THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING

Joan Collins as Evelyn Nesbit

THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING (1955). Director: Richard Fleischer. 

Young model Evelyn Nesbit (Joan Collins) is so attractive that she comes to the attention of many men, including famous New York architect Stanford White (Ray Milland), who is married, and Pittsburgh millionaire Harry Thaw (Farley Granger), who is not. Evelyn and Stanford fall in love but he refuses to leave his wife, and she has little interest in being a kept woman on the side. Stanford's attempts to turn her into a kind of daughter, sending her to finishing school, don't work out, but Evelyn finally marries the abusive and rather obnoxious Harry. Harry is still obsessed with her past relationship with Stanford, and his murderous actions will lead into the real-life "trial of the century."

Collins with Ray Milland

The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, for which Nesbit herself served as consultant, is a highly entertaining mix of truth, half-truths, fabrications and dramatic license. Although she claimed on the witness stand that she was drugged and raped by Stanford, this film suggests that she was perjuring herself upon the insistence of her mother-in-law. (How old she actually was when she and White had sex is debatable.) Despite situations that would blacken her character back in the day, the film generally treats her in a sympathetic manner; White as well. Collins and Granger give good if imperfect performances, but Milland comes off best. 

Farley Granger with Collins

There are some fine supporting performances in the film. Glenda Farrell, whom I didn't even recognize, as Mrs. Nesbit; Luthor Adler [House of Strangers] as Shaw's lawyer; Gale Robbins [Double Jeopardy] as Gwen Arden, Evelyn's friend and fellow entertainer; Frances Fuller as White's wife, Bessie; Cornelia Otis Skinner as Harry's mother; Richard Travis as Charles Dana Gibson; and others. The film is handsomely produced with a score by Leigh Harline and cinematography by Milton R. Krasner. The movie Ragtime also looks at the Stanford White murder, although in that movie Evelyn Nesbit is not only presented basically as a greedy dingbat but is almost a comic figure. Marilyn Monroe refused to do the film and it would have been interesting to see her take on Evelyn. Richard Fleischer also directed Fantastic Voyage and many others. 

Verdict: If taken with a grain of salt this is a slick, well-acted drama. ***1/4. 

THE HAPPY TIME

Charles Boyer and Bobby Driscoll

THE HAPPY TIME (1952). Director: Richard Fleischer. Produced by Stanley Kramer.

Three brothers -- (Jacques) Charles Boyer, (Desmond) Louis Jourdan, and (Louis) Kurt Kasznar -- interact in 1920's Ottawa, but the focus in this film is more on Jacques' son, Robert or "Bibi" (Bobby Driscoll). Bibi develops quite a crush on the maid, Mignonette (Linda Christian), although Desmond and Mignonette are attracted to each other. Louis is a wastrel and drunk who is married to a seeming shrew, Felice (Jeanette Nolan), who fears her daughter, Yvonne (Ann Faber), will become an old maid. The brothers' father, Grandpere (Marcel Dalio), just wants to have a good time in what time he has remaining. Then Bibi is accused of lying to the principal, Frye (Jack Raine), and the three brothers, united, decide to have a serious talk with the man.  

Louis Jourdan and Linda Christian

The Happy Time settles most of the characters' problems in predictable fashion, but there is a pleasant time in getting there. The performances are uniformly excellent. Based on a Broadway show, the film's two biggest problems are its trivialism of alcoholism and its treatment of some of the female characters. Louis is clearly a hopeless drunk, but no one ever spares any compassion for his wife, whose shrill personality didn't come out of nowhere; her daughter is never developed at all. Marsha Hunt is fine in her brief screen time as Jacques' wife and Bibi's mother, but she also seems under-developed. Mignonette fares a little better, as does the next-door neighbor girl, Peggy (Marlene Cameron), who has an unrequited crush on Bibi and lies to the principal to get even with him.  

Richard Erdman and Kurt Kasznar

Two scenes stand out in the movie. The first is a farcical and funny bit between Louis and Alfred (Richard Erdman), a tight-assed bank clerk who wants to marry Yvonne and accidentally gets drunk on wine that Louis keeps in a cooler. The second is a very well-played scene between Jacques and Bibi which temporarily becomes a little more sophisticated than the rest of the film. Jacques explains to his son that (sexual) desire has caused so many problems in the world that people -- such as the principal -- have come to see desire itself as being evil, but he assures his son that "nothing is wrong with desire." Linda Christian was married to Tyrone Power for a time. Richard Fleischer later directed Fantastic Voyage and many others. 

Verdict: Overly cute at times, but very well-acted, entertaining, and often charmingly sentimental. ***.

BODYGUARD (1948)

Priscilla Lane and |Lawrence Tierney

BODYGUARD (1948). Director: Richard Fleischer.

