Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies On DVD

By John Howard Reid

As a keen fan, I'm naturally aware that classic movies are often available on two or more DVD labels. Which is the best? This book will tell you. And surprise, surprise! The best is often the least expensive version. Why pay $29.95 when you can buy a superior DVD of exactly the same movie for $2? This book names names and steers you in the right direction every time. But as a real keen fan, I'm also anxious to discover titles that I've never seen and would enjoy watching. This cleverly designed book enables me to gratify this desire in a number of interesting ways. I can glance through the 730-film Index and pick a title that strikes my fancy. Or I can flip through the book's 311 alphabetical pages (many with accompanying photos). Or I can read some of the articles like "The Best Sherlock Holmes" or "The Thin Man Series" or "Raymond Chandler on DVD". Or I can check out the "Top Noir on DVD" listing. Editor Ross Adams writes in the February 2010 issue of Dress Circle, the Film Enthusiasts’ Magazine: Just a fraction larger than Leonard Maltin’s "Film Guide" and a massive 1.3 inches thick, this book is a real pot-pourri of essential information: players, technicians, music, release dates and more. During the year, I purchased a number of classic movies on DVD, but the jackets contained only bare details. I was able to retrieve information by looking up the index of over 730 films in this book and then turning to the descriptions Reid provides. Some of the 222 movies extensively reviewed in the main section include Gilda, Laura, Father Brown Detective, Lady Vanishes, Maltese Falcon, Man Who Knew Too Much, Naked City, City Streets, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Mandalay, Odd Man Out, The Paradine Case, Phantom of the Opera, Rebecca, Vertigo, Leave Her to Heaven, Lady from Shanghai, The Kennel Murder Case, Spellbound and Run for the Sun. Briefer summaries and reviews are then provided for a further 500 or so films in a supplementary section. Full DVD details are given in each instance, and the quality of the DVD itself is rated on a scale of 1 to 10. There are also some interesting supplementary chapters on Sherlock Holmes, the Thin Man series, and Humphrey Bogart versus Alan Ladd. The author also lists details of "Recommended DVD Suppliers" and even provides his choice of the "36 Top Noir Movies on DVD." And finally, there is a comprehensive index of all 730 titles covered in this book. In all, Reid examined over 1,200 DVDs (including many duplicate titles). I most highly recommend "Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD" by John Howard Reid.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Howard Reid
• Release date: Oct 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465978233

John Howard Reid

Author of over 100 full-length books, of which around 60 are currently in print, John Howard Reid is the award-winning, bestselling author of the Merryll Manning series of mystery novels, anthologies of original poetry and short stories, translations from Spanish and Ancient Greek, and especially books of film criticism and movie history. Currently chief judge for three of America's leading literary contests, Reid has also written the textbook, "Write Ways To Win Writing Contests".

Book preview

MYSTERY, SUSPENSE, FILM NOIR AND DETECTIVE MOVIES ON DVD

A GUIDE TO THE BEST IN CINEMA THRILLS

by John Howard Reid

BRONZE MEDAL WINNER, READERS’ FAVORITE BOOK AWARDS, 2011

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid

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Books in the Hollywood Classics series

by John Howard Reid:

1. New Light on Movie Bests

2. B Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies

3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s

4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West

5. Memorable Films of the Forties

6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s

7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Support Program

8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Entertainment

9. Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties

10. Hollywood B Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills

11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics

12. These Movies Won No Hollywood Awards

13. Movie Mystery & Suspense

14. America’s Best, Britain’s Finest

15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic

16. Hollywood Movie Musicals

17. Hollywood Classics Index Books 1-16

18. More Movie Musicals

19. Success in the Cinema

20. Best Western Movies

21. Great Cinema Detectives

22. Great Hollywood Westerns

23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema

24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies

25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Films Reviewed in Books 1 – 24

Additional Movie Books by John Howard Reid

CinemaScope One: Stupendous in Scope

CinemaScope Two: 20th Century-Fox

CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge

CinemaScope Four: M-G-M Movies Light Up the Screen

Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills

WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD

Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD

British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD

Table of Contents

FILMS

Accidents Will Happen

According to Mrs Hoyle

Accused of Murder

Act of Murder

Arsene Lupin Returns

Big Brown Eyes

Born Reckless

Bulldog Drummond Escapes

A Bullet for Joey

Burma Convoy

Caged Fury

Calling Dr. Gillespie

Calling Dr. Kildare

Calling Homicide

Call of the Flesh

Call of the Jungle

Cannibal Attack

Canon City

Canyon Crossroads

Cape Town Affair

Captain Black Jack

Captain Thunder

Career Woman

Carnival of Crime

Case of the Curious Bride

Case of the Frightened Lady

Castle in the Desert

Charlie Chan in Egypt

Charlie Chan’s Secret

The Chinese Ring

City Streets

City That Never Sleeps

The Conspirators

Counsellor at Law

Criminal Investigator

Daybreak

Dinner at the Ritz

Diplomatic Courier

The Door with Seven Locks

The Double

Double Cross

Dressed To Kill

Edge of Doom

The Emperor Jones

Eran Trece (They Were Thirteen)

Exile Express

The Falcon in Hollywood

Father Brown, Detective

Fedora

The Flying Scot

Force of Evil

Foreign Affaires

For the Defense

The Frozen Ghost

Gangs, Inc.

The Gaunt Stranger

Gilda

The Hat Box Mystery

Hold That Woman!

Hollywood Boulevard

Hollywood Stadium Mystery

Inner Sanctum

Internes Can’t Take Money

The Kennel Murder Case

The King Murder

A Kiss Before Dying

The Lady Confesses

The Lady from Nowhere

Lady Gangster

The Lady in Scarlet

The Last Mile

Laura

The Lady from Shanghai

The Lady Vanishes

Leave Her To Heaven

The Legion of Missing Men

Letter from an Unknown Woman

The Limping Man

The Live Wire

Loan Shark

The Long Night

The Lost Moment

Machete

Make Haste To Live

The Maltese Falcon (Ricardo Cortez)

The Maltese Falcon (Humphrey Bogart)

Man Bait

Mandalay

Mandarin Mystery

The Man from Cairo

Man Who Cheated Himself

Man Who Knew Too Much (Leslie Banks)

Man Who Knew Too Much (James Stewart)

