THE HONEY POT

Cliff Robertson and Rex Harrison

THE HONEY POT (1967). Writer/director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz.  

At his palazzo in Venice, wealthy Cecil Fox (Rex Harrison) has concocted a scheme inspired by Ben Johnson's classic play "Volpone." He has hired out-of-work actor William McFly (Cliff Robertson) to help him "stage manage" the situation when he pretends to be dying and invites two ex-wives and a long-time lover to Venice, where he will tease them about which will inherit his money. The ex-wives include actress Merle McGill (Edie Adams of The Oscar) and Princess Dominique (Capucine of The Queens), and the lover is Mrs. Sheridan (Susan Hayward of I Thank a Fool), who brings along her nurse, Sarah (Maggie Smith). Complications ensue when Mrs. Sheridan reveals that she is Cecil's common law wife. Then one of the women is murdered, and Cecil's own life seems to be in danger ... 

Capucine, Susan Hayward, Maggie Smith

For much of its length, it isn't certain exactly where The Honey Pot is going nor what the audience is supposed to think of it. It eventually emerges as a light-hearted murder mystery with some clever (if suspect) touches. As with most of these tricky pictures, the plot may not hold up under intensive scrutiny, but while the movie seems oddly disjointed at times, it can't quite be called boring. Because it's necessary to hold secrets from the audience, the characters aren't that well-developed, although the actors give it the old college try. Harrison is as marvelous as ever, Robertson better than expected, and of the ladies Hayward probably makes the best impression, although the others are also good. The ending may seem cute but it ignores some niceties of law. It's interesting that Cecil's dream was to be a ballet dancer, and he and a double dance to the strains of the ballet music from Ponchielli's La gioconda at one point (Allan Sherman used the melody for his "Camp Granada" novelty song.) 

Verdict: An interesting oddity that doesn't quite work but entertains in spite of it. ***. 

THE GIRL IN THE NEWS

Barry K. Barnes and Margaret Lockwood

THE GIRL IN THE NEWS (1940). Director: Carol Reed.  

With the aid of her lawyer, Stephen Farrington (Barry K. Barnes), nurse Anne Graham (Margaret Lockwood) is acquitted of murdering her elderly employer for financial gain. Farrington was never quite convinced of her innocence, and his trust is again put to the test when there is another suspicious death in the household where Anne has again become a nurse. Farrington has his work cut out for him, but his defense, centering on a conspiracy in the household, is by no means a sure thing. Were the dead man's wife (Margaretta Scott of Fanny By Gaslight) and butler (Emlyn Williams of Another Man's Poison) involved in the crime? And if so, how can he prove it to a jury's satisfaction? The plot for Girl in the News sounds intriguing, but the movie is pretty much a mere time-passer with adequate performances and not a lot of suspense. The characters are not that well developed, either. Margaret Lockwood appeared to much, much better advantage in The Wicked Lady. Carol Reed also directed Trapeze. 

Verdict: Disappointing murder melodrama. **1/4. 

PERRY MASON: THE CASE OF THE GRINNING GORILLA

Raymond Burr with special guest-star

PERRY MASON: THE CASE OF THE GRINNING GORILLA. Season 8, episode 28. 1965. Director: Jesse Hibbs.  

Now here's a weird one. Della Street (Barbara Hale) buys the diary at auction of a woman -- the secretary of an eccentric millionaire who keeps various kinds of apes in his home -- who died while at sea during a storm. Della wants her boss, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), to somehow get involved, but he winds up giving advice to Josephine Kempton (Lurene Tuttle), a housekeeper who is suing her former employer -- said millionaire -- for slander after he fired her for stealing. Perry is able to find out who actually stole the items in dispute, but has to defend the peppery and difficult Miss Kempton when she's accused of murder. Did she stab somebody with scissors or was it the "grinning gorilla?"

