I Just Watched...

[LawrenceA]

City That Never Sleeps (1953) - Adequate noir from Republic Pictures and director John Auer. Johnny Kelly (Gig Young) is a disillusioned Chicago patrol cop who has decided to take a pay-off from shady lawyer Biddel (Edward Arnold) in exchange for chasing safe-cracking hood Hayes Stewart (William Talman) out of town. Johnny wants to use the money to leave his wife and move out to California with his stripper girlfriend Angel Face (Mala Powers). Complications ensue when Stewart proves to be more wily than expected. Also featuring Chill Wills, Marie Windsor, Paula Raymond, Otto Hulett, Wally Cassell, Ron Hagerthy, and Tom Poston.

This is passable if unexceptional, with some good performances (Talman and Wills in particular) and some really bad ones (Powers is plain awful). Some of the script is also clunky, and for such a big city, the events of the story seem to keep entangling the same small circle of people. But maybe that coincidence was intentional, given the nebulous nature of Wills' character. Still, I've seen worse.   (6/10)

Source: TCM.

[laffite]

4 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

City Beneath the Sea (1953) - Soggy Technicolor adventure from Universal Pictures

No surprise there ...

[Fedya]

16 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:

Sandra Dee who for whatever reason is often portrayed as virginal--she gets knocked up in A Summer Place, so obviously that's not true!

When I blogged about A Summer Place, I titled the post Gidget Goes Erotic.

Of course, watching Dee Gidget her way through Imitation of Life is even funnier.

[speedracer5]

7 minutes ago, Fedya said:

When I blogged about A Summer Place, I titled the post Gidget Goes Erotic.

Of course, watching Dee Gidget her way through Imitation of Life is even funnier.

I love Sandra Dee.  I'll watch her "Gidget" her way through anything.  I will agree that she definitely wasn't the best actress in the world, but I like her and she does a good job in the films that she's in.  Gidget and A Summer Place are probably my favorites of her films.  I do agree that she may have been in over her head in Imitation of Life (especially in comparison to Susan Kohner), but I thought she was good as Lana Turner's daughter. 

I am intrigued by "Gidget Goes Erotic" (Which as I'm reading, I see it's about A Summer Place, which I also enjoy).  I like the part in Gidget, when she yells at her father and says "AND I'LL SEE THAT HE GETS IT!" I also like the part when she's doing the chest exercises in an effort to increase the size of her bosom--as if that'd really work. I know that it's supposed to build up the muscle underneath... but still... she didn't have that much time.  Gidget also features the world's worst bikini that Yvonne Craig has the misfortune of wearing. 

[Princess of Tap]

24 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:

I love Sandra Dee.  I'll watch her "Gidget" her way through anything.  I will agree that she definitely wasn't the best actress in the world, but I like her and she does a good job in the films that she's in.  Gidget and A Summer Place are probably my favorites of her films.  I do agree that she may have been in over her head in Imitation of Life (especially in comparison to Susan Kohner), but I thought she was good as Lana Turner's daughter. 

I am intrigued by "Gidget Goes Erotic" (Which as I'm reading, I see it's about A Summer Place, which I also enjoy).  I like the part in Gidget, when she yells at her father and says "AND I'LL SEE THAT HE GETS IT!" I also like the part when she's doing the chest exercises in an effort to increase the size of her bosom--as if that'd really work. I know that it's supposed to build up the muscle underneath... but still... she didn't have that much time.  Gidget also features the world's worst bikini that Yvonne Craig has the misfortune of wearing. 

I thought Sandy was going to the high side in "Portrait In Black" during her scenes with Tony Quinn when he's trying to kill her.

There was nothing juvenile or amateurish about her acting in this film--it's quite well done.

And I can just imagine that if you're in scenes like that with Tony Quinn, it could be quite frightening if you didn't know what you were doing. 

[speedracer5]

10 minutes ago, Princess of Tap said:

I thought Sandy was going to the high side in "Portrait In Black" during her scenes with Tony Quinn when he's trying to kill her.

There was nothing juvenile or amateurish about her acting in this film--it's quite well done.

And I can just imagine that if you're in scenes like that with Tony Quinn, it could be quite frightening if you didn't know what you were doing. 

I haven't seen that one, though I recorded it during Lana Turner's SOTM back in December.  I'll have to see how she holds her own against Quinn.  Along with Dee, the 1950s/1960s teen idols are some of my favorite onscreen performers--I have the whole Beach Party boxed set! 

