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

Speedy (1928)

Dreamer Harold ‘Speedy’ Swift (Harold Lloyd) works in a malt shop, visits Coney Island, becomes a taxi driver, meets Babe Ruth, and saves his girl’s grandfather’s horse-drawn trolley business.

The trolley story line, ostensibly the film’s premise, doesn’t show up until about the half way point. Like most of his films, the rest is an excuse for Lloyd to perform his comedic bits and pad it out to 85 minutes. His propensity to lose his job facilitates his gags and explains his free time. The Coney Island section has a number of clever bits. At one point he gives his image in a fun mirror the middle finger. Apparently that was allowed back then.

Thugs want Grandpa’s trolley route and modernize it with electricity. They can do this if Grandpa fails to run his route. It’d be an awful shame if something unfortunate happened. The Babe is late for a game so it’s taxi driver Speedy to the rescue. I understand that Lou Gehrig can be seen in a crowd at some point, but I missed him.

Speedy is an effective, if disjointed, silent comedy. I don’t find Harold Lloyd as inventive as Buster Keaton nor as emotionally impactful as Charlie Chaplin, but he knew how to please an audience. AMRU 3.5.

Murder! (1930)

An actor in a local theater group is murdered and a fellow actress (Norah Baring) is convicted of the crime. Juror and famous thespian Sir John (Herbert Marshall) felt pressured to vote guilty and now wants to clear her name. She is so pretty, after all.

What follows is a better than fair police procedural, except instead of the police investigating, it’s the famous Sir John. He visits the crime scene, interviews witnesses and suspects, and uses his fame to subtly manipulate people into getting what he wants. If this were made in Hollywood a couple years later, I could see them wanting to make two 70 minute Sir John mysteries a year.

It’s revealed that Sir John had actually met the defendant when she came for career advice years earlier. I think even 95 years ago this would have invalidated him as a juror. Also interesting is that Norah and her character shared a last name. Character actress Una O’Connor appears in the earliest role I’ve seen her in. She was a fresh faced fifty year old. I was hoping for another memorable over-the-top performance, but she played it fairly straight.

One character is described as being “half-caste” which is olde-english for biracial, a terrible thing back in the day. However, this was a substitute because the filmmakers couldn’t imply he was the G-A-Y.

Murder! is a fairly entertaining story, even if it doesn’t feel very Hitchcock. It was his second fully sound feature and first successful one. AMRU 3.

High Society (1956)

A dumb guy who works at a service station becomes an unwitting accomplice … wait, no. Socialite Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly) is getting remarried and is worried that her ex-husband C.K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby), in town for the Newport Jazz Festival, might spoil the mood. Additionally, Spy magazine sends a writer (Frank Sinatra) and photographer (Celeste Holm) to cover the event in return for not publishing a scandalous story about her father’s affair.

High Society is a remake to The Philadelphia Story (1940) and bares no resemblance to High Society (1955). The major beats of the story are more or less intact as is most of the memorable dialog. The biggest difference is VistaVision color and musical numbers padding the film to just under two hours. Also, much of the subtext that was revealed in the first act of the original is spelled out on the outset.

Changes were made from the original story, and I don’t take issue with any of them. The biggest change is the music, which works for some people. The star power is every bit the 1940 version, but the script was uniquely Kathrine Hepburn’s. Kelly, as wonderful as she was, feels miscast. Hepburn’s dialog coming out of Kelly’s mouth simply doesn’t land the same.

Lydia Reed was almost as charming as Virginia Weidler was as Tracy’s little sister, no small feat. It’s curious they didn’t have her sing “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady”. That feels like a missed opportunity. Louis Armstrong and his orchestra appear briefly. This was Kelly’s last film, as was Louis Calhern’s. He died on the set of his next film.

The Philadelphia story is widely regarded as the better film. Still, High Society was a box office success and not hard to watch. Still, I wish Kelly could have ended her Hollywood career on a higher note. AMRU 3.

Blow-Up (1966)

Needing a few more photos for a book he is working on, a fashion photographer (David Hemmings) goes to a park and happens upon a couple making a romantic rendezvous. He is spotted and the lady (Vanessa Redgrave) insists he hand over the negatives. He refuses. When the film is developed, Thomas(?) believes he sees evidence of a murder.