Lt. Mike Carter (Lawrence Tierney) is a hot-headed cop who doesn't play by the book, which gets him fired by his supervisor Borden (Frank Fenton of Lady of Burlesque). Carter is contacted by Freddie Dysen (Phillip Reed), who tells him that his Aunt Jean's life has been threatened. Jean Dysen (Elisabeth Risdon) is a tough old bird who runs the Columbia Meatpacking company, and the last thing she wants is a bodyguard. But when somebody takes a shot at her in her parlor, Mike agrees to take on the job. It develops that he has much bigger problems when he wakes up in a car on a railroad track with a corpse sitting next to him ... Bodyguard is a terse, snappy crime thriller with enough plot for two movies, but its short running time means it stints a bit on characterization. Gruff Tierney and sweet Priscilla Lane [The Meanest Man in the World] -- Lane plays Tierney's brave and devoted girlfriend -- are both fine as the leads, providing contrast, but the movie is nearly stolen by Risdon, giving another one of her sharp and  biting performances. Steve Brodie and June Clayworth [Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome] are notable as a brother and sister who are both in Risdon's employ, and Reed is suitably oily as her nephew. Fleischer's direction keeps the picture moving at a brisk pace, and there's a very suspenseful climax. While there is a blond in the movie, there is no femme fatale, making this only nominal film noir. Paul Sawtell's score is a plus, as is the photography by Robert de Grasse. Richard Fleischer also directed Fantastic Voyage and many others.

Verdict: Snappy "B" picture is taut and suspenseful. ***.

ARMORED CAR ROBBERY

ARMORED CAR ROBBERY (1950). Director: Richard Fleischer. 

William Talman, who played Perry Mason's perennial opponent Hamilton Burger on the TV series Perry Mason, is herein cast as bad guy Dave Purvis, who plans an armored car heist and kills off some of the gang members he's supposed to share the loot with. Adele Jergens is cast as club performer Yvonne LeDoux, who's married to a mug named Benny McBride, but has a hankering for the more dynamic -- if not exactly more attractive -- Purvis. Charles McGraw is the tough cop investigating the armored car robbery during which his married partner was murdered. Don McGuire and Gene Evans [of The Giant Behemoth and Park Row) have smaller roles. The picture is minor-league for the most part, but it does boast an exciting and satisfying climax on a runway. NOTE: Armored Car Robbery is one of the films in the new Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 5. 

Verdict: Punchy performances help put this over -- and Jergens is always fun. **1/2.

VIOLENT SATURDAY

VIOLENT SATURDAY (1955). Director: Richard Fleischer. 

While a group of criminals gather in Bradenville to plan and commit a robbery, we are treated to vignettes about some of the townspeople. The problem with this caper movie is that it wants to be something else, a small town drama, with the robbery almost being incidental (it fact it takes place in only a couple of minutes). The soap opera gets in the way of the caper story, and the look at small town life -- a man (Richard Egan) with a philandering wife, a librarian (Sylvia Sidney) with debts, a mousy bank manager (Tommy Noonan) who's sort of a peeping tom -- isn't all that interesting. There are so many actors hardly any of them really get a chance to shine. Victor Mature is the nominal hero; Stephen McNally is the head of the crooks; Ernest Borgnine is an Amish farmer [!]. J. Carrol Naish and Lee Marvin are as flavorful as ever as two members of the gang. Virginia Leith is a pretty nurse who arouses passions before becoming The Brain That Wouldn't Die. A much better Richard Fleischer film is Fantastic Voyage. 

Verdict: Not worth the time it takes to tell. **.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE

FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1966). Director: Richard Fleischer.

Improbable but highly enjoyable tale of a research team that is shrunken down to microscopic size and injected into the body of a scientist with a tumor that can only be operated on from inside the brain. Once you suspend disbelief, this picture just grabs hold of you and never lets go, with actors who do a nice job of suggesting the disquiet they must be feeling (in reality, hardly anyone would sign up for this assignment!) Nearly forty years after its release the special effects still hold up and aren't a bit cheesy. [A planned remake of this film never materialized; maybe because wiser heads realized it didn't need to be remade.] Exciting scenes include the race through the heart, which has been temporarily stopped so as not to shatter the undersea vehicle which the scientists are traveling in; the attack of the antibodies that cover Raquel Welch's shapely form from head to toe; the white corpuscle that eats Donald Pleasance; and so on. Stephen Boyd, as the agent who reluctantly goes along on the voyage, functions as the audience surrogate, hardly believing what he's living through but living through it all the same. Pleasance is in the hammy-horror-movie mode that dominated his screen persona in later years [for a look at Pleasance the fine actor instead of the freak, check out the old Twilight Zone episode entitled "Changing of the Guard,” in which Pleasance – yes, Donald Pleasance – gives a sensitive and excellent performance.] Arthur Kennedy, Edmond O'Brian, and other old pros have no problem handling material which isn't exactly a challenge for them (the movie has a great idea, not great characters). What Fantastic Voyage does have is some superlative sets which help create a whole, new, eerie and compelling universe to explore, and the picture is rich in atmosphere. The blue screen process which blends actors with the backgrounds of arterial and fluid landscapes is handled adroitly. Leonard Rosenman's quirky score, which at times sounds almost atonal, is the perfect background for this kind of movie. The movie won deserved Oscars for special effects, set direction, and art direction. It absolutely MUST be seen in letterbox for the whole Cinemascope effect. NOTE: In his novelization of the screenplay, Isaac Asimov made a couple of corrections. Apparently the filmmakers didn't realize that the shrunken sub wouldn't be able to take air directly from the lungs because the air molecules would be too big, so Asimov added a portable miniaturizer to the sub. They also assumed that the white corpuscle would completely absorb Pleasance and the wrecked submarine so that they could not grow large again and burst out of comatose scientist's body; Asimov has the surviving scientists wisely take the sub and Pleasance out of the body with them.

Verdict: Great science fiction. ***1/2.