The Big Combo (1955)

A police lieutenant Diamond (Cornel Wilde) is obsessed with taking down a cruel crime boss (Richard Conte), maybe because he is more than a little infatuated with his pretty girlfriend (Jean Wallace aka Mrs. Cornel Wilde).

The role of Conte’s Brown was originally given to Jack Palance, but he clashed with producers and stormed off the set. Conte gave a very Palance-like performance. Perennial heavy Lee Van Cleef, along with Earl Holliman, are Brown’s henchmen, and apparently more than just friends. The characters, not the actors.

Many familiar faces round out the cast. Helene Stanton is memorable as Detective Diamond’s sometimes girlfriend, and Brian Donlevy (The Great McGinty) is great as the henchman on his way down. Helen Walker was a rising star when she had a terrible automobile accident while carrying three hitchhiking war veterans. Everyone sustained serious injuries and one soldier died. Acquitted of charges, she nevertheless carried the stigma and better roles dried up. Her small appearance here marked her last feature film credit, and would only make sporadic television appearances over the next few years. Cancer would take her at age 47.

The Big Combo is an effective, if improbable crime drama. Diamond is relentless and consequently a little dull, but not to worry. Conte’s Brown and others more than makes up for it. Interesting story, good performances, and real consequences. AMRU 3.5.

I just learned that the last living cast member, Earl Holliman, passed away a couple days ago. He was 96.

Decoy (1946)

Pretty Margot (Jean Gillie) is shot in her apartment and retells the whole story to Sergent Portugal (Sheldon Leonard). It involves a boyfriend (Robert Armstrong) on death row, buried loot, and a whole lot of double crossing.

British actress Gillie met and married American GI and film producer Jack Bernhard during the war. He brought her to Hollywood to make her a star. This began by him directing this film, and ended with The Macomber Affair, released the following year. Their marriage broke apart, apparently when filming wrapped, and she returned to England, disillusioned with Hollywood. Two years later she died of pneumonia. She was 33.

Long time readers should remember Armstrong as Carl Denham from two Kong films. He also appeared in Mighty Joe Young, but the majority of his credits appear to be westerns and war flicks. In addition to being a journeyman actor, Sheldon Leonard was an enormously successful and popular TV producer, instrumental in creating shows like The Danny Thomas Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, I Spy, and Gomer Pyle: USMC, among others. The two principal characters on The Big Bang Theory were named in honor of him.

Gillie’s Margot is a remorseless and cold-hearted femme fatale, manipulating everyone in her path in a single-minded quest for the money. She’s in charge and everyone is her pawn. Under different circumstances, Gillie would have become a big star. She was a sight to behold.

Decoy was Gillie’s film and she ran with it. Parts of the story are silly (it involves using an antidote to cyanide poisoning administered postmortem) and some of the performances were a little over the top, but who cares. The twists and turns alone will keep you entertained. AMRU 3.5.

“People who use pretty faces like you use yours don’t live very long anyway”

Where Danger Lives (1950)

Handsome doctor Jeff (Robert Mitchum) treats Margo (Faith Domergue), a mysterious woman who tried to take her own life. Naturally, he jilts his pretty girlfriend (Maureen O’Sullivan) and starts seeing her. Her overbearing father won’t let her run off together so Dr. Jeff pays him a visit, and, well, let’s leave it there.

So, hunky Jeff and pretty Margo are on the run because the meeting with “o’ll dad” (Claude Rains) didn’t go exactly as planned, and things go from bad to worse.

Mitchum has a surprisingly physical performance and a bit of a departure from the tough guy roles he is better known for. Sleepy Domergue is a peculiar leading lady. Discovered by Howard Hughes who was determined to make her a star, possibly because she resembled Jane Russell. O’Sullivan’s brief role as good girl Jane … I mean Julie came courtesy of her marriage to director John Farrow. I still tend to confuse her with Maureen O’Hara.

Where Danger Lives has many interesting twists and turns that keep things interesting. If I have any criticism, it would be the lack of chemistry between the lovebirds. I don’t see Jeff dumping even a de-glamed and aging O’Sullivan for Margo. Still, the film goes off in many unexpected directions and is well worth your time. AMRU 4.

