IT'S LOVE I'M AFTER

Bette Davis and Leslie Howard

IT'S LOVE I'M AFTER (1937). Director: Archie Mayo. Colorized.  

Basil Underwood (Leslie Howard of Pygmalion) and his battling lover and acting partner Joyce Arden (Bette Davis) are appearing in a production of Romeo and Juliet (which they aren't very good in) when starstruck heiress Marcia West (Olivia de Havilland) comes to his dressing room dripping with adoration. Her fiance, Henry (Patric Knowles of Five Came Back), begs Basil to come out to the West estate and disillusion Marcia, act the cad, so that she will fully belong to him. (Apparently he's unaware that Marcia did not expect to see Basil again). With his faithful retainer Digges (Eric Blore of Swiss Miss) in tow, Basil arrives at the estate and puts his plan into motion -- only everything he thinks up backfires on him! Then Joyce shows up and is told by Marcia that she must step aside, Basil belongs to her. Indeed?

de Havilland with Howard

It's Love I'm After is a delightful screwball comedy that has a funny script and situations and some wonderful performances. Howard throws himself into the spirit of the thing from the very beginning and is a lovable egomaniac and ham. Davis, generally too intense for comedy, is fine in this as the angry woman whose long-awaited wedding to her paramour never quite seems to take place. Olivia de Havilland is also excellent, and she gets fine support from George Barbier as her consistently befuddled father and Knowles as the eternally unamused fiance. Bonita Granville and Spring Byington add to the fun as members of the West household, and Eric Blore nearly walks off with the movie as the wise and long-suffering Digges, who excels at bird calls. 

Verdict: Cute picture. ***. 

MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET

Maria Montez as Marie Roget

MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET (1942). Director: Phil Rosen.

Notorious actress Marie Roget (Maria Montez of Arabian Knights) goes missing in Paris, and Inspector Gobelin (Lloyd Corrigan) and the famous Dr. Dupin (Patric Knowles of Five Came Back), who solved the case of the Murders in the Rue Morgue, are called in to investigate. After a few days Marie turns up alive, and her grandmother, Cecile (Maria Ouspenkaya of Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman) suspects that Marie's stepsister, Camille (Nell O'Day) may be the subject of a devious murder plot. There is also a faceless corpse of a woman in the river. Dupin accompanies Camille to a party, but when another dead body turns up in the river it may be a surprise to everyone whose it is. Dupin, with the help/interference of the Inspector, uncovers the murderer and his motive. 

Knowles and Corrigan

Mystery of Marie Roget is very loosely based on the famous short story by Edgar Allan Poe, which in turn was inspired by a real murder case -- the first mystery story to do this -- although the murder occurred in New York and not in Paris. One problem with this film adaptation is that there aren't enough suspects, which include John Litel as the family lawyer, and Edward Norris as Camille's shady fiance, and even the old grandmother herself. Although the film still has some suspense in spite of this, the solution doesn't come as much of a surprise. As for the cast, Corrigan is as fun as ever, Knowles makes a credible Dupin, Ouspenkaya is suitably peppery (and borderline bitchy with the Inspector), Montez looks classy and actually gives a perfectly good performance, and Litel and Norris are on-target throughout the proceedings. The film is well-paced under Phil Rosen's direction and well-produced. Rosen directed several Charlie Chan movies and many others. 

Verdict: Not Poe perhaps, but entertaining, atmospheric, and well-made. ***.  

NO MAN'S WOMAN

Richard Crane and Marie Windsor

NO MAN'S WOMAN (1955). Director: Franklin Adreon.

Harlow Grant (John Archer) wants a divorce from his hateful wife, Carolyn (Marie Windsor), so that he can marry his sweetheart, Louise (Nancy Gates of World Without End). But everyone seems to hate Carolyn, including her father-in-law, Philip (Douglas Wood); her assistant, Betty (Jil Jarmyn), whose sexy boyfriend she tries to steal; said boyfriend, Dick Sawyer (Richard Crane), who owns his own fishing boat; and even Carolyn's own boyfriend, Wayne Vincent (Patric Knowles of Five Came Back), who is in the art business with her. Then the movie turns into a lesser Perry Mason episode without Perry Mason when one person is murdered, as expected. No Man's Woman is well acted and entertaining -- Windsor [Swamp Women] is as much fun to watch doing her slimy "bad girl" act as ever -- but the solution to this mystery holds absolutely no surprises. John Gallaudet, who later played a judge on the aforementioned Perry Mason, and Morris Ankrum are police officers, and Great Old Movies favorite Percy Helton is a caretaker. From Republic studios.

