THE EXECUTIONER

George Peppard soon won't have much to smile about

THE EXECUTIONER (1970). Director: Sam Wanamaker.  

Born in the U.S., John Shay (George Peppard of The Carpetbaggers) is a British Intelligence agent. He has become convinced that a colleague of his, Adam Booth (Keith Michell), is a double-agent secretly working for the Russians. This is all complicated by the fact that Booth is married to Sarah (Joan Collins), with whom John once had a relationship and might well still be in love with. Another agent named Philip Crawford (George Baker) is also in love with Sarah. John's superiors, including Vaughn Jones (Charles Gray) and Colonel Scott (Nigel Patrick), tell John to back off on his dogged investigation of Booth, and temporarily suspend him. But this doesn't prevent him from flying as Booth to Athens, where he encounters Professor Parker (Alexander Scourby of The Big Heat) and hopes to finally learn the truth. Unfortunately it may be too late for Booth ... 

Peppard with Judy Geeson

A "serious" spy film as opposed to a James Bond movie or spoof, The Executioner adds a human and personal level to the spy stuff and is only somewhat successful at it. Shay has to face the reality that his pursuit of Booth may have more to do with his feelings for his wife than anything else. Judy Geeson is cast as Shay's girlfriend, Polly, who also works for the government, but she comes off whiny and irritating and isn't well photographed. A welcome presence is Oscar Homolka [Mr. Sardonicus] as a tired and somewhat grumpy Russian defector. One interesting sequence has Shay taking a flight with and sitting next to a woman whose husband he has just killed, and who isn't aware that she's a widow. The sequence, however. is not as poignant nor as powerful as it could have been. 

Charles Gray with Peppard

Peppard is a competent but generally second-rate actor and isn't quite able to draw forth the values and nuances that another actor might have managed. Still, the material is generally above-average, although others have noted that a lot of the spy stuff comes off like mere gobbledygook. The Executioner at least gets points for not being mindless and trying to present a few multi-dimensional characters. Collins is good in this, and Charles Gray makes his usual solid impression. Homolka, Scourby, and a briefly-seen Peter Bull are also memorable.

Verdict: Good spy flick just misses being great. ***. 

WOMAN HATER

Stewart Granger

WOMAN HATER (1948). Director: Terence Young. 

Lord Terence Datchett (Stewart Granger of Footsteps in the Fog) is a confirmed, rather misogynous bachelor who at the opening helps a friend run away from his own wedding. When Terence learns that French film star Colette Marley (Edwige Feuillere) is bored with men and only wants to be "left alone" to write her memoirs, he offers her his estate, but pretends he is not Lord Datchett but only the estate agent. When Colette learns that the deceptive Terence plans to prove that she is definitely not bored with men, she decides to turn the tables on him. Bolstering one conspiracy after another are butler Jameson (Ronald Squire), Colette's maid. Clair (Jeanne De Casalis), the stableman, and Terence's lovely mother, Lady Datchett (Mary Jerrold). 

Woman Hater is a British version of a battle of the sexes (but hardly screwball) comedy that falls flat due to a lack of real laughs and occasional slapstick that backfires. Granger is adequate as Terence, although he lacks that certain skill at comedy a la Cary Grant. Edwige Feuillere was a well-known and celebrated French film and stage actress who tried her hand at an English-language film but soon went back to France. She is more than credible if not that amusing in a part that Claudette Colbert could have walked away with. The supporting cast, including Miles Malleson [The Thief of Bagdad] as the Vicar and Peter Bull [Dr. Strangelove] as Mr. Fletcher, are perfect, however. 

Verdict: Very, very predictable and not at all funny. **. 

THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1963)

Fenella Fielding and Tom Poston

THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1963). Produced and directed by William Castle. A Hammer Film.

Car salesman Tom Penderel (Tom Poston) is invited to his flat-mate Caspar Fenn's (Peter Bull) family mansion, but when he arrives finds his friend ensconced in a coffin in the parlor. Seems there was an accident ... Tom learns that members of the Fenn family are virtual prisoners in their decaying mansion due to the bizarre terms of a will, which states they must live on the estate and be back by midnight every night or forfeit their share of the interest. While Tom gets to know Caspar's cousins, Cecily (Janette Scott) and the man-hungry Morgana (Fenella Fielding), he discovers that one of the heirs won't stop at murder ... William Castle joined forces with Hammer films for this black comedy remake of the macabre thirties movie (which was in itself a black comedy, as I recall). The Old Dark House is less beloved than other William Castle films (such as House on Haunted Hill), but this time around I found it generally fast-paced and amusing, with a couple of genuinely hilarious murder sequences. Although not a zany comedian along the lines of Bob Hope or Jim Carrey, Poston's more sober portrayal works well as played against the weirdness of the mansion's other inhabitants. Peter Bull [Dr. Strangelove] is fun in a dual role, as are Robert Morley as an uncle, and Joyce Grenfell as an aunt, both of whom are rather peculiar. Mervyn Johns [Never Let Go] and Danny Green [The Ladykillers] also score as two other members of the strange family. As for the ladies, Scott is lovely and adept, and Fielding makes her mark as the predatory Morgana. The picture becomes a little too silly with all this business of one relative building an ark on the property, but The Old Dark House is still entertaining.  Benjamin Frankel's quirky score is a decided plus, and helps add needed suspense to the climax. Poston and Castle also teamed up for the dreadful Zotz the year before.

Verdict: Minor but fun Castle flick. **3/4.

DR. STRANGELOVE

Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove

DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964). Director: Stanley Kubrick.

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!" 

Going off his nut, General Jack D, Ripper (Sterling Hayden) sends planes bearing megaton bombs into Russia without orders from the President (Peter Sellers). While Ripper's special British assistant, Mandrake (also Sellers), desperately tries to get the code from him that will stop the planes, President Muffley confers in the war room with General Turgidson (George C. Scott), the Russian ambassador Sadesky (Peter Bull), and the ex (?) Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove (Sellers yet again). Meanwhile Major Kong (Slim Pickens) is determined to deliver his megaton payload come hell or highwater. Then the president learns from his opposite number, the unseen Dimitri, that if a bomb goes off on Russian soil it will automatically unleash a Doomsday weapon that will destroy all life on Earth! Dr. Strangelove has a plot that's strangely similar to Fail-Safe, released the same year, only Strangelove is not played straight but as a very, very dark black comedy (and is better known than the other picture), brutally -- if broadly -- satirizing the arms race, the cold war, and the paranoia and obsession people had at the time over atomic weapons and the possibility of WWIII. The deliberate pace of Strangelove may make the film seem longer than it actually is -- just a bit over 90 minutes -- but it is entertaining, grimly amusing, and very well-acted by all, with Sellers superb in a trio of very different roles. Hayden [Naked Alibi] , Scott, Bull (who can be seen trying hard to keep a straight face during Seller's antics as Dr. Strangelove in one scene), Keenan Wynn [Royal Wedding] as Colonel Guano, Tracy Reed as Turgidson's paramour, and Pickens in his most notable and iconic role are all on the money. Still, as well-made as it is, one can't quite say that this is a picture you will enjoy. Seven Days in May also came out in 1964 and dealt with the military-industrial complex, but there were no out of control missiles in it.

Verdict: Not for every taste, but certainly unique. ***.