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.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

When the good King Richard is taken captive during the crusades, his treacherous brother Prince John (Claude Rains) does what all monarchs do and seizes control. He taxes the poor Saxons to the brink of starvation while Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) makes friends. Oh, and steals from the rich. Stuff like that.

Our villains hatch a plan to capture Robin by holding an archery competition. They would arrest the winner, who would obviously be Robin Hood. Seeing the obvious trap, Robin hatches a plan of his own. He will win the competition but when they try to capture him, he will try to run away. Despite the plan’s brilliance, it doesn’t go off all that well. It is up to pretty Lady Marion (Olivia de Havilland) and daring swashbuckling action to rescue him.

Claude Rains is delightful as the tyrannical Prince John, and Basil Rathbone seemed born to play Sir Guy. For the record, Alan Rickman played the Sheriff, not Sir Guy. Skipper’s Dad Alan Hale played Little John in this and the 1922 version. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., son of the 1922 Robin Hood, turned down the lead role because he didn’t want to be remembered as his father’s son. Too bad because if he were successful, he might be remembered as something other than his father’s son.

The effect of having arrows stuck into extras was accomplished by having an archer ACTUALLY SHOOT ARROWS AT THEM! They were paid $150 per arrow that hit them. Where is OSHA when you need them? The character Much is the catalyst of the story, being saved by Robin after arrest for killing the King’s deer. After that point he is mostly comic relief. The much older Una O’Connor played his comedic love interest. Friar Tuck too is mostly comic relief, as is Little John. Will Scarlet is mostly forgotten.

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a fun romp. The story is so well worn that it’s a bit threadbare, but we can’t blame the most famous version for that. It was a lot of fun. Goodbye, Olivia, and good job. AMRU 4.

Phantom of the Opera (1943)

Claudin (Claude) is a veteran violinist infatuated with a hot young starlet. He pays for her singing lessons without her knowledge. But when he is dismissed from the orchestra he tries to sell his concerto. Believing his work is being stolen, he goes on a murderous rampage and has acid thrown in his face. Thus he becomes The Phantom!

I love The Phantom of the Opera. That is, the 1925 Lon Chaney silent horror film. I don’t know from the source material, but a key element for me is the fear and mystery of the Phantom character. He is both menacing and heroic. In Claude Rains’ version, however, there is little mystery (the authorities know who he is and are just searching for him), and he comes off as something of a weenie. He just likes Christine so much but can’t bring himself to tell her.

Eighteen year old Susanna Foster played Christine, the love interest and object of the Phantom’s obsession. Her career would last barely a year longer when she quit to take care of her siblings. I would think Hollywood money would be invaluable in that end, but I’ll withhold judgement until I see her True Hollywood Story episode. Later in life she was discovered living in a car. Maybe it was a nice car, who knows.

Hume Cronyn (Lifeboat) had a small roll and I totally missed him in it. Had he affected a terrible cockney accent maybe I would have spotted him. Nelson Eddy was one of the dashing men vying for Christine’s affection. Some twenty five or so years later the Rhode Island local would die of a stroke during a concert performance. And so it goes.

Phantom of the Opera (no The on this one) is a well made and very good looking film. As much of the action takes place during performances, music lovers have that. However I prefer Chaney’s menacingly iconic villain over Rains’ mousy nice guy who just snaps. AMRU 3.

Notorious (1946)

A federal agent (Cary Grant) enlists the help of the daughter (Ingrid Bergman) of a convicted German "worker". They fly to Rio de Janeiro for her to cozy up to daddy's former associate (Claude Rains) who had a thing for her. Spy and Nazi get quite cozy but this begins to interfere with her relationship with the federal agent.

This movie appears to be about Nazis, conspiracies, and weapons, but really it's about a troubled romance that this stuff gets in the way of. Hitchcock crafts a taught story around this MacGuffin. Grant is moody rather than quick witted, Bergman is Bergmanesque, and Rains is excellent as always. Not much mystery in the story, but the elements all work well.

Well made but I had issues with the on-screen chemistry. I had trouble with the spy-agent relationship. Claude Rains was awesome as usual, but maybe I just wanted Grant to play the same Cary Grant character he usually does. Still, a good, complex film. AMRU 3.5.

"Alexander Sebastian: I'm not afraid to die.
Devlin: You've got your chance, here and now"

The Wolf Man (1941)

The eldest son of the affluent Talbot family dies in a horrible hunting accident, so ne'er-do-well younger son (Creighton Chaney) returns home to patch things up with 'oll dad (Claude Rains) and take his place as favorite boy. Dad shows junior around the laboratory. Seems Larry knows a thing or two about telescopes as he took a janitorial job in a California observatory. Straight away he points said telescope townward to spy the young hotties.

His eye lands on young Gwen (Evelyn Ankers). He pays her a visit and creepily explains how he has been stalking her. She is a proper lady and engaged to a proper gentleman, but for some reason cannot resist his lumpy goodness. He coerces her into visiting those lovely gypsies that are welcomed everywhere they go. To keep her virtue intact, Gwen brings along her undoable friend, Jenny (Fay Helm).