Verdict: A good role but not a great vehicle for Windsor. **1/2.

ANOTHER THIN MAN

Baby Nicky and li'l Asta

ANOTHER THIN MAN (1939). Director: W. S. Van Dyke II.

Back in New York with their new son, Nicky, and little Asta in tow, Nick and Nora (William Powell and Myrna Loy) are summoned to the Long Island estate of Colonel MacFay (C. Aubrey Smith). MacFay has been receiving weird death threats from an old employee named Church (Sheldon Leonard) and hopes to have Nick's protection. Naturally, as in most of these detective movies, the threatened man is murdered under the disinterested hero's nose, and the rest of the movie is concerned with finding out who done it. Another Thin Man is quite talky, but entertaining, with an intricate script and a denouement that is truly a surprise. Members of the supporting cast (as well as suspects in certain cases) include Virginia Grey [Jeanne Eagels] as MacFay's adopted daughter; Patric Knowles as her secret fiance; Tom Neal [Bruce Gentry] as a man carrying a torch for Grey; Otto Kruger as the detective on the case; Ruth Hussey as a kind of nanny; Muriel Hutchison as Church's paramour, among others, all giving adroit performances. The business with ex-cons being delighted to see Nick even though he sent them up the river gets tiresome, and leads into a party for little Nicky with the hoods each bringing their own baby! (Don't blink or you'll miss Shemp Howard.) Some of the subsequent victims certainly don't deserve to be murdered, but there's never any sympathy for them. However, there's a swell scene with Powell interacting with Marjorie Main [The Law and the Lady] as a landlady, and the ending is a pip! The killer in this is especially conniving and heartless.

Verdict: Things look up for the series with this entry. ***.

TARZAN'S SAVAGE FURY

Lex Barker and Tommy Carlton

TARZAN'S SAVAGE FURY (1952). Director: Cy Endfield.

Tarzan (Lex Barker) gets a son when he and Jane (Dorothy Hart) find a little orphaned boy named Joey (Tommy Carlton), although the couple don't seem all that sympathetic to his plight in the beginning. Trouble develops when Jane's alleged cousin, actually an impostor named Edwards (Patric Knowles) shows up along with a Russian spy named Rokov (Charles Korvin). The two importune Tarzan and the others to lead them to some diamonds (in one ridiculous scene Tarzan says he doesn't know what a diamond is!), unaware that their purposes are not at all benign. The group encounter cannibals, and one exciting scene takes place on a river when a raft is overturned by a hippo and hungry gators move in for the attack [possibly stock footage]. In this film Tarzan seems to have known his father years ago, although in Burroughs' novel Tarzan's father died in the boy's infancy. Lex Barker [The Girl in Black Stockings] inherited the role from Johnny Weissmuller, who went on to the Jungle Jim series, and speaks in the same dumb monosyllables, but is otherwise okay and looks good. Dorothy Hart, playing Jane with teased hair and lipstick, isn't bad, and little Tommy Carlton is excellent as Joey; this was his only film. The best performance is from Korvin [The Killer That Stalked New York] as the agent and magician, whose tricks awe the natives and others; Knowles [The Wolf Man] is also good. Photographed by Karl Struss and with a nice score by Paul Sawtell. The main problem with the movie is that we never really see any of Tarzan's "savage fury" and in fact the film is relatively tame.

Verdict: Okay Tarzan entry. **1/2.

FIVE CAME BACK

Patric Knowles and Joseph Calleia

FIVE CAME BACK (1939). Director: John Farrow.

