TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT

Highly punchable: David Niven

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT (aka Happy Ever After/1954). Director: Mario Zampi.

"We could be very happy in an unhappy sort of way." -- Jasper.

Aged General O'Leary of Rathbonie Ireland is determined to make a dangerous jump on his horse as he does every year, but this time he has an accident and eventually dies. His estate goes to relative Jasper O'Leary (David Niven of Death on the Nile), who sets the entire town against himself by refusing  to honor his uncle's death bed bequests and the old man's forgiving of certain debts. Meanwhile the recently widowed Serena (Yvonne De Carlo), who had hoped to snare handsome former fiance Dr. Michael Flynn (Robert Urquhart of The Curse of Frankenstein) against her sister Kathy's (Noelle Middleton) wishes, deides that it might be better to set her cap for the obviously interested new Squire, Jasper. But now all of Jasper's many enemies decide the only thing to do is to assassinate Jasper ...

Barry Fitzgerald and David Niven

Black comedies can work --witness the wonderful The Wrong Box -- but Tonight's the Night is an appalling concoction and only has three solid laughs throughout its ninety minutes running time. For one thing the two lead characters, the  heartless priss Jasper and the gold-digging Serena, are too loathsome to be amusing. Character flaws can make people funny, but these two, Jasper in particular, are utterly worthless individuals. One feels sympathy for the wronged townspeople -- Jasper wants to evict one elderly man out of the home he's lived in for decades -- until they start indulging in IRA tactics including bombs and the like. One plan to kill Jasper has to do with tying a rope across the road in the hopes that Jasper will be beheaded when he drives by in his motorcar! Such lovely people!

Robert Urquhart and Yvonne De Carlo

Much of the second half of the film is taken up with the town folks' bumbling attempts at murder, which makes them resemble especially malevolent variations on the Bowery Boys but with even less laughs. Niven, although playing someone whose face you want to punch almost from the first, gives a good performance (nobody could be more obnoxious than Niven when playing a detestable prig); De Carlo is snappy and has an okay Irish brogue; the supporting cast does its best; and Barry Fitzgerald nearly steals the picture -- not that he would necessarily want it -- in his portrayal of Thady, the tippling butler. Niven and De Carlo don't have that much chemistry, and the characters of Kathy and the doctor are never sufficiently developed. A highlight of the film is when a talented Irish tenor sings the lovely ballad "My Heart is Irish." Mario Zampi also directed The Naked Truth, another dark comedy that was much, much better than this..

Verdict: Essentially unfunny and atrocious but for Fitzgerald and the tenor. *1/2. 

BAND OF ANGELS

Clark Gable and Yvonne De Carlo

BAND OF ANGELS (1957). Director: Raoul Walsh.

In Kentucky in the 1880's, Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo) discovers after her father's death that her mother was a slave, she is mulatto (although that term is never used), and she has lost everything, including her father's plantation, to his creditors. She is sold into slavery and acquired for $5000 by the wealthy Hamish Bond (Clark Gable), who treats his slaves with more kindness than others. But Rau-Ru (Sidney Poitier), whom Bond has raised like a son, feels that no amount of kindness can make up for his not being free. Rumblings from up North indicate that the so-called glory days of the South may just about be over.

Sidney Poitier and Carolle Drake

Band of Angels is based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren (All the King's Men), and it had to be much, much better than this film version, which is more along the lines of a Clark Gable Retread of Gone With the Wind than anything else. The shame of it is that there is plenty of provocative material in here, but the picture is a morally ambiguous mish mash that throws scenes at the viewer without any great coherency or momentum. One wishes that many of the characters, especially the black characters, had been better developed.

Amantha sets herself apart from her people

The treatment of racism is also comparatively trivialized and confused, to put it mildly. On the one hand, the film focuses on an interracial relationship (although both characters are played by white actors). On the other hand, Amantha spends most of the movie denying her heritage. Gable's character is also problematic, a slave trader who supposedly buys up slaves to keep them out of the hands of nastier owners out of guilt over his former actions. He mentions the real-life African King Gezo, who sold his own people, but this hardly excuses the actions of white slave traders. In Warren's book Bond comes to a much more satisfying end than he does in the movie.

