M (1931)

Peter Lorre pleads his case

M (1931), Director: Fritz Lang.

In Germany a series of young girls have been abducted and presumably murdered. The police. headed by Inspector Lohmann (Otto Wernicke), are using all of their resources to track down this fiend, but can't zero in on him. Members of the underworld, represented by Schranker (Gustaf Grundgens), himself a murderer, gather together to try to deal with the fact that the search for the child-killer is drastically and negatively interfering with their own operations. The crooks determine to find the maniac themselves, and employ the beggars of the city to help them do so. A blind balloon seller who recalls a man whistling when one child goes missing is able to direct the thieves and cutthroats to one Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre), and he is put on trial by the city's underworld. 

Determined to catch the killer: Otto Wernicke

Frankly, M, long considered a classic and a masterpiece (I never held with the latter opinion), does not hold up well. The movie is rather slow, often primitive -- with long stretches of silence (sometimes strikingly interrupted by noise) -- although there are certainly touches of mild cinematic virtuosity. The final section of the film, the underground trial, presents Beckert as mentally ill and unable to control himself, an attitude that would not be that well-received today. (Some people would rather shoot themselves than hurt a child, and why couldn't Beckert have sought help when he realized he had these impulses?) The sequence can also be taken as a plea against capital punishment, with three mothers at the very end saying "it won't bring our children back." Having the killer judged by criminals also enables the film to supposedly take a moral high road it doesn't deserve. At times M has a light touch that is at odds with the proceedings. Peter Lorre gives a very good performance, however. Lohmann apparently played the same role two years later in Lang's Testament of Dr. Mabuse. The prolific Fritz Lang directed everything from genuine masterpieces like Clash By Night and Scarlet Street to stinkers like Secret Beyond the Door ... There was an American remake of M twenty years later. 

Verdict: I don't care what some so-called film scholars say -- this is a bit dull all told. **, 

FATAL ATTRACTION

Glenn Close and Michael Douglas

FATAL ATTRACTION (1987). Director: Adrian Lyne.

Lawyer Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) is happily married to wife Beth (Anne Archer) and the two have a small daughter. One night at a party Dan meets Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) and sparks immediately strike between the two. A second chance encounter leads into dinner and a heated sexual liaison, then an intense weekend fling. Alex knows that Dan is married but she is not to be put off when she demands that he see her again. Dan wants to think of this as just a pleasant interlude, but Alex is already making marriage plans. Before long she is phoning and stalking Dan and getting personally involved in the lives of his family. It's a question of who will break first, angry husband or angrier paramour.

Bad boy: Michael Douglas

Fatal Attraction is a well-made and absorbing picture although one could argue that it skirts the tougher questions. The picture also has an old-fashioned tone to it in that the wife in this is pretty much expected (after some initial anger) to meekly put up with her husband's peccadilloes, especially when you consider what Alex puts her and her family through. Then there's the fact that Dan shows not the slightest trace of hesitation or guilt as he throws himself pell mell into an affair when his trusting wife and child are out of town  -- he hardly ever seems remorseful. Some of this is due to Douglas' performance, a glibness that may inadvertently give a clue to Dan's (lack of) character. Anne Archer is more than solid as Beth, and Ellen Latzen makes an adorable young daughter.

Alex having a bad moment

And then there's Glenn Close, who steals the movie. Close herself has remarked how the film does not delve enough into the events or psychological traumas that might have made Alex the unwrapped person that she is, but Close does her best to vividly bring the woman to life in spite of it. Whether she's being flirtatious or murderous, giving vent to a psychotic rage or almost engaging the audience's sympathy due to her loneliness and unrequited feelings, she is always on top of things (she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar).

Glenn Close

But let's not be too sympathetic for her. While women who have affairs with married men often say, rightfully, that the husbands are worse because they are married, the mistresses (although Alex never quite becomes a mistress) shouldn't be let off the hook. Alex enters into the relationship with Dan even though she knows he's married -- it is possibly her sheer narcissism that convinces her that Dan will almost immediately drop his wife for her. The punched-up ending involving a bathtub and a butcher knife is like something out of a slasher film only not as gory. The film is compelling enough on its limited terms that it probably would have worked with its original wind-up. Considering that Dan is a prick -- not for how he treats Alex so much but for how he treats his wife -- I would not be so quick to say that the film has a happy ending. Dan may choose his next paramour with more care, but there will be more paramours in the future, you can bet. Cheaters cheat.

