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Monday, November 8 4 p.m. The Long Night (1947). With Henry Fonda and Barbara Bel Geddes.

Of course The Philadelphia Story is the better film. What a cast, how can you go wrong with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart ? And even Katharine Hepburn, whom I sometimes find annoying, is perfect as Tracy Lord. I do agree that the music in High Society is pretty darn good, it's the main thing that version of the story has going for it. And in fact, that song, "True Love". is very beautiful and even moving. But so far as everything else goes, The Philadelphia Story wins, hands down. ps: It's of interest to note that George Harrison, no slouch when it came to judging timeless music, recorded a version of "True Love", I think on 33 1 /3. But then, when Cole Porter's the songwriter, it's almost a given that the song will be great.

Every time one of these posts is made, the same themes occur: Everybody's definition of "classic" varies somewhat. Just because it was made in the 1940s doesn't make it necessarily classic. There were a lot of movies made that are really not very good. On the very first day TCM went on the air, Mr. TCM himself, Robert Osborne, stated that they weren't going to restrict TCM's content to films made before the MPAA ratings era. The channel was always meant to include newer content.

You posting that a close family member had died, certainly wasn't too personal and anyone actually posting a laughing emoji on that post of yours missW, well, that's just plain mean and rude and uncalled for. That posting of a laughing emoji should be reported, nothing funny about a close family member dying. That poster needs to apologize to you and remove that laughing emoji.

...Shadowlands, 1993 Directed by Richard Attenborough Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger 2 hrs 11 min. From RottenTomatoes, the critics consensus reads, "Thanks to brilliant performances from Debra Winger and especially Anthony Hopkins, Shadowlands is a deeply moving portrait of British scholar C.S. Lewis's romance with American poet Joy Gresham." A wonderful quiet film, and a real tearjerker. Hopkins joins just a handful of actors I've seen cry real tears, closeup, from dry eyes to tears, without any cuts. They really milk the emotion for all it's worth, but it's worth a lot. full movie

TCM is releasing the movie "High Society" in theaters. This made me think of comparing "High Society" and "The Philadelphia Story". "High Society" is a later musical version of "The Philadelphia Story". For me, it's "The Philadelphia Story" hands down. I love the chemistry between Katherine Hepburn and both Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart plus Katherine Hepburn is a much better actress than Grace Kelly. I also find the age difference between Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly a bit odd. Katherine convincingly transforms her character from angry and judgemental to warm and loving and can admit that nobody's perfect. I always love watching The Philadelphia Story. The only things I really like about High Society is the music from Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby with his amazing voice singing "True Love".

Shinn, Eullalie Mackechnie--Hermione Gingold in The Music Man (Eulalie--there's a name you hear...never 😊)_

George Washington Slept Here (1942) Warner Brothers film adaption of the Kaufman and Hart stage hit comedy about a pair of Manhattanites who buy a dilapidated old house in the country and have to rebuild it served as Jack Benny's premiere film for the film studio. Ann Sheridan, then at the peak of her gobsmacking beauty, played straight lady to Benny as his wife, along with Charles Coburn as their "rich" uncle to whom the couple kowtow, Percy Kilbride repeating his stage role as a deadpan handy man and Hattie McDaniel as (what else?) the maid. The cast is very likable, though the material now seems very old hat and, at best, mildly amusing. After a while Benny's constant whining and cracks about the place (though that is a primary source of the film's humour) caused me to think "Does this guy ever do anything but complain?" Benny and Sheridan seem an odd couple, to put it mildly, but they play well together, and the actress, then in the prime of her career, was always a pleasure to watch, even if the material, which was often the case, didn't measure up to her. There were rumours that Benny and Sheridan may have had a brief affair while making this film, with Benny's wife, Mary Livingstone, confronting the actress at a party over it. Percy Kilbride's deadpan delivery adds to the film's humour. Benny, who had to work hard to get Jack Warner to hire him for the film, apparently had a difficult time keeping a straight face whenever he shared a scene with the actor. Sheridan, who was always inclined toward having a good laugh, experienced the same problem. It doesn't show in the final film screen product, though you have to assume there were plenty of re-takes. William Keighley, who had recently directed Sheridan in another adaption of a Kaufman-Hart stage property, The Man Who Came to Dinner, was at the helm of this production, as well. Due to the likability of the cast I really wish I could say this film is funnier than it is. It's still worth a look anyway. The film's set, by the way, you may recognize as that recently used in Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace. 2.5 out of 4 P.S.: Does this dog who appears in the film look like Toto? That's because it was Terry, the same cairn terrier of Wizard of Oz immortality and fame. Alas, Terry did not receive a screen credit.