They visit the Gypsy fortunate teller Bela (Bela). Jenny gets her fortune read first. Seems her future has her being chowed on by an Evil man-wolf. Lumpy Larry arrives in the nick of time to kill the offending wolf, but after her throat has been ripped out. For his troubles, he gets a nasty bite to his chest. When the authorities arrive, they find Bela's body and Larry's walking stick. Hmmmm ...

Would I be spoiling things to say that Chaney becomes The Wolf Man?

Rains playing Chaney's father was rather interesting, because in real life Creighton's father was also a little man who could act circles around him. Bela was also good in his limited role, and Ralph Bellamy was good in his supporting role, but who I really noticed was Jessie Arnold as the Gypsy woman. Creepy and nuanced, the right kind of character actor. Chaney, as always, is ham-fisted in every scene.

Now, I've pointed out that the modern incarnation of zombies (post-Romero) are actually ghouls, not zombies as they exist in "real life". So too will I criticize the werewolf. IMdb asserts that many myths of werewolves come from The Wolf Man, but a few came from Werewolf of London, most notably that being a werewolf is a curse brought on by a bite. In folklore, however, one is granted the power of a werewolf by signing a pact with the Devil.

That aside, this icon of horror that made Chaney "Jr." a star, owes very little to him. The good story and script, good acting (mostly), and quality sets and production survived a mediocre actor in the lead. Imagine if Karloff got the role. AMRU 3.5.

"Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright."

The Invisible Man (1933)

"... Claude Rains was The Invisible Man ..."

Yes. Yes he was. Third movie referenced in the song Science Fiction/Double Feature. Nine down, two to go.

Before I begin, I want to acknowledge the passing of film great Elizabeth Taylor. I understand she was quite pretty in her early years and a top notch actress, but I remember her as the overweight caricature of her former self. Then the thought struck me that I had not ever seen one of her movies, ever. Further research revealed that I did see The Taming of the Shrew back in high school and, sadly, The Flintstones. I decided to add Cleopatra to my Netflix queue because I'm quite fond of catastrophes, but after learning that it's about 16 hours long I don't know if I'll ever get to it.

Back to The Invisible Man, shall we? Here's the story. Noted scientist discovers the secret to invisibility but then realizes he forgot to search for the secret of VISIBILITY. So, he goes out into the snow with his science gear and tries to come up with the solution. The hottie and colleagues he left behind grow concerned. It seems the secret ingredient to make one self invisible ALSO makes them insane. Crazy and invisible, what a combination.

The rest of the movie is a cat and mouse game where doc's friends are trying to find him and doc lives out his secret ambition. Not to sneak into girls locker rooms, but to just screw with people. It seems the one thing he's always hated was people.

Who should turn up but Una O'Connor, the ugly housemaid. Shrill and completely over the top, she's a total delight. In a Hollywood where a character named Ugly Betty is played by a hot chick, it's nice to know that once upon a time us regular (and sub-regular) looking folk could get screen work.

Very good movie. The special effects were way ahead of their time. Director James Whale isn't well remembered now-a-days but he directed many of the early great horror films: Frankenstein and Bride of, plus The Old Dark House, which I understand is excellent. The studio grew tired of him turning out great work so they forced him to do crap.

One could spend a lifetime watching the infinite sequels and adaptations, but I will for now leave it right here. AMRU 4.

"The drugs I took seemed to light up my brain. Suddenly I realized what power I held, the power to rule, to make the world grovel at my feet."

Casablanca (1942)

I've seen this film once or twice before, so I knew I loved it. I got it on DVD last Christmas. Yesterday, I watched it again.

Rick (Humphrey Bogart) is the owner of a saloon with a mysterious past. The leader of the Czech underground and Nazi thorn Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) arrives with his unbelievably hot wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) trying to find passage to America. The local authorities, Captain Renault (Caude Rains) and the Nazis want to keep them in Casablanca. Rick can help, but will he?

It seems back in Paris (Flashback! - Doo doo doo, Doo doo doo, Doo doo doo), Ilsa and Rick met up just before the Nazis rolled into town. Ilsa thought Victor was dead, so she made plans to run off with Rick. At the last minute, she learns Victor was only MOSTLY dead, so she leaves Rick at the alter/train station. Poor Rick.

Back in Casablanca, Rick has a choice to make. Help Victor because he sympathizes with his cause or set him up and take his unbelievably hot wife?

Here are a couple of my observations after this viewing:

Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre had very small roles, smaller than I remember. Ingrid Bergman was unbelievably hot. Had I mentioned that before? Claude Rains has many great lines. Clearly a womanizer, but look at these:

"Well, Rick is the kind of man that... well, if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick."

and

"She was asking about you earlier in a way that made me very jealous."

I know he was supposed to be French, but come on! What's going on here? Discuss ...

Casablanca is an all time great film. Great acting, writing, and atmosphere. It's even better than it's reputation. And Ingrid Bergman was unbelievably hot. AMRU 5. I hope to convince my sons to watch it.