The Intruder (Shame)

 (1962)
Directed by Roger Corman
Written by Charles Beaumont
Starring William Shatner, Frank Maxwell, Jeanne Cooper, Robert Emhardt, Leo Gordon
IMDB Entry

Roger Corman is recognized as one of the kings of schlock horror of the 50s and 60s. But he occasionally got away from directing it to try something a bit more serious. The Intruder (also known as Shame) was a surprisingly strong dramatic film about a serious issue.

Adam Cramer (William Shatner) arrives in the southern town of Caxton, clearly with something on his mind more than visiting. Desegregation is now the law of the land, and most of the residents aren't happy about it, but are willing to go along with the war. Cramer is charming, and starts to go about changing everyone's mind. People start to get violent against the Blacks in the community and with people like Tom McDaniel, the local newspaper editor, who tried to help out. Vern Shipman (Robert Emhardt), one of the town's wealthiest men, support Cramer, even as the hatred becomes more violent. Cramer seduces the wife of a neighbor, Sam Griffin (Leo Gordon); he confronts Cramer and threatens him with Cramer's own gun, showing the man to be all talk but cowardly underneath. Still, things get even more tense when a high school girl, under Cramer's urging, falsely charges a Black student with attempted rape.

The movie is uncomfortable to watch, since it doesn't shy away from using racist terms and ugly mob scenes and violence. But it is a strong condemnation of racism in the darkest terms.

Shatner is excellent. He hadn't developed the mannerisms that are now his trademark and his Cramer is charming on the surface but ruthless in trying to achieve his goal of spreading hate. Robert Emhardt also does a good job and showing his character's racism, but in such a way that once he learns the truth, he is willing to admit he took it too far.

In the cast were several writers. Charles Beaumont, who wrote the script and the novel it was based on, has a small role. He, George Clayton Johnson, and William F. Nolan* were writers for The Twilight Zone; these are their only screen appearances.

This was clearly meant to be a strong stand against racism, but wasn't a big hit a

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* Nolan was a friend of Ray Bradbury and co-author (with Johnson) of Logan's Run. One of my favorite short story collections was one of his, with the charming "One Love Have I," one of the most romantic SF stories every written.

Lady of Burlesque

 

(1943)
Directed by William Wellman
Written by James Gunn, based upon a novel by Gypsy Rose Lee
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Michael O'Shea, J. Edward Bromberg, Stephanie Bachelor, Pinky Lee. Gerald Mohr
IMDB Entry

Gypsy Rose Lee was quite a legend in her time. She was known for her strip tease act* and became a celebrity outside the Burlesque circuit, even being the subject of the Broadway musical Gypsy. And she even wrote a mystery novel, The G-String Murders, which was filmed as Lady of Burlesque.**

Dixie Daisy (Barbara Stanwyck) is the star of a burlesque company, wooed by comic Biff Brannigan (Michael O'Shea), though she refuses his advances having had bad experiences with other comics. During a police raid, someone tries to strangle her; she is rescued by a stage hand in the nick of time. But later, a member of the cast is found strangled, a g-string around her neck, after arguing with her gangster boyfriend Louie Grindero (Gerald Mohr). The plot goes out from there, with another star is found dead the same way -- on stage as Dixie starts her act.

The movie is full of twists and red herrings, but its strength is portraying the backstage life of burlesque performers. There are hints and quick glimpses of acts, but most of it stays in the dressing rooms, and deals with the issues of police raids and other things.

One of the actors is Pinky Lee, a baggy pants comedian who worked in vaudeville and burlesque, and who I remember for a kids show in the early 60s. Another name I recognize was Gerald Mohr, who did a lot of radio work, including a long stint as Phillip Marlowe.

Given the censorship of the Hayes office, this was a touchy subject to film. They refused to allow the title of the book attach itself to the movie, even though the term "G-String" is used throughout and the book was not only successful, but even had a feature article in Life Magazine. And, of course, the more risque parts of the acts were toned town; when Dixie sings about "bump and grind," the camera stays off her.

It's a decent mystery, fast-paced and with plenty of humor. Well worth a viewing.

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*Not stripping -- she joked and teased as she slowly removed her clothes, and didn't really show herself nude.

**Burlesque was low on the totem pole beneath legitimate theater and vaudeville, known for more adult and bawdy themes and very broad comedy.

The Villain Still Pursued Her

 

(1940)
Directed by Edward Cline
Written by Elbert Franklin, Ethel La Blanche
Starring Hugh Herbert, Anita Louise, Alan Mowbray, Buster Keaton, Richard Cromwell, Margaret Hamilton, Billy Gilbert
IMDB Entry

Sometimes bad acting can be fun. Plan 9 from Outer Space is a case in point. And withThe Villain Still Pursued Her, the bad acting is deliberate and very funny.

The movie is a broad parody of the idea of the old-time melodrama. It starts out with a stage proscenium, where the announcer (Billy Gilbert) comes on to introduce the play. Then we see Mary Wilson (Anita Louise) talking with her aunt (Margaret Hamilton) and laying out the situation: Edward Middleton (Richard Cromwell) has inherited the mortgage on their house from his kindly father and they are afraid he will foreclose. Cribbs (Alan Mowbray) comes by to tell them they will have to move. When Edward is on the way to the house, Cribbs intercepts him, pushing him to foreclose, but when he sees Mary, the two fall in love.

At their wedding, the scheming Cribbs inveigles Edward into trying alcohol for the first time. He immediately becomes a drunkard, and Cribbs tries to trick him into crime, which he refuses. Cribbs forges Edward's name on a check, but but Dalton (Buster Keaton), Edward's friend, exposes that crime. and others. With the help of Frederick Healy (Hugh Hubert), Edward becomes sober and all is well.

Everyone overacts. That's the point. Cribbs often addresses to audience to talk about his nefarious plans, while the others will soliloquize about their thoughts and feelings.

Mowbray is full-on Snidely Whiplash as Cribbs, moustache and all.  He was a busy character actor, appearing in movies and films for over 40 years. 

I was interested in the film because the many familiar faces. Buster Keaton was the big one, but he was given very little to do. Margaret Hamilton was Mary's kindly mother, a big departure from her role the year before in The Wizard of Oz. Billy Gilbert did a lot of comedy -- most notably as Mr. Pettibone in His Girl Friday -- and was the voice of Sneezy in the Disney Snow White. Hugh Hubert is forgotten today, but his ditzy character was very popular in the 30s, with his fluttery mannerisms and his catchphrase "hoo hoo hoo," which often was parodied in cartoons. I also spotted Vernon Dent, the Three Stooges' greatest straight man.