A plane flying over South America crash lands in the jungle, but only five people can fly back when the plane is fixed, and there are headhunters in the area. Will it be the convict who faces execution (Joseph Calleia), or the blowsy brunette (Lucille Ball) who feels she hasn't got much of a future? Professor Spengler (C. Aubrey Smith) and his peppery wife (Elisabeth Risdon)? Crimp (John Carradine), who is delivering his prisoner but uses no handcuffs or takes any precautions? Or Pete (Allen Jenkins) who is traveling with his murdered boss's little boy, Tommy? Then there's the eloping couple, Judson (Patric Knowles) and Alice (Wendy Barrie), and the two pilots, played by Chester Morris [The She-Creature] and Kent Taylor [Gangbusters]. Five Came Back certainly features an interesting situation, but it's contrived, and the acting, while professional, is generally of the second-rate Hollywood variety. However, "Lucy" isn't bad as Peggy, and Knowles makes an impression as Jud, while Barrie does her best with the part she's given. At least in this earlier version the horrible death of a steward is remarked upon at some point. Farrow directed the remake Back from Eternity some years later, but it wasn't much of an improvement. This is not one of the great movies of 1939.

Verdict: Maybe more headhunters would have livened this up. **.

THE BRIDE WORE BOOTS

THE BRIDE WORE BOOTS (1946). Director: Irving Pichel.

The marriage of Sally Warren (Barbara Stanwyck) to her writer husband Jeff (Bob Cummings), has already been tested by his disdain for the horses Sally loves, as well as the continual, irritating presence of would-be boyfriend Lance (Patric Knowles), but now there's a new threat in the form of pretty and perky Mary Lou (Diana Lynn), who has a crush on Jeff and wants to be his secretary -- and more. Naturally the couple break up, come together, and break up again, with all sorts of amusing complications. Willie Best (of My Little Margie and many movies) works for the Warrens, and little Natalie Wood is one of their adorable children. Stanwyck has always been as adept at comedy as she is at drama, and proves it once again, where she's right up there with skilled comedian Cummings. Peggy Wood and Robert Benchley are fun as, respectively, Sally's mother and uncle, and Lynn and Knowles are also effective. Gertrude Hoffman, also of My Little Margie, has a small role as a club woman. The picture is fast-paced and cute and very well acted.

Verdict: A trifle, but nice. ***.

HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY

The real stars: Donald Crisp and Sara Allgood

HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941). Director: John Ford.

A look at the lives of several residents of a Welsh mining town, especially focusing on Mr. and Mrs. Morgan (Donald Crisp and Sara Allgood), and their youngest son Huw (Roddy McDowall)  and daughter Angharad (Maureen O'Hara). There are marriages, births and deaths, and a split between Morgan and his older sons, and indeed the other miners, when he doesn't support a strike. In the meantime Angharad marries the mine owner's son while pining for minister Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon), causing some tongues to wag. Although Pidgeon and O'Hara are the top-billed "stars" [Pidgeon just sort of says lines while O'Hara is fine], the real stars of the movie are Crisp and Allgood, both of whom are superb; Allgood probably never had as good or large a part as this. Young McDowall is also excellent. The film is beautifully photographed by Arthur C. Miller, and has a fine score by Alfred Newman. There are some striking and touching tableaus throughout the movie. John Loder and Patric Knowles are two of the older sons. Barry Fitzgerald and his brother Arthur Shields [who overacts in this] have smaller roles.Ethel Griffies is a gossiping housekeeper. Some may prefer The Quiet Man, but this is a far superior film, and one of Ford's most memorable achievements.

Verdict: Just lovely. ***1/2.

CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK

CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK (1944). Director: Charles Lamont.

