Dewey1960 Reviews

Female Jungle (1955)

Undeniable brilliance oozes out of L.A.'s Poverty Row

[1 March 2011]

One night outside a seedy LA bar, a sexy blonde Hollywood starlet is strangled to death by an unseen, shadowy figure. Naturally the cops are baffled, and one cop in particular is having the queasy sensation that he himself might be the killer. That cop has good reason to suspect himself because he's played by Lawrence Tierney--and Detective Tierney spent that very evening in that very bar drinking himself into Blackout Land (an uncanny nod to the particular problem that sent the actor tumbling down to poverty row). After being summarily dressed down for his repeated drunkenness, Tierney is then inexplicably asked to lend his questionable expertise to solving the murder.

What then begins is a bizarrely claustrophobic nightmare chase to the end of the line, offering up a host of potential other suspects. Could it have been the sinister Hollywood gossip columnist (John Carradine) who helped make the starlet's career and was then casually dumped by her? How about the oddball caricature artist (Burt Kaiser) who had recently drawn the starlet's likeness and was one of the last people to see her alive? And what about the caricaturist's wife who just happens to work at the bar? Let's not forget about Tierney's drunken cop who staggers his way through this nocturnal labyrinth with all the conviction of a man staring down at the bottom of an empty bottle. And how does Candy, the gorgeously voluptuous call girl (Jayne Mansfield in her screen debut) who's been sexually involved with both the artist and the cop figure into all of this? Perhaps it's best to not to be overly concerned with the storyline, which is deliriously beneath pulp trash, and relish the demented visual poetry of cinematographer Elwood "Woody" Bredell, himself no stranger to the dark confines of the noir universe, with 1940s classics like PHANTOM LADY, THE KILLERS, SMOOTH AS SILK, and THE UNSUSPECTED lurking on his resume. (Bredell was 70 when he shot FEMALE JUNGLE, which would be his final feature film. He died in 1976 at age 91.) And this is precisely why FEMALE JUNGLE is such an important film, for it relentlessly discards any use for logic in favor of the inhabitation of its own deranged nightmare world. Bredell invests the film with such strikingly abstract imagery that it's impossible to attribute its surreal look and feel to the accidental good fortune of its nearly non-existent budget--as many of the film's detractors have done. Rather, it is a pure distillation of the totality of the noir ethos and much more resonant with the thrill of death and doom than any other 1950s film outside the realm of Nicholas Ray.

FEMALE JUNGLE was the first film directed by Bruno Ve Sota. And despite having directed only two others (THE BRAIN EATERS (58) and INVASION OF THE STAR CREATURES (62)) his career was fairly deep as an actor, appearing in such disreputable (and legendary) films as DEMENTIA (55, aka DAUGHTER OF HORROR, which he also co-produced and allegedly co-directed), a bunch of classic 50s Roger Corman films, namely THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, ROCK ALL NIGHT, WAR OF THE SATELLITES, BUCKET OF BLOOD, THE WASP WOMAN and ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES as well as the Arch Hall, Jr. teen trasher THE CHOPPERS (61; Leigh Jason), and the tres obscure beatnik noir THE CAT BURGLAR (61; William Witney).

Shot in 1955, FEMALE JUNGLE was picked up for distribution by Sam Arkoff and James Nicholson's fledgling American International Pictures (then briefly known as ARC) and released in early 1956 as the second half of a double bill, beneath a Roger Corman western THE OKLAHOMA WOMAN. Ve Sota, oddly enough, has a small role in that film, too.

But it is FEMALE JUNGLE, an imaginatively ambitious and unapologetically naked excursion to the darkest regions of film noir, that we will remember Bruno Ve Sota for—and deservedly so.

This highly recommended film is not available on a US DVD (a UK one does exist, though). It came out on a VHS tape from RCA / Columbia in the early 90s and turns up on eBay every now and then. Jump on it when it does.

Gang Busters: The Red Dress Case (1955) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

Depraved reunion for ANN SAVAGE and TOM NEAL!!

[8/10 · 18 January 2010]

This extraordinary noir reunion between Ann Savage and Tom Neal arrived on the small screen seven long and very hard years after their 1945 co-mingling in Ulmer's fatalistic masterpiece DETOUR. "The Red Dress" was produced for the short-lived but memorable syndicated television crime series GANG BUSTERS (1952/53), itself a spin-off from the original radio series from the 30s and later movie serial from the early 40s. Some of the filmed half-hour GANG BUSTER TV episodes focused on notorious icons like Dillinger, Alvin Karpis and Ma Barker. Others, like this incredible oddity, recounted the exploits of totally forgotten (though real) criminal nobodies whose only destiny was to wind up behind the eight ball. The series was pretty primitive, often displaying the type of accidental visual style and grungy pulp energy normally associated with the best of the poverty row noir features from the late 40s.

In "The Red Dress" Ann Savage plays Juanita, one-time girl friend of career crook William Harlan Crain (Tom Neal, appearing more grizzled and haunted than his recently former self), who is only hours away from serving out a five-year sentence in San Quentin for armed robbery. Juanita meets him at the gate with hopes of reviving their relationship but Crain is reluctant—time in the can has made him edgy, suspicious. She drives him back to her place where she drags out Crain's former pals Shaky and Bunch (Stan Malotte and Ben Wenlend). Before anyone knows it, the old gang is back in business, only this time Juanita calls the shots and she's not shy about letting these guys know it. She's got weapons galore stashed at her cozy little hideout and a short-wave police radio hook-up to boot. After a lot of huffing and puffing by the boys, they reluctantly give themselves over to her control. She aggressively maps out jobs for them and, amazingly, they pull off a series of successful stick-ups. With each job Juanita's relentless determination to make bigger and better scores along with her unsuccessful attempts at igniting romantic yearnings in Crain soon begins to ratchet up the tension within this tenuous group.