Director Edward Cline was responsible with several W.C. Fields features and also directed several of Keaton's short subjects.  

The joke does perhaps go on too long, and has one somewhat racist non-sequitur joke, but it does remain amusing as a send-up of  old-time stage melodramas.

"Pimpernel" Smith

 (1941)
Directed by Leslie Howard
Written by Anatole de Grunwald, Ian Dalrymple (screenplay), A. G. Macdonell, Wolfgang Wilhelm (Story)
Starring Leslie Howard, Francis Sullivan, Mary Morris
IMDB Entry

I'm a fan of the Scarlet Pimpernel, the template for modern superheroes. Leslie Howard played him credibly in a 1934 movie and once World War II broke out, he had the idea of remaking it and changing the time from the French Revolution to the current time. He directed and produced a current-day version, "Pimpernel Smith."

In 1939, Archeologist Horatio Smith (Leslie Howard) takes a group of Cambridge students on an expedition to examine archeological sites in Germany. They soon discover that the mild mannered professor is helping people escape from Nazi Germany. Gestapo General von Graum (Francis Sullivan) is desperate to stop the man. Discovering the person helping them is British, he blackmails Ludmilla Koslowski (Mary Morris) to ferret him out; Ludmilla's father is a Gestapo prisoner.  She finds Smith and urges him to save her father. Smith denies he has anything to do with it, but comes up with a plan to get him and some other prisoners out of Germany, with von Graum suspicious that he might be the man he is looking for.

The movie starts a bit slow, but eventually shows Smith and his students working to achieve the escape.  The Scarlet Pimpernel books showcased the Pimpernels' cleverness, and this version has it in spades. The escape plans are very worthy of the original.

Leslie Howard played the original Pimpernel a few years earlier and clearly wanted to do an updated version for the wartime audience. He is much like the original in most respect. Frances Sullivan makes Von Graum a decent antagonist, though he isn't quite as good as Citizen Chauvelin in the books. 

Overall, this is a nice update on a classic hero.

Krapopolis (TV)

 

(2023 - )
Created by Dan Harmon
Starring Richard Ayoade, Matt Berry, Pam Murphy, Duncan Trussell, Hannah Waddingham
IMDB Entry

I don't watch Fox animated shows often. The older ones seem tired and the newer ones don't seem all that interesting. That's why I didn't pay much attention about Krapopolis. But when I saw it on a streaming service, I decided to take a look. And seeing it was created by Dan Harmon, the mind behind Community and Rick and Morty, I started to watch the episodes.

It's set in the ancient Greek city that gives the show its name. Tyrannis (Richard Ayoade) has declared himself king, and lives with his family. His mother, Deliria (Hannah Waddington) is a goddess, kicked out of Olympus and his father Shlub (Matt Berry) is a mantitaur, part human, part lion, and part scorpion. His sister Stupendous (Pam Murphy) is a cyclops with a patch where her right eye should be* and his brother Hippocampus (Duncan Trussell) has the head of a fish kept inside a fishbowl, with a baby walker ro move his weak body around.

Tyrannis lacks self-confidence, even though he's trying to do something special with the city. Schlub is only interested in sex and drinking, and isn't subtle about it at all.  Deliria is completely self-centered and doesn't care about mere mortals. Stupendous is a warrior, while Hippocampus is a scientist, whose schemes aren't appreciated until they're needed.

The show stars two of my favorite actors. Richard Ayoade came to my attention as Moss in The IT Crowd, as a clueless computer nerd. Matt Berry is a very busy actor, usually playing bombastic roles. He came to my attention in Snuff Box and later in Toast of London and seems to be showing up all over the place.

The show also covers contemporary issues like the problems with social media as a hydra** acts in that capacity.

As of this writing, the show is still in production. Give it a look.

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*An eye is painted on it.

**Voiced by D'arcy Cardin of The Good Place.

My Life is Murder (TV)

 

(2019-2024)
Created by Claire Tonkin, Rick Maier
Starring Lucy Lawless, Ebony Vagulans, Tatam Warren_Ngata, Marting Henderson
IMDB Entry

There's a lot of TV outside of the US and the UK and when you stumble upon something with a well-known actress in the lead, it requires a closer look. My Life is Murder is a gem from Austrailia/New Zealand, a cozy mystery with sharp writing and strong characters.

Alexa Crowe (Lucy Lawless) is a retired cop who is still a sharp investigator and is hired by the police as a consultant to look into crimes that seem a bit fishy. Alexa is assisted by Madison Feliciano (Ebony Vabulans), a computer hacker who finds information online.

The mysteries are cleverly wrought, but the big reason for watching the show is Lucy Lawless* as Alexa. She smart, clever, and witty, something of a pain, but willing to put herself on the line to solve the case. Ebony Vabulans is also excellent and the dialog between the two is always a joy.

In the third season, they added Beth (Tatum Warren-Ngata), a friend of Madison's, who takes over when she is away and become part of the team. The third season also adds Will Crowe (Martin Henderson) as Alexa's ne'er-do-well brother.

The first season was set in Melbourne, Australia, but Alexa and Madison move to Aukland, NZ for the second season. Lucy Lawless is a New Zealander, and I suspect that had a lot do to with the move. A nice little touch is the way the title of the show is displayed in each episode as part of the background.

The show is on Acorn TV and -- if you're library offers it -- Hoopla. It's a charming little detective show that's a lot of fun.

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*I knew her from Xena, of course, and didn't realize she was a natural blonde.

No Good Deed (TV)

 

(2024)
Created by Liz feldman
Starring Lisa Cardellini, O-T Fagbenie, Abbi Jacobson, Lisa Kudrow, Denis Leary, Poppy Liu, Teyonah Paris, Ray Romano, Luke Wilson, Anna Maria Horsford

IMDB Entry

I sometimes wonder the decision process for categorizing a show on a streaming service. I've seen thing flopping because the expectations in the promotional material mislead audiences. No Good Deed is a prime example.  

It's billed as a dark comedy, and while there are quite a few darkly comic moments, it's better described as a mystery and a drama.

It's centered around Paul and Lydia Morgan (Ray Romano, Lisa Kudrow), who are trying to sell their house.  Lydia was a concert pianist, but has developed tremors that make playing impossible.  Three couples are introduced looking over the house. JD Campbell (Luke Wilson) is an out-of-work soap opera actor whose wife Margo (Linda Cardelli) is having an affair. Leslie Fisher (Abbi Jacobson), a prosecutor, and Sarah Webber (Poppy Liu), a doctor, are a couple looking to move up. Dennis Sampson (O-T Fagbenie) is a best-selling author who is suffering from writer's block*; his wife Carla (Teyonah Parris) is pregnant and worried that Dennis's overbearing mother (Anna Maria Horsford) might come to live with them. Paul and Lydia are also visited by Paul's ex-con brother Mikey (Denis Leary), who is clearly up to no good, and plays a little blackmail game on them.

