I Just Watched...

[cigarjoe]

The 7th Commandment (1961) Bizarre Evangelical Noir

 

A great little "C" Noir Directed by Irvin Berwick, screenplay written by Irvin Berwick and Jack Kevan. What makes The 7th Commandment even more relevant is this year's (2016) Republican presidential race and the competition for the evangelical vote with the candidates vying for the "holier than thou" crown with pious one up-manship. It's definitely a "Weird Noir".

 

Poster & Film Title (two different spellings)

 

The film stars Broadway veteran character actor Kurt Richards billed as Jonathan Kidd, Lyn Statten a New York City actress, Film Noir bit part actor John Harmon (They Made Me a Killer (1946), Fall Guy (1947),Moonrise (1948), Flaxy Martin (1949), The Crooked Way (1949), Southside 1-1000 (1950),  along with lots of Crime TV in the '50S ), and Frank Arvidson. Cinematography is by Robert C. Jessup.

 

A 40-ish square john, Ted Mathews (Jonathan Kidd), is rolling the dice on a second shot at life, he has just graduated from night school, The Radburn Extension College of San Francisco. He's giving the valedictorian to his class, he seems to be riding high on entrance ramp to Easy Street. Outside a 53 Chevy convertible drives up out of the dark to the entrance with Terry James (Lyn Statten) a blond bombshell behind the wheel. Man looks like this guys has it all right? Wrong. As one noir pundit put it "the blonder they are on the outside the badder they are on the inside". After primping, re-lipsticking, and checking herself out in the mirror, this hot tomato Terry slides over the bench seat towards the passenger side and assumes a recline pose that displays her obvious charms.

 

Ted Mathews (Jonathan Kidd)

 

Terry (Lyn Statten) displaying her obvious charms

 

With one wink from Terry the former confident Ted looks like a deer in the headlights. He is out classed, and obviously in over his head in lust with Terry, **** stupid, whipped, so to speak. He bops around to the driver's seat and heads to their "special place" at a good clip. During a torrid tonsil hockey session speeding down a two lane with his eyes off the road, Ted and Terry almost have a head on. Both cars swerve off the road and into the tulies. Ted wakes up slumped over the wheel checks on a moaning Terry and then goes off to scope out the other car.

 

He's killed a man

 

The other vehicle has slammed into a tree, it's drivers side door is open, a man is hanging half out with what looks like his head through the windshield and blood running down his arm, he looks permanently chilled. Ted thinks he's killed the man. Ted is first horrified then shell shocked. His screen image wavers stylistically indicating a transformation. Ted goes back to Terry's car and shakes her, she is unresponsive. Ted trance like just walks off into the dark leaving the scene of the accident right into Noirsville. Very entertaining on Six Weird Noirs from Something Weird Videos. 7/10

 

fuller review here on Film Noir/Gangster board and with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-7th-commandment-1961-bizarre.html

Edited February 19, 2016 by TCMModerator1
Edited for language

[LornaHansonForbes]

IN RE, "CAGED" (1950)

 

You know, there is such a genuine affinity and affection for the movie CAGED on these boards that I feel a little guilty for not taking it as seriously as so many of you do, AND FOR THE RECORD, IT'S A GOOD MOVIE, I just think it's the sort of person that I am that, by nature, I just see THE CAMP of it all and, effective as it is in moments, I always end up laughing.

 

Forgive me.

 

There is also a slightly Horatio Alger-ish tendency of the story and direction that starts laying the tragedy on with a trowel by the end.

 

To me, the best performance in the movie is given by the lady who plays KITTY STARK. I cannot remember her name, but it is a very serious transition she goes through- and (for me at least) one of the film's most effective moments. She is terrific.

[LornaHansonForbes]

BLACK LEGION: 1937

This was a movie I hadn't seen before.

It is a movie I will not watch again.

It is excellent, but not a movie I would have sat through if not for Bogart.

It is a little too timely.

 

see, I feel the opposite way.

 

I love when I'm watching something full-to-slightly obscure on TCM and some issue comes up and I think to myself, "hah! they had that problem back then too."

 

Bogart is SO GOOD in the movie, which is all around ironic because in real life, I wouldn;t put it past George Raft (who played the hero) to fall in with just the type of bad guys in this movie.

