RORY CALHOUN WITH MARY COSTA & COREY ALLEN 'THE BIG CAPER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-vA19lI3l-iuBTltkn4iyORsryuEVYzoZpcMa3cKpPaF5xJzSgTnX2xKrHEHa6ebBg6EbQVSMyI-gJufORs3s7JfkH1ZFhsr68Hk-76VTj4t-QZgijZPCi5yz7qdyF3fXVVrJd_2y13-2-3_HZxIPesiXFTbsSWobHbYVvBAPYog8W1QEDxYtiqwbS5r/s1832/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-24%20at%203.03.27%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1098" data-original-width="1832" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-vA19lI3l-iuBTltkn4iyORsryuEVYzoZpcMa3cKpPaF5xJzSgTnX2xKrHEHa6ebBg6EbQVSMyI-gJufORs3s7JfkH1ZFhsr68Hk-76VTj4t-QZgijZPCi5yz7qdyF3fXVVrJd_2y13-2-3_HZxIPesiXFTbsSWobHbYVvBAPYog8W1QEDxYtiqwbS5r/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-24%20at%203.03.27%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE BIG CAPER Year: 1957 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By late 1950's Film Noir, the kind of beatnik jazz listened to by the criminals also provides the soundtrack, whether it's source music (played deliberately from a radio within the movie) or part of the overall score...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And the crooks are a lot stranger and eccentric, especially in THE BIG CAPER where Rory Calhoun works for James Gregory, whose boss-moll Mary Costa's planted with Calhoun to pose as a bland married couple in the suburbs... waiting to pounce on a bank job that's particularly lucrative for carrying money to deliver to the marine's Camp Pendleton in Southern California... but without the beachy establishing exterior since most of CAPER takes place indoors...</p><p><span></span></p>

RORY CALHOUN WITH MARY COSTA & COREY ALLEN 'THE BIG CAPER'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/24/2024

Title: THE BIG CAPER Year: 1957 Rating: ***By late 1950's Film Noir, the kind of beatnik jazz listened to by the criminals also provides the soundtrack, whether it's source music (played deliberately from a radio within the movie) or part o

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VAL GUEST DIRECTS 'CONTEST GIRL' JANETTE SCOTT & IAN HENDRY

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9_uKPaf7x_C55KlkgpEswDAgkOyriycI0HTtMdKz8fU9LfgFRDqIhewPCKJrG22AZhbUDCnjv_uCXKcGYHj8ziI-Jic-__wWmU5NtSIwFiopm8OoXJr-K6536ZXQlFROp6DE6PRZiTNLnCM5B_W9-YeNVd96b37HC_1ZIxzPdw4B9J6Rg0fGNKxUK6wTI/s1612/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-22%20at%2010.33.56%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9_uKPaf7x_C55KlkgpEswDAgkOyriycI0HTtMdKz8fU9LfgFRDqIhewPCKJrG22AZhbUDCnjv_uCXKcGYHj8ziI-Jic-__wWmU5NtSIwFiopm8OoXJr-K6536ZXQlFROp6DE6PRZiTNLnCM5B_W9-YeNVd96b37HC_1ZIxzPdw4B9J6Rg0fGNKxUK6wTI/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-22%20at%2010.33.56%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE BEAUTY JUNGLE aka CONTEST GIRL Year: 1964 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>After nearly a decade of Hammer science-fiction, war and film noir... from QUATERMASS to HELL IS A CITY... director Val Guest returns to his comedy roots for THE BEAUTY JUNGLE aka CONTEST GIRL... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But that's only the breezy first-act when handsome journalist Ian Hendry meets the girl of his dreams in London typist Janette Scott, initially building her up as an underdog against experienced (and jaded) pros... </p><p><span></span></p>

VAL GUEST DIRECTS 'CONTEST GIRL' JANETTE SCOTT & IAN HENDRY

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/22/2024

Title: THE BEAUTY JUNGLE aka CONTEST GIRL Year: 1964 Rating: ****After nearly a decade of Hammer science-fiction, war and film noir... from QUATERMASS to HELL IS A CITY... director Val Guest returns to his comedy roots for THE BEAUTY JUNGLE