The concept doesn't seem like much, but the key to understanding it is that everyone has secrets they're keeping from their partner.  Some are small; others are enormous and everything centers around selling the house.

The main plot line involves why Paul and Lydia are selling the house, a mystery that is slowly revealed (and solved) as the show goes on. Most of the humor depends on plot twists, so there aren't a lot of laughs throughout (especially when we learn more about Paul and Lydia), but when there is one, it's a big one.

I've liked Lisa Kudrow as an actress since I saw her in The Opposite of Sex.  This is primarily a dramatic role; there's a scene in the final episode where she is spectacularly good. Ray Romano also shows some strong acting chips and the entire cast is wonderful. Lisa Cardinelli has a great presence also. Denis Leary also shows a great deal of depth as his character is not what he seems.

The story is extremely well-written, both in character and plot. It unfolds the mystery slowly, but it's not just finding the perpetrator, but is shows how it affects the people involved.**

No Good Deed is on Netflix, and deserves a binge.

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*Authors in movies often have this problem.

**I noticed a nice bit of foreshadowing in the first episode, and the title is a clever bit of wordplay

Naked Alibi

 (1954)
Directed by Jerry Hopper
Written by Lawrence Roman, from a story by Gladys Atwater and J. Robert Bren
Starring Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame, Gene Barry
IMDB Entry

I've been impressed by Sterling Hayden from when I first saw Dr. Strangelove. And Gloria Grahame was absolutely delightful as Ado Annie in the film version of Oklahoma! But neither had the type of career that made them stars. Naked Alibi allows them both to showcase their talents.

Joe Conroy (Sterling Hayden) is police chief in a small California city.  After a string of robberies, Albert Willis (Gene Barry) looks like a suspect and, under interrogation, he punches a cop. The cop punches back and they are separated, but not until after Willis vows revenge. The cop is shot; Willis is the obvious suspect, but he falls down trying to escape. Police brutality is alleged. Then two more cops are shot. Conroy goes after Willis, but there's another fight in front of a reporter and, due to the complaints about brutality, Conroy is fired. 

He's still certain that Willis is guilty and follows him down to Border City.*  Willis is there to meet his mistress Marianna (Gloria Grahame). Conroy is mugged and taken into an apartment to recover. Marianna lives in the building and comes to help him. She learns that Willis is married and the two of them work together to get the evidence that will connect Willis with the murders. 

Hayden is excellent as the hero, with some of the same qualities that made him effective as Jack D. Ripper and in The Long Goodbye. He's intense and obsessed with catching Willis. Grahame shows a neat vulnerability and is utterly charming throughout.

It's strange to see Gene Barry in the role as a sociopath. His TV persona was much more genial, but he does a great job of turning mean.

Chuck Connors has a small role as a cop. Connors was a two-sport pro athlete** who, while playing for the Los Angeles Angels (the minor league team), started getting small roles in films and quit sports for acting, eventually becoming a TV star.

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*Much like Los Robles in Touch of Evil, though with fewer Mexicans.

**He played for both the Chicago Cubs and Boston Celtics.

Lepke

 

(1975)
Directed by Menahem Golan
Screenplay by Wesley Lau, Tamar Hoffs
Starring Tony Curtis, Anajanette Cromer, Michael Callan, Vic Tayback, Vaughn Meader
IMDB Entry

I can't believe it took me so long to get around to Lepke. I  like gangster films, and this one was special for me. I had sat in the electric chair prop used in the movie, but now that I got a chance* I discovered that it was an interesting depiction, and a fine role for Tony Curtis.

The movie is a biography of the gangster Louis "Lepke" Buchalter,  a petty thief who eventually becomes the head of Murder Incorporated. Lepke is ruthless and a stone killer, starting out in the protection racket. He eventually becomes the head of it, and starts to branch out. If someone gets in the way, they don't last for very long. 

But Buchalter is a loving family man, kind to his wife Bernice Meyer (Anajanette Comer) and friends with the lawyer Robert Kane (Michael Callan), who is completely honest and goes to work for the FBI.  Eventually, through the work of J. Edgar Hoover and Thomas Dewey, Buchalter is sent to the electric chair in Sing Sing.

This is a strong role for Tony Curtis. He originally was just considered a pretty boy who couldn't act,** but managed to confound the critics and pick up roles now considered classic. Here he gets to play a psychopath, and is fascinating. Though the attempts so soften him by making him a loving husband and father don't really ring true. Anajanette Comer manages to sell the idea that she loves him despite his flaws. Milton Berle has a small role as Bernice's father, who doesn't trust Lepke. 

An interesting member of the cast was Vaughan Meader as reporter Walter Winchell. Meader was the man behind the smash record hit, The First Family, a series of skits parodying John F. Kennedy. After the assassination, Meader had no career. This was his only real film role, as he imitated Whichell, a famous reporter in his day.

Screenwriter Wesley Lau is well known to fans of Perry Mason. He played Lt. Anderson, the main homicide detective when Ray Collins couldn't continue.

The movie was produced by director Menaham Golan with his cousin Yoram Globus. This was an attempt to do a prestige film and he was willing to take on people who were pariahs in Hollywood, which is why Curtis (who was having trouble getting roles) and Meader took part. The film was supposed to be the first in a series of gangster films, but the genre's day had passed. One more was made -- a comedy -- but Golan and Globus's Cannon Films did a lot of schlock in the 70s and 80s*** and the occasional prestige film.

The reason the movie connects with me is that Lepke was a distant relative of mine. The connection added much to my enjoyment.

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*No thanks to Youtube, who interrupted it for ads every sixty seconds (literally; I kept track).

**"Yonda lies the castle of my fadder."

***Breaking 2: Electric Boogaloo

A Stranger in Town

 

(1943)
Directed by Roy Rowland
Written by Isobel Lennart, William Kozienko
Starring Frank Morgan, Richard Carlson, Jean Rogers, Porter Hall, Robert Barrat
IMDB Entry

"Film noir" is an imprecise term, and grows more imprecise as time goes by. It originally designated a dark film, both in lighting and in theme, usually about a man laid low by an evil woman.* Later, it developed films involving crime and private eyes.  Now, all too often, it just means a black-and-white movie. I tend to look to films that are billed as film noir for my posts, and came across A Stranger in Town, which has very little darkness, but is a surprisingly good movie.