[Swithin]

IN RE, "CAGED" (1950)

 

You know, there is such a genuine affinity and affection for the movie CAGED on these boards that I feel a little guilty for not taking it as seriously as so many of you do, AND FOR THE RECORD, IT'S A GOOD MOVIE, I just think it's the sort of person that I am that, by nature, I just see THE CAMP of it all and, effective as it is in moments, I always end up laughing.

 

Forgive me.

 

There is also a slightly Horatio Alger-ish tendency of the story and direction that starts laying the tragedy on with a trowel by the end.

 

To me, the best performance in the movie is given by the lady who plays KITTY STARK. I cannot remember her name, but it is a very serious transition she goes through- and (for me at least) one of the film's most effective moments. She is terrific.

 

The real camp that year was in the performances by Swanson and Davis in other movies!

 

Yes -- Betty Garde as Kitty Stark was brilliant, as she was in Call Northside 777 and as Thelma the Maid in the best episode of The Honeymooners: "A Woman's Work Is Never Done."  Betty Garde was also the original Aunt Eller on Broadway, in Oklahoma!.

 

"I don't clean up after no midnight snacks. And this boy looks like he has plenty of midnight snacks!"

 

[JamesJazGuitar]

see, I feel the opposite way.

 

I love when I'm watching something full-to-slightly obscure on TCM and some issue comes up and I think to myself, "hah! they had that problem back then too."

 

Bogart is SO GOOD in the movie, which is all around ironic because in real life, I wouldn;t put it past George Raft (who played the hero) to fall in with just the type of bad guys in this movie.

 

George Raft?   Was he hiding under one of those black sheets?

[MCannady1]

It's THE YOUNG IN HEART.  (YOUNG AT HEART is the Doris Day/Frank Sinatra remake of FOUR DAUGHTERS.)

 

Delightful film and great cast!

[MCannady1]

The real camp that year was in the performances by Swanson and Davis in other movies!

 

Yes -- Betty Garde as Kitty Stark was brilliant, as she was in Call Northside 777 and as Thelma the Maid in the best episode of The Honeymooners: "A Woman's Work Is Never Done."  Betty Garde was also the original Aunt Eller on Broadway, in Oklahoma!.

 

"I don't clean up after no midnight snacks. And this boy looks like he has plenty of midnight snacks!"

 

Saw this good film on TV when I was 11.  IT really scared me!   Betty Garde was really effective in her role.  Eleanor Parker was really superb as the naive pregnant girl who drove the get-away car for a heist (urged on by her husband).  When he is killed, she is sent to prison.  She is made to scrub floors and to learn how to get along with some intimidating people.  I remember a particular scene where we can see that all the women were united in one respect; they wanted a pet.  When a kitten shows up there, they are all charmed.  Of course that is contraband and a stampede follows in a protest.  It is a very vivid portrayal that stays with one long after the film is over....  Yes, Betty was quite effective there.  I had forgotten the name of the warden and thought it was Hope Emerson.  She was great in those kind of scenes in other films. 

 

That is too funny about the housekeeper that set her own rules in The Honeymooners!   Well, Ralph did appear to have a lot of midnight snacks.  I am going to watch that episode again.

[Fedya]

I think technically, Hope Emerson's character is the prison matron. The warden is played by Agnes Moorehead, who gets the movie's great closing line.

[limey]

Oops.

 

Well, it is a very funny and touching and especially well-acted movie.

 

and there's no forgetting The Flying Wombat:

Thoroughly agree about the movie - enjoyed it greatly and... I want that car!

 

However, if you google Flying Wombat to find out more about the car (the Phantom Corsair), it's probably best to avoid the 1st link to the Urban Dictionary, especially if easily embarrassed...

[LonesomePolecat]

Nothing new on Watch TCM that interested me, so I watched THE SUNSHINE BOYS again. Been years and years, and I gotta say I thought it was much funnier this time than when I saw it as a kid. I guess I get more jokes now. Walter & George are both hilarious (Walter Matthau seems to be Neil Simon's real voice), but I think they work really well together, too. The guy who plays Benjamin is fully believable as a "relative" -- does a great job of being irritated by Walter but still loving him, as opposed to just being there to set up the jokes.

