Red Light (1949)

The reunion between trucking tycoon John (George Raft) and his army chaplain brother is cut short when father-brother is plugged as revenge against brother John. The secret to the killer’s identity is apparently inside a missing hotel bible. John puts his business on hold to locate the bible and exact revenge. Virginia Mayo is brought in to assist with the search.

The movie plays out with Raft’s John obsessively getting closer to the bible while the presumed antagonists slowly reveal their hand. Many of the conventions of film-noir are dispensed with. There is no love interest nor femme fatal. And the religious subtext feels out of place. More on that later.

All-around nice guy Gene Lockhart plays John’s faithful company guy. Gene's daughter June recently turned one hundred. Our prime suspects include Raymond Burr, playing to type, and Harry Morgan playing opposite. Lucy’s wacky neighbor Fred Mertz (William Frawley) has a small role.

Based on a short story titled “This Guy Gideon”, it was renamed Red Light because the producer liked it better. I’m not really sure how the new title fits into the narrative. Revenge is bad, so stop? The religious overtones are a bit much, so much so that TCM host Eddie Muller joked that it could be called Biblical-noir. And the Virginia Mayo character was inserted as if they wanted a love interest element, without actually having one. Also, the brotherly love angle bordered on becoming a creepy folger’s commercial.

Red Light is a bit of a disappointment. The tone was almost there but it falls short. If you watch noir and wish there were more bibles in it, maybe this is for you. For me, however, AMRU 2.5.

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Alice (Kathryn Beaumont) grows bored with her studies when she sees the White Rabbit (Bill Thompson). Curious, she decides to follow him down the rabbit hole. Thus begins her Adventures in Wonderland.

Loosely based on both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, it features the most characters of any Disney cartoon. It also differs from many Disney animated films in that there is no romance element. Nor is there really a hero’s journey. It’s just a series of crazy adventures. I found this refreshing.

Truth be told, I never read any part of Lewis Carroll’s books, so I can’t speak to how faithful the movie is in tone nor content. I do understand the doorknob character was invented by Disney. I started reading about Carroll's life but it went down a dark path rather quickly.

Ed Wynn is quite memorable as the Mad Hatter. The character’s likeness was modeled on him. His line “Mustard? Don’t let’s be silly!” was ad libbed and Disney liked it so much he had the animators add it in. Later in his career, Wynn's son Keenan convinced him to move to dramatic acting.

Alice in Wonderland is a fun film. As someone who is less than enamored with Disney, I found this unconventional classic most enjoyable. AMRU 3.5.

This Gun for Hire (1942)

A hired killer (Alan Ladd) is double-crossed and sets out for revenge. Pretty Ellen (Veronica Lake) is caught in the middle. World War II propaganda is shoehorned in.

Here is the second of seven films that paired Ladd and Lake. Ladd was a talented actor with leading man good looks, but at only 5’6” there were few leading ladies he could play opposite. Lake, at 5’2” or shorter, fit the profile. Here they are not a romantic pair, Lake’s Ellen was with Detective Crane (Robert Preston).

A box office success, This Gun for Hire made Ladd a star, affording him the opportunity to take hero roles. Friends but not romantic in real life, Ladd and Lake had much in common. Both struggled with substance abuse and died at fifty.

Life has been (and will continue to be) busy, so it has been about a month since I saw this film. I did enjoy it but I had to do some reading to refresh my memory. Perhaps that in itself isn’t a great sign, but I did like it.. Anyhow, AMRU 3.5.

Murder She Said (1961)

Jane Marple (Margaret Rutherford) witnesses a murder from her train window but the police find no evidence. So she poses as a domestic in a fancy manor house and does some investigating.

Joan Hickson plays a cook in a very small role, and would later go on to play Miss Marple for the BBC. I recently watched all of those episodes which includes a version of this story.

In the original story (4:50 from Paddington) and the Hickson BBC version the witness on the train, the investigating domestic, and Miss Marple are three different people. Combining them into one character is classic Hollywood and a reasonable cinematic decision, I think. The love interest part had to be removed for obvious reasons.

Murder She Said is the first of four Rutherford Marple films, and a box office success. Despite the lack of mystery, I rather enjoyed it. It’s a fairly complex story and the filmmakers did a good job of condensing it into a 90 minute runtime without watering it down. Rutherford's force of nature is a very different Marple than Hickson's accidental helper, and I’ll likely see more of them. AMRU 3.

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.