I Just Watched...

[Sepiatone]

I WAS A COMMUNIST FOR THE F.B.I. (1951) &

 

GUNS DON'T ARGUE (1958)

 

The first one was OK sorta......

 

I realize it was timely, what with national consciousness whipped up in a paranoid frenzy by Joe McCarthy's anit communist hyperbole,  but comical in it's suggestion that the Soviet Union  would attempt to "take over" the United States by staging labor unrest and racial riots.  But, IF the Soviet Union WOULD have succeeded with these measures, it would have been the ONLY time they took over ANY country WITHOUT brute military force and wholesale slaughter.  It was however, a bit interesting to my wife, once a long-time fan of the daytime soap ONE LIFE TO LIVE  to see PHILIP CAREY(Asa Buchanan on OLTL)  in anything at such a young age.  She thought he was rather good looking at that age.

 

The second movie, GUNS DON'T ARGUE dealt with stories of old time depression era "gangsters" like BONNIE and CLYDE, DILLINGER and MA BARKER.

 

It MIGHT have been a bit better if they used period cars and suits and such, Plus the couple of actors playing Bonnie and Clyde weren't nearly as good looking as FAYE DUNAWAY and WARREN BEATTY , nor even as good as the REAL Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. 

 

And along with using period cars, using FACTS would have made it better too.  All in all though, a harmless way to kill an otherwise dull afternoon.

 

 

Sepiatone

[wouldbestar]

I wanted to see Secret Enemies as my recollection of Faye Emerson was one of Garry Moore's gang on his 50's talk/variety show and newspaper accounts of her troubles with the Roosevelts, her one-time in-laws.  I seem to remember her as a blonde  She was a capable singer and actress but nothing out of the ordinary.  Craig Stevens was just right in his role. 

 

I enjoyed the other two as well even though I knew they were pure hokum and in the case of Guns Don't Argue - great title- very loose with the truth.  I agree that it was a fun afternoon if you weren't expecting Oscar caliber fare. 

[Sepiatone]

That communist/FBI movie caused me to recall something funny.....

 

My ex had a kid brother who was a goofy kid, but I liked him well enough.  Anyway, one night back in the early '80's, he was over my house and I was watcching some other movie that was about the same sort of thing as yesterday's movie.  After about 30 minutes or so( he was 15 at the time) he up and asked, "How come in all these kind of movies the communists are all named CONRAD?"  

I thought he was joking, but it turned out he WASN'T!

 

He was like that.  One time he complained that, "It isn't fair that black people should have their own SPORTS LEAGUE.".  After a short interrogation, it turned out he was confusing the NAACP with the NCAA!!   

 

This was the kid who, when about four or five years old, heard the opening strains of the song "Maria" on the car radio while riding with his Mom and asked her, "Why is that man singing DIARRHEA?"

 

Sepiatone

[LornaHansonForbes]

"Taste the Blood of Dracula" (1970)--Starring Christopher Lee and Veronica Carlson, directed by Peter Sasdy.

 

Excellent entry in the Hammer series of Dracula movies.  Movie gets off to a fast, sensational start and gallops on from there.  Dracula is back in Victorian London, and nobody is what they seem.  After the halfway point, I could predict what would happen, but the film is so well done, it was fun anyway.  Lee was excellent, as always, and Carlson was a credible damsel in distress.  Movie is Not Politically Correct, and forgets about a minor character, but other than that, film was a fine watch.  This one's worth staying up for or recording.  3.2/4.

 

Veronica Carlson is in DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE; I think the actress in TASTE THE BLOOD... is Suzanna(?) Farmer, she is nowhere near as gorgeous as Carlson or Jenny Hanley, but she has a certain earthy sexuality that is interesting- and her character is pretty complicated for a female in a Hammer movie.

 

TASTE THE BLOOD... has some merits, but the ending is just so weak it knocks it down to two stars for me.

[LornaHansonForbes]

it's worth noting also that TASTE THE BLOOD and SCARS OF DRACULA were both released in 1970, and could not be more different in the tone and approaches.

[Dargo]

That communist/FBI movie caused me to recall something funny.....

 

My ex had a kid brother who was a goofy kid, but I liked him well enough.  Anyway, one night back in the early '80's, he was over my house and I was watcching some other movie that was about the same sort of thing as yesterday's movie.  After about 30 minutes or so( he was 15 at the time) he up and asked, "How come in all these kind of movies the communists are all named CONRAD?"  

