THE HASTY HEART

Patricia Neal and Richard Todd

THE HASTY HEART (1949). Director: Vincent Sherman.

In Burma at the very end of WW2, a Scots soldier named Lachie (Richard Todd) is shot in the kidney. That one kidney is destroyed and the other is defective, meaning he only has a short time to live. In the hospital, the other patients are told to make what time he has left as convivial as possible, but it won't be easy because Lachie has a massive chip on his shoulder and is extremely unpleasant. But can they and the sympathetic nurse, Sister Parker (Patricia Neal), be able to get through to the man? Based on a play by John Patrick, The Hasty Heart presents a sad and intriguing situation and makes the most of it, bolstered by an outstanding lead performance from Richard Todd [Lightning Strikes Twice]. Patricia Neal is lovely in the movie, and there are also fine jobs from Ronald Reagan [Bedtime for Bonzo] as the American, and  from Ralph Michael, Howard Marion-Crawford, and John Sherman as the other patients in the ward. Orlando Martins is given the thankless role of the near-silent tribesman, Blossom, but he, too, is effective. An amusing if odd sub-plot has to do with the fellows trying to find out if Lachie wears anything under his kilt -- their attempts to peek underneath it get a little obsessive at times. Todd's best scene is his reaction when he learns the truth about his medical condition, but, while he's perhaps a bit older than the character, he is on top of his game throughout. Todd played the role on Broadway after Richard Basehart left the cast. Aside from Neal and Reagan, the supporting characters aren't that well developed, and in truth, we don't learn all that much about those two, either. But somehow it doesn't matter, as the film is completely absorbing and deeply moving. This was remade as a telefilm with Gregory Harrison and Cheryl Ladd (!) and it gets a higher rating on imdb.com than the original, but I can't imagine it's better than this. Vincent Sherman also directed The Damned Don't Cry and many, many others.

Verdict: When dramas were dramas and not sitcoms. ***1/2 out of 4.

A FEVER IN THE BLOOD

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Jack Kelly

A FEVER IN THE BLOOD (1961). Director: Vincent Sherman.

"I'm only allowed a minute so I'm going to change the habit of a lifetime and be brief."

When a woman is suffocated in her home, her estranged husband (Rhodes Reason of Voodoo Island) is arrested and put on trial. He is almost a supernumerary in a three-way battle for governor between Callahan (Jack Kelly), the D.A. prosecuting the case; Hoffman (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), the judge assigned to the trial; and Senator Alex Simon (Don Ameche), who wants to give up his seat for personal reasons. The audience knows who the real killer is from the first, but Callahan seems determined to win this case -- and his chance at a governorship -- no matter who is convicted. Then Senator Simon offers Hoffman a bribe if he'll declare a mistrial, postponing Callahan's chances for a prosecutorial and political victory. A Fever in the Blood features a few Warner Brothers contract players who are sometimes effective and sometimes not. Zimbalist isn't bad, but aside from playing Stu Bailey in 77 Sunset Strip, he's a trifle bland, as usual, and strictly a small screen personality. Jack Kelly [Drive a Crooked Road], also a TV regular, is surprisingly good as Callahan, as is Don Ameche [Guest Wife], who manages to overcome his miscasting. Angie Dickinson scores as Simon's wife, who is really in love with Hoffman (she has a very good scene with Zimbalist early in the film), and there are also notable performances from Herbert Mashall as the defendant's father, Carroll O'Connor as a publisher, Ray Danton as defense counsel, and Robert Colbert as the murdered woman's gardener and lover. If there's any problem with the movie it's that with this excellent plot the movie should have had a lot more tension and excitement, but it merely plays out in standard fashion while managing to hold the attention. Ernest Gold's Herrmann-like score is effective.

Verdict: Not bad, but perhaps its temperature should have been raised. **1/2.

THE UNFAITHFUL

Zachary Scott and Ann Sheridan

THE UNFAITHFUL (1947). Director: Vincent Sherman.

While her husband is out of town, Chris Hunter (Ann Sheridan) returns from a party and is attacked in her home, ultimately killing her assailant. Chris tells her husband, Bob (Zachary Scott), as well as the police, that she never met the man, a sculptor named Tanner. But if that's the case, why did Tanner do a bust of a woman who looks exactly like Chris Hunter, and why are some people offering it to her husband for sale ..? This is an excellent Americanized variation on, and post-WW2 updating of, The Letter, but it takes awhile for the viewer to realize it as it has so many interesting elements of its own. Sheridan [Nora Prentiss] gives one of her best performances, and has an especially good moment when she has a heart to heart talk with her husband about things she did when he was overseas and why she did them. Zachary Scott [Ruthless] is also excellent, as is Lew Ayres [Damian: Omen 2] as the friend and lawyer who comes to the couple's assistance. Eve Arden certainly scores in the somewhat edgier-than-usual role of Bob's cousin, Paula, and the dialogue [by David Goodis and James Gunn] as she tries to explain Chris' wartime actions to Bob is trenchant and memorable. Marta Mitrovich is quietly effective as the angry widow, Mrs. Tanner; Steven Geray suitably oily as a kind of blackmailer and art dealer; Jerome Cowan appropriately wily as a prosecutor; and John Hoyt ever-grim as a suspicious police detective. This is probably director Vincent Sherman's [The Damned Don't Cry] finest hour and a half. A first-rate score by Max Steiner and fine Ernest Haller photography complete the ensemble.

