PORTRAIT OF A MOBSTER

Norman Alden, Peter Breck, and Vic Morrow

PORTRAIT OF A MOBSTER (1961). Director: Joseph Pevney.

The ambitious Arnold Flagenheimer rechristens himself "Dutch Schultz" (Vic Morrow) and goes to work for Legs Diamond (Ray Danton) along with his old pal, Bo (Norman Alden). But Dutch isn't content working for Legs and goes off on his own, taking over rackets right and left and incurring the wrath of other mobsters as well as the police. Dutch goes so far as to romance the daughter, Iris (Leslie Parrish), of one of the men he murdered, but he gets competition from Detective Frank Brennan (Peter Breck). Iris dallies with both men, marries one, and pays a heavy price for it. Portrait of a Mobster is superior to other mob movies of the same period if for no other reason than the casting of a terrific Vic Morrow [Curse of the Black Widow], who unlike Danton and David Janssen gets across a sinister and barely restrained menacing quality that makes him seem genuinely ruthless and psychotic. The picture is also well-directed and fast-paced, with an energetic musical score by Max Steiner who downplays the romance for pure and hectic action. There's plenty of gang warfare scenes and even a bit with a bomb in a coffin at the funeral parlor! Ray Danton reprises his role from The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, but only has a couple of scenes. Both Breck [I Want to Live!] and Parrish [Missile to the Moon] give very good performances, and there's also good work from Norman Alden and Frank DeKova. The only person Dutch seems to care about aside from himself is Bo. Dutch has a habit of getting up in the nightclubs he owns and singing but his voice is flat and fairly awful.

Verdict: Snappy gangster flick with an excellent lead performance. ***.

SHOCK CORRIDOR

Attack of the Nymphos!

SHOCK CORRIDOR (1963). Produced, written and directed by Samuel Fuller.

"Their sickness is bound to rub off on you." -- Cathy

"Nymphos!"

Johnny Barrett (Peter Breck) hopes to win a Pulitzer prize by feigning a mental disorder that will get him committed to an asylum where he can find out who murdered one of the patients. He enlists his highly agitated girlfriend, Cathy (Constance Towers), to pretend to be his sister, so he can claim an incestuous attachment to her. Among the inmates that Barrett investigates are an ex G.I., Stuart (James Best), who turned traitor and now thinks he's a general in the confederacy; Boden (Gene Evans), a genius scientist who suffered a nervous breakdown and acts like a child; "Pagliacci" (Larry Tucker) a likable chubby guy who sings an aria from Barber of Seville off-key; and Trent (Hari Rhodes), a black man who has deluded himself that he is a white supremacist. Trying to be topical and controversial, Fuller has managed to come up with a movie that is undeniably arresting at times but, sadly, isn't very good, with some awful and pretentious dialogue, and scenes that border on parody. Barrett somehow manages to wind up in a ward for nymphomaniacs-- only because the script demands it -- where the women seem more interested in clawing him than kissing him -- it's an hilariously ludicrous sequence, badly overdone as so much of the movie is. Periodically Fuller inserts color stock footage (in a black and white movie) to illustrate certain points, and what can one say about Towers' dance number but that it is seriously weird? There are some good performances, with Breck [I Want to Live!] and Evans [The Giant Behemoth] coming off best. Fuller seems to have directed Constance Towers to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown herself. Mental illness is more exploited by the movie than examined. Samuel Fuller could make some good movies -- Forty Guns, for instance -- but this one is a notable failure.

Verdict: It's different, certainly, but still not very good. **.

I WANT TO LIVE!

Sailor Brett Halsey with good-time gal Susan Hayward

I WANT TO LIVE! (1958). Director: Robert Wise.

Barbara Graham (Susan Hayward), a prostitute and petty criminal, falls into bad company and finds herself arrested for the murder of a 61- year-old woman who supposedly kept cash in her house. One of Barbara's alleged confederates (James Philbrook) turns state's evidence and his testimony helps to convict her. Then it's on to death row ...  I Want to Live! was conceived as a heavily fictionalized anti-death penalty film, so it greatly stacks the deck in favor of Graham's innocence (not that the film suggests she should be executed if she were guilty), suppressing certain details and intimating it's only her reputation and background and her once being very nasty to a witness that have sealed her fate. Graham also makes the mistake of trying to bribe a fake witness who turns out to be a cop. Graham supposedly had a sexual affair with a fellow inmate, Rita (Marion Marshall), and while this is played down, it is pretty clear that Rita has a hankering for Barbara, whom she later betrays. As for Hayward, she comes off as much too well-bred to be a completely convincing "B" girl, so she substitutes toughness and crudity and on that level is quite effective, winning an Oscar (as did Robert Wise, whose direction is on the money). Of the supporting cast, there is notable work from Virginia Vincent as Barbara's lovely friend, Peg; Wesley Lau [Perry Mason] as Barbara's husband, Henry, who can't remember if she was home with him that certain night or not; Gage Clarke as the defense attorney, Tibrow; and Peter Breck as Peter Miranda, who claims he will set up an alibi for Barbara if she pays him but turns out to be a cop. Others in the cast include Brett Halsey [Return of the Fly], Lou Krugman, Theodore Bikel, Simon Oakland, and Joe De Santis [A Cold Wind in August].

The murder of Mabel Monahan is never depicted (in the fifties it would have been considered in poor taste anyway) and the woman herself is given short shrift. We never see any relatives she may have had, and the prosecutors are never developed as characters. In the long run it doesn't matter if Graham pistol whipped and suffocated her victim -- just the fact she was there and participated (if we are to believe this is true) makes her guilty in the eyes of the law. Apparently the prosecutors had very good reasons to think Graham was guilty that had nothing to do with her "morals."  The execution scene is very well-handled but it tries to extract pity for Graham without ever doing the same for her alleged victim, who died horribly in a terror that was probably worse than Graham's.

Verdict: Take with a grain of salt, but well-done for what it is. **1/2 out of 4.