John Grant (Frank Morgan) is a U.S. Supreme Court justice. The court term ends and he goes off on a duck hunting expedition, telling his secretary Lucy Gilbert (Jean Rogers) that he will be going incognito to avoid the press. While hunting, the local game warden asks for his license and informs him that, though the state license he shows is legitimate, he needs a special license to hunt in the town. The warden makes a deal: if Grant gives him five dollars, he'll overlook the violation and give him the license. Grant doesn't reveal his identity and refuses to pay the bribe; he's taken to court and fined $100.

While waiting, he sees lawyer Bill Adams (Richard Carlson) try to get justice for a man who is about to lose his farm.  The corrupt Judge Austin Harkley (Porter Hall) will have none of it. Adams is planning to run against the boss of the town, Mayor Connison (Robert Barrat) and Grant decides to help him out. He asks Lucy to come to town and she meets cute with Bill.** Despite harassment and other tricks, Grant reveals his identity and Connison is taken down.

Frank Morgan was, of course, the Wizard of Oz and in the early scenes it's hard not to think he's being a giant humbug again. The part here is similar to the kindly version of  the wizard at the end of that film. Richard Carlson reached fame in science fiction films of the 50s, most notably in It Came from Outer Space and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Jean Rogers also has a connection with science fiction as Dale Arden in the early Flash Gordon serials with Buster Crabbe.  Porter Hall is also a familiar movie face as the evil Sawyer in Miracle on 34th Street.

The film is far to lighthearted to be considered noir, but it is a charming little movie with a message of the need to fight against corruption.

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*Double Indemnity is the prototype.

**An extended sequence of disasters that should make her stay well away from him. But we know better, don't we?

They Never Come Back

 

(1932)
Directed by Fred C. Newmeyer
Written by Arthur Hoerl, Sherman L. Lowe
Starring Regis Toomey, Dorothy Sebastian, Edward Woods, Greta Granstedt, Earle Foxe, Gertrude Astor
IMDB Entry

In the 1930s, boxing was America's most popular professional sport next to baseball so there were a lot of boxing movies. They Never Come Back stays away from the cliches that marked boxing movies* to come up with something different.

Jimmy Nolan (Regis Toomey) is a successful prizefighter, but just before a bout, he gets a telegram telling him his mother has died. Distraught, he goes into the ring and manages to win, but he tears a ligament in his arm and is not cleared to box again. He brings his sister Mary to the city and he manages to get a job working for at Jerry Filmore's (Earle Foxe) nightclub. He becomes close to Adele Landon (Dorothy Sebastian), Filmore's girl. When money is stolen, Jimmy becomes the prime suspect and is arrested when he is found with the money; he believes Filmore has framed him for his interest in Adele.  Mary visits him in prison and also falls in love with Ralph Landon (Edward Woods). When Jimmy is released, he discovers that the money was stolen by Landon because he owed it to Filmore. Because Landon is in love with Mary, Jimmy decides to find the money and the most convenient way was to take part in a boxing match, despite the risk.

The story is fairly sophisticated for its time. Toomey, who later became a successful character actor in TV, was a leading man of the time, but never a star. Dorothy Sebastian is best known today starring with Buster Keaton, most notably for the routine when he tries to get her into bed once she's passed out drunk.**

Director Fred C. Newmeyer directed several Harold Lloyd films, notably his classic Safety Last."

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*"In the third round, you're taking a dive."

**It's hard to write the description these days without people getting the wrong impression. Sebastian plays his wife and Keaton is just trying to get her into a place to sleep. No sex is suggested or implied. Keaton loved the routine and re-created it elsewhere.

The Last Detective (TV)

(2004-2007)
Created by Leslie Thomas
Written by Richard Harris
Starring Peter Davison, Sean Hughes, Emma Amos, Tob Spendlove, Elizabeth Bennett
IMDB Entry

The British love their mysteries. I keep coming up with programming that feature a detective -- professional or amateur -- who solves crimes, usually murders.  Since I'm a big fan of Doctor Who, I definitely wanted to see Peter Davison in The Last Detective.

"Dangerous" Davies (Peter Davison) is a police detective who is scorned for being a nice guy, unwilling to be cruel to the people he arrests.* After the events of the first episode, he's even more scorned by the police, who make him the low man in the office, only assigned to the crimes that no one else thinks are important. But Davies is a dogged investigated underneath his mild exterior, letting him discover crimes that are more complicated than first thought.

His personal life is messy. His wife Julie (Emma Amos) is divorcing him, but is only separated and still seems close, even if she does sleep with other men.** The other detectives treat him like a joke, and his boss, Ray Aspinal (Rob Spendlove) shows his contempt. His one friend in Mod Lewis (Sean Hughes), a pseudointellectual and overall flake who can't seem to hold a job.  Also of note in the early shows is his landlady, Mrs. Fulljames (Elizabeth Bennett***), who has a great and annoying fondness for Rogers and Hammerstein.

Davies suffers from contempt from all quarters, but soldiers on. Davison is excellent as a man too mild-mannered to object to the abuse and jokes, but who still goes about solving the crimes.

I was delighted to spot Sian Phillips -- Livia from I, Claudius -- in one of the episodes.

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*The name is ironic.  His actual first name was never revealed.

**In the first episode, one comes to her house when he leaving, which leads to a mildly awkward conversation.

***Best known to me for her role in The Sandbaggers.

The Emperor Jones

 (1933)
Directed by Dudley Murphy
Written by DuBose Heyward, based on the play by Eugene O'Neill
Starring Paul Robeson, Dudley Diggs, Frank H. Wilson
IMDB Entry

Some actors are legends, and in some cases, this is because few have seen them. Paul Robeson was certainly the best Black actor of the 1930s and 40s,* but Hollywood of that era being what it was, he didn't get many opportunities to star. The Emperor Jones, while technically not a Hollywood film, is one of those few, and he shows how spectacular an actor he could be.

Brutus Jones (Paul Robeson) is hired to be a Pullman porter, but he quickly goes onto the wrong path, gambling and carrying on with various women. During a crap game, he accidently kills Jeff (Frank H. Wilson) and is sent to work on a chain gang.  He strikes and kills a guard who is beating another prisoner, and goes on the run, getting a job as a stoker on a steamship. When it passes a Caribbean island, he jumps ship and joins up with the trader Smithers (Dudley Digges) who helps him to become ruler of the Island. Power goes to his head, until he is deposed and his descends into madness.

The movie is a classical tragedy of a man destroyed by his hubris. Robeson is definitely impressive and you get the impression he would have made a great heroic actor if times were different. Digges is also impressive and the scheming trader who realizes that Jones has gone too far -- but can't convince him of that.

