Showing posts with label 1941. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1941. Show all posts
Private detective Michael Shayne is on the cusp of marrying his girlfriend, Joanne (Mary Beth Hughes), when murder intervenes and he discovers a couple of corpses at a theatrical (in every sense of the word) dinner party. The producer-host and an actress, both in costume, have been killed by an unknown party. It isn't long before Shayne is forgetting all about his nuptials and is frantically running about trying to solve the murders. Rarely is an actor cast as private eye Michael Shayne who is anything like the character created by novelist Brett Halliday, and homely Lloyd Nolan -- who played the part in several movies -- is no exception. However, miscast though he may be (he makes Shayne come off like a song and dance comedian), he gives an ingratiating performance. Hughes (The Cowboy and the Blonde) doesn't make much of an impression in this as his fiancee, but there are snappy performances from Henry Daniell [The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake], Mantan Moreland, Erwin Kalser, Milton Parsons [The Monster That Challenged the World], Virginia Brissac, and May Beatty, among others. The mystery plot itself has some clever moments.
Verdict: Acceptable if minor-league Shayne. **1/2.
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| Henry Armetta |
Mike Ripportella (Henry Armetta) is expecting the day of his daughter's wedding to be eventful, but he has no idea of exactly what a misadventure it will be. Mike works for a construction contractor, Brandon (Charles Miller of Phantom of Chinatown), but has no clue that his boss has been threatened by racketeers, and that he's been promoted because Brandon thinks he's too honest to play ball with them (and may inspire their ire more than Brandon). Then there's the hard, flashy blonde, Fay (Maxine Leslie) who jumps into Mike's car and inspires the jealousy of his wife, Mary (Inez Palange) -- the two women wind up sharing a jail cell after the cops come to arrest Mike, thinking he's a hoodlum. This comedy-melodrama of mistaken identities features a good performance from Armetta and the others. Iris Meredith of The Green Archer plays the daughter, Lucy. William Newell of The Invisible Killer plays the desk cop, Riley.
Verdict: Nothing special but amiable enough. **1/2.
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| Lina (Joan Fontaine) suspects her husband wants to kill her |
Lonely heiress Lina (Joan Fontaine) meets the charming mountebank Johnnie (Cary Grant) and finally falls in love. The two get married and move into a huge house that Johnnie can clearly not afford. Lina discovers that her husband has an aversion to work of any kind, and an addiction to gambling, even selling antique chairs given to her by her father as a wedding present, for money. A friend named Beaky (Nigel Bruce) shows up and lets slip further information that unsettles the discomfited wife. After Lina fears that her husband might be involved in a death that occurred in Paris, she then suspects that he is planning to do away with her. But is she right -- or this time does two and two add up to five? Suspicion is a smooth, beautifully photographed [Harry Stradling] and handsomely produced thriller that features an outstanding performance from Fontaine and also boasts Grant at his best, never quite giving away whether he's a total rotter or not. Other notable players include Dame May Whitty and Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Lina's parents, and Leo. G. Carroll as Johnnie's cousin, from whom he embezzles. It's been said that the ending is tacked on and a bit of a cop-out, but it still works. Unusual scoring by Franz Waxman.
Verdict: Another smooth suspenser from the Master. ***1/2.
The Dead End Kids and the Little Tough Guys join forces in this serial to take on a group called the Sea Raiders, who destroy Allied ships. Billy Adams (Billy Halop) and his buddies, including Toby (Huntz Hall) and Bilge (Gabriel Dell), are shanghaied by crooks, encounter the Raiders, and are eventually taken to their island headquarters. Billy has an older brother, square-jawed Tom (John McGuire), who's invented a new kind of torpedo, the plans for which are coveted by Tonjes (Reed Hadley), the leader of the Raiders. There are two women running around, the pretty Leah (Marcia Ralston, who resembles Merle Oberon), and the homely Aggie (Mary Field). One decent cliffhanger has one of the boys caught on a rope that is attached to a whale that's about to dive deep into the ocean, although another sequence features an octopus that doesn't appear to be in the same movie. [The same stock footage of a fight between a shark and an octopus later turned up in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.] The serial is hampered by the unfunny and irritating antics of the "kids," and the classical music on the soundtrack, such as The Barber of Seville, is always inappropriate. John McGuire had the lead in Stranger on the Third Floor.
Verdict: One of your lesser cliffhanger serials. **.
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| Eddie Foy Jr., William Lundigan and Maris Wrixon |
Jim Moore (William Lundigan of Riders to the Stars) is a reporter who works with a photographer named "Tripod" (Eddie Foy Jr.) and has a girlfriend named Sandy (Maris Wrixon). Sandy's Uncle Paul (Charles Waldron) has returned from Europe with an antique cabinet that seems to have a lot of secrets surrounding it. For one thing, it has hidden drawers containing all sorts of surprises, and for another, anyone who touches the thing drops dead right afterward, with what appears to be a strange bite mark on their hands. Then there's the master criminal, the Black Parrot, suspected of stealing the Mona Lisa and substituting a fake -- like a parrot, he imitates, get it? Now he seems to be after this cabinet, which itself may be only a copy. Others involved in this intrigue include Max Armand (Paul Cavanagh of Son of Dr. Jekyll); Madame de Charrier (Luli Deste); an anxious lady named Julia (Phyllis Barry); and of course Rogers the butler (Cyril Thornton). Inspector Grady (Joseph Crehan) tries to solve the case, but he's not quick enough for Moore. This is a pleasant enough but unremarkable programmer with little to recommend it, although the cast has some appeal, and there are a couple of mildly clever touches. Barry, who gave a fine performance nine years earlier in Cynara with Ronald Colman, is utterly wasted in this, and the oddly-named Wrixon makes a somewhat odd leading lady by Hollywood standards.
Verdict: At least it's only about an hour long. **.
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| Ona Munson and Gene Tierney |
THE SHANGHAI GESTURE (1941). Director: Josef von Sternberg.
In this very odd movie, a young lady looking for thrills in Shanghai, who calls herself Poppy (Gene Tierney), enters the establishment of one "Mother Gin Sling" (Ona Munson), becomes smitten with the shady character, Omar (Victor Mature), and develops too much of a taste for gambling. Mother invites several people to celebrate Chinese New Year's with her, including Sir Guy Charteris (Walter Huston), whom she knew years ago under another name and wishes vengeance upon; she is unaware of any connection Poppy may have to Charteris. There's the basis of a good story in Shanghai Gesture, but the movie isn't well written or well put together, with most of the imagination going into some elaborate settings. The performances are good for the most part, although Ona Munson lacks the vigor and fire that an actress like, say, Barbara Stanwyck or Anna May Wong (who should have been cast) could have brought to the role. Eric Blore, Mike Mazurki (as a rickshaw!), and Maria Ouspenskaya all have supporting parts, although Ouspenskaya has no dialogue. Phyllis Brooks makes an impression as the stranded chorus girl, Dixie, but her part in all this is never clearly defined. The whole production is inherently racist and badly dated. Josef von Sternberg also directed The Devil is a Woman, which is vastly superior to this.
Verdict: Too weird for its own good. **.