Arturo

NIGHT.AND THE CITY OF GOD A numbers racket.American, driven from London by the underworld element, flees to Brazil, where.he hooks up with the thuggish youths in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, and tries to take over the most.lucrative of their rackets, the Greco-Roman.wrestling. He hires an aging wrestler/trainer, and tries to make a killing financially by playing one faction against another, and trying to double-cross all, but he meeta his comeuppance. Richard Widmark plays the protagonist, Gene Tierney his long.suffering girlfriend, following from one continent to.another, and Tor Jonhson as the wrestler/latin lover. Quite a searing slice.of the seamy side of life.

Tor Johnson's fan clubs say he rules Like McQueen, he's their vision of cool With guyliner or brawn All bad guys he takes on And he gladly won't suffer no fools.

I mentioned here recently that, with my unexpected and surprisingly good experience buying a Region 2 dvd for the Linda Darnell movie GLI ULTIMI CINQUE MINUTI, I have purchased several other European Region 2 films,.to play on my laptop. Three of these films.are with Darnell, and I have since received and played them. I have these already, in dvds of varying quality. One, SECOND CHANCE (1953), I have in dvds I made from TCM. My recent purchase was from Denmark, and was of mixed result. The picture was clearer and crisper than what I already had, even occasionally giving a bit of illusion of the 3D of the original release. But the color was substantially more faded than what TCM has shown. With Robert Mitchum.and Jack Palance also featured, I don't understand why this thriller was never given an official release here. The other two were made while Linda was under contract to Fox, THE WALLS OF JERICHO (1948) and TWO FLAGS WEST (1950). Both are offical releases in Spain, and go by the titles MURALLAS HUMANAS ("Human Walls"), and ENTRE DOS JURAMENTOS (roughly " Between Two Flags"). The quality of these was great, especially TWO FLAGS WEST, where the depth perception was.amazing. I was most thrilled by TWOJ, as.I only had this in a washed out bootleg copy I bought online a few years ago. I have happily watched each a few times.since.receiving the discs. What is obvious is that these are.labelled.as Fox Cinema.Classics, with deluxe packaging, if not many extras. They were released.in 2009, the year that series was suspended here in the US. So it seems.reasonable to assume that they were meant for release.here also, when.Fox suspended release of its classics. This is a shame, as both are good.films, and with the very good visual quality, it seems that they could get the Fox Cinema.Archives DVR treatment, at.least,.and viewings.on FMC.and TCM. Next, I plan to order the Spanish release of FOREVER AMBER, which seems.to be another of that discontinued series.

Novak is another of those actresses who were underrated for their abilities, due to their phenomenal looks. This was recently brought up in thr Ava Gardner thread.

In my mind, I always picture Tor Johnson in NIGHT AND THE CITY, even though I know its not him.

Have you ever seen Ewan McGregor as the androgynous bisexual 70s British glam-rock star in VELVET GOLDMINE? The guyliner and makeup was totally appropriate, and looked much better on him than on Christian Bale, as the teen in love with his idol.

True that. He never became a major star.with the presence of, oh,.say, um.....Tor Johnson.

It seems that the frequent airing of some of Tor's films has got newbies curious, because today's top ten could almost be subtitled Tor's Most Overplayed Titles. 1. TORTH BY TORTHWEST 2. TORTORIOUS 3. SOME LIKE TOR HOT 4. THE TOR THE MERRIER 5. ADVENTORS OF TORBIN HOOD 6. TOR VADIS 7. TOR TO MARRY A MILLIONTOR 8. THE PHILADELPHIA TORY 9. THEY DIED WITH TOR BOOTS ON 10. LADY TOR A DAY

I have the Temple version, as well as the fairly execrable mid 1970s version with Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, Ava Gardner and Cicely Tyson.

On FMC (all times eastern): Wednesday, 7/15: 3 am: THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (1943)............... .........6 am: I WAS AN ADVENTURESS (1940)...................7:30 am: THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1939).......................8:45 am: HOW TO STEAL A MILLION (1966)..........................11 am: THE GIFT OF LOVE (1958)........ ..... Thursday, 7/16: 3:30 am: SURF PARTY (1964)..........................1:40 am: WILD ON THE BEACH (1965)..........................6 am: CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE (1947).....................8:30 am: THE GIFT OF LOVE (1958)............................12:30 pm: SURF PARTY (1964).........................1:40 pm: WILD ON THE BEACH (1965)............... Friday, 7/17: 3:30 am: CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE (1947)........................6 am: ISLAND IN THE SKY (1938)..........................7:10 am: FOUR MEN AND A PRAYER (1938).........................8:40 am: IT HAPPENED IN ATHENS (1962)..........................10:15 am: TWELVE HOURS TO KILL (1960)....................11:40 am: INFERNO (1953)...........................1:05 pm: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966)..................

Well since.No. 10 was a three-way Tie, they all had to be included.

That could very well be. But this top.ten has twelve.entries, so it might've bubbled under.

The Ava Gardner thread has apparently had people.search some of her films on the database, as some of her titles have made.the top ten. 1. ONE TOR OF VENUS 2. THE HUCKSTORS 3. TORQUAKE 4. THE ANGEL TOR.RED 5. THE LITTOR HUT 6. TORWHANI JUNCTION 7. LONE TOR 8. SINGATOR 9. SEVEN TORS IN MAY 10. THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARTOR 10. PANTORA AND THE FLYING.DUTCHMAN 10. TOR LIN

I heartily concur with your assessment of SWAMP WATER. It is on occasionally on FMC, As is the (not nearly as good) Technicolor remake, LURE OF THE WILDERNESS (1952).

GLI ULTIMI CINQUE MINUTI (1955) is a movie I am coming to view as a lost treasure, a superb vehicle for Linda Darnell at a time when her movie career was about to decline severely. Perhaps because she plays a woman of means, she is given the glamor treatment not in evidence in her several previous films. She is given a glamorous wardrobe, and is always impeccably coiffed and made up, and she hadn't look this beautiful on film since 1951 or so. Plus, in general she lolks more slender than she has in years; there is a scene or two where her extended stay in Italy, with the pasta-rich diets she preferred, where she has noticeably gained a bit of weight, the bane of her later career, but still looks great. Unfortunately for Linda, and her career, this film was.never released in the US. I feel that with a suitable dubbing, or with subtitling, and with a fairly wide release, it could have been a hit for her, provided it got a decent review from Bosley Crowther. That could have been a game changer for her, giving her somd.much needed exposure on screens when the long gap between films.was making the offers from Hollywood start to dry up. Her previous films, THIS IS MY LOVE, an overwrought noirish soap, did not do well when released in the fall of 1954, and DONNE PROIBITE, Linda's first foray into filmmaking in Italy, with the same producer as GUCM, had been done in mid 1953, but only released in the US in late 1956, and then spottily; these two had not done much to keep her name up on marquees. So, GLI ULTIMI CINQUE MINUTI exacerbated this; she was away in Italy for six months, not only doing this film but putting the final touches in realizing her dream project, establishing a Girls Town of Italy. While that might have been fulfilling personally, it kept her away and out of the spotlight for a lengthy and crucial time. And with this film not released here, Darnell would not be seen on the screen until mid 1956, in DAKOTA INCIDENT, an exciting, if unprestigious western done at Republic.

Ok, so the Friday Night Noir Spotlight has brought a batch of titles into the Top Ten. 1. THE WOMAN ON TOR 13 2. JOHNNY TORGER 3. WHERE DANGER TORS 4. STRANGERS ON A TORAIN 5. SOMETOR IN THE NIGHT 6. 7. THE BRASHER TORBLOON 8. KISS TOR DEADLY 9. TOR CRAZY 10. TORLETT STREET

Other hugely successful adventure films in the early 50s set in Africa include THE AFRICAN QUEEN, THE SNOWS OF KILIMAJARO (also with Ava Gardner), and WHITE WITCH DOCTOR (the last two with Susan Hayward). Yes, exotic locales in Technicolor (and soon, in widescreen) was one of the ways movie moguls hoped to lure back the audiences they were then losing to tv, by giving them spectacle they could not find on the small screen.