By now Crain is clearly fed up with toeing the line yet fails to do anything about it. Shaky and Bunch are no better. Juanita is now exclusively focused on devouring Crain, lusting for him in the face of his utter revulsion. Depressed and coming undone, she goes to a doctor who gives her drugs for the anxiety.

The ironic gist of the plot involves Juanita's escalating obsession with the pricey red dress at a downtown boutique that she's been drooling over ever since the episode began. Having this dress means more to her than anything (with the possible exception of having Crain) as she now starts to careen emotionally out of control. Finally she decides to have the boys knock over the dress shop—making sure to grab the devil dress as a well-earned bonus for her. Crain and the other two are baffled by the stupidity of such a heist but they fold pretty quickly and fall in line. They break into the shop that very night and in the process a witness is shot and killed. Now they've suddenly got a murder rap hanging over them and desperation sets in immediately. To make matters worse, the red dress is of no use to anyone, getting completely tattered during the frantic getaway—now leaving Juanita thwarted at every level of her ambition. With the cops closing in and any hope for freedom beyond reach, the gang continues to flee in a blind panic. Juanita's own descent quickens and finally ends with her fatal OD as a clutch of faceless cops march Crain, Shaky and Bunch silently off to their predictable doom.

The unholy re-teaming of Ann Savage and Tom Neal is obviously at the cold heart of this oddly compelling film noir experience. But it's also fair to say that the film itself, for all of its ruthless nothingness, earns its own dilapidated place at the darkest dead-end on poverty row.

"The Red Dress" was directed by W. Lee Wilder who made the excellent poverty row noirs THE GLASS ALIBI (46) and (especially) THE PRETENDER (47) as well as later oddball horror films like MANFISH (56) and BLUEBEARD'S TEN HONEYMOONS (60).

Public scandal dogged Tom Neal all through the 1950s and 60s. In 1951 he was virtually blackballed from appearing in Hollywood feature films after nearly decimating fellow actor Franchot Tone in a brawl over the affections of troubled actress Barbara Payton. In 1965 Neal was convicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter after fatally shooting his wife in the head. He was sentenced to ten years in prison but paroled after serving only six. He died the following year of a heart attack at age 58. In 1992, the actor's son, Tom Neal, Jr. starred in a low-budget, independently produced remake of DETOUR.

Experiment Alcatraz (1950)

A real head-scratcher from one of the true Kings of the Bs!!

[7/10 · 18 January 2010]

EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ (1950) is another in a very long line of ultra-cheap curios from the prodigiously prolific Edward L. Cahn, one of the undisputed "Kings of the Bs." Produced independently and picked up for theatrical distribution by RKO before eventually evaporating into the ethers of obscurity, this murky little gem ranks as one of Cahn's more interesting films.

Dr. Ross Williams (John Howard) and his crack team of army physicians are certain that by blasting "radioactive isotopes" into human guinea pigs, medical science will find a cure for a rare blood disease. A group of five Alcatraz lifers are given the opportunity to gain their freedom if they're willing to subject themselves to this hazardous and radical medical experiment. The hardened cons, led by the grizzled Barry Morgan (Robert Shayne, perennial good guy Inspector Henderson on TV's Superman) are quick to play ball without any illusions of altruism; their only interest is getting out of the can and this is clearly the only shot they're ever likely to get. But something goes horribly, weirdly wrong and Morgan winds up murdering one of the other cons in the aftermath of the experiment, throwing Dr. Williams' theory and, for that matter, entire medical career into jeopardy. The resulting mystery surrounding the peculiar events taking place at Alcatraz forms the basis for the remainder of this quirky drama.

While perhaps not as sharply drawn as other notable low budget noirs from the late 40s and early 50s, EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ nevertheless earns its stripes through the sheer weirdness of its far-fetched story and the unexpected detours it takes along the way. At fifty-seven minutes, it can hardly be faulted for overstaying its welcome.

Edward L. Cahn had an incredible career in Hollywood, directing countless low budget features over a thirty-year period, including such classics as MAIN STREET AFTER DARK (1945), THE GAS HOUSE KIDS IN Hollywood (1947), DESTINATION MURDER (1950), CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (1955), GIRLS IN PRISON (1956), SHAKE RATTLE & ROCK (1956), VOODOO WOMAN (1957), MOTORCYCLE GANG (1957), INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN (1957), IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958), RIOT IN JUVENILE PRISON (1959), GUNS, GIRLS & GANGSTERS (1959) and CAGE OF EVIL (1960).

Shack Out on 101 (1955)

Oddballs mingle with atomic spies in bizarre seaside beanery!

[7/10 · 16 March 2009]

SHACK OUT ON 101, Edward Dein's 1955 minimalist masterpiece of Cold War weirdness remains, over 50 years later, one of Hollywood's strangest concoctions.