Perry confers with his client, Lurene Tuttle

Jackson Gillis' script for this twisty and entertaining episode has some strange elements, foremost being that Perry and Della occasionally act out of character. I mean, Della has tripped over plenty of dead bodies accompanying Perry, so it seems strange for her to get hysterical when she sees a gorilla far in the distance, or to worry unduly about Perry going into the millionaire's mansion to meet Josephine. Perry seems very impatient with his secretary throughout most of the episode as well. However, Lurene Tuttle of Psycho fame gives an excellent performance in this, and we've also got Gavin MacLeod from the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Victor Buono from What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, along with Robert Colbert as a DA and Janos Prohaska as a gorilla. Yes, Perry faces a gorilla-on-the-loose at one point!

Suspects in Grinning Gorilla

There have been better episodes of Perry Mason than Grinning Gorilla, but it is fun and suspenseful and has some clever twists. Perry does not appear in a courtroom at all in this episode, and the whole business is resolved before there even is a trial, something that did not happen too often on the show. Raymond Burr appeared in more than one gorilla-oriented movie, such as Gorilla at Large with Anne Bancroft and Bride of the Gorilla with Barbara Payton, but he was also in such classics as Hitchcock's Rear Window. 

Verdict: Perry has more than one encounter with an adorable chimp! ***

JIGSAW (1962)

JIGSAW (1962). Produced, directed, and written by Val Guest. 

A young woman (Moira Redmond) makes the mistake of telling her unseen lover that she is two months pregnant, and perhaps now would be a good time for him to break from his wife. Unfortunately, this gent has a different idea on his mind. Some time later part of the lady's corpse is found in the garage of a rented house. Detective Fellows (Jack Warner of Dear Murderer) and Detective Wilks (Ronald Lewis) are part of a team assigned to not only find out who killed the woman but who she was. Doing dogged police work (although it seems to take forever for them to bring in someone to work with an identikit) leads to mistaken identities and bum steers. Finally they discover the killer has been hiding in plain sight for quite some time. 

Jigsaw is a very absorbing British police procedural with Warner playing an amiable, highly professional detective. Lewis is also good, but he's always more interesting as a bad guy, such as in Stop Me Before I Kill! Yolande Donlan -- who was married to director Val Guest --  really makes an impression as another woman who dallies with the killer, and there's notable work from Redmond, Michael Goodliffe [The Gorgon], John Barron, John Le Mesurier [Jack the Ripper] and others. This is not another British copy of Psycho and focuses much more on the solving of the crime than it does on the crime itself. Guest also directed The Day the Earth Caught Fire. 

Verdict: Suspenseful British mystery. ***.  

GOOD NEW MOVIE: A HAUNTING IN VENICE

A HAUNTING IN VENICE (2023). Director: Kenneth Branagh.

Tina Fey and Kenneth Branagh

Now living in Venice after WW2, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is importuned by old friend, the writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), to attend a seance in a supposedly haunted palazzo. Ariadne dares Hercule to expose the medium, a woman named Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh). The resident of the palazzo is a famous opera soprano, Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), whose grown daughter apparently committed suicide by throwing herself into the canal. Poirot is a bit disoriented by strange sights and sounds, but absolutely does not believe in the supernatural. More than one murder occurs, and Poirot himself is nearly drowned bobbing for apples (although it is highly unlikely that the fastidious and germ-phobic Poirot would ever dunk his noggin in a tub where other people have already done the same). Suspects include Dr.  Ferrier (Jamie Donan); the housekeeper Olga (Camille Cottin); the dead daughter's former fiance Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen); and several others, even Ariadne. Eventually, Poirot will figure out the solution and ferret out the murderer. 

Agatha Christie purists may have a problem with A Haunting in Venice -- which is very loosely based on Hallowe'en Party, (the only real similarity is that a Halloween party does indeed take place) -- but I found the movie quite enjoyable. While Branagh, who does a good job directing the picture, can't compare to David Suchet (or even Peter Ustinov) as Poirot, the movie is handsomely produced, well-photographed, and generally well-acted. Tina Fey is good as the novelist, although she doesn't even attempt a British accent. One cast member I was impressed by was little Jude Hill as the precocious Leopold, son of the good doctor. Michelle Yeoh also scores as the medium, who talks right up to the great Poirot in their absorbing scenes together. I think people who disliked this movie were put off by its old-fashioned tone -- just right for this kind of story -- but I found the mystery to be compelling and the solution quite clever. 

