HOLLYWOOD PARTY (1934)

HOLLYWOOD PARTY (1934). Director: Roy Rowland.

The Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy in the same movie! Along with Jimmy Durante, Lupe Velez (the Mexican Spitfire), Polly Moran, Arthur Treacher, and Mickey Mouse. Including an animated bit called the "Hot Chocolate Soldier." Durante plays the great "Scharzan," whose jungle movies have taken a dip at the box office. His rival, "Liondora" (George Givot), isn't doing so great either, and both of them hope to get a prize pride of lions to appear in their films with them. Somehow this all leads to a great big Hollywood party with chorus girls singing the snappy title tune (the darn thing sticks in your memory whether you want it to or not!). Best bits are scenes between Lupe Velez and Laurel and Hardy, and the interplay between Durante and Polly Moran as a wealthy patroness of the arts. Some of the gags are real groaners. The Three Stooges are autograph hunters and Laurel and Hardy think they own the aforementioned lions.

Verdict: Fun, but if only the material were as good as the cast! **1/2.

HIT THE DECK

HIT THE DECK (1955). Director: Roy Rowland.

Young sailor Danny (Russ Tamblyn of Follow the Boys) is the son of rear admiral Smith (Walter Pidgeon). When Danny thinks that his sister, Susan (Jane Powell), a show business aspirant, may be taken advantage of by theater star Wendell Craig (Gene Raymond), he and his Navy buddies Rico (Vic Damone of Athena) and Bill (Tony Martin) break into his apartment where he sits with Susan and assault him. Their stupid actions result in the sailors being chased all over Manhattan by the shore patrol (including Alan King in an early role). Meanwhile Danny falls for Carol (Debbie Reynolds), who appears in Craig's show, and Ginger (Ann Miller) despairs that long-time fiance Bill will ever marry her. Rico's mother (Kay Armen of Hey Let's Twist) finds that her fiance, Peroni (J, Carrol Naish), may find her too old when he sees she's got a grown son. The "plot" is just an excuse to hang some songs and dance numbers on, so we've got Powell doing the snappy "Sometimes I Love You," Armen and the cast doing "Sing, Hallelujah!" and other numbers. Miller is typically saucy, Martin and Powell can sing, but Naish, Armen, and especially Gene Raymond make the best impressions. The silly  picture aspires to funniness but never quite gets there.

Verdict: More widescreen Technicolor twaddle. **.

THESE WILDER YEARS

THESE WILDER YEARS (1956). Director: Roy Rowland.

Steve Bradford (James Cagney) is a successful businessman who has never married but now misses the son he denied twenty years ago and whom he has never known. Steve butts heads, albeit pleasantly, with Ann Dempster (Barbara Stanwyck), who runs the adoption agency that could help Bradford be united with his child, but Ann is opposed to the idea. Steve tries various tactics, including searching for the birth mother he abandoned years ago, and then taking the agency to court. As Steve fights his battle, he becomes closer to a young, unwed mother, Suzie (Betty Lou Keim), who must give up her baby even though she doesn't want to. These Wilder Years couldn't exactly be classified as unpredictable -- and one senses the whole business could have been handled more intelligently by everyone concerned -- but it's a nice, absorbing picture with very good performances. Stanwyck and Cagney not only got along famously while the film was being made, but play marvelously together -- two solid pros uplifting their material. There is also fine work from Walter Pidgeon [Forbidden Planet] as Steve's lawyer; Edward Andrews [Youngblood Hawke] as another small-town lawyer; Don Dubbins as the young man in question; Dean Jones as the son-in-law of the birth mother; Dorothy Adams [Laura] as Aunt Martha; and others. Mary Lawrence and dancer Marc Platt have not a word of dialogue but they certainly register in that moment when Mr. and Mrs. Callahan are given their new baby by Ann. And there's a nice score by Jeff Alexander, as well. One supposes the title was concocted to make this seem like another story of rebellious youth, which it isn't.

Verdict: Smooth, very well-played, and poignant. ***.

THE GIRL HUNTERS

Mickey Spillane and Scott Peters

THE GIRL HUNTERS (1963). Director: Roy Rowland.

"Tough guys I got all the time. Old tough guys I don't need." -- bar owner.