Gable's performance is professional but comparatively passionless, while De Carlo is somewhat better. Notable in smaller roles are Andrea King as a supposed friend of Amamtha's, Rex Reason [This Island Earth] as a minister-turned-soldier who falls for Amantha, and Torin Thatcher [The 7th Voyage of Sinbad] as an old comrade of Bond's. Sidney Poitier gives the best performance in the film as the servant-son who becomes an understandably vengeful sergeant in the Union Army, and there is also good work from Carolle Drake as Michelle, another servant who seems to love Bond unconditionally. (Ms.) Tommie Moore plays another servant, Dolly, as if she thought she were appearing in an operetta! Robert Clarke and Ann Doran show up in bits and Patrick Knowles plays another plantation owner who nearly has a duel with Gable. Lucien Ballard's cinematography is first-rate, as usual, but Max Steiner's score can in no way be compared to his fine work on Gone With the Wind and other films.

Verdict: Patronizing and contrived, with an interesting plot pretty much muffed. **.

SALOME, WHERE SHE DANCED

SALOME, WHERE SHE DANCED (1945). Charles Lamont.

At the end of the Civil War, where he first meets a soldier named Cleve (David Bruce),.a reporter named Jim (Rod Cameron) travels abroad to cover the Prussian-Austrian war. There Jim falls in love, as many men have, with a Viennese dancer (Yvonne De Carlo) who becomes known as "Salome" due to her specialty dance number. Accused of spying, Salome must flee Austria with Jim, and the two head for the wild west with an angry and betrayed suitor, Von Bohlen (Albert Dekker) in pursuit. In San Francisco, Jim once again encounters Cleve, who has become a bandit and bears a striking resemblance to a handsome Austrian officer that Salome loved in Europe and who was killed in battle. Salome is torn between Cleve and Jim -- while also being wooed by entrepreneur Dimitrioff (Walter Slezak) -- as Von Bohlen corners her in Frisco ... The very, very entertaining Salome, Where She Danced made a major star out of De Carlo, who is not quite convincing as an Austrian ballet dancer (!) but who gives a vivid and more-than-competent performance. The picture has what I call an old-style operetta plot, with bandits returning stolen loot to the townspeople out of admiration for Salome, and this same town (outside Frisco) being renamed "Salome, Where She Danced" in gratitude (to explain the title). In other words, the whole movie is utterly absurd but also charming and well-acted, with the exception of alleged leading man Cameron [Coronado 9], who is wooden and unappealing to say the least. As De Carlo's real love interest, David Bruce nearly steals the picture as the conflicted and almost beautiful bandit, Cleve. Walter Slezak makes an impression as the San Francisco lover of art and lovely ladies, as does Dekker [Suspense] as Von Bohlen; and Marjorie Rambeau [Bad for Each Other] is fine as an old-time actress and boarding house owner named "Madame Europe." De Carlo and Bruce both look gorgeous in Technicolor.

Verdict: Only in the movies ... ***.

CASBAH

Yvonne De Carlo and Tony Martin 

CASBAH (1948). Director: John Berry.

Thief Pepe le Moko (Tony Martin) hides out in the Casbah while the friendly cop Slimane (Peter Lorre) hopes he'll step out of his safe harbor so he can arrest him. Pepe falls for Gaby (Marta Toren), who is the fiancee of the wealthy Claude (Herbert Rudley of Decoy), inspiring jealousy both in Claude and in Inez (Yvonne De Carlo), who thinks of herself as Pepe's one true love. Naturally, nobody's plans work out as they intended. It was only a matter of time before someone got the idea of making a musical out of the Pepe le Moko story -- filmed at least twice before as Pepe le Moko and Algiers -- and this is the closest you'll ever get, as this is what you might call a semi-musical remake with crooner Martin singing a couple of vaguely pleasant tunes by Harold Arlen and Leo Robin (Martin is in splendid voice). Casbah is not nearly as bad as you might expect, with Martin making a sexier and gruffer Pepe, and Peter Lorre spicing up the proceedings with his typically interesting portrayal of Slimane. In this version the Casbah seems less a filthy ghetto and more a mere tourist attraction, but it has at least as much artificial atmosphere as the first two versions. Unlike Algiers, Casbah is not a copy of Pepe le Moko, but eliminates some characters, has different sequences, and makes Gaby even more independent than in the other versions but also less likable. Swedish actress Toren had a few uncredited parts before being "introduced" in this film as the "next Ingrid Bergman." She's adequate and managed to amass a number of credits but she died tragically young at thirty. Yvonne De Carlo is her saucy self as Inez, although she's not always photographed very flatteringly. Other cast members include Douglas Dick [The Accused] in an unsympathetic character part; Hugo Haas as a friend of Pepe's; and the always-interesting Virginia Gregg as a friend of Gaby's. If there's any problem with Casbah, it's that this version tries too hard to make this some kind of tragic love story when the lovers barely know one another, are completely one-dimensional, and Martin and Toren don't even have that much chemistry together. The shot of Martin on the runway while the plane bearing Toren soars overhead is a dramatic composition but it also comes off as a little hokey considering. Interestingly, while the earlier versions only talk about how difficult it would be for the police to get a captured Pepe out of the Casbah, this version actually shows us how difficult it would be, as all of Pepe's cronies come to his rescue after he's been handcuffed, attack the cops, and free him. John Berry also directed Tension.