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PAUL MASSIE STARS IN HAMMER'S 'THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfrVM3zCL0yz3147XJ2Tba39xLldCZqngkahVA9wKJ4TWEE3TZNXsxV6Oj_u4Li7ffOGH07ZhvMvDqRvuAl3COHngINEFXS3EhxJbOsGmTmxpAv5pYWqIFt1DjYqlX5sA9bRsQD7Y-r6myXL_-Io4nY2c5Vzg6T87yea5v2Oll2ucC0bP1KNNOByfmGJIs/s1448/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-20%20at%208.11.09%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="1448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfrVM3zCL0yz3147XJ2Tba39xLldCZqngkahVA9wKJ4TWEE3TZNXsxV6Oj_u4Li7ffOGH07ZhvMvDqRvuAl3COHngINEFXS3EhxJbOsGmTmxpAv5pYWqIFt1DjYqlX5sA9bRsQD7Y-r6myXL_-Io4nY2c5Vzg6T87yea5v2Oll2ucC0bP1KNNOByfmGJIs/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-20%20at%208.11.09%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Paul Massie in THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The titular scientist in Hammer's usual Victorian era fits the 1800's in his stuffy demeanor until turning into a bohemian wild man frequenting swinging nightclubs and nightlife, providing future real life party animal Oliver Reed a bit part opposite <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/jungle.html">Joy Webster</a>... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And in the legendary double lead is Paul Massie, not a bad actor but is hardly interesting enough to carry an entire picture like, say, Peter Cushing or, in this particular case, Christopher Lee as a leech rather than neck-sucker... His gambling scoundrel character Paul Allen takes advantage of old friend Jekyll by spending his money and romancing his wife... </p><p><span></span></p>

PAUL MASSIE STARS IN HAMMER'S 'THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/20/2024

Paul Massie in THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2The titular scientist in Hammer's usual Victorian era fits the 1800's in his stuffy demeanor until turning into a bohemian wild man frequenting swinging nightclubs and nigh

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PAUL MASSIE STARS IN 'ORDERS TO KILL' FEARTURING EDDIE ALBERT

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhtsJfXg7oc9uwVABiHbHmGvvWXwURFjk2n2Nc7zqZZ0bNLiMEjuS8uPEfIB-dQgRYiN1pMojBFa7iNlPmhuYp7urJi4NXBnNbDucV3FGWXF_q0GsnU8dJRzPiFiN7XALEUw809_GEBxAS0vZBuSyiR4I3y8BIWp_Fpm-yg2LO0z1cn1thc1_UV6cti2Q/s1850/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-20%20at%202.40.16%20PM-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="1850" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhtsJfXg7oc9uwVABiHbHmGvvWXwURFjk2n2Nc7zqZZ0bNLiMEjuS8uPEfIB-dQgRYiN1pMojBFa7iNlPmhuYp7urJi4NXBnNbDucV3FGWXF_q0GsnU8dJRzPiFiN7XALEUw809_GEBxAS0vZBuSyiR4I3y8BIWp_Fpm-yg2LO0z1cn1thc1_UV6cti2Q/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-20%20at%202.40.16%20PM-1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: ORDERS TO KILL Year: 1958 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's after forty-five minutes when first-billed American actor Eddie Albert sees second-billed Canadian actor <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/07/2F.html">Paul Massie</a> off to France in this British anti-war film that really begins with Massie's Gene Summers on a central mission to kill a French Resistance double-crosser, who had sold out the last five spies to the Germans...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So after the initial training sessions where a somewhat robotic Massie (originally ordered by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/HellisACity.html">John Crawford</a> with a cameo by Lilian Gish as his mother), trained by Albert to be as cold-blooded as possible (without being too glib about it), ORDERS TO KILL becomes a kind of Hitchcock style suspense flick with mousy Leslie French as the target, so downright friendly and affably neurotic, the inevitable moral dilemma finally kicks into gear...</p><p><span></span></p>

PAUL MASSIE STARS IN 'ORDERS TO KILL' FEARTURING EDDIE ALBERT

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/20/2024

Title: ORDERS TO KILL Year: 1958 Rating: ****It's after forty-five minutes when first-billed American actor Eddie Albert sees second-billed Canadian actor Paul Massie off to France in this British anti-war film that really begins with Massi

