DANA ANDREWS & ALICE FAYE IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'FALLEN ANGEL'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTWpLk2K0he59eAcyZzeXtL6cO56fog-X9GPxGlJ0xBlK70cuigd4MstArYkOdDhciSLaFjg7XMTPHZATxSXIvqkR_kgULb4xpNyuRVxN58_puPD5IR2dD5GZY-lgbH-EM-BLbVO_5CTNc01pgUgBVQAeTahU4UMWBHxX-GLYhOin4sd8EVsL5rKAyiTrR/s1372/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-06%20at%2011.49.47%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1372" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTWpLk2K0he59eAcyZzeXtL6cO56fog-X9GPxGlJ0xBlK70cuigd4MstArYkOdDhciSLaFjg7XMTPHZATxSXIvqkR_kgULb4xpNyuRVxN58_puPD5IR2dD5GZY-lgbH-EM-BLbVO_5CTNc01pgUgBVQAeTahU4UMWBHxX-GLYhOin4sd8EVsL5rKAyiTrR/w400-h310/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-06%20at%2011.49.47%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1945 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table>If you look at the filmography of two actresses who play sisters in the Otto Preminger Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL, Alice Faye, as naive June Mills, who's mentored by an older, wiser, more cautious Ann Revere as Clara: Both had prosperous careers in that decade, the 1940's, and then their 50's resume reads like a clean slate...<br> <br> Sadly, more of a <i>Black</i>list for the NATIONAL VELVET Oscar-Winning Revere (who co-starred with Andrews in the lobster-diver drama DEEP WATERS)... But the 20th Century Fox starlet Faye basically quit acting for a long while... Ironically, till she was old enough to be a teenage girl's mother in the remake of STATE FAIR, the original co-starring Andrews... And her career's demise was all because of Otto Preminger's underrated and mostly obscure/unknown Dana Andrews (with Gene Tierney) Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL in-between classics LAURA and  WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS... <br>

alice faye, ann revere, bruce cabot, dana andrews, film noir, film noir or melodrama, forties, linda darnell, otto preminger

DANA ANDREWS & ALICE FAYE IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'FALLEN ANGEL'

Year: 1945 Rating: ****1/2 If you look at the filmography of two actresses who play sisters in the Otto Preminger Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL, Al...

DANA ANDREWS AND GENE TIERNEY IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'LAURA'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj01Z3iqJzlmy6i_LXewxuB3Fi42kxXhpmCfjkWOGbUBZ8lbT1x_C0FvWMNx0Yva7Hd4O6Cnxsc8KygwS5aRZUusdPl9lYfHtUdEkhnauQs0JFqn6A-38OF-Hw276uEPpjH9gwMTKYsAqzTkazwOJZXMHH9MTjcSm2s7OJOJSjSBA9cd8ivur1swvQZW1vJ/s1904/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-01%20at%2010.13.06%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1387" data-original-width="1904" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj01Z3iqJzlmy6i_LXewxuB3Fi42kxXhpmCfjkWOGbUBZ8lbT1x_C0FvWMNx0Yva7Hd4O6Cnxsc8KygwS5aRZUusdPl9lYfHtUdEkhnauQs0JFqn6A-38OF-Hw276uEPpjH9gwMTKYsAqzTkazwOJZXMHH9MTjcSm2s7OJOJSjSBA9cd8ivur1swvQZW1vJ/w400-h291/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-01%20at%2010.13.06%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: LAURA Year: 1944 Rates: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Dana Andrews as Det. Lt. Mark McPherson has fallen in love with a ghost, kind of, and that's not to be spoiled for anyone who hasn't seen LAURA with its particular dreamlike camera panning from a sleeping McPherson, and we get the murderous yarn, spun all over again in a different fashion and with a twist that could be something else entirely as our hero deals with two creeps connected with the ingenue: especially a cerebral "sugar daddy" in a sophisticated Clifton Webb...<br> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <br> Word is the producer frowned on this important casting because of... well... what's pretty apparent about the futzy fella, and he can't shake that aspect from his character of a character, Waldo Lydecker. But Webb is perfect as LAURA seems to be the only girl who can rid the sophisticated and manipulative Lydecker from his daily uptight uptown lunch, all by himself with a contented life all mapped-out...<br>

classic, clifton webb, cop, crime, dana andrews, film noir, forties, gene tierney, mystery, otto preminger, vincent price

DANA ANDREWS AND GENE TIERNEY IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'LAURA'

Title: LAURA Year: 1944 Rates: ***** Dana Andrews as Det. Lt. Mark McPherson has fallen in love with a ghost, kind of, and that's not...