David Copperfield (1935) Thunderball (1965) Death in Venice (1971) La Grande Bouffe (1973) Thelma & Louise (1991) The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) The Prestige (2006) Green Book (2018)

Rebecca (1940) It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Faces (1968) Two English Girls (1971) Serpico (1973) Chinatown (1974) Being There (1979) Unforgiven (1992) City of God (2002) Phantom Thread (2017)

I don't watch it very often because it's standard Clifford Odets overkill (in my opinion), but I really like Marilyn Monroe and Keith Andes in Clash by Night (1952). It was an early role for Marilyn in which she was a pretty girl without the glam overlay. Keith was also a newbie and that seemed to be a bond, that they weren't trying to live up to established images and could be free with each other, Their easy manner with each other was a welcome relief from the torrent of emotions around them and, frankly, they were about equal on the hotness scale, which added to their appeal as a couple. People often point to Don't Bother to Knock at Fox in the same year as an indicator of Marilyn's ability to do drama, but I prefer her work in this loan-out to RKO. She and Andes had a real made-for-each-other vibe in the roles. This is no knock on Stanwyck, Ryan and Paul Douglas (It's a knock on Odets.), but Monroe and Andes were the ones you could watch without getting a headache.

Superb actor? Tour de force performances? Emotions he evoked in his anguished journeys? Are you sure you're talking about Kent Smith? It's nice that some posters wish to extol the virtues of a rarely referenced actor. But sometimes, in doing so, I think they may be susceptible to getting a tad caught up in their own rhetoric. Even the OP of this thread admitted he selected Smith because of his films rather than because of the actor himself.

That was my first reaction. It's an acquired taste for many.

I would normally say, "Don't get me started on this one," but that ship has sailed. "The Philadelphia Story" is tops in my book! The cast does it for me, from Grant, Hepburn, and Stewart to Virginia Weidler and Roland Young. "High Society" leaves me completely flat with its cast -- sadly because I rather like them all individually in other films. In short, I'll watch TPS whenever it comes on. HS, I tried to make it through the entire thing once and failed. Since then each time I try to give another chance I always turn the channel soon into the movie. Sorry, Bing and Frank and Grace.

Doesn't change the fact that TCM, from day one, said they were going to show "films from recent years, featuring some of our newest and most watchable stars," as quoted from Osborne's first intro video above. Notice the word "classic" isn't in the quote. The point is, TCM has always shown newer films, and will continue to do so. Some may be considered "classic" by someone's definition, some perhaps not. MovieCollectorOH keeps a list of nearly everything TCM has shown since the 1990s. Board members here have studied the distribution of the films by decade, and the distribution of newer films to older films has remained fairly constant over the decades, and continues to follow this trend. Some may feel that TCM is trending to show more newer films, but the data so far doesn't support that. Some have pointed out lately, and this might be true, that the newer films seem to be getting the more prominent primetime slots, shoving the older films into other time slots on the schedule. I'm not aware of anyone keeping track of this over time, so that may be the case. I rarely watch TCM in real-time - I usually do so via on-demand or on DVR. If this is true, that newer films are getting the primetime slots, this may be why, coupled with the recent branding change, that we see so many complaints about this sort of thing lately. Finally, everyone is entitled to their opinion about whether they like or don't like certain films that TCM may show. But apart from perhaps making the poster feel better about it to get it off their chest, complaining won't change what the programmers schedule and when they schedule it.

I doubt your list would matter. Everyone's tastes are different

If box lunch is new to you, maybe you can find someone to explain Taco Tuesday.

Gold (1974) - Roger Moore!

Pedro Armendariz in La Perla (1947) next: lovely smile

Sterling Hayden is an interesting actor for sure. He’s so physical. He moves so natural. In this one his shirt tail is never quite tucked in and his trousers are kinda slouching down to one side because he doesn’t wear a belt. He exudes the unaffected . I didn’t think the movie was special. It was fun, though, wasn’t boring.

Kent Smith is wondering what is going on here;

What I attempted was a joke. Nothing more. Sorry you didn't appreciate it. But if anyone is trying to derail this thread it is you with your rants.

