GO WEST, YOUNG LADY

Glenn Ford

GO WEST, YOUNG LADY (1941). Director: Frank R. Strayer. Colorized.
 

The town of Headstone is regularly besieged by a masked villain known as "Killer" Pete and his gang. Then into town comes the official replacement for the murdered sheriff, Tex Miller (Glenn Ford of Gilda). Bar owner Jim Pendergast (Charlie Ruggles) is expecting his nephew, Bill, to take over as sheriff, but "Bill" turns out to be his niece, Belinda (Penny Singleton of Young Widow), who's dad always wanted a boy. Belinda and Tex are immediately drawn to one another, while Pete keeps robbing the saloon. Judge Harmon (Jed Prouty), Deputy Hank (Allen Jenkins), and businessman Tom Hannegan (Onslow Stevens of The Vanishing Shadow) are at their wit's end, but one of them is hiding a secret. Meanwhile dance hall gal Lola (Ann Miller) knows much more than she's telling. 

Penny Singleton and Ann Miller have at each other!

Go West, Young Lady is a delightful western musical comedy that is bolstered by fast-paced direction, a great spirit of fun, and terrific performances. Ford is appealingly boyish, and while Singleton could be accused of simply playing Blondie Out West, she is also very good. Miller is suitably nasty as Lola, and she and Singleton have a protracted "cat fight" (they are not fighting over Ford) that is one of the best examples of a femme fight scene I've ever seen in the movies. Ruggles, Stevens, and Jenkins are also terrific -- Jenkins has a funny song and dance number with Miller -- and Edith Meiser is also notable in a small bit as an angry townswoman (she appeared in the I Love Lucy episode when Ricky makes the mistake of putting Lucy on a schedule). 

Charlie Ruggles and Ford

Go West, Young Lady is punctuated by several songs -- the title tune and "Take Your Time" are the most memorable -- but all of the tunes are pleasant. Waffles the dog makes an impression, and we've got numbers by the Foursome, as well as Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. The opening, with Ford and Singleton shooting attacking Indians, is a bit problematic, but the ending, in which the ladies of the town take matters into their own hands, is wonderful! Frank R. Strayer also directed several installments of the Jones Family movie series in which Jed Prouty played the father. 

Verdict: An utterly charming musical comedy with the added bonus of a major "cat fight!" ***.

THE PARTY CRASHERS

Bobby Driscoll

THE PARTY CRASHERS (1958). Director: Bernard Girard.

Teenager Barbara (Connie Stevens) is torn between two boys: her nice, quiet steady Josh (Bobby Driscoll) and the sexy bad boy Twig (Mark Damon of Black Sabbath). Twig enjoys crashing parties and causing trouble, and his home life sucks, as his father (Walter Brooke of Conquest of Space) is a drunk and his mother (Doris Dowling) is always going off to "the movies" dressed to the nines. Everything comes to a head when Josh grudgingly agrees to crash a party at a motel lodge because Barbara insists she'll go with someone else, probably Twig, if he doesn't take her. The teens discover that grown-ups can be just as drunk and nasty as anyone. The Party Crashers is an interesting picture with good performances from the leads, as well as Brooke and Dowling. Frances Farmer [Son of Fury] is cast as Josh's sympathetic mother and Denver Pyle as his father, and Onslow Stevens and Cathy Lewis [The Devil at 4 O'Clock] play Barbara's parents; all are effective. Even with some more character development this low-budget Paramount flick might never have been an East of Eden, but it's not as trashy and dumb as some other "Juvenile delinquent" pictures of the era. Bobby Driscoll was a former child star who won a special Oscar and died tragically at age 31. This was the last film for him and Farmer, although both did TV work afterward. Bernard Girard also directed As Young As We Are and The Mad Room.

Verdict: B movie simmers but never quite comes to a boil. **1/2.

MOTOR PATROL

Jane Nigh and Don Castle

MOTOR PATROL (1950). Director: Sam Newfield.

"Hope to see you again real soon." -- Happy, the morgue attendant.

