Showing posts with label Dennis O'Keefe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dennis O'Keefe. Show all posts
Paul Mitchell (Dennis O'Keefe of Weekend for Three) is investigating the theft of a couple of da Vinci paintings when he arrives at the Tate gallery in London. Once there, he suspects that the da Vinci in their collection is a fake. One of the main suspects for the forgery is an unsuccessful painter named Henry Mason (John Laurie of Island of Desire), whose daughter, Mary (Colleen Gray of The Phantom Planet), works at the gallery and is appalled and angered by Mitchell's suspicions, which hardly helps him make time with her. Others mixed up in the case include Smith (Guy Middleton), Peter Randall (Gerald Case), and Sir Richard Aldingham (Hugh Williams). Will Mitchell survive this investigation as the forger gets increasingly desperate to avoid capture? The only really interesting thing about this by-the-numbers movie with its TV-like production is that the score is based on Mussorgsky's "Pictures from an Exhibition." The acting is decent.
Verdict: Not quite a fake movie, but close. **.
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| Dennis O'Keefe |
This sitcom starring popular actor Dennis O'Keefe lasted for one season in 1959. The premise had him as a newspaper columnist with one son, Randy (Ricky Kelman), and a housekeeper named "Sarge" (played by Hope Emerson after she was replaced on Peter Gunn). The very lovely Eloise Hardt plays a sometimes girlfriend, Karen. Three episodes from this lost, pretty much forgotten series are available at the Internet Archives, and two more on youtube. In "June Thursday" 42-year-old Hal Towne (O'Keefe, who was actually a somewhat older-looking fifty-one at the time)) tries to make a star out of a talented cigarette girl. In another episode Randy sends a note to a cute little girl, but her grandmother (Zazu Pitts) thinks the note is for her and that it was sent by Hal! In "Counterfeiters" two elderly counterfeiters buy tickets from Randy with phoney bills, leading to complications. In another episode Hal tries to romance his son's teacher, upon whom he has an unrequited crush, while another teacher (Nancy Kulp, who was eternally cast as the homely "other woman) tries to get a date with him. The best and most amusing episode you can find on line [on youtube], "The Regency Club," has Hal romancing a snobbish society lady who's only dating him so she can dump him, but he goes her one better with some help from his son, housekeeper, and Karen [why Hal would want any other woman when the very attractive, classy yet down-to-earth Karen is available is the question]. Judging from these episodes, there have certainly been worse sitcoms than The Dennis O'Keefe Show and much better ones as well. The cast is appealing, O'Keefe is fine, Emerson amusing, Kelman a cute kid, and Jerome Cowan scores, as he generally does, as a rival columnist. O'Keefe was in Hold That Kiss, Weekend for Three, and many, many other movies.
Verdict: No I Love Lucy, but O'Keefe fans may enjoy. **1/2.
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| O'Keefe, Hayes, Lane and Stewart |
CHICAGO SYNDICATE (1955). Director: Fred F. Sears.
"First you give me the cold shoulder and now you're romancing me like I'm Liberace."
A man named Kern is gunned down in the street and it develops that he was bookkeeper for a mobster named Arnold Valent (Paul Stewart). Kern's wife commits suicide and her daughter, Joyce (Allison Hayes), becomes a social pariah. Barry Amsterdam (Dennis O'Keefe) is hired to go undercover to get the goods on Valent, and he runs into an angry young woman with a gambling habit who turns out to be Joyce Kern; eventually the two join forces. Joyce's presence is irksome to Connie (Abbe Lane), Valent's girlfriend, who is also a singer and has a lap dog named Benny (Xavier Cugat). Hayes clearly has the leading female role, but she's billed under Lane, who gets co-star status with O'Keefe. Apparently Lane and Cugat (who were married at the time) were a package deal, as Cugat, who can't act [even when he's playing an orchestra leader!], just seems along for the ride. On the other hand, O'Keefe [Hold That Kiss] is fine, Stewart is excellent, while Hayes is a little more problematic. The infamous "fifty foot woman" [a Great Old Movies favorite] has no problem doing her usual shtick -- smouldering, bitter hostility -- but she's less successful in getting across any of her character's other nuances. Still, Hayes is always fun, especially when she's trading barbs with and spilling hot coffee on Lane, who doesn't give a bad performance; Lane could have used a little more seasoning but she managed to amass a few credits after this. Chicago Syndicate is entertaining even if it plays like little more than an expanded TV episode. Sears also directed such fun sci fi as The Giant Claw and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.
Verdict: O'Keefe and Hayes make an interesting pair. **1/2.