Leave Her to Heaven Next: Super-Efficient Secretary

And not(IMHO) really not all that bad of an actress. Sadly, I do know a few( in their 30's) who've never seen a Marilyn Monroe movie who are convinced, mostly by what they've read somewhere online, that she was the worst actress to ever be on film. Sepiatone

Watched Five Steps to Danger and enjoyed it. My wife says the road scenes looked familiar, but I am not sure I have seen it before. It kept my interest throughout. Of course, Eddies intro and outro were very educational and amusing. Really add to the viewing experience. Incidentally, I have read just about all of Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm books and they are pretty good. The Dean Martin movies barely reflect the movies - too much comedy.

So last night when I had insomnia I started devising my Paramount must-see list. But I decided that it might be easier to create little sub-categories because this studio has been cranking them out since 1914. How should I categorize them? Genre: westerns, screwball comedy, precodes, silent films, noir, action flicks, horror films, animation, musicals, etc. Decade: 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s (probably the studio's best decade), 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s Directors: Cecil DeMille, Ernst Lubitsch, Mitchell Leisen, Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, etc. Studio era teams: Hope & Crosby, Ladd & Lake, Martin & Lewis, Colbert & MacMurray, Goddard & Milland, etc. Blockbuster franchises: Mission Impossible, The Addams Family, The Bad News Bears, Friday the 13th, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Iron Man, Spy Kids, Naked Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, Crocodile Dundee, The Godfather, Jack Ryan Paramount has had over 100 years of continuous motion picture production.

Rock stars in leading roles? (Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, James Taylor, David Bowie) [although Taylor is more of a folk-influenced singer-songwriter]

1939 - The Saint Strikes Back 1940 - The Saint Takes Over 1941 - The Saint in Palm Springs Next: John Barrymore & Luis Alberni

THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT - losing a mermaid tail another one with Rod Taylor, THE BIRDS - pretending to work in a Bird shop BRINGING UP BABY -- golf course mix-up A GIRL, A GUY AND A GOB -- opera ticket mix-up VIVA LAS VEGAS - Elvis gets pushed into the pool

Top Hat (1935) -- Ginger Rogers storms upstairs to scold Fred Astair for keeping her awake by practicing his tap dance routine Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) -- Gary Cooper wants to buy pajamas, but only the tops, and Claudette Colbert offers to buy the bottoms Roman Holiday (1953) -- princess Audrey Hepburn is asleep near a public fountain and Gregory Peck catches her as she rolls off the ledge Love in the Afternoon (1957) -- Audrey Hepburn climbs in Gary Cooper's hotel room through the terrace to warn him that the husband of his mistress has a gun. A great big gun. Auntie Mame (1958) -- Rosalind Russell wants to send Forrest Tucker's roller skates C.O.D. Pretty Woman (1990) -- Richard Gere seeks directions from Julia Roberts in the red-light district Some Like It Hot (1959) -- perhaps the ultimate meet cute

In my ignorance, I never knew she could sing until I watched The River of No Return, at first I thought they were dubbing but soon realized it was her voice. Not a bad singer.

1939

The Son of Rusty 1947 My Dog Rusty 1948 Rusty's Birthday 1949 next: George Sanders and Wendy Barrie

Classic is typically a marketing word. People think classic is synonymous with old or with favorite or with best. It would be indisputable if the channel was called THM...Turner Historical Movies. Because everything is part of film history. Even something released two days ago, whether it's any good or not.

Paradise For Three (1938)

O.S.S. (1946)

Hey, everyone! I love how the "Big Country" has wound around into a Big Topic, encompassing things from Paramount VHS tapes to which brand of frozen pizza is tops! God, I do love these boards! Sewhite: Funny, that in my world and experience Red Baron pizza as always considered to be the gold standard of frozen pies! It was always the most expensive and a real treat, available to us only when one of us got a raise or promotion or something. Tony's, on the other hand, is by far one of the "cheapest" options when glancing down the frozen food aisle! As a side note, in my part of the country we don't have Kroger, but I have lived in areas where Kroger was the main grocery store. Just some regional differences that are all part of life's rich pageant. Stanwyck22 and Overeasy, thank you for your comments. I'm glad that you find "The Big country" so enjoyable. Not to give anything away; but to me, those last scenes between Burl Ives and Chuck Connors are almost unbearably heartbreaking. For two actors -- both of whom were not cinematic "stars" -- they nail their performances like no one else. And this is all part of the way the movie works for me as a whole. And why I tend to gush a bit here about it. Thanks for listening.