A dilapidated seaside beanery just north of San Diego is the setting for this outré noir tale about a group of disparate folks who become either directly or peripherally involved with Commie spies and stolen microfilm. The unforgettable cast includes Keenan Wynn as the diner's proprietor, a man obsessed with his "pecs" and always at odds with Lee Marvin as Slob, the animalistic short-order cook who's obsessed with va-va-voom Terry Moore who drives all the guys wild as the put-upon waitress who seems to only have eyes for Frank Lovejoy, "the professor" (of what we're not exactly sure) and Whit Bissell as the annoyingly chatty salesman who wanders in and out of the picture whenever a couple of uninterrupted minutes of bizarre banter is required.

This is not a normal film in any true sense of the word. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense and, apart from aligning itself with the then current trend of pseudo patriotic, anti- communist espionage films, it isn't easy to guess what was really on the minds of those who produced this delirious little oddity. At times hilarious (possibly intentional, possibly not) and grimly somber, SHACK OUT ON 101 defies rational description and should most definitely be experienced at least once, or in the case with some of us, as often as humanly possible.

My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

A great Gothic B noir from the director of GUN CRAZY and THE BIG COMBO

[8/10 · 18 October 2008]

MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS is a mesmerizing 1945 B thriller from Joseph H. Lewis, arguably one of the very finest directors of Hollywood noir films. This 65 minute Gothic oddity from Columbia Pictures came after Lewis' lengthy apprenticeship as the helmer of a string of poverty row westerns, East Side Kids comedies, horror melodramas (including the incredibly bizarre Bela Lugosi shocker THE INVISIBLE GHOST) and standard studio B product (SECRETS OF A CO-ED, BOMBS OVER BURMA, THE FALCON IN SAN FRANCISCO, etc)---all of which set the stage rather nicely for what was to come from the enormously talented and inventive Mr. Lewis. MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (as well as SO DARK THE NIGHT from the following year) introduced a director who had mastered the rare and delicate art telling a dark and probing tale swiftly and efficiently on the most modest of budgets. Later Lewis productions like GUN CRAZY (1949) and THE BIG COMBO (1955), despite the expanded scope of their narrative structure, continued to rely upon deft, lucid camera work and effective low-key lighting. And very modest resources.

MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS probably owes more to the tradition of British mysteries (it's set in a studio-bound England) than it does to conventional film noir attitudes and trappings. A young woman (Nina Foch) agrees to take a position in the home of an elderly woman (Dame Mae Witty). Two days after her arrival she awakens from a deep sleep in a completely strange house and, mysteriously enough, with a brand new identity---that of the old woman's daughter-in-law. Told that she's been the victim of a nervous breakdown, she struggles to grasp the utter and seemingly hopeless nature of her predicament. But before long she begins to piece together the strange and troubling truth behind this dark mystery, that her "husband" (the always menacing George Macready) most probably murdered his real wife and that she's been duped into participating in a harrowing and sinister scheme. Much of what distinguishes this otherwise modest tale are the indelible touches that Lewis brings to the production, marking it as the first of his truly serious endeavors as a film director.

Nightfall (1956)

The other great noir film directed by Jacques Tourneur

[10/10 · 20 September 2008]

NIGHTFALL is a spellbinding 1957 noir film directed by the great Jacques Tourneur. Based on a novel by David Goodis ("Dark Passage," "Shoot The Piano Player," etc) the film stars Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, James Gregory and Rudy Bond. Nearly a forgotten film, NIGHTFALL has never been available on any home video format.

NIGHTFALL tells of the plight of an innocent man (Aldo Ray) plunged into a nightmarish scenario of fear and paranoia when he becomes the object of pursuit by both the cops and a pair of sadistic killers (Keith and Bond) over the whereabouts of a cache of stolen money. Tourneur, through the clever weaving of flashbacks, unfolds the story in a most dazzling fashion, never letting the tension ease for a moment.

Anyone familiar with the dark and despairing novels of David Goodis will no doubt be drawn into the dire world of NIGHTFALL's protagonist, Jim Vanning---beautifully played by the vastly under-appreciated Aldo Ray. Ray's compelling portrait of a tough man on the brink of utter desperation (a common thread in Goodis' fiction) is a revelation---as honest a depiction of a tortured hero as 1950s American pulp cinema has provided. The stunning Anne Bancroft (in an early starring role) adds considerable spice as a mysterious woman who unexpectedly stumbles into Jim Vanning's dangerous world.

Brian Keith and Rudy Bond score big as the heavies, etching indelibly memorable performances. Keith, in a very nuanced performance, injects aspects of humanity into an otherwise diabolical personality. Bond is especially impressive; a giggling sadist capable of unspeakable violence without the slightest provocation. James Gregory (the unctious and corrupt Senator Iselin from Frankenheimer's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) represents the right side of the law as an insurance investigator determined to get to the truth. The grounded contrast Gregory provides lends an air of unusual realism to an otherwise (gloriously) far-fetched story. The wonderful rhythm and blues singer Al Hibbler croons the title tune; its haunting, recurring melody drives the film along.

Tourneur directed only a handful of noir films (OUT OF THE PAST and THE LEOPARD MAN chief among them); NIGHTFALL, while not necessarily the equal of OUT OF THE PAST shares many of that film's virtues while carving it's own unique path.

Gangster Story (1959)

No-budget, ragtag noir gem yields surprising results!

