Tension (1949)

Nice guy Quimby (Richard Basehart) plots to murder the lunkhead who stole his wife (Audrey Totter), and meets nice girl Mary (Cyd Charisse) along the way. When the lunkhead turns up dead, things become complicated.

Audrey Totter was delightfully nasty as the unfaithful wife. She drips with venom. Totter built a career as a femme fatale, her look being perfect for the woman of danger. When those roles dried up she transitioned to television. I had only seen Cyd Charisse in Singin’ in the Rain, and thought of her just as a dancer. She did no dancing here, and was quite charming in her good girl role. William Conrad (TV's Cannon) has a sizable role.

The tension in the title refers to the amount of tension the investigating officer needs to apply to suspects before they break, like with a rubber band. It’s a corny but forgivable analogy. As we know what happens pretty early on, this isn’t much of a mystery. The real star here is the delicious dialog which makes every scene pop. We care about the protagonists, hate the antagonists, and the story sizzles when it needs to.

Were I to criticize, it would be how the protagonist must act stupid so that the story can progress. The entire film would have been wrapped up in the second act had they just answered the police’s question. Also, the ending wasn’t quite as smart as it could have been.

That aside, Tension was an absolute delight to watch. Tight dialog, great characterizations, and excellent acting. The whole thing simply popped. AMRU 4.

Crossfire (1947)

A man is found murdered in his hotel room. He was seen the night before with a few servicemen in a bar. Police investigate, and focus on one soldier whose whereabouts are unknown.

The film stars three Roberts: Young, Ryan, and Mitchum. Young is the police chief investigating the crime, and Ryan and Mitchum are servicemen trying to ‘help’. Gloria Grahame had a small but important role as the dance hall girl who may be able to account for the married suspect’s whereabouts. Grahame’s private life was pretty bonkers.

Jacqueline White, who played the wife who just wanted her husband cleared and didn't care where he hid the salami, was charming in her limited role. She only appeared in twenty features and retired at 30 to domestic bliss. She turns 100 this month. A highlight was a character known only as ‘The Man’. He appears at Ginny’s (Grahame) apartment to find our poor suspect. We never figure out his story because he keeps changing it. It’s actually quite amusing. I want to know more about that character. I also want that coffee maker.

The story isn’t very complicated but the movie can be confusing because I had difficulty keeping the characters straight. Also, the IMDb trivia section called it “one of the most visually impressive film noirs ever made”. Please watch The Third Man (1949). I wouldn’t complain about Crossfire's cinematography. It was just middle of the road.

Crossfire (which features no crossfire, figurative or otherwise) was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture, but won nothing. It isn't much of a mystery. I was certain of the killer midway through the first act. And it got a little preachy, as some post war films do. But it scores on atmosphere and some delightfully quirky scenes. I was looking for a solid noir and this hit the spot. AMRU 3.5.

Stalag 17 (1953)

Prisoners in a German POW camp suspect there is a snitch in the barracks.

I grew up watching reruns of Hogan’s Heroes, which I understood was adapted of Stalag 17. I believed this while watching. There are many parallels, for instance barracks life, the word Stalag, and William Holden’s Sgt. Sefton is not a terrible analog for Bob Crane’s Col. Hogan. They both also share a Sgt. Schultz. Obviously the show has a more comedic, family friendly tone and while you can draw a line between show and film characters, they don’t line up perfectly.

In reality, while I believe the show was greatly inspired by the film, it was not an authorized adaptation. In fact the authors of the play the film was based on sued the TV show and initially won. The judge, however, reversed the decision. They can do this.

The film is somewhat episodic. The exploits of Sefton as well as Shapiro and “Animal” provide comedic interest. But the through line of the story is the Nazi spy they are trying to find, and there the stakes are high. Sefton becomes a prime suspect.

Peter Graves has a significant role, as does Richard Erdman, who is best remembered as that guy who reviews snack foods on youtube. There are a great many notable character actors throughout.

While I had never seen this film, I was well aware of it even as a boy. Unfortunately it was spoiled for me in an unexpected way. Mad Magazine would do satirical renditions of famous movies, and Stalag 17 was one of them. I read this issue in maybe 1980 and remembered the reveal to this very day. Still, it is a greatly enjoyable film. AMRU 4.

"I see nothing!"

The Magnetic Monster (1953)

Items in a store become magnetized and behave strangely. So, the shop owner does what any reasonable person would. He calls the department of power and light to speak with the chief engineer. When the engineer hears that appliances were magnetized, he wastes no time and contacts the Office of Scientific Investigation. A-Man Jeffrey Stewart (Richard Carlson) is on the case. Magnetism, it would seem, is the same as nuclear radiation.

Never before have I watched a film with more technobabble narration and exposition. Characters literally stop walking up stairs to spout this stuff. The intent was to make a film with a scientifically viable premise. Atomic energy was a serious and significant concern in post-war America, and this is a story about an experiment gone wrong. And rather than anthropomorphize the experiment as a giant insect or whatever, they anthropomorphize the element itself. It “feeds” and “murders”, and must be “killed”.

Every eleven hours the element reacts, grows larger and stronger, and more people die. Were it to continue growing it would spin the earth off its access. It’s the size of a raisin, but, you know, eventually … Much of the story follows the horror conventions of the day. They figure things out, test hypotheses, make a plan of action, then heroically carry it out. The difference is that despite the actor’s behavior, there is no conventional movie monster. Just a dangerous radioactive sample.

The low budget Magnetic Monster earns points for trying something different. It has a unique feel compared to the usual fare, and the lady in the shop jumping out of the way of a magnetized lawnmower is unintentionally hilarious. But in the end, it is a fairly unremarkable movie. AMRU 3.

“In nuclear research, there is no place for lone wolves.”