It was. Ron Miller (Walt's son-in-law and CEO at the time) created Touchstone Films (later Touchstone Pictures) in 1984 in order to produce PG-13 and R rated features , which he knew would never fly under the Disney label. They reached out to financing limited partnerships (Silver Screen Partners II, III, and IV) to finance the more adult fare. SSP I financed films for HBO. Splash was the first Touchstone release. After Disney became such a corporate behemoth after the Eisner years, Touchstone became a distribution company only and stopped being in the production end of the business. They distributed a couple dozen Dreamworks pictures in the 2010 timeframe. Since they now own the 20th Century label, they use those properties for their more mature content.

Loomis, Rose -- Marilyn Monroe in Niagara

I haven't recorded any Noir Alley films in awhile, but "5 Steps to Danger" is one I've been looking forward to. Even though I suspect Eddie will have the expected quotient of derisive "Red Scare" comments. Loathing totalitarianism, I have an affinity for both anti-Communist and anti-Fascist films, and if they are on the campy side, that only boosts the 'frisson', for me. "The Manchurian Candidate" has to be the zenith of the genre, but I get a lurid kick out of things like "The Journey" with Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner (despite a ludicrous one-note caricature of an American, Anne Jackson, in the film). And love "Conspirator", with a ridiculously young but luminous Elizabeth Taylor, and Robert Taylor. Being married to a subversive can be SO trying...

Oh, come on fellas, let's not fight! Not when you can be directing all that negativity and sarcasm toward Ben Mankiewicz instead!

I love The Big Country and we've discussed the film on the bds before. What you didn't mention in your excellent post was Chuck Connors outstanding performance. To show his impressive range as an actor, he began filming The Rifleman and The Big Country around the same time. The snivelling, cowardly,horrible son in The Big Country and the kind, smart great father in The Rifleman. No type casting there. Couldn't be 2 more different roles for an actor to play. and so convincingly in both. That outstanding opening of The Big Country with that stagecoach moving so fast and that perfect theme music grabs you from the start. It's one of my favorite film scores. Over the years, I've watched the Big Country many times and it's a favorite.

Son of Monte Cristo (1940) Lavish but strictly routine costume adventure taking the name of Monte Cristo, with Louis Hayward playing his banker son, but having virtually nothing to do with the Dumas story. This tale is set in a fictional Balkan nation ruled by dictatorial General Gurko Lanen (George Sanders). Joan Bennett is Grand Duchess Zona who hopes to enlist the assistance of Napoleon III to help free her nation from the general. Hayward's Monte Cristo gets involved after he encounters the Duchess and seeks to assist her. Directed by Rowland V. Lee (who had also directed the 1934 Count of Monte Cristo with Robert Donat) and utilizing sets left over from the previous year's Man in the Iron Mask (which also co-starred Hayward and Bennett), Son of Monte Cristo is a pretty tired rehash of similar swashbuckling tales, even to the extent of having Monte Cristo pose as a fop, a la Zorro, while otherwise engaged as a masked terrorist of the state who calls himself The Torch. Alas, Hayward is just an irritating screen hero, smirking much of the time, but he's even more annoying when he overdoes it as the fop, prancing and laughing and generally behaving like a silly air head. Hayward's "I'd love to punch him right in the face" performance makes me appreciate the marvelous subtlety of Tyrone Power when he played the similar fop by day, hero of the people at night role in The Mark of Zorro, which was released the same year as this film. Power was witty and stylishly heroic in his role while also demonstrating genuine skill with a sword. Hayward, on the other hand, is just a cartoon character whose duelling scenes are pretty ordinary and heavily doubled. Joan Bennett wears her costumes well and looks attractive but is nondescript as the Grand Duchess. By far the most interesting aspect of the production is the villainy of George Sanders as the ambitious general who, when the occasion demands it, is ready to go mano a mano to prove his physical dominance over an opponent. At the same time, though, Sanders also brings an intelligence to his ambitious character, making it apparent he's no brute savage. He also shows a slight (ever so slight) vulnerability by being in love with Bennett's Duchess (she, of course, can't stand him). Sanders is a good villain who deserves to be in a better film. 2.5 out of 4