[7/10 · 20 September 2008]

One of the more pleasing aspects of having a cable channel like TCM is the comforting knowledge that sooner or later so many wonderful quasi-obscure little film noir gems will eventually be broadcast and make their way into the home libraries of those who so ravenously covet them.

One such deliriously sublime example is GANGSTER STORY, a no-budget 1960 indie noir that starred and was directed by Walter Matthau. Produced in Los Angeles on virtually no money at all, it tells the simple but compelling story of criminal Jack Martin (Matthau) who, at the outset of the story has escaped his police captors and killed a cop in the process. His flight takes him to a quiet little town where he holes up while planning an outrageously weird bank job back in the big city. The heist nets him a bundle and now with the cops, the FBI and the outraged local crime kingpins (how dare this punk upstage them!) hot on his trail, the chase that will lead to Martin's ultimate destiny becomes hotter by the minute.

This is a tough one to recommend across the board, as there will no doubt be many who are put off by the obvious lack of resources devoted to the making of this picture. But connoisseurs of ragtag B crime noirs are likely to savor the abundance of eccentric touches that Matthau invests in this truly odd and surprisingly inventive thriller. Trivia freaks will enjoy knowing that Carol Grace, the actress who plays Matthau's love interest, became the real-life second Mrs. Matthau a couple of years later.

Witness to Murder (1954)

Top-Notch Noir from the great John Alton

[8/10 · 20 September 2008]

WITNESS TO MURDER is one of the great unsung noir gems from the 1950s. Sharply directed by Roy Rowland and brilliantly photographed by John Alton, it is criminal that this terrific film has yet to see a DVD release.

Barbara Stanwyck stars as a woman who inadvertently witnesses a murder one night when, awakened by a thunderclap, goes to her window and sees her neighbor in an apartment across the street (George Sanders) strangle a woman to death. Shaken but collected, she phones the police who respond to the call but are unable to detect anything out of the ordinary when they arrive to question Sanders. The detectives (Gary Merrill and Jesse White) leave Sanders' apartment convinced that Stanwyck imagined the killing.

Determined to prove the cops wrong, she begins to relentlessly hound Sanders who, it turns out, is a former Nazi and author of books promoting the ideology of the Third Reich. Sanders, a cunning adversary, initiates a retaliatory strike against Stanwyck which, before long lands her in a mental asylum. But will she be able to convince Detective Gary Merrill (who by now has fallen in love with her) that her assertions are, after all, true?

Darkly suspenseful, albeit preposterously improbable, WITNESS TO MURDER follows a similar thread as REAR WINDOW, released the very same year. The most significant difference being in the Hitchcock film James Stewart is a consciously willing voyeur, drawn into a secret world of spying brought on by his own inertia; Stanwyck succumbs to the ramifications of her voyeurism purely by an accident of nature, the victim of circumstances far beyond her control, placing it much more squarely in the domain of film noir than its better known counterpart. Highly recommended!

Screaming Mimi (1958)

One of the 1950s most twisted noir films!

[7/10 · 20 September 2008]

One of the 1950s strangest noir films, Gerd Oswald's sensational and twisted 1958 psycho- shocker SCREAMING MIMI was based on a pulp novel by the great Fredric Brown. This is one film that devotees of the truly bizarre cannot afford to miss.

Alcoholic newspaper columnist Bill Sweeney (Philip Carey) becomes entwined in a string of grisly murders that seem to revolve around exotic stripper Yolanda Lange (Anita Ekberg!!). Seems that Yolanda killed a man a couple of years earlier who tried to attack her while she showered. Traumatized by this event, she spends some time in a sanitarium and, upon her release, seeks out the help of psychiatrist Dr. Greenwood (the ever creepy Harry Townes) for some quick and dirty therapy. This "poor man's Svengali" falls in love with her (natch!) and soon insinuates himself into her life, even going so far as managing her career by getting her a job at the El Madhouse, a seedy nightclub run by "Gypsy" Mapes ("Gypsy" Rose Lee!). But before long a series of brutal murders begin to occur and poor Yolanda appears to be the prime suspect. (I won't bother to go into the reasons why; it would probably take longer than the running time of the film.)

Anyone looking for or concerned with conventional logic might likely be put off by this wildly lurid and threadbare melodrama as nothing quite makes sense in this demented Fulleresque nether world. But those hungry for the wonderful cheap thrills only to be found in nightmare B movies of the fringe variety will probably come away from the table more than satisfied. Artfully photographed by Burnett Guffey, SCREAMING MIMI probably looks a lot better than it deserves to, and Gerd Oswald's eccentric direction doesn't hurt either. Oswald, as many might recall, later went on to produce and direct many of the more stellar episodes of TV's "Outer Limits" in the early 60s. SCREAMING MIMI provided him with the most stunningly perfect testing ground imaginable.

Of note to jazz fans: the incredible Red Norvo Trio is featured as the house band at the El Madhouse.

The Killers (1964)

Better than the original version!

[9/10 · 13 September 2008]

Directed by Don Siegel ("Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "Dirty Harry," etc.), THE KILLERS was originally conceived as the first "made for TV movie." Filming began in late 1963 and sometime during production, JFK was assassinated in Dallas. (Don Siegel notes in his autobiography that word about JFK's murder came down to them while on the set. They were in the middle of shooting a scene with John Cassavetes and Angie Dickinson. When Angie was told the news she collapsed in a dead faint; she--according to Siegel and many others- -was having an on and off affair with the President at the time.)

