SLIGHTLY SCARLET

Rhonda Fleming and John Payne

SLIGHTLY SCARLET (1956). Director: Allan Dawn.

June Lyons (Rhonda Fleeming), who is secretary and more to mayoral candidate Frank Jansen (Kent Taylor), brings her sister, Dorothy (Arlene Dahl) home after the latter gets out of prison. Both women get involved with Ben Grace (John Payne), who is the brains behind a criminal outfit run by Solly Caspar (Ted de Corsia), who has had to take it on the lam. Now Ben tries to take over and get all his ducks in a row, including Jansen, the police chief, and the two attractive ladies -- although things get a bit dicey when Solly suddenly returns from Mexico ...

Such devoted sisters? Dahl and Fleming

Slightly Scarlet is entertaining enough but it has a script that goes all over the place, and Allan Dwan's direction is not strong enough to make up for it. What we're left with is some vivid emoting from Payne, going through his bad guy (but not that bad) film noir phase, a solid Fleming, a vivacious and sluttish Dahl making the most of her scenes, and de Corsia also making an impression as the decidedly nasty and nearly psychopathic Solly. Although Payne does a good job in playing Ben, the screenplay never seems to get a true handle on the guy, so there doesn't really seem to be anyone to root for in this mess. Kent Taylor has a few scenes as the man who becomes mayor but he isn't developed enough to be much of a factor. June seems overly devoted to her sister, a trampy shoplifter and worse who doesn't even seem to care when Solly makes it clear that he's going to murder June.

Payne and Dahl at that beach house

Other players include Ellen Corby as June's very pleasant housekeeper, Roy Gordon [War of the Colossal Beast] as a crusader against Solly who meets a horrible fate, George Wallace [Radar Men from the Moon] as a sullen member of Solly's gang, and Myron Healey [Hot Rod] as another colleague who tries to ventilate Ben to his regret. Solly owns a beach house that can best be described as "fabulous." This is based on as novel by James M. Cain. An RKO-Radio production, it was filmed in "Superscope."

Verdict: Not as much fun as the plot might suggest, but fun enough if you're in an undemanding mood. **1/2. 

DAY THE WORLD ENDED

"You're dimestore, Ruby, you're cheap!" Adele Jergens and "Touch" Connors

DAY THE WORLD ENDED (1955). Produced and directed by Roger Corman.

"He's a mutation, Rick, a freak of this new atomic world of ours."

After nuclear holocaust, a taciturn fellow named Maddison (Paul Birch) holes up in his valley home with his daughter, Louise (Lori Nelson), whose fiance is missing and presumed dead. Unwelcome visitors looking for food and shelter include hoodlum Tony (Mike Connors, billed as "Touch"), his moll and former striptease "artist" Ruby (Adele Jergens), old prospector Pete (Raymond Hatton of The Three Musketeers) and his mule; and the radioactive, supposedly dying Radek (Paul Dubov of Girls' Town), who is developing a taste for raw meat. A more welcome addition is geologist Rick (Richard Denning), who is able to handle Tony and has a mutual attraction for Louise. Meanwhile a strange mutated creature (Paul Blaisdell) roams the grounds as the others wonder if the threatening rainfall will wipe them all out with radiation sickness. Day the World Ended may use some of the same settings as Attack of the Crab Monsters, but it doesn't have that film's cleverness, imaginative touches, and creepy atmosphere. Jergens offers the zestiest performance as the ill-fated Ruby. Like many films of the period, it suggests that a person can't be decent unless he or she is religious. There's a vague twist ending involving the "dead" fiance, but nothing much comes of this. Filmed in widescreen "Superscope."

Verdict: Even mutations can only do so much. **.