When I first saw THE AVIATOR at the movies, I too was struck by the anachronisms, which jump out at me jarringly. I didn't pay close attention the other night, but I believe someone here mentioned the premiere of THE WOMEN, with Hughes accompanied by Ava Gardner, whcih would have been two years before she arrived in Hollywood. I think this is also the scene when Linda Darnell is first mentioned; she would have been newly arrived in Hollywood and all of 15 years old. Hughes would not become involved with her until after WW2. Besides Di Caprio, who is otherwise magnificent, seeming too young, as well as the portrayals of the other film personalities not up to par, the occasional anachronisms would be my only real criticism of this great film.

THE BARONESS AND THE BUTLER, another of the relatively many 20th Century Fox titles on TCM recently, is a decent comedy, set in Budapest, I think. William Powell does another turn as a wise butler, but here he gets involved in politics, naturally on the opposite side as that of his employers. Future Mrs. Tyrone Power Annabella plays the baroness, of course falling in love with her butler. The atudio had meant the leads for Warner Baxter and Loretta Young.

On FMC (all times eastern): Saturday, 7/11: 4:45 am: ON THE SUNNY SIDE (1942)...................6 am: WEE WILLIE WINKIE (1937)...................7:45 am: A YANK IN THE R.A.F. (1941).................9:30 am: IN LOVE AND WAR (1958)....................11:20 am: FIVE FINGERS (1952).................... Sunday, 7/12: 3:30 am: SIERRA BARON (1958).......................4:51 am: JUST OFF BROADWAY (1942)......................6 am: IN LOVE AND WAR (1958)..............7:50 am: FIVE FINGERS (1952).......................9:40 am: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966).....................11:30 am: CIRCLE OF DECEPTION (1961)......................1:10 pm: CRASH DIVE (1943)................ Monday, 7/13: 3 am: TROUBLE MAN (1972)....................4:45 am: 13 FIGHTING MEN (1960).......................6 am: IT HAPPENED IN ATHENS (1962)..................7:40 am: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966)...................9:30 am: CIRCLE OF DECEPTION (1961)....................11:10 am: MODESTY BLAISE (1966)...................1:15 pm: TROUBLE MAN (1972)........

US and Canada are Region 1, Europe is Region 2. I have been mentioning my forays into recent purchasing of European.dvds on the Linda Darnell thread......it's been an eye-opener.

I also enjoyed reading Ava's autobiography, as she has always been one of my favorites. I agree she was usually much better than she or anyone else.gave her credit. I like her in all the films.mentioned, and in others, like WHISTLE STOP, THE HUCKSTERS, ONE TOUCH OF VENUS, THE GREAT SINNER, MY FORBIDDEN PAST,.THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO, or THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA. Even in movies that generally s ****ed, like RIDE VAQUERO, LONE STAR, THE ANGEL WORE RED or THE NAKED.MAJA, I enjoy mainly because of her.

The continued interest in the SOTM moppet has her films in tandem with her more popular costar, Tor Johnson, among the most searxhed items. 1. NOW AND TOREVER 2. THE LITTOR PRINCESS 3. BABY TOR A BOW 4. THE LITTOREST REBEL 5. A KISS TOR TORLISS 6. 7. TOR WORE A YELLOW RIBBON 8. BRIGHT TORS 9. THE LITTOR TORONEL 10.

THE CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE HATES THE SEA In which a Spanish conquistador sails for Mexico by way of the Indies, intent on looting and pillaging. He has to sail with a motley crew of passengers, bound for the island of Cuba. The various stories entangle, and as he views this, he realizes that the killing of his family at the hands of the Inquisition is nothing compared the soapish dramatics of some of the passengers. Tyrone Power plays the Captain, with JOHN Gilbert (in his last role), Jean Peters and Cesar Romero, among others. Pageantry and spectacle in the high seas and in the waning days of the Aztec hegemony.

Didn't the actress who played Aunt Clara also play Robert Walker's doting mother in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN ? And that same year, 1951, she played Paul Douglas' mother on THE GUY WHO CAME BACK.