Act of Violence (1948)

Former POW Joe (Robert Ryan) stalks his war hero CO Frank (Van Heflin) because of things that happened during the war.

Young Janet Leigh is Hero Frank’s wife. She turned 21 while filming. Mary Astor has a small but interesting role as a helpful hooker. Six years after The Maltese Falcon, romantic lead roles are squarely in the past for her now.

I had only seen Heflin in Shane but Ryan will show up occasionally as a villain. Barbara Billingsley is uncredited in a voice only role. I didn't catch it so I can't confirm whether or not she was speaking jive.

Neither Heflin nor Ryan make for a traditional protagonist. As we learn about Frank’s history, it becomes problematic to root for him. And with Joe giving off Night of the Hunter vibes, he is a hard sell as well. It’s only Leigh’s Edith we really feel for. The studio wanted Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart in the lead roles. That would be an entirely different film.

Act of Violence is an unconventional and fascinating noir. I don't imagine that 1948 audiences were particularly keen to see war hero's depicted in less than glorious light, but this film successfully pulls off a story with complicated characters. AMRU 3.5.

What Else I Watched, 2025Q2

Bacall on Bogart (1988)
Lauren Bacall hosts a retrospective of Humphrey Bogart from an episode of Great Performances. A fairly interesting and compassionate review of the personal and professional life of the Hollywood legend. Much of it seemed familiar. I must have seen it before at some point. 3 / 5.

Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail (2024)
An interesting analysis of Blackmail, Hitchcock and Britain’s first sound film. 3 / 5.

Like Father (2018)
Bride (Kristen Bell) is ditched by the groom on her wedding day so she goes on her honeymoon cruise with her estranged father (Kelsey Grammer). Essentially a rom-com but with father and daughter. Seth Rogen has a small part and it’s directed by his wife. Good parts, meh parts, somewhat predictable and fairly forgettable. 3 / 5.

Do The Right Thing (1989)
This film would probably benefit from a full review. There’s a lot to say and I simply wouldn’t be able to do it justice after just one viewing. Suffice it to say it was what I expected and not what I expected. It is both realistic and hyperstylized. Every white kid from the ‘burbs should see it. 4.5 / 5.

The Melies Mystery (2021)
An hour long look at the professional life of early film pioneer Georges Melies, and his contributions to cinema. Definitely worth seeing. 3.5 / 5.

Hercules (1997)
Youtuber Lindsay Ellis called Hercules a hot mess. A hero’s journey without a character arc. She’s wrong. It’s a Rom-Com with action sequences, and it’s pretty good. 3.5 / 5.

The Princess Bride (1987)
Every scene sizzles, every performance is on point, and the script is pitch perfect. If you don’t like this film then we can’t be friends. 5 / 5.

My Little Chickadee (1940)

Flower Belle Lee (Mae West) is kicked out of town because she was seen cavorting with a masked bandit. On a train she pairs up with a con man (W.C. Fields) who scams his way into being named sheriff of the next town over.

West and Fields were huge stars in the 1930’s and this stands as their only collaboration. They did not get along. Credited as co-writers, she wrote her lines, he wrote his, and they didn’t speak when not filming. West, whose particular charms were greatly hampered by the enforcement of the motion picture production code, was on a decline. She would appear in only one more film before a brief revival in the 1970’s. Fields, on the other hand, was at the top of his game. However, drink was catching up with him and starred in only two more pictures before dying of a stomach hemorrhage. He was 66.

B movie veteran Dick Foran plays one of Flower Belle’s many love interests. Seventeen years her junior, he’s the good guy we expect her to land with. Also in the mix is Margaret Hamilton, the wicked witch herself. Here she plays the town busybody. The meek Donald Meek also has a small roll.

While Fields’ humor survives intact, the Hays code simply couldn’t tolerate West’s brand of innuendo. The end result is, pardon the expression, a rather flat performance. My Little Chickadee is interesting because of the leads, and not an unpleasant watch, but lacking in humor and fairly forgettable. AMRU 2.5.

Svengali (1931)

A foreign music teacher (John Barrymore) in Paris uses hypnotic powers to control the beautiful young Trilby (Marian Marsh) and make her a star.