Mike Hammer (Mickey Spillane) has given up his practice and gone on a months-long bender after his secretary, Velda, supposedly ran off with another man and may be either missing or dead. His once-friendly antagonist, Captain Pat Chambers (Scott Peters), was also in love with Velda and is furious with Mike for putting her in danger. Sobered up, Hammer helps investigate the murder of a government agent, all the while hoping to find Velda, with the help of G-Man Rickerby (Lloyd Nolan) and a beautiful widow, Laura (Shirley Eaton), whose husband's murder may also have something to do with the case; a communist plot. Then there's the "red" hit man known only as the "Dragon" (Larry Taylor). Frankly, it's hard to follow the convoluted Girl Hunters at times, although the movie has a fast enough pace and is entertaining and well-acted. Spillane may not have been impressive playing himself in Ring of Fear, but in this he's actually quite good as his creation Mike Hammer. Spillane may not have been an Olivier or had great range, but he could have been developed as a tough guy hero or gangster in future films, but he was probably making enough money as a novelist. Scott Peters scores as Pat; he mostly had television credits. Nolan [Portrait in Black] is excellent, as is Charles Farrell as Grissi, who also assists Mike in the adventure. [This is not the Charles Farrell who appeared on My Little Margie.] Shirley Eaton, who had previously appeared in some of the British "Carry On" movies, appeared the following year in Goldfinger and became especially famous. Although Eaton gives a fine and sharp performance in Girl Hunters, she retired to raise a family after appearing in a few more mostly mediocre movies. Girl Hunters is quite gruesome and hard-edged (if not graphic) at times with a particularly nasty coda, but its central mystery is never quite resolved. Kenneth Talbot offers some superior black and white Panavision cinematography, and the film is well-directed and well-produced.

Verdict: Despite many imperfections, this is pretty good film noir. ***.

WITNESS TO MURDER

WITNESS TO MURDER (1954). Director: Roy Rowland.

Cheryl Draper (Barbara Stanwyck) sees Albert Richter (George Sanders) murder an unknown woman from a window in her apartment. Unfortunately Lt. Mathews (Gary Merrill) -- one of the dumbest police officers in Los Angeles -- is unable to find any evidence of a crime. He thinks Cheryl sent threatening notes to Richter simply because they were typed on her typewriter -- duh! Eventually Cheryl winds up in the psychiatric ward while it takes forever for Mathews to find out if Richter was in any way associated with a young woman whose dead body turned up in Griffin Park. Although this movie becomes increasingly silly and unconvincing as it proceeds, it does hold the attention and both Stanwyck and especially Sanders give top-notch performances. Although the finale on a high-rise construction site stretches credulity -- couldn't Cheryl have gone somewhere else to elude Richter? -- it does make for an effective and exciting climax.

Verdict: Leave it to Babs and George. **1/2.

AFFAIR WITH A STRANGER

AFFAIR WITH A STRANGER (1953). Director: Roy Rowland.

A gossip columnist announces that a well-known playwright is getting divorced from his wife, and a series of flashbacks -- narrated by everyone from causal acquaintances (a cab driver) to very close friends -- detail how they met, fell in love, and the assorted trials and tribulations of their marriage, which include losing a baby and adopting a little boy. Victor Mature and Jean Simmons both give very nice performances as husband and wife, and they are ably supported by Jane Darwell, Dabbs Greer, and many fine players. There are a couple of missteps in the movie, but it's held together by the acting, the rather suspenseful thrust of the story, and a generous portion of sheer charm.

Verdict: Quite entertaining. ***.

SLANDER

SLANDER. (1956) Director: Roy Rowland. NOTE: This review reveals some important plot details.

Inspired by the Confidential scandals of the fifties, this picture presents Van Johnson -- who comes through quite nicely in a solid dramatic part -- as a children's entertainer who is told some unsavory facts about his past will be published unless he comes up with some dirt on a major movie star that he used to know in the old neighborhood. This comes -- heartbreakingly -- just after Johnson has been given a major break as host of a popular kiddie show. Johnson had been sent away for armed robbery years ago (to make this more palatable we are told that his mother was seriously ill and they needed money for medicine) and although he's served his time, the sponsor is afraid the public will react negatively to the news -- which they do. Johnson refuses to play ball with the scandal sheet and the details of his incarceration are published. His wife (Ann Blyth, also solid) wants him to tattle on the film actress for the sake of his job, their lives, and -- especially -- their little boy, but Johnson is just too decent to do the deed. This leads, indirectly, to the death of their son as he runs into the street to get away from some playmates who are taunting him about his father. The film is uncompromising in that there is absolutely no happy ending: Johnson and Blyth are left to deal with the despair they feel over their boy's death and Johnson is out of a job -- and a career. Depressing stuff indeed, although one imagines the audience was supposed to feel some satisfaction when the scandal sheet publisher (Steve Cochran) is shot to death by his own outraged mother (Marjorie Rambeau)! Slander is a very interesting picture with some trenchant observations and dialogue, but it has a somewhat slick and surfacy feel to it, despite some strong scenes. Although Rambeau is excellent as Cochran's mother (and his insufficient conscience) she is given some scenes that play in the dramatic sense but aren't very logical otherwise. First, we're asked to believe that she would pay a call on Blyth the very day that her little boy has been killed (to find out if she blames Cochran for what happened); then we're supposed to believe that she would actually murder her own son in cold blood. Slap him, shout at him, scream in disgust, maybe -- but murder? This is a sop to the audience, which was probably hoping the callous guy would get it in the end. Speaking of Cochran, he may not have been a great actor, but here he plays against type, all suave and debonair over the oily infrastructure, and is not only credible but very effective. He actually gets the lion's share of the running time and runs with it.

Verdict: **1/2.