Man Who Wouldn’t Die

Man Who Wouldn’t Talk

Margin for Error

The Mask of Diijon

Mask of the Dragon

Midnight Limited

Missing Girls

Mister Arkadin

The Mistress of Atlantis

Moss Rose

Mr District Attorney

Mr Wise Guy

Murder at Glen Athol

My Favorite Brunette

Mysterious Mr Moto

The Mystery Trooper

The Naked City

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

Nancy Drew – Detective

Nancy Drew – Reporter

Nancy Drew Trouble Shooter

Night Has a Thousand Eyes

Night Life in Reno

Night Mail

Nightmare Alley

Night Must Fall

Night People

Night Without Stars

No Escape

None But the Lonely Heart

No Way Out

Now Voyager

Odd Man Out

One Frightened Night

On the Night of the Fire

Out of the Past

The Paradine Case

Passage to Marseille

Pépé le Moko

Phantom of the Opera

Pickup on South Street

Picture Brides

Pimpernel Smith

Portland Expose

Pot Luck

The President’s Mystery

Rebecca

Road House

Rocky Mountain Mystery

Run for the Sun

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Secret Mission

Separate Tables

Seven Doors to Death

The Seventh Veil

The Shanghai Chest

The Sinister Man

Slightly Honorable

The Small Back Room

Special Agent

Spellbound

The Squeaker

The Stars Look Down

Strange Boarders

Strange Impersonation

Street of Chance

The Street with No Name

Sullivan’s Travels

Suspicion

Talk About a Stranger

They Knew Mr Knight

They Met in the Dark

The Thirteenth Guest

Toten Augen von London

Tower of London

12 Angry Men

Turn the Key Softly

Union Station

Venetian Bird

Vertigo

The Vicious Circle

The Voice of Merrill

Watch on the Rhine

The Web

While the City Sleeps

The Whip Hand

Whispering City

The Wicked Lady

Wife Wanted

The Winslow Boy

Winterset

The Woman Accused

The Woman Condemned

The Woman in Green

Woman in Hiding

The Woman in Question

Woman in the Dark

The Woman in the Window

The Woman in White

A Woman of Affairs

A Woman of Paris

The Woman on Pier 13

The Woman on the Beach

Woman on the Run

A Woman’s Face

A Woman’s Secret

Wonder Bar

The Wooden Horse

The World Changes

The World Gone Mad

The Wrong Arm of the Law

The Wrong Man

The Wrong Road

X Marks the Spot

The Year of Living Dangerously

The Yellow Balloon

The Yellow Canary

Yellow Cargo

Yellow Rose of Texas

You and Me

You Can’t Escape Forever

You Can’t Get Away With Murder

Young and Innocent

The Younger Generation

The Young Philadelphians

Zero Hour!

Zoo in Budapest

ARTICLES

The Best Sherlock Holmes?

The Big Clock

Bogart versus Ladd

DVD Suppliers

Noir, Crime and Mystery

Raymond Chandler on DVD

The Thin Man Series

Top Noir on DVD

Accidents Will Happen

Ronald Reagan (Eric Gregg), Gloria Blondell (Patricia Carmody), Sheila Bromley (Mrs Nora Gregg), Dick Purcell (Jim Faber), Addison Richards (Blair Thurston), Hugh O’Connell (Oldham), Ellen Clancy (Janet Shaw) (Mary Tarlton, Gregg’s secretary), Spec O’Donnell (Spec), Kenneth Harlan (Gregg’s attorney), Edwin Stanley (judge), Ralph Dunn (court clerk), Clinton Rosemond (pedestrian victim), Elliott Sullivan (Burley Thorne), Anderson Lawler (Dawson), Don Barclay (Dorsey, the professional drunk), Earl Dwire (Dr Faris), Max Hoffman, junior (Doc), John Butler (Cosgrove), Allan Cavan (fire chief), Fern Barry (girl), Willard Parker (gas station attendant), Al Herman (Monty), Betty Farrington (Sadie), Stuart Holmes (Len), Frank Shannon (man on crutches), Max Wagner (Eddie), Wilfred Lucas (bailiff), Richard Kipling (attorney), William Worthington (irate car owner), Loretta Rush (Mrs Mason), Pat O’Malley (bus conductor), Jimmy Fox, Betty Mack, Ralph Peters (passengers), Bernard Suss (Philbert), Jack Wise, John Harron, Monte Vandergrift, Cliff Saum (cops), Myrtle Stedman (witness), Max Wagner (Eddie).

Director: WILLIAM CLEMENS. Screenplay: George Bricker, Anthony Coldeway. Story: George Bricker. Photography: William O’Connell. Film editor: Thomas Pratt. Art director: Charles Novi. Costumes: Howard Shoup. Music: Howard Jackson. Dialogue director: Vincent Sherman. Technical advisor: Victor Rose. Sound recording: Charles Lang. Associate producer: Bryan Foy.

Copyright 23 December 1937 by Warner Brothers. New York opening at the Strand: 23 April 1938. 7 reels. 62 minutes. (10/10 DVD from Warner Archive).

SYNOPSIS: An insurance adjuster (Reagan) is hounded by his shrewish wife (Sheila Bromley) and a corrupt claims investigator (Lawler).

COMMENT: A lively, extremely well-produced B, featuring a smart script directed at a crackling pace, enlivened by some of the smartest, slickest acting I’ve seen in many a day. All the players from stars down to the tiniest bit-parts are extraordinarily well cast. Snappy film editing, attractive photography and A-1 sets add to the film’s appeal. My only complaint (and it’s a very, very small one) is that Gloria Blondell (Joan’s sister) has—of necessity—such a small role.

According to Mrs Hoyle

Spring Byington (Mrs Hoyle), Anthony Caruso (Morganti), Tanis Chandler (Angela Brown), Brett King (Slattery), Stephen Chase (Judge Guthrie), Robert Karnes (Rogan), James Flavin (prosecutor), Paul Bryar (Willie), Tristram Coffin (Pat Dennison), Charles Williams (Charlie), Harry Lauter (Gordon Warren), Michael Whalen (Reverend Haverford), Leander de Cordova (minister),Wilbur Mack (hotel clerk), Don Harvey, Rory Mallinson (detectives), Frank Jaquet (watchman), Marcel Imhof (female court attendant), Baron James Lichter (bailiff), Joey Ray (police officer in hospital), Ted Stanhope (clerk of court).

Director: JEAN YARBROUGH. Screenplay: W. Scott Darling, Barney Gerard. Based on the novelette Mrs Hoyle of the Hotel Royalston by Jean Z. Owen. Photography: Harry Neumann. Film editor: Roy V. Livingston. Art director: David Milton. Music director: Edward J. Kay. Set decorator: Raymond Boltz. Hair styles: Lenora Sabine. Assistant director: Edward Morey Jr. Production manager: Allen K. Wood. Sound recording: Tom Lambert. Producer: Barney Gerard.

Copyright 20 May 1951 by Monogram Pictures Corp. No New York opening. U. S. release: 20 May 1951. U.K. release through Associated British-Pathé: November 1951. No Australian theatrical release. 60 minutes. (A 7/10 ex-TV DVD available from non-commercial outlets).

SYNOPSIS: A retired schoolteacher reforms a group of gangsters who take over the hotel in which she is living. They plan to turn the hotel into a ritzy nightclub, but don’t count on Mrs Hoyle’s powers of persuasion. Soon we find them donating to the local church!

COMMENT: An unbelievably tripe-laden novelette about a retired schoolteacher who reforms some gangsters and discovers her own son amongst their number. True, the last half of the film, with its robbery and trial scenes, picks up a bit, but if anyone’s still watching then, I’ll be very surprised. Most viewers will be sufficiently irritated by the picture’s early scenes to turn it off or walk out. Miss Byington is embarrassingly hammy and the script repulsively corny. Director Yarbrough brings nothing to the movie but a charmless Poverty Row aura of B grade efficiency. And would you believe it all ends up with the pastor of the little church around the corner inviting the gangster to kneel down and say a prayer for his mother!

Accused of Murder

David Brian (Lieutenant Roy Hargis), Vera Ralston (Ilona Vance), Sidney Blackmer (Hobart), Virginia Grey (Sandra), Warren Stevens (Stan), Lee Van Cleef (Sergeant Lackey), Barry Kelly (Police Captain Smedley), Richard Karlen (Chad Bayless), Frank Puglia (Caesar Cipriano), Elisha Cook, junior (Whitey Pollock), Ian MacDonald (Trumble), Greta Thyssen (Mrs Myra Bayless), Claire Carleton (Margie), Hank Worden (Les Fuller, sewer cleaner), Wally Cassell (doorman), Robert Shayne (surgeon), Simon Scott (day office policeman), John Damler (night office policeman), Gil Rankin (fingerprint man), Joseph Corey, Leon Tyler (jitterbugging sailors), Harry Lewis (bartender), Harry Bair (parking attendant), Bill Henry (Walt), Bob Carney (waiter), Victor Sen Yung (houseboy), Bess Flowers (night club extra).