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| Dennis O'Keefe will have to deal with John Ireland |
Lawyer Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt of Smash Up) visits Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe of Hold That Kiss) in jail to talk about parole, but she's as attracted to him as he is to her. Joe took the rap for a big wheel named Rick (Raymond Burr) who promised him big money if he served his sentence. But Joe's faithful girlfriend, Pat (Claire Trevor of Crossroads), somehow breaks Joe out of jail in a million to one chance (the exact details are completely glossed over!), and the big lug brings her to -- Ann's apartment. In an interesting development, Joe forces Ann to go along with him and Pat as they drive past police blockades and try to get out of the city, which doesn't exactly sit well with the jealous Pat. Ann at first grows to hate the man she is attracted to, but then ... Yes, this is the type of movie in which the protagonist is a complete loser, but gets away with a lot because he's passably good-looking and has a slight -- very slight -- modicum of sensitivity. Raw Deal should have been more interesting than it is -- although it does pose a heart-rending moral question for Pat at the very end -- but the characters are unsympathetic (although one almost feels sorry for Pat) and the movie never quite rises above its second-rate film noir atmosphere. Hunt and Trevor are excellent, however, and O'Keefe got one of the best roles of his career and runs with it. Raymond Burr is also fine as Rick, who is so sadistic that he throws a flaming food dish in a woman's face because she accidentally spilled a drink on his jacket. John Ireland is a nasty henchman of Rick's who is sent to kill Joe, and Regis Toomey is the cop in pursuit of him. The versatile Whit Bissell has a memorable cameo as a murderer being chased by a posse who just happens to make his way to the same place that Joe and company are hiding out in. John Alton's moody cinematography doesn't hurt. Mann also directed the excellent Furies with Barbara Stanwyck.
Verdict: Very good showcase for O'Keefe with some interesting situations. **1/2.
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| Mischa Auer, Dennis O'Keefe and baby |
Gary (Dennis O'Keefe) is married to the easily excitable and almost neurotically jealous Geraldine (Marjorie Reynolds). Years ago Gary had a drunken fling in Mexico City with Mabel (Gail Patrick), and gave her some intimate lingerie with a love message embroidered on it with his name. Mabel, who is engaged to Gary's prospective business partner, Arthur (Lee Bowman), thinks Gary should be honest about it and they can all laugh about it and forget it -- very sensible -- but not-so-sensible, nervous Gary wants to get the notorious slip out of Mabel's hands and destroy it. To that end he hires Boris (Mischa Auer) to help him get it when the two couples and others converge at a house party. Somehow, after much hiding under beds and marital misunderstandings, the rumor gets around that Gary and Mabel's big secret isn't a mere slip, but a "slip" of a baby! Up in Mabel's Room is based on a creaky old farce that might have been hilarious in its day, but this attempt to turn it into a wartime screwball comedy just doesn't come off. There are some talented players in this -- O'Keefe certainly tries hard, Patrick is quite likable as the sophisticated Mabel, and Mischa Auer gets the film's only laughs (and there are far too few of them) -- but Marjorie Reynolds [Bring On the Girls] and most of the others show no gift for farce. If the picture were really funny you might overlook that most of the characters are quite stupid. John Hubbard [The Mummy's Tomb] and Binnie Barnes play another couple, and Charlotte Greenwood is an older woman who thinks Boris is a burglar and tries to shoot him. Allan Dwan also directed the terrible Brewster's Millions with O'Keefe.
Verdict: Pick any Mexican Spitfire movie and it will be a lot funnier -- this is leaden. *1/2
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| Jane Greer and Lizabeth Scott |
THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS (1951). Director: John Cronwell.
NOTE: Some plot points are revealed in this review. Diane (Jane Greer) is released from prison after passing bad checks and the like, and is assigned to parole officer Joan (Lizabeth Scott). Diane resents kindly Joan from the first, and makes a major play for Joan's boyfriend, Larry (Dennis O'Keefe of Hold That Kiss), which the big lug falls for. Before long Larry and Diane are in love, but they need Joan's approval to marry ... what a weird situation. The problem with The Company She Keeps is that the two lovers are pretty unsympathetic, with Diane returning Joan's friendship by stealing her boyfriend, and Larry betraying the faithful [if eternally busy] Joan, who is too sweet for words -- or reality. Fay Baker [The Star] plays another parolee who works with Diane as a nurse, and Gertrude Hoffman [My Little Margie] has a silent role as a woman on the parole board. Paul Frees is a judge's clerk and Great Old Movies' favorite Kathleen Freeman plays another parolee. Jeff Bridges and his brother Beau supposedly appear as an infant and a small boy. Given Diane's essential nature, it's unlikely that the "happy" ending for this couple is going to last. The acting is generally solid.
Verdict: These two lovers deserve each other. **.