APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW

George Nader

APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW (1957). Director: Richard Carlson. 

Paul Baxter (George Nader) once had a reputation as an outstanding reporter, but that reputation has been demolished by his alcoholism. His girlfriend, Penny (Joanna Moore), wants to stand by him -- despite the attitude of her highly disapproving brother, Lt. Spencer (Brian Keith) -- but she's reaching the end of her limit. Paul begs her for one last chance, and then fate intervenes. Paul almost literally runs into a gangster, Dutch Hayden (Frank DeKova), after he has supposedly just been shot down in the street by cops a moment before. Now there are two questions: will anyone believe that a notorious drunk like Paul actually saw Hayden, and will the real Hayden arrange to have Paul knocked off before anyone takes him seriously? 

George Nader and Frank DeKova

George Nader was a better actor than people gave him credit for, but the problem in this film is that he never quite comes off like a dissipated drunk -- he should look much, much worse for one thing. Moore makes a sympathetic girlfriend, Keith is on target as usual, and DeKova nearly walks off with the movie. Another important player is Virginia Field, who plays Hayden's girlfriend, the lady who fingered him without the cops being aware that it was actually Hayden's lookalike brother (talk about brotherly love). Nader and DeKova have a good confrontation scene near the end. The script doesn't really make the most of an interesting situation, but it's a fair to middling melodrama. Actor Richard Carlson directed several other films besides this one, as well as episodic television. 

Verdict: **1/2.  

THINK FAST, MR. MOTO

Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto

THINK FAST, MR. MOTO (1937). Director: Norman Foster.

"Half of the world spends its time laughing at the other half -- and both are fools." -- Mr. Moto.

"Strange people, these Americans." -- ditto.

On a liner heading for China, a mysterious Japanese man named Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) encounters a pleasant young fellow named Bob Hitchings (Thomas Beck), whose father owns the steamship company. Bob falls hard for another mysterious person, Gloria (Virginia Field), who is employed as a singer at the International Club in Shanghai. Gloria's employer, Nicolas Marloff (Sig Ruman) is up to some skulduggery and Mr. Moto seems to have an uncertain role in this. Is he good guy or bad? Although Think Fast, Mr. Moto, the first of the Mr. Moto films, has a workable script and a fast pace, its primarily the performances that put it over, with Lorre superb as the importer who dabbles in detective work as a sideline, especially where his own concerns are involved. Thomas Beck is quite appealing as Bob, and Virginia Field [Repeat Performance] offers another of her expert portrayals as the mystery woman who has, perhaps, gotten herself in too deep. John Rogers scores as ship's steward, Carson, who may be hiding a shiv under his likable exterior, and there are nice turns from J. Carrol Naish as an assassin; Murray Kinnell as a business associate of Bob's father; and Lotus Long [Mr. Wong in Chinatown] as a hotel switchboard operator who helps Moto and is nearly killed for her troubles. Thomas Beck and Murray Kinnell both appeared in Charlie Chan in Paris.

Verdict: Good, snappy introduction to the Mr. Moto series. ***.

CHARLIE CHAN AT MONTE CARLO

"Tongue often hang men quicker than rope." 

CHARLIE CHAN AT MONTE CARLO (1937). Director: Eugene Forde.

Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) is in Monte Carlo with Number One Son Lee (Keye Luke) but takes a cab to Nice to catch a flight. Along the ride they come across a limo with a corpse in the back seat and a missing chauffeur. Victor Karnoff (Sidney Blackmer) explains to Chan and Inspector Joubert (Harold Huber) that the dead man is a bank messenger who was carrying a fortune in now-missing bonds. Others embroiled in the mystery include Karnoff's wife, Joan (Kay Linaker of The Night Before the Divorce); her brother, Gordon (Robert Kent of Who's Guilty?); the adventuress he's smitten with, Evelyn (Virginia Field); rival financier Savarin (Edward Raquello); and a hotel bartender named Rogers (George Lynn of The Werewolf). There are more murders and a neat conclusion. This was Oland's last performance as Chan and last picture before his death the following year. He and Luke are marvelous, as usual, and the personality of flamboyant cop Joubert fits Huber to a "t." Linaker and Kent are fine and Field [Repeat Performance] gives a typically vital performance.

