Berlin Express (1948)

An American, a Russian, a German, and an Englishman walk into a bar. I mean a train. Going to Berlin. Post-war Germany is divided by the three main allied powers. Or four, I don’t know. Anyhow a German professor is working to reunite Germany for peace, so he gets blown up. Because the allied authorities are just rounding people up for questioning and nothing else, our band of multi-ethnic heroes investigate. Turns out there are these Germans who aren’t too keen on this whole ‘peace’ idea.

Enigmatic Merle Oberon played the German professor’s faithful helper. She mostly appeared in period costume dramas which is why I haven’t visited her before. Jacques Tourneur is one of those directors who could have been a big name given different circumstances. This is the sixth of his film that I’ve seen and the least interesting.

Berlin Express bares a certain resemblance to The Third Man. Actually filmed in Germany (the first US film to do so after the war) we see the war’s aftermath and the consequences the people must face. But Berlin Express isn’t quite the film. Story, acting, script, and cinematography, it pales in comparison. I don’t mean to imply that it is a bad film. The Third Man is a masterpiece, and this was, well, made by RKO. Berlin Express is quite watchable if you step clear of the comparison. It holds your interest if not your memory.

Out of the Past (1947)

A former detective … or gangster (Robert Mitchum) tries to start a new life as a small town gas jockey when he is found by his old boss (Kirk Douglas) who has one more job for him.

Told partially in flashback, Jeff is trying to make a fresh start with a good girl when his past catches up with him. Seems old Jeff left his prior job on rather poor terms, with a backstory involving his boss’ two-timing, thieving girlfriend (Jane Greer), and it’s unclear if Whit wants to make amends or get revenge.

Out of the Past is a complex film chuck full of noir-speak that sometimes left me scratching my head ("Now, do you wanna talk business, or do you wanna play house?" or "You know, a dame with a rod is like a guy with a knitting needle"). Just about everyone was duplicitous and its unclear if they are ever telling the truth, even when talking to their co-conspirators. Add to that two femme-fatals (Greer and Rhonda Fleming) looked alike making me mistake the first for the second. My head got a lot of scratching done that day.

Overall, Out of the Past was nice but not spectacular. It holds your attention well, so AMRU 3.5. It's held in high esteem as a great Noir film, but man was it confounding. Mitchum joked that a few pages of the script were lost in the mimeo department. But still, I'll give it another watch. The Maltese Falcon was way better the second time around. This may be as well.

“Joe couldn't find a prayer in the Bible”

The Leopard Man (1943)

The boyfriend-publicist of a backwater New Mexico entertainer comes up with a great stunt. He rents a tame panther for her to appear with to get attention and to disrupt the act of her castanet clapping rival. This works great for about two seconds before the panther escapes. Later, a poor girl is brutally murdered by the animal. Boyfriend-publicist can't help but think he must be somehow to blame.

Well, more girls are brutally murdered and boyfriend-publicist thinks they weren't done by his stunt-gone-wrong. He figures some sicko must be out there trying to make him look bad. What a dirty trick. Well ... watch the movie.

Beautifully photographed, solid acting, good script, and overall, a well put together film. I have become a fan of Val Lewton, and I suppose director Jacques Tourneur as well (he also did the excellent Night of the Demon). This is the third and last the two did together and I've loved them all. Lewton died young (my age) and only produced fourteen films, and I've seen eight of them (including the next one). Yet another will be on my DVR soon, and I expect to see them all.

Many films, even modern big budget movies, will have some rough patch. A spell of terrible acting or gawd-awful dialog. A draggy part or a scene that just didn't work. Not so with Lewton films. They lack huge budgets, special effects, or even great dialog, but they work front to back. Here I particularly liked the minor characters. They get little screen time but seem fully fleshed out. The craft of film making, at least B-Movie film making, at it's finest. The first death scene is completely non-graphic but wonderfully effective.

Billed as horror, but this is not. It has the feel of horror but lacks the elements (must have both, says me). Thriller, who-done-it, sure, but not horror. Still, great atmosphere and a wonderful film. At 66 minutes, it left me wanting more. AMRU 4. So, someone might be killing women pretending to be a panther. Then, why is it called "The Leopard Man"?

"This is a bad town for blonds"

Cat People (1942)

Flavorless dork Ollie (Kent Smith) sees the exotic Irena (Simone Simon) at the zoo and falls in love. Creepily, he invites her up to his apartment and she, as a friendless stranger in an unfamiliar city, agrees. Love blooms.

But Irena has a problem. Apparently her Serbian village was cursed many years ago and if she were to become "intimate", she would turn into a savage cat-beast and devour her true love. Ollie comforts her by saying things like, that's foolish, and you should have your head examined, and that's foolish. For some reason that doesn't comfort her much, but they get married anyhow.

By the way, "intimate", in 1942's Hollywood lingo, meant to kiss. We don't see the actual marriage ceremony, so I'm not sure how that went over.

Anyhow, hot Irena agrees to see the shrink (Tom Conway) who'd like to test that, and some other, theories out, nudge, nudge, wink, wink. When marriage troubles start to get poor Ollie down, he starts to seek out the company of plain-jane co-worker, Alice. Also, jealousy too will summon the evil cat-beast.

Is it all in her head? Will Poor Ollie ever learn to act? Will the Doc get his comeuppance? Dark and moody, you should watch to find out.