Killer’s Kiss (1955)

A washed up boxer becomes involved with a pretty dime-a-dance girl, who’s boss has designs on. Mobster antics ensue.

Stanley Kubrick’s second feature film is a significant step up from Fear and Desire, but still has an air of amateurism. Audio problems required all dialog and sound effects to be added in post. The Killers, released the following year, would mark his first step into greatness.

Of the three leads only Frank Silvera had a significant film and TV career, with 81 screen credits. At 55 he would accidentally electrocute himself while fixing a garbage disposal. Pretty Irene Kane has only seven credits, mostly TV, but wrote several books under the name Chris Chase.

Pretty Gloria is a taxi dancer, a thing common in older movies, but may confound younger readers. During the early to mid part of the 20th century, young men would go to a dance hall, buy tickets, and use them to dance with a young woman for one song. Typically a ticket would cost ten cents and the girls would earn a nickel per dance. Careers for young women were in short supply.

Longtime fans of TCM will recognize a couple shots used in the TCM “Open All Night” montage. There’s something unpolished about the shots that worked for their purpose. I miss TCMs old aesthetic. I may soon be missing TCM altogether.

Not much to say, really. I struggled to remember details even though I saw it less than a week ago. In actuality, stuff just happens. Killer’s Kiss is interesting because it’s Kubrick and definitely better than his previous effort, but on its own it’s just ok. AMRU 3.

While the City Sleeps (1956)

Pretty women are being murdered and the new head of a newspaper (Vincent Price) uses the story to fuel a competition to select the new Editor in Chief. Dana Andrews’ Ed Mobley isn’t interested.

The three competitors are George Sanders, Thomas Mitchell, and James Craig. Sanders plays the high class charmer rather than the magnificent cad he is so adept at. Some may know Mitchell as a fantastic character actor with a knack of appearing in some great films, including Stagecoach, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), It’s a Wonderful Life, and Gone With the Wind. Craig also appeared in films. His character has an inside track on the position.

Ida Lupino is something of a free agent, offering assistance to Sanders but for her own reasons. John Drew Barrymore is our villain, more famous as John’s son and Drew’s dad, although apparently not much of one. Silent film star Mae Marsh makes an appearance. She has a ton of screen credits.

Typical of Fritz Lang, there’s a whole lot going on here. Hero Dana is dealing with his relationship with pretty Nancy while schooling the police and reporters on how to investigate a crime. The murders sometimes seem to be of secondary importance.

While the City Sleeps is a pretty good crime drama. While lacking in mystery, it’s an interesting watch from start to finish. It should be noted that not a whole lot of action seems to happen while the city is sleeping. AMRU 3.5.

Cry Terror! (1958)

Good guy Jim (James Mason) is tricked into building a detonator for an army buddy (Rod Steiger) who uses it to extort money from airlines. They need his wife to execute part of the plan so they keep Jim and child locked away to ensure her cooperation.

Buddy Paul’s gang includes the always menacing Neville Brand, the never menacing Jack Klugman, and Angie Dickinson. Familiar face William Schallert has a small role and silent film star Mae Marsh makes an appearance. She has a ton of screen credits.

Jim’s young, pretty wife (Inger Stevens) could have been the helpless damsel but instead was strong and active in the face of adversity. Also quite charming. Stevens herself could have used some of that strength. Late in filming, she and Steiger were overcome with carbon monoxide fumes. She tried to refuse oxygen, saying she wanted to die. She would take her own life twelve years later. One never knows the private battles others are fighting.

Local police are on top of the case but Paul has things pretty well figured out. Many times films like this rely on characters behaving illogically in order for the story to happen. I was pleasantly surprised when that expectation was subverted.

Cry Terror! won’t stand out at the top of the genre, but it deserves to be better remembered. It has a quality story, the characters behave logically, some pretty tense moments, and a satisfying conclusion. AMRU 3.5.

Eye of the Devil (1966)

Wealthy mansion dweller (David Niven) is called back to the family estate because the grape harvest has mysteriously failed. He tells his wife (Deborah Kerr) not to visit him there, and behaves all mysterious. She visits him here anyhow and finds people acting very mysterious. The more she tries to find out what’s going on, the more mysterious things become. So mysterious!