Verdict: Not a bad way for Warner Oland to exit. ***.

THE LADY PAYS OFF

Stephen McNally and Linda Darnell

THE LADY PAYS OFF (1951). Director: Douglas Sirk.

Evelyn Warren (Linda Darnell), an unmarried teacher who's sick of the men who want her just to be a mother to their children, has just won a "Teacher of the Year" award. She goes off to Nevada for a vacation and tries her hand at gambling, not realizing that the chips she's playing with are each worth $100 instead of a buck. Before long she's in the hole for $7000! Fortunately, the manager, Matt Braddock (Stephen McNally) offers her a chance to pay the money off by temporarily becoming a companion and tutor to his young daughter, Diana (Gigi Perreau). But still Evelyn won't let go of her dislike for Matthew, although things may be percolating behind her unpleasant demeanor. The Lady Pays Off is a contrived comedy-drama with good performances from the three leads, as well as good support from Ann Codee as the housekeeper, Virginia Field [Dial 1119] as Matt's old girlfriend, Kay, and especially Nestor Paiva [Mr. Reckless], who is a riot as a crazy captain of a fishing boat. The ending is completely unconvincing. McNally also played a pit boss in the superior The Lady Gambles with Barbara Stanwyck.

Verdict: Easy to take if instantly forgettable. **1/2.

REPEAT PERFORMANCE

Triangle: Joan Leslie, Louis Hayward, Virginia Field

REPEAT PERFORMANCE (1947). Director: Alfred Werker.

"They're not real people, actresses. Audiences don't like them."

Broadway leading actress Sheila Page (Joan Leslie) has a problem or two: She is still in love with her stinker of a husband, the drunk, philandering Barney (Louis Hayward), and grateful to him for writing the role that made her a star years ago. But Barney hasn't written another play since, and he enters into an affair with Paula Costello (Virginia Field), the author of Sheila's new hit. What is basically a triangle melodrama has a unique twist -- Sheila shoots Barney at the very beginning of the film on New Year's Eve, and so fervently wishes she could live the past year all over again and avoid the grim result that she literally winds up a year in the past. Sheila does her best to change things so they won't lead to the same outcome, and the fun of the movie is in seeing whether or not things will work out the way she hopes. But even when some things change will the ending be inevitable? Leslie gives a more than competent if unexciting performance -- one can imagine say, Stanwyck in this part -- but Hayward and Field are quite flavorful [even if the former chews the scenery at times]. Richard Basehart and Natalie Schafer are fine as a young poet and the wealthy man-hungry woman who becomes his patron. Tom Conway is Sheila's producer. Wrongly considered a remake of Turn Back the Clock of 1933 [which had a time travel slant but an entirely different storyline], this was remade under that title as a made-for-TV movie with Connie Selleca in the lead [Leslie appeared as a party guest] in 1989.

Verdict: Worth living through at least once. ***.

THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING

THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING (1964). Director: Terence Fisher.

In a small village in England, people suddenly drop dead in the middle of everyday tasks, or even when driving cars or railroad trains. Jeff Nolan (Willard Parker), an American pilot who was in the air when the disaster occurred, meets up with a group of people who were similarly spared and they gather inside the village inn. Then slow-moving robots with a death touch appear from out of nowhere, and the people they kill reanimate as pop-eyed living corpses.There's enough material here for an interesting horror/sci fi flick, but Terence Fisher, director of such fine movies as The Gorgon, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, and Horror of Dracula, must have tossed this stinker off in a couple of days without insisting on rewrites. You never quite get a sense from the script or the actors that this might well be the end of the world, there's hardly any atmosphere, and some of the proceedings are quite illogical. Willard Parker was in What a Woman! with Rosalind Russell. Virginia Field, who plays Peggy, was married to Parker at the time and gave vivid performances in such films as Dial 1119 and on such shows as Perry Mason. The Earth Dies Screaming is professional enough, but it's just blah, devoid of inspiration or commitment from anyone, although some of the actors do what they can with inferior material.