Verdict: So far the best of the Branagh-Poirot movies. ***. 

MURDER IN THE MUSIC HALL

William Marshall and Vera (Hruba) Ralston

MURDER IN THE MUSIC HALL (1946). Director: John English.

Lila Leighton (Vera Ralston) is a figure skater who appears in an ice show on the stage of a music hall. She is contacted by Carl Lang (Edward Norris), who spent five years in the penitentiary for killing a man named Douglas. Now Carl tells Lila that he was only covering for her, that he knows she killed Douglas out of jealousy. Lila is still digesting this absurd accusation when Carl himself is murdered, literally stabbed in the back in his penthouse. With the aid of her boyfriend, handsome conductor Don Jordan (William Marshall), Lila tries to ferret out who killed Carl before she herself is accused of the crime by Inspector Wilson (William Gargan). The suspects include Lila's fellow performers -- Millicent (Helen Walker of Nightmare Alley), Diane (Julie Bishop of Why Men Leave Home), and Gracie (Ann Rutherford) -- as well as Rita Morgan (Nancy Kelley of The Bad Seed), the wife of gossip columnist George Morgan (Jerome Cowan). 

Suspects: Helen Walker, Ann Rutherford, Julie Bishop

Murder in the Music Hall is a well-turned-out mystery from Republic studios starring the wife, Ralston, of the studio head. The plot has interesting aspects, especially concerning a certain blind stranger, although the true identity of this person is obvious from the first. The identity of the murderer, however, is by no means certain but won't come as that much of a surprise, either. Never a particularly great actress, Ralston generally manages to be appealing, as she is in this. Marshall, Norris, Gargan and the ladies are all adept. There are some skillful real-life figure skaters who put on brief acts as well. James Craven, Jack La Rue and Anne Nagle are also in the cast in small roles. Director John English also helmed a number of serials.

Verdict: Acceptable Republic murder mystery with an interesting cast. **1/2. 

THE GLASS KEY

Alan Ladd

THE GLASS KEY (1942). Director: Stuart Heisler. 

Politician Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy), essentially a crook, is trying to clean up his reputation for re-election by going after hood Nick Varna (Joseph Calleia). Paul has formed an alliance with wealthy Ralph Henry (Moroni Olsen), and also fallen in love with Henry's daughter, Janet (Veronica Lake). Meanwhile Paul's sister, Opal (Bonita Granville), is head over heels for Janet's brother, Taylor (Richard Denning), a gambling addict with serious debts. Paul's associate and best friend, Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd), stumbles across Taylor's dead body, and wonders if Paul, who hated Taylor and his influence over his sister, could possibly be responsible. Apparently both Opal and Janet think that he is. The truth may be a little more complicated.

Ladd and Lake

Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key is a reasonably absorbing but rather unpleasant bit of film noir. For one thing, there isn't a single really likable major character; even the hero played by Ladd is a creep. Ladd is as swell at the hardboiled routine as anyone, but he never quite comes off as a real person. He's handsome, but almost as bland and artificial as a Ken doll. Brian Donlevy is as good and forceful as ever, but it's a typically brusque and bristling Donlevy performance like he gives in virtually every movie, including The Creeping Unknown. Similarly Joseph Calleia is excellent in his very familiar gangster role. Veronica Lake has been seen to better advantage in other movies (such as I Married a Witch). 

"Let's have a drink." William Bendix with Ladd

Part of the problem is that the characters in this are mostly one-dimensional and the actors can't do enough to flesh them out. One exception is William Bendix, who honestly steals the movie as the sadistic gunsel who nearly beats Ed to death. Bendix also has a splendid scene, again with Ladd, when they sort of share a drink together as a semi-drunken Bendix tells Ladd what horrible things he's going to do to him. It's not in the script, but Bendix makes this miserable character come alive and almost makes your flesh crawl. (Why Ed would want to be anywhere near the psychopath who put him in the hospital is another question.) Before he became the lovable hero of TV's Life of Riley, Bendix frequently played distinctly malevolent characters and played them superbly.

