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.

____________________________________________________________

*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.

________________________________________________________________
*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.

_______________________________________________________________
*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."

______________________________________________________________________

*"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.