Nora Prentiss (1947)

The Good Doctor Talbot (Kent Smith) is dead. Murdered, in fact. Let’s go back in time to see how this all transpired. The stayed 40-something family man begins to grow tired of his predictable, boring life. A chance encounter with a 30-ish nightclub singer (Ann Sheridan) turns everything upside down.

Not terribly noir-ish, but I will allow it. What I cannot abide is that the IMDb description is a third act spoiler. I know the film is pushing 75, but that is unnecessary. End Rant.

Kent Smith appeared in both of Val Lewton’s Cat People films and I found his manner stiff, but here it fits the character. He is something of a stick in the mud, punctual and reliable. While Ann Sheridan sparkled five years earlier in The Man Who Came to Dinner (my Christmas pick), she seemed a little shop-worn here. Still, pretty and exciting to the dependable dad. Her club friend is played by Robert Alda, better known as Hawkeye’s dad.

I don’t remember how Nora Prentiss got onto my radar (and thus my DVR), maybe TCM ran a piece glowing about her performance. But I found the story kinda flat. There are some good reveals (better if they’re not spoiled for you), but I didn’t feel the chemistry and didn’t care about the characters. It’s a medium drama with some interesting story elements that left me kinda blah. AMRU 3.

Lured (1947)

Pretty women of London are being murdered, lured by an ad in the personal column. When the friend of pretty Sandra (Lucille Ball) goes missing, she agrees to act as bait for the investigation.

Lurid is classified by IMDb as Film-Noir, but I reject that label. While it does have some noir elements, it completely lacks the most important ones. A remake of a French musical romance, it keeps a rom-com undertone. That original film was inspired by a real-life case that became the last public execution in French history. Lurid was a financial failure, no doubt caused by the studio changing the title to Personal Column during its initial run. Apparently Lured sounded too much like Lurid.

Many old friends visit us here. Everyone’s favorite lecherous old man, Charles Coburn is the decidedly non-lecherous chief inspector. Batman’s Alfred Alan Napier makes an appearance, and personal favorite George Zucco has a sizable role, both appearing in their tenth film I’ve covered. But somebody please tell me what Boris Karloff is doing in this picture! My guess is he was under contract and his name was needed for promotional purposes. His small and inconsequential scene gave him forth billing. But let’s talk of George Sanders.

Before agreeing to work for the police, Sandra sets up an interview at a fancy club owned by Sanders’ Fleming, but doesn’t show. Fleming falls for her based on her voice and the chase is on. Always playing the notorious cad, Sanders was wonderful in this role. It is his performance here that, despite story issues, makes the film worth watching. Villain or not, he is wonderful in all of his roles.

Much has been said of Lucy’s less than stellar early film career and here is yet another example. Not bad, should have been better, and sabotaged by the studio with the title change. But 35 is a bit long in the tooth for a woman striving to achieve A-list status during that era. Not for a man, but certainly for a woman. Despite lots of leading lady talent, it just didn’t happen for her. But things worked out for her in the end. AMRU 3.5.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

A struggling actor and his young wife (Mia Farrow) rent a fancy Manhattan apartment with weird neighbors. She becomes pregnant and then is slowly convinced that her neighbors are Satanists intent on killing her baby.

Arguably the most iconic horror film I had left to cover, Rosemary’s Baby casts a long shadow. Schlock director William Castle got the rights to the book but realized he was not up to the task of putting it on the screen. This task was given to rising star Roman Polanski, but allowed himself a Hitchockian cameo. Filmed at the Dakota Apartments, that would later be the location John Lennon would meet his fate.

This may be the first film to lean hard into the occult. Castle felt the production was cursed. His health started failing and was getting hate mail for bringing the devil back. 23 year old Mia Farrow’s fifty two year old husband didn’t approve of the subject matter so he served her divorce papers on the set. Polanski’s wife and unborn child were later brutally murdered by cultists, causing him to start finding thirteen year olds irresistible.

Here we see some old friends. Eliza Cook Jr. visits us once again, as does that Ralph Bellamy fellow. We see a young Charles Grodin, rest in peace, but the standout performance goes to Maude herself, Ruth Gordon. She was amazing as the nosy, annoying neighbor. Who might worship Satan.

Adult life can be terrifying. Economic uncertainty, pregnancy, new situations are frightening enough without the specter of neighbor satanists with designs on your unborn child. Polanski and the source material exploits this theme expertly. The Take YouTube channel did an excellent video exploring elements of control and lack of it. Rosemary is young, frail, and pregnant, and alone in her fight. Check it out.

Rosemary’s Baby is a slow burn, and quite frankly did feel a bit long. Also, traditional horror elements are noticeably absent. The production designer called it the greatest horror film without any horror in it. While not exactly true, it’s close enough to not be wrong. But it is iconic for a reason, influencing The Exorcist, The Omen, and many others. AMRU 4.

"Shut up. You're in Dubrovnik, I don't hear you."

Death Bed: The Bed that Eats (1977)

There’s this bed, see, in an old, abandoned house. When people sleep in it, the bed eats them. Roll credits.

To be fair, the bed has a backstory and there is a conclusion, but Pulitzer Prize material it is not. This is a very low budget, very independent film that despite the amateur status proves to be quite watchable. Shot silent and dubbed in post, Death Bed is mostly an art film, narrated by a ghost behind a painting.

The film rose to fame when back in 2007 comedian Patton Oswald did a bit on it, referring to it as “The Bed that Eats People” in a comedic flourish. It was shot in 1972 and a print wasn’t stuck until 1977. There it sat until bootleg copies began circulating. It got a DVD release in 2003 and the rest is history.

Kinda interesting if mostly for it’s unusual narrative style, it is a very watchable film. It has a dreamlike quality and the most was made with amateur actors. Compare it to the bulk of the super low budget amateur films, it rises above. On the overall watchability scale, I give Death Bed an impressive AMRU 3.