JAMES CAGNEY WITH RICHARD CONTE IN '13 RUE MADELEINE'

<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/AVvXsEiVEYsTrKrmKX9MBVmSXZh9RDIFEV0FItSDBJI4UnyOGL81VtuHkwhL8bKd7sMfeX2TyM9BxNAsAqUXMM0XaFUoyUmT1ya14HG8lT5tpUtm5s-gSsrXbLx3FV0x83e0Nbx2WPwOGuiNGVE4iyfU2JLHRlZmsjm5-Aa-OCer7zM_NWKhNjOq8asW974qZ7QJ/s1852/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-21%20at%203.42.06%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="1852" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEYsTrKrmKX9MBVmSXZh9RDIFEV0FItSDBJI4UnyOGL81VtuHkwhL8bKd7sMfeX2TyM9BxNAsAqUXMM0XaFUoyUmT1ya14HG8lT5tpUtm5s-gSsrXbLx3FV0x83e0Nbx2WPwOGuiNGVE4iyfU2JLHRlZmsjm5-Aa-OCer7zM_NWKhNjOq8asW974qZ7QJ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-21%20at%203.42.06%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: 13 RUE MADELEINE Year: 1947 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the 1940's, James Cagney went to war... well, not literally... but at forty-years old and already an iconic movie star, once WW2 began, he put away his wise-guy garb and did only patriotic features...</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>Which is unfortunate, as the soldiers overseas would probably rather cheer Cagney on in another ROARING TWENTIES-style vehicle to get their minds off reality... But maybe these features were for American audiences to see what sacrifices were going on overseas... </p><span></span>

espionage, forties, frank latimore, henry hathaway, james cagney, karl malden, richard conte, sam jaffe, spy, thriller, world war II

JAMES CAGNEY WITH RICHARD CONTE IN '13 RUE MADELEINE'

Title: 13 RUE MADELEINE Year: 1947 Rating: ***1/2 In the 1940's, James Cagney went to war... well, not literally... but at forty-years o...

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>

action, aline towne, classic gangster, crime, edmond o'brien, forties, heist, james cagney, john archer, prison, robert osterloh, steve cochran, virginia mayo

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

Japanese poster for WHITE HEAT Year of imprisonment and release: 1949 Sentence: ****1/2 At the peak of the 1940's, no one but James Cagn...

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>

alfred ryder, anthony mann, art smith, charles mcgraw, dennis o'keefe, docudrama, forties, jack overman, jane randolph, june lockhart, wallace ford

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

Title: T-MEN Director: Anthony Mann Year: 1947 Rating: ****1/2 Backed by offbeat, surreal music from a dream sequence... only here used for ...

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>

cop, dorothy patrick, douglas spencer, film noir or melodrama, forties, jeff corey, marlo dwyer, richard fleischer, serial killer, william lundigan

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

Title: FOLLOW ME QUIETLY Year: 1949 Rating: ***1/2 If you can handle dialogue like, after a statement about a serial killer killing only dur...

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>

anne jeffreys, dick tracy, film noir or melodrama, forties, franchise, horror, jane greer, mike mazurski, milton parsons, morgan conway

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

Title: DICK TRACY Year: 1945 Rating: *** The towering, muscular, intimidating and always formidable noir-villain Mike Mazurki, who would soo...

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>

action, anne jeffreys, comic book, dick tracy, dick wessel, film noir or melodrama, forties, franchise, morgan conway, skelton knaggs

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

Title: DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2 The maligned DICK TRACY replacement-actor from the first two RKO pictures was Morgan...

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>

action, anne gwynne, boris karloff, crime, dick tracy, forties, franchise, horror satire, ralph byrd, skelton knaggs

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

Title: DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME Year: 1947 Rating: **1/2 Despite the legendary Boris Karloff playing Gruesome, this is the last and weakest...

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>

action, comic book, crime, dick tracy, film noir or melodrama, forties, franchise, jack lambert, thriller

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

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...

LAWRENCE TIERNEY & ANNE JEFFREYS RETURN FOR 'STEP BY STEP'

<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/AVvXsEhZD_bUZjUuD2SlQNPoky1T_bGXQkbgZ5mzjZ022JxnZAF1e8Cn1cbgGSaExmEy5cWmlxb83ZqHSQdshQ_xIZOfOSdBqNEs0DURmKbg72649XjZLBnlCFTiZjbljqVfeukpik0WQForOyomAheW6bebESxD-IOoNZvlT_caJ8ZKmvW1u8cdJz90ZwSiX2bj/s1433/0%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZD_bUZjUuD2SlQNPoky1T_bGXQkbgZ5mzjZ022JxnZAF1e8Cn1cbgGSaExmEy5cWmlxb83ZqHSQdshQ_xIZOfOSdBqNEs0DURmKbg72649XjZLBnlCFTiZjbljqVfeukpik0WQForOyomAheW6bebESxD-IOoNZvlT_caJ8ZKmvW1u8cdJz90ZwSiX2bj/s16000/0%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lawrence Tierney and Anne Jeffreