DANGEROUS CURVES (1929)

Richard Arlen and Clara Bow

DANGEROUS CURVES (1929). Director: Lothar Mendes. Colorized. 

Larry Lee (Richard Arlen) is the headliner high-wire act at a small-time circus. He is in love with his partner, Zara (Kay Francis), who is in love with Tony (David Newell), another high-wire artist. Rough-hewn but lovable Pat (Clara Bow), daughter of another deceased circus performer, has a big crush on Larry and hates the way Zara cheats on and uses him. When Zara and Tony run off together, Pat helps Larry get back on his feet, and he agrees to teach her and do a new act with her. But then Zara comes back into the picture ... 

Kay Francis with Arlen

Dangerous Curves is a charming and occasionally touching comedy-drama with some fine performances from the three leads. Anders Randolf also makes an impression as Brack, the owner of the circus. This movie belies the persistent notion that early sound pictures were static and slow, with the camera nailed to the floor, because this picture moves and is well-edited and at times quite cinematic. There are some things you have to take with a grain of salt, however. Arlen falls 170 feet and only breaks a few ribs, and Bow becomes a fairly adept wire walker rather quickly. But as this is another romantic fantasy, who cares?

Clara Bow

Kay Francis [Four Jills in a Jeep] and Richard Arlen [Identity Unknown] went on to make many movies and have successful sound careers, while Bow's career was essentially over four years later. She had had a passionate affair with Bela Lugosi (!) and later married handsome cowboy star Rex Bell, whereupon she retired, had two children, and developed a host of problems. However, she lived until she was sixty. Lothar Mendes also directed The Man Who Could Work Miracles. 

Verdict: An appealing Clara Bow helps put this over. ***. 

WHEN MY BABY SMILES AT ME

Betty Grable

WHEN MY BABY SMILES AT ME (1948). Director: Walter Lang. 

Burlesque performers Bonny Kane (Betty Grable) and her husband Skid Johnson (Dan Dailey) have dreams of the big time when they learn that Skid has been offered a big part in a Broadway show. Bonny is happy with her husband's advancement but she isn't thrilled when she learns he'll be performing with her rival, a predatory blonde named Sylvia (Jean Wallace of The Big Combo). Skid has a more serious problem than Sylvia and that's his love of liquor. Will Bonny succumb to the charms of admirer and rich rancher Harvey Howell (Richard Arlen) or will she be able to overlook her husband's peccadilloes? And will Skid wind up in Bellevue's dipsomaniac ward or back on Broadway? 

Dan Dailey and Betty Grable

Although many might consider this another Betty Grable Musical and she is very good in the picture the fact remains that this is Dan Dailey's show from start to finish. Dailey earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his strong and demanding turn as the frustrated, sad, and alcoholic Skid, and he delivers in every scene, the charming ones as well as the more difficult moments. He gets good support from such cast members as June Havoc (of My Sister Eileen) and Jack Oakie (of Million Dollar Legs) as another burlesque team, James Gleason as theater owner Lefty Moore, and Arlen and Wallace. Betty isn't showcased all that well in a weird torch number in which her movements are more strange than sexy, but she does a nice job with a pretty new number entitled "By the Way." This is the third version of a play entitled "Burlesque," so there are plenty of cliches on hand, but the picture is smoothly directed, photographed in beautiful technicolor, and despite its dramatic moments, is colorful fun. I'll leave it to individual viewers to decide if the ending is a happy one or not. Dailey does an imitation of Ted Lewis at one point and Jack Oakie does Al Jolson.  

Verdict: Dailey's fine performance gives this show biz drama some heft. ***.  

IDENTITY UNKNOWN

Richard Arlen

IDENTITY UNKNOWN (1945). Director: Walter Holmes. Colorized version. 

A young amnesiac soldier who calls himself Johnny March (Richard Arlen of The Lady and the Monster) tries to find out what his true identity is. Johnny was one of four men who were holed up in a farmhouse in France that was besieged by Nazis. The other three men were killed -- their bodies burned beyond recognition -- but the Army doesn't know which of the four is "Johnny March." Johnny decides to pay a call on the relatives of all four men in the hopes he can discover who he actually is. (Oddly, all of the relatives have been notified that their loved ones are deceased even though the Army can't be certain that this is true!) During his journey Johnny meets a lovely young war widow named Sally (Cheryl Walker) and the two fall in love. But how can Sally be certain that "Johnny" doesn't already have a wife until he finds out who he really is?

Bobby Driscoll and Arlen

Identity Unknown is an interesting, episodic drama with good performances. The best segment is a sad one in which a little boy (Bobby Driscoll) is convinced that Johnny is his father come home from the war. There is a less effective interlude in which Johnny gets involved with a young man who works in a bookie joint. This features some "lovable" hoodlums who are too good to be true. A final segment has Johnny arriving at a home where the mother and father (Sarah Padden and Forrest Taylor of Manhunt of Mystery Island) are mourning their dead son. The picture is not perfect by any means, but it does effectively explore the pain and loss felt by those whose loved ones go off to war and never return. 

Verdict: Absorbing WW 2 drama that looks at the people left behind. ***. 

LET 'EM HAVE IT

Richard Arlen with Bruce Cabot in the background

LET 'EM HAVE IT (1935). Director: Sam Wood.