Verdict: Not exactly Hitchcock, but well-made and occasionally suspenseful and exciting. ***.

THE CHAMPAGNE MURDERS

Yvonne Furrneaux and Anthony Perkins

THE CHAMPAGNE MURDERS (aka Le scandale/1967). Director: Claude Chabrol.

Christine Belling (Yvonne Furneaux of The Death Ray Mirror of Dr. Mabuse) has not only acquired the majority of shares in the Wagner champagne business -- probably due to her late father's business tactics -- but a gigolo husband named Christopher (Anthony Perkins). Christopher's buddy, Paul Wagner (Maurice Ronet), who introduced him to his wife, still controls the name of the champagne company, a name that Christine desperately wants to own. Things take a strange turn when a drunk Paul wakes up more than once to find a woman's corpse nearby. Has he gone mad or is somebody framing him?

Maurice Ronet

The Champagne Murders is an arresting enough but very odd movie that holds the attention despite the leisurely pacing and almost episodic nature of the first three quarters of the film. Although this is a post-Psycho movie and Chabrol was a great Hitchcock admirer, the murders in this all happen off-screen -- there are no grisly details or cinematic pyrotechnics. Then the whole thing is topped off with a twist that some viewers may have seen coming while others may be merely confused. The final sequence of the film is lifted a bit from The Big Knife but is undeniably effective.

Christine and her maid

As to the performers -- which include Furneaux and Ronet as well as Stephane Audran, Henry Jones [Deathtrap], and Suzanne Lloyd -- everyone is on target with the exception of Perkins, who is badly miscast as the gigolo and doesn't seem to have any real idea how to play the part. Chabrol probably figured that having a well-known American actor in the role would increase box office in the U.S., but it also compromised his movie. Still, there's something about the picture that keeps you hooked, and while there are things about it that may not seem to make sense, if you think about it a bit it works -- well, except for at least one sequence that makes absolutely no sense once you know the big reveal at the end --  although one could easily argue that (considering the thin characterizations) the movie would have worked even better as a gorier and more violent type of French-style giallo movie.

Verdict: You may be scratching your head at the conclusion, but it's still entertaining and Ronet is compelling. ***. 

REGRESSION

Ethan Hawke

REGRESSION (2015). Written and directed by Alejandro Amenabar.

In 1990 Detective Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke of Sinister) investigates a case wherein a 17-year-old girl, Angela (Emma Watson), has accused her father, John (David Dencik), of raping her. She also tells stories of numerous masked people -- Satanists -- coming into her room and holding unholy rituals. Kenner doesn't believe in Satan, but he does believe that there are cults of Satanists performing rituals involving animal and even child sacrifice. As he investigates further, he becomes more and more paranoid, and is convinced people are following him. He also discovers that at least one police officer, George (Aaron Ashmore of Fear Island), may be one of the Satanists.

Hawke and Aaron Ashmore

One thing I liked about Regression is that it isn't the usual sub-literate Church vs Satan movie. I believe the lack of supernatural and grisly events is what turned many critics against the picture, as it is absorbing, well-acted, and well-made for the most part. Hawke and Watson are fine, and there is also good work from Ashmore, Dencik, David Thewlis [Wonder Woman] as a psychiatrist, Peter MacNeill as the chief of police, Lothaire Bluteau as a creepy Reverend, a dynamic Dale Dickey as Angela's grandmother, and Devon Bostick as her troubled brother, Roy. (If I have one quibble about the film is that it's hard to feel complete sympathy for a character who throws his son out of the house for being gay, although this is not necessarily condoned.) 

Verdict: Nominal horror film has the courage to eschew graphic, nauseating gore and keep the devil out of the equation. ***. 

THE CREEPER -- "ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS" CLASSIC EPISODE

Hitch

"The Creeper." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1956. Season 1, episode 38. Written by James B. Cavanagh from the story by Joseph Ruscoll. Directed by Herschel Daugherty.