Larry Collins (William Henry) is an officer with the traffic division of the LAPD. His sister, Jean (Gwen O'Connor), is engaged to a friend and fellow cop, Ken Foster (Don Castle of Roses are Red), who also wants to be on "motor patrol." When Larry is murdered by people involved in a hot car racket, Ken steps in to do undercover work, but seems somewhat ill-prepared. Connie Taylor (Jane Nigh of State Fair) is in love with Russ Garver (Charles Victor), who is the head man in the gang. Connie is secretary to George Miller (Frank Jaquet), a formerly honest car dealer who reluctantly works with the crooks. Motor Patrol is a routine, plodding, if professional low-budget cops and robbers production with little to distinguish it. Richard Travis [Missile to the Moon] and Onslow Stevens play, respectively, a police detective and lieutenant. Sid Melton is less obnoxious than usual as the manager of a coffee shop where some of the "action" takes place.

Verdict: Few if any thrills in this. *1/2.

A LION IS IN THE STREETS

Barbara Hale and James Cagney

A LION IS IN THE STREETS (1953). Director: Raoul Walsh.

In the Louisiana backwoods, Hank Martin (James Cagney) drives his truck around selling all manner of goods to his neighbors. He meets and marries schoolteacher Verity (Barbara Hale) and takes her to his shack -- but he doesn't intend to stay there for long. Hank is convinced that Robert Castleberry (Larry Keating) is short-weighting the cotton brought to his plant and cheating the farmers, a charge strongly denied by Castleberry, creating an incident that leads to more than one death. Then Hank gets it into his head to run for governor, and makes a deal with the devil. Meanwhile his pregnant wife is unaware that Hank has turned the young woman with a crush on him, Flamingo (Anne Francis), into his mistress. This will not end well. In fact, the ending to the movie is the best thing about the picture (literally and figuratively) and perhaps Cagney's only really good acting in the film. It almost seems as if Cagney thinks that if he hollers, blusters and rages enough it will make the audience forget how utterly unconvincing the film is as a whole. A rage that might be appropriate for a gangster doesn't work at all for Hank Martin, and it's one of Cagney's rare forgettable performances. On the other hand, Barbara Hale [Perry Mason] is lovely and convincing as Verity, and Anne Francis also shines as Flamingo, and there are notable turns from Keating [When Worlds Collide]; John McIntire [Shadow on the Wall] as Jeb; and Warner Anderson as Jules. Also in the cast are Cagney's sister, Jeanne, as Jeb's wife; Lon Chaney Jr.; Ellen Corby; Onslow Stevens as a lawyer; and Sara Haden, although I didn't spot her and she seems to have no lines. The wildest scene in the movie has Flamingo trying to feed Verity to a pack of alligators out of jealousy! Franz Waxman's discordant score seems to fit, but can't help, this oddball and unmemorable movie. Apparently Walsh cut out the last third of Luthor Davis' screenplay and came up with a new finale. You also sense that several scenes, especially those pertaining to the relationship between Hank and Flamingo, were left on the cutting room floor. Similar material was already covered in the 1949 All the King's Men.

Verdict: Cagney, shamelessly chewing the scenery, is almost a parody of himself in this. **.

TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN

 Don Dubbins with his mentor, Cagney

TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN (1956). Director: Robert Wise.

"You act like a man with a lot of ideas, all of them second-rate and none of them honorable." 

"A man doesn't die of a broken heart from his first love, only from his last."

Young Steve Miller (Don Dubbins), who wants to be a cowboy or wrangler, winds up in the territory owned and run by Jeremy Rodock (James Cagney). Rodock has had to put up with people encroaching on his land and stealing horses and livestock for years, and he enacts his own rough justice, including hanging the perpetrators. The latest to earn his enmity is his old partner, L.A. Peterson (James Bell), and his son, Lars (Vic Morrow), but he may be wrong in his belief that either murdered one of his ranch hands. Rodock lives with Jocasta (Irene Papas, in her American debut), a woman with a past who is coveted by McNulty (Stephen McNally) and for whom Steve develops a growing infatuation. Finally tensions begin to boil over and Jocasta fears that Steve may develop the same hardness she sees in Jeremy, but is it possible that Rodock can mend his ways? Tribute to a Bad Man is an interesting western with some intriguing characters, and interactions among them, and the acting is uniformly good. Cagney is marvelous as the crusty autocrat with romantic leanings, and Papas gives a lovely performance as the woman he is devoted to. ("Introduced" in this film, Papas had already made several films overseas.) Don Dubbins was Cagney's protege, and the boyishly handsome actor always gives sensitive portrayals as he does here. McNally [The Lady Pays Off] and Morrow [Great White] make multi-dimensional villains, and James Bell and Jeannette Nolan [My Blood Runs Cold] score as Morrow's parents. Lee Van Cleef, Royal Dano, Peter Chong, and Onslow Stevens also make notable, if briefer, contributions. Cagney's patronage led to Dubbins appearing in this and These Wilder Years with Cagney, but the long career that followed consisted mostly of television work. This has nice widescreen Robert Surtees cinematography, adroit Robert Wise direction, a good Miklos Rozsa score, and a touching ending, although one could argue that the film certainly glosses over certain aspects of Rodock's character and actions.