I don’t know what to make of this film. So much happens at the outset that has no bearing on the rest of the film. It's almost to the halfway mark before he gets to the park. And Hemmings makes for an incredibly unlikable protagonist. He is rude, arrogant, and, well, worse. He behaves quite illogically and at no point even considers calling the police. I could continue with plot issues (I’ve developed 35mm film and made prints) but I might actually be getting into spoiler territory.

IMDb labels Blow-Up as Giallo, which I can see. That explains the tone. Perhaps it's Giallo-adjacent. The surface reading of this film is fairly confounding and the ending is unsatisfying, but there is more here. I may need to give it another try, but for now AMRU 3.

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

A new kid in town (James Dean) is arrested for public drunkenness and crosses paths with an outsider (Sal Mineo) and the girlfriend (Natalie Wood) of one of the school toughies. Events bring them together.

Perhaps the definitive 1950’s America film, it was released about a month after Dean’s death. This means two of his three starring roles were released posthumously. I have seen much of this film over the years but never all the way through. It was quite surprising.

While I don’t care much for some of his method scenes, his on-screen charisma is plain to see. I’ll put East of Eden onto my watchlist. Mineo was apparently quite popular in his time. Except for this role, it seems he is mostly forgotten today. He would be murdered by a random drifter. Wood, despite being the same age as her character (about 16), was considered to be too young. She did her hair and makeup to look older and earned the role, and a relationship with director Nicholas Ray. Ah, Hollywood!

Every character has a want. Dean’s Jim wants to understand what it means to be a man. He feels his father (Jim Backus) isn’t a real man because of how his wife treats him. How he let's her treat him. Yea, that part doesn’t age well. Mineo’s Plato wants to be part of a family. His dad left and his mom leaves him in the custody of the family maid much of the time. Wood’s Judy wants to be loved, specifically by her father. The script makes this crystal clear.

But the subtext is almost as clear. I’m getting into spoiler territory so I will mention that the actor who played Judy’s father was about four years younger than the director. This video does an excellent analysis. But see the movie first.

Dennis Hopper and Nick Adams were members of the gang. Edward Platt (Get Smart) is a cop with a sympathetic ear. If you don’t recognize Jim Backus as Thurston Howell III or the voice of Mr. Magoo, then shame on you. Dean goes all meta at one point by doing a Magoo voice.

The number of the cast that died young seems disproportionate. Platt and both of Judy’s parents before 60, Natalie Wood at 43, Mineo and Adams in their late 30’s, and James Dean at 24. Jack Grinnage, who plays Moose in the gang, is apparently still living.

Rebel Without a Cause is a fascinating watch. The events and performances are engaging, and the subtext, definitely intended by the filmmakers, adds another layer. AMRU 4.

Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)

It is 1872 and Dracula (Christopher Lee) is finally vanquished. Unfortunately, a cultist collected his ashes and moved the stake that dispatched him to a churchyard. Fast forward one hundred years and Dracula must face the greatest horror: insufferable young people!

The movie jarringly transitions from a rural setting to mod London. The cultist’s heir (the appropriately named Johnny Alucard) involves his friends in a ceremony to bring Dracula back to seek revenge.

This film spends the bulk of its time with the crowd of hipsters rather than Lee and Cushing. At first glance we hate Alucard (Christopher Neame), what with his top hat, felt jacket, and ruffles. We eventually learn that he is a recent addition to the group of friends. Jessica (Stephanie Beacham) is the good girl of the group and target of Dracula, being granddaughter of Peter Cushing’s Professor Van Helsing and a direct descendant of the original Van Helsing.

Jessica was initially intended to be the Professor’s daughter (34 year age difference) but Peter visibly aged after his wife passed the prior year. He looked much older than his 59 years. A picture of his wife is seen on the Professor’s desk. Why Jessica was living with her grandfather was never addressed.

Lee called the script “appalling”, perhaps because of his reduced role. The group of friends aren’t terribly likable. It’s unclear if they were supposed to resonate with the hip mod crowd or serve as commentary about them. Also, the stake that killed Dracula earlier in the film was left in a rural churchyard. A hundred years later it is still there, undisturbed, and now inside the London urban area. There are details which shouldn’t be analyzed very much. And the scene where the professor makes the connection between Alucard and Dracula is silly. Here he claims to be an expert of the occult but apparently never watched Son of Dracula.

Dracula A.D. 1972 isn’t much of a film. Perhaps not appalling, but also not interesting. Hammer wanted another Dracula film and everyone just went through the motions. AMRU 2.5.