Director: JOSEPH KANE. Screenplay: Bob Williams, W.R. Burnett. Based on the novel Vanity Row by W.R. Burnett. Photographed in Trucolor and Naturama by Bud Thackery. Film editor: Richard L. Van Enger. Art director: Frank Arrigo. Set decorators: John McCarthy, junior, George Milo. Make-up: Bob Mark. Wardrobe supervisor: Alexis Davidoff. Music: R. Dale Butts. Song, You’re In Love (Ralston) by Herb Newman and Buddy Brogman. Special effects: Howard Lydecker. Color processed by Consolidated Film Industries. Assistant director: Virgil Hart. Sound recording: Earl Crain, senior, Howard Wilson. Associate producer: Joseph Kane. Executive producer: Herbert J. Yates.

Copyright 1956 by Republic Pictures. Released: 21 December 1956 (USA); 29 May 1958 (Australia). No New York showcase. 74 minutes.

COMMENT: Some quite promising script material surfaces in this thriller, but director Kane’s handling is too stereotyped to take much advantage of it. The acting generally is so flat as to arouse little interest in either the characters or their predicaments. Only Elisha Cook, fleetingly glimpsed as an alcoholic, offers the viewer any joy. In all other respects, Accused of Murder stands convicted as a dull and dreary low-budget crime melodrama, with lots of witless talk, tediously unwelcome characters, and hardly a second of action relief. The boring proceedings on-screen seem to drag on and on—much longer in fact than the movie’s actual running time of 74 minutes. Production values are negligible. Even Bud Thackery’s color, wide-wide-screen cinematography seems dull and lifeless. (Non-commercial outlets offer a 6/10 ex-TV DVD).

Act of Murder

Fredric March (pictured) (Judge Calvin Cooke), Edmond O’Brien (David Douglas), Florence Eldridge (March’s wife in real life) (Catherine Cooke), Geraldine Brooks (pictured) (Ellie Cooke), Stanley Ridges (Dr Walter Morrison), John McIntyre (Judge Ogden), Frederic Tozere (Charles Drayton), Will Wright (Judge Jim Wilder), Virginia Brissac (Mrs Russell), Francis McDonald (Russell), Mary Servoss (Julia), Don Beddoe (Pearson), Clarence Muse (Pope), Harry Hayden (storekeeper witness), William Fawcett (first loafer on court steps), Ray Teal (Dr McDermott), Harry Tyler (hotel clerk), Renie Riano (Mrs McGuinness), Beatrice Roberts (Miss Coble), Brook Shayne, Ethyl May Halls (young girls), Mack Williams (court clerk), George Hamilton (court attendant), William Hawley (court stenographer), Harry Harvey (Dr Boyd), David Leonard (Dr Levi), Thomas E. Jackson (bailiff), Frank McFarland (attorney), Don McGill (young attorney), Paul E. Burns, Frank Darien (old men), Walter Lawrence, Charles Bedell, Eddie Featherston (barkers), Olga Fabian (Mrs Novak), Joy Hallward (nurse), Richard Dumas (young boy), Edward Earle (Dr Standish), Ella Ethridge (pedestrian), Howard M. Mitchell, Eddie Parker (cops), Ralph Peters (chef), Allan Ray (George Johnson), Walter DeCardo, Ann Lawrence, George Ryland, Felice Richmond, Jack Rollens, Carl Sklover, Cy Stevens (bits), Eda Reiss Merin (woman in drug store), Bob Jellison (stout man), Bert Conway (Novak), Russ Conway (Wilson), Pat Combs (young man), Maurice Brierre (pedestrian), Taylor Holmes.

Director: MICHAEL GORDON. Screenplay: Michael Blankfort, Robert Thoeren. Based on the 1935 novel The Mills of God by Ernest Lothar. Photography: Hal Mohr. Film editor: Ralph Dawson. Art directors: Bernard Herzbrun, Robert W. Boyle. Set decorators: Russell A. Gausman and John Austin. Costumes: Yvonne Wood. Hair styles: Carmen Dirigo. Make-up: Bud Westmore. Legal technical advisor: Lawrence M. Weinberg. Music composed by Daniele Amfitheatrof, orchestrated by David Tamkin. Camera operator: Harry Davis. Grip: B. Gulliver. Still photos: Bert Anderson. Script supervisor: Milly Vallie. Production manager: Lew Leary. Assistant director: John F. Sherwood. Sound recording: Leslie I. Carey and Jack A. Bolger. Producer: Jerry Bresler.

Copyright 16 November 1948 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York opening at Loew’s Criterion as Live Today for Tomorrow: 5 December 1948. U.S. release as Act of Murder: September 1948 (sic). U.K. release through General Film Distributors as An Act of Murder: 29 November 1948. Australian release: 14 April 1949. 8,172 feet. 91 minutes. While on initial domestic release, the title was changed twice! Firstly to The CASE AGAINST CALVIN COOKE and then to LIVE TODAY FOR TOMORROW. Australian release title: I STAND ACCUSED.

SYNOPSIS: An honest Pennsylvania judge is tried for the mercy killing of his incurably ill wife. (Copyright entry).

COMMENT: Opens most promisingly with sweeping tracking shots through courtroom corridors, but all too soon this courtroom drama’s inventiveness makes way for a conventional weepie with mercy killing overtones. The playing becomes conscientiously stolid, while the director turns into a moribund slave of a script that now transforms the judge’s dark dilemma into a dreary, soap-opera plot.

The title changes aptly convey the desperate attempts of the film’s producers to sell it to an indifferent box-office. The theme is controversial enough, but hardly the right formula for postwar escapist entertainment. Of course, there was a fledgling art house circuit, but any chance it might have had with ethically committed moviegoers is quickly negated by the way the dime-store plot smartly side-steps every one of the moral, legal, ethical and medical questions it raises. Yet, despite this narrative slickness, the atmosphere remains uncompromisingly bleak. The actors rely on heavy dramatics, the director focuses his camera unblinkingly on these strained, histrionic efforts, and even the photographer falls victim to the prevailing atmospheric tone of black and gray. (Commercially available on VHS as Live Today for Tomorrow).

Arsene Lupin Returns

Virginia Bruce (pictured) (Lorraine), Melvyn Douglas (center) (René), Warren William (right) (Emerson), John Halliday (the count), E.E. Clive (Alf), Monty Woolley (Bouchet), Nat Pendleton (Joe), George Zucco (Martell), Rollo Lloyd (Duval), Vladimir Sokoloff (Ivan), Tully Marshall (Monelli), Jonathan Hale (chief), Jack Norton (hotel manager), Pierre Watkin (Carter), Ian Wolfe (LeMarchand), Joseph King (Hennessey).

Director: GEORGE FITZMAURICE. Screenplay: James K McGuinness, Howard Emmett Rogers, George Harmon Coxe. Photography: George Folsey. Film editor: Ben Lewis. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons and Stan Rogers. Costumes designed by Dolly Tree. Producer: John W. Considine.