Verdict: Romance and hangings in the wide open spaces. ***.

THE CREEPER (1948)

Bug-eyed: Janis Wilson

THE CREEPER (1948). Director: Jean Yarbrough.

"Nora, get over yourself!" -- Dr. Reade

Nora Cavigny (Janis Wilson) is a highly neurotic young lady who has a phobia involving cats. This has to do with her father's experiments in Africa, something to do with -- get this -- making human tissue phosphorescent as an aid to surgery! Dr. Cavigny (Ralph Morgan) works with Dr. Bordon (Onslow Stevens) and Gwen Runstorm (June Vincent), and they all seem to have varying attitudes about what they're doing. Gwen is engaged to Dr. Reade (John Baragrey of Shockproof). who for utterly unaccountable reasons finds himself falling for the very nutty Nora. Then the claw murders begin ... The Creeper has some atmosphere and generally sufficient acting, although Janis Wilson is perhaps too odd even considering her character. Stevens [Lonelyhearts] makes an impression as Bordon, but the best work comes from June Vincent [Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard], as snappy and borderline bitchy as ever. Eduardo Ciannelli is also in the cast, along with David Hoffman as the rat-faced cat keeper, Andre. The Creeper is suspenseful but the experiments are inane, and the monster in this is particularly lame. Milton Rosen's theme music is a plus. Not to be confused with the Creeper played by Rondo Hatton in House of Horrors and The Brute Man, both of which came out earlier and were also directed by Yarbrough. Hatton also played a Creeper in the Sherlock Holmes feature The Pearl of Death. The 1942 Cat People may have had some influence on this picture.

Verdict: Some fun, but you can see why there was never a sequel nor a series of "Creeper" movies. **1/2.

LONELYHEARTS

LONELYHEARTS (1958). Director: Vincent J. Donehue.

Adam White (Montgomery Clift) importunes publisher William Shrike (Robert Ryan) to give him a job on the paper, but all he winds up with is doing the "Miss Lonelyhearts" column. Shrike verbally abuses his wife Florence (Myrna Loy) because of an indiscretion in her past, despite the fact that Shrike has had numerous infidelities of his own. Adam is engaged to Justy (Delores Hart) -- short for Justine, one supposes -- but he has an indiscretion of his own when unhappy wife Fay (Maureen Stapleton) discovers that he's "Miss Lonelyhearts" and asks if she can come see him at his apartment to talk about her troubles ... The best thing about Lonelyhearts is the acting, with Clift giving a superb performance, and Loy, Stapleton, Ryan and Hart providing excellent support. Ryan's character is in some ways incomprehensible, and while his performance may lack the spontaneity of Clift's, it is still quite effective. One can't quite understand why Florence stays with Shrike, however. The whole business with Stapleton seems contrived, and the story, despite some minor incidents, never seems to go anywhere. This is a shame because the characters are compelling and the acting memorable. There are interesting parallels in the picture, however: Adam's father (a very effective Onslow Stevens) is in jail because he murdered his adulterous wife and her lover; Florence cheated on her husband and Fay wants to do the same. Stapleton had done mostly television and stage work before being "introduced" in this film. Despite its flaws, this is better than The Day of the Locust, another movie taken from a Nathaniel West novel.

Verdict: A mesmerizing Clift easily outshines his material. **1/2.

MARK OF THE GORILLA

Johnny Weissmuller and Suzanne Dalbert

MARK OF THE GORILLA (1950). Director: William Berke.

