Phantom Lady

 

(1944)
Directed by Robert Siodmak
Written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld
Starring Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis, Thomas Gomez, Elisha Cook, Jr.
IMDB Entry

Phantom Lady was squarely in the middle of Hitchcock territory: a man is wrongly accused of a crime. But Hitchcock had the accused the center of the story and this makes the mistake of removing him from the picture. Still, it manages to be suspenseful with an intriguing situation.

It starts with a woman's hat. The hat is garish and too big, but gets the attention of Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis), who has just had a fight with his wife and is drinking at a bar.  He and the woman go to a stage show, on the condition that neither tells the other their name. After the show, Scott returns home, only to find the police there. His wife has been murdered, strangled with one of his neckties, and he is the main suspect. He tries to use the woman as an alibi, but doesn't know her name. The cops, leed by Inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez), retrace his steps, but no one remembers seeing the woman with him.  He is tried and sentenced to death.

Carol Richman (Ella Raines),  his secretary, is secretly in love with him* and tries to prove his innocence. Inspector Burgess agrees he's not guilty and they begin to investigate. They interview various witnesses. She cleverly gets a bartender to admit he saw the woman and was bribed to lie about it.  He is killed in an accident running away from her after the admission.

Aurora (Aurora Miranda), a nightclub singer, says she doesn't remember the woman or the hat.  But we had already seen that she spotted it in the audience -- it was identical to hers -- so we know something is up. Same for a drummer Cliff Milburn (Elisha Cook, Jr.), who, drunk and trying to impress Carol, admits he was paid to lie. When he realizes she's gathering information, he kicks her out. But a mysterious man shows up to kill Milburn.

We are shown soon after that Henderson's best friend Jack Marlow (Franchot Tone) is that mysterious man.  He has just returned from a trip to South America,** where he was when Henderson's wife was murdered. He offers to help Burgess and Carol to find the mysterious woman.

This fits right in with Hitchcock's definition of suspense: where the audience knows of danger when the characters don't. 

The situation is eventually revealed. Marlow's plot is too convoluted and depends on people reacting in ways that could not be anticipated. But the suspense is pretty well handled.

Franchot Tone was a successful leading man, and wanted to stretch out and play a villian. Despite being top billed, he doesn't appear until well into the movie, but he makes a great impression as the psychopathic Marlow.

Ella Raines is good as the secretary turned detective, though Alan Curtis doesn't make a bit impression as Henderson.  I always like to see Elisha Cook, Jr. and I remember Thomas Gomez from Force of Evil.

Chuck Rothman's is the author of The Cadaver Princess, a horror fantasy about body snatchers set in 1831 England.

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*A common trope of the 30s and 40s, often used in song, where a man leaves his wife for his secretary.

**I notice that movies and TV shows of this era always have people in South America or Mexico, when the plot requires they be away.

Ministry of Fear

 

(1944)
Directed by Fritz Lang
Written by Seton I. Miller from a novel by Graham Greene
Starring Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Hillary Brooke, Carl Esmond, Dan Duryea, Erskine Sandford.
IMDB Entry

Fritz Lang shows up on most lists of great film directors and most film students encounter him with Metropolis and M. He left Germany when the Nazis came to power,* but continued to make films in the US. They were mildly successful, but were not considered great films when they came out, until critics began to notice in retrospect.  The Ministry of Fear, from a novel by the great spy novelist Graham Greene, is one of several of his anti-Nazi themed films of the 1940s.

We first see Stephen Neale (Ray Milland), being released from an asylum. While waiting for a train to London, he decides to enjoy a village fete.** One of the booths has you guess the weight of a cake to win it. He is told to go to a palm reader's tent and Mrs. Bellane tells him what to guess.  He ends up winning the cake, but another man arrives and the people at the booth say Neale was wrong and should give the cake to the person who made the correct guess.  Neale refuses.

When he gets on the train, he's joined in his compartment by a blind man. When the train is stopped due to an air raid, the blind man reveals himself as a fraud and tries to shoot Neale.  A bomb lands on the fake blind man and Neale finds his gun in the debris and goes to London, trying to track down what's going on.

With the help of a private detective George Rennit (Erskine Sandford), Neale tracks down the head of the Mothers of Free Nations, who ran the fete.  Willi Helfe (Carl Esmond) and his sister Carla Helfe (Marjorie Reynolds) are in charge and are shocked to learn that their organization was being used for something so devious. Neale goes to see Mrs. Bellane (Hillary Brooke) and discovers she's a much younger woman than the one telling fortunes.  He attends a seance and there is a murder and, of course, Neale is the suspect.  He goes on the run, with Carla helping. He explains why he was in the asylum -- for a mercy killing of his dying wife that he didn't actually do -- and they began to fall in love.

The film is well structured with plenty of plot twists and I was quite surprised at the ending. The spycraft is a little bit silly -- the issue with the cake would be too risky to be seriously considered.  But the film doesn't make things easy for the characters.

Many in the cast were notable. Ray Milland, of course, won an Oscar a few years later for The Lost Weekend. Marjorie Reynolds is best know for helping Bing Crosby introduce "White Christmas" in Holiday Inn. Erskine Sandford showed up in Citizen Kane as the editor of the Inquirer when Kane takes it over. And Alan Napier, in a smallish role, is well known for playing Alfred in TV's Batman.