Federal agents Mal Stevens (Richard Arlen), Van Rensseler (Harvey Stephens), and Tex Logan (Gordon Jones of The Green Hornet) are up against a formidable foe in Joe Keefer (Bruce Cabot), who has organized a gang of ex-cons, many of which he sprung from a prison farm, to engineer a series of bank robberies. Joe was originally a chauffeur for Eleanor Spencer (Virginia Bruce), who was once very close to Van but now has feelings for Mal. Unfortunately, Eleanor gets angry with Mal when he is unable to prevent her kid brother, Buddy (Eric Linden), from becoming a G-Man, with tragic results.

Eric Linden and Richard Arlen

Under the direction of Sam Wood, Let 'Em Have It is a fast-paced, well-acted, and entertaining cops vs robbers movie. Although mostly forgotten today, even by film buffs, Richard Arlen (Island of Lost Souls) was a handsome and charismatic leading man for most of his career, which comprised nearly 200 credits. Other players in this flick include Alice Brady [When Ladies Meet], as Eleanor's man-hungry Aunt Ethel, and Barbara Pepper as one of Cabot's blond molls, Milly. Pepper later gained a lot of weight and appeared more than once on I Love Lucy. Sam Wood also directed Goodbye, Mr. Chips in 1939 and a great many others.

Verdict: Snappy picture hasn't a dull moment. ***. 

BLACK SPURS

Rory Calhoun and Linda Darnell

BLACK SPURS (1965). Director: R. G. Springsteen.

In Texas in 1885 Santee (Rory Calhoun of Night of the Lepus) is engaged to pretty Anna (Terry Moore) but he wants to wait to marry until he's made his fortune. He bids adieu to Anna and sets off to capture or kill the notorious bandit, El Pescadore (Robert Carricart), something he succeeds at. After this Santee becomes a full-time bounty hunter with many kills to his credit. Many. many months later he returns to his lady love only to learn that she has understandably married another, Sheriff Ralph Elkins (James Best) of Lash, Kansas. An embittered Santee decides to help a certain entrepreneur named Gus Kile (Lon Chaney Jr.) bring gambling and loose ladies to Lash no matter who gets hurt, but does the man have a chance at redemption?

Lon Chaney Jr. and Rory Calhoun

Black Spurs certainly has an interesting cast. Although Calhoun mostly shows the emotion of a rock, his co-players tend to be better, and this includes Linda Darnell in a small role as a madame. Darnell is a bit zaftig but not unattractive. She died in a fire before the film was released. Scott Brady plays, of all things, a priest, Richard Arlen owns the local saloon, and Bruce Cabot is an enforcer who zestily throws people out of town with a sneer or a heave. Patricia Owens and Jerome Courtland [Kiss and Tell] play lovers who aren't really married, and there is a brief appearance by pre-Star Trek DeForest Kelley as another sheriff.  Handsome Joseph Hoover has a rare (if small) speaking role as another one of Arlen's associates. Manuel Padilla Jr. [Tarzan and the Valley of Gold[ is cute as the little boy, Manuel, who loves to sing and eventually becomes disenchanted with his hero, Santee.

Black Spurs is by no means a great western but it features a basically sound storyline (albeit probably one that has been used in different variations many, many times over) and has some flavorful performances. Courtland and Owens each had one more theatrical film before doing some TV work; Courtland became a director. Calhoun and Moore had a great many more credits, and the latter is still acting today. Director R. G. Springsteen amassed nearly 100 film and TV credits, mostly working on westerns.

Verdict: Okay western for devotees. **1/2. 

THE PHANTOM SPEAKS

Richard Arlen and Pierre Watkin

THE PHANTOM SPEAKS (1945). Director: John English.

A nutty doctor named Paul Rudwick (Stanley Ridges) thinks he can bring back the spirits of the dead, and tests his theory on a convicted murderer, Bogardus (Tom Powers of I Love Trouble), after he has just been executed. It never occurs to this fool that the soul of this extremely dangerous murderer can take over the doctor's mind, which is what happens, with the result that Rudwick starts tracking down and murdering all of Bogardus's enemies. Reporter Matt Fraser (Richard Arlen of Island of Lost Souls) is engaged to Joan (Lynne Roberts of Because of You) the doctor's daughter, while Pierre Watkins plays Fraser's boss, Davis. This is a cheap Republic production that somehow manages to hold the viewer's attention despite the fact that it's pretty much by the numbers, unoriginal, and predictable; if only the basic story had been developed more. Ridges is effective as the decidedly dumb doctor who pays a terrible price for his stupidity and irresponsibility. This is practically a remake of Black Friday, the Lugosi-Karloff film in which Ridges also played a decent man taken over by a hoodlum's consciousness.

Verdict: Republic cheapie creepy has its moments. **1/2.

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932). Director: Erle C. Kenton.

"They are restless tonight."

After begin rescued from a shipwreck, Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) winds up marooned on an island whereupon  the corpulent Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) is experimenting on animals and turning them into semi-humans. [These "strange-looking" natives are so grotesque that next to them Laughton almost appears handsome.] Although it's been a while since I've read the source novel, H. G. Wells' excellent "The Island of Dr. Moreau," much of this film seems quite faithful to the book, with the exception of the foolish business with Parker's fiancee, Ruth (Leila Hyams), suddenly showing up on the island. Bela Lugosi is the "Sayer of the Law" and Kathleen Burke plays Lota, the Panther Woman. The performances are good for the most part, and the film is entertaining. There's some borderline bestialism when it comes to that slinky panther woman.

Verdict: Good show! ***