I thought he was joking, but it turned out he WASN'T!

 

He was like that.  One time he complained that, "It isn't fair that black people should have their own SPORTS LEAGUE.".  After a short interrogation, it turned out he was confusing the NAACP with the NCAA!!   

 

This was the kid who, when about four or five years old, heard the opening strains of the song "Maria" on the car radio while riding with his Mom and asked her, "Why is that man singing DIARRHEA?"

 

Sepiatone

 

Wow, Sepia!

 

I don't think you've ever mentioned before that your ex-wife's brother was Norm Crosby?!!!

 

(...yeah, that must've been interesting alright)

 

[cigarjoe]

Hell Bound (1957) Tail Fin Noir

 

A little gem of a noir from Bel-Air Productions (sounds like the name of dive hotel on Bunker Hill), watching this film was a real hoot.

 

Directed by William J. Hole Jr., Written by Richard H. Landau (screenplay) and Arthur E. Orloff. 

The film stars John Russell, June Blair, Stuart Whitman, Margo Woode, George E. Mather, Stanley Adams, Frank Fenton,  Dehl Berti and Virginia De Lee

 

 

Cinematography is by Carl E. Guthrie, and Music by Les Baxter.

 

Drug smuggling caper brainstormed by Jordan (John Russell) who even shoots a film depicting the plan to show to money man Harry Quantro (Frank Fenton). Quantro's gal pal Paula (Blair) takes a shine to Jordan and attaches herself to the scheme.

 

Of course like in all foolproof plans it all goes spiraling into Noirsville.

 

Again an excellent little Noir that won't disappoint. Has tali fins galore and a denouement at the Los Angeles Trolley Graveyard. Entertaining. 7/10

 

Full review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/10/hell-bound-1957-tail-fin-noir_26.html

[film lover 293]

"The Tell-Tale Heart" (1941)--Starring Joseph Schildkraut and Roman Bohnen.  Directed by Jules Dassin.

 

Good horror short from MGM.

 

As in Poe's story, the murderer (Schildkraut) is overcome by guilt and madness.  Bohnen is appropriately hateful yet pitiful as the victim.  An early musical score by Sol Kaplan ("Niagara" and "Titanic", both 1953) is effective.  The spare, atmospheric photography was by Paul Vogel, who later won an Oscar for his filming of "Battleground" (1949).

 

 I wish Dassin had made more horror films.  This one is definitely worth the watch.  I saw it on YT.  3/4.

[Dargo]

Hell Bound (1957) Tail Fin Noir

 

A little gem of a noir from Bel-Air Productions (sounds like the name of dive hotel on Bunker Hill), watching this film was a real hoot.

 

Directed by William J. Hole Jr., Written by Richard H. Landau (screenplay) and Arthur E. Orloff. 

The film stars John Russell, June Blair, Stuart Whitman, Margo Woode, George E. Mather, Stanley Adams, Frank Fenton,  Dehl Berti and Virginia De Lee

 

 

Cinematography is by Carl E. Guthrie, and Music by Les Baxter.

 

Drug smuggling caper brainstormed by Jordan (John Russell) who even shoots a film depicting the plan to show to money man Harry Quantro (Frank Fenton). Quantro's gal pal Paula (Blair) takes a shine to Jordan and attaches herself to the scheme.

 

Of course like in all foolproof plans it all goes spiraling into Noirsville.

 

Again an excellent little Noir that won't disappoint. Has tali fins galore and a denouement at the Los Angeles Trolley Graveyard. Entertaining. 7/10

 

Full review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/10/hell-bound-1957-tail-fin-noir_26.html

 

Ooooh, I wanna see this one CJ, and especially because being a native Angeleno and always fascinated with the old L.A. Red Car trolley system, I'd love to catch the ending of it, let alone all that precedes it.

 

(...where or how did you watch this one?...I don't see it in YouTube)

[cigarjoe]

Ooooh, I wanna see this one CJ, and especially because being a native Angeleno and always fascinated with the old L.A. Red Car trolley system, I'd love to catch the ending of it, let alone all that precedes it.

 

(...where or how did you watch this one?...I don't see it in YouTube)

Dargo it's a MGM limited edition DVD

[Sepiatone]

Wow, Sepia!

 

I don't think you've ever mentioned before that your ex-wife's brother was Norm Crosby?!!!

 

(...yeah, that must've been interesting alright)

 

 

Nope.  Crosby flubbed the WORDS he SAID( much like "Slip" Mahoney) whereas Chris( the kid) somehow flubbed what he HEARD.  Or otherwise just didn't "get" certain concepts.  I'll PM an example later.....

[midwestan]

Ooooh, I wanna see this one CJ, and especially because being a native Angeleno and always fascinated with the old L.A. Red Car trolley system, I'd love to catch the ending of it, let alone all that precedes it.

 

(...where or how did you watch this one?...I don't see it in YouTube)

I wish TCM would do a show about movie location scenes from days gone by to compare and contrast how they look today.  What do some of these locations look like now?  How much development has taken place since those scenes were shot?  It would be interesting to see how much has changed in the past 20 or 30 years, all the way back to the 1920's and 30's.

[JamesJazGuitar]

Dargo it's a MGM limited edition DVD

 

Thanks for yet another great tip about an 'underground' noir film.    I wish TCM would have a weekly feature where they showed these type of films.     While I loved Summer of Darkness,  I had seen all of the films in that series except two (Too Late for Tear and Women on the Run and these were restored films so that was great). 

 

But most of these 'underground' films you post about I haven't seen.   (hey I guess that is why I'm calling them underground).

[scsu1975]

An American Tragedy (1931)

 

Check it out on youtube.

 

Original film version of Theodore Dreiser’s novel is fairly well done, despite some flaws. Unlike A Place in the Sun, we get some backstory on the main character Clyde (played by Phillips Holmes). This film certainly holds its own against the remake.

 

Sylvia Sidney sparkles as Roberta, Holmes’ doomed girlfriend, while Frances Dee, as the rich society girl that Holmes falls for, has a greatly reduced role. Holmes is bland and seems to be just reading his lines, although the final scene with his mother is effective.

 

The opposing attorneys, played by Irving Pichel (prosecution) and Charles Middleton (defense), are a bit much. In one ridiculous courtroom scene, they start removing their jackets, intending to duke it out.

 

I kept thinking that it was a good thing that Clyde and Roberta were in a rowboat when the “murder” was committed. Had Clyde used a canoe, he would have been charged with the more serious crime of exerting his white privilege to culturally appropriate a Native American mode of transportation.

[wouldbestar]

I wish TCM would do a show about movie location scenes from days gone by to compare and contrast how they look today.  What do some of these locations look like now?  How much development has taken place since those scenes were shot?  It would be interesting to see how much has changed in the past 20 or 30 years, all the way back to the 1920's and 30's.

 

I'll second that.  Hollywood in the 50's looks more interesting than it did in 2011 when I was out there.  I always get a kick out of TV shows like Highway Patrol which were obviously mostly filmed in real communities rather than a studio set. They didn't have the technology to alter places and things to look different as they can today so I'm supposing that what we see from back then was more realistic.  (An example:  The Capitol Records Building on Vine, just past Hollywood, which is surrounded by other buildings but on some shows I've seen looks like it the only thing on the block.  Either they edited out the surroundings or morphed the building onto a totally different site; either way it looks like it's in a more glamorous setting than it actually is).   

[film lover 293]

"Kiss of the Vampire" (1963)--Starring Clifford Evans and Noel Willman, directed by Dan Sharp; he also directed "The Brides of Fu Manchu" and "Rasputin, the Mad Monk" (both 1966).

 

Hammer vampire film is good early 60's horror.  Film is set in early 1900's Europe. A honeymooning couple's car runs out of petrol; because the wife misread the map, they are lost.  They make it to an inn, and the owners of a mysterious castle invite them to dinner.  Film goes from there.

 

The attractive but boring honeymooners aren't the real story.  The most interesting parts of the film are the contrasting characters of Professor Zimmer (Evans) and Dr. Ravna (Willman).  Zimmer stands in for Van Helsing, Ravna for Dracula.  These two have the best scenes in the film.

 

The special effects are adequate, but not outstanding.  Alan Hume's photography is handsome.  James Bernard's musical score is effective.

 

I saw the film on YT.  Two things; at the 27:00 minute mark, sound goes for about two minutes, then is back on for the rest of the film; and the film is listed at 1:38 minutes long--it's an hour 27 minutes long, then the film restarts for some reason.

 

Kiss of the Vampire is a good watch.  It's not a favorite, but it's good enough to deserve at least one viewing.  2.8/4.

[LornaHansonForbes]

"The Tell-Tale Heart" (1941)--Starring Joseph Schildkraut and Roman Bohnen. Directed by Jules Dassin.

 

Good horror short from MGM.

 

I wish Dassin had made more horror films. This one is definitely worth the watch. I saw it on YT. 3/4.

One of my FAVORITE shorts! Love this one.

[LornaHansonForbes]

An American Tragedy (1931)

 

Check it out on youtube.

 

Original film version of Theodore Dreiser’s novel is fairly well done, despite some flaws.on.

ThANKS FoR THE HEADS UP!!!!

I've been on the lookout for this one !

[film lover 293]

"The Skull" (1965)--Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Jill Bennett.  Directed by Freddie Francis.  Based on a Robert Bloch story.

 

Amicus Production filmed in England, film revolves around Professor Christopher Maitland (Cushing) and Sir Matthew Philips (Lee).  Maitland is into occult research, and he outbids Philips on an auction item.  One of the auction items is an item that was stolen from Philips.  It's the title object, which supposedly is the Marquis De Sade's, and is possessed.  

 

Cushing is very good as the man taken over by what he had drastically underestimated, and Lee is fine in a good guy role.  Bennett is good as the wife who's Afraid of what her husband's dealing with.

 

John Wilcox (1959's "The Mouse That Roared")  did the expressive photography.  Elisabeth Lutyens did the emotional music score.

 

Found the film on archive.org.

 

"The Skull" is an underrated psychological horror film, with fine performances from the leads.  3.3/4.

[LornaHansonForbes]

"The Skull" (1965)--Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Jill Bennett.  Directed by Freddie Francis.  Based on a Robert Bloch story.

 

Amicus Production filmed in England,

John Wilcox (1959's "The Mouse That Roared")  did the expressive photography.  Elisabeth Lutyens did the emotional music score.

 

Freddie Francis was a much better cinematographer than he was a director, and his films (that he directed) nearly always look great, even if he wasn't the principal photographer.

 

DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE is, to me, the most gorgeously shot horror movie I can think of...aside from a couple bad day-for-night scenes.

[Fedya]

The Pride and the Passion (1957)

 

I've read that Stanley Kramer like to make "message" pictures. Apparently, Kramer's message with this one is, "I'm arrogant enough to make a costume drama with Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra and think it'll work."

 

Spain, 1810. The French are occupying Spain, led by Theodore Bikel of all people! Some of Napoleon's forces have abandoned a cannon, and the Brits have found out about it. They send naval man Cary Grant to recover it and bring it to the coast.

 

Grant and his men get waylaid by rebel leader Sinatra, who together with his girlfriend Sofia Loren, plan to take the cannon to Ávila which is where Bikel is.

 

Thereupon follows a bunch of tropes that look like they were lifted wholesale from any number of wagon train westerns as they move the cannon overland. Using thousans of Klansmen to cover up their moving the cannon into a cathedral (in what is supposed to be a tiny village!) is an interesting touch.

 

The movie goes on like this for 132 hours, with Loren living a surprisingly long time between getting shot in the battle for Ávila and dying -- just long enough, in fact, for Grant to hold her one last time.

 

3/10. Not even the Technicolor cinematography of Spain can save this dud.

[JamesJazGuitar]

The Pride and the Passion (1957)

 

I've read that Stanley Kramer like to make "message" pictures. Apparently, Kramer's message with this one is, "I'm arrogant enough to make a costume drama with Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra and think it'll work."

 

Spain, 1810. The French are occupying Spain, led by Theodore Bikel of all people! Some of Napoleon's forces have abandoned a cannon, and the Brits have found out about it. They send naval man Cary Grant to recover it and bring it to the coast.

 

Grant and his men get waylaid by rebel leader Sinatra, who together with his girlfriend Sofia Loren, plan to take the cannon to Ávila which is where Bikel is.

 

Thereupon follows a bunch of tropes that look like they were lifted wholesale from any number of wagon train westerns as they move the cannon overland. Using thousans of Klansmen to cover up their moving the cannon into a cathedral (in what is supposed to be a tiny village!) is an interesting touch.

 

The movie goes on like this for 132 hours, with Loren living a surprisingly long time between getting shot in the battle for Ávila and dying -- just long enough, in fact, for Grant to hold her one last time.

 

3/10. Not even the Technicolor cinematography of Spain can save this dud.

 

I have never seen the entire film only parts here and there but what I saw didn't impress me (which is why I didn't make an effort to see the entire film even with Grant being one of my favorites).

 

So thanks for saving me 132 hours!

[LornaHansonForbes]

An American Tragedy (1931)

 

Check it out on youtube.

 

Original film version of Theodore Dreiser’s novel is fairly well done, despite some flaws. Unlike A Place in the Sun, we get some backstory on the main character Clyde (played by Phillips Holmes). This film certainly holds its own against the remake.

 

Sylvia Sidney sparkles as Roberta, Holmes’ doomed girlfriend, while Frances Dee, as the rich society girl that Holmes falls for, has a greatly reduced role. Holmes is bland and seems to be just reading his lines, although the final scene with his mother is effective.

 

The opposing attorneys, played by Irving Pichel (prosecution) and Charles Middleton (defense), are a bit much. In one ridiculous courtroom scene, they start removing their jackets, intending to duke it out.

 

I kept thinking that it was a good thing that Clyde and Roberta were in a rowboat when the “murder” was committed. Had Clyde used a canoe, he would have been charged with the more serious crime of exerting his white privilege to culturally appropriate a Native American mode of transportation.

 

Thank you so much for the alert and review, I just watched it and I have to say I agree with pretty much everything you said, although I will say that Phillips Holmes, while not a good actor, was an utter dreamboat. The scene where he gives Sylvia Sydney THAT LOOK from behind the shelves was PALPABLE.

 

I will also say that the actors playing the attornies near the end are A LOT. Like too much. I actually skipped over some of their parts. I get that it was Sinclair Lewis's pillorying of small town politics and notion of justice with a healthy dose of Von Sternberg's MOODY mob mentality, but it was ALL AROUND TOO MUCH- and too much of it. I've often thought Raymond Burr was "too much" in  A PLACE IN THE SUN, but I was wrong.

 

sYLvia Sydney was beautiful and amazing.

 

i also add, it's similar in so many ways to A PLACE IN THE SUN, and yet so different. i know A PLACE IN THE SUN is one of Osborne's favorites, but I don't like it- at all. I think it makes tragic heroes of Clift and Taylor where it is not called for, and i don't care for Shelley Winters in it. as a film it really has its priorities screwed up.

 

and yet...AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY is a TOO searing indictment of almost all characters in it except for Sydney's, and by the end, the film's palpable disdain for near-everyone in it seems almost disrespectful to her memory

 

i did enjoy the far more unsettling scene of the Hero's arrest than what is done in the 1951 remake, it was bizarre...

 

a different editor could've really done something with the artfully directed footage; it's a film that would've benefitted from an unusual and less conventional three-act structure, revealing the whole story out of linear sequence...but then again, people had only been talking in movies for three years or so, asking them to accept a narrative with a bizarre structure would be too too much i guess.

[film lover 293]

"Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing" (1954)--Directed by Bin Kaido (or Kado--have seen two different spellings of the name).

 

This Japanese horror film is poky and obvious to my Western eyes.  A Kabuki Theatre actress is killed by those jealous of her; she comes back to avenge herself on the ones who wronged her/killed her.

 

Film has several problems.  It takes half the film to set the situation, and the villains have all the subtlety of Snidely Whiplash when they're about to commit dastardly acts against the poor, fragile flower of a heroine.  The main female villain is amusingly bitchy, and the main male villain is boringly so.  People stand around and talk..and talk...and Talk about what they're going to do, and the victim just listens and weeps, instead of doing something constructive, like defending herself, or Leaving.  She continues to trust everyone she shouldn't, for some unfathomable reason.

 

There is atonal singing in the Kabuki scenes, and listening to it made me wince.

 

The negatives out of the way, the last half hour of the film is fun to watch and see the heroine get Revenge. The special effects are ok, nothing more.

 

I found the film on archive.org; it's worth searching out, especially if you know about Japanese culture.  I'm sure I missed cultural subtleties; others may enjoy the film more than I did. 2.6/4.

 

Film is subtitled; however, credits are not.

[ChristineHoard]

I just watched The Blob and when the frozen Blob was shipped to the Arctic a character said everything would be fine as long as the Arctic didn't melt and I thought "oh-oh."