Dirty and devious, the Rasputinesque Svengali comes from the 1894 novel Trilby. This was at least the third film adaptation. Originally a jewish stereotype, there is no hint of that in Barrymore’s performance. He is said to be from “someplace like Poland” and speaks German, French, and Italian phrases.

The teenaged Marsh was quite charming as ingenue Trilby. Her "nude" scene caused quite the stir, but she was wearing a body stocking.  She didn’t manage to have much of a career and was all but retired before the age of 30. She appeared in The Black Room (1935) but I have no recollection of her performance. There’s a deep-dive in there someplace.

Barrymore is yet another great what-if’s of Hollywood. Had he been born ten years later and not taken to drink he could have been the king of Hollywood. His performance here was masterful. Comic, sometimes menacing, and surprisingly sympathetic. I ponder what could have been. He also appeared in Rasputin and the Empress (1932), but it was brother Lionel who got the title role.

Svengali is a surprisingly good film powered by great performances. It could, however, have benefited from a musical score. The only music was diegetic. AMRU 3.5.

Blackmail (1929)

Pretty blonde Alice ditches her boring Scotland Yard boyfriend for a dapper artist. That doesn’t exactly go as planned and she finds herself being blackmailed. Cop boyfriend investigates.

For a film called Blackmail, the blackmail element is rather minimal and introduced very late in the story. Most of the movie is of the events leading up to it. But it's adapted from a play of the same name, so I suppose there’s nothing for it.

This is Britain's first talkie, sort of. It started as a silent feature but certain scenes were reshot with audio for theaters wired for such. Pretty Anny Ondra, the first Hitchcock Blonde, had a thick Czech accent so she was dubbed, Lina Lamont style. I sadly recorded the silent version.

The Hitchcock style really starts to show through here, more so than even The Lodger. And the plot is quite good: A man investigates the murder of a man that his girlfriend (perhaps fiancee) is suspected of killing.

Blackmail is pretty good but Hitchcock would do his best work fully in the sound era. I would have liked to have seen the “talkie” version, but I don’t expect it would have been much better. AMRU 3.5.

Ladies of Leisure (1930)

Awkward rich man (Ralph Graves) escapes a party and happens upon a “party girl” (Barbara Stanwyck) who is escaping a boat party she was “working”. He decides to hire her as a model. Will love bloom?

The movie jumps through hoops to establish that Stanwyck’s Kay isn’t a prostitute, despite all evidence. The source play was named “Ladies of the Evening” after all. And Kay’s third act “I know what kind of woman I am” declaration doesn’t read very much like an acknowledgement of class status. Still, nobody is under any illusions. This is unsurprisingly the catalyst of the “crisis climax” beat in the Rom-Com formula.

This was thirty two year old Frank Capra’s fourteenth film, but he had not yet hit his stride. It Happened One Night was four years and nine films off. Sound film was still very new and they hadn't quite gotten the hang of it. A silent version of this film was also produced. 

Ladies of Leisure is a pleasant enough watch. Capra was still Capra and Stanwyck was always Stanwyck, but had I not taken notes directly after watching, I might have forgotten about this film. Watch it to see a very early Stanwyck performance, but there is little else to recommend it. AMRU 3.

Phantom Lady (1944)

Handsome engineer Scott (Alan Curtis) goes out on the town alone and meets a pretty woman (Fay Helm). She agrees to accompany him to a show but insists they don't exchange names. When he returns home he finds that his wife has been murdered. When nobody seems to remember his unnamed alibi, the cops finger him for the murder.

This is that rare noir whose protagonist is female, the plucky and decidedly non-fatal Carol (Ella Raines). She is sweet on her newly single boss and never questions his innocence. Old Friend Elisha Cook Jr makes an appearance as a cool-daddy-o jazz drummer. His drumming was so good that they would make sounds even when he wasn’t striking them. This makes our eleventh visit.

For about a year prior to starting this blog I watched a large number of old films, this being one of them. I was mostly unimpressed back in aught-8 but always intended on returning to it. Finally I have and I think I regarded it a little better. When Carol gets closer to our mystery lady she is referred to as Miss Terry. That's pretty amusing. 

Phantom Lady is a fairly well-regarded if somewhat forgettable noir. It also has a serious plot flaw that nagged at me for much of the film. I’ll say no more on that, but it’s not mentioned in the IMDb Goofs section. That said, I'm definitely glad I revisited this film. AMRU 3.