Ellen Grant (Constance Ford of Claudelle Inglish) a housewife married to the loving if grumpy, Steve (Steve Brodie), is constantly on edge because two women -- also blonds, also left alone at night when their husbands are working -- have been murdered by an unknown maniac known as the "Creeper." Ellen is suspicious of everyone: her old boyfriend, Ed (Harry Townes), who comes to keep an eye on her but reveals that he's carried a grudge since she left him; the weaselly, always-smiling new super, George (Percy Helton); the old shoemaker (Alfred Linder) down the block who wants her address; even her neighbor, Martha (Reta Shaw), who says "decent women don't get themselves murdered" and thinks Ellen is carrying on with Ed. The episode builds suspense with each character who appears, all of whom are expertly portrayed by the excellent cast. 

Constance Ford

Topping the cast list, of course, is Constance Ford, one of the very best actresses of the period who appeared in a great many shows and movies but never quite made it to the front rank of stardom but deserved to. She gives a very strong and sympathetic performance in this, and the episode -- while chilling -- is ultimately heartbreaking. I have never forgotten Ford's sad, life-weary, regretful and horrified final words. The poignancy of the ending isn't even washed away by Hitchcock's flippant closing remarks, which are somewhat at odds with the tone of the story. While one can't quite call "The Creeper" any kind of feminist tract, it does illustrate how women can be horribly mistreated by others even when they aren't being murdered.

Verdict: A strong episode of an excellent program. ***. 

DON'T GO TO SLEEP

Robin Ignico

DON'T GO TO SLEEP (1982). Director: Richard Lang.

Phillip (Dennis Weaver) and his wife Laura (Valerie Harper) move into a new home with their two children, Mary (Robin Ignico) and Kevin (Oliver Robins of Poltergeist). Strange things begin to happen and Mary seems to be under the spell of her sister, Jennifer (Kristin Cumming), who died in a car accident some time before. Is Mary psychologically disturbed due to the trauma of her sister's death or is Jennifer's ghost out to destroy the family? Don't Go to Sleep shouldn't work, but thanks to excellent acting from the entire cast, taut and suspenseful direction, and a compelling script by Ned Wynn, it emerges as a memorable, creepy, disquieting and very uncompromising horror telefilm. Tragedy keeps piling on tragedy, and Weaver [Duel] and Harper [Stolen: One Husband] excel in difficult roles wherein they have to deal with things that (hopefully) few people would have to endure in real life. A cast stand-out is Robin Ignico, one of the most talented child actors I've ever seen, giving a nuanced, complex, and chilling performance. Ruth Gordon is peppery as the grandmother and Robert Webber is fine as a psychologist.

Verdict: A family tragedy disguised as horror. ***.

THE NINTH GUEST

Genevieve Tobin and Hardie Albright

THE NINTH GUEST (1934). Director: Roy William Neill.

A group of people who know and who often vehemently dislike one another receive telegrams inviting them to a party in a penthouse. Once there, they wait to find out who the host is, but -- before you can say *Ten Little Indians or And Then There Were None -- they hear a strange voice on a recording telling of past misdeeds and warning that they are all going to die. The phone lines are cut, and the gate leading to the elevator is wired for electricity. The frantic arguing guests include Jean (Genevieve Tobin), who once was the lover of newspaper man, Jim (Donald Cook); Sylvia (Helen Flint), who has marital secrets; disgraced Mayoral candidate Burke (Charles C. Wilson); Henry Abbott (Hardie Albright), who was thrown out of school by Dr. Reid (Samuel S. Hinds); and several others. What's especially remarkable about The Ninth Guest is that it actually *pre-dates the publication  of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians by five years. The Ninth Guest boasts a very fast pace, not too much comedy relief to spoil the tense atmosphere, a very generous amount of suspense, some interesting psychological aspects, and good acting, especially from Flint [Give Me Your Heart] and Albright [The Crash]. Roy William Neill also directed a whole host of wonderful Sherlock Holmes films. NOTE: You can find this movie at Free Classic Movies.

Verdict: Worthwhile and quite entertaining suspense film -- possibly an influence on Christie -- with some "shocking" sequences. ***.