Another Dee movie that I recorded and haven't watched yet is Until They Sail.  I recorded it because I like Dee, but I was also intrigued by the rest of the cast: Paul Newman, Piper Laurie, Jean Simmons and Joan Fontaine. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

Oh,  you lived it what use to be little ol' St. Helena,  CA (now overly commercial St. Helena).

Love the area and the wife and I get to that area at least once a year,  but each time we head just a little more north.    For years we used Calistoga as our base but now we even go a few miles further north and stay in the Alexander valley.   

 

Actually, I live over the Oakville Grade on Dry Creek Road in Napa. It is sad what has happened to the area. I suspect movie makers are reluctant to make movies in the area.

I also lived 3 years in Arnold, California, where "High Sierra Search And Rescue," (Robert Conrad) was filmed.

Rob On The Road (KVIE PBS Sacramento) will take you there.

James, if you live close by, it is beautiful:

https://vids.kvie.org/video/calaveras-county-g5ylbh/

[LawrenceA]

The Clown (1953) - Sappy tearjerker from MGM and director Robert Z. Leonard. Dodo Delwyn (Red Skelton) is a drunken comedian on his way down, after having once been a major star of the stage. He struggles to survive with the help of his young son Dink (Tim Considine), who often rallies his father out of a drunken stupor in time for his meager engagements. When Dink's mother Paula (Jane Greer) comes back into their lives, now re-married to a very wealthy man, Dodo and Dink have to make some painful life decisions. Also featuring Loring Smith, Philip Ober, Lou Lubin, Fay Roope, Walter Reed, Don Beddoe, Steve Forrest, Billy Barty, Ned Glass, and Charles Bronson.

If the plot sounds familiar, this is a remake of that hoary, shameless tearjerker The Champ, only with the boxing world switched out for the life of a low-rent comic. Skelton knows the role and assays it well enough, but seeing as this is the third or fourth variation on The Champ that I've seen, there were no surprises. It also doesn't help that I found none of the comedy bits amusing in the least.     (5/10)

Source: TCM.

 

[laffite]

1 hour ago, speedracer5 said:

I haven't seen that one  [Portrait in Black] , though I recorded it during Lana Turner's SOTM back in December.  I'll have to see how she holds her own against Quinn. 

She holds up against just about every one. I am not generally impressed by Lana and seldom sing her praises. But she is strong in this one. she is true to her character IMO and with judicious restraint. Not everyone thinks that though.

Edited July 21, 2018 by laffite

[NickAndNora34]

3 hours ago, speedracer5 said:

They just seemed like one long battle that never ended and didn't seem to have a point! There wasn't even any eye candy to distract be from the monotony.  At least the countless Avengers battles have Thor and Starlord to look at.  The only character who I never tired of in LOTR was Gollum.  LOTR could have been retitled "The Gollum Show" and featured only Gollum with maybe some Gandalf thrown in for good measure and I would have been satisfied. 

I also get bored by Harry Potter.  I don't think these types of films are for me. 

Stick a knife in my heart, speedy, it'll hurt less. ?

[LawrenceA]

Code Two (1953) - "B" police procedural from MGM and director Fred M. Wilcox. The film follows three young men, Chuck O'Flair (Ralph Meeker), Russ Hartley (Robert Horton), and Harry Whenlon (Jeff Richards), as they join the police academy, struggle through training, and later become L.A.P.D. motorcycle cops. Also featuring Keenan Wynn, Sally Forrest, Elaine Stewart, James Craig, Robert Burton, William Campbell, Jonathan Cott, Fred Graham, Bill Hickman, and Chuck Connors.

This plays more like a TV pilot than a movie. Most of the situations are routine, but there are a couple of surprising (and grisly) moments in the brief 69 minute runtime. Meeker is the cocky hotshot, and Horton's hair never moves. Wynn is the grizzled veteran trying to teach these young punks a thing or two. Bill Hickman, master stunt driver, appears briefly as a uniformed cycle cop, while a youthful Chuck Connors cameos as a deputy sheriff.    (6/10)

Source: TCM.

[EricJ]

12 hours ago, Bethluvsfilms said:

Maybe because I grew up with the AIRPLANE movies before ever seeing a single AIRPORT movie, but I could never take any of them very seriously (though to be fair, I doubt the filmmakers really were going out of their way for all-out realism).

I'd grown up seeing Airport '75 before seeing "Airplane", so I don't know if I was one of the few people who GOT the joke parodying Sister Helen Reddy and her guitar singing to Linda Blair.

