Showing posts with label Donald MacBride. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald MacBride. Show all posts
In this unofficial sequel to House of Horrors, the Creeper (Rondo Hatton) is back creeping about and periodically snapping people's spines. This time the character is given a name, Hal Moffet, and back story. Moffet was a cocky college football hero whose face was disfigured in a chemistry explosion [Hatton's disfigurement was due to acromegaly due to exposure to poison gas during WW1]. Unlike House of Horrors, which has a few interesting characters and flavorful performances, The Brute Man is comparatively dull and slow-paced. Aside from Hatton, who is fine if limited in the role of the Creeper [Fred Coby actually plays Moffet as a college student], the main character is Jane (Helen Paige), a blind piano teacher who hides Moffet and is befriended by him in turn. Tom Neal is one of Hal's old classmates, and Jan Wiley [Secret Agent X-9], in an especially weak performance, plays Neal's wife. Donald MacBride is the police inspector on the case. Hatton's Creeper character, or at least a variation thereof, also appeared in the modern-day Sherlock Holmes film The Pearl of Death.
Verdict: Not the best of the Creeper. **.
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| Colbert can do without MacMurray's attention to Allbritton |
THE EGG AND I (1947). Director: Chester Erskine.
Bob MacDonald (Fred MacMurray), a selfish and inconsiderate husband, buys a farm without even consulting his wife, Betty (Claudette Colbert) -- which alone would be a reason for divorce for some women -- and the two set off for the country to raise chickens and sell eggs. While having assorted misadventures, the couple meet the odd Pa Kettle (Percy Kilbride), his big-hearted wife, Ma (Marjorie Main), and their huge brood, as well as the predatory Harriet (Louise Allbritton), who doesn't seem to care that Bob has a wife. The Egg and I is consistently amusing, has a nice scene when all the neighbors show up to help the MacDonald's after a fire, and boasts some very good performances; Colbert, in particular, is excellent, and her expressions throughout the movie are priceless. There are guest appearances by the likes of Donald MacBride, Elisabeth Risdon [from the "Mexican Spitfire" films], and Esther Dale, and there's even a pig named Cleopatra! Ida Moore shows up late in the film as a somewhat dotty old lady who has a tale of a giant chicken. While there are some fairly foolish marital developments at the end of the movie that make Betty seem like a dope, The Egg and I is still a very funny and entertaining picture. The characters of Ma and Pa Kettle soon got their own feature as well as several sequels.
Verdict: Colbert is a riot! ***.
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| Crazy crew: Mantan Moreland, Leon Errol, and Lupe Velez |
This is the sixth in the series of "Mexican Spitfire" films that began with The Girl from Mexico, and it follows the same pattern as most of the others. Lord Epping (Leon Errol) is supposed to meet with clients, Percy Fitzbadden (Donald MacBride) and his sister, Edith (Minna Gombell), who has a crush on Epping, at his American mansion but would rather go moose-hunting. His employee, Dennis Lindsay (Buddy Rogers), decides to play host for the Fitzbaddens at the mansion, hoping Epping will eventually show up. When he doesn't, his Uncle Matt (also Errol) impersonates Epping as he has done before, and then, of course, the real Epping finally shows up, causing the usual complications -- including Dennis' ever-snooty Aunt Della (Elisabeth Risdon) mistaking Epping for her husband and trying to drag him off to bed! One could easily argue that there's little novelty in the script or situations, but Errol is such a comic genius, and the others -- foremost among them the effervescent Velez -- are so adept at this kind of farce, that the movie is consistently amusing. Great Old Movies favorite Mantan Moreland also shows up as a servant named Lightnin', but he's not given nearly enough opportunities to interact with Errol and Velez, although they are a funny trio when he does. There are some criminals in the cellar of the house who pretend to be ghosts at one point. Better than Mexican Spitfire's Baby but arguably not quite as good as Mexican Spitfire at Sea.
Verdict: Often very funny with a very capable cast. ***.