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ROBERT WAGNER IN THE OBSCURE GOLF PRO CURIO 'BANNING'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyTGELiBS2F6ba2pS3dnU4zWVFPf26G63I7b7knyuF4ToYvmv5GxLJJDJQa1KdhSTcvww0x8Ywt6Bfht8QMs-LRhYLUytv1wRQiMnySbSrTsXjx8zo49ogmcCHQik1ZkuGdy68oTW1DMswu41Bo5bkYOELdQu9740poDfntU7BM258bFmex1zH4Jh5HtR/s2280/Z.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1310" data-original-width="2280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyTGELiBS2F6ba2pS3dnU4zWVFPf26G63I7b7knyuF4ToYvmv5GxLJJDJQa1KdhSTcvww0x8Ywt6Bfht8QMs-LRhYLUytv1wRQiMnySbSrTsXjx8zo49ogmcCHQik1ZkuGdy68oTW1DMswu41Bo5bkYOELdQu9740poDfntU7BM258bFmex1zH4Jh5HtR/s16000/Z.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Robert Wagner and Mike Kellin from BANNING Year: 1967 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The extremely elusive and rare BANNING is a 1967 film about former golf pro Robert Wagner as the title character... coolly rolling into an exclusive Arizona golf course like an enigmatic rider from a spaghetti western... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Full of secrets and suave blackmailing that it takes half the movie to figure out, mostly through exposition from characters ranging from Guy Stockwell as the crooked son-in-law (married to Susan Clark) of super-rich Howard St. John, who practically owns the joint while Jill St. John is a rich fatale type with her hooks in Banning... but his own vulnerable heart's aimed at the golf course's seemingly chaste working-girl Anjanette Comer...</p><p><span></span></p>

ROBERT WAGNER IN THE OBSCURE GOLF PRO CURIO 'BANNING'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/18/2024

Robert Wagner and Mike Kellin from BANNING Year: 1967 Rating: ****The extremely elusive and rare BANNING is a 1967 film about former golf pro Robert Wagner as the title character... coolly rolling into an exclusive Arizona golf course like

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JAMES CAGNEY CAGED UP IN 'WHITE HEAT' WITH VIRGINA MAYO

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRzRQGDtQlMALrRwxNuTR1CoinsFd_y0-dLNL1va7_ExcQ_Y4U9CwPvJrOokxRmnQcNQ6d38WgrxRdqJ3MnjT0AcXWuF-K8adXuiBrqqhEns21rnazb5NsO0aAXJrkKrM0zZZwLJqRidwlVP9VDcIrSu31HGGw_IJQkg-tKcMJBM0zHy_Fw_xXrhQPd8-0/s2552/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-09%20at%203.47.52%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1376" data-original-width="2552" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRzRQGDtQlMALrRwxNuTR1CoinsFd_y0-dLNL1va7_ExcQ_Y4U9CwPvJrOokxRmnQcNQ6d38WgrxRdqJ3MnjT0AcXWuF-K8adXuiBrqqhEns21rnazb5NsO0aAXJrkKrM0zZZwLJqRidwlVP9VDcIrSu31HGGw_IJQkg-tKcMJBM0zHy_Fw_xXrhQPd8-0/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-09%20at%203.47.52%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Japanese poster for WHITE HEAT Year of imprisonment and release: 1949 Sentence: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At the peak of the 1940's, no one but James Cagney could play the toughest guy in crime who remains the world's toughest criminal even after suffering random massive headaches where he's basically screaming and crying for his mommy, either in front of his own gang or an entire prison population...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Simply because no one dare call him on it, making WHITE HEAT not only Cagney's greatest Classic Gangster flick but an otherwise bonafide Monster Movie within the Action-Crime arena (in one spooky sequence of lurking, vengeful menace in a rural country house, Cagney's Cody Jarrett is a "not human" Horror genre killer)...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