Copyright 3 February 1938 by M-G-M (Loews). New York opening at the Rialto: 8 March 1938. Aust. release: 25 August 1938. 81 minutes.

COMMENT: Beautifully mounted (especially in the photography and costume departments), but dull talk-fest. Director Fitzmaurice can do little with the slow-moving script. In this follow-up to the 1932 film, Maurice Le Blanc’s celebrated prince of thieves has retired from criminal activity to enjoy life as a country gentleman. A jewel robber then usurps his identity. But who? To everyone but the dialogue-bound players in this drawing-room mystery, the identity of the real thief is obvious. Nat Pendleton over-acts, as usual, but the principals pour on the charm. However, John Halliday is forced to wrestle with a nothing role.

Big Brown Eyes

Cary Grant (Danny Barr, a disillusioned detective), Joan Bennett (Eve Fallon, a wise-cracking manicurist), Walter Pidgeon (a double-dealing private dick), Lloyd Nolan (flower fancier and heartless killer), Alan Baxter (hit man), Henry Brandon (hit man’s partner), Guy Usher (judge), Douglas Fowley (a thug with plenty to say and nothing to read), Edwin Maxwell (cynical editor), Joe Sawyer (cynical columnist), Marjorie Gateson (a dog-fancier with more money than sense), John Picorri (fast-talking shyster), Isabel Jewell (Bessie Blair), Charlie Wilson (attorney).

Director: RAOUL WALSH. Screenplay: Bert Hanlon, Raoul Walsh. Story: James Edward Grant. Photography: George Clemens. Film editor: Robert Simpson. Art director: Alexander Toluboff. Set decorator: Howard Bristol. Costumes designed by Helen Taylor. Music director: Boris Morros. Sound: Hugo Grenzbach. Producer: Walter Wanger.

Copyright 3 April 1936 by Paramount Pictures. New York opening at the Capitol: 1 May 1936. Australian release: 26 September 1936 supporting Rhythm on the Range. 77 minutes. (Universal DVD rates 10/10).

SYNOPSIS: An honest cop who is trying to get the goods on a debonair detective is helped out by his sassy girlfriend, manicurist-turned-reporter.

COMMENT: It’s not hard to figure out why this one is a firm favorite with cultists on the one hand and yet is despised by critics and the general picturegoing public on the other. A picture that makes a glamor hero of a brutal baby-killer is not likely to win many friends except among the corduroy set. Nor is its sassy heroine who twists the law into her own brittle hands and easily outshines the nominal hero in righting wrongs going to be adopted as idol-of-the-month by the Bible belt (despite a number of Biblical precedents). This said, however, for those of us who like to see and even more especially to hear Joan Bennett brilliantly outclass rushing hither-and-thither Cary Grant and debonair detective-about-town Walter Pidgeon, Big Brown Eyes (I assume the title refers to Joan) is a must. Also to be reckoned with are Lloyd Nolan who manages to pull off an extremely difficult role, and Douglas Fowley giving the best performance of his career. If you don’t literally jump out of your seat like I did during the scene in which Fowley exits the friendly police station, you shouldn’t be watching vintage movies. Walsh has directed all the proceedings here with admirable style and economy.

Born Reckless

Rochelle Hudson (Sybil Roberts), Brian Donlevy (Bobby Hurry Kane),

Barton MacLane (Jim Barnes), Robert Kent (Lee Martin), Harry Carey (Dad Martin), Pauline Moore (Dorothy Collins), Chick Chandler (Windy Bowman), William Pawley (Mack), Francis McDonald (Louie), George Wolcott (Danny Horton), Joseph Crehan (district attorney), Charles Lane (attorney), Stanley Andrews (commissioner), Joyce Compton (Dora), Douglas Wood (mayor), Billy Wayne, Dutch Hendrian, Jack Stoney, Chick Collins (cab drivers), Emmett Vogan (radio announcer), Tom Ricketts (patient), Sam McDaniel (porter), Richard Terry (Gimp), Henry Otho (detective), Gloria Roy (Claire), Ivan Miller (garage owner), Jimmy Dundee, Charles Sullivan (Martin’s mechanics), Lon Chaney, Jr (garage mechanic), Mary MacLaren (nurse), Frank Marlowe (gangster), Syd Saylor (driver), Eddie Dunn (garage foreman).

Director: MALCOLM ST CLAIR. Screenplay: John Patrick, Robert Ellis, Helen Logan. Story: Jack Andrews. Photography: Daniel B. Clark. Film editor: Alex Troffey. Art director: Chester Gore. Costumes: Herschel. Set decorator: Al Orenbach. Music director: Samuel Kaylin. Assistant director: Samuel Schneider. Sound recording: S.C. Chapman, Harry M. Leonard. Associate producer: Milton H. Feld. Producer: Sol M. Wurtzel. (An 8/10 VintageFilmBuff DVD coupled with Midnight Taxi).

Copyright 9 July 1937 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Palace as a support to a move-over of The Singing Marine: 29 July 1937. U.S. release: 9 July 1937. 5,313 feet. 59 minutes. (It is reported that the movie was originally released in a 78-minute version, but was cut down to its present 59 for the Palace engagement).

SYNOPSIS: A taxi-cab racket is exposed by a former racing driver.

COMMENT: An extremely lively, well-acted programmer, snappily directed by Mal St Clair. The budget looks extremely generous for a B-grader, with lots of extras, attractive sets, and Miss Hudson modeling a stunning series of winning costumes. But the most important ingredient of all is scads of action!

You can always tell the difference between a Poverty Row and a major studio B just by looking at the production values. With a cast list of top-flight players as long as your arm and a script by Fox’s major writing team of Robert Ellis and Helen Logan, this entry is a winner!

Bulldog Drummond Escapes

Ray Milland (Bulldog Drummond), Heather Angel (the lady in distress), Sir Guy Standing (commissioner), Reginald Denny (Algy), Porter Hall (Merridew), E.E. Clive (Tenny), Fay Holden (Mrs Seldon), Patrick J. Kelly (Stiles), Guy Kingsford (Stanton), Charles McNaugthton (slow-witted constable), Clyde Cook (second constable), Doris Lloyd (nurse).

Director: JIMMY HOGAN. Screenplay: Edward T. Lowe. Based on the stage play Bulldog Drummond Again by Gerard Fairlea and H.C. Sapper McNeile. Photography: Victor Milner. Film editor: William Shea. Art directors: Hans Dreier and Earl Hedrick. Set decorator: A.E. Freudeman. Music director: Boris Morros. Producer: Edward T. Lowe.

COMMENT: The first and best of the 1937-39 Paramount series, smartly paced by Jimmy Hogan, with Milland (pictured) playing the adventurous hero delightfully tongue-in-cheek to Angel’s wanly beautiful heroine (above), is available on an excellent Critics’ Choice DVD on the original greentinted stock. Menacing sets and noirish photography really impress.

A Bullet for Joey

Edward G. Robinson (pictured center) (Inspector Leduc), George Raft (Joe Victor), Audrey Totter (Joyce Geary), George Dolenz (Macklin), Peter Hanson (right) (Fred), Peter Van Eyck (Hartman), Kaaren Verne (Mrs Hartman), Ralph Smiley (Paola), Henri Letondal (Dubois), Joseph Vitale (Nick), John Cliff (Morrie), Bill Bryant (Jack Allen), Stan Malotte (Paul), Toni Gerry (Yvonne), Sally Blane (Marie), Bill Henry (artist), Steven Geray (Garcia), John Alvin (Percy), Tina Carver (left) (counter girl), Frank Hagney (pictured) (bartender), Rory Mallinson (rent-a-car clerk), Peter Mamakos (ship’s captain), Sandra Stone (Rosie), Alan Wells (Armand), Sandy Sanders (telephone man), Bill Neff (sergeant).