On a whim, I went back a few years ago and caught up with '77 and '79, where I developed a new 70's nostalgia for disaster films:  Dogged professional Jack Lemmon gives Airport '77 a little more respectable drama than it deserves,  and while '79: the Concorde's still a mess, I found myself sighing for the pre-regulated days of air travel, when flying was still considered a "luxury" and 747's still had lounges.    Disasters always had to strike the rich and famous, nobody would go to see a movie about an earthquake in Brazil.

13 hours ago, NickAndNora34 said:

don't know what it is about these movies that I enjoy so much; I think a big part of it, is that my dad loves them. But I've always been a fan of things like these (i.e. Star Wars). Some of my friends have never seen these, but I would only recommend them to people who have the desire and/or attention span to sit through battle after battle. I, personally, was entertained by the battle scenes, although I know our friend, SPEEDY, has mentioned before that she does not. To each his own. 

Do a back to back watch of "Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" to get an idea of the reason why Peter Jackson's first LOTR trilogy is considered the classic.

With the first LOTR, there was so much culturally at stake in permanently enshrining "the" version of the books on film, it's a sort of fan-religious quest by everyone involved with the film--You have as much sense you're getting 20th cty. Classic Literature from the film as you would from reading the book in high school for the first time.  While Jackson's "Hobbit" trilogy, OTOH, coasts on its laurels, assumes it can do no wrong because of its reputation, and that it's carte-blanche license for the director to be as goofy and self-indulgent as he wants to be, book be darned...And given Jackson and co-writer Guillermo Del Toro, that's saying a heck of a lot.

Like GWTW, Wizard of Oz and, yes, the first Harry Potter, LOTR was one of those cases where everything came together at the right time to do "the" version of an impossible book for posterity.

[Sukhov]

The Night Visitor - Swedish horror film starring Max Von Sydow as a psychotic inmate who escapes from prison and kills the people who helped send him to prison for a crime he didn't commit. Liv Ullman plays his sister who knows he is innocent. He oddly gets caught with the help of a parrot (?). This one is basically a B movie but it did have decent cinematography and a decent soundtrack by Mancini. It's enjoyable.

[Fedya]

5 hours ago, EricJ said:

Disasters always had to strike the rich and famous, nobody would go to see a movie about an earthquake in Brazil.

Have you seen The White Sister?  (OK, it's not Brazil, but it's not the jet set either.)

[cigarjoe]

Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) - Olive Film BluRay beautiful print but no extras

[CaveGirl]

Right after watching "The Night Visitor", on came the Warner Brothers' musical, "The Singing Marine". Now, I was inclined not to watch since it didn't sound too appetizing but when I saw Busby Berkeley's name in the credits I decided to chance it and I'm glad I did.

Okay, the old basic storyline, boy is shy and has no confidence but his male friends build him up, and compliment his talent. This plot has been the inspiration for later films even like "Jailhouse Rock" other than Elvis was in the slammer and Dick Powell was in the Marines. But then, of course, the boy gets a mighty big head, alienates all his friends and women in his life, and all goes downhill. Of course the happy ending is when he dumps his hubris and becomes a mensch again. So forget all that. Here are the reasons to watch this film...

Firstly, Allen Jenkins is in it and he is not a cab driver or a dim-witted hood, from the Damon Runyon School of Dramatic Arts. Another fun thing is seeing bits by Jane Wyman and Veda Ann Borg, and Veda is a brunette in this one unlike her later blonde roles and this is before she had her serious auto crash, which necessitated her having extensive facial surgery. 

If you like Ruby Keeler, then you will probably like Doris Weston, because she is about as close as you can get to having Ruby Keeler, unless you are Al Jolson. Another great reason to watch is to see harmonica icon, Larry Adler make some fine music on his instrument, like "Night and Day", before he got blacklisted and ending up being a writer for "Punch" in England, and losing many engagements due to HUAC. He did end up being successful at Carnegie Hall in the 1970's but there were many years in between.

As said, Busby Berkeley was involved in a couple of the musical numbers, and one in particular was quite impressive with close-ups of hands playing the harmonica, accompanied by many other special bits that were eye catching. My favorite bit was when the male singers from Shanghai sang the hit "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain". Kind of like seeing Hop Sing from "Bonanza" sing the hits of Eddy Arnold. Another fun fact is that the "Song of the Marines" which is introduced in this film, was adopted by the Marines as their official Corp. song after the film release and it is a stirring tribute.

My only complaint...though I love Hugh Herbert, there should be a limit to just how many "Woo-woos" he is allowed to intone in a movie. I would think about three are more than enough, but it seemed like about every five minutes he would let one escape and there is a limit to my patience on those. 