Despite its origin as a play by one of America's greatest playwrights, Hollywood wasn't interested in filming it due to the all-Black cast,** so a couple of independent producers took it up. The movie flopped, though, probably because it wouldn't play in Southern theaters. There is also some scenes and words that are problematic these days.

On a larger level, there is a lot on condescension and clear racial attitudes of the time that wouldn't fly today (and shouldn't have flown even back then), so it can be difficult to watch these days.***  But Robson is a compelling presence throughout and it was worth it to see him in a leading role.

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*He also was an All-American football player.

**Smithers is the only white character of note.

***Though not even in the same ballpark as Wonder Bar.

The Yesterday Machine

 

(1963)
Written and Directed by Russ Marker
Starring Tim Holt, James Britton, Ann Pellegrino, Linda Jenkins, Jack Herman, Jay Ramsey, Olga Powell
IMDB Entry

Hollywood is cruel. It's the "what have you done lately?" attitude: if you had a few flops, or if you're growing older, you can end up forgotten. Tim Holt was a successful cowboy actor in the 30s and 40s, and appeared in four legitimate classics, but by the 50s, his star had faded.** He ended up taking roles in low-budget films and one of his final appearances was in The Yesterday Machine.

Howie Ellison (Jay Ramsey) and cheerleader*** Sandy Del Mar (Ann Pellegrino) have their car break down on the way to a football game. Looking for help, they are shot at by a pair of Confederate soldiers. Howie gets help, but Sandy remains missing.  Reporter Jim Crandell (James Britton), aided to Police lieutenant Fred Partane (Tim Holt) track them down to a secluded farmhouse, the headquarters of ex-Nazi scientist Professor Ernst von Hauser.**** Von Hauser has invented a time machine and it planning to go back to save Hitler.*****

The movie is pretty pedestrian and the acting no more than serviceable.  Of note is Olga Powell as Didiyama, an Egyptian slave of the pharaohs, who von Hauser has brought back.

Holt only appears in a handful of scenes, lending his name to be the only recognizable star. The movie was a local production, where small studios would make a film for small theaters far from the big cities and most of the actors appeared in nothing else. The film is certainly not a classic, but still manages to be entertaining.

As for Tim Holt, this was pretty much the end of the line. He had a guest spot a few years later on The Virginian, and appeared in one more film before his death. 

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*Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, The Magnificent Ambersons, and  The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

**Despite the fact that Westerns were a big thing.

***The film begins with a pre-credit sequence of her twirling a baton for no particular reason.

****The fall of the Third Reich created vast unemployment among mad scientists.

*****Of course.

Mrs. Sidhu Investigates

 

(2013)
Created by Suk Pannu
Starring Meera Syal, Craig Parkenson, Naana Agyei Ampadu, Gurjeet Singh, Gordon Kennedy
IMDB Entry

My local library includes a subscription to Hoopla, which lets you read books online. It also has some television show, mostly British mysteries, and that's where I discovered Mrs. Sidhu Investigates.

Mrs. Sidhu (Meera Syal) is a widow and runs a catering company. She is a woman in her 50s, of Bengali descent, and turns out to be an excellent chef, finding jobs all over Slough and its environs. And when she shows up, there's usually a murder.

Mrs. Sidhu is smart and very observant, and uses he cooking skills to give goodies to witnesses to get them to open up to her. She then reports to DCI Burton (Craig Parkinson), who finds her meddling annoying, but is willing to listen to her findings even as he tells her to get off the case.  Burton is aided by Sergeant Mint (Naana Agyei Ampadu) and is pushed by his boss Superintendent De Vries (Gordon Kennedy). Mrs. Sidhu is aided (reluctantly) by her feckless son Tez (Gurjeet Singh).

The stories are well constructed, but for any mystery these days, it's the personalities that make it work. Mrs. Sidhu is bright, bubbly, and relentless in solving the crime. DCI Burton is morose, more so because he's just divorced and recently blew an important case. The contrast between the characters makes the show more interesting.

There's some very good writing. Mrs. Sidhu is introduced as planning a catering for a wedding. The bride and groom are there. The bride refuses one of her dishes, saying she doesn't like fish. When urged to eat it, she finds it delicious. Mr.s Sidhu also observes that she doesn't love her husband and wishes the marriage wouldn't happen. Very quickly we learn she's a great cook, and that she's a shrew judge of people.

Meera Syal is a successful UK actress. She originated the role in a series of radio dramas, and is sometimes credited as a consultant/writer for the episodes. Her role is full of charm. Craig Parkinson was one of the social workers in Misfits and is a very similar character here. Naana Agyei Ampadu shows a lot of quiet wisdom as Mint; she can see how useful Mrs. Sidhu can be, but also understand Burton. Gurjeet Singh makes a great slacker.

There has only been one season of four episodes. I hope they do more.

Murder in Suburbia (TV)

 

(2004-05)
Created by Nick Collins
Starring  Caroline Catz, Lisa Faulkner, Jeremy Sheffield
IMDB Entry

I've been watching a lot of British mysteries of late and recently I stumbled onto Murder in Suburbia, a short-lived series about crimes in suburban settings.

It follows the adventures of detectives Kate "Ash" Ashurst (Caroline Catz) and Emma "Scribbs" Scribbins (Lisa Faulkner), who investigate murders that show up the dark side of the suburban scene: wife swapping, adultery, noisy neighbors, dog lovers, school administration, and old-age homes.

The mysteries are well plotted, but the strength of the series is in the two leads, whose banter is alway a pleasure to listen to. There's also a minor thread about them wondering about the background of their boss, Jeremy Sullivan (Jeremy Sheffield), who keeps his private life a secret.

You can spot a young Olivia Coleman in one of the later episodes, but there aren't a lot of big names in it (though Catz did seem to make a mark later in Doc Martin.

Condemned to Live

 

(1935)
Directed by Frank R. Strayer
Written by Karen DeWolf
Starring Ralph Morgan, Maxine Doyle, Mischa Auer, Pedro de Cordoba
IMDB Entry

One of the charms of vampire stories are that they are so mutable. You can take the basic idea of a human that drinks blood in the night and add and remove whatever elements you like. Condemned to Live is an early film example of a vampire legend that strays from the common tropes.

The film starts out with a short scene of a couple of explorers, including a pregnant woman, in South America hiding in a cave from the natives and a mention of the vampire bats. Then we go forward to a small village where young women are being murdered. They blame bats, but Professor Kristan (Ralph Morgan) pooh poohs the idea saying that there is a reasonable explanation. The people stay indoors at night, with plenty of candles. Still, the murders continues and we learn that the professor turns into a killer at night, and wakes up with no memory of the events. His faithful assistant, the hunchback Zan (Mischa Auer) knows of the transformation, and makes sure that all evidence is removed. He confesses his affliction to Dr. Bizet (Pedro de Cordoba), who speculates it was because his mother was bitten by a vampire while in South America. Kristan fears for the safety of his fiance Marguerite (Maxine Doyle), but events conspire to have her outside in the dark when Kristan is hunting.