Verdict: Like one of the more forgettable episodes of the sixties TV show The Outer Limits. *1/2.

DANCE, GIRL, DANCE

DANCE, GIRL, DANCE (1940). Director: Dorothy Arzner.

"Bubbles is like a kid who can't stand it if a kid has one marble even if she's got twenty."

Madame Basilova (Maria Ouspenskaya) has a rag tag group of girls with whom she hopes to re-enter the big time. The only one who gets any offers is the spirited "Bubbles" (Lucille Ball), who soon becomes known as "Tiger Lily White", burlesque queen. She gets the theater to hire the more sedate Judy (Maureen O'Hara) to do her ballet specialty, but on her first night Judy realizes she's only meant to be Bubbles' stooge as the men boo and hiss her and call for Tiger Lily. The women are also rivals for Jimmy Harris (Louis Hayward), who is carrying a torch for his ex-wife Elinor (Virginia Field). In the meantime, dance producer Steve Adams (Ralph Bellamy) is, unbeknownst to Judy, highly interested in her and her career. O'Hara, Hayward and Field are all fine, but Lucille steals the show in a role which is nothing at all like her famous "Lucy" of TV fame. Hard-boiled but lovable, this tough dame also scintillates in her musical numbers. The famous cat fight between the two women is much too brief to make much of an impression. Ouspenskaya is killed off early on and Sydney Blackmer has a bit as Elinor's new husband. Sporadically entertaining, but pretty minor-league with an awkward script, this would probably be forgotten were it not for the exciting presence of Lucille Ball.

Verdict: Lucy fans will enjoy this most of all. **1/2.

PERRY MASON SEASON 7

Raymond Burr

PERRY MASON Season 7.

This seemingly unstoppable show was back for a 7th season in 1963. It had more than its share of excellent episodes. "Nebulous Nephew," with Hugh Marlowe, Arthur Space and Beulah Bondi, answers the question of whether or not a man is really a missing relative. "Reluctant Model," in which Lt. Tragg appears, deals with a forged painting and a handsome bearded artist played by Robert Brown. A woman leaves one million dollars to her nurse in "Festive Felon" and an elevator murder is featured in "Wednesday Woman" with a noteworthy Marie Windsor. A boy discovers that a famous actress is his mother in "Simple Simon" with an excellent Virginia Field and Victor Buono. In "Careless Kidnapper" with Mimsy Farmer, in which a doctor treating an alcoholic patient is blackmailed, Perry takes Della dancing until dawn! "The Drifting Drop Out "has a young man accused of murdering his criminal uncle's business partner. "The Bouncing Boomerang" features a wonderful Diana Whelan as a duplicitous wife with a secret partner in a land and insurance fraud.

Other notable episodes include: "Decadent Dean" with an excellent Lloyd Corrigan; "Bigamous Spouse;" "Bountiful Beauty" with Ryan O'Neal; "Nervous Neighbors" with Katherine Squire and Jeanne Cooper;  "Fifty Million Frenchmen" with everyone from David McCallum and Jacques Bergerac to Arthur Franz and Jackie Cooper; "Frightened Fisherman;" "Arrogant Arsonist;" Garrulous Go-Between;" "Illicit Illusion" with Ron Randell and Keith Andes; and "Antic Angel."

These were the two most outstanding episodes: "Deadly Verdict" begins with Perry's client being found guilty and sentenced to death! The story has to do with an old woman who may have been murdered by one of several heirs, including Julie Adams. This episode is particularly well-directed [Jesse Hibbs], creepy, and suspenseful." The Devious Delinquent," with Otto Kruger and an especially notable Virginia Christine, deals with a troubled young man accused of killing a blackmailing punk "friend." Robb White wrote the script, which has a great surprise ending.

Verdict: Still one of the best TV shows ever. ***1/2.