For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12
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List of Movie Reviews
FEMALE JUNGLE
The more crime/mystery/noir films I watch the tougher it is to find one worth my time to write a review. So, when Female Jungle opened with a blaring saxophone, a hot female getting out of a cab in front of an empty bar and then getting murdered across the street I thought to myself, 'so far so good.' Suffice it to say but 'so far so good,' made it all the way to the end.
Perhaps the biggest reason why the 50s were called The Golden Age of Television was the combination of seasoned actors, primarily from the 40s but some as far back as the silents, with equally talented newer and younger actors. This is a must have template for almost any new director and especially those with a limited budget. Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are great examples. Coincidentally Lawrence Tierney, who falls in the former category, starred in both Reservoir Dogs and Female Jungle.
John Carradine joins Lawrence Tierney as another of the prerequisite seasoned actors. There are a couple of respectful homages to their previous screen personas. John Carradine stands outside a door dressed as if he's just off the boat from Transylvania. We first see Lawrence Tierney leaning outside the back door of a bar literally three sheets to the wind wondering how he got there and then being ripped a new one by his superior.
Another seasoned veteran is the celebrated cinematographer Elwood Bredell. This would be Mr. Bredell's swan song to a career spanning three decades that included Phantom Lady, The Killers, Hellzapoppin' and Christmas Holiday. Click for the full review.
Perhaps the biggest reason why the 50s were called The Golden Age of Television was the combination of seasoned actors, primarily from the 40s but some as far back as the silents, with equally talented newer and younger actors. This is a must have template for almost any new director and especially those with a limited budget. Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are great examples. Coincidentally Lawrence Tierney, who falls in the former category, starred in both Reservoir Dogs and Female Jungle.
John Carradine joins Lawrence Tierney as another of the prerequisite seasoned actors. There are a couple of respectful homages to their previous screen personas. John Carradine stands outside a door dressed as if he's just off the boat from Transylvania. We first see Lawrence Tierney leaning outside the back door of a bar literally three sheets to the wind wondering how he got there and then being ripped a new one by his superior.
Another seasoned veteran is the celebrated cinematographer Elwood Bredell. This would be Mr. Bredell's swan song to a career spanning three decades that included Phantom Lady, The Killers, Hellzapoppin' and Christmas Holiday. Click for the full review.
BORN TO KILL
Claire Trevor and Lawrence Tierney In A Noir Classic
Born To Kill is at its core a B movie replete with B movie essentials. The plot is simple and easy to follow. It's well developed sub-plot does not intrude into the film, and the characters involved all put in memorable performances. It runs a bit long for a B at ninety-two minutes, but it’s directing, writing and acting are so good it seems shorter. The film clicks a lot of film noir boxes, especially some of my own personal preferences. Born To Kill is a fun watch, which cannot be said for many of the higher budgeted and slicker film noirs. It is with no trepidation I rank this film in my top10 of favorite/best film noirs. Click for the full review.
CHICAGO CALLING
Dan Duryea in a film of hope, faith and redemption.
William Cannon (Dan Duryea) comes home one morning after sleeping off a drunk at a friend’s house to find his wife packing to leave with their daughter to her sister’s house in Baltimore. Cannon’s drinking has cost him his job, and may cost him his family as well. En route to Baltimore they are in a car accident and the daughter is seriously injured. His wife sends him a telegram and will call the next day after the operation.
However he hasn’t paid his phone bill for months and unless he comes up with fifty-three dollars the phone, already disconnected, will be taken out. The amount is not trivial, fifty three dollars ($534.00 adjusted to 2020). What follows next is Cannon’s Herculean effort to keep the phone and with it his last chance to keep his family together.
The actor who gave us Slim Dundee from Criss Cross, and Johnny Prince in Scarlet Street, gives us a down to earth, sympathetic man combating internal and external struggles. Contrary to his on-screen persona, the real Dan was a doting and loving father to his children and a faithful and devoted husband to his wife and it certainly shows in this film. When the film is over one will never look Dan Duryea the same way. for full review click here.