Upon completion of the film in early '64, NBC deemed it "too violent" for television and Universal quickly rushed it into theaters that summer in a desperate attempt to squirm out of a potentially controversial and embarrassing situation. Relatively few people saw it back in 1964. It's reputation as a taut, exciting crime film didn't come about until several years later, once it began turning up (ironically) on television.

The film itself is fascinating for many reasons. Siegel (and his screenwriter Gene Coon) completely reworked the concept by accentuating the importance of the hit men (Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager); Marvin's insistence on knowing why a man (John Cassavetes in the Burt Lancaster role) would accept his fate so passively becomes the wheel on which the entire film spins. Angie Dickinson is fantastic and alluring as the femme fatale, and while she's no Ava Gardner (who is?) she does a great job in the role.

But it is none other than soon-to-be Governor RONALD REAGAN who almost steals the show as the sadistic crime boss. Again, according to Siegel, Reagan came out of retirement to do this film (against his better judgment; he had never appeared as an out and out bad guy before) but Siegel talked him into it--very much to Reagan's subsequent chagrin. Reagan, it turns out, is brilliant in the role, perhaps a little too much so; he's chillingly believable as a cold, ruthless criminal. The very summer this film was in theaters, Ronnie was delivering the keynote address at the Republican National Convention. Two years later he would be the Governor of California. It's no wonder, really, that for many years (particularly during Reagan's presidency) this film was curiously absent from repertory theater screens and television showings. It wasn't until Reagan left office in early 1989 that THE KILLERS began to creep back into public view. CHECK IT OUT!! The film is a stone cold gem!!

Black Angel (1946)

One of film noir's darkest human dramas

[13 September 2008]

BLACK ANGEL is a vastly underrated noir film, even by those who should know better. Ostensibly it is about a young woman's efforts to find the murderer of a nightclub singer and prove her accused, philandering husband's innocence. But the movie is really about alcoholism, a man's temporary escape from it, and his ultimate relapse into addiction. At its center is a character (Dan Duryea) so enveloped by melancholy it seems inevitable that his life would be subverted by alcohol. After the morbid reasons for his condition are revealed, it becomes difficult to watch and accept the contrived outcome of the movie. The real pain is in the hideous recognition of guilt and shame that lies at the heart of drunkenness.

Cornell Woolrich (author of the original novel) was an alcoholic burdened by insurmountable obsessions and sexual frustration. Through his restrictive lifestyle, he attempted to conceal his real nature not only from himself, but from his possessive mother with whom he lived in one hotel room until her death. In his work, Woolrich may have been equating murder with homosexuality. The harboring of his own sexual secrets might not differ from a delusional killer's efforts to conceal his murderous impulses. The fact that Woolrich frequently associated sex with murder in his stories might lead one to speculate that the author found sexual gratification in the graphic depiction of killing. This is an authentic noir syndrome. By creating a hallucinatory world of despair, BLACK ANGEL becomes an essential film noir. Its style mirrors the turmoil within its characters. Along with Duryea, the fine cast includes June Vincent, Peter Lorre, Broderick Crawford and Constance Dowling. Directed with stylish flair by Roy William Neill.

Bluebeard (1944)

Poverty Row brilliance from Edgar G. Ulmer

[8/10 · 13 September 2008]

Those unfamiliar with the pleasures to be found in the demented cinematic poetry of Edgar G. Ulmer, whose most notorious film, DETOUR (1945) has fascinated cineastes the world over for decades, will find much to enjoy in his 1944 production, BLUEBEARD.

Emerging from PRC (Producer's Releasing Corporation), the same poverty row studio responsible for DETOUR (as well as several other Ulmer classics) it tells the haunting story of Gaston Morrell, a Parisian artist and puppeteer (magnificently played by John Carradine) who, after painting the portraits of beautiful women, finishes the job by strangling his models to death. Morrell seems genuinely tortured by this hideous compulsion but in true noir fashion, is powerless to do anything about it. The problem becomes even more complicated when he falls in love with Lucille (Jean Parker), a beguiling young seamstress who seems fated to become Morrell's next victim.

Filmed in one week on the dank and murky back lots of poverty row, BLUEBEARD is a prime example of Ulmer's peculiar genius for turning nearly nothing into something of profound and lasting beauty. Creating a brilliantly stylized Paris under such financially limiting conditions was pair pour le cours for Ulmer and his production designer (and uncredited cinematographer) Eugen Schufftan. Schufftan had worked some fifteen years earlier with Ulmer on MENSCHEN AM SONNTAG (People On Sunday) (30) and would do so again on STRANGE ILLUSION (45), CLUB HAVANA (45) and THE WIFE OF MONTE CRISTO (46) --- all for PRC. Among the many other films photographed by Schufftan are G. W. Pabst's L'ATLANTIDE (32), Marcel Carne's LE QUAI DES BRUMES (PORT OF SHADOWS) (38), Rene Clair's IT HAPPENED TOMORROW (44), Robert Rossen's THE HUSTLER (61) and LILITH (64) and Jack Garfein's SOMETHING WILD (61). Clearly it is no accident that BLUEBEARD achieves such a distinctly expressionistic look and feel; it is the product of committed artists whose work, before and after, establish them as supreme cinematic stylists.

BLUEBEARD was produced by poverty row pioneer Leon Fromkess who would achieve additional notoriety in the 1960s as the producer of two of Samuel Fuller's most provocative noir films, SHOCK CORRIDOR (63) and THE NAKED KISS (64).