[Bogie56]

I love this movie.  I have a strange affinity for ladies in prison movies, I don't know why.  In addition to Eleanor Parker's excellent performance, I also really enjoyed Agnes Moorehead's.  Parker is an actress who I just discovered last year.  I've seen a few more of her films now and I haven't been disappointed.  She deserved more notoriety in her day.  I've found her just as enjoyable to watch as Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn and Ingrid Bergman. 

 

John Candy in drag did a very funny send-up of Hope Emerson and Caged in SCTV.  Total camp.

[LornaHansonForbes]

Thoroughly agree about the movie - enjoyed it greatly and... I want that car!

 

However, if you google Flying Wombat to find out more about the car (the Phantom Corsair), it's probably best to avoid the 1st link to the Urban Dictionary, especially if easily embarrassed...

 

[GregoryPeckfan]

TO SIR WITH LOVE (1967)

 

Just finished watching this favourite movie of mine in honour of Sir Sidney Poitier's 89th birthday

 

I wasn't interested in re-watching No Way Out and then Judgement of Nuremberg as I feel I've seen them to educate myself but wanted to watch something I loved instead.

 

I had To Sir, With Love recorded on PVR from Silver Screen Classics.

 

I think I drove my cat crazy with singing the title song every time it came on.

He doesn't like me singing high notes.  Too bad for him I have to rehearse singing anything.

Not sure what I'll watch next.  I think all my Richard Widmark movies are on DVD and I really should try to work on my PVR films....

 

So many movies, so little time......

 

 

[Bogie56]

I watched Twilight (2008) mainly out of curiosity.  This teen vampire film was such a big hit that it spawned many sequels.  I could see why it may appeal to teens as the young girl in the film is a hopeless romantic who feels alienated from her world.

The vampires are not baddies in this but are a small coven that secretly coexists with humans.  They were more like the X-men than traditional vampires.

I hated it.  The dialogue and acting was abysmal.  The lead actress Kristen Stewart looked like she was about to be sick for half of the movie and snorted most of her dialogue.  Robert Pattinson is one of the worst new actors I have seen.  Of course, the pair are enormously successful and filthy rich by now!

[JamesJazGuitar]

Lust for Gold,  a Columbia film released in 1949 staring Ida Lupino and Glenn Ford as well as Gig Young.

 

Spoiler Alert     Spoiler Alert    Spoiler Alert

 

What is interesting about this film is that none of the major stars are likeable characters.  In fact they are all major skunks.   Major ones,  Ford especially.    He murders so many people,  without any emotion in this film it is insane.  (one of those 'is he really going to shoot his only friend in the film in the back,,,, oh yea!).

 

NOW the film is about what the lust for gold does to people but even Jack Palance would have shown some emotion.     Lupino was almost as bad as the wife of Young willing to kill him off to get some of Ford's gold.      Young was the most decent of the bunch;  he only wanted to kill his wife after he found out about her plans!

 

Hey, I'm all for major studio stars playing bad characters,  but I was still surprised that the studio cast Ford in this role since he was starting to build a reputation on his way to becoming their #1 male star.   

 

The acting was fine,  Lupino looked nice and the setting in the Superstition mountains was great (I have been there a few times and it is a nice place to hike in the spring and fall).       

 

 

[darkblue]

TO SIR WITH LOVE (1967)

 

Just finished watching this favourite movie of mine in honour of Sir Sidney Poitier's 89th birthday

 

I wasn't interested in re-watching No Way Out and then Judgement of Nuremberg as I feel I've seen them to educate myself but wanted to watch something I loved instead.

 

I had To Sir, With Love recorded on PVR from Silver Screen Classics.

 

I think I drove my cat crazy with singing the title song every time it came on.

He doesn't like me singing high notes.  Too bad for him I have to rehearse singing anything.

Not sure what I'll watch next.  I think all my Richard Widmark movies are on DVD and I really should try to work on my PVR films....

 

So many movies, so little time......

 

Maybe the hugest hit movie of 1967. And that was a year with an amazing number of hit movies.