Director: Lewis Allen, Screenplay: Daniel Mainwaring, A.I. Bezzerides. Story: James Benson Nablo. Photography: Harry Neumann. Film editor: Leon Barsha. Music composed and directed by Harry Sukman. Art director: Jack Okey. Set decorator: Joseph Kish. Make-up: Mel Berns. Hair styles: Betty Pedretti. Wardrobe: Chuck Keehne. Music orchestrated by Henry Vars. Assistant director: Bert Glazer. Production supervisor: Herman E. Webber. Sound recording: Jack Grubb. Producers: Samuel Bischoff, David Diamond. (M-G-M DVD rates at least 9 out of ten).

Copyright 1955 by Bischoff-Diamond. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Palace: 15 April 1955. Australian release: 16 March 1956. London exhibitors’ trade showing: 7 April 1955. 7,811 feet. 87 minutes. (Pictured below: Sally Blane, Robinson, Hanson).

SYNOPSIS: Three murders, all seemingly connected with an atomic physicist in Canada, have Inspector Leduc puzzled.

COMMENT: Despite its fascinating writing and editing credits, this movie emerges as a surprisingly dull little B-grader, not only paced with the speed of a snail but full of more empty talk than a bag-pipe. The characters could not even justly be described as one-dimensional. They are mere shadows that unconvincingly act out the hollow and threadbare plot. Certainly pros like Robinson and Van Eyck do manage to breath a bit of life into their portrayals, but insufficiently virile to overcome the inertia of Mr Allen’s studiously slow, uninvolving handling.

It’s hard to believe tutor and text book author, Leon Barsha, had anything to do with the editing. The insertion of stock travelogue footage is clumsy in the extreme. Other credits are likewise patently routine.

Considerable pruning would definitely help the film, although Miss Totter is likely to remain a firm liability. Mr Letondal would also stay far more colorless than the screenplay demands. Last but not least, the unconvincingly patriotic climax is something not easily overcome.

Burma Convoy

Charles Bickford (pictured) (Cliff), Evelyn Ankers (Ann McBrogal), Frank Albertson (Mike), Cecil Kellaway (Lloyd McBrogal), Willie Fung (Smitty), Keye Luke (Lin Tai), Turhan Bey (Yuchau), Truman Bradley (Harrison), Ken Christy (Hank), C. Montague Shaw (Colonel Hart), Chester Gan (pictured) (Keela), Vyola Vonn (Mazie), Harry Stubbs.

Director: NOEL M. SMITH. Screenplay: Stanley Rubin, Roy Chanslor. Story: Stanley Rubin. Photography: John W. Boyle. Film editor: Ted Kent. Art directors: Jack Otterson, Martin Obzina. Set decorator: Russell A. Gausman. Gowns: Vera West. Music: Hans Salter. Sound recording: Bernard B. Brown, William Fox. Associate producer: Marshall Grant.

Copyright 26 September 1941 by Universal. New York opening at the Rialto: 6 October 1941. Released: 17 October 1941 (USA), 8 January 1942 (Aust). 5,462 feet. 60 minutes. (A non-commercial 7/10 TV DVD).

COMMENT: Enemy agents target Allied convoys along the Burma Road. A moderately entertaining wartime propaganda piece, filmed on a comparatively large budget, and zestfully directed by Noel M. Smith. If you can’t guess the identity of the spy, you haven’t seen too many of these pictures, although I must admit the script does play perfectly fair.

Caged Fury

Richard Denning (Blaney Lewis), Sheila Ryan (Kit Warren), Mary Beth Hughes (Lola), Buster Crabbe (Smiley), Frank Wilcox (Dan Corey).

Director: WIILLIAM BERKE. Original story and screenplay: David Lang. Photography: Ellis W. Carter. Film editor: Howard Smith. Art director: Lewis H. Creber. Set decorator: Alfred Kegerris. Music: Harry Lubin. Producers: William Howard Pine, William C. Thomas.

Copyright 5 March 1948 by Paramount Pictures. U.S. release: 5 March 1948. U.K. release: 30 October 1948. Australian release: 2 September 1948. 5,479 feet. 60 minutes. (A non-commercial 7/10 ex-TV DVD).

COMMENT: A circus lion-tamer engineers a fatal accident for his assistant. A low-budget offering with a hoary script enlivened by plenty of stock footage. Fortunately, Mary Beth Hughes is in the movie and Buster Crabbe makes a charismatic Smiley who benefits most from the attentions of director and photographer. The other players are quite flat.

Calling Dr. Gillespie

Lionel Barrymore (Dr Gillespie), Philip Dorn (John Hunter Gerniede), Donna Reed (Marcia Bradburn), Phil Brown (Roy Todwell), Alma Kruger (Molly Byrd), Mary Nash (Emma Hope), Walter Kingsford (Dr Carew), Nat Pendleton (Joe Wayman), Charles Dingle (Dr Kenwood), Nell Craig (Nurse Parker), Robin Raymond (Bubbles), Marie Blake (Sally), Jonathan Hale (Todwell), Nana Bryant (Mrs Todwell), Emmett Vogan (Lieutenant Clifton), Paul McVey (Sergeant Hartwell), Hillary Brooke (Mrs Brown), Eddie Acuff (Clifford Genet), Ruth Tobey (Susan Prentiss), Ava Gardner (graduating student), Barbara Bedford (Carew’s secretary with postcard), Joe Yule (Detroit passerby), Ray Teal (Detroit policeman), Harry Hayden (car salesman), William Newell (orderly with tray), Mary Currier (Nurse Trippett), Lew Leroy (Frankie).

Director: HAROLD S. BUCQUET. Screenplay: Willis Goldbeck, Harry Ruskin. Story: Kubec Glasmon. Based on characters created by Frederick Faust. Photography: Ray June. Film editor: Elmo Veron. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown. Set decorator: Edwin B. Willis. Gowns: Kalloch. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff. Music director: Daniele Amfitheatrof. Sound recording: Douglas Shearer. An MGM Picture.

Copyright 16 June 1942 by Loew’s Inc. New York opening at Loew’s Criterion: 8 July 1942. U.S. release: August 1942. Australian release: 4 March 1943. 7,538 feet. 83 minutes. (10/10 DVD from Warner Archive).

SYNOPSIS: A homicidal maniac stalks Blair General Hospital. Eleventh in the 16-picture Kildare series and the first without its central character.

COMMENT: With a homicidal maniac on the loose, director Harold S. Bucquet couldn’t help but make a few exciting moments in this entry. One scene, in a dance hall, is particularly suspenseful. Mind you, when not focusing on the killer, the direction is pretty flat. But the script itself is more engaging than usual. Barrymore has a high old time as the self-important old doctor, Dorn fills Lew Ayres’ shoes capably enough as his new assistant, while Phil Brown plays the maniac in arresting style. Many of the Blair Hospital familiars are also welcomely on hand. But of course the most interesting person in the cast, so far as 2008 viewers are concerned, is Ava Gardner. Making her appearance in the very last scene, she has just two or three lines which she delivers so attractively, she steals the fade-out limelight from Donna Reed.