And finally, it has often been noted that John Carradine cited BLUEBEARD as his favorite role in a long and prolific career. It is easy to understand why. He rarely, if ever, had the opportunity to be so prominently featured at the center of a film, one that would allow him to channel his obsessively melodramatic histrionics into a character that blended so perfectly with his environment. A performance as mesmerizing as the film itself.

Allotment Wives (1945)

Down and Dirty Poverty Row Noir from...KAY FRANCIS!!

[8/10 · 13 September 2008]

There is great cause for celebration among fans of obscure and esoteric films because ALLOTMENT WIVES (1945), a provocative and tremendously fascinating example of poverty row noir finally premieres on Turner Classic Movies on September 26. Produced as part of a three picture deal between star / producer Kay Francis and Monogram Pictures, this peculiar trilogy served as Miss Francis' Hollywood swan song. The other two films, DIVORCE (1945) and WIFE WANTED (1946) are both well-produced, better than average melodramas, but nowhere near as ambitious or entertaining as ALLOTMENT WIVES.

What this film might lack in customary Hollywood sophistication it more than makes up for in gnarly pulp energy. Francis plays Sheila Seymour, a sleek and stylish society gal who in reality is the head of a noxious crime syndicate that preys mercilessly on returning World War II servicemen. They zero in on impressionable and lonely vets and before long they're engaged to one of Sheila's "girls." After pocketing the GI's allotment pay, the gals are soon on their way to their next mark, leaving a trail of devastated saps strewn along the post-war landscape. Things become emotionally complicated when Sheila's beautiful young daughter Corrine (Teala Loring) arrives home from her swanky boarding school (she's been oblivious to Mom's business dealings) and slowly begins to unravel the sordid details of her mother's dreadful criminal activities. Also in the cast are the wonderfully creepy Otto Kruger as Francis' odious partner in crime, the equally creepy Paul Kelly as a military investigator and the always menacing Gertrude Michael as one of Francis' old racket rivals who's out for a little revenge.

In many ways this film bears more than a passing resemblance to the much tonier and more famous MILDRED PIERCE, released by Warner Bros the same year. But ALLOTMENT WIVES gets the nasty tone of noir's tawdrier aspects better than Michael Curtiz' glossy soap opera. In fact, the crucial showdown scene between mother and daughter at the climax of ALLOTMENT WIVES plays out much more dramatically and, more importantly, realistically than the overwrought scenes between Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth.

For those who enjoy their film noir a bit on the exotic side, ALLOTMENT WIVES is must viewing, especially for those with a predisposition for down and dirty, unpretentious poverty row entertainment.

Johnny Staccato (1959–1960)

Spectacular TV / JAZZ NOIR with John Cassavetes

[10/10 · 9 September 2006]

This short-lived (one season, 1959/60) television detective series is without a doubt, the definitive example of what can now be termed TV Noir, riding high atop a list including such programs as Peter Gunn and 77 Sunset Strip. But JOHNNY STACCATO had much more going for it than those other shows, mainly the presence of the mighty John Cassavetes who starred as the jazz pianist turned Greenwich Village private detective. He also directed a handful of the 27 total episodes. The only other regular character was Waldo (veteran character actor Eduardo Ciannelli), the crusty old proprietor of Waldo's, the jazz club where Staccato hung out. On any given show the "house band" might include Johnny Williams (before he became Academy Award-winning composer JOHN Williams), Red Mitchell, Ray Brown, Barney Kessel and Shelly Manne. In addition to Cassavetes, other directors who stepped in were Joe Pevney, John Brahm, Boris Sagal and Paul Henreid. Among the crack cinematographers on the show were Ben Kline ("Detour") and Lionel Lindon ("The Manchurian Candidate"). Each of the 27 episodes are fantastic in their way, but among the stand-outs are: MURDER FOR CREDIT with Charles McGraw as an egocentric jazz musician; THE NATURE OF THE NIGHT with Dean Stockwell as a psychotic slasher; EVIL with Alexander Scourby as a corrupt religious leader; FLY BABY FLY with Gena Rowlands as the target of a bomb planted on an airplane that Staccato's also on; TEMPTED with Elizabeth Montgomery as an old flame of Johnny's; DOUBLE FEATURE with Cassavetes in a dual role; THE LIST OF DEATH with the great Paul Stewart, SOLOMON with Elisha Cook Jr as a megalomaniac attorney and Cloris Leachman as a mysterious vixen; THE MASK OF JASON with a pre- Dick Van Dyke Mary Tyler Moore; A NICE LITTLE TOWN, a Twilight-Zonish episode and THE WILD REED with Harry Guardino as a heroin addicted jazz musician. Lots of VHS tapes and now DVDs are floating around offering up most of the episodes with varying quality, depending on the original source material. Many are taken directly from 16mm television prints. It's truly criminal that MCA doesn't release a full DVD collection of this show, given its incredible credentials and consistently excellent quality. I CANNOT RECOMMEND THESE EPISODES MORE HIGHLY, they are simply superb in every respect. 10 out of 10.

The Vampire's Ghost (1945)

Overlooked and under-appreciated Vampire film.