The story is slow-paced, but is interesting in that Kristan doesn't revel in the killing and, once he discovers what's happening, tries to do his best to fight against it. Most of the elements of vampire films are missing -- no drinking of blood, no turning into a bat -- but the result is still interesting, especially as it shows Kristan as a man tormented by what he turns into, usually the theme of werewolf movies.

None of the actors are known to me other that Mischa Auer, which is a strange casting.  Auer was a tall man (6'2"), so seeing him as a hunchback is more than out of character, though, to be fair, he does a good job of scrunching down.

Director Frank Strayer had a long career as director of B pictures, most notably the Blondie series.

The film was produced by the delightfully named "Invincible Pictures," which turned out to be very vincible and was absorbed soon after into Republic Pictures, a purveyor of cheap programmers.

My Man Godfrey

 

(1936)
Directed by Gregory La Cava
Written by Morrie Ryskind, Eric Hatch
Starring William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Jean Dixon, Eugene Pallette, Alan Mowbray, Mischa Auer
IMDB Entry

I've been a fan of William Powell for a long time. He had a nice ironic sense of humor and plenty of suave charm. Of course, he's best known for his turn as Nick Charles in the Thin Man series, but there were plenty of other opportunities to enjoy his performance.  My Man Godfrey,  while very successful in its day, seems to have taken a back seat, but he's as good in this as in anything else.

Godfrey Smith (Powell) is living in the city dump, the refuge for a large contingent of homeless men. He is approached by Cornelia Bullock (Gail Patrick) as part of a scavenger hunt, where rich people amuse themselves by gathering odd items, in this case, a forgotten man.* When he's offered $5, he refuses. Cornelia's sister, Irene (Carole Lombard) is amused and glad that her spoiled older sister isn't getting what she wants. Godfrey decides to help Irene get some petty revenge of Cornelia by agreeing to be the forgotten man.**

Irene takes her home and hired him to be their new butler. Godfrey meets the family: exasperated father Alexander (Eugene Pallette), scatterbrained mother Angela (Alice Brady), Cornelia, Irene, and Angela's protege Carlo (Mischa Auer), who's biggest talent is his appetitive.

Godfrey is the perfect butler, keeping calm and quiet as the family goes about its madness.*** Meanwhile, Irene falls in love, Cornelia tried to discredit him, and, it turns out, Godfrey is not telling the truth about his past.

There are a lot of similarities between Godfrey and Nick Charles, and Powell definitely carries the movie. Lombard is especially good, too: ditzy without being stupid, and extremely charming. It's too bad her life was cut short; she could be become a icon of comedy.

Movies of the 30s often cast people according to stereotypes, and this was no exception. Alice Brady is fine as the ever more scatterbrained mother of Irene, and Eugene Pallett -- of the raspy voice -- makes a great icon of comic frustration. Mischa Auer was known for playing the wild-eyed Russian. Franklin Pangborn and Grady Sutton were foils to W.C. Fields in The Bank Dick.

Gail Patrick had the most interesting career. She grew tired of playing second-fiddle roles and left acting to go into producing. Years after the film, she became producer of Perry Mason (as Gail Patrick Jackson).

The movie is a classic of the screwball comedy genre.

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*A 1930s designation for people unemployed due to the Depression.

** Irene's description is comic gold:  "Well, a scavenger hunt is exactly like a treasure hunt, except in a treasure hunt you try to find something you want, and in a scavenger hunt you try to find something that nobody wants.... and the one who wins gets a prize, only there really isn't a prize. It's just the honor of winning, because all the money goes to charity, that is, if there is any money left over, but there never is."

***The family reminds me of the Vanderhoff's in You Can't Take it With You. The movie came out a couple of months before the play opened, so it's possible Kauffman and Hart used it as an influence. Interestingly, the movie version also featured Mischa Auer.

I Was a Shoplifter

 (1950)
Directed by Charles Lamont
Written by Irwin Gielgud
Starring Scott Brady, Mona Freeman, Andrea King, Tony Curtis
IMDB Entry

The title I Was a Shoplifter is an odd one. The structure portends some sort of big event, but when you get to the final word, it disappoints.* Shoplifting is usually a pretty minor crime.** Still, the movie ends up being quite good despite it.

It starts with a narrator talking about the crime of shoplifting, then we see Faye Burton (Mona Freeman) moving suspiciously through a department stores, gaining the attention of store security and Jeff Andrews (Scott Brady), who warns her she's being watched. When she leaves, she is picked up, and Andrews is, too.  Faye is daughter of a judge and doesn't want the incident known. She signs a confession, which the store will keep on file and use against her if she's caught again, and she is let go. 

Once she leaves,  Jeff comes out. He's an undercover cop pretending to shoplift. There has been a ring working the city, recruiting young shoplifters -- usually woman -- who get caught, and then manipulate them into shoplifting for them, promising to steal the confession.  Jeff wants to break of the ring.

Ina Purdue (Andrea King) approaches Faye and brings her into the gang and Jeff, who has been keeping an eye on her, volunteers to also join the gang. 

The movie becomes a tutorial for shoplifting tricks, and soon Faye is set up to do her first job.  But things go wrong. There's a chase scene that doesn't go the way you would predict, and a search to find the real mastermind of the ring. And, of course, Jeff and Faye fall in love.

The most notable performance is that of Andrea King. Ina is a very smart woman -- probably smarter than Jeff. You can't put much over on her, and there is a particularly good scene where she explains that they have no way of escaping the police, so their smart move is to just surrender.

Tony Curtis has a small role as Pepe, one of the gang's thugs. It was his fifth credited role.  Larry Keating, who plays the store owner, later became familiar as Wilbur Post's neighbor in Mister Ed.

The movie is surprisingly good and Andrea King probably should have become a bigger star than she was.

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*Compare it to I was a Teenage Werewolf of I was a Communist for the FBI.

**Yes, I'm aware of the big shoplifting rings that are in operation today, but most shoplifters tend to pick up a couple of items.

The Chase

 
(1946)
Directed by Arthur Ripley
Written by Philip Yordan
Starring Robert Cummings, Michele Morgan, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre, Jack Holt
IMDB Entry

Sometimes you can see when a movie goes off the rails. What seems like an excellent film falls apart in just one scene. The Chase is obscure, but could have been much better if it weren't for a cliche that even beginning writers are told not to do.  Which is too bad, because it could have been a great one.