Calling Dr. Kildare

Lew Ayres (pictured) (Dr Kildare), Lionel Barrymore (Dr Gillespie), Laraine Day (left) (Mary Lamont), Lana Turner (center) (Rosalie), Samuel S. Hinds (Dr Stephen Kildare), Lynne Carver (Alice Raymond), Nat Pendleton (Joe Wayman), Emma Dunn (Mrs Martha Kildare), Walter Kingsford (Dr Walter Carew), Harlan Briggs (John Galt), Henry Hunter (Harry Galt), Marie Blake (Sally), Donald Red Barry (Collins), Reed Hadley (Tom Crandall), Aileen Pringle (Mrs Thatcher), Ann E. Todd (Jenny), Horace MacMahon (Fog Horn), Alma Kruger (Molly Byrd), Phillip Terry (Bates), Roger Converse (Joiner), Nell Craig (Nosey Parker), George Offermann Jr (Nick), Clinton Rosemond (Conover), Johnny Walsh (Red), Dorothy Adams (Jenny’s mother).

Director: HAROLD S. BUCQUET. Screenplay: Harry Ruskin, Willis Goldbeck. Based on the 1939 novel by Max Brand (pseudonym of Frederick Faust). Photography: Alfred Gilks, Lester White. Film editor: Robert J. Kern. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Gabriel Scognamillo. Set decorator: Edwin B. Willis. Wardrobe: Dolly Tree. Music score: David Snell. Sound recording: Douglas Shearer. Producer: Lou Ostrow.

Copyright 24 April 1939 by Loew’s Inc. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 11 May 1939. Released: 28 April 1939 (USA), 5 October 1939 (Aust.). 86 minutes. (Warner Archive offers a 10/10 DVD)

SYNOPSIS: Dr Kildare falls for a blonde siren who needs his medical expertise to treat her bullet-wounded brother.

COMMENT: The third of the sixteen-picture Kildare series is pretty hard to take, despite the charismatic presence of Lana Turner. Unless you’re a keen fan of Miss Turner, you’ll notice the plot is preposterous—clichéd to boot—and serves mostly to waste the talents of an interesting array of players. Bucquet’s relentlessly flat direction is no help either.

Calling Homicide

Bill Elliott (Lt. Doyle), Don Haggerty (Sgt. Duncan), Kathleen Case (Donna), Myron Healey (Haddix), Jeanne Cooper (Darlene), Thomas B. Henry (Gilmore), Lyle Talbot (Fuller), Herb Vigran (Engle), Robert Bice (Johnny), Almira Sessions (Mrs Dunsetter), James Best (Arnholf), John Dennis (Benny), Stanley Adams (von Elda), Mary Treen (script girl).

Director: EDWARD BERNDS. Original screenplay: Edward Bernds. Photography. Harry Neumann. Film editor: William Austin. Art director: David Milton. Wardrobe: Bert Hendrickson. Make-up: Emile La Vigne. Construction supervisor: James West. Properties: Ted Mossman. Music: Marlin Skiles. Set decorator: Joseph Kish. Production manager: Allen K. Wood. Assistant director: Edward Morey Jr. Sound recording: Ralph E. Butler. Producer: Ben Schwalb. An Allied Artists Production.

Copyright 1956 by Allied Artists. No New York opening. U.S. release: 30 September 1956. U.K. release by Associated British-Pathé: floating from August 1957. 5,480 feet. 61 minutes. (Non-comm DVD rates 7/10).

SYNOPSIS: A models school is a front for baby-selling and blackmail.

COMMENT: This cheap Monogram mystery boasts absolutely no redeeming features whatever. The lackluster cast comprises only one halfway decent actor—Lyle Talbot—and it’s difficult to judge which of Bernds’ contributions are the less proficient: his slow-paced screenplay or his equally torpid direction. Personally, I’d give the booby prize to the script. Even the identity of the murderer is glaringly obvious.

Call of the Flesh

Ramon Novarro (Juan), Dorothy Jordan (Maria), Ernest Torrence (Esteban), Nance O’Neil (mother superior), Renée Adorée (Lola), Mathilde Comout (La Rumbarita), Russell Hopton (Enrique).

Director: CHARLES BRABIN. Dialogue: John Colton. Story: Dorothy Farnum. Photographed in black-and-white, with Technicolor sequences, by Merritt B. Gerstad. Film editor. Conrad A. Nervig. Art director: Cedric Gibbons. Wardrobe: David Cox. Songs (all Novarro): Just For Today', Not Quite Good Enough For Me, Lonely, all by Herbert Stothart (music) and Clifford Grey (lyrics). Additional songs (all Novarro): Cavatina" from L’Elisir d’Amore by Donizetti, Questa o quella from Rigoletto by Verdi, Vesti la giubba from Pagliacci by Leoncavallo. Sound engineers: Ralph Shugart, Douglas Shearer.

Copyright 8 September 1930 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 12 September 1930. U.S. release. 16 August 1930. 11 reels. 9,178 feet. 102 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Maria, a novice in a convent, admires the irredeemably no-good Juan, a café singer in Seville. Escaping from the convent ...

COMMENT: Final film of Renée Adorée who died in 1933 after a long battle with TB. By no means a B film in budget, but definitely one in story and technique. After seeing this effort, it’s remarkably easy to understand why Novarro’s stellar career declined so rapidly and dramatically in the sound era. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with his voice, it’s just that his acting seems so ludicrously inept and his personality so colorless and lacking in charisma. Mind you, if you turn off the sound, then Novarro’s gestures and even his persona appear quite acceptable. But with sound in this film, he’s just ridiculous! True, the script itself, despite its noirish Juan, is a load of old romantic melodrama that’s about impossible to stomach, let alone get involved in. The only way to rescue this sort of operettish stew from the throw-out pot, is to pep it up with flair and imagination. Unfortunately, Charles Brabin is not this sort of chef – at least not here. He did learn his lesson, but here his direction is little more than disinterested and/or routine. Even the sets lack the pictorial qualities we usually associate with Cedric Gibbons. The sound recording of course is poor. But at least the photography in the present wholly black-and-white version telecast by TCM retains appeal.

Call of the Jungle

Ann Corio (Tana), James Bush (Jim Forbes), Claudia Dell (Gracie), Edward Chandler (Boggs), Muni Seroff (Louie), I. Stanford Jolley (Carlton), J. Alex Havier (Malu), Phil Van Zandt (Dozan), Harry Burns (Kahuna), and John Davidson (Harley).

Director: PHIL ROSEN. Original screenplay: George Callahan. Photography: Arthur Martinelli. Supervising film editor: Richard Currier. Film editor: Martin G. Cohn. Art director: David Milton. Music director: David Chudnow. Production manager: Dick L’Estrange. Assistant director: Bobby Ray. Sound recording: Tom Lambert. Producers: Philip N. Krasne, James S. Burkett. A Monogram Picture.

Copyright 24 June 1944 by Monogram Pictures Corp. No New York opening. U.S. release: 19 August 1944. No record of any Australian theatrical release. 6 reels. 60 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Jewel thieves hide out on a small island.

NOTES: Fifth and final film of famous striptease artist and Broadway star (This Was Burlesque), Ann Corio. Her others: Swamp Woman (1941), Jungle Siren (1942), Sarong Girl (1943), The Sultan’s Daughter (1944).