[8/10 · 5 September 2006]

Republic Pictures cranked out a ton of "B" pictures in virtually every genre during the 1940s, many of which were (at best) barely watchable. There were, however, any number of mystery and horror titles which rose above the typical meager standards and achieved a special kind of wonderfulness all their own. One such example is THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST, a low budget horror film written by the legendary science fiction and horror scribe Leigh Brackett. The tale benefits from the exotic locale of an African plantation with the peculiarly mannered John Abbott starring as Webb Fallon, a centuries old vampire now living in Africa running a seedy saloon. The incidents in the film are quite unusual, most notably an exotic dance performed by Adele Mara in Fallon's saloon. A strange and atmospheric little gem that should appeal to fans of esoteric "B" films. Disregard all of the wrong-headed and annoyingly condescending critical evaluations in the conventional film guides (Leonard Maltin, John Stanley, etc); this film is definitely worth your time and attention.

The Amazing Mr. X (1948)

Supernatural NOIR from an acknowledged master of light and shadow

[10/10 · 5 September 2006]

THE AMAZING MR. X (aka "The Spiritualist") retains a significant spot atop a relatively small list of supernatural noir films. Along with the Val Lewton RKO films and a handful of miscellaneous titles, THE AMAZING MR. X achieves its monumental status primarily as a result of the luminescent cinematography of John Alton. Which is not meant to slight the other aspects of this smartly written, directed (by Bernard Vorhaus, a frequent Alton collaborator) and performed "B" film. Among the top flight cast members are Turhan Bey as the phony spiritualist who wins the hearts of a pair of curiously mismatched sisters, Lynn Bari as the older sister (and focal point of the story's dramatic plot) who, incidentally joined the cast at the very last minute as a replacement for Carole Landis who, tragically, committed suicide just before filming was to begin and Cathy O'Donnell as the flighty younger sister fresh from her appearance in Nicholas Ray's "They Live By Night." Emotionally satisfying and visually exhilarating, THE AMAZING MR. X is one of the unsung delights of the late 40s; definitely not to be missed. Incidentally, Image Entertainment has just released a new DVD version of this film, the first to be transferred from a 35mm print. Although the quality isn't perfect (numerous scratches here and there) it is a vast improvement over the previous 16mm dupe transfers that have been available to the public. A highly recommended jewel of noir romanticism.

House of Horrors (1946)

A real-life monstrosity in a luridly bizarre B horror film.

[7/10 · 12 July 2006]

HOUSE OF HORRORS (1946) comes at the very tail end of Universal's classic horror film cycle, following on the heels of 1930s box office blockbusters like Dracula, FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUMMY, THE INVISIBLE MAN and THE BLACK CAT. By the 1940s, however, the studio's established monsters had been relegated to a succession of sequels with mixed and varying results. Ultimately, as budgets shrank and the big stars like Karloff and Lugosi drifted off to other studios, Universal began producing very low budget (although generally very entertaining) B horror melodramas such as CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN, THE MAD GHOUL, and, most notoriously, HOUSE OF HORRORS. For many, this film was particularly repellent because its star, Rondo Hatton, suffered from a horribly disfiguring and ultimately degenerative disease called acromegaly. He appeared in a small number of cheap-jack horror thrillers, HOUSE OF HORRORS definitely being the best of the lot. In it he (again) appears as The Creeper, a deformed, deranged killer thought to have drowned in the East River after a police manhunt. He is, however, rescued by a suicidal sculptor named Marcel De Lange (wonderfully played by Martin Kosleck) who spots him in the river just as De Lange is about to take his own life. He brings the monster back to his skid row studio where he not only nurses him back to life but develops a strange, impenetrable bond with him. This bond extends itself into killing off a number of art critics (as well as sexy streetwalkers and models) who have denounced De Lange as a fraudulent disgrace to the art world by first strangling them then snapping their spines. Ultimately The Creeper and De Lange are outwitted and brought down by a girl newspaper columnist (Virginia Grey) and her pin-up artist boyfriend (Robert Lowery). A dim-witted cop (Bill Goodwin) provides little help at all. Despite the rather dismal reputation this film has, it is nonetheless an effectively atmospheric and peculiarly disturbing story, perhaps most accurately described as horror noir. Put aside whatever reservations you may have about this bizarre oddity and check it out.

Open Secret (1948)

Terrific Poverty-Row Film Noir Rips The Lid Off Anti-Semitic Hate Groups!

[8/10 · 8 July 2006]

The late 1940s saw a brief spate of message movies dealing with anti-semitism, most notably the fantastic film noir thriller CROSSFIRE and the more famous but somewhat tepid GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT (both 1947). OPEN SECRET, from 1948, shares more in common with CROSSFIRE given its noir trappings and thriller elements. John Ireland plays ex-GI Paul Lester who, along with his new wife Nancy (the very alluring Jane Randolph) arrive in town with the hopes of visiting Paul's old army buddy, Ed Stevens. When Ed turns up missing, Paul and Nancy are tossed into the middle of a dark mystery involving a neighborhood hate group whose targets are ethnic immigrant residents and business owners. Chief among them is Harry Strauss (George Tyne) a Jewish camera shop owner who figures prominently in the search for Ed who, it turns out, has been hunted down and killed by the hate-mongers because of incriminating photographs involving a previous killing that were in his possession. The direction (by John Reinhardt) of the film is considerably more lively than most ultra-low budget thrillers and the issues it brings up are actually on the level of those tackled in CROSSFIRE. Much of the dialog is quite intelligent and pungently written, dealing with delicate issues in a frank, straightforward way. Other notably interesting people in the cast are Roman Bohnen (the well-respected left-wing blacklisted actor) as an alcoholic wife-beater and member of the hate group, Sheldon Leonard (a veteran of tons of "B" noirs) as a sympathetic cop and, in a background bit part, King Donovan (from Don Siegel's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"). OPEN SECRET has recently been released in a budget-priced DVD and I strongly urge fans of this hybrid noir genre to check it out.