Chuck Scott (Robert Cummings) is a down-on-his-luck veteran who stumbles upon a wallet with a considerable amount of money in it. Starving, he buys a meal, and, finding a name inside, he decides to bring it back to its owner, Eddie Roman (Steve Cochran). Roman is impressed by his honesty (Scott admitted he did buy a meal with the money) and hires him on as a chauffeur. We learn that Roman is a ruthless gangster who, aided by his henchman Gino (Peter Lorre), murders a competitor by locking him up with his vicious dog. Scott doesn't know about it, but begins to suspect that Roman is no good. Scott begins to drive Roman's wife Lorna (Michele Morgan), who tells him of her bitterness and her desire to visit Havana. 

They make plans to leave that night, and soon find themselves in Cuba. But Lorna is murdered and Scott is framed to be the killer. Gino is there, and goes all out in the frame.  It's a tense and fascinating situation.  

And then, Scott wakes up. The trip to Havana was all a dream. They hadn't left yet.

This is what I meant by a cliche.  "It was all a dream" was hackneyed years before the movie came out, and is one of the first things they tell beginning writers to avoid. It destroys the first-class tension and sense of paranoia the movie had built up.

They try to rationalize it. Scott calls his psychiatrist (Jack Holt) who's been treating him for PTSD* and the many nightmares he's been having. But Scott realizes there is still time to get Lorna and escape.

I also found the ending too much of a deus ex machina. It doesn't come out of the blue, but it is too convenient.

Robert Cummings is best known as light comedian, but before TV, he played a similar role in Hitchcock's classic Saboteur. He makes Scott an everyman who is caught up in a sinister web. 

Peter Lorre is Peter Lorre, though he plays the role with quiet sinisterism. Steve Cochran was often cast as a gangster, including roles in Danny Kaye vehicles and in White Heat. Writer Philip Yordan was a pretty busy man and acted as a front for several blacklisted writers in the 50s.

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*Not that they called it that back then.,

Foyle's War (TV)

 

2002-2015
Created and Written by Anthony Horowitz
Starring Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell
IMDB Entry

I've been watching a lot of TV now that I'm retired, and a big part of it are British mysteries. The BBC and the other channels have a menu of top-notch mysteries, often cozy that turn out to be excellent. I came upon Foyle's War and am loving it.

The show follows Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen), the chief detective of the police in Hastings in the UK. The show is set during World War II. Foyle would prefer to be fighting, but is not called up. Instead, he solves mysteries and murders with the background of the war creating roadblocks. The show is praised for its accurate portray of life during that time -- the fear during the Blitz, the profiteering, the rationing, and the conflict of the investigations with the needs of the war effort.  Foyle is assisted by his driver, Samantha Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks*) and Sgt. Paul Milner (Anthony Howell), who lost a leg at Dunkirk and this cannot serve again.

The episodes were each set in a specific month during the war and shows what life on the home front actually was. 

The war adds an extra dimension to the stories but the show is carried by Kitchen's performance. Foyle is motivated in finding justice, and doesn't give up even when it carries him into places where the military doesn't want him. He had a nicely sardonic streak when he tears apart people's excuses with a quiet sarcastic comment, but he's never afraid to show compassion when it's warranted.

Honeysuckle Weeks plays Sam as a fairly independent woman, who does more than drive, and discovers things to help Foyle figure things out.  Anthony Howell is an able assistant, but loses some of his personality as the show progresses and he adapts to his prosthetic.

The show was created by Anthony Horowitz, the same guy who created the most successful of British mystery shows, Midsomer Murders, and has many of the same qualities.  Various guest stars appeared, including two future Doctor Whos.  

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* I love that name.

The Road to Ruin

(1934)
Directed by Melville Shyer, Mrs. Wallace Reid (Dorothy Davenport)
Written by Mrs. Wallace Reid (Dorothy Davenport)
Starring Helen Foster, Neil Monroe, Glen Boles, Virginia True Boardman, Richard Tucker
IMDB Entry

Dorothy Davenport was a woman with a mission. She was an actress and married Wallace Reid, who was became a major silent film star in the last teens. Sadly, Reid developed an addiction to morphine after an injury and died in 1923, shocking Hollywood* Davenport, who had dropped out of acting to raise her children, started directing and producing message films, beginning with one on morphine addiction and billed herself as "Mrs. Wallace Reid" to get authenticity. One of these was The Road to Ruin.**

Ann Dixon (Helen Foster) is a high school girl who starts to hang out with her friend Eve Monroe (Nell O'Day). Evel is wild, hanging out with boys, smoking cigarettes, and drinking and Ann gets drawn into it all. She starts to date Tommy (Glen Boles) and, one night when they go to a lake to party, she loses her virginity to him.*** Ann becomes further mixed up with the bad eggs, and one night, Ralph Bennett (Paul Page), a man in his twenties, seduces her away from Tommy. There is another wild party, where the women are enticed to play a form of strip dice and swim in a pool. The cops arrive. Taken to the hospital, they discover that Eve has syphilis and Ann is pregnant. Ann goes to an abortionist,**** but the surgery is botched and she dies.

One odd thing is the three musical numbers in the movie. Very strange, given the downbeat tone of the film, but in 1934, musicals were expected.

The move is not crazily sensationalist like Reefer Madness and the code makes it oblique and tame, but it's an interesting document of how the keepers of morality saw young women at the time.

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*News of the addiction was kept under wraps.

**There are three versions of it -- a silent one in 1928, a reissue with dialog in 1929, and a full sound version in 1934. I'll be talking about the latter.

***I think. Since the film was post-code, and Davenport wanted it to be seen by conservative audiences, it's a bit vague on exactly what went on. But Ann is clearly regretful and Tommy tries to console her.

****They dance around what's going on, and never mention the word.

Seventh Heaven

 

(1937)
Directed by Henry King
Written by Melville Baker, from a play by Austin Strong
Starring Simone Simon, James Stewart, Jean Hersholt, Gale Sondergaard
IMDB Entry

Sometimes old time Hollywood did casting that seems nonsensical to modern audiences, after we get used to a particular actor's type of performance. Seventh Heaven is a perfect example of this, but still manages to be a very good movie.

Chico (Jimmy Stewart) is a sewer cleaner in 1914 Paris, who hopes to be promoted to be a street washer. But one day he sees Diane (Simone Simon) being beaten by her sister Nana (Gale Sondergaard). He jumps in to save her and learns she has nowhere to go.* Chico takes her to his apartment. He is a gentleman towards her and sleeps the night at a friends. Chico is very opinionated and declares himself an atheist and Diane asks him to visit Father Chevillon (Jean Hersholt), who indulges him. The relationship between Chico and Diane deepens, and, when he is drafted, the proposes and they marry. But going into the trenches makes it all uncertain.

