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moviefan: January 2011
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Saturday, January 15, 2011. Cover Up (1949) Alfred E. Green. Meet “a small town with big secrets.” Dennis O’Keefe is the insurance investigator who arrives to gather information about an apparent suicide before his insurance company will pay out benefits. Clues and red herrings are tossed every which way, and you’ll be hard-pressed to tell the difference. Bendix and O’Keefe play well off each other, and throughout the movie you’ll be wondering where Bendix falls on the good/evil line. At the center of th...
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moviefan: June 2011
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011. 99 River Street (1953) Phil Karlson. 8220;There are worse things than murder. You can kill someone an inch at a time.”. Frequently I find “frame-up” movies annoying and frustrating to watch, possibly because many of them are poorly done. But this is not one of those movies, and it’s a wonderful contribution to film noir. She is wonderful and luminous throughout the movie but two scenes in particular stand out. The first is her re-enactment for Payne as to what happened when sh...
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moviefan: March 2012
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Saturday, March 3, 2012. The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) Laurence Olivier. The setting is 1911 London with visiting dignitaries in town for the coronation of George V. One of these foreign dignitaries is Laurence Olivier as a Prince. And the showgirl is, of course, the beautiful Marilyn Monroe. Her short solo dance scene in the prince’s hotel is exquisite (and was beautifully recreated by Michelle Williams). However, there are way too many gags with Olivier pinning an over-sized medal on Mon...Richard...
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moviefan: December 2011
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011. The Seven Little Foys (1955) Melville Shavelson. As with most biopic films, there’s probably some basic truth in this story of Eddie Foy, Sr., and his seven children but the screenwriters (Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose) changed his life story in many significant ways. So now it’s around 1912 or 1913 and Foy is a very successful actor, moving in between vaudeville and musical theater. He has seven children (none with his previous wife who died, and none with a compa...Contrar...
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moviefan: July 2011
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Sunday, July 3, 2011. Out of the Past (1947) Jacques Tourneur. People may quibble about what qualifies a movie to be classified as film noir, but no one would argue about this movie. It’s classic noir. Shortly after the film opens, we’re taken into a long flashback where we are filled on characters and events. Eventually, we’re back in the present where the movie remains until the surprising ending. I was finding out.”. His nemesis is played by the smoothly sinister Kirk Douglas in his second film ever&#...
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moviefan: September 2011
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011. Kansas City Confidential (1952) Phil Karlson. A mastermind (Preston Foster) plans and executes a successful bank heist. An ex-con (John Payne) is framed and he takes umbrage. Since he’s fired from his job, he now has nothing but time to solve the crime. The opening, scrolling credits promise the perfect crime, and we are immediately hooked. We are introduced to three criminals, one at a time, whose names and faces are forever etched in bad-guy film history: Jack Elam, Lee V...
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moviefan: March 2011
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Saturday, March 5, 2011. The Strip (1951) Laszlo Kardos. The movie begins in the present and quickly moves into Mickey Rooney’s flashback. which takes us through the rest of most of the movie that includes some Rooney voice overs. The few minutes in the present provide several pertinent facts so there’s not too much suspense. While visiting a few nightclubs, we are also treated to performances by Vic Damone and Monica Lewis, both of whom were huge stars in their day. Rooney shows himself to be a skilled ...
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moviefan: December 2010
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Monday, December 27, 2010. It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947) Roy Del Ruth. This is a lesser known movie but very worth a watch. Some refer to it as a Christmas movie but it’s really not. It’s more a commentary on post-war society and on what being “rich” really means. A hobo with an unexplained past figures out how to live in boarded up mansions of absentee wealthy people, gone for the season. He meets up with other unfortunates, who hook up with others, and the story takes off from there. Look for charac...
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moviefan: November 2010
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Monday, November 15, 2010. The Big Heat (1963) Fritz Lang. Although made in 1953, this film is an essential film noir that should not be missed. Mild by today’s standards, the violence must have been shocking back in the 1950s even though most of it takes place off-screen. Gloria Grahame plays a pivotal role and when she’s on the screen, you’ll be paying attention. A young Lee Marvin is evilly sinister, and don’t miss his scene with Carolyn Jones, well before her Addams’ Famil...Noted Director, Fritz Lang.
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moviefan: The Bad Seed (1956) Mervyn LeRoy
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Sunday, September 2, 2012. The Bad Seed (1956) Mervyn LeRoy. John Waters refers to this movie as being one of his early, artistic, negative influences and mentions these three characters as being his holy trinity: the Wicked Witch of the East, Captain Hook, and Rhoda Penmark. The story slowly unfolds and we’re following along with Rhoda’s mother, Christine (Nancy Kelly) as various clues are dropped. Kelly’s acting is over the top and histrionic; at one point she pommels her abdomen ...8220;I’ve tho...