...The Bunker, 1981 starring: Anthony Hopkins as Adolf Hitler, Richard Jordan as Albert Speer, Susan Blakely as Eva Braun, Piper Laurie as Magda Goebbels 2 hrs 31 min. We all know about the bunker, but this goes the extra mile in describing the clammy dankness and odor that required a fulltime ventilation technician. It's claustrophobic and unpleasant, a hellish descent into madness. I felt like showering afterwards. Hopkins is uncanny here, a true maestro - the closest I've ever seen an actor to capturing Hitler's essence, from speech, body movements and increasingly barking mad utterances. Speer is under pressure to implement Hitler's scorched earth policy and is stalling for time. No surprise ending, but such superb acting kept me mesmerized. full movie

"The Country's in the Very Best of Hands” -- sung by Peter Palmer and Stubby Kaye in Li'l Abner (1959) Next: Another optimistic political song

Essential: CHILD'S PLAY (1972) TopBilled: Our theme this month– “Confession is good for the soul.” In the four films we’ll be reviewing in November, the main characters deal with revelatory moments. Some want to hide the truth, some confess. These are Catholic stories that highlight the imperfections of the church. I don’t think they’re damning stories, since there is still hope for redemption for the individual Catholic and for the church itself. CHILD’S PLAY, directed by Sidney Lumet, is a somewhat obscure motion picture. It is based on a hit Broadway play that ran for 342 performances and later transferred to the London stage. Playwright Robert Marasco had worked at a Catholic school and he knew the ins and outs of such an environment. The Broadway production featured Fritz Weaver and Pat Hingle. Neither were box office draws, so Paramount’s feature film version has James Mason and Robert Preston in the lead roles. Two very different actors with unique approaches to the material. The characters they play experience an undercurrent of hostility towards one other and a mutual distrust of each other’s motives– despite perfunctory niceties exhibited in front of their students and coworkers. Mason is great at playing Jerome Malley, a longtime Latin instructor who is unravelling. His downfall is spurred by the abuses of the teen boys in his classroom. He is also dealing with the grave illness of his mother. To say he’s miserable is an understatement. His life is devoid of joy or any real pleasure. Preston plays Joseph Dobbs a well-liked English instructor, a man who seems to be the complete opposite. Dobbs is a sadist who is orchestrating the attacks on Malley, using the boys to wage a psychological and spiritual war. His motives are unclear at first, but gradually we learn he is jealous and insecure. Dobbs covets Malley’s top spot on staff and he likes to lord control over the boys. Into this unholy atmosphere we have Beau Bridges as Paul Reis (played on Broadway by Ken Howard). Reis is a former pupil of both men, now graduated from college. Reis returns to the high school to take a position as a gym instructor. There are some shocking moments where he learns how violent and twisted some of the boys are. Reis is caught in the middle between Malley and Dobbs. He’d studied under both of them in his youth and must now function alongside them in a professional capacity. Some scenes imply that his own soul is a battleground between Dobbs and Malley. I enjoy the slower parts of the film and am glad that Lumet is not in a hurry to get to the bigger turning points. We are given plenty of time to think about how these characters co-exist, how they bring out the best and worst in each other. Of course we suspect early on that Dobbs is gaslighting Malley, setting him up as a deviant (which he might well be). Malley does confess his sins during a pivotal scene. Then abruptly he takes his own life. Dobbs wins. But he excoriates the boys, since it is not a victory without recriminations. However, the boys turn on Dobbs. The final few minutes inside the church lead to Dobbs’ own confession– and it is spectacular. At the end, a symbolic candle goes out. We are left to ponder Dobbs' fate and fate of the boys. What will become of them? Can Reis save them? Or has Reis been corrupted by both of his mentors? *** Jlewis: I was initially turned off by this one at the very start, showing a boarding school boy strangled and close-up shots of his flesh getting cut by a knife. A teen prank apparently and not murderous, but…well, I was never meant to go into the medical profession for obvious bloody neurotic reasons. Other viewers may actually enjoy this scene. The early seventies was a period when Hollywood producers were testing sensibilities in taste and shock value, even those bankrolled by the major studios who were desperate to see what would stick with the public. Maybe I should have been warned ahead of time and just skipped the opening scene? It isn’t long before we settle into the usual star-studded drama based on a popular play. Robert Preston starts out as a gotta-love-me language teacher