First of all, it's pretty hard to think of Stewart as a Frenchman named Chico. He has all the mannerisms that made him a star, and it's too much of a jump to see him as anything other but James Stewart. Still, he handles the full-on romantic role well

Simone Simon, is more believable as a Frenchwoman, mostly because she was French. Here she plays a wounded little bird character, who has suffered and strives to be happy, unable to believe her good luck in finding Chico. She had been brought to the US, but her career never took off, partly because she developed the reputation of being temperamental. She said it had to do with her adjustment to American society, but she never became a major star, though she did make an impression in Cat People, playing a similar troubled character.

Gale Sondergaard won an early Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and is best known for playing sultry and intimidating woman. She is far from sultry here -- the madam of a bordello who beats Diane for not acquiescing to her clients' desires. 

A couple of familiar names have bit parts. Sig Ruman -- the Marx Brothers' foil in A Night at the Opera and other films -- shows up as a customer of the bordello who gets upset when Diane rejects his advances. John Hamilton -- Perry White from The Adventures of Superman -- plays a gendarme, but it's easy to miss him.

The movie is a remake of a very early talkie (or, rather, a silent film with sound added), which won Oscars for Best Actress, Director, and Screenplay.

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*Her sister runs what is probably a bordello, though since this is after the Hayes Code, that's kept vague.

The Locked Door

 (1929)
Directed by George Fitzmaurice
Written by George Scarborough, Earl Brown, screenplay by C. Gardner Sullivan from the play The Sign on the Door by Channing Pollock.
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Rod La Rocque, William "Stage" Boyd, Betty Bronson
IMDB Entry

The early days of talkies were a bonanza for playwrights. Hollywood needed screenplays, and what better way than to buy an already successful play and adapt it for the screen? The Locked Door is a prime example.

During Prohibition, the young and inexperienced Ann Carter (Barbara Stanwyck) accepts an invitation by Frank Devereux (Rod La Roque) for a dinner aboard a ship just outside the twelve-mile limit, so alcohol can be served. Devereaux tries to seduce her, locking her in the room with him, but the police have a pilot who surreptitiously takes the ship into US waters. It's raided and Ann and Devereaux are arrested, but jump bail.

A year and a half later, Ann is happily married to Lawrence Reagan (William "Stage" Boyd*). Reagan's sister Helen (Betty Bronson) introduces her new boyfriend -- Devereaux.** Ann warns her to stay away from him, but doesn't dare explain why. Helen plans to run away with Devereaux, and Ann goes to him to beg him to call it off. Cad that he is, he refuses. But Lawrence shows up to try to convince him otherwise.

The plot doesn't hide its stage origins -- why should it?  Most of the movie takes place in Devereaux's apartment, and I will say the ending is a bit inconvenient and out of character. 

This was Barbara Stanwyck's first credited role and she handles it quite well. She hadn't quite formed her hard-as-nails persona, though there are signs of it. Rod La Rocque was a busy leading man of the time and has the right touch of smarmy smoothness to make him an excellent cad.  William "Stage" Boyd is OK, if a bit wooden.

Two important figures have small parts. The great Zasu Pitts appears as a hotel telephone operator. She isn't given a lot to do, though she does have some amusing lines. Mack Swain was a silent film heavy, best known as Charlie Chaplin's partner in The Gold Rush.*** Adjacent to stardom was George Bunny, brother of John Bunny, one of Hollywood's first silent film comedians.

The film holds up pretty well overall and is still entertaining.

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*No connection to the actor known for playing Hopalong Cassidy. But when he was arrested for drugs, it affected the other Boyd when the photo of him was mixed up. Hoppy couldn't get work for awhile, but managed to overcome it when he took on the role that he is famous for.

**A similar plot to Indiscreet, filmed a year later.

***Snowed in, he goes mad with hunger and thinks Chaplin is a chicken.

It Happened Tomorrow

(1944)
Directed by René Clair
Written by Dudley Nicholds, René Clair, from a story by Lord Dunsany
Starring Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie, Edgar Kennedy, John Philber
IMDB Entry

René Clair was in some ways ahead of his time. Nowadays, fantasy rules the movie roost, but it was very unusual to see in silent days and in early talkies.  Clair, however, had a penchant for fantasy and, in 1944, he directed a fantasy that is still a common theme today.

It starts at the 50th wedding anniversary of Lawrence and Sylvia Stevens (Dick Powell and Linda Darnell), where they reminisce about how the first met.  Lawrence is an obit writer for a newspaper who hopes to be a reporter some day. His fellow obit writer, Pop Benson (John Philber) tell him that time is an illusion and hands him a newspaper. He puts it in his pocket without reading it and goes to a vaudeville act featuring the Great Sigolini* (Jack Oakie), a mind reader, and his daughter Sylvia (Linda Darnell), who has a clairvoyance act. Lawrence is fascinated and asks Sylvia out.  She turns him down.

The next day, he realizes he has an advance copy of today's evening paper.* The headline indicates there will be a robbery. As he argues with his editor to cover the opera, Sylvia shows up. Lawrence takes her, and, sure enough, there's a robbery.

Police Inspector Mulrooney (Edgar Kennedy) thinks Lawrence is part of the gang. He's thrown in jail, and Pop Benson shows up to give him another newspaper that clears him. But when he asks for one more in order to bet on the races, things go bad.

The situation has been used before and has been used since, but this is a charming example. The final situation is handled cleverly with a twist that is quite logical. There's also a subtle nod to Sylvia's supposed clairvoyance at the end.

Dick Powell made a career out of being charming and is excellent here.  Linda Darnell was a former child star who was a moderate success once she grew up, but who never made it to being a major star. Still, she's quite good here. Jack Oakie always plays the same time: a brash and wisecracking midwesterner*** and doesn't fail to amuse. Edgar "slow burn" Kennedy is hard to recognize in his Keystone Kop makeup. Marx Brothers foil Sig Ruman has a small part as a promoter.

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*Real name Oscar Smith

**A little explanation for the younger readers. For many years, there were morning and evening newspapers. In New York, for instance, the Times was a morning paper and the Post was an evening one.  Evening papers had the breaking news of the day, including the late sports scores. Once TV news became a thing, evening papers started struggling: TV would be even more up to date. Some papers converted to morning papers; others failed. I'd be surprised if there were any in operation nowadays.

***Even when he's the head of Bacteria.