I was sure I had saw Kent Smith before. His blank stares and cardboard acting struck me as familiar, but I hadn't seen anything else he was in. He had a very Buster Crabbe quality about him. Simone Simon, despite being the advanced age of 32, was absolutely captivating. Her accent was adorable. She alone is worth the cost of admission.

But the movie has more to offer. It's slower pace and ambiguous ending differed greatly from the genre of the 30's. Producer Val Lewton was also responsible for I walked with a Zombie and The Body Snatcher which had a similar tone. I will look for more of his work.

I like to end with a good quote, but the one I wanted to use I can't find. The doctor asks Irena something like "You think if I were to kiss you, you would turn into a vicious animal?" and Irena responds "I know that I wouldn't want you to". Cute. AMRU 4.

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

Francis Dee is hot nurse Betsy Connell. She's been hired to take care of the wife of a sugar plantation owner in the Caribbean. Seems the brain of said wife was burnt out by fever. Brains ....

Morose Husband Paul lives with flippant half brother Wesley and their mum. Wife's condition is strange and frightening, husband's demeanor is dark and brooding, while half-brother is drunk and disorderly. Slowly we piece together the family story. Did the good husband do this to her? Was it black magic? What secret is good-for-nothing Wesley hiding? And how come mum isn't around that much?

Well, Betsy falls for Paul and decides she will cure his wife for him. Not sure how that's going to help. But how can she do this when the doctor says it's hopeless? Well, hear them drum beats? The natives, they have BETTER doctors! No harm in bringing a comatose patient for a look-see.

Through this movie I came to the conclusion that my wife would actually like it. It was beautifully shot. Great sets and costumes. Good dialog. Very well made. Then I learned WHY my wife would like it. Apparently the director didn't like the story, so he adapted it to Jane Eyre. Sadly, the movie was returned before she could see it, not that she was all that willing to give it a try.

I can't emphasize enough how well this movie was made. No low budget quickie-sickie here. Darby Jones was creepy as a zombie-like person. The acting was top-notch and it had great atmosphere. The complexity of the story is most striking. Not horror is the conservative sense. Sure, elements of the supernatural abound, but it's all implied. It more than stands up to a second viewing. AMRU 4.5.

"Everything seems beautiful because you don't understand. Those flying fish, they're not leaping for joy, they're jumping in terror. Bigger fish want to eat them. That luminous water, it takes it's gleam from millions of tiny dead bodies. The glitter of putrescence. There is no beauty here, only death and decay."

Curse of the Demon (1957)

Dana Andrews said prunes ... oh, nevermind.

Shortly after Columbia released Night of the Demon in the UK, they released it as "Curse of the Demon" in the US. But could they leave well enough alone? Noooooo. They had to edit it. Somewhere along the way I got the impression that the American version was hacked up, shortened, edited for content, and tinkered with. I have no clue where I got that impression. But it was wrong.

We Americans are funny with Christianity. Some in the fold see threats everywhere, especially in Hollywood. I suppose I put one and one together and presumed that the edited version purified matters for our tender eyes and ears. The day after I watched Night I watched Curse. I noticed a couple scenes were shortened, conversations abbreviated, and one scene missing. But the film, for the most part, was intact.

The twelve deleted minutes were simply an attempt to tighten up a few scenes. I saw no hint of editing for content. If given my druthers, I would absolutely choose the original. The movie did not need shortening, but the harm was minimal.

Oh, and the reason for the name change? Studio execs didn't want to confuse it with Night of the Iguana. Not sure if they meant the story that was published nine years earlier or the movie that was released seven years later. Had this been the full version, I'd have given it a higher rating, but it isn't, so AMRU 3.

"You could learn a lot from children. They believe in things in the dark, although we tell them it's not so. Maybe we've been fooling them."

Night of the Demon (1957)

"Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes, and passing them used lots of skills."

Tenth movie referenced in the song Science Fiction/Double Feature. Eight down, three to go. Has it really been nine months since my last?

On my first attempt to decipher that line I concluded that runes rimes with prunes and skill rimes with thrill from the following stanza and that's it. But on closer inspection ... well, let's say this may be the cleverest line of the song.

Dana is Doctor John Holden, no-nonsense American scientist. He flies to England to take part in a paranormal psychology conference that is investigating satanic cult leader, Julian Karswell. Dr. Holden doesn't believe in such nonsense and intends on exposing Karswell as a fraud.

Holden learns that his colleague Professor Harrington is dead, but he has a hot young niece (Peggy Cummins), which is just as good. Maybe better, nudge nudge, wink wink. Anyhoo, The Amazing Karswell tries to convince Holden to stop the investigation and that he has real power (which seem to be competing agendas), but Sensible Holden won't have any of it.

Well, Holden does some poking around, Karswell does a little hokus pokus, and it seems our hero has three days to live. Karswell slips a paper with ancient runes on it to the good doctor and that will cause a demon to appear and go munch munch. How ever will he ever escape?

I was prepared to be annoyed with the movie. I've had a relative tell me once that all religions other than Christianity were devil worship and I saw this movie moving the same direction. Ancient, pre-christian gods became Christian demons. But it spent no time worrying about such matters. Instead it spun a great tale. The story, the acting, the script, everything was done well. No draggy parts, no weak ending, no fatal flaws. Except maybe for the demon. The original idea was to not show it and leave it's reality up to the audience. Then they decided that maybe being eaten by a giant muppet would be better. So it goes.

Still, it's an excellent film. AMRU 4.5.