There's also Dan Duryea, who made a career playing bad guys.

The movie was well received but seems to have left little impression. It is well worth checking out.

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*He often told the story that the day he was planning to leave Germany for good, Josef Goebbels summoned him to his office and offered to make him head of UFA, the German film company. Lang talked about how he kept looking at the clock, hoping to be able to leave before the banks closed so he could take all his money and get out of the country.

**A British fundraising fair, with games and rides and other entertainment. We had the same thing when I was growing up, but we called them "Block Parties."

In Memorium: Dave Mason

 https://greatbutforgotten.blogspot.com/2008/09/dave-mason-together-music.html

Adam and Evelyne

(1949)
Directed by Harold French
Written by Noel Langley (story), George Barraud, Nicholas Phipps, Lesley Storm
Starring Stewart Granger, Jean Simmons, Raymond Young, Fred Johnson, Wilfred Hyde-White
IMDB Entry

I've seen people list movies online that could never be remade, usually due to dated or offensive story matter. When I stumbled upon Adam and Evelyne, I realized this was something whose subject matter is far too cringy, especially for what was supposed to be a light romantic comedy.

Evelyne Kirby (Jean Simmons) is a teen who lives in a girl school.  Her mother is dead, but her father, Chris Kirby (Fred Johnson) has started writing to her and promises to take her home. Kirby is a jockey and after being fatally injured in a fall from his hose, confesses to his best friend Adam Black (Stewart Granger) that he's been writing to Evelyne, but send a photo of Black and saying it was of him. Black goes to see Evelyne and she immediately thinks he's her father. Black doesn't want to tell her the truth, and takes her home. 

Eventually, of course, the truth comes out, but Evelyne becomes his ward*, and is sent to a boarding school.  But Black won't tell her the source of his income:  he runs illegal gambling parties.  And Evelyne hates gambling.  She returns and starts dating Black's ne'er-do-well brother Roddy (Raymond Young), and through a series of misunderstandings, true love blossoms.

The problem with the movie is obvious. Black has to be old enough to be Evelyn's father, and that sort of age difference is creepy these days.** Another problem is the ending, which is a sort of "never mind"  that lets it have a happy ending.

Simmons had a long an tumultuous career in Hollywood, with one Oscar nomination; this was her first film as an adult. Granger these days is best known for having to change his name from James Stewart. Both, however, were major stars of the 1950s.

Notable in the cast is Wilfred Hyde-White, who cornered the market on droll and kindly English gentlemen in the 50s and 50s. And I spotted Mona Washbourne in a minor role; I remember he fondly playing the "Lion Aunt" in Stevie.

The issue of age difference didn't come up when it was released, and it got good reviews and was nominated for awards. But today it is creepy to watch.

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*People do smirk about the relationship with his "ward," though there is nothing untoward in the movie, and Black vehemently objected to the gossip.

**Rumors had it that Granger and Simmons (she was 16 years younger), were romantically involved at the time. They denied it, but married soon afterwards.

Extraordinary (TV)

(2023-2024)
Created and Written by Erin Morin
Starring Máiréad Tyers, Sofia Oxenham, Bilal Hasna, Luke Rollason, Siobhán McSweeney
IMDB Entry

I'm always searching for new things to feature in this blog and I came across a list of the best situation comedies of the 21st century. There were, of course, the usual names, but one I had never heard of. Extraordinary has a clever concept and makes the most of its premise.

It set in a world where everyone has superpowers, usually developed when you turn 18. Jen (Máiréad Tyers) is twenty-five but has no powers yet and is frustrated that they haven't shown up. She lives with her best friend Carrie (Sofia Oxenham), who works for a lawyer and can channel dead people, and Carries' boyfriend Kash (Bilil Hasna),* who can reverse time, but who doesn't have a job. Jen takes in a stray cat, naming him Jizzlord (Luke Rollason) before she discovers he's a shapeshifter and has been a cat for some time, and has little idea how to behave like a human.

Jen keeps looking for ways to unlock her power, mostly by trying to get the cash for a counseling program designed to help her. Kash tries his hand at being a vigilante, while Carrie has to deal with the dead people -- usually celebrities, of course -- who she brings back and interacts with. And Jizzlord has to learn about human things.

I was delighted to learn that Jen's mother is played by Siobhán McSweeney, who was spectacular in Derry Girls as the seen-it-all-before Sister Michael. Another surprise is Ardal O'Hanlon, who I remember from Death in Paradise; he doesn't appear, but his voice is easily identified.

It mostly a comedy of human reactions, but I do love the way things are set up. The various superpowers are not always the usual things.** And some remain in the background. I'm especially impressed by the guy walking around Cassie's office with a cloud over his head that seems to show his mood, though it's not explained. There's also Jen's boss, who is in her 50s, but who looks like a preteen girl.

Jen is a bit self-centered (a fact that is hit home in one of the stories), but still sympathetic. I especially like Luke Rollason who is just wonderful as the cat: naive without being stupid.

The show ran two seasons of eight episodes but was abruptly cancelled. You can find it on Disney+.

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*It was a couple of episodes before I caught on to the pun of Kash and Carrie. I did get the pun in the title very quickly, though.

**A couple seem to be taken from the great superhero series Misfits.