[speedracer5]

I watched Twilight (2008) mainly out of curiosity.  This teen vampire film was such a big hit that it spawned many sequels.  I could see why it may appeal to teens as the young girl in the film is a hopeless romantic who feels alienated from her world.

The vampires are not baddies in this but are a small coven that secretly coexists with humans.  They were more like the X-men than traditional vampires.

I hated it.  The dialogue and acting was abysmal.  The lead actress Kristen Stewart looked like she was about to be sick for half of the movie and snorted most of her dialogue.  Robert Pattinson is one of the worst new actors I have seen.  Of course, the pair are enormously successful and filthy rich by now!

I agree that everyone is terrible and I can't believe the two male stars were touted as heartthrobs! Ick! I am neither Team Edward nor Team Jacob! I thought that Robert Pattinson looked like he was half dead and to me, Kristen Stewart always looks like she'd rather be ANYWHERE ELSE than what she's doing at that moment.  When I watch her on the screen, I can't help but have the same feeling.

 

The books themselves aren't even that great, very poorly written.  I guess when you have poor source material, you can't expect too much from any film adaptation.  Now, because of Twilight, we've had the also poorly written 50 Shades of Grey movies foisted upon us.  50 Shades of Grey started as Twilight fan fiction! 

[speedracer5]

SWING HIGH, SWING LOW.  I recorded this movie off TCM and it was an awful print.  I read that this film had fallen into public domain, perhaps TCM aired a public domain print?  This print was full of scratches and was even slightly blurry.  I liked Carole Lombard in this performance and Fred MacMurray was also excellent. He was very adept at light comedy.  The most interesting part of this film was the footage of the Panama Canal.  Other than that, the film was nothing amazing and the fuzzy print didn't help.  What made the print even worse is that the beginning of Dive Bomber came on after this film and that film is in a gorgeous Technicolor.  It definitely showed up the quality of SWSL.   6/10. 

[LornaHansonForbes]

I watched Twilight (2008) mainly out of curiosity. 

 

Honey no...

 

 

** Oddly though, I must say the mere sight of that avocado green rotary phone makes me want to kill myself.

[GregoryPeckfan]

Lust for Gold,  a Columbia film released in 1949 staring Ida Lupino and Glenn Ford as well as Gig Young.

 

Spoiler Alert     Spoiler Alert    Spoiler Alert

 

What is interesting about this film is that none of the major stars are likeable characters.  In fact they are all major skunks.   Major ones,  Ford especially.    He murders so many people,  without any emotion in this film it is insane.  (one of those 'is he really going to shoot his only friend in the film in the back,,,, oh yea!).

 

NOW the film is about what the lust for gold does to people but even Jack Palance would have shown some emotion.     Lupino was almost as bad as the wife of Young willing to kill him off to get some of Ford's gold.      Young was the most decent of the bunch;  he only wanted to kill his wife after he found out about her plans!

 

Hey, I'm all for major studio stars playing bad characters,  but I was still surprised that the studio cast Ford in this role since he was starting to build a reputation on his way to becoming their #1 male star.   

 

The acting was fine,  Lupino looked nice and the setting in the Superstition mountains was great (I have been there a few times and it is a nice place to hike in the spring and fall).       

I have seen the movie and enjoy it.

 

I know that Glenn Ford actively asked to be given roles where he could be the bad guy and show a broader range of acting.  For example, it was originally supposed  to be the rancher that Ford was going to portray in 3:10 to Yuma.  He wanted to play the bad guy.  It opened up a whole new career for him and allowed him to have a longer career than he might have had after he past the age of matinee idol.

[GregoryPeckfan]

SWING HIGH, SWING LOW.  I recorded this movie off TCM and it was an awful print.  I read that this film had fallen into public domain, perhaps TCM aired a public domain print?  This print was full of scratches and was even slightly blurry.  I liked Carole Lombard in this performance and Fred MacMurray was also excellent. He was very adept at light comedy.  The most interesting part of this film was the footage of the Panama Canal.  Other than that, the film was nothing amazing and the fuzzy print didn't help.  What made the print even worse is that the beginning of Dive Bomber came on after this film and that film is in a gorgeous Technicolor.  It definitely showed up the quality of SWSL.   6/10. 