Skulduggery is afoot in a government game preserve in the Nagandi district of Africa. For one thing murderous gorillas are stalking about, even if this isn't their natural territory. Do these big apes perhaps have a secret? One thing that isn't a secret is that there's a horde of Nazi gold hidden on the preserve, and several people are trying to find it. These include the suspicious Professor Brandt (Onslow Stevens of The Couch) and the pretty Nyobi (Suzanne Dalbert, who has a distracting resemblance to Ingrid Bergman)! Then there's Warden Bentley (Selmer Jackson) and his niece, Barbara (Trudy Marshall of The Dancing Masters), who may be on the side of the angels. Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) takes care of the gorillas as well as the treasure hunters, though he has a tough time of it in spots. Mark of the Gorilla is fast-paced and well-directed, and surprisingly entertaining. There's a great scene when a chimp keeps stealing Jungle Jim's fish behind his back; a bit with a panther having a set-to with a crocodile; and exciting sequences featuring an attack by a hawk on a mountain and a prop moray eel under the water. As usual in these JJ pictures, the uncredited (and probably stock) score is a big help.

Verdict: This darn thing is fun! ***.

BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY

BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY (1949). Director: Ford Beebe.

"Filmed in glorious sepia tone," Bomba the Jungle Boy is the first in a series based on the children's books by Roy Rockwood. Photographer George Harland (Onslow Stevens of The Vanishing Shadow), his daughter, Pat (Peggy Ann Garner of Black Widow), and their friend, Andy (Charles Irwin) try to find more interesting wildlife and scenic views across a certain "Big Rift," but Pat gets lost. Bomba (Johnny Sheffield), who was raised by an old recluse who died, isn't too crazy about Pat at first, but then warms up to her, helping her build a refuge. When Pat asks Bomba for a leopard skin, he tries to take his off right in front of her; later she shows up in a remarkably professional leopard dress that seems fitted, patterned and sewn by experts. There is a plague of locusts, some hungry lions, a monkey named Otto, and more stock footage than you can shake a stick at. This is an ultra-cheap Monogram production that even serial thrill-king Ford Beebe can't do much with. The best performance is from Smoki Whitfield as the personable and bright native guide, Eli. Sheffield, of course, played "Boy" in the Tarzan films.

Verdict: Definitely room for improvement with this series. **.

THE VANISHING SHADOW

Ada Ince with affectionate robot

THE VANISHING SHADOW (12 chapter Universal serial/1934). Director: Louis Friedlander [Lew Landers].

Stanley Stanfield (Onslow Stevens), the son of a man ruined by the wicked Ward Barnett (Walter Miller) finds himself an unexpected ally in the person of Barnett's daughter, Gloria (Ada Ince), who strongly disapproves of her father's activities and hopes to reform him. Fat chance. In the meantime Stanfield -- whom Barnett has framed for murder -- has another ally in weird Professor Van Dorn (James Durkin) who has invented a machine that can make a man vanish, leaving behind only his shadow [hence, the "vanishing shadow"]. Virtually the entire cast disappears using this device at one point or another. Van Dorn has also invented a death ray that can zap plants, buildings and people, and a big robot that runs wild and is almost as much of a threat as the bad guys. There are some lively fist fights in this, and exciting cliffhangers as well: a car is smashed by a train; the death ray runs amok; Gloria walks into an electro-field; and so on. The Vanishing Shadow is not badly acted [look for Lee J. Cobb in a small role] and is a fun if very silly serial.

Verdict: Enjoyable hokum. ***.

HOUSE OF DRACULA

HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945). Director: Erle C. Kenton.

Sequel to House of Frankenstein ignores the fact that both Dracula and The Wolf Man seemingly died at the end of that film and has both Larry Talbot(Lon Chaney Jr.) and Count Dracula (improbably) asking decent Dr. Edelman (Onslow Stevens) to cure them of their respective curses. Conveniently, Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange) is found in the caverns below Edelman's sanitarium, along with the skeleton of Dr. Niemann from House of Frankenstein. Before long Dracula (John Carradine) is up to his old tricks, infecting Edelman (who becomes a sort of vampire without dying) with his evil -- Talked out of reviving the monster by his kindly hunchbacked assistant Nina (Jane Adams), he now decides to bring the creature back to life in the climax. Strangely compelling horror film plays fast and loose with supernatural legends, but offers a kind of scientific explanation for both vampirism (parasites in the blood) and lycanthropy (something to do with self-hypnosis, overactive hormones, and pressure in the cranial cavity). Lionel Atwill is back as another police inspector. The Wolf Man and Dracula are in the same room only for a few seconds. They would interact more -- and Dracula would actually meet The Monster -- in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Verdict: Great fun! ***.