The Quiet Man (1952)

A retired boxer (John Wayne) from America returns to his childhood home in Ireland in search of the quiet life. A beautiful hot-headed woman (Maureen O’Hara) catches his eye, but getting her brother’s permission to court her proves complicated.

Of John Ford’s four Oscars, none were for westerns. This was his last win and first when directing his old friend, Wayne. He was also nominated for Stagecoach (1939). While not a Western, The Quiet Man sports its fair share of Duke machismo. The only reasonable way to resolve your differences is a fist fight.

Victor McLaglen plays the aforementioned brother. His health wasn’t great so the big fight scene needed to be handled carefully. Barry Fitzgerald, everyone’s favorite leprechaun, is the village matchmaker. Frequent Ford collaborator Ward Bond is the village priest. Ford gave his older brother Francis a small part. Within nine years all four would be gone.

Romance is the primary story driver, and it is technically a comedy, so I suppose it’s a rom-com. Perhaps so, but it’s an unconventional one. While some story elements didn’t age particularly well, it’s still a very pleasant watch. AMRU 3.5.

Johnny Guitar (1954)

Vienna (Joan Crawford) runs a saloon and expects to profit greatly when the railroad comes through. But the local ranchers are none too keen on homesteading Easterners crowding out their herd. And they are none too keen on Vienna, either. She hires old flame Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden) for protection.

Part of Vienna’s troubles stem from her association with The Dancin’ Kid, whose gang is suspected of pulling heists. The rest stems from her reputation with the rangers, particularly feisty Emma (Mercedes McCambridge) who will stop at nothing to see Vienna and the Kid dancin’ at the end of a rope.

Categorized as an early revisionist western and a camp classic, it is the story of two strong women, the manly Vienna with a past and the angry Emma, fearful of her own sexuality. They bark orders, take action, and manipulate the simple menfolk. And if you think me harsh for calling Vienna manly, consider this quote:

“Never seen a woman who was more of a man. She thinks like one, acts like one, and sometimes makes me feel like I'm not.”

Yea, that was spoken in a 50’s western. Revisionist, indeed. Vienna knows what she wants, how to get it, and is single minded in her approach. Same for Emma who may be frightened to see herself in Vienna. It is telling that they are the only two female characters in the film, including extras.

The story elements are nothing special. We hit many of the western tropes. The ranger/farmer conflict, the posse, the gunman character, constructed around a love triangle and instigated by where choo-choo go. And from a character motivation standpoint, it makes little sense.

What elevates the film are the performances. You cannot take your eyes off of Crawford, a dozen years older than lover Hayden (and twenty years older than the Dancin’ Kid). Her performance is both absurd and captivating. So too is the dialog. Regardless of the speaker, it seemed to revolve around Vienna and her wants, and it doesn’t matter that it too makes no sense. And this is not to take anything away from McCambridge, whose wonderfully unrestrained performance is delightfully outrageous. She burns with an all consuming fire.

The Kid and his gang (which includes Ernest Borgnine from back in his thug days) hide out in a secret cabin, hidden behind a waterfall. However, the view from the cabin window shows open land for miles around. How hidden could it be? And speaking of big names in small roles, John Carradine played Old Tom, even though he was two years younger than Crawford.

There is so much to say about the story that I haven’t yet got into the story behind the story. Emma’s McCambridge (the demon voice from The Exorcist) couldn’t stand Crawford, and the feeling was mutual. Hayden was disgusted with Crawford’s unprofessional behavior and she called him “The biggest pill in Hollywood”. Director Nicholas Ray would frequently stop his car and vomit on his way to the set. Oh, and apparently François Truffaut called the movie 'The Beauty and the Beast', with Hayden being the beauty.

There are members of society that will see themselves in Crawford's performance. She's a woman in a man's world, setting the rules for the macho men in her life. But still, she can't escape society's expectations of her gender. 1950's just as the nineteenth century, as Crawford wasn't the title character. The players hated making the film, the critics panned it, and the public loved it. I kinda did too. AMRU 4.

“A man can lie, steal... and even kill. But as long as he hangs on to his pride, he's still a man. All a woman has to do is slip - once - and she's a 'tramp!' Must be a great comfort to you to be a man.”

The Cheaters (1945)

The extravagant Pidgeon family is on the verge of bankruptcy but takes in a “charity case” to keep up appearances. Enter Mr. M (Joseph Schildkraut), a former actor who hurt his leg then crawled into a bottle. A rich uncle has died and left his estate to a mystery woman. If the executor cannot find her within one week, the Pidgeons will get five million dollars. So, they hatch a plan.

There is a passing similarity to 1936’s My Man Godfrey, including the patriarch being played by the rotund and raspy Eugene Pallette. Billie “Glinda” Burke is his ditsy wife. Our erudite charity case is played by Shop Around the Corner villain Joseph Schildkraut. Rather than being William Powell smart, he talks in elevated theatrical blah blah dialect and winks knowingly at people. He hides his drinking problem and acts sneaky so one wonders if he is helping the Pidgeons or has his own plan in action.

The real protagonist is mystery woman Florie Watson (Ona Munson). She is down on her luck when the Pidgeons come calling, pretending she is a long lost cousin. She doesn’t buy it but being out of options, she plays along. She is charmed by the Pidgeons while they try to scam her out of her inheritance. I wonder if the Christmas Spirit somehow plays into this at some point.