 

[kingrat]

I saw just the section of The Yellow Rolls Royce that involves a gangster (George C. Scott), his chauffeur (Art Carney), his moll (Shirley MacLaine), and the Italian guy she falls for (Alain Delon). The script is not up to the talents of these four stars, let alone the amazing car, but I must say I really enjoyed it. Not just the car, the cinematography, Italy (Sorrento!), and the costumes (George C. in that ice cream suit!), but the way all four actors made the most--and more--of the material they were given.

Alain Delon not only is drop-dead gorgeous, he can act, and what a pleasure to see him play something other than the expressionless gangsters of his later career. Delon is the innocent-at-heart gigolo who falls in love with the kept woman with a heart of gold--yes, the script is really that hackneyed--but he and Shirley MacLaine make this believable. It's really MacLaine's show, and if you love her energy and kooky charm and the way she suggests that her underdog characters are smarter than they've ever had a chance to know, you'll probably like this as much as I did. (Or enjoy ogling Delon and the car.)

But Art Carney somehow manages to find real depth to his character, who obviously loves MacLaine, but can only show his love by protecting her and helping her to the best solution, given the circumstances. It's a very subtle and touching performance which goes far beyond the script.

[LornaHansonForbes]

I got very very sick Thursday evening and Friday morning, so I was laid up yesterday afternoon into the night. 

I saw most of THE BURNING HILLS, which was quite watchable...although Natalie Wood's  "keep your hands off of me you FEELTHY PEEG!!!" Accent could've used a touch of coaching. There was real chemistry between her and Tab Hunter though...and Tab looked right at home on a horse. Skippy Homier (of TOMORROW THE WORLD! Infamy) was quite affective as the Loathesome villain.

then I watched THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN (1972?) it was a John Huston film I had not seen, and often the case with John Huston I find is that his films are either complete masterpieces of machinery, or the most Godawful thing Ive ever seen. This one came somewhere in the middle, although it was certainly not bad. I read on the IMDb trivia section that Paul Newman stole the role from Lee Marvin, when he sneaked a peek at a script that Lee was sent while he was drunk in his trailer. That's kind of a real damn shame, because I would've loved to of seen Marvin in this part. Newman was fine, but I don't know, a bit out of his depth maybe. The rest of the cast was terrific, including Anthony Perkins who was wasted in a very small role at the very beginning and Victoria Principal, who is absolutely gorgeous. AvaGardner had one of her more interesting, and in many ways challenging parts. She only shows up in the last 10 minutes of the movie and a lot rest on her shoulders. John Huston also has a tiny part as Grizzly Adams, and he is absolutely wonderful.best actor in the film is easily the bear though. The bear was terrific. I also read on IMDb that the bear was inseparable best friends with a lion that was raised by the same handler and they shared a motel room on the shoot. In other "who would've thought?" hook up news, Perkins and Victoria principal also begin a relationship on set. 

(must've been a full moon or something.)

[LornaHansonForbes]

ETA: that was not one of my best reviews. I'm still recovering somewhat and using my phone. Sorry about the myriad of grammatical mistakes that I'm sure still contained above.

[laffite]

The Children Are Watching us (1944) The story of the most precocious child in history. If you feel that a four-year-old has the intellect and maturity to make a decision like that, good on you, but it does not ring to true to life. The suicide in the movie is baffling. It was put in there for dramatic purposes. De Sica still manages to make a go of it, though, he is a great filmmaker. He is also adept of manipulating children and audiences. He is, with this one and only this one, an Italian Speilberg.

[LawrenceA]

Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (1953) - 12-chapter science fiction adventure serial, from Republic Pictures and director Fred C. Brannon (among others). In the near future, Earth has some interaction with alien worlds, and so the government has named brilliant scientist Commando Cody (Judd Holdren) as the Sky Marshal of the Universe. He is charged with dealing with interplanetary menaces, particularly the machinations of the Ruler of the Galaxy (Gregory Gaye), who uses powerful alien weaponry to try and conquer the Earth. Cody, along with his two sidekicks, uses a fantastic rocket suit and spaceship to battle the Ruler and his minions. Also featuring Aline Towne, William Schallert, Richard Crane, Peter Brocco, John Crawford, I. Stanford Jolley, Craig Kelly, Gloria Pall, Rick Vallin, Denver Pyle, and Lyle Talbot.

This fourth rocket man serial was originally intended to be a TV series. The first three episodes were filmed (with William Schallert as one of Cody's sidekicks), but then production was put on hold, and Republic filmed the 1952 serial Zombies of the Stratosphere. After that was finished, production resumed on this, with Richard Crane replacing Schallert. After its completion, Republic decided to release it theatrically as a serial instead of a TV series, partially due to pressure from technicians' unions which stated that crews were paid more for theatrical productions. Still, Republic did eventually release this as a syndicated TV series in 1955.

