The Big Clock (1948)

A chance encounter with his boss’ mistress leads to a crime reporter (Ray Milland) having to solve a murder where he is the prime suspect.

This is a difficult film to sum up both accurately and without spoilers. Our hero knows, or strongly suspects, who the murderer is, but that’s not where the evidence points. He frantically scrambles around trying to cover his tracks and collect evidence, while not tipping off the culprit or angering his wife.

The heartless boss is played to perfection by Charles Laughton. Wife Elsa Lanchester has a small but memorable role. Old friend Harry Morgan is quite menacing as a hired thug. He has no lines. OG Jane Maureen O’Sullivan is the reporter’s long suffering wife. IRL she was married to director John Farrow, parents of Mia.

Based on the Kenneth Fearing novel of the same name, the film added one element not present in the book: a big clock. In the book, the clock is just a metaphor, perhaps as a thinly veiled critique of Time Magazine, Fearing’s longtime employer. Time gave the book and the film glowing reviews.

The Big Clock is a better than fair crime thriller with some excellent performances. And it was a satisfying way for me to round out Noirvember. AMRU 4.

The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

A young bishop (David Niven) is struggling to get his cathedral built and it’s affecting his marriage. He prays for guidance and in walks Dudley (Cary Grant) claiming to be an angel. But instead of focusing on the cathedral, he concentrates on what really matters.

The movie began production with Grant in the bishop role and Niven as the angel. When the director was replaced, the new director reversed the roles and recast the part of the Wife. Also, the Bishop’s daughter was the daughter in It’s a Wonderful Life. You know the one: “TeaCHER says, evRY time A belLL rings …” But I want to talk about Loretta Young.

Amazingly adorable in her early roles, here she is quite charming. The story of her illegitimate child with Clark Gable frequently comes up. He was married, and she hid the pregnancy from the media. She put the girl into an orphanage for a year, then “adopted” her. I thought this was heartless for quite a while but a few details had escaped me. One, both of their contracts likely would have been terminated had this gotten out, and Loretta would not recover as she traded on her good girl image. Also, she was only 22 when Judy Lewis was born. Gable was 34, the pig! I’ll remember to cut her a little slack from now on.

The Bishop’s Wife is a film likely saved by studio interference. First by changing directors and the role reversal, but also by bringing in Robert Sherwood and Billy Wilder to fix a few scenes after initial filming had wrapped. That couldn’t have hurt. The end result may have gone way over budget, and released two months too late for Christmas, but it is quality Holiday fare. It has humor and heart. Elsa Lanchester was, again, wonderful in a supporting role. Also look for the obvious stunt doubles in the ice skating scene. AMRU 3.5.

“For some time now, every time I pass the cemetery, I feel as though I'm apartment hunting.”

The Spiral Staircase (1945)

Someone is murdering women with afflictions, and hot mute Helen is cautioned to stay inside the spooky mansion where she tends to a crazy old invalid. Soon, the audience learns that the serial killer may be inside. Quickly this becomes a whodunnit with a small number of suspects.

I can’t say enough of Elsa Lanchester. She had a fairly small character role and was delightful. She makes me what to take up drinking brandy. Also here, as the crazy old invalid, is Barrymore sister Ethel. Not a famous as brothers John and Lionel, but she outlived them and worked right up to the end. Aging leading man George Brent was showing his age and longtime readers will remember Kent Smith as Doctor Hunky love-interest from such works as Cat People and to a lesser extent Curse of the Cat People.

Dorothy McGuire shined as the pretty mute. Did some great face acting, as they would say. She used her “I suspect him” face when looking at a suspect that she suspects with great effect. A forty year old Joan Crawford wanted the role but I think we’re better off that she didn’t get it.

Not a lot to say about this one. Spooky mansion, questionable characters, murderer on the loose, we’ve seen these tropes before. The Spiral Staircase wasn’t an amazing mystery, but it did keep you guessing and the reveal didn’t cheat. The overall film making was good as was the acting for the most part (Kent Smith notwithstanding). I would have preferred one or two more legitimate suspects, and it was a little melodramatic at times, but it all worked in the end. AMRU 3.

