THE KILLERS

Virginia Christine, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner

THE KILLERS (1946). Director: Robert Siodmak.

Torpedoes Max (William Conrad) and Al (Charles McGraw) come to the town of Brentwood and (improbably) announce to people in the diner that they are going to kill a guy known as the Swede or Pete Lund (Burt Lancaster), which they do. The rest of the film presents assorted flashbacks from various points-of-view as insurance investigator Jim Reardon (Edmund O'Brien) tries to find out more about "Lund" and the reasons for his murder. Reardon hooks up with former cop Sam Lubinsky (Sam Levene) and discovers that the latter's old friend the Swede, actually Ole Anderson, a former boxer, was mixed up in a robbery plot as well as with a beautiful if duplicitous female named Kitty (Ava Gardner). But before Reardon's investigation is over, those two torpedoes just may have more work to do. 

Waiting for death: Burt Lancaster

The Killers is a fine and memorable piece of film noir. In his very first film, Lancaster gives a strong performance and he is backed up by an old pro in O'Brien. Conrad and McGraw certainly make in impression in their brief but chilling appearances. Levene and Virginia Christine (Anderson's old girlfriend and now Lubinsky's wife) are solid as well. And then there's Ava Gardner in her 27th film, but clearly still growing as an actress. She makes a good impression in the early scenes but doesn't quite cut it in her climactic moments. There are good turns from Phil Brown [Weird Woman] as Nick Adams, Vince Barnett as old Charleston, Albert Dekker as the architect of the robbery plot, Donald MacBride as Reardon's boss, Jack Lambert [The Unsuspected] as a member of the gang, Queenie Smith as Queenie, Anderson's sole beneficiary, and especially Jeff Corey as Blinky. (Charles Middleton plays a farmer but I didn't spot him.) Although Anderson is in some ways an unsympathetic character, you can't help but feel sorry for the miserable way in which he is played for a sucker. The Killers boasts an evocative score by Miklos Rozsa and fine photography by Elwood (Woody) Bredell. 

Verdict: Totally absorbing, very well-acted crime drama. ***1/4. 

ARCH OF TRIUMPH

Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman

ARCH OF TRIUMPH (1948). Director: Lewis Milestone.

"A refugee without a passport has lost his membership in the human race."

In pre-WW2 Paris two strangers meet and become unhappily involved. One is Ravic (Charles Boyer), who was tortured in Austria by the Nazi Haake (Charles Laughton), and has taken illegal asylum in France. Joan (Ingrid Bergman) is a woman of "easy virtue" whose latest lover has just died. The couple seem to fall in love, but Ravic's illegal status and very real fear of jail and deportation, means he cannot get married. Then there's the added complication of Alex (Stephan Bekassy), with whom Joan gets engaged during a period when she is alone, and who is very possessive of her. Arch of Triumph, based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, should have been a powerful film, and it does have its moments, but it never emerges as the dramatic triumph that it could have been. A big problem -- besides the fact that everything is too prettified -- is that Boyer and Bergman have absolutely no chemistry, and even if one might acknowledge that Ravic might be a rather dour character, Boyer's emotionless and often perfunctory performance -- one of his worst -- doesn't help. Bergman is much, much better, and the picture is nearly stolen by Louis Calhern [Athena] as a friend of Ravic's who works as doorman at a Russian nightclub. Charles Laughton [They Knew What They Wanted] is excellent, as usual, as the repulsive Haake, but much more should have been made of his very final confrontation with Ravic. The fake "prince" Michael Romanoff, who opened his own Hollywood restaurant, plays the captain of the aforementioned club, and is rather unprepossessing. Ruth Warrick comes and goes too quickly to make any impression. William Conrad [East Side, West Side] , who later starred in TV's Jake and the Fat Man, has a terrific bit as a police man who corners Ravic and questions him after the former tends to an injured woman on the street. This is, I believe, the one and only picture made by Enterprise studios.

Verdict: Not terrible by any means, but not at all what it should have been. **1/2.

TWO ON A GUILLOTINE

TWO ON A GUILLOTINE (1965). Producer/Director: William Conrad.

Cassie Duquesne (Connie Stevens of Susan Slade) has not seen her father in years when she attends his funeral and is given the strange (and unlikely) conditions of his will. She must stay overnight for seven days in Duke Duquesne's (Cesar Romero) house or she will forfeit a small fortune that will go to her associate Buzzy (Parley Baer) and Connie's former nanny, Polly (Virginia Gregg of Crime in the Streets). Val Henderson (Dean Jones) helps Connie explore the house and its weird goings-on but she is furious to learn that he is a reporter. Then Polly shows up screaming that Duke is alive ... Two on a Guillotine was one of three light thrillers directed by Conrad in the sixties along with Brainstorm and My Blood Runs Cold, and is the best of them. The performances of everyone, including a Jack Lemmon-like Dean Jones, are all good, and Gregg (always an outstanding actress), and Connie Gilchrist as an hysterical housekeeper, are particularly noteworthy. There's a genuinely suspenseful climax involving the title object. The plot, which is reminiscent of some of William Castle's chillers, will not hold up to inspection but it doesn't need to. Max Steiner provides a good backdrop for the action. One has to wonder if the rabbit that is seen running through the house (and for which Steiner composed its own theme) ever actually gets anything to eat?