The Cheaters is amusing enough but we don’t get a good read on the players. I was expecting a Pidgeon daughter to step up to protagonist level, but that never happened. And I don't believe Mr. M's vague motivation was intentional. Same for the younger daughter. And why is the older daughter’s fiance even in the film? Also, it’s hard to rally around Florie because she is not active in her own story. She is just going along for the ride. Poor storytelling and character development keeps it from rising above mediocrity. It's not a bad film but it could have easily been much better. AMRU 3.

The Vampire's Ghost (1945)

Strange things are afoot in an African village. People are dying and the natives suspect a vampire. Thank god whitey is there be the voice of reason. Hunky Roy decides to enlist of good friend Webb Fallon (John Abbott) to investigate. Webb runs a casino a short walk away, apparently in the Caribbean.

Webb agrees to help and meets Roy's hottie girlfriend Julie (Peggy Stewart). Every now and again subtle hints that Webb is in fact the vampire are slammed repeatedly over our heads. Spoiler alert: he is.

Anyhow, vampy Webb wants to steal hottie Julie because that's what vampires do, hunky Roy tries to reason with him, bad stuff happens, and with the help of Father Gilchrist, hunky Roy saves the day.

Not much to say about this Republic quickie. Decent acting, decent pacing, somewhat interesting story. Nothing too original. Set in Africa yet few black faces are seen on screen, and none were major characters. Typical of the day. At least they get credit for figuring out who the baddie is first, even if that doesn't save their lives. AMRU 3.

Valley of the Zombies (1946)

Blood is discovered missing and soon good doctor Maynard is visited by a strange man sporting a strange back story. It seems the good doctor once committed the creepy Murks to an insane asylum and he never forgave him for it. Murks faked his death using a technique he learned in the Valley of the Zombies, where he appears dead, but isn't. One side effect is that he needs blood. Lots of it, and preferably his type. Guess what? Doc Maynard is his type.

Well, with Maynard dead and strange things afoot, hunky doctor Terry (Robert Livingston, I presume) and the hot nurse Drake (Adrian Booth aka Lorna Gray) are on the case. Klutzy amateur sleuths bumble about while being impeded by incompetent police. This stuff just writes itself.

With a run time of just under an hour and no big names to speak of, don't confuse this Republic picture with anything other than a B cheapie. That said, they did a fair job with it. Decent score, convincing sets, decent pace. Not too creepy but maybe that was because I watched it during daylight hours. I get the impression it could have been a fairly good one had they spent just a little more effort on it. It just seemed to lack something. Zombies, for instance.

Crazy Murks faked his death and in the Haiti Voo Doo tradition, that qualifies. But, Voo Doo zombies are slaves of the Voo Doo priest. Nurse Drake does get hypnotized, but no. There are no zombies here. Or valleys for that matter. It has the elements of Crazy and Supernatural so it fully fits the Horror genre, but no zombies here.

So, with little to say about the picture, let's poke some fun at the actors. Lorna Gray was born Virginia Pound, married a man with the last name Brian, and changed her name to Adrian Booth. Identity crisis? She worked with the Stooges and Buster Keaton, had small roles in medium pictures, larger roles in bad ones, and never worked after 1951. She lives still, pushing a hundred.

Bobby Livingston did a lot of nothings throughout the 30's, 40's, and 50's, and his last three movies were Girls for Rent, The Naughty Stewardesses, and Blazing Stewardesses. I haven't seen them so I can't say if he went out with a bang or a wimper. If IMDb ratings mean anything, these cheesecakes are better left unseen. As for Valley of the Zombies, AMRU 2.5.

King of the Rocket Men (1949)

Because of disk problems with Seven Samurai, my hundred and first post is my one hundredth movie. Because this one is a serial, I actually had a choice of what would be my 100th. I started watching episodes of Rocket Men first, but saw another movie before I finished. I chose this to be my 100th because it didn't totally suck. Boy, can't you wait for my next post!

Jeff King (Tristram Coffin) is a scientist and member of "Science Associates". Top scientists are being killed off by the mysterious "Doctor Vulcan" (no, he doesn't use a death grip). One scientist thought killed was saved by King and hides in a cave doing research. Where they got the tons of scientific equipment to stock this cave, and where do you rent a cave with proper electrical and plumbing facilities, I won't ask. He finishes working on a Rocket Suit, so King (King of the Rocket Men? Get it?) uses it to do battle with the Evil Doctor Vulcan!

So, basically, King flies around, narrowly escaping death, gets into two fist fights per 13 minute episode, and slowly gets closer to the baddies. And his suit is a real hoot. It has three dials. One reads ON and OFF, another UP and DOWN, and the third SLOW and FAST. To take off, he runs and jumps superman style, then turns ON, UP, FAST. To land he turns the dial to DOWN. SLOW is never used.

This and serials like it delighted kids back in the day when they would walk to the cinema (alone) every week. They would see another cliffhanger episode before the feature. Today, this is boy-repellent. All three of my sons would run from the room in disgust when I would play one. And it didn't help that favorites like Star Wars and Indiana Jones were based on serials just like this one. And the dude looked strangely similar to iron man. No sir-ee bob. They'd have nothing to do with it.

But I liked it. Maybe I would have liked it better had Netflix put them into the correct order. I saw episodes 1 to 3, then 7 to 9, followed by 4 to 6, then finally 10 to 12. Sad thing is that I caught on after watching episode 9. I decided not to start from the beginning.

Glenda Thomas, cub reporter, was played by Mae Clarke, described as an all time great sci-fi hottie, and for this role no less. Sorry, no. Maybe back when she was dating the good doctor Frankenstein, but not when pushing 40. Her role was get-in-the-way girl. Not a love interest. AMRU 3.