Bell Book and Candle (1958)

Hot witch Gillian (Kim Novak) is bored and wants to meet her elderly neighbor Shep (James Stewart). When she learns that he is soon to marry a hot mortal, she uses magic to intervene.

Lovers meet, lovers love, lovers part with hard feelings, lovers reunite through grand gesture. Roll credits. The Rom Com formula is like clockwork. You can set your watch by it. The key to its success is how much we believe in the romance, and how much we like the characters. While Novak’s Gillian is mostly emotionless (witches can’t cry, you understand) and her interest in twice-her-age Stewart is somewhat confounding, we do become invested in their story.

Jack Lemmon was at his prime as Gil’s somewhat mischievous brother. Elsa Lanchester was great as her batty aunt. Hermione Granger .. I mean Gringots ...I MEAN GINGOLD was also delightful. Janice Rule played the young woman Gil had to steal Shep away from. I remembered her from a Twilight Zone episode.

One functional complaint of the movie is that we aren’t to sympathize with the undeserving girlfriend. See Susan Hayward’s shrewish and tragic bride-to-be in I Married a Witch. She was both beautiful and wonderfully unsympathetic. Here we are told why Rule’s character isn’t nice, but we don’t actually see it. I felt sorry for her.

Enigmatic comedian Ernie Kovacs was understated as an author of books on witchcraft. His unconventional and sometimes controversial comedic style made him a legend with comedians, but because much of his television work was lost, he is all but forgotten by audiences today. He died in a car accident less than four years later, and ten days before his 43rd birthday.

Beautifully filmed, well acted, visually stunning, very charming, and amusing when it needed to be, Bell Book and Candle (no commas!) is delightful. It was, along with I Married a Witch, a principle inspiration for Bewitched. AMRU 4. Elizabeth Montgomery was hot. Ask your dad.

“Shep, you just never learned to spell.”

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

The monster's name isn't Frankenstein. We know that, right? Just like Nick Charles isn't the thin man, the monster is known simply as the monster. Where did that misconception come from? Maybe from Bride of Frankenstein.

Now, the Barron DID have a wife but this movie isn't about her. It's about Henry trying to get on with his life when he is visited by another (non-dead) ex-professor. The mysterious Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) arrives but the Barron (Colin Clive again) gets all passive-aggressive and sends him away. Apparently Pretorius is also on the quest to learn the secret of life and thinks it would be nifty if they could compare notes.

When Pretorius bumps into the monster (not dead as previously thought) while hanging around a crypt, he offers to make him a lady friend. Monster likes that idea. So, the monster kidnaps the bride of Frankenstein ... that is to say, the Barron's wife, and they coerce Henry into helping.

A couple things to note: Bride of Frankenstein is a comedy. All classic horror have moments of campyness and levity but Bride goes beyond that. Una O'Connor (my favorite ugly chick) looking up to see the monster standing behind her had distinct shades of Abbot and Costello. And the scene with the blind hermit was played at least partially for laughs.

Also, Dwight Frye, everyone's favorite Igor (never actually played a character with that name) returns. His character Fritz died in Frankenstein so this time his name is Karl. He also played Dracula's Renfield. Seems like his characters don't hang along all that much. In real life he died at my age. They got a new Elizabeth. Apparently Mae Clarke was having some serious mental difficulty at the time. Colin was rewarded with the younger Valerie Hobson. Her next project was as the wife of the title character in Warewolf of London.

Elements of Bride were actually taken from the Shelley novel. There was some talk about making the monster a lady friend but never acted upon. Also, the monster spoke in the book. In fact, he was a total bore. Karloff's monster spoke in short, choppy sentences. Fire bad!

