Movies
Armored Car Robbery (1950) D: Richard Fleischer. S: Charles McGraw, Adele Jergens, William Talman, Gene Evans, Steve Brodie. Talman and his gang knock over an ARMORED CAR (killing a cop in the process), with copper McGraw in pursuit. Functional, pragmatic, and not-too-long procedural survives only having a single likable character (cuckolded trigger man Fowley); everyone, cop or robber, is at least semi-loathsome. Talman and McGraw both give boring, flat performances. An early copaganda curio.
The Devil’s Party (1938) D: Ray McCarey. S: Victor McLaglen, William Gargan, Paul Kelly, Samuel S. Hinds, Dickie Jones. Quick morality tale about grown-up Hell’s Kitchen toughs’ annual reunion having the wrong mix of cops and robbers. McLaglen’s as legit as an illegal casino operator can get, Gargan and Gallaudet are cops, Kelly’s a priest, and Roberts’s the torch singer they moon over. McLaglen’s so good nothing else really matters. Sturdy Kelly and nefarious Joe Downing help.
Doctors Don’t Tell (1941) D: Jacques Tourneur. S: John Beal, Florence Rice, Edward Norris, Ward Bond, Douglas Fowley. Intern Beal operates without permission to save Rice, so she falls for his best friend, Norris. Then, after their new practice hits hard times, Norris starts getting business from gangster Fowley. Barely a love triangle, barely a morality play, but often serviceable. Maybe if Norris were ever likable, there’d be more tension. The increasingly hacky script does it in.
I Shot Jesse James (1949) D: Samuel Fuller. S: Preston Foster, Barbara Britton, John Ireland, Tom Tyler, Reed Hadley. Fuller’s directorial debut is a moody western about outlaw Ireland, who, thinking a pardon means marrying sweetheart Britton, shoots his friend and compatriot JESSE JAMES (a pensive, gentle Hadley)… in the back. Now, Ireland’s in a world of trouble: Britton doesn’t want a weasel, everyone’s gunning him (for fame), and so on. Always thoughtful and deliberately executed. Strong work.
The Mad Ghoul (1943) D: James P. Hogan. S: George Zucco, David Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone, Charles McGraw. Never scary but frequently disturbing horror quickie about mad scientist Zucco turning assistant Bruce into a zombie who needs fresh hearts to survive. Together they stalk Ankers, who’s trying to dump Bruce to be with Bey, but Zucco’s after her. Plus reporter Armstrong is on the case. Bad makeup but Bruce’s dynamite. Zucco’s a tad broad, but it’s short.
Onibaba (1964) D: Kaneto Shindō. S: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satō, Taiji Tonoyama, Jūkichi Uno. Beautifully directed and photographed tale in feudal Japan. Yoshimura lives with her mother-in-law, Otowa, as they wait for her husband to come home from war. The crops failed, so they’re killing wounded samurai to sell their armor. They’re in constant danger from the violent men around them. It gets scary. Layered and thoughtful; way too abrupt ending.
The Vampire (1957) D: Paul Landres. S: John Beal, Coleen Gray, Kenneth Tobey, Dabbs Greer, James Griffith. Kindly doctor Beal accidentally takes some VAMPIRE pills and starts killing his patients. Only he doesn’t know he’s the VAMPIRE, so he’s investigating with cop pal Tobey. Less vampire antics, more transformed-monster ones. Some okay (and better–Greer) performances and some lovely black-and-white photography from Jack MacKenzie. It just doesn’t go anywhere, and the ending fizzles.