Verdict: Entertaining and effective comedy-thriller. ***.

MY BLOOD RUNS COLD

Troy Donahue and Joey Heatherton

MY BLOOD RUNS COLD (1965). Producer/Director: William Conrad.

"Oh, father, you sound like something out of East Lynne." 

Julie Merriday (Joey Heatherton) meets a handsome and brooding young man named Ben (Troy Donahue) who tells her that they are the reincarnation of past lovers: Julie's lookalike great-great-grandmother and the sailor she was separated from. Naturally Julie's father, Julian (Barry Sullivan), thinks that Ben is a fortune hunter while her Aunt Sarah (Jeanette Nolan) at first can't seem to make up her mind between Ben and Julie's fella, Harry (Nicolas Coster). Julie, who thinks she might be "a trifle over-bred,"  finds herself drawn to the strange young man even as Julian protests, and then the corpse of the caretaker (of their retreat, Spindrift) is washed up on shore... My Blood Runs Cold hasn't got a bad plot, but its interesting elements never really jell. Although Heatherton is the better actress, both she and Donahue [Live Fast, Die Young] appear to have the IQs of doorstops. The dialogue is cliched and the ending drawn out and tedious. Heatherton has given better performances elsewhere, but Sullivan [Suspense] and Nolan [The Big Heat] are excellent as the arguing brother and sister, and Coster is also effective. A major problem with the film, and one that in this case really sinks the movie, is Donahue's lousy acting. Scenes that might have been touching or bristled with tension or passion, are just frittered away by an actor who can say his lines, look pretty and gloomy, but little else. In this, at least, Donahue is a model, not an actor.

Verdict: This had possibilities, but ... **.

BRAINSTORM (1965)

Jeffrey Hunter

BRAINSTORM (1965). Director: William Conrad.

Jim Grayam (Jeffrey Hunter) discovers a passed out blond named Lorrie (Anne Francis) in a car on the railroad tracks. Saving the woman, he takes her home to her wealthy husband, Cort Benson (Dana Andrews), where it becomes obvious that this is a marriage from Hell. Jim and Lorrie begin an affair (incredibly, they seem to think they're being discreet), and Jim is subjected to a campaign of harassment. Then Jim decides that the only way for the couple to be free -- and be free to take care of Lorrie's small daughter -- is to plot a murder ... Brainstorm features a very good performance from the "impossibly" good-looking Hunter [Belles on Their Toes] and isn't badly directed by portly actor William Conrad [Cry Danger]. Francis is more than okay, but Andrews is atypically listless as Benson. Viveca Lindfors, with her Cheshire cat grin, is very effective as a psychiatrist who has to determine Jim's sanity. Mann Rubin's screenplay -- he also wrote An American Dream --  becomes increasingly implausible as it progresses, however. Strother Martin, Kathie Browne, and ham-handed Richard Kiel have smaller roles, and the last two are certainly vivid. Conrad is seen in the background of a hospital as an asylum inmate. Francis and Hunter appeared together as a romantic couple in Dreamboat 13 years earlier.

Verdict: Quite effective lead performance in half-baked melodrama. **1/2.

BODY AND SOUL

BODY AND SOUL (1947). Director: Robert Rossen. Screenplay by Abraham Polonsky.

Charley (John Garfield) seeks a way out of his hopeless poverty and decides to become a professional boxer. His mother (Anne Revere) is against the whole notion, and she watches helplessly as his success goes to his head. He has a very supportive girlfriend, Peg (Lilli Palmer), but dallies with the more overtly sexy gold digger, Alice (Hazel Brooks). A turning point comes when Charley has a fight with Ben Chaplin (Canada Lee), unaware that the man has a blood clot in his brain. One could argue that the film is at times simplistic and employs the usual boxer cliches, but it's so well done on every level that it scarcely seems to matter. Garfield, Palmer, and Anne Revere [one of her best roles] are simply excellent, and there is also some fine work from Canada Lee, Joseph Pevney (as Charley's friend and manager), James Burke as Ben's manager, William Conrad as fight promoter Quinn, and Lloyd Goff/Gough as Roberts, a much more loathsome version of Quinn. Introduced in this film after having bit parts in several movies, Hazel Brooks is quite arresting, but although she lived for many years afterward, she retired from acting in the mid-fifties after having only a very few credits. James Wong Howe is cinematographer and Hugo Friedhofer provides a very interesting score.

Verdict: Forget Raging Bull -- this is the real deal. ***1/2.

THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BELL

Dean Jagger and Glenn Ford

THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BELL (1970 telefilm). Director: Paul Wendkos.Screenplay by David Karp.