Tramp and Dickhead: Margaret Hayes and Ladd

A tip of the hat also must go to Margaret Hayes, who briefly plays Eloise Matthews, the trampy wife of a newspaper publisher who makes a play for Ladd right in front of the man after she learns her hubby is flat broke. A true gentleman -- not -- Ladd fervently responds to her sexual entreaties. Again, even with this character being played by the pleasant and inoffensive- looking Ladd it can't disguise what an utter dickhead Ed is! Others in the cast include Frances Gifford as a friendly nurse; Donald MacBride as the easily-influenced district attorney; and Billy Benedict as an office boy. Bonita Granville does a nice job as the grieving girlfriend of the dead Denning.

Verdict: If ever a "hero" didn't deserve a happy ending! **1/4. 

MURDER AT THE GALLOP

Margaret Rutherford and Robert Morley

MURDER AT THE GALLOP 

(1963). Director: George Pollock.

Jane Marple (Margaret Rutherford) is up to her old tricks of sticking her nose in police business and exasperating Inspector Craddock (Charles Tingwell). This time the old lady sleuth is out to find out which of four heirs did away with a wealthy old man found dead in his enormous mansion. Suspects include Michael Shane (James Villiers of Some Girls Do), George Crossfield (Robert Urquhart), and Hector Enderby (Robert Morley of Theater of Blood). Much of the story takes place at Enderby's inn and riding academy. 

Rutherford with Flora Robson

Murder at the Gallop is the second of four Miss Marple films starring Rutherford. The original novel, entitled After the Funeral or Funerals are Fatal, actually featured Christie's Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot instead of Marple. The murder methods have also been changed to death by horse and engine. Much of the humor of the film is derived from the comical antics of those two old pros, Rutherford and Morley, but the film does not stint on the suspense, making this a near-perfect blend of laughs and mystery. Rutherford is marvelous as this alternate-Marple, and the other performances from those named -- as well as Stringer Davis as Marple's friend and Flora Robson as Miss Milchrest -- are uniformly excellent. 

Verdict: Good show! More well-done fun with Miss M. ***1/4. 

LAW AND ORDER

Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy

LAW AND ORDER. NBC TV series   1990 - 2010. 

 Jack McCoy: "I don't think he's going to   confess."

 Adam Schiff: "Why should he confess?  You'll probably arrest somebody else tomorrow."

Now that Law and Order is coming back after a ten year absence, it's time to look back at this highly-successful and entertaining series, all twenty years of it. The first executive D.A. was Ben Stone, well-played by Michael Moriarty, who resigned when a terrified witness was shot dead in front of an police escort. Stone was replaced by Jack McCoy, the character most associated with the show (after perhaps the late Jerry Orbach), also well-played by Sam Waterston (although Waterson's perpetual head-shaking got to be annoying after a while). The first D.A. depicted on the show was grumpy Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). His performance couldn't be called great acting perhaps, but he was amusingly effective. 

You had to take Law and Order with a grain of salt. To create suspense, far too many episodes had the police and prosecutors arresting more than one person -- sometimes as many as three members of the same family -- for the same murder, something that in real life would never happen (or the ADA wouldn't last very long). I think the writers even saw the silliness of this, prompting the exchange between McCoy and Schiff you can see above. When cops were dressed down by their higher-ups, the latter always came off like incredibly nasty and suspicious super-villains instead of real people.

Jesse L. Martin and Leslie Hendrix as the M.E.

Although I like Waterson, I can't say I liked the character he played. Too many times McCoy would prosecute people when some of these wrongful deaths should have been adjudicated in civil court -- but it made for a good, if implausible, storyline. McCoy would want to take down defendants for their arrogance, but he could be just as arrogant. And hypocritical. I literally laughed at loud during one episode (the notorious one in which McCoy tries to invalidate gay marriage so that he can successfully convict a gay defendant -- don't ask) when McCoy complains of one person involved in the case that "he was hitting on his subordinate!" What's hilarious about this is that if you listen carefully to the dialogue in many previous episodes, McCoy had affairs with many of his female "subordinates." Even if these women initiated the affairs, it was incredibly inappropriate behavior. Occasionally someone would refer to McCoy's indiscretions, but he was never really called on the carpet for it. He eventually married one of his subordinates, the marriage didn't work, and he had a daughter that he hadn't spoken to in ten years!