Verdict: A snappy, sophisticated picture that on its own terms is nearly as good as the original ***1/2.

HARRIET CRAIG

Joan Crawford as Harriet Craig

HARRIET CRAIG (1950). Director: Vincent Sherman.

"I don't like trains. I don't like the feeling of being rushed along in the darkness. Having no control. Having my life completely in someone else's hands" -- Harriet Craig.

This remake of Craig's Wife is actually the third film version of George Kelly's play, which was first made as a silent. In this loose adaptation, Joan Crawford plays Harriet Craig, who likes order and neatness and everything in its place, including her husband, Walter (Wendell Corey of The Big Knife). She and her mother were abandoned by her father, and she needs to be in total control of her life and everyone else's, including her niece, Clare's (K. T. Stevens), who has lived with her and Walter for many years, and whose relationship with Wes (William Bishop of It's a Great Life) she tries to destroy. This version eliminates the character of Walter's aunt, and provides an even stronger motive for Walter's walking out on his wife. Crawford and Corey give very good performances, and the supporting cast, including Lucile Watson, Stevens, Ellen Corby, and Viola Roache, is notable.

Verdict: Crawford in dragon lady mode. ***.

OLD ACQUAINTANCE

Millie (Hopkins) and Kit (Davis) have a disagreement

OLD ACQUAINTANCE (1943). Director: Vincent Sherman.

"There's a certain ecstasy in wanting things you know you can't get." -- Kit

"It's late -- and I'm very tired of youth and love and self-sacrifice." -- Kit

"I'm sure if she was a man she wouldn't have shaved!" -- Millie

Katherine "Kit" Marlowe (Bette Davis), who has a written a well-received if slack-selling literary novel, comes to visit her very dear old friend Millie Drake (Miriam Hopkins), who not only tells her that she and her husband Preston (John  Loder) are expecting a baby, but that she, too, has written a novel, a romantic potboiler that she is sure will become a bestseller. She's right, and several years and many books later. the Drakes are visiting New York even as Kit is awaiting the opening night of her first play. Millie does little to deal with the fact that her husband is in her shadow, and she doesn't even notice that he's fallen in love with Kit -- and vice versa. But Kit decides that sometimes a sacrifice has to be made in the name of friendship, but will Millie ever appreciate what she has done? Old Acquaintance is well-acted, entertaining, and often very funny in its tale of the self-absorbed if likable Millie and her more sensitive and understanding best friend, and it has some fine dialogue. John Loder could often be dismissed as a cinematic lightweight, but he's perfectly cast in this and has some very decent moments. Gig Young makes an impression in one of his earliest roles as one of Kit's beaus, and Delores Moran is quite pretty and competent as Millie's grown up daughter, Deirdre. Anne Revere and Esther Dale are notable in interesting supporting parts as, respectively, a reporter who speaks too freely, and a maid who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to speak it. A very amusing scene has the two friends having a confrontation, with Kit finally giving in and shaking the life out of her irritating buddy. Old Acquaintance is by no means perfect -- it's probably more soap opera than [comedy-]drama -- but for most of its length, it works. The two lead actresses are both excellent, although the ever-affected Davis sometimes comes off like a drag queen doing a Davis impersonation! This was remade years later as Rich and Famous, which, if I recall correctly, was pretty terrible.


Verdict: This is no Old Maid -- which also starred Davis and Hopkins-- but it is fun and fast-paced. ***

THE DAMNED DON'T CRY

THE DAMNED DON'T CRY (1950). Director: Vincent Sherman.

Ethel Whitehead (Joan Crawford) leaves her husband (Richard Egan), parents, and small-town home after the tragic death of her little boy, and decides she'll do whatever it takes to keep from returning to a life of abnegation and sterility. Meeting the wrong kind of people via a modeling job, she convinces placid boyfriend Marty Blackford (Kent Smith) to go to work as bookkeeper for reinvented racketeer George Castleman (David Brian), and then gets the latter to help her reinvent herself as wealthy society widow Lorna Hansen Forbes. But Castleman is worried about the inroads made by colleague Nick Prenta (Steve Cochran) on the west coast, and sends "Lorna" out to ingratiate herself with the hood and find out what's up, probably not the best of ideas ... Say what you will about this movie and its depiction of mobsters, it happens to be a very snappy, well-acted movie that is very entertaining and occasionally crackles with tension thanks to Sherman's adroit direction. Crawford gives a striking star performance, Brian is almost equally charismatic and commanding, and Steve Cochran manages to be both scary and appealing as the quick-tempered Nick. Smith does his usual solid job, and Edith Evanson and Morris Ankrum are excellent as Ethel's confused and disappointed parents. Jacqueline deWit scores as Ethel's brassy model acquaintance, Sandra, and as society lady Patricia Longworth, who helps Ethel convert to Lorna, Selena Royle makes you wonder just what's under the surface of this undeveloped supporting character. Kathryn Card, who played Lucy's mother on I Love Lucy, is cast as a employment agency counselor, and when Ethel complains about her offerings gets to say the line "well, there's the Republican presidential nomination -- would that suit you?'