Verdict: The odd but arresting duo of Martin and Lorre almost make this work. **1/2.

FLAME OF THE ISLANDS

FLAME OF THE ISLANDS (1956). Director: Edward Ludwig. In Republic Trucolor.

Rosalind Dee (Yvonne De Carlo) is given a substantial check by the widow, Evelyn (Frieda Inescort), of her boss, with whom Evelyn believes Rosalind was "involved." Insulted, Rosalind takes the check, quits her job, and uses the money to buy into a club-casino in the Bahamas. Alas, little does she know that her partner, Cyril (Kurt Kasznar), who has a hankering for her (as does every other man she meets), is in league with a pack of gangsters. She brushes off wanna-be boyfriend Wade (Zachary Scott), when she re-encounters old flame Doug (Howard Duff), who once got her pregnant but now doesn't even remember her. Then we have Doug's disapproving mother, Charmaine (Barbara O'Neil of Stella Dallas), and even the Widow Evelyn shows up again at an inopportune moment. We also mustn't forget the island captain and part-time preacher, Kelly (James Arness), who also develops a longing for Rosalind. Which man will Rosalind wind up with, or will her gangster partners make sure she winds up at the bottom of the sea? Flame of the Islands, which has enough plot for ten movies, is very entertaining and well-acted by all. Lester Matthews [Life Begins for Andy Hardy] plays the lead hoodlum, Gus, and Donald Curtis is one of his associates. With a sexy De Carlo [Criss Cross] cavorting, singing and dancing, and of course, going after all the men (and vice versa), Flame of the Islands is a lot of fun.

Verdict: The Bahamas were never like this! ***.

MUNSTER, GO HOME!

Al Lewis camps it up with John Carradine

MUNSTER, GO HOME! (1966). Director: Earl Bellamy.

"See what sandpaper skin and a touch of malnutrition can do for the complexion?"

The Munsters TV series, NBC's answer to ABC's The Addams Family, but more watchable, aired for two seasons from 1964 - 66. Its swan song was this theatrical feature which was released in 1966. In the movie, Herman Munster (Fred Gwynnne) learns that an uncle has died, making him the new Lord Munster, and heir to a British estate. Herman's English relatives, who reside in the estate, aren't too thrilled with this development. In fact, Freddie Munster (Terry-Thomas) tries to kill them off while they're still sailing across the ocean. Freddie's fellow conspirators include his mother, Lady Effigie (Hermione Gingold), and sister, Grace (Jeanne Arnold), the butler, Cruikshank (John Carradine), and a mysterious figure known only as the Griffin. Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, and Al Lewis as Grandpa are excellent in their roles, and they get good support from classy veterans Gingold, Terry-Thomas, Arnold, and Carradine. Butch Patrick and Debbie Watson are also notable as the Munster children, Eddie and Marilyn, with Robert Pine effective as an affected fellow who falls for Marilyn but whose family strenuously objects to the Munsters from any coast. It all leads to Herman becoming a contestant in a race that is frenetic but not especially funny. There are a few amusing moments throughout the movie, and kids may find more chuckles than the rest of us, but this basically proves that when it comes to TV sitcoms, no matter how cute and charming, less is definitely more.

Verdict: For Munster fanatics. **1/2.