JAMES CAGNEY CAGED UP IN 'WHITE HEAT' WITH VIRGINA MAYO

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/09/2024

Japanese poster for WHITE HEAT Year of imprisonment and release: 1949 Sentence: ****1/2At the peak of the 1940's, no one but James Cagney could play the toughest guy in crime who remains the world's toughest criminal even after suffering ra

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DIRECTOR ANTHONY MANN'S CONTERFEIT MONEY FILM NOIR 'T-MEN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt_xY34hyphenhyphenIdOoon4xdhzVW_aPEeJ_eBscitMyg4do1TylxP9I9J2N45aURHPj0u1ETwHxqAQNniZmtgU7Rvq-fTFqXw69NdLnnyQSlwDWFQSmWsotS4gN7avcLnfnq5PnNyCdBI7ApgfG0sjthv6LC0Jihfa9BvAY7j54dmMTvmWIpNXQRUIWb4EeAJV2W/s1788/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="1788" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt_xY34hyphenhyphenIdOoon4xdhzVW_aPEeJ_eBscitMyg4do1TylxP9I9J2N45aURHPj0u1ETwHxqAQNniZmtgU7Rvq-fTFqXw69NdLnnyQSlwDWFQSmWsotS4gN7avcLnfnq5PnNyCdBI7ApgfG0sjthv6LC0Jihfa9BvAY7j54dmMTvmWIpNXQRUIWb4EeAJV2W/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: T-MEN Director: Anthony Mann Year: 1947 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Backed by offbeat, surreal music from a dream sequence... only here used for otherwise normal dialogue in a film noir governmental expose that begins as a documentary before escalating into the story of undercover agents Dennis O'Keefe and Alfred Ryder, thrust into a formidably dark underworld of pitiful motel rooms, seedy steam-baths and smoky taverns where a criminal gang deal in counterfeit money...<br></p><p>And they're so paranoid about the duo <i>possibly</i> being T-MEN, the agents are put through the ringer that includes getting beaten up within tense-filled moments where — on the edge of almost being revealed (especially by muggy hit-men Charles McGraw and Jack Overman) — the suspense level reaches a cascade of revolving peaks... </p><span></span>

DIRECTOR ANTHONY MANN'S CONTERFEIT MONEY FILM NOIR 'T-MEN'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/08/2024

Title: T-MEN Director: Anthony Mann Year: 1947 Rating: ****1/2Backed by offbeat, surreal music from a dream sequence... only here used for otherwise normal dialogue in a film noir governmental expose that begins as a documentary before esca

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RICHARD FLEISCHER'S T-MEN HEIST FILM NOIR OF 'TRAPPED'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCUStevh1W1gt55njlib2n66MQrsISLXKHCGk9v6e-h2vuqck8xbNDuclbv2Ob4k9wpZc2amwmrXPip-gkezWMvFIUgW-lizueH24mOwX6qY7kPDyK3tBPB-yGhYYQRrdWGKeME0YF4Tyn9cGYzS4_B_0xhG8YP3XbCtnI108KBBeGX_2QizFpbrxAxDR/s2138/ORIG%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1198" data-original-width="2138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCUStevh1W1gt55njlib2n66MQrsISLXKHCGk9v6e-h2vuqck8xbNDuclbv2Ob4k9wpZc2amwmrXPip-gkezWMvFIUgW-lizueH24mOwX6qY7kPDyK3tBPB-yGhYYQRrdWGKeME0YF4Tyn9cGYzS4_B_0xhG8YP3XbCtnI108KBBeGX_2QizFpbrxAxDR/s16000/ORIG%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TRAPPED Year: 1949 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's a shame that director Richard Fleischer didn't realize how good the usual good guy Lloyd Bridges was at playing bad... in this case a counterfeiter in prison, given a deal to get out but only if he rats on past associates for the cops...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>After which the best moments occur, leading to the first 30-minutes of the T-MEN style noir of TRAPPED in which several twists occur that makes Bridges a free man, quickly holed-up with former girlfriend Barbara Payton, a dive bar waitress with the potential of a femme fatale but playing a rather pathetic lovelorn starlet... </p><p><span></span></p>