COMMENT: One for the kiddies, this one, despite the presence of Ann Corio in the stellar role.

Actually neither Miss Corio nor her dull leading man James Bush (whose acting career was mostly confined to small roles and uncredited bits) are particularly appealing. It’s left to the support cast to turn in spirited performances. Fortunately, director Phil Rosen had enough flair to take good advantage of this pool of talent. The acting in fact — from all but the inadequate leads — is far more polished and engaging than the script (an unsophisticated melange of story clichés and equally laughable dialogue) deserves.

Ex-Broadway showgirl, Claudia Dell (here making the second last of her 41 movie appearances) turns in an excellent performance as Gracie, while prolific character actor, Eddy Chandler (who appeared in well over 300 movies) makes his Boggs equally appealing.

On the technical side, Arthur Martinelli’s lustrous cinematography leads the way — and it’s far more inspiring than the comic strip writing.

Cannibal Attack

Johnny Weissmuller (himself), Judy Wash (Luora), David Bruce (Arnold King), Bruce Cowling (Rovak), Charles Evans (commissioner), Steve Darrell (John King), Joseph Allen (Jason), Jack Perry (henchman).

Director: LEE SHOLEM. Screenplay: Carroll Young. Based on Alex Raymond characters. Photographed in black-and-white by Henry Freulich. Film editor: Edwin Bryant. Art director: Paul Palmentola. Music director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff. Set decorator: Sidney Clifford. Production manager: Leon Chooluck. Assistant director: Abner Singer. Special effects: Jack Erickson. Sound recording. John P. Livadary, Harry D. Mills RCA Sound System. Producer: Sam Katzman.

Copyright 1954 by Katzman Corp./Columbia Pictures Corp. No New York opening. U.S. release: 1 November 1954. U.K. release date not recorded. Australian release: 25 August 1955. 69 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Cannibals are implicated in a crooked scheme to sell cobalt to foreign powers. Number 14 of the 16-picture Jungle Jim series.

COMMENT: Don’t let the cast credits fool you. This is actually a Jungle Jim picture. Although Weissmuller is credited as playing himself, he is dressed in his Jungle Jim outfit. Moreover, the plot follows much the same formula as previous entries. Indeed it rather resembles Mark of the Gorilla, with crocodiles substituting for the apes. But though the dialogue is stilted and the situations familiar, the juvenile audience this movie is intended to please, will probably not notice. In fact the story moves at such a fast clip, it makes for a reasonably exciting diversion. Naturally, production values are helped along by a few stock shots from previous Jungle Jim entries (such as the eagle, and the underwater fight with the croc), plus quite a few clips from Columbia’s library of ancient stock footage (the elephants). It all makes for plenty of action, including a fairly exciting climax. Johnny Weissmuller is his usual competent self whilst the heroine, an attractive lass, will fascinate the older boys in the audience. Unfortunately, the rest of the support players are an undistinguished lot, easily outclassed by that talented chimp, Kimba (even if he obviously doesn’t really cut the prisoners free). Sholem's direction is reasonably proficient, though it provides only an occasional flash of imagination (such as the menacing crocodile shadow in the cave). The sets, however, are mighty impressive.

Canon City

Scott Brady (Sherbondy), Jeff Corey (Schwartzmiller), Whit Bissell (Heilman), Stanley Clements (New), Charles Russell (Tolley), DeForest Kelley (Smalley), Ralph Byrd (Officer Gray), Mabel Paige (Mrs Oliver), Warden Roy Best (himself), Alfred Linder (La Vergne), Richard Irving (Trujillo), Robert Bice (Turley), Henry Brandon (Freeman), Ray Bennett (Klinger), Robert Kellard (Williams), Raymond Bond (Oliver), Eve Marsh (Mrs George Bauer), Bud Wolfe (Officer Clark), Bob Reeves, Brick Sullivan (guards), Henry Hall (guard captain), Donald Kerr (convict waiter), Victor Cutter (convict photographer), Lynn Millan (May), James Ames (convict mug), Ruth Warren (mug’s wife), Cay Forester (Sherbondy’s sister), Bill Walker (prisoner), Officer McLean, Captain Kenny, Captain Gentry (themselves), Paul Scardon (Joe Bondy), Ralph Dunn (convict blacksmith), Alvin Hammer (convict tailor), John Shay, Paul Kruger (officers), Mack Williams (Higgins), Howard Negley (Richard Smith), Virginia Mullens (Mrs Smith), Bill Clauson (Joel), Shirley Martin (Judith), Elysabeth Goetten (Barbara), Margaret Kerry (Maxine), John Doucette (Bauer), Phyllis Douglas (Myrna), Anthony Sydes (Gerry Bauer), Jack Ellis (man at roadblock), John Wald (radio commentator), James Magill (Hathaway), Esther Somers (Mrs Higgins).

Narrated by Reed Hadley.

Director: CRANE WILBUR. Screenplay: Crane Wilbur. Based on the 30 December 1947 prison break at the Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City, Colorado. Photographed in black-and-white by John Alton. 2nd unit cameraman: Walter Strenge. Film editor: Louis H. Sackin. Art director: Frank Durlauf. Set decorators: Armor Marlowe, Clarence Steenson. Wardrobe supervisor: Frances Ehren. Make-up: Ern Westmore, Frank Westmore. Hair styles: Joan St Oegger, Beth Langston. Dialogue director: Burk Symon. 2nd unit director: James Leicester. Script supervisor: Arnold Laven. Photographic effects: George J. Teague. Music director: Irving Friedman. Production supervisor: James T. Vaughn. Assistant directors: Allen K. Wood, Ridgeway Callow. Sound recording: Leon S. Becker, Hugh McDowell. Producer: Robert T. Kane. Executive producer: Bryan Foy.

A Bryan Foy Production for Eagle Lion Films, Inc. Copyright 30 June 1948 by Pathe Industries, Inc. New York opening at Loew’s Criterion: 7 July 1948. U.S. release through Eagle Lion: 30 June 1948. U.K. release through General Film Distributors: 2 May 1949. Australian release through British Empire Films: 10 November 1949. 7,654 feet. 85 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Forcing another inmate to accompany them, a group of convicts escape from the Colorado State Penitentiary.

COMMENT: This movie proudly bears the label of a semi-documentary and comes complete with the usual Foreword about all the incidents being portrayed exactly as they happened, and all photographed on their actual locations, using real warders, guards and convicts, etc.

Personally, I doubt that the movie was shot in its entirety inside the actual prison — there’s even a credit for 2nd unit direction and photography. But be this as it may, the studio material is certainly extremely well integrated with the location footage. Credit for this achievement is mostly due to John Alton, whose masterful photography makes Canon City must watching for connoisseurs. True, Alton’s work here is less tantalizing than usual as he was required to match up his shots with Strenge’s rather dull location work. Nonetheless, there are still more than a few indications (the profile silhouette on Brady’s face) of genius behind the camera.

Crane Wilbur’s screenplay is less praiseworthy, but typical of that writer’s detached, tabloid newspaper-style approach. He loves the sort of narrated rhetoric employed by contemporary newsreel commentators (Reed Hadley does a good job here with the actual narration), but fortunately his dialogue is less flowery and more realistic.

Generally Wilbur’s direction rates as rather dull, but here his handling is even occasionally inventive, although his experiments are not always successful (as for example in the oddly oblique use of the first-person camera right at the beginning, with the on-screen characters swapping words with the disembodied narrator).

