Showing posts with label Cyril Delevanti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyril Delevanti. Show all posts
 |
| Deborah Kerr and Richard Burton |
"Don't make me take steps, Dr. Shannon ..." -- Judith Fellowes.
The former minister T. Lawrence Shannon (Richard Burton), who was locked out of his church, is now guiding ladies on a tour bus through Mexico. Young Charlotte Goodall (Sue Lyon) can't keep her hands off Shannon, inspiring the ire of her formidable guardian Judith Fellowes (Grayson Hall). Shannon takes the gals to a small hotel run by an old friend, Maxine Faulk (Ava Gardner), whose husband died a short while ago. While some of the tourist ladies put up a fuss, Maxine reluctantly admits the impoverished artist Hannah Jelkes (Deborah Kerr) and her aged poet father, Nonno (Cyril Delevanti) to her hostel. As these characters interact and Shannon faces dismissal from the tour business, will the man finally find himself "at the end of his rope," like one of the iguanas tied to the stairs? Like many Williams' adaptations The Night of the Iguana is a mix of the poetic and the pretentious, but it does have some very tender moments. Burton, Lyon and Delevanti walk off with the acting honors. Grayson hall [House of Dark Shadows] is a bit overwrought, almost ridiculous at times, as Judith, but the whole idea of the fire-breathing repressed lesbian is terribly dated. Deborah Kerr [Edward, My Son] is good, but she doesn't quite get across the weary defeatedness of someone who is a caregiver to a man in his nineties [walking him around Mexico in the heat with little money could almost be considered elder abuse], and is apparently homeless besides -- where is the sheer desperation she would be feeling? Gardner [Seven Days in May] is not bad at all and suitably earthy; Bette Davis played the role on the stage. The poem that Nonno completes, written by Williams, of course, is beautiful. Despite its flaws, the movie casts a certain exotic and haunting spell.
Verdict: Imperfect but entertaining and well-acted, with some interesting characters. ***.
 |
| Toler, Moreland, Fong and Cardwell |
THE SHANGHAI COBRA (1945). Director: Phil Karlson.
"People don't fall in love that fast -- except on the stage."
Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler)) is called in when it develops that he may be the only person who can identity an accused thief and murderer named Van Horn. Van Horn is also suspected of a number of cobra venom murders, of which there have been five victims, the latest killed right outside of a coffee shop. The victims all have something to do with a bank, under which are sewers and secret passages Among the suspects are secretary Paula Webb (Joan Barclay); her wannabe boyfriend Ned Stewart (James Cardwell); bank president Fletcher (Roy Gordon, the doctor in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman); Harris, the bank VP (Arthur Loft); and H. R. Jarvis (James Flavin); not to mention an unnamed lady (Janet Warren), who operates the strangest juke box you've ever seen in or out of pictures. This is a typically clever Monogram picture, with Toler in top form, Mantan Moreland even more amusing than usual, and Benson Fong quite adept as Tommy Chan. Gene Roth and Cyril Delevanti have smaller roles.
Verdict: Another entertaining Charlie Chan picture. ***.