The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Young Martha Ivers (Janis Wilson) hates her domineering aunt (Judith Anderson) and in a fit of rage kills her. Years later, adult Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) is a successful business owner married to a childhood friend (Kirk Douglas), who knows her secret. When another childhood friend (Van Heflin) returns after many years, the couple conclude he is there to negotiate a price for his silence.

This is the first ever film role for Douglas as a scared little boy, quite against what would later become his type. This is the second appearance of Lizabeth Scott, playing the good but not too good girl. Judith Anderson is great as the Judith Anderson character. See Laura (1944) and Rebecca (1940). It’s a shame she didn’t have more screen time. Stanwyck reportedly exercised a lot of control on the set, perhaps realizing that her career was at an inflection point. She would turn the big four-oh a year later.

This film was adapted from a short story titled Love Lies Bleeding, which is a pretty awesome title. There are at least four other unrelated films with that title. I couldn’t find box office numbers but Strange Love apparently was a success despite the Strange Title.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is an interesting story that perhaps takes a little too long to resolve itself. Back in the day Noir films were simply called melodramas, and this film gets more than a little melodramatic. AMRU 3.5

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

A washed up producer (Kirk Douglas) tries to get his former friends to make another picture to revive his career. The three, a director (Barry Sullivan), star (Lana Turner), and screenwriter (Dick Powell), recount their story of how they fell out with him.

Nominated for six academy awards and winning five, Hollywood is a sucker for stories about Hollywood, and apparently so am I. The three stories do not overlap much and illustrate the extent Douglas’ Jonathan is willing to go to further his interests. The now successful three must ask themselves if they can put their feelings aside to now help their former mentor. 

Gloria Grahame won an Oscar nine and a half minutes of a fair southern accent. It would be the shortest screen time for an acting Oscar at the time ... I'm happy to say. Leo G. Carroll has a brief role as a difficult director and Barbara Billingsley makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her appearance five years before becoming June Cleaver.

Many of the characters are thinly-veiled versions of real contemporary people. I will out David O. Selznick as a primary inspiration for our main character, but you can read the details for yourself. Selznick even contacted a lawyer to see if there were grounds to sue.

The Bad and the Beautiful is expert storytelling. The performances are excellent (Douglas uses his “angry Kirk” voice only once), the script is tight, and the story compelling. The film came highly recommended and I came to it very late. I should have believed it. AMRU 4.5.

Ace in the Hole (1951)

Big shot reporter Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) must resort to working for a small-time newspaper in Albuquerque to crawl his way back to the top. Nothing breaks for him until he stumbles upon a story he can sink his teeth into. A man is trapped in an Indian cave and Chuck manipulates the sheriff, the townsfolk, even the man’s wife (Jan Sterling) to turn the story into a personal gold mine.

O’ll Chuck may be our main character but he is not a good guy. He is unabashed in his ambition to exploit a bad situation. He even brings the cub reporter along for the ride. Still, I found myself rooting for him a bit. But as he transitions from taking advantage of a desperate situation to taking control, his truer nature is revealed.

Sterling was no stranger to genre pictures, but this was a rare leading role for her. She played the self-involved ditz pretty well. Frank Cady played an early arrival at Chuck’s carnival. He was a recognizable character actor in many films, but will forever be remembered as Sam Drucker from Green Acres. It’s the place to be.

Native peoples are featured, somewhat in the background, but respectfully considering the day. Chuck calls a native man ‘chief’ but this informs us of Chuck’s character. That native was Iron Eyes Cody himself, the litter-hating Indian from my youth. Keep America Beautiful. His real name was Espera DeCorti. Speaking of bit parts, Timothy Carey may have had a bit part as a construction worker. It is unconfirmed. Remember him from Kubrick’s The Killing and Paths of Glory. He was a weirdo.

Ace in the Hole takes a bleak, cynical look at human nature. Chuck is the circus ring leader, but almost everyone is willing to jump through his hoops. Maybe not quite as much ironically hilarious dialog as one expects from Billy Wilder, but it is among his more important films. AMRU 4.

“Bad news sells best. ‘Cause good news is no news.”

Paths of Glory (1957)

During the first world war a general (George Macready) is convinced by central command (Aldophe Menjou) to attack a strategic position despite the casualties and futility. When things fall apart, three men stand trial as scapegoats. Their Colonel (Kirk Douglas) defends them.

Aldophe Menjou is just as much of a scoundrel as he was twenty five years earlier in The Front Page, if somewhat less charming. He has been in a ton of stuff and I’m surprised we haven’t crossed paths more. He would have made an excellent Hercule Poirot. Speaking of path crossing, this is only the second film I’ve seen George Macready in, the first being Gilda.

Joe Turkel (The Shining, Blade Runner) plays a private, but I don’t remember him. A young Richard Anderson (Forbidden Planet, Six Million Dollar Man) is here. I saw him at ComiCon just before he passed. He wanted $100 for an autograph and wouldn’t even look up to engage the fans. This is the other Kubrick film with Timothy Carey. He was disruptive, faked his own kidnapping, and was fired. They used a body double in some scenes. So, yea, my opinion of him hasn’t changed.

Half war film, half courtroom drama, Paths of Glory is spectacular. Kubrick brought the script to Kirk Douglas who knew he must make the film. Studios, being all about the Benjamins, weren’t so hot on the property. In the end everyone was right. Kirk for how good and important the film would be and the studios on how much it would make. TCM host Ben Mankiewicz called it Kubrick's greatest film, and one could make an argument. It's definitely Kubrick's first great film and stands well with the rest. I have The Killing a 4 so I feel compelled to bump Paths of Glory to 4.5. It was the best film I saw in a long while. At least for the blog.

Lust for Life (1956)

Young Vincent Van Gogh (Kirk Douglas) washes out as a pastor, is lonely, takes up painting, mooches off his brother, is lonely, cuts off his ear, then kills himself. And everyone lives happily ever after.

This expressive if sanitized version of Van Gogh’s life is visually impressive. Director Vincent Minnelli spray painted a field so that the colors would match Van Gogh’s pallet. The main beats of his life are touched upon but let’s face facts. The life of Van Gogh isn’t all that uplifting. He struggled with mental illness, was never appreciated during his time, was lonely, lived in poverty, and finally committed suicide. Did I mention he was lonely? No matter, the film covers that point. Maybe it says more about modern audiences that the tortured genius needs to have that moment of redemption, ala A Beautiful Mind, but the film ends up reading as “bad stuff happens to guy we care about”.

I’ve seen few Kirk Douglas films, and frequently I’ve confused him for Charlton Heston, but I wanted to give this legend his due. Upon his recent passing I looked for one of his films to watch. I couldn’t easily get my hands on Paths of Glory (for free) but TCM was running Lust for Life. It was a natural choice. The Bad and the Beautiful wasn’t going to happen.

I wanted to love Lust for Life, but couldn't. As mentioned it is a great looking film, and Douglas’ performance was impressive, if a little one-note, but I wasn’t drawn in. The story plodded along at times and characters entered and exited the story before we got to know them. Van Gogh was not a heroic character. We don't see a flawed character overcome his obstacles, and it was too sanitized to be a compelling biopic. AMRU 3.

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”