Then there's the case of ADA Serena Southerlyn (Elizabeth Rohm, who appeared on the show for several seasons). In "Ain't No Love" in which a rap star is murdered, Serena is fired for being too passionate about a case and supposedly acting on emotion instead of evidence. She asks D.A. Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson) if he's firing her because she's a lesbian (which comes out of nowhere). He says "of course not," but when you consider that she had every good reason to think the man on trial was innocent she probably was fired for being gay. McCoy, who sometimes gets so overly passionate about things you think he's demented or will have a stroke, doesn't go to bat for her. 

Over twenty years the show had a huge cast, most of whom gave notable performances. Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe; Jesse L. Martin as Ed Green; S. Epatha Merkerson as Lt. Van Buren; Linus Roache as ADA Mike Cutter (who told Jack off more than once); Chris Noth as Detective Mike Logan; Leslie Hendrix as the taciturn medical examiner; Angie Harmon as ADA Carmichael; Carey Lowell as ADA Ross. Paul Sorvino and George Dzunda also played detectives in the early seasons and were swell. Dianne Weist only lasted one season as the D.A.; she added nothing to the show.

Some of the best episodes of the series include: 

"Misconception." There are terrific twists in this story of a pregnant woman who is attacked on the street. Season 2.

"Manhood." Cops let a gay colleague down by not responding to his calls for help. Season 3.

"American Dream" features Zeljko Ivanek as a killer who gets a new trial and goes up against Ben as his own lawyer. Season 4.

"Snatched." A wealthy man's son is kidnapped -- or was he? Season 4.

"Censure." A man terrorizing a woman and her child turns out to be a respected judge (David Groh). Season 4.

"Sanctuary." A superb episode with multiple points of view about racism and anti-Semitism as a Jew runs over a black boy and a a black man beats a white man to death. Season 4.

"Corruption." Lennie's old colleague (Kevin Conway) is accused of being on the take, then turns around and accuses Lennie. Season 7. 

"Showtime." The trial of a director who murdered and dismembered his ex-wife. Season 7.

"Burden." A doctor murders a disabled boy, but he may be a serial killer and not a mercy killer." Season 8.

""DNR." A lady judge (Lindsay Crouse) is shot by a man who hired her husband; she wants to die but won't condemn him. Season 10.

"Marathon" A woman is shot in broad daylight, but Lennie Briscoe's allegedly hearing the confession of the killer is called into question. Good character development, especially concerning Briscoe. Season 10. 

"Sundown." A man (George Martin) with Alzheimer's is accused of murdering his wife. Season 10. 

"Identity." An elderly man's identity is stolen as well as his home; murder results. Season 14.

"Red Ball." Jack McCoy is forced to make a deal with a loathsome man in order to save a child's life. Season 16.

"Charity case." When a movie star adopts an African baby more than one murder results. Season 17.

"Captive." Sad (if somewhat contrived) episode in which McCoy actually prosecutes a boy for the murder of a child even though he had been kidnapped and molested. Season 17.

"Misbegotten." Interesting if imperfect, twisty episode about a bombing, the gay gene, and a brother-in-law accused of murder. Season 18.

"Quit Claim" Fascinating look at an illegal real estate scheme, who the real mastermind behind it is, and the manipulations of a mysterious female suspect. Season 18.

"Rumble." Jack charges a group of men who had a fight in a park -- with the resulting deaths of innocents -- as terrorists. Season 19.

"By Perjury." Mike (Linus Roache) matches wits with a lawyer (Dallas Roberts) who is representing relatives of victims of an airliner disaster.

"Anchors Away." A Bernie Madoff-inspired episode involving murders, a Ponzi scheme, and television reporters. Season 19.

"Shotgun." A storeowner (Elliot Gould) shoots men robbing his store but there are serious complications. Season 20.

