The Stranger (1946)

An agent (Edward G. Robinson) of the War Crimes Commission lets a convicted criminal escape in hopes he leads them to a notorious Nazi commander. This trail leads him to a small Connecticut town.

Character actor Billy House had a memorable role. Richard Long appears in his second screen credit. I will forever associate him with House on Haunted Hill (1959), but others may remember him from Big Valley or Nanny and the Professor. He did a lot of television before dying tragically young.

Faithful Mary (Loretta Young) is unknowingly engaged to marry the Nazi (Orson Welles). I found it peculiar that she refers to her father (Philip Merivale) by his first name, and he calls her "Sister". I wondered if this was a Quaker thing, but couldn't confirm it. Very strange. Another strange thing is when Mary returns from her honeymoon, little brother Noah asks “Did you remember to keep your knees together and your apparatus in?” This was in context to skiing, but I wonder if the screenwriter might be giving a wink to the audience.

Both may have been explained by the original edit. The producers gave the editor carte blanche to remove anything he felt was unnecessary. Cut and lost is thirty minutes of footage, much of it from the opening. Welles was furious.

Were I to criticize The Stranger, it would be that the story was rather linear, particularly for a Welles film. But it works and the performances are excellent. Robinson just got better as he aged and only Welles can deliver lines the way he does. I would love to see the two hour edit. AMRU 4.

Soylent Green (1973)

A cop (Charleston Heston) investigates the murder of an executive of the Soylent corporation, suppliers of much of the world’s food. Despite being told to let it go, he pushes on and discovers a disturbing secret. We all know. Go ahead, say the line …

I watched Soylent Green not long before I began the blog. It was on a library VHS tape and the quality was awful. Before the climax the video portion was completely shot. A quality copy makes an enormous difference.

Despite being set in the far off year of 2022, the filmmakers made no effort to give the world a futuristic look. The future isn’t ideal. It’s just like today except there is massive overpopulation, environmental disaster, and a worldwide food shortage.

Edward G. Robinson was dying during the production of the film, and in fact died the evening after his final scene. Early in the film is an improvised scene where Thorn and Sol (Heston and Robinson) feast on fresh food, practically non-existent in this world. It’s surprisingly impactful.

Elements of the story are a bit far fetched. The police just help themselves to items and furniture from a crime scene. Not that part. Climate change has devastated the environment and corporations control society. Not that either. We use the metric system. Seriously, what were they thinking?

Food, if you can call it that, is distributed in New York like it was a refugee camp. People sleep in hallways and staircases. Things like soap and pencils are a luxury. Soylent Green is an exceptionally prescient film. It could have been far preachier or leaned too far into levity. But it struck the right tone for 1973, and it strikes the right tone for now. AMRU 4.

Scarlet Street (1945)

Humdrum bank employee Chris (Edward G. Robinson) comes to the aid of a woman (Joan Bennett), and they strike up a friendship. Under the mistaken belief that he is a famous and fabulously wealthy artist, she and her abusive boyfriend (Dan Duryea) plot to scam him.

On today’s internet this would be called a romance scam, but back then the scammer was required to interact with the victim in real time. Oh, and actually be a pretty woman. Fritz Lang directed the 1944 noir The Woman in the Window also staring Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea, and featured a very similar plot (“A reserved professor meets a model and gets mixed up in murder.”)

I thought I had seen Joan Bennett before (outside of Suspiria, that is) but it was her sister Constance that appeared in What Price Hollywood? and Topper. There was also a sister Barbara who appeared in only five films and lived a troubled life. I shan’t go into detail.

Dan Duryea seems to always play the same character. A joyously hateful scoundrel. Here is no different. Robinson plays the hapless victim to perfection, led down the path like a lamb to the slaughter. But Robinson was capable of adding depth and complexity to the otherwise two-dimensional role. A subtle glance can express wonders.

The Big Heat is the standard bearer of later career Lang but Scarlet Street is a close second. Nothing compares to Lang's early work, but these latter films can be quite surprising. It's a solid story and Robinson's performance is fantastic. AMRU 4.

Little Caesar (1931)

The rise and fall of an underworld crime thug (Edward G. Robinson). See The Public Enemy and Scarface. Rinse and repeat.

Little Caesar was a big hit and made Robinson a star and became the gangster stereotype, see? His full name is Caesar Enrico Bandello, or Rico for short. Or Little Caesar because he is short. His buddy is played by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. not to be confused with his far more talented silent screen star father. Well, at least Junior made it past 60. Junior’s Joe wants out because he falls in love with his dancing partner (Glenda Farrell) in one of the most unconvincing and chemistry-less scenes imaginable. Still, the love and dancing makes Rico think Joe is soft, see?

Pre-code films had to play a game. In order to show the sex and violence that audiences craved they pretended to offer a cautionary tale. See the evils if good men are not diligent? Few were fooled but it was enough to keep the censors at bay.

So, was Rico gay? Hear me through. Joe is soft, Rico thinks, because he loves a woman. Rico acts almost jealous, like a spurned lover. And when he is first on the lamb, where does he hold out? A fruit store. Reading too much into this, am I? Of course I am.