However he hasn’t paid his phone bill for months and unless he comes up with fifty-three dollars the phone, already disconnected, will be taken out. The amount is not trivial, fifty three dollars ($534.00 adjusted to 2020). What follows next is Cannon’s Herculean effort to keep the phone and with it his last chance to keep his family together.
The actor who gave us Slim Dundee from Criss Cross, and Johnny Prince in Scarlet Street, gives us a down to earth, sympathetic man combating internal and external struggles. Contrary to his on-screen persona, the real Dan was a doting and loving father to his children and a faithful and devoted husband to his wife and it certainly shows in this film. When the film is over one will never look Dan Duryea the same way. for full review click here.
BAD BOY:
Audie Murphy's first leading role. It's a good one!
Murphy plays Danny Lester, an eighteen year old juvenile delinquent who has gotten into trouble once too often. He and an associate assault and rob at gunpoint some gamblers at a high stakes poker game at the hotel where he works. His buddy escapes but Lester caught by Lloyd Nolan who coincidentally plays Marshall Brown who owns and maintains the Variety Club Boys Ranch. The judge, wonderfully played by Selena Royale, sentences him to reform school, and when he’s of age, twenty years in the state pen. Marshall Brown, called Coach by the boys, intercedes in Lester's behalf. The judge is skeptical and tells him the boy is hopeless,. Brown replies: ‘there are no hopeless boys your honor, only people who grow hopeless about them.” The judge gives him six months to rehabilitate Lester.
Danny Lester, with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas must learn how to become a productive member of society. We’ve seen this plot as far back as, Boys Town, with Spencer Tracy, Angels With Dirty Faces, with the Dead End Kids, and James Cagney, and as a sub-plot in, They Made Me A Criminal, also with the Dead End Kids but this time with John Garfield. To read the full review click here. Thanks.
Danny Lester, with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas must learn how to become a productive member of society. We’ve seen this plot as far back as, Boys Town, with Spencer Tracy, Angels With Dirty Faces, with the Dead End Kids, and James Cagney, and as a sub-plot in, They Made Me A Criminal, also with the Dead End Kids but this time with John Garfield. To read the full review click here. Thanks.
MOVIES
Click poster to read the full review
The Killing is considered one of the best films about a heist. The Killing interweaves the heist within a top notch noir. It has a femme fatale, a chump, murders, double-crosses, intimidating psychopaths, great dialogue and fantastic cinematography. |
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Harry Quincey (George Sanders) lives with his spinster sister, Lettie (Geraldine Fitzgerald) and widowed sister Hester (Monya MacGill). His reserved staid life is thrown askew by Doeborah Brown(Ella Raines). She is an urbane, free spirit who is as open as Quincy is reserved. She is also the perfect counterpoint to his devious, obsessive, hypochondriac younger sister.
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This film is about the search to find a serial killer who calls himself The Judge. He kills only when it rains. He strangles his victims from behind, except for when he kills facing them. There appears to be no rationale in how he chooses his victims. He mails cryptic letters by cutting and pasting words from different magazines onto a sheet of paper. He says he has been anointed to rid the earth of the vermin, the unwashed, the evil, or any reasonable facsimile thereof.
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A Cry In The Night can be said ushers out the old and brings in the new. This film acknowledges that the patriarchal crime/police film, so dominant in cinema for three decades, is on the way out to be replaced by a kinder genre of film. We see this wink and a nod to the end of an era when police Sgt. Edmond O'Brien sits on the couch with a nice glass of beer turns on the TV, turns it off disgustedly and says, "Another cop picture."
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Johnny Mack Brown-1904-1974. All-American HB at Alabama, Cowboy Actor. When my Dad was a kid growing up on E. 113th in NYC, he wanted to be a cowboy and Mr. Brown was his favorite. This is for you, Dad. Miss you.
Robert Praino. Born in Manhattan, grew up in Hackensack, living in Gulfport.
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