After teasing the faculty in a theatrical sketch, Donald Corrigan (Donald O'Connor) is asked to take a brief vacation from Sperling Naval Academy. During this sabbatical he meets Glory (Ann Blyth), the latest in a line of show biz females from the same family, and tries to discourage the attentions of the adoring Peggy (Peggy Ryan). In the meantime, Glory's mother (Helen Vinson) and grandmother (Helen Broderick), both of whom were burned by, respectively, Donald's father (Patric Knowles) and grandfather, try to break up the budding romance between him and the adorable Glory. This is a trifle, but a cute one, with some nice songs ["It's Mighty Nice to Have Met You;" "Mother, Mother, Mother"] and swell performances. O'Connor is charming, Blyth is as cute as a button, Ryan is perky and talented, and Broderick nearly steals the show as the grandmother. Irving Bacon [Ethel's father on I Love Lucy] and Arthur Treacher are also in the cast, as are the 7-year-old whiz kid Joel Kupperman and (briefly) Mantan Moreland as a porter. Years later Peggy Ryan was Jack Lord's secretary on Hawaii 5-0. Blyth's most famous role, of course, was as Veda in Mildred Pierce.

Verdict: For fans of old musicals, O'Connor, and Blyth. **1/2.

GIVE ME YOUR HEART

GIVE ME YOUR HEART (1936). Director: Archie Mayo.

Belinda Warren (Kay Francis) is in love with Bob Melford (Patric Knowles) who has a disabled wife, Rosamond (Freida Inescort). When Belinda becomes pregnant, Bob's father, Lord Farrington (Henry Stephenson) makes a deal for Belinda to give up the child to Bob and Rosamond, telling her that otherwise she has little to offer the child. (It never occurs to Belinda to make the point that the child will be his grandchild no matter who raises it, and you'd think he'd want to provide for it no matter what.) Traveling on a train, Belinda encounters Jim Baker (George Brent) and marries him, but her brooding over the past threatens their marriage until an old friend drastically takes matters into his hands.

Give Me Your Heart is a likable, at times touching, movie that is greatly bolstered by some fine dialogue and an excellent cast at their best. Kay Francis gives one of her best performances as Belinda, and Roland Young is terrific as her buddy "Tubbs." Francis and Brent always made a good team, and in this Young and Helen Flint (as Belinda's doctor Florence Cudahy) also make a grand screen couple. (The protracted scene when the two "meet cute," nearly grabbing the same cab, then keep bumping into each other until they realize they're going to the exact same place, is one of the best scenes in the movie.) Zeffie Tilbury scores as Belinda's grumpy Aunt Esther. Francis has a sublime moment when she looks at a picture of her little boy at a very awkward gathering, and she and Freida Inescort have a very good scene as the two women manage to bond with each other despite the events of the past. Warm, humorous and sentimental in the right way, Give Me Your Heart is one of Francis's best features. Nice score, too.

Verdict: Kay fans should pounce. ***.

BEAUTY FOR THE ASKING

BEAUTY FOR THE ASKING (1939). Director: Glenn Tryon.

Beautician Jean Russell (Lucille Ball) is excitedly hoping to market her new astringent face cream and make oodles of money when her fiance Denny (Patric Knowles) comes to tell her that he's going to marry another woman, Flora (Freida Inescort) -- who happens to be worth ten million. Trying to get over her heartbreak, Jean gets an entrepreneur named Jeff (Donald Woods) to help her find backing for her product and she winds up going into business with -- Flora! Naturally there are complications when Denny is installed in the executive wing of her business. Lucy gives a lovely performance in one of her nicest and most sympathetic roles, and she's ably backed up by the rest of the cast, including Inez Courtney as Jean's friend Gwen, and Leona Maricle as a predatory friend of Flora's named Eve Harrington -- years before All About Eve. Good dialogue and a light touch help enormously.

Verdict: Very pleasant indeed. ***.

WHO DONE IT?

WHO DONE IT? (1942). Director: Erle C. Kenton.

Bud and Lou are soda jerks who seize an opportunity to get into the radio writing business and wind up pretending to be detectives when someone is murdered during a broadcast. While some of Costello's shtick gets a little tiresome, by and large he and Abbott give good, funny performances. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't have much of a plot to get involved in, so it's entirely dependent on its routines, some of which work and some of which don't. The film's highlight is the bit with Costello trying to get in touch with a radio show that has just awarded him $10,000 -- depending upon his getting back to them within five minutes. At a phone booth in a drug store he tries to get the ditzy operator on the other end to connect him to Alexander 2222 -- as all sorts of people interfere. (This may have been an old A&C vaudeville routine; in any case it's a classic.) Mary Wickes is fun as a secretary that Lou tries to romance but she doesn't have enough to do, and William Bendix scores as a brusque cop who's even stupider than Costello. Patric Knowles and Louise Allbritton are the obligatory romantic couple, Jerome Cowan is a writer, and William Gargan is the police lieutenant.