In one of the first and best of the made-for-television movies, Andrew Patterson (Glenn Ford) is the long-time member of the "Brothers of the Bell," a secret society associated with a fraternity at the College of St. George. The society helps its members get a leg up in the world, and in return they are on occasion asked to do a favor for "the Bell." But now Patterson has been asked to blackmail a dear friend of his (Eduard Franz) from accepting a certain post and has been given the names of people who helped this man defect -- of course revealing those names will mean their torture and deaths. Although Patterson tries his best to dissuade his friend from taking the post before revealing that he has the list of names, his actions nevertheless lead to tragedy. A guilt-wracked Patterson decides to take action by exposing the brotherhood, but finds his life turning into a nightmare as almost everyone thinks he's crazy. Although at times he could have been a bit more impassioned, Ford gives a notable performance in this; one of the best of his latter-day career, in fact. Eduard Franz as the blackmailed professor; Dean Jagger as a higher-up in the Bell; Rosemary Forsyth as Patterson's wife; Will Geer as his father; and Maurice Evans as his father-in-law, are all excellent, but the whole movie is nearly stolen by William Conrad as a Joe Pyne*-like talk show host who has Patterson on his show just to berate and humiliate him [this is also one of the best scenes in the movie.] Virginia Gilmore [in her last film role]  also scores as a nutty woman in the audience who calls herself "Patriot." Also notable is the uncredited black actor who says the Bell is simply the White Power Structure that has always oppressed black people. Jerry Goldsmith contributed an unusual baroque-like score.I didn't spot Robert Clarke of The Hideous Sun Demon and The Man from Planet X as a psychiatrist.

* Joe Pyne was a forerunner of Jerry Springer.

Verdict: Ultimate paranoia and a darn good movie. ***1/2.

DIAL 1119

DIAL 1119 (1950). Director: Gerald Mayer.

"You'd better leave God out of it. God's got other fish to fry besides you."

Gunther Wyckoff (Marshall Thompson) escapes from a mental institution, murders some people, and winds up in a bar where he holds several customers and staff members hostage. These include the blonde barfly, "Freddie" (Virginia Field), the obnoxious bartender, Chuckles (William Conrad), handsome waiter Skip (Keefe Braselle), Helen (Andrea King), who wants to make changes in her life, and married Earl (Leon Ames), who hopes to be one of those changes. There's also a reporter, Harry (James Bell), who thinks he's finally on top -- literally -- of a great breaking story. Sam Levene plays Gunther's psychiatrist, Dr. Faron, who goes in to talk to the man against the advice of the police [although it's never explained why they at least don't give him a bullet-proof vest]. Thompson is okay, but Field and Conrad give the most memorable performances. Taut and absorbing for the most part, Dial 1119 is still strictly minor-league. This film is included in the Film Noir Classics Collection Volume 5.

Verdict: Not bad for what it is. **1/2.

TENSION

TENSION (1949). Director: John Berry. 

When pharmacist Warren Quimby's (Richard Basehart) skank wife Claire (Audrey Totter) leaves him for another man (Lloyd Gough), he cooks up a plan to take on another identity and get revenge. Of course, things don't work out exactly as planed. Barry Sullivan and William Conrad are two homicide detectives who at first don't even realize that Quimby and his alter ego are the same person even though all he's done is exchange his glasses for contacts! Cyd Charisse plays the loyal woman who falls in love with Quimby's new identity. For much of its length Tension is absorbing, but when all is said and done it doesn't create enough suspects in its murder mystery and everyone's actions seem a trifle inexplicable. In the long run, there isn't much tension in this or much else, although it's decently acted, and Totter is certainly vivid. 

Verdict: Mediocre suspenser. **1/2.

CRY DANGER

CRY DANGER (1951). Director: Robert Parrish. 

Rocky Mulloy (Dick Powell) has received a pardon after being convicted of bank robbery, but Detective Cobb (Regis Toomey) still thinks Mulloy knows where the money is. Mulloy hooks up with Nancy (Rhonda Fleming), the wife of his supposed partner-in-crime, who is still in prison, as well as a heavy-drinking character named Delong (the effective Richard Erdman), with whom he shares a trailer. Meanwhile operator Louie Castro (William Conrad) has ideas of his own. Jean Porter is fun as the somewhat shifty Darlene LaVonne, who also lives at the trailer park, but Joan Banks nearly steals the picture in her brief but vivid turn as Alice Fletcher, wife of the man who identified Mulloy during his trial. The clipped speech patterns of some of the players almost make this come off like a hard-boiled parody at times. This holds the attention, but little else. 

Verdict: Noir Lite. **.

5 AGAINST THE HOUSE

5 AGAINST THE HOUSE (1955). Director: Phil Karlson.

Ex-G.I.s in college get the idea to rob a casino in Reno but actually plan on returning the money. Wealthy Ronnie (Kerwin Mathews) wants to accomplish something big -- he plans the whole caper -- and thinks this is it. But as the big day approaches Al (Guy Madison, pictured) who's planning to start married life with girlfriend Kay (Kim Novak), urges them to call off the robbery, but Brick (Brian Keith), who's a bit disturbed, pulls out a gun and insists they go through with it -- or else. And he intends to keep the money. Keith is excellent, the rest of the cast is good, but the movie takes a long time to get going and never really gets anywhere. Even the climactic robbery is slack. Alvy Moore is one of the "gang" and William Conrad is the casino employee they hold up.

Verdict: There are better capers than this. **.