The Locket (1946)

A feverish feast of flashbacks make for a fantastic film noir!

[8/10 · 8 July 2006]

The notion that every black and white film made before 1970 is a "B" movie is a maddeningly idiotic one at best, and this sumptuous 1946 noir classic from RKO is a prime example of that particularly misconstrued paradigm. THE LOCKET is perhaps one of the most seriously misunderstood and underrated films of the 1940's. Directed by the brilliant John Brahm, THE LOCKET is a prestige "A" production in virtually every respect. Boasting its notorious "flashback within a flashback within a flashback" structure, the film is a visually mesmerizing, thematically vibrant psychological melodrama of the highest order. Nancy Monks (Larraine Day) is a young woman who has been emotionally scarred by a childhood event, one that has serious and homicidal repercussions in her later life. Through a succession of relationships (most notably with Robert Mitchum as a struggling, arrogant artist and Brian Aherne as an altruistic physician) Nancy leaves a trail of misery and death in her wake. Her eventual comeuppance is a cinematic tour de force which will leave astute viewers breathless and heartbroken. This film deserves a much better reputation than it seems to have.

Gang Busters (1955)

A low-down grungy B movie that gets under the skin.

[7/10 · 7 July 2006]

At first glance this mid-fifties prison potboiler (itself a spin off of a syndicated television series and, prior to that a long-running radio series) seems like just another sub-par crime melodrama replete with every conventional cliché the genre has to offer. But look again. There's a musty, gritty quality to this film that gets under the skin, offering up a raft of disturbingly unique images and plot strands. At the center of it all is John Omar Pinson, Public Enemy #4 (!) slimily played by B-movie veteran Myron Healy. Pinson is in and out of Oregon prisons, escaping and being caught and sent back a number of times. Along the way he acquires a band of prison cronies who either assist or hinder his progress. Among them is Sam Edwards, a dreary B-actor who plays loser Wayne Long, a two-bit con who worships Pinson and eventually sacrifices his own life in order to make an impression on him. Long's demise in the prison's electric chair (shown in silhouette) is an eerily haunting image. Much of the acting is marginal and the overall production is pretty shoddy, but it contributes to that woozy, middle of the night dream-like quality that only a bona fide B movie can provide. If you're a fan of grungy B- films, and in particular grungy prison films, then Gangbusters just might fill your bill. Me, I'm a big fan of it.

When Were You Born? (1938)

Entertainingly exotic B-mystery with an astrological twist!

[7/10 · 5 July 2006]

This supremely entertaining B-mystery from Warner Bros features a wonderful lead performance by Anna May Wong as an astrologer in San Francisco's Chinatown who helps the police solve a murder by using her uncanny star-gazing talents. Anyone even remotely interested in astrology will find the story-line quite pleasing (and pretty accurate, given the participation of Manly Hall, a noted astrologer of the day). Even those without much interest in astrology (except those who are stubbornly judgmental and predisposed to be negative about these things) should find this fast-paced, amusing mystery a cut well above the average. The adroitly talented supporting cast--including Margaret Lindsay, Lola Lane, Jeffrey Lynn, James Stephenson and Olin Howland--give the film an additional sheen. Highly recommended; definitely check it out whenever it turns up on Turner Classic Movies.

Decoy (1946)

A superior slab of poverty row noir.

[10/10 · 30 May 2005]

DECOY (1946) ranks -- alongside Edgar G. Ulmer's DETOUR (1945) -- as probably the most astonishing example of poverty row noir, a potent highball of resolute darkness and perversity, best viewed in the early morning hours, preferably just before dawn.

Released by Monogram Pictures and directed by Jack Bernhard, DECOY also features a stunning central performance by JEAN GILLIE, a British-born actress who, sadly, died in 1949. Gillie plays the girlfriend of a convicted murderer (Robert Armstrong) who is about to take the secret of a buried fortune in stolen cash into the gas chamber. With the help of the prison doctor (Herbert Rudley) who she blatantly seduces, Gillie has concocted a scheme to revive Armstrong through the use of a strange chemical gas ("methelyne blue") after the execution. After doing so, in an inexplicably startling sequence of pure pulp science fiction, Gillie then manipulates Armstrong's henchman (Edward Norris) into bumping off Armstrong once he's forked over a map to the stolen loot--before being knocked off himself by Gillie in a particularly grisly and disturbing scene. Gillie's own retribution comes at the hands of the prison doctor who returns to exact revenge before succumbing to his own violent fate. She eventually dies in the arms of the cop (Sheldon Leonard) who has dogged her from the beginning -- but not before bitterly mocking his heartfelt compassion for her.

This is a film not to be missed under any circumstances, and for discerning viewers an experience not likely to be equaled by many other "B" films. Bernhard directed a number of other interesting poverty row titles (VIOLENCE, 1947; UNKNOWN ISLAND, 1948 among them) but nothing quite as remarkable as DECOY. Jean Gillie, incidentally, was married to Bernhard at the time DECOY was made.