Verdict: Snappy, well-made stuff indeed. ***1/2.

BACKFIRE (1950)

BACKFIRE (1950). Director: Vincent Sherman. 

Bob Corey (Gordon MacRae) is recovering from serious injuries in the hospital with the help of pretty nurse Julie Benson (Virginia Mayo), when he realizes that his good friend Steve (Edmond O'Brian), with whom he'd planned to go into business, has disappeared. A mysterious woman sneaks into his room and tells Bob that Steve has also been seriously injured and needs his help. Bob and Julie then begin an increasingly dangerous search for the missing Steve, encountering a variety of suspicious types along the way, then learn that Steve is suspected of murder. Ed Begley plays the cop on the case, Dane Clark is another friend, Viveca Lindfors is a pretty singer being kept by a dangerous gangster, and Shela Stephens [who later became Shelia MacRae and turned up as Alice Kramden on the color Honeymooners] is Bonnie, a snappy nightclub employee who tries to help Bob. The featured cast members all turn in good performances and there are a whole host of flavorful character actors in supporting roles and bit parts as well. There are confusing flashbacks, it's all rather convoluted, but the picture has some suspense and will hold your attention. NOTE: This is one of eight films on Warner Brothers' new Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 5. 

Verdict; Very good acting puts this over. ***.

NORA PRENTISS

NORA PRENTISS (1947). Director: Vincent Sherman.

Dr. Talbot: "I'm writing a paper on an ailment of the heart."

Nora Prentiss: "A paper? I could write a book!"

Dr. Richard Talbot (Kent Smith, in perhaps his most memorable performance) is a decent man with a disinterested wife, two children, and a dull routine. And then into his life comes an accident victim named Nora Prentiss (the saucy Ann Sheridan, doing nicely in a dramatic turn) and suddenly everything changes and his life heads in a completely different direction. This is a fascinating study of romantic obsession with a lot of great twists and a wind-up that may seem absurd at first but sort of works when you think about it. Franz Waxman contributes a great, near-operatic theme. Robert Alda, Rosemary DeCamp and Bruce Bennett also have important roles. It's interesting that while Nora is not a woman without flaws, Sheridan does not play her like a heartless siren or femme fatale -- an approach that other actresses may have taken -- but a real and genuinely warm human being. In their first encounter Dr. Talbot shows little humor or personality, but Smith is handsome enough --especially in this film -- for us to understand Sheridan's interest. The first half of the film is interesting enough as a straight romance, but the second half with the intrigue is also quite compelling. Not quite a classic, but good.

Verdict: A really twisted romance. ***1/2.

UNDERGROUND

UNDERGROUND (1941). Vincent Sherman.

Returning from the German army after losing an arm, Kurt Franken (Jeffrey Lynn) is unaware that his brother Eric (Philip Dorn) is the radio voice of the underground resistance movement that hates the Nazis and everything they stand for. Then Kurt falls for a woman (Kaaren Verne) who is working with his brother, and all Hell breaks loose. The most affecting and best-acted scene has to do with Eric and an associate confronting a man who was released by the Nazis after years of imprisonment and torture as he begs them to understand what he went through and tries to assure them that he didn't betray them. Eric feels that one has to be prepared to give up one's life for the cause, giving added resonance to the wind-up. Martin Kosleck is excellent as the nasty Colonel Heller (sic) who is determined to wipe out the members of the underground at any cost. This may have been a propaganda film, but it still has some power today and must have been very strong stuff in 1941. Some striking scenes and good performances, too. It's all rather minor-league, unfortunately, despite the subject matter, but the ending is poignant.

Verdict: **1/2.

THE GARMENT JUNGLE

THE GARMENT JUNGLE (1957). Director: Vincent Sherman.

Soon after the terrible death of his partner in a freight elevator "accident" -- a horrifying, well-handled sequence -- Walter Mitchell (Lee J. Cobb) welcomes his son Alan (Kerwin Mathews) into the garment business. Alan is disturbed to learn what a hold the mob has on the business with its protection racket, and how they've been terrorizing union organizers. This is basically a poor man's On the Waterfront, and not at all in the same league as that classic. However, there are several good scenes, and there's an interesting cast. Cobb is as good as ever, and Mathews gives it a good try, but his forte was swashbuckling costume heroes like in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, not realistic drama. Richard Boone is more on the mark as a mob boss, as is Robert Loggia as a union organizer and Joseph Wiseman (Dr. No) as one of the garment workers. Wesley Addy has an unusual role as a vicious associate of Boone's. Gia Scala and Valerie French are effective as the ladies involved with the garment workers.

Verdict: Overbaked melodrama. **.