THE LINEUP

Partners in Crime: Robert Kieth; Eli Wallach

THE LINEUP (1958). Director: Don Siegel. Colorized. 

San Francisco cops Lt. Ben Guthrie (Warner Anderson) and his partner Al Quine (Emile Meyer of Shield for Murder) investigate a dope-smuggling racket when a solid citizen, Philip Dressler (Raymond Bailey), has his luggage nearly stolen by thugs pretending to be a bellboy and a cab driver. The cops discover $100,000 worth of heroin inside a statue that was sold to Dressler when he was in the Orient. As Guthrie and Quine track down the members of the gang, two men named Julian (Robert Keith) and Dancer (Eli Wallach of Plot of Fear) -- plus their new driver, Sandy (Richard Jaeckel of Come Back, Little Sheba) -- who report to someone known only as "the man," are driving around the city catching up with unsuspecting tourists who have no idea what their luggage contains. Things start to go haywire when Julian and Dancer try to find the drugs inside a doll owned by a little girl (Cheryl Callaway of Cry Vengeance) with an anxious and frightened mother (Mary LaRoche). 

Emile Meyer and Warner Anderson

The Lineup began life as a radio show and then was turned into a popular, long-running TV series in 1954. (Yes, even back in the day they made theatrical films from TV shows.) Warner Anderson played the same role in this movie as he did on TV, as did Marshall Reed as Inspector Asher. The actors playing cops are professional and solid but the movie is stolen by Keith and especially Wallach as the psychopathic Dancer. Then there 

Vaughn Taylor

is a notable confrontation between Dancer and "The Man" (Vaughn Taylor) at an ice rink that ends in a bravura moment of violence. The Lineup, well-photographed by Hal Mohr, is briskly edited and sharply directed by Don Siegel. Stirling Silliphant's excellent screenplay presents many characters who are fleshed out a bit more than in the typical thriller. The protracted chase sequence that occurs at the climax will have you on the edge of your seat. 

Verdict: Exciting and suspenseful crime thriller. The ice rink scene is amazing! ***1/2. 

DARK INTRUDER

DARK INTRUDER (1965). Director: Harvey Hart.

In the mid-1960's Leslie Nielsen was tapped for the lead for a show in which he would play occult investigator Brett Kingsford, who works surreptitiously with the police on bizarre bases calling for his expertise. A pilot was made, but when the show [which would have been a kind of forerunner to Kolchak, Night Stalker in every sense of the word as it takes place in the 19th century] called The Black Cloak, wasn't picked up by a network, it was released by Universal as a theatrical feature despite its short [59 min.] running time. In old San Francisco there have been a series of murders in which victims are clawed to death at the same time as the Ripper killings in London. Robert Vandenberg (Mark Richman), a friend of Kingsford's, is especially disturbed because he knows several of the victims, and his dizzy, annoyingly yapping fiancee Evelyn (Judi Meredith of Queen of Blood), has noticed a change come over him in recent weeks. Kingsford wonders if the murders are somehow connected to a deformed boy Vandenberg knew years ago who was brought to America from Bagdad to further his education but who suddenly disappeared. Other suspects include a weird professor of the occult (Werner Klemperer); a doctor who remarks upon the wounds left by the mysterious assailant (Vaughn Taylor); and Kingsford's diminutive man-servant Nikola (Charles Bolender). Dark Intruder is creepy, suspenseful and well-produced with a very good plot and cast and a satisfying wind-up. Nielsen is fine except for when he tries to affect a British accent and wouldn't convince a nine-year-old that he's from England.The screenplay is by Barre Lyndon, who also wrote the original stage play The Man in Half Moon Street, upon which that film was based. Hart also directed The Pyx, Bus Riley's Back in Town, and other theatrical films, and also did a great deal of work for television. He is not to be confused with Herk Harvey, who directed Carnival of Souls.

Verdict: Worthy supernatural mystery with interesting players. ***.