Towards the end of the movie the Bride is unveiled, as a bug-eyed but still somewhat hot Elsa Lanchester with Marge Simpsonesque hair. Further confusing the name of the monster, Pretorius declares her the Bride of Frankenstein! Elsa also played Mary Shelley in an awful prologue where she introduces the story. Funny that an Elizabethan writer would introduce a story that includes telephones and electric lights.

Bride is one of few sequels that is regarded higher than the original (IMdb rates them both an 8), and certainly it's a classic work. But for my money, I like the original better. More serious treatment with some ambiguity about the monster's nature. AMRU 4.

"To a new world of Gods and Monsters!"

The Inspector General (1949)

Rumor has it that Napoleon's Inspector General is on his way to investigate graft and corruption. This alarms the city leaders of Brodny, who know that corrupt officials get the firing squad. And they are as corrupt as the day is long.

In the outskirts are a group of gypsies (hate those people!!) selling an elixir to cure what ails you. After an amusing scene and song, our hero Georgi (Danny Kaye) lets slip that it's a fake. The townsfolk attacks the gypsies and the gypsies cast out Georgi. He travels to the the city of Brodny, who jail him in an effort to clean up the streets in advance of the Inspector's visit.

Well, then Georgi is mistaken for the Inspector and is given royal treatment. The illiterate Georgi plays along thinking he'll get the axe if found out. He tries to leave (to the great relief of the city leaders) but is stopped when his old gypsy friend spots him and uses the situation to bilk the town out of a kings ransom. Or a pipe organ. Whatever.

This is a Kaye vehicle from start to finish. He does silly songs, gets into and out of silly situations, does a few pratfalls, and everything turns out just grand in the end. He even gets the girl. Sorry if I spoiled it. If you were looking for a grim ending to a Danny Kaye film, you're out of your tree.

That girl? That would be the young Barbara Bates. Rocketing to stardom in the late 40's, she started to go bonkers. Out of Hollywood by the mid fifties, she toured the has-been circuit. When her elderly husband died, she chose to off herself.

The film also had old friend Elsa Lanchester in a small role and even the Skippers' dad. Wanna hear some dirt about Elsa? She said in her autobiography that she and hubby Charles Laughton never had children be cause o'll Chuck was the G.A.Y. Nonsense, says Maureen O'Hara (still living). The reason Elsa never had babies is because of a botched abortion! Said Elsa of Maureen: "She looks as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, or anywhere else." Hmmm.... I don't know. She could totally melt my butter.

I remember some of the scenes. Mostly the music, but little of the story. My boys watched. They didn't seem all that interested, but in the end they said they really liked it. I thought it was a little weak. Well done with decent acting and nice sets, but for some reason it didn't sparkle. Better than a lot of movies I've given a 3.0 to, so maybe I was expecting too much. My boys loved it so I added The Court Jester to my DVD queue. AMRU 3.5.

"Your Excellency - he took bribes, he drank all my wine, he-he-he yelled out the windows, he even made love to my wife! How could I doubt that he was an Inspector General?"

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

A rich widow is dead and the dashing ne're-do-well Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power), who had been showing her a lot of attention lately, is accused of the murder. Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton), against the advice of his nursemaid (Elsa Lanchester, the Bride in Bride of Frankenstein and Laughton's real-life wife), takes Vole's case.

Like all Agatha Christie stories, there are many characters, details, and plot twists. Marlene Dietrich plays Power's none too helpful wife, some 12 years his senior (and looking every minute of it). Una O'Connor (the maid in Bride of Frankenstein) plays the maid, the last role of her life. Great performances, all.

I had never seen a Dietrich movie and I now understand what Madeline Kahn was doing in Blazing Saddles. I also never saw Tyrone Power before, who died at 44 the same year the movie was released. I'm curious to see more from them.

Through the film we learn more about Vole's relationship with the widow French (Norma Varden), and more about his relation ship with the Mrs. Vole. This movie was a pleasure. The complex plot kept me guessing and the dialog and acting were great. Definitely worth a second viewing. The AFI called it the 6th best courtroom drama and I give it an AMRU of 4.