RICHARD FLEISCHER'S T-MEN HEIST FILM NOIR OF 'TRAPPED'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/07/2024

Title: TRAPPED Year: 1949 Rating: **It's a shame that director Richard Fleischer didn't realize how good the usual good guy Lloyd Bridges was at playing bad... in this case a counterfeiter in prison, given a deal to get out but only if he r

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RICHARD FLEISCHER'S WRONG MAN ACTION NOIR 'THE CLAY PIGEON'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_8eJNpnWEZ91cvat3HWOkeQV9TcyhGxsOJ4DzwGXVWqs92xA2EW-ryia5gUiMlqEsWuqpNkZx9_LVSlOe0ZEntZ2EJiAlgR9ycZXgY5ujj26K1RJPFVuYiX5W7N9lK-3u6_-u1xAggYgGGdZi2HA3k3ilEiqSGvkFoE_BSNzXSGCGOIQqMSKXG8rso5q/s1452/CLAYP.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_8eJNpnWEZ91cvat3HWOkeQV9TcyhGxsOJ4DzwGXVWqs92xA2EW-ryia5gUiMlqEsWuqpNkZx9_LVSlOe0ZEntZ2EJiAlgR9ycZXgY5ujj26K1RJPFVuYiX5W7N9lK-3u6_-u1xAggYgGGdZi2HA3k3ilEiqSGvkFoE_BSNzXSGCGOIQqMSKXG8rso5q/s16000/CLAYP.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE CLAY PIGEON Stars: Bill Williams, Barbara Hale Year: 1949 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Richard Fleischer's Wrong Man Film Noir has a patriotic World War II twist when Bill Williams wakes up, knocked out in the hospital, with amnesia not about who he is, but what he's done to get there: all while overhearing a doctor and nurse about how he's a ratting traitor who caused the death of a fellow soldier and friend...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>He quickly escapes to that friend's widow, played by Bill's real life wife and future PERRY MASON actress Barbara Hale, who spends enough realistic time fighting to escape from the desperate soldier... who<i> </i>has to prove his innocence <i>to everyone </i>before being captured and tried...</p><p><span></span></p>

RICHARD FLEISCHER'S WRONG MAN ACTION NOIR 'THE CLAY PIGEON'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/06/2024

Title: THE CLAY PIGEON Stars: Bill Williams, Barbara Hale Year: 1949 Rating: ****Richard Fleischer's Wrong Man Film Noir has a patriotic World War II twist when Bill Williams wakes up, knocked out in the hospital, with amnesia not about who

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RICHARD FLEISCHER'S SERIAL KILLER NOIR 'FOLLOW ME QUIETLY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYtcrl_A4j8CFVcleurK3K3dTEINK-23rHcD1XPrvC-fLNykTaEMcn1dOmduD9MK8M_mCTZGVxzWpHP4sufFcC7w1BRG4WqTDyWfV3NkhxyGoMtOGcX0JU6uL8fLU-9TUa1GPNQplKTcCm_5FuaSWLW23tf60QiIruN9cFegHCHI0pIWvK_YW8_yyGj2Bi/s2174/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-04%20at%204.51.10%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1244" data-original-width="2174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYtcrl_A4j8CFVcleurK3K3dTEINK-23rHcD1XPrvC-fLNykTaEMcn1dOmduD9MK8M_mCTZGVxzWpHP4sufFcC7w1BRG4WqTDyWfV3NkhxyGoMtOGcX0JU6uL8fLU-9TUa1GPNQplKTcCm_5FuaSWLW23tf60QiIruN9cFegHCHI0pIWvK_YW8_yyGj2Bi/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-04%20at%204.51.10%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: FOLLOW ME QUIETLY Year: 1949 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>If you can handle dialogue like, after a statement about a serial killer killing only during a thunderstorm: "Maybe he likes rain... must be a fish" between detective partners William Lundigan and Jeff Corey, you'll handle director Richard Fleischer's entire b-noir, FOLLOW ME QUIETLY, which is half police procedural on the investigation into and then eventual catching of an allusive serial killer, and a romantic comedy between intense, Hollywood-handsome Lundigan with cute snoopy tabloid journalist Dorothy Patrick...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The latter's too peppy for the dark, semi-violent mainline... although we never completely witness the strangler actually strangling save through a rather rushed flashback from a dying man... but their interplay mostly works since she's a likable actress (yet much better suited as the logical secondary dame in 711 OCEAN DRIVE)... and he's so professionally cold, she's got to really work for her story...</p><p><span></span></p>