This is both sillier and more creative than the previous rocket man serials. Cody wears a domino mask and a jaunty little cap whenever he's not in his bulky helmet, ostensibly due to security reasons. The villains wear a variety of silly hats, as well. There are rocket flights in space and to other worlds, and the Republic robot shows up yet again. There is still the traditional re-use of footage from previous serials and movies, even back to The Purple Monster Strikes from 1945. Each chapter runs a solid 30 minutes, meaning the entire thing took 6 hours to watch. Since this was intended to be a TV show, the chapters are more like episodes, with self-contained dilemmas that are resolved without any cliffhanger endings. This wasn't the last serial released (that would be 1956's Blazing the Overland Trail), but this is the last one I have to watch, and I have to say that I've enjoyed the cheap thrills and often unintentional laughs from this sub-genre.   (6/10)

Source: Olive/Paramount DVD, on two discs.

 

[CaveGirl]

20 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:

delete

ditto

[CaveGirl]

1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

I got very very sick Thursday evening and Friday morning, so I was laid up yesterday afternoon into the night. 

I saw most of THE BURNING HILLS, which was quite watchable...although Natalie Wood's  "keep your hands off of me you FEELTHY PEEG!!!" Accent could've used a touch of coaching. There was real chemistry between her and Tab Hunter though...and Tab looked right at home on a horse. Skippy Homier (of TOMORROW THE WORLD! Infamy) was quite affective as the Loathesome villain.

then I watched THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN (1972?) it was a John Huston film I had not seen, and often the case with John Huston I find is that his films are either complete masterpieces of machinery, or the most Godawful thing Ive ever seen. This one came somewhere in the middle, although it was certainly not bad. I read on the IMDb trivia section that Paul Newman stole the role from Lee Marvin, when he sneaked a peek at a script that Lee was sent while he was drunk in his trailer. That's kind of a real damn shame, because I would've loved to of seen Marvin in this part. Newman was fine, but I don't know, a bit out of his depth maybe. The rest of the cast was terrific, including Anthony Perkins who was wasted in a very small role at the very beginning and Victoria Principal, who is absolutely gorgeous. AvaGardner had one of her more interesting, and in many ways challenging parts. She only shows up in the last 10 minutes of the movie and a lot rest on her shoulders. John Huston also has a tiny part as Grizzly Adams, and he is absolutely wonderful.best actor in the film is easily the bear though. The bear was terrific. I also read on IMDb that the bear was inseparable best friends with a lion that was raised by the same handler and they shared a motel room on the shoot. In other "who would've thought?" hook up news, Perkins and Victoria principal also begin a relationship on set. 

(must've been a full moon or something.)

Loved this review! Any review that gives the bear the superlative kudos over the human cast, is okay with me even with any grammatical mistakes, of which I saw few. If I typed from a phone, it would sound like Professor Irwin Corey wrote it, Lorna.

Good show!

[LornaHansonForbes]

13 minutes ago, CaveGirl said:

Loved this review! Any review that gives the bear the superlative kudos over the human cast, is okay with me even with any grammatical mistakes, of which I saw few. If I typed from a phone, it would sound like Professor Irwin Corey wrote it, Lorna.

Good show!

Well thank you, I actually use the voice transcription feature on my phone and since I mumble and I have rather a he-ah-vee southern accent, it tends to hear about every other word wrong.

seriously though, that bear should've been nominated. That bear contributed way more to the movie than the theme song MARMALADE, MOLASSES AND HONEY (which did get nominated)

I also forgot to mention that Stacy Keach is in this as a murderous albino and he is hilarious. Almost as good as the bear. Not quite tho.

[CaveGirl]

14 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

Well thank you, I actually use the voice transcription feature on my phone and since I mumble and I have rather a he-ah-vee southern accent, it tends to hear about every other word wrong.

seriously though, that bear should've been nominated. That bear contributed way more to the movie than the theme song MARMALADE, MOLASSES AND HONEY (which did get nominated)

I also forgot to mention that Stacy Keach is in this as a murderous albino and he is hilarious. Almost as good as the bear. Not quite tho.

Lorna, I volunteer for a group that fights pejorative comments being made about "murderous albinos" which I'm sure you realize now is a bit of a double whammy racist insult. I'd appreciate if you resist using such a phrase next time or I may have to report you to Edgar Winter* and his followers in SMACK**.

*Not saying he is murderous, as most albinos are not.

**Stop Murderous Albino Comments Kompletely