for a good musical score, which it doesn't get.

Verdict: Borderline film noir with intriguing situations but it's perhaps less effective than some cheaper movies without major stars. **1/2.

STALAG 17

William Holden and Peter Graves

STALAG 17 (1953). Director: Billy Wilder.

In a WW2 German POW camp, Sefton (William Holden) is a slick, callous wise guy who makes money anyway he can, whether it's from his fellow officers or from the German guards. When two hopeful escapees are discovered and shot, the other men suspect that someone in the barracks is feeding information to the buffoonish Schulz (Sig Ruman). The main suspect is Sefton, his accusers including the Security man, Price (Peter Graves); the barracks chief. Hoffman (Richard Erdman); blustery Duke (Neville Brand); and the two camp clowns, Shapiro (Harvey Lembeck) and "Animal" (Robert Strauss); among others. When it is clear that the Germans, represented by Commander Sherbach (Otto Preminger), intend to kill newcomer Lt. Dunbar (Don Taylor), who led a successful anti-German bombing raid, the group try to figure out a way to spirit him out of the camp without the quisling's knowledge. But is Sefton really the traitor? Stalag 17 might have made a great picture if there wasn't such insistence on catering to popular tastes and making a "feel good" movie about a Prisoner of War camp. No one expects Italian neo-realistic grimness in a Hollywood movie, but the comedy relief -- especially as it pertains to the bumbling and irritating Shapiro and Animal --  at times threatens to overwhelm everything else, as if it's a sitcom -- in fact, this movie with its cartoon Nazis was undoubtedly the inspiration for the series Hogan's Heroes, which even included a fumbling "Schulz". It's too bad, because the more serious aspects of the film are generally well-done. Holden gives his usual competent once-removed performance, and Graves [Beginning of the End] and Erdman [Cry Danger] and some of the others are fine, but Neville Brand is especially notable and dynamic as Duke. Holden won a Best Actor Oscar that he didn't really deserve, as it was well within his range and nothing at all special. Wilder and Strauss [September Storm] were nominated, but Brand should have been. The men in the camp talk about Betty Grable, but not once does anyone mention or even seem to think of wives and other loved ones back home aside from a brief scene when the POWs receive mail -- including letters from the finance company (!) -- from the States. [Apparently the Red Cross helped ship U.S. mail to Germany via neutral Sweden, but letters from the finance company are doubtful!] The film even tries to milk humor out of a throwaway scene when a prisoner realizes his wife is pregnant by another man but can't face up to it. (Trying not to over-sentimentalize, the movie goes to the other extreme.) There's a charming scene when the men all dance together in the absence of women.

Verdict: German POW camps as filtered through superficial Hollywood. **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.

THE GEORGE RAFT STORY

THE GEORGE RAFT STORY (1961). Director: Joseph M. Newman.

Dancer George Raft (Ray Danton) meets gals, entertainers and hoodlums in New York City nightclubs. Then it is suggested that he take off for Los Angeles and try his luck in the movies. He treats women like dirt, punches out people at the slightest provocation, gets a swell head, becomes a has-been, appears in Some Like It Hot as a kind of comeback, and in general acts like a major asshole. Oddly Raft -- who could have sued for defamation of character -- was still alive in 1961, so one supposes he actually liked that image as well as the fact that "Bugsy" or Benny Siegel (Brad Dexter of 99 River Street) was one of his best friends. Danton is an odd choice to play Raft, especially as he's much better looking and arguably much more talented than the real George Raft, who seemed to be a passable dancer and little else. Danton does an okay job of faking the fancy footwork with lots of coaching, but there's no genius there a la Fred Astaire. Jayne Mansfield, of all people, gives a more than credible performance as a fictional character who may or may not be Raft's bosomy wife. Neville Brand [Eaten Alive] is memorable as Al Capone, and Robert H. Harris makes a sympathetic if  exasperated producer, and there are other bits and supporting performances from Julie London as a singer; Margo Moore as a hat check girl; Barrie Chase as the actress, June; Barbara Nichols as a dubbed Texas Guinan; Frank Gorshin as a Raft associate; and Hershel Bernardi as Raft's much-maligned manager. The movie comes to a dead halt during a lengthy performance of a deadly song-and-comedy team. The cliches in the film -- and there are many -- include Raft earnestly complaining that he "can't say these lines!" (-- maybe because he can't act!) No matter what poor Danton played, he always came off as a low-life; he was equally sleazy in Too Much, Too Soon and other films.

Verdict: Poor biopic of someone hardly worth mentioning. **.

D.O.A.

D.O.A. (1950). Director: Rudolph Mate.

Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) is on vacation in San Francisco when an unknown person slips him a drink with luminous toxin in it, giving him only a few days to live. Distraught, angry, and confused, Bigelow sets out to find out who killed him and why. This is a completely absorbing, extremely well-acted, suspenseful, twisting, and ultimately heartbreaking movie, perfect on nearly every level. Mate keeps things moving at a fast and snappy pace, but you're always aware that an essentially decent man is facing an undeserved date, as is Paula, the woman back home (Pamela Britton) who loves him and whom he finally realizes he also loves. Billed as "Beverly Campbell," Beverly Garland certainly scores as the anxious Miss Foster, as does Laurette Luez as the malicious Marla and Lynn Baggett as the Widow Philips. Neville Brand is chilling as the psychotic Chester, and the scene with him taking Frank "for a drive" is extremely tense. The film is bolstered by superior work from composer Dimitri Tiomkin and cinmatographer Ernest Laszlo. Remarkable, unusual, and uncompromising.

Verdict: Superb! ****.