Verdict: Some very amusing moments. **1/2.

HIT THE ICE

HIT THE ICE (1943). Director: Charles Lamont.

Bud and Lou are photographers who inadvertently wind up consorting with bank robbers and being accused of their crime. They and the real crooks hot foot it to Sun Valley, where there are further complications. Oddly, the best thing about the movie are the snappy numbers performed by Ginny Simms -- who sings as good as she looks -- who plays Marcia, and Johnny Long and his Orchestra (including the bizarre "Slap Happy Polka.") Mantan Moreland has a brief funny bit with Lou at a train station. Sheldon Leonard plays the head crook and Joe Sawyer and Marc Lawrence are gang members. Patric Knowles is a doctor and Elyse Knox the nurse who's looking after a supposedly sick Leonard. An interesting bit has Lou winding up in a single bed in-between a husband and wife after he crashes through a wall. What's interesting about it is that even in the following decade Lucy and Ricky had separate beds in their bedroom, not one.

Verdict: Primarily for A & C addicts, but easy to take if nothing special. **1/2.

THE BIG STEAL

THE BIG STEAL (1949). Director: Don Siegel.

Duke Halliday (Robert Mitchum) meets up with Joan Graham (Jane Greer) in Mexico where both discover that they are in pursuit of the same man, Jim Fiske (Patric Knowles), who stole money from them. In the meantime Captain Blake (William Bendix) is in pursuit of Halliday. It takes a while to figure out who are the good guys and who are the bad guys in a movie that consists of a lot of seemingly aimless running and driving around. It all comes together in the climax, but by then it's a little too late. However, there are some exciting and suspenseful moments in the film, and the acting is good. Mitchum was at his best in roles like this, and The Big Steal offers one of his most credible performances. While Greer is not on his level, she's quite good when she's testily bantering with Mitchum. The ever-reliable Bendix is as good as ever and even Knowles turns in a solid performance. However the picture is almost snatched away by middle-aged Ramon Navarro, who is delightful as Inspector General Ortega. (Don Alvarado plays his lieutenant.) Pascual Garcia Pena of Black Scorpion and The Beast of Hollow Mountain plays a construction worker who helps Greer and Mitchum momentarily get away from Bendix.

Verdict: Distinctly minor but entertaining. **1/2.

THE WOLF MAN

THE WOLF MAN (1941). Director: George Waggner.

After the accidental death of his brother, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) comes home to the ancestral manor in Europe and falls for Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), the pretty daughter of an antique dealer. Unfortunately, at a carnival with Gwen, Talbot is also bitten by a werewolf, Bela (Bela Lugosi), whom he kills. Bela's mother, the gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya), knows that Talbot is now under the same curse as her late son and tries to help him. The Wolf Man is not a great picture -- Curt Siodmak's screenplay doesn't hold up to much scrutiny -- but it is fast-moving and entertaining and has an extremely interesting cast. Claude Rains really classes up the movie as Talbot's father, Sir John (who figures in the moving conclusion). Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, and Patric Knowles play, respectively, the family doctor, a policeman, and Gwen's fiance. The wolf man makeup by Jack Pierce is very good, but no explanation is given for why Bela turned into an actual wolf and Talbot into a wolf man. While the "August moon" figures in a poem on lycanthropy recited (seemingly within five minutes) by three different people -- which is unintentionally comical -- the full moon aspect of the legend really doesn't play a part in the story. Unfortunately Maleva also recites the same elegy -- "the way you walked was thorny" -- three times as well. Still, this is well-acted, atmospheric, and quite watchable. Lon Chaney (he had dropped the "jr." by this time) only gives an acceptable performance, however. NOTE: For a sneak peek at the new Wolf Man, click here.

Verdict: Not a bad classic horror flick; the cast certainly helps! ***.