I enjoyed the movie more than you did, I think.

 

The print quality was an issue.

 

However, as the daughter of professional musicians and with musicians on both sides of my family for several generations, I understand the characters very well-perhaps too well.

 

I think the story is a great example of how musicians have hard lives and can burn themselves out in their quest for fame.

 

Interesting film too in that Fred M. was a real life musician and started out being in the orchestra for stage musicals.

[Swithin]

Saw three 2015 films this weekend:

 

The Lady in the Van -- Excellent opening up of Alan Bennett's play about the homeless woman who parked her van in his front garden and stayed for 15 years.  The "two Alan" concept works as well as on stage. More characters have been added. I particularly liked seeing Roger Allam, Deborah Findlay, and Frances de la Tour.  The character invented for the film and played by the ubiquitous Jim Broadbent is rather annoying, though. Maggie Smith is restrained and excellent.  The great English actor Alex Jennings plays both Alan Bennetts very well.

 

Room -- I found this contrived and cliched, although the first part of the film works pretty well.  The highly-touted-for-an-Oscar actress Brie Larson is ok as is the rest of the cast.

 

The Danish Girl -- A film about a artist, played by Eddie Redmayne, who undergoes one of the first sex-reassignment operations. Moving and complex, though it could have been a bit better. 

 

 

[lavenderblue19]

At least a year ago there was a popular thread in this forum on the movie Abandon Ship with Tyrone Power, and it interested me so much that I put it on my "must watch" list.  I was finally able to see it last night.

 

**SPOILERS**

 

It was worth waiting for - what a gem.  Almost the entire movie takes place in a small boat in the middle of an ocean, but it has enough tension, drama, and thought-provoking dialogue to keep you from turning your eyes away even for a minute.  Power is as great here as he is in Nightmare Alley, with his commanding presence and penetrating dark eyes.  He had to make the decision - who to murder in order to save lives.  You can see his inner torment and he pulls off this acting feat believably.  In fact, all the acting was terrific. 

 

Thumbs up, too, on the camera work.  The scenes where those who are sacrificed are swept away by the churning tides as they flail their arms in horror are terrifying.  Another powerful scene:  In response to a dying woman's request for more water Power retorts angrily, "Don't waste the water on her!"  Suddenly his face, and the faces of those around him, go black as if the atmosphere was draped in evil.

 

On a humorous note - In the beginning scenes in the boat, most of the people look disheveled and stunned, except for one woman.  She looks like she just stepped out of the beauty parlor, with perfect hair blowing in the wind, perfectly-applied lipstick, wearing a cocktail dress with a glittering necklace and earrings.  It reminded me of the "unlikely moments in film" thread in this forum sometime back.  Eventually this woman does get wet and shows signs of strain, but she's obviously made to look almost unbelievably attractive given the life-threatening situation they're in.  

This is a Great write up Eugenia on a great film and a great performance by my guy TY. Last time I watched Abandon Ship was about a year or 2 ago, now I really am so much in the mood to see this film again. Thanks so much for posting for this, again GREAT JOB

[EugeniaH]

This is a Great write up Eugenia on a great film and a great performance by my guy TY. Last time I watched Abandon Ship was about a year or 2 ago, now I really am so much in the mood to see this film again. Thanks so much for posting for this, again GREAT JOB

Lol, thanks, my friend.

What I really wanted to say about "Abandon Ship" is this: watch it because Tyrone Power is so good looking.

[TomJH]

What I really wanted to say about "Abandon Ship" is this: watch it because Tyrone Power is so good looking.

 

I know that you're probably being a little facetious there, Eugenia. One of the reasons that I suspect Power probably emjoyed doing that role in Abandon Ship is because it de-glamourized him. And, let's face it, he looks pretty rough (realistically so), especially towards the end of that film.

 

It's a shame that the film didn't do well at the box office and remains, for the most part, relatively unknown to this day.

 

By the way, your great review didn't go near the question posed to the viewer at the end of the film - GUILTY or NOT GUILTY. That, too, is one of the most interesting aspects of this film based upon a real life incident - the moral quandry as to whether or not Power's drastic decisions in the lifeboat were the "right" thing to do.