RICHARD FLEISCHER'S SERIAL KILLER NOIR 'FOLLOW ME QUIETLY'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/05/2024

Title: FOLLOW ME QUIETLY Year: 1949 Rating: ***1/2If you can handle dialogue like, after a statement about a serial killer killing only during a thunderstorm: "Maybe he likes rain... must be a fish" between detective partners William Lundig

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MORGAN CONWAY, ANNE JEFFREYS & MIKE MAZURSKI 'DICK TRACY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnFEiS9dXrI0buOcY9CNNGEkaFbq0PveO6HdBfIJdBS7h7FQC_BUb9Rfns5lCvdxRDnZx0OzcDPgv3LFxvqirM-5hQ8pTziqy44-9we37vsJ4bhM37EM_zHtrOKcxLHGQnWGjapm9rILmlmnySUujBxxFIHoxY4gbRywWOQb1V_jSjaEWK1Br0yrnsvSB/s2194/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1216" data-original-width="2194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnFEiS9dXrI0buOcY9CNNGEkaFbq0PveO6HdBfIJdBS7h7FQC_BUb9Rfns5lCvdxRDnZx0OzcDPgv3LFxvqirM-5hQ8pTziqy44-9we37vsJ4bhM37EM_zHtrOKcxLHGQnWGjapm9rILmlmnySUujBxxFIHoxY4gbRywWOQb1V_jSjaEWK1Br0yrnsvSB/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DICK TRACY Year: 1945 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The towering, muscular, intimidating and always formidable noir-villain Mike Mazurki, who would soon steal MURDER MY SWEET from Dick Powell, is the perfect choice for the DICK TRACY villain Splitface... more like Scarface since that's all that makes the titular split and, either way, he still looks pretty spooky...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet he mostly lurks in the noirish shadows, remaining a mystery to the characters but not the audience, who sees him prowling before each murder: so this picture's whodunnit aspect is as ultimately wasted as Muzurki himself...</p><p><span></span></p>

MORGAN CONWAY, ANNE JEFFREYS & MIKE MAZURSKI 'DICK TRACY'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/04/2024

Title: DICK TRACY Year: 1945 Rating: ***The towering, muscular, intimidating and always formidable noir-villain Mike Mazurki, who would soon steal MURDER MY SWEET from Dick Powell, is the perfect choice for the DICK TRACY villain Splitface.

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MORGAN CONWAY AND DICK WESSEL IN 'DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmgguoOwe57VXunkljYmrRcGDCBOcGBNgNkz2-p3iR6Dl4WbpHKzi60xWBQ8XHi3tjl7rOn_-wmlHbBpl55GMO8dUCdkBNRRMLgR_xFR0GKkumfAzDaJASTonvG4MCfZSWFMLGdb431uzLdoUgUDDS4xJJzaz9n2QClk6V-oVxyrnHKDRl8775lbl8H-v/s2168/prog.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1344" data-original-width="2168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmgguoOwe57VXunkljYmrRcGDCBOcGBNgNkz2-p3iR6Dl4WbpHKzi60xWBQ8XHi3tjl7rOn_-wmlHbBpl55GMO8dUCdkBNRRMLgR_xFR0GKkumfAzDaJASTonvG4MCfZSWFMLGdb431uzLdoUgUDDS4xJJzaz9n2QClk6V-oVxyrnHKDRl8775lbl8H-v/s16000/prog.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The maligned DICK TRACY replacement-actor from the first two RKO pictures was Morgan Conway, who got a bad rap since he didn't have the square-jaw look of Ralph Byrd... to perfectly fit the comic book crime-fighter brought to serialized life in the 1930's, and then finished the final two of four 1940's pictures that Conway supposedly failed at...<br><br>But he actually has a bit more energy and emotion than Byrd... yet altogether seems more like a friendly and affable, trustworthy cop friend that would give Dick Tracy sporadic advice...</p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