like he was in MUSIC MAN, playing Joe Dobbs. David Rounds plays Father Penny a.k.a. “I believe in God but I also believe in Satan,” who is investigating some of the “child’s play” involving knives and such. James Mason, whom I can see in just about anything since he is high on my list of favorite performers, is a disheveled competing teacher who is far less liked by his students than Joe and an intense psychological rivalry is going on between the two. There is a key discussion of Joe’s with Paul (Beau Bridges), the younger gym teacher starting out at this school, that brought memories for me of a previous boarding school Paramount release, Lindsay Anderson’s IF… (1968), as they examine the latter’s capabilities on the gymnastic handlebars. Joe is quite flattering of Paul, who eats the attention up. At first. Later in the film, Paul (note how his name relates to early Christianity with a renewal transformation theme) will give a very righteous speech against Joe that some modern viewers may possibly read today as commentary on the way many political “false prophets” incite the masses. Basic plot: the students are all going a bit deranged at this all boys school. It is important to put this film in its proper perspective, being released between “The Devil Made Me Do That” ROSEMARY’S BABY and THE EXORCIST with echoes of CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED a decade previous. Also Paramount was coasting off the success of IF… as well, which showed the dark side of boarding school life with all of its structure and discipline. The adults are very much in charge here, manipulating innocent young minds as if they were a bunch of fascist brown shirts ready for action. Despite the setting being a religious school, religion takes a backseat here. Essentially this is just your standard character suspense thriller featuring a showcase performance…actually two, but Preston is clearly having more fun with his role than Mason. Joe’s “what happened in the chapel yesterday?” questioning of his students is quite tongue-in-cheek since you can pretty much tell that he knows already. Joe seems well liked by all but is he doing something against Jerome behind the scenes? (Spoiler alert: yes indeedy!) I should mention Gerald Hirschfeld’s deep focus photography in dreary color here, a few times with Mason’s Jerome in the background and Preston’s Joe close to the camera lens. As in the old Orson Welles days, this is an interesting way of presenting who shows the greatest power regardless of how far apart they are physically. There are lots of dark stairways that are as gothic as any 1930s Universal horror piece with itty bitty crucifixes on the walls. Joe’s “I taught a thousand boys here” speech is especially well presented with his face half-lit by the lamp, showing a man with both a light and dark side to his face. Due to its graphic opening scenes, I didn’t feel motivated at first to sit through this one. Then I eventually got immersed into it as I often do with films of director Sidney Lumet, more famous for 12 ANGRY MEN, THE PAWNBROKER , NETWORK and THE VERDICT (also with Mason). It is hardly a great film compared to the others. I feel that its biggest flaw is that the two lead performances dominate so much that everybody else falls on the wayside. I personally wished we had more scenes with the students themselves since I doubt they are merely all sheep being lead by a wolf to allow others in their flock get attacked. Nonetheless this film is a noteworthy product of its time with the typical tragic “gotcha” climax similar to DON’T LOOK NOW and a few other seventies titles of note.

for the first time in a long long time, I watched a non-horror classic film on TCM, CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY (1939)- which was an early docudrama-style picture about GERMAN SPIES LIVING IN AMERICA, I could see a young MARK HELLINGER in the audience taking notes. NAZIS, I HATE THESE GUYS- but damned if I won't watch just about anything about 'em, and this was a pretty engaging film...largely for its prescience, but also for the FOUR DIFFERENT ACTORS who pop up throughout the proceedings- all four of whom would have drastically different career trajectories in the coming decades. FRANCIS LEDERER- a handsome man- who abandons his vanity for his part and does a tremendous job, but who would not have much of a career in film, although he would appear in others (including MIDNIGHT from the same year) EDWARD G ROBINSON, who dominates in all of his 15(ish) minutes of screentime- this might just be the genesis of EDDIE G's "stalwart highly competent investIgator" type that would show up later in DOUBLE INDEMNITY and THE STRANGER. GEORGE SANDERS is in it with a flat top (!) and a German accent (!!) playing a Nazi (!!!) and he is invested.... PAUL LUKAS is also in it and he is adequate, which is the nicest thing I think I have ever had to say about him.

Monroe does her own singing in the film. It is only Adele Jergens that was dubbed by Virginia Rees in the film.)