Somewhat entertaining and historically significant, Little Caesar codified the sounds and mannerisms of the prohibition gangster. And don’t think that the racketeer Influenced and corrupt organizations act name was just a coincidence. AMRU 3.

“Well, that was white of him alright.”

Double Indemnity (1944)

Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) pays a visit to a client who's car insurance is about to expire. The Mr. Dietrichson isn't home but Wally likes what he sees with the Mrs. (Barbara Stanwyck). Eventually the Mrs. floats the idea of life insurance, in case anything unfortunate happens to the Mr. Of course the Mr. mustn't ever found out he bought it. Well, Walter smells a rat. And he likes what he smells. Together they plan how the insurance gets bought and how accidents can happen.

The fly in the ointment is Walter's boss, the savvy Mr. Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). You see, he has a "little man" that tells him something is fishy. Apparently Keyes' "little man" is a bit smarter than Neff's.

Excellent acting, great dialog, engaging story, Double Indemnity earned it's reputation as a great film. IMdb ranks it 55th all time (currently) and in the genre of film-noir it's third. I put a rush on watching it because Starz was making a hasty exit from the land of netflix, and while I enjoyed the movie, I can't say I love it up to it's reputation. I'll give it a 4.

So, what's the buzz about the movie? Apparently director Billy Wilder and co-screenwriter Raymond Chandler hated each other. Wilder would later say he flaunted his "womanizing ability" to torment the closeted Chandler. Wilder also had Stanwyck wear an ugly blond wig to give her a cheap, fake look. Later a studio exec remarked "We hired Barbara Stanwyck, and here we get George Washington".

"How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?"

Key Largo (1948)

Unlike most famous movies I hadn't seen, I was quite surprised to learn that I knew nothing of the plot. I knew the gay 1980's song, and that's about it. A story on NPR mentioned the film and a song sung by Claire Trevor and they said something about the setting. It was the last of four movies in the set loaned to me by a coworker and I finally finished the set.

Bogie is a drifter, a tough man who sticks his neck out for no one. Bacall is the young hottie. Lionel Barrymore is her father. Or father-in-law. Edward G. Robinson is the gangster trying to get back into the country. Who's going to stop him? Who? Nobody, that's who!

Gangsters, drifters, cripples, and hotties are all shut into a hotel when a hurricane passes. Is Bogart tough enough to stand up to the cruel Edward G? Will hottie Bacall fall for him? Are we seriously asking these questions?

What was interesting about the movie was Claire Trevor as Robinson's ex-hoochie mamma. She's a total lush at this point and a bit of an embarrassment. Her song was memorable, not for the singing itself, but for how it plays into the plot. Typical Bogart stuff, typical Bacall stuff. Enjoyable. AMRU 3.5.

The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

Steve McQueen is the Kid, a young hot-shot poker player ready to take on Mr. Big. Mr. Big is Lacey Howard (Edward G. Robinson). The story is about The Kid's life, the events leading up to the big game, and the game itself.

McQueen's girlfriend is played by Tuesday Weld, so life isn't TOO bad for him. His best friend is by-the-books, strictly percentages Karl Malden. Karl (in his pre-gigantic nose days) is comically paired with Ann-Margret. Could two people, actors or characters, be more ill-fit for each other? The tension plays into the plot.

I love poker, so I had a hook into this film, but I think non players would also dig it. Tense drama, great acting, great story telling, and, oh yea ...

Ann-Margret was NASTY HOT!

This woman stole every scene she was in. She could be in the background and out of focus and draw the eye. She had this intense-malicious-sexy look on her face the entire time. Man, was she smokin'! She could do more in a turtleneck and coveralls than most woman could in the buff! Add to that fact she was married to Mister Straight-Lace Malden and hanging around with the church mouse (and hot) Tuesday Weld, the tension was palpable.

Robinson impressed me. He was perfect in the role. I always thought of him as a two-dimensional actor. Must rethink that now. Rip Torn was great (only knew him from Men in Black) as a slimy manipulator. The background characters included Jack Weston, Joan Blondell, Dub Taylor, and oddly, Cab Calloway. Too bad he didn't sing. Joan was awesome as a dealer. A small role, but she shined.

While I enjoy seeing Steve McQueen on screen, I can't say I'm impressed by his acting. He seems to play one character: Steve McQueen. I know people who know more about acting will strongly disagree, but they can say so on THEIR movie blog.

As a poker player, the lingo and depiction was fairly good. They announce that there will be no string raises, and of course they string raise throughout. Stuff like that aside, it was fine. They should have played with chips, but I guess having wads of cash on the table was more dramatic. I haven't looked into this, but I got the impression that Rounders (1998) was sort of a sequel. It seems to start where The Cincinnati Kid ends. I hope that's not a spoiler.

I've waffled back and forth whether to give this film a 4 or 4.5. It's not really the kind of movie you can watch over and over again. In the end I'll settle on an AMRU of 4.