Showing posts with label Gordon Douglas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gordon Douglas. Show all posts
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| Tom Conway |
A NIGHT OF ADVENTURE (1944). Director: Gordon Douglas.
NOTE: This review reveals "important" plot points. Lawyer Mark Latham (Tom Conway) has such a busy career and is so diligent with his clients that his wife, Erica (Audrey Long of Desperate), feels neglected. She moves into her own pad and begins seeing a fellow painter named Tony (Louis Borel). Mark goes to Tony's studio, where he discovers a jilted, drunken girlfriend named Julie (Jean Brooks), waiting for Tony with a gun. Attempting to disarm her, Mark winds up accidentally shooting her to death instead. Okay... Does Mark call an ambulance, just in case Julie is still alive? No. He gets his hat and goes home, then winds up being importuned by his wife to defend Tony when he is accused of murdering Julie. Throughout the trial Mark lies to his client, his wife, the police, the D.A. and everyone else -- does the word "disbarment" not mean anything to the man? Through it all Tom Conway shows less emotion or upsetment than if he discovered he's all out of hair dye. A Night of Adventure, based on a play, is meant to be clever but only comes off as increasingly idiotic and illogical, with a "hero" who's supposed to be brilliant and seems only remarkably stupid. At the end Mark flippantly tells Erica how he'll deal with everything without the slightest acknowledgment of the consequences of his actions. Admittedly, you're not supposed to take this frippery seriously, but even so ...! There are no laughs, and the screenplay is too moronic to hold any suspense. And Conway --- although the nominal star of this film he simply heads the cast list under the title and the word "with." He's not even the star of his own movie! It's as if he's being punished for delivering a terrible performance. Conway was George Sanders' brother but was never in his league as an actor, although he did give creditable performances in such films as I Walked with a Zombie. Gordon Douglas' most famous movie is Them.
Verdict: It's because of crap like this that B Movies get a bad rap. *.
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| Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes |
A man with the unlikely moniker of Joe Miracle (Glenn Ford) returns from service and discovers that hoods have taken over his nightclub and murdered his partner. We never actually see Miracle learning about this -- we're introduced to him after he steals money (his money rightfully, he feels) from the nightclub safe and is on the run from the police. He eventually winds up befriended by a do-gooder named Jenny Jones (Evelyn Keyes), who works for a settlement house where there are numerous cute youngsters and the comparatively stern but warm-hearted Mrs. Hangale (Beulah Bondi), not to mention a handyman played by Percy Kilbride (The Egg and I). John Ireland (Raw Deal) is cast against type as a bespectacled reporter who wants to get info from Miracle. The trouble with Mr. Soft Touch is that it tries for equal amounts of sentiment, comedy, and action, but these elements simply never jell. Ford's character is so unlikable for the most part that the actor gives one of his few charmless performances. Keyes and Bondi come off better, but the movie just doesn't work, and you find yourself not only not caring for anyone but even for what happens. It seems to take forever to just end.
Verdict: A misfire on virtually all levels, deservedly forgotten. **.