A tremendously troubled production, starting with the fact that Kim Novak, originally cast in Deborah Kerr’s role, fell from a horse and fractured a vertebra. Principle filming was nearly complete but she was unable to finish. They were forced to hire Kerr and reshoot nearly everything. Rumors that Novak was fired are likely false. Then the studio shelved the project for over a year, motivated by equal parts lack of faith and concerns over the subject matter.

Although she appeared uncredited in a couple films and appeared in fifteen episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, Sharon Tate makes her official debut here. She won praise for taking on a believable English accent, or maybe she was dubbed. David Hemmings received media buzz from Blow-Out, which became a surprise hit while Eye of the Devil sat on the shelf. Donald Pleasence is a creepy priest.

Eye of the Devil leans hard into the mystery, if I didn’t make that clear enough. The progression to reveal isn’t ineffective, but it was more than a little heavy handed. The attractive sets and creative cinematography are compromised by the thin, black and white film stock giving it a low budget feel. In the end it just didn’t work for me. AMRU 2.5.

Strait-Jacket (1964)

Lucy (Joan Crawford) is sent to an insane asylum after catching her younger husband in bed with another woman. She caught them with an axe. Twenty years later, she is released and stays with her daughter (Diane Baker), who witnessed the murder as a small child. Lucy has difficulties adjusting.

Baker is quite charming as Lucy’s daughter. She would appear in the Hitchcock film Marnie the same year. A young Lee Majors plays the philandering husband in his first credited role. His role was short and got shorter. Us oldies remember him fondly as Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. We can rebuild him, so long as we find the head. At 85, the dude is still acting. Maybe he really is bionic. George Kennedy pays a farm hand.

Two years after What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, Joan must have known she had no business being in this low budget schlocky thriller. But she had reinvented her career twice before by switching genres, so kudos to her for taking chances. Not sure it worked out all that well for her this time. She would appear in only four more feature films, ending with the amazing train wreck Trog.

And Crawford didn’t miss the opportunity to pitch product. A six-pack of Pepsi is conspicuously visible in one scene and the role of the asylum doctor went to Michael Cox, Vice President of Public Relations for Pepsi-Cola. It is his only screen credit.

Strait-Jacket is no better of a production than any other William Castle film, but lacks the playful nature of his earlier work. Crawford puts in a full effort, but the material lets her down. And if you didn’t guess the twist during the first act, you weren’t paying attention. AMRU 2.5.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Chick and Wilbur (Bud and Lou) operate a shipping company and Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) urges them not to deliver two crates. Why? Because Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster (Bela Lugosi and Glenn Strange) are inside them. Spoiler alert. There’s more going on involving an evil scientist and Dracula’s plan with the monster, but really this is an excuse for the boys to clown around and act scared.

I watched and enjoyed The Abbott and Costello Show after school at some point, but if you are unfamiliar, Bud would boss Lou around and Lou would act silly and screw up. Basically a Moe/Curly relationship. I started this film a couple years ago but was put off by the mean-spirited nature of the comedy. I didn’t have that objection this time but never found myself laughing.

I remember hearing that Chaney once said that Bud and Lou made a mockery of the horror genre, but I can’t find a source for that. Times had changed, though. The self serious gothic horror of the depression simply didn't play during post-war optimism. I’m sure Chaney didn’t mind cashing the check.

This was the second and last time Lugosi would play Dracula, although he would occasionally play the character in everything but name. This would also be his last project with Universal. Glenn Strange is sometimes thought of as the Shemp of Frankenstein, having replaced the icon Boris Karloff for House of Frankenstein. At 6’5”, he best fit the physique of an imposing monster. He will forever be identified by his three performances (the NY Times used his picture in monster makeup for Karloff’s obituary) but he appeared in 266 feature films, many of them westerns.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein isn't at all scary, not particularly funny, and they don't meet Frankenstein. It's interesting mostly because of Lugosi’s performance, still at the top of his game. Perhaps I'm a little generous with a score of 3.0.