Showing posts with label Kathleen Freeman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kathleen Freeman. Show all posts
"You are a swine, Stephen."
Struggling writer Stephen Byrne (Louis Hayward) makes a pass at a pretty maid, Emily (Dorothy Patrick), and winds up accidentally killing her, then gets his lame, bookkeeper brother, John (Lee Bowman), to help him cover up the crime and put her body in the river beside his house. Meanwhile the mystery over the disappearing maid provides enough publicity for Stephen to capitalize on for his writing career, but his wife, Marjorie (Jane Wyatt), finds his new success a little ghoulish. Then Emily's body is found and one of the brothers is arrested .,. With moody, beautiful photography from Edward Cronjager, a fine score by George Antheil, and a memorable lead performance by Hayward, House By the River is one of Lang's best pictures. Wyatt is quite good, Bowman also good [if not on Hayward's level], and we even get Ann Shoemaker as a friendly neighbor and Kathleen Freeman as a party guest. Jody Gilbert also scores as John's housekeeper, Flora. In the Lang canon, this falls somewhere between the awful Secret Beyond the Door ... and the excellent Clash By Night.
Verdict: Brooding, well-done suspense film that just misses being a real classic. ***.
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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. **.
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| Phyllis (Ella Raines) before her makeover. |
Phyllis (Ella Raines) is a plain but lovely woman who works for a bitter man, Paul (Bruce Bennett), whose pretty wife ran out on him. He sends Phyllis to Los Angeles to stay with a friend, Claire (Rita Johnson of Sleep, My Love), who tries to get her a job with a fashion house as a designer, but since she's required to do some selling on the floor first, she isn't hired due to her appearance. She goes to work for Claire's fiance, Allan (Roy Roberts of The Gale Storm Show), who is fooling around with a client's pretty daughter, and is "romanced" by the slimy Jerry (John Sutton of The Invisible Man Returns), who only wants to use her designs for himself. Phyllis is racing to prevent a possible murder when her car smashes into a truck -- now there's a chance that surgery can make her as attractive as she's always dreamed ... Most of the male characters in The Second Face are pretty loathsome. One guy breaks off with his fiancee by sending a telegram to another person, expecting her to relay the bad news to the rejected woman. An aging businessman (Pierre Watkin) is unspeakably blunt and cruel to Phyllis just to make a point about advertising. Meanwhile no one makes the point that Phyllis' sweet demeanor and feminine, charming aura would certainly make her appealing to some men, and none of her lady friends suggest make up or a new hairdo. In any case, Raines' performance is excellent, and the supporting players are adept enough. Eugene Vale's screenplay is often psychologically astute. Raines also made a good impression in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry but was less effective in Impact. Kathleen Freeman has a nice bit at the end as a homely-but-happy married lady whose husband likes her just the way she is.
Verdict: An appealing Raines helps put this over. ***.
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| John (Ray Danton) gives Diana (Dottie Malone) a back rub |
"I don't want to write a book about my life. Living it was bad enough." -- Diana Barrymore.
"I am fifty-nine years old. And not as drunk as you think. Why don't you take what I offer and not make me jump through hoops?' --John Barrymore.
In this somewhat sanitized version of Diana Barrymore's memoir of the same name, Diana (Dorothy Malone) wishes she could get to know her father, John Barrymore (Errol Flynn) better, but her mother, Blanche (Neva Patterson) isn't too thrilled with the notion. Diana decides to follow in her great family's footsteps and become an actress, discovering that her famous name opens doors but won't necessarily deliver decent scripts. As he was still alive at the time of filming, her first husband, Bramwell Fletcher, is represented by the made-up character of "Vincent Bryant" (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), who comes home to find Diana diddling in their bedroom with sleazy tennis bum, John Howard (Ray Danton), a real-life man who becomes her second husband. Diana's third husband, actor Robert Wilcox, is portrayed by Ed Kemmer [Earth vs the Spider]; she and Wilcox become mired in a maze of booze, poverty and blown opportunities. Writer Gerald Frank, who helped craft the memoir, is portrayed by Robert Ellenstein. Too Much, Too Soon is psychologically simplistic, but well-acted, with Malone doing a swell job as Diana, with fine support from Patterson and the others. Errol Flynn is the big surprise, turning in a fine performance as the dissipated Barrymore [ironic, considering what lay in Flynn's future]. Smaller roles are performed by Kathleen Freeman and Martin Milner, and there's a nice score by Ernest Gold.
Verdict: Lurid but quite entertaining and reasonably well-made. ***.