Deathtrap

 (1977)
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Jay Presson Allen, based on a play by Ira Levin
Star5ring Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Dyan Cannon
IMDB Entry

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Sleuth, a twisty mystery starring Michael Caine and Lawrence Olivier. Deathtrap is very similar, with further twists and with Caine also in the middle of them.

Sidney Bruhl (Michael Caine) is a successful playwright who is having big trouble coming up with a new play. He confides to his wife Myra (Dyan Cannon) that he had received a manuscript from one of his students, Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve), that is a surefire hit.* Sidney comes up with the plan to invite Anderson to their house in the Hamptons and then murder him, claiming the play as his own. Myra is appalled, but soon Clifford is at their house and Sidney puts his plan into motion.

I can talk more about something like this, whose joy is in the twists of the plot. Let's just say that nothing is what it seems. Twist follows twist and the result is very entertaining.

Michael Caine is his usual first-class self. Christopher Reeve** -- just after becoming a star with Superman -- uses this opportunity to stretch his acting abilities in a role that is far different from the Man of Steel.

Like Sleuth, the movie keeps you guessing and nothing is what it seems.

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*A common plot in fiction about writers, but it never happens in real life.

**Completely irrelevant, but a friend of my wife acted in college opposite Reeve and shared a stage kiss.

Four Faces West

 

(1948)
Directed by Alfred E. Green
Written by C. Graham Baker, Teddi Sherman, William Brent, Milarde Brent from a novel by Eugene Manlove Rhodes
Starring Joel McCrea, Frances Dee, Charles Bickford, Joseph Calleia, William Conrad, Martin Garralaga
IMDB Entry

Though I was growing up in the heydey of the TV western, I wasn't all that interested in the genre. Science fiction was more my thing. But I grew to be more interested in it and have picked up on westerns that I had missed. One such film was Four Faces West, which is quite unusual.

While the new sheriff in town, the illustrious Pat Garrett (Charles Bickford) is being welcome, Ross McEwen (Joel McCrea) asks the town banker for a loan -- at gunpoint. He takes $2000 and writes out an IOU and leaves town. The banker insists on having him arrested and Garrett forms a posse.  McEwen gets aboard a train, where he meets the nurse Fay Hollister (Frances Dee*) and a romance develops. A gambler Monte Marquez (Joseph Calleia) suspects that McEwen is the robber, but doesn't mention the fact despite the large reward for his capture.

They reach Alamogordo and McEwen gets a job.  But Garrett is looking for him.  Marquez leads them off on a wild goose chase and tells McEwen to get out of town. He heads toward Mexico and might have made it, except he comes across a Mexican rancher, whose two children are very sick. McEwen sends a signal to alert Garrett.  He arrives with both Fay and Marquez, who pretend they don't know McEwen. 

The film is unusual in that no gun is ever fired. Things are settled without violence and it's more a movie about compassion than anything else.

McCrea has an interesting role. He may have robbed the bank, but he's polite and honest and starts sending back the money he stole even before the sheriff closes in.  He's clearly a decent man who was forced into the crime due to circumstances, and is really only borrowing the money he took. Frances Dee is quite good as the love interest.

Joseph Calleia is impressive as Marquez, who clearly knows the real situation, but who understands that McEwen is not an outlaw. William Conrad is among the cast as a sheriff, but isn't given a lot to do.

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*McCrea's wife.

Shanghai Express

Shanghai Express(1932)

Directed by Joseph von Sternberg
Written by Jules Furthman, Harry Hervey (Story)
Starring Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Lawrence Grant, Eugene Pallette, Louise Closser Hale
IMDB Entry

Back when I was in college, I stumbled upon Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema, his critical listing of  film directors*. He put them into categories and the top group were called "Pantheon Directors." Of the directors, the one I saw the least of was Joseph von Sternberg, so I decided to check him out with Shanghai Express.

A varied group of people get onto the train that gives the film its name. Shanghai Lily (Marlene Detrich) and Hui Fei (Anna May Wong) are prostitutes, and Lily -- real name Madeline -- had a past love affair with another passenger Captain Donald Harvey (Clive Brook). Also on the train is the mysterious Chinese merchant Henry Chang (Warner Oland); the Reverend Carmichael (Lawrence Grant), who strongly disproves of Lily and Hui Fei; Sam Salt (Eugene Pallette), and American gambler; and the fussy Mrs. Hagerty (Louise Closser Hale).

The movie introduces the character with typical 30s efficiency -- a few lines of dialog, a reaction and after a few snags, the train is stopped by revolutionaries, who demand the return of one of their own. The leader threatens to kill Captain Harvey and Lily is forced to bend to his demands.

Prostitution is front and center in the story, a sure sign this was pre-code.

Dietrich is superb. Hard on the outside, but soft inside, especially where Harvey is concerned. You can see her vaunted sex appeal in every frame.  Clive Brook is fine, though clearly doesn't have the star quality of Dietrich. Eugene Pallette had the most recognizable voice of the era and Louise Closser Hale is great comic relief as someone who never really grasps they're not in the US any more. Werner Oland is, of course, best known for his Charlie Chan film, but it's interesting that the fact he is not Chinese is explained by saying he is half a westerner. Anna May Wong cornered the market on playing Chinese women in this era**

Writer Jules Furthman was a very successful Hollywood screenwriter, with credits for Bogart films To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep, as well as Only Angels Have Wings.

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*Sarris was known for furthering the auteur theory -- that the director is the creative force behind a film. People often oversimplify what he was saying and don't really get what he meant by it. They often criticize The American Cinema by its categorizing various European directors as "Fringe Benefits," supposedly implying they aren't all that important. But Sarris was clear that since the book was about the American cinema, these directors -- who mad a few Hollywood films, but not as their primary output -- were outside the scope of the book.

**She was Chinese-American.

Sleuth

 Yes, I've been away for awhile. I've been busy running programming for the Buffalo North American Science Fiction Convention, which took up most of my time. Now that I've recovered, I will go back to my regular posts.

(1972)
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz 
Written by Anthony Shaffer from his play.
Starring Lawrence Olivier, Michael Caine, Alec Cawthorne, John Matthews, Eve Channing
IMDB Entry

Everyone loves a good plot twist, and Sleuth has more than enough to satisfy anyone looking for one.

Andrew Wyke (Lawrence Olivier), a lover of puzzles and games, invites Milo Tindle (Michael Caine) to his manor house. Milo is having an affair with Wyke's wife Marguerite (Eve Channing) and Wyke, knowing about it, tells him that that he can have her and comes up with a scheme to fake a robbery so that he can treat her in the style she is used to. It leads to serious consequences as Inspector Doppler (Alec Cawthorne) investigates Milo's murder. Wyke insists there never was a murder.

Things get complicated.

It is impossible to summarize the plot further without giving out major spoilers. Since the movie (based on a play) is chock full of twists, it's best not to mention them.

Olivier is, of course, quite good. This was when he still was at the top of his acting career, and perfectly handles the complications of character to make the plot twists work. Michael Caine is also great as Milo, a man who has more depth that it seems as first.  

The film was a big hit, and both lead actors got Oscar nominations. There was a remake a few years ago where Caine played the part of Wyke and Jude Law place Milo. I haven't seen it, but the movie was rewritten to make it a new story.