MORGAN CONWAY AND DICK WESSEL IN 'DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/03/2024

Title: DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2The maligned DICK TRACY replacement-actor from the first two RKO pictures was Morgan Conway, who got a bad rap since he didn't have the square-jaw look of Ralph Byrd... to perfectly fit

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RALPH BYRD AND BORIS KARLOFF IN 'DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibwbdb3rEe_86-sn3Gk7DAfzl8gukP9o4zx3OFxzfO0QRogq_VV0HxQ1CoUtbuUN7IfSIRKCfPWy-n4TR1wRVBK0dV_lJSTlXfBbLna0NQoVwUx5GC7HBojTYaZr0L9T_l6LnwR7LUtddsqeDg3NTGkENXeWuUBaPOuBIeR2EROL0exikPtS_hAbc2U11T/s2184/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-02%20at%204.12.45%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="2184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibwbdb3rEe_86-sn3Gk7DAfzl8gukP9o4zx3OFxzfO0QRogq_VV0HxQ1CoUtbuUN7IfSIRKCfPWy-n4TR1wRVBK0dV_lJSTlXfBbLna0NQoVwUx5GC7HBojTYaZr0L9T_l6LnwR7LUtddsqeDg3NTGkENXeWuUBaPOuBIeR2EROL0exikPtS_hAbc2U11T/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-02%20at%204.12.45%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME Year: 1947 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Despite the legendary Boris Karloff playing Gruesome, this is the last and weakest of the RKO four-picture series... mainly because it goes for physical comedy over dark noir-like aesthetic and frightful violence: the story taking place mostly in the daylight without the same amount of eerie shadow-play of its predecessors...<br><br>The silliness mainly derives from the weapon that Gruesome and his haphazard two-man posse (compared to effectively creepy inventor Skelton Knaggs)  use: gas pellets that freeze bank customers as the gang moves in...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

RALPH BYRD AND BORIS KARLOFF IN 'DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/02/2024

Title: DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME Year: 1947 Rating: **1/2Despite the legendary Boris Karloff playing Gruesome, this is the last and weakest of the RKO four-picture series... mainly because it goes for physical comedy over dark noir-like aes

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RALPH BYRD WITH JACK LAMBERT IN 'DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-4RwEz5qOu9hjGZwUIHrfNTH5Ac-Krfd_4imbfvt8lZ7t8yD1H1qQmZJab-y0f5hFV2mb2rfmvppHkl51TKppribD4MjPVlhSZBB3O6jpY2HcTAhIZCDmRVeW0IjC7th6kaukRf9jyVrzJ4z53gVhkPOBO04qmKm-pRxzzNTvsT5Cfe3Ht6MKvTQObKwn/s2074/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-01%20at%205.10.55%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1312" data-original-width="2074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-4RwEz5qOu9hjGZwUIHrfNTH5Ac-Krfd_4imbfvt8lZ7t8yD1H1qQmZJab-y0f5hFV2mb2rfmvppHkl51TKppribD4MjPVlhSZBB3O6jpY2HcTAhIZCDmRVeW0IjC7th6kaukRf9jyVrzJ4z53gVhkPOBO04qmKm-pRxzzNTvsT5Cfe3Ht6MKvTQObKwn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-01%20at%205.10.55%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA Year: 1947 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's true that comic book heroes are only as good as the villains, even way back in the 1940's with the Dick Tracy films, where this the third and penultimate by RKO, and the second with returning star Ralph Byrd... and is where Jack Lambert's Claw not only steals the picture, but is pretty much everything...<br><br>The longest, most suspenseful scene... combining dark film-noir aesthetic and impending horror-genre doom... takes up almost half the picture as Lambert's eerie, limping heavy... with a hunched gait and hiding his clawed-hand in a seedy jacket until revealing it before he kills... hunts down a mousy, fake-blind beggar named Sightless...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

RALPH BYRD WITH JACK LAMBERT IN 'DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA'

 No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/01/2024

Title: DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA Year: 1947 Rating: ****It's true that comic book heroes are only as good as the villains, even way back in the 1940's with the Dick Tracy films, where this the third and penultimate by RKO, and the second with re

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