"Innocence." Mike challenges the Innocence Project when they claim he wrongfully convicted a gay-basher. Season 20.

The last two episodes of the series beautifully illustrate the two main types of stories that appeared on the show. "Love Eternal" is an amusing, strange tale with a tacky woman arrested for murdering her masochistic, comics-collecting husband. The final episode, "Rubber Room," is a tense and suspenseful story of everyone trying to track down a boy planning to bomb a high school, while Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) waits for the results of her MRI regarding her cancer. 

Verdict: Whatever its flaws, this was a compelling and intriguing series "ripped from the headlines." ***1/2. 

MURDER SHE SAID

 MURDER SHE SAID (1961). Director: George Pollock. 

Jane Marple (Agatha Christie) is on a train when she happens to glance out the window and see a couple on another train passing by. She witnesses the man strangling the lady just before the train moves on ahead and is lost to view! Miss Marple can't convince the authorities that anyone has actually been killed -- there's no body, for instance -- so she decides the corpse must have been thrown off the train at a certain point and may be secreted at a nearby estate. The plucky oldster decides to get employment as a maid at this estate, find the dead body, and figure out which of the people associated with the estate could be responsible for the murder. We have crusty old Ackenthorpse (James Robertson Justice), his daughter Emma (Muriel Pavlow), his sons Cedric (Thorley Walters) and Harold (Conrad Phillips), and son-in-law Eastley (Ronald Howard). Others involved with the family include the creepy hand Albert (Gerald Cross); the cook, Mrs. Kidder (Joan Hickson, who later played Miss Marple herself and probably offered the best interpertation of the character); the family doctor, Quimper (Arthur Kennedy); and Eastley's strange son, Alexander (Ronnie Raymond; dubbed by Martin Stephens). Inspector Craddock (Charles Tingwell) doesn't appreciate Miss Marple's poking her nose into things, and she has a couple of nasty moments -- and more murders -- before she uncovers the truth. 

Margaret Rutherford with husband Stringer Davis

Murder She Said was the first of four films starring Rutherford as Miss Marple. Agatha Christie did not approve of the casting and didn't especially care for the movie, but she eventually became an admirer and friend of Rutherford's. Rutherford cast her husband, Stringer Davis, as Miss Marple's friend and romantic interest Mr. Stringer in all four of the movies, three of which were based on Christie novels. This film was based on "4:50 from Paddington." The American title was "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw," as it was this character, an old friend of Jane's, who actually sees the murder on the train. 

Joan Hickson later played Miss Marple to great effect

Murder She Said is an entertaining, well-played picture and it doesn't stray that far from Christie's novel (except Miss Marple has a helpmate take the position on the estate, reporting to her, instead of doing it herself, and there's an additional murder). While not as good as Christie's book, it is a worthwhile picture, and may offer up a surprise or two for those unfamiliar with the original. While not the perfect representation of Miss Marple, Rutherford is still marvelous. The novel was more of a black comedy than anything else, so it makes sense that the tone of this picture is similar. 

Verdict: Fun! ***

THEY WON'T BELIEVE ME

THEY WON'T BELIEVE ME (1947). Director: Irving Pichel.

A man named Larry (Robert Young), on trial for murder, takes to the stand and tells his sordid story to the jury in an effort to save his life. Married to the lovely but somewhat controlling Greta (Rita Johnson of The Second Face), Larry enters into an affair with Janice (Jane Greer). Later he finds himself falling for yet another woman, Verna (Susan Hayward), and plans to run away with her. But fate intervenes, two of those women wind up dead, and Larry's in deep trouble. The absorbing picture is uncompromising not just for its anti-hero and other unsympathetic characters, but for its knock-out of an ironic ending. Johnson, Hayward and Greer all deliver, and Young, who did play bad guys in the days before Father Knows Best, is nonetheless cast against type as Larry  -- that just makes his performance more effective. Most of the characters in this are distinctly unlikable for one reason or another, but that doesn't affect one's enjoyment of the movie. Jane Greer [Run for the Sun] looks especially luscious in this. Johnson and Young also appeared together in Honolulu.

Verdict: Very satisfying and well-done film noir.