In all, however, the film emerges as a reasonably engrossing prison melodrama, convincingly acted (except oddly by the non-professionals), compellingly photographed, and tautly written. Despite its foregone conclusion, the storyline does build up a moderate amount of excitement and tension.

OTHER VIEWS: Despite its promising premise, neither the detached, semi-documentary approach, nor John Alton’s newsreelish, on-the-spot photography give this film the noir ambience of movies like T-Men or He Walked By Night. In the hands of a more stylishly vigorous director like Anthony Mann or even John Sturges, it may have taken on more force.

Canyon Crossroads

Richard Basehart (Larry Kendall), Phyllis Kirk (Katherine Rand), Stephen Elliott (Larson), Russell Collins (Dr Rand), Richard Hale (Joe Rivers), Charles Wagenheim (Barnwell), Alan Wells (Charlie Rivers), Tommy Cook (Mickey Rivers), William Pullen (assayer).

Director: ALFRED L. WERKER. Screenplay: Emmett Murphy and Leonard Heidemann. Photography: Gordon Avil. Film editors: Dave Kummins, Chester Schaeffer. Music composed and conducted by George Bassman. Camera operator. Arch Dalzell. Script supervisor: Ann Warren Magen. Wardrobe: Robert Martien. Make-up: Loran Cosand. Assistant director: William Beaudine, Jr. Sound recording: Hugh McDowell, Stephen Temmer. Associate producer: Thomas Whitesell. Producer: William Joyce. Executive producer: Alfred L. Werker.

An M.P.T. Production. Released through United Artists. Copyright 1955 by M.P.T. Productions. No New York opening. U.S. release: February 1955. U.K. release: June 1955. Australian release. 31 May 1956. 7,574 feet. 84 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: A rival uranium prospector resorts to murder.

COMMENT: This B thriller doesn’t start off too promisingly. I never did find flash-backs too engrossing and I really object to speeding up the action in fist fights.

Fortunately, after a display of these faults, the movie settles down. Both director and photographer make effective use of the Utah desert locations with some fine vistas of horseback riders against rugged mountain slopes and peaks. Budget constraints have obviously precluded the use of running inserts, but we do get some suspenseful helicopter shots in the action climax.

The plot is a familiar one and the dialogue is no more than serviceable, but it is acted out with reasonable conviction. True, Miss Kirk is a little too skeletal for my taste, and I found Mr Basehart just a bit too rough and ready to be wholly convincing. As for the chief villain, he’s not much for personality. What Raymond Burr could have done with that role!

The pace of Werker’s direction is inclined to be a little slow, but it does allow the script to build up a bit of tension.

A Mickey Mouse music score doesn’t help the movie any, but the Utah locations are a definite asset. All told, a fair enough time-filler.

Cape Town Affair

James Brolin (Skip McCoy), Jacqueline Bisset (Candy), Claire Trevor (Sam Williams), John Whiteley (Joey), Bob Courtney (Herrick), Gordon Mulholland (Du Plessis), Siegfried Mynhardt (Fenton), James Gordon White (Beukes), Gabriel Bayman (Mohammed), Raymond Matuson (Lightning Louis).

Director: ROBERT D. WEBB. Screenplay: Harold Medford, Samuel Fuller. Based on the 1953 screenplay Pickup on South Street by Samuel Fuller, which was in turn based on an unpublished story by Dwight Taylor. Photographed in DeLuxe Color by David Millin. Film editor: Peter Grossett. Art director: Bert Aurik. Music: Bob Adams. Producer: Robert D. Webb. Executive producer: Hyman Kirstein. A 20th Century-Fox/Killarney Film Studios Production.

Not copyrighted in the U.S.A. Released in the U.K. on 1 December 1968. Australian release as a support: 6 March 1968. Sydney opening at the Embassy. 8,998 feet. 100 minutes. Cut to 82 minutes in Australia.

SYNOPSIS: A pickpocket (played in the original movie by Richard Widmark) lifts a purse from a woman (originally Jean Peters) on a Cape Town bus. The purse contains microfilm of secret military information.

COMMENT: A waste of time. Not worth watching. No wonder the film played as a support on its original theatrical release. Filmed in murky color (but cleaned up for DVD) and directed in a thoroughly routine, flat-footed style — long shots bisected with endless pedestrian close-ups — Cape Town Affair is worse than routine. It’s amazing how little tension, and how piffling the suspense, the present writers, director and players manage to extract from a scenario that was originally tautly exciting. How slowly paced, how tediously drawn out, how downright wearisome each scene now appears! How sparse the dramatic impact Webb is able to furnish from his real Cape Town (South Africa) locations! True, he is hampered by a script that even in its 82-minute version is unmercifully padded out, over-extended and over-weighted with extraneous dialogue. The players are no help whatever. Claire Trevor has a grand time chewing up the scenery in the Thelma Ritter role, but her performance is an utter bore. The same goes for Jacqueline Bisset (who is not very flatteringly photographed or costumed to boot) and James Brolin (who exhibits very little in the way of charisma). (Mill Creek DVD rates 9/10).

Captain Black Jack

George Sanders (Mike Alexander), Patricia Roc (Ingrid Dekker), Agnes Moorehead (Mrs Birk), Herbert Marshall (Dr Curtis), Marcel Dalio (Captain Nikarescu), José Nieto (Inspector Carnero), Howard Vernon (captain of schooner), Dennis Wyndham (Fernando Barrio), José Jaspe (José), Lola Flores (singer), Rafael Bardem (Diego), Margarita Alexandre (flower seller), Maria Teresa Campos, Carlos Villarias, José Maria Lado, Manolo Caracol.

Director: JULIEN DUVIVIER. Screenplay: Julien Duvivier, Charles Spaak. Story: Robert Gaillard. Uncredited script contributors: Michael Pertwee, Roland Pertwee, José Antonio Nieves Conde. Photography: André Thomas. Film editor: Marthe Poncin. Music: Joseph Kosma. Art director: Andre Andrejew. Producer: Alexander Salkind. An Alexander Salkind-Alsa Film-Jungla Film Production.

Not copyrighted in the U.S.A. New York opening at the Holiday: 21 October 1952. U.S. release by Classic Films. U.K. by International: floating from June 1951. Australian release through Independent Film Distributors: 6 July 1956. 9,108 feet. 100 minutes. Cut to 87 minutes in Australia. U.K., alternative U.S., and Australian release title: Black Jack.

SYNOPSIS: Mike Alexander, owner of the yacht Black Jack, is a racketeer who decides to go straight after a final fling at dope-smuggling in Tangiers. But circumstances conspire to prevent him from settling down and respectably enjoying his dubious riches.

COMMENT: Unfortunately, I’ve never seen the full version of this movie. I did see the 87-minute version twice, back in the 1950s. Even more floridly directed than is the norm with Julien Duvivier, this is a wonderfully out-of-the-ordinary piece, replete with sweeping tracking shots through, over and into Andrejew’s magnificently atmospheric sets. Beautifully lit too by photographer André Thomas, Black Jack is nothing if not a connoisseur’s delight. Reinforcing this imaginative visual style, is a script that allows a roster of our favorite actors, including Agnes Moorehead and Marcel Dalio, some brilliantly bizarre, full-blooded characterizations. George Sanders delivers a polished performance, whilst an eccentric millionairess (who turns out to be a rival racketeer) is admirably played by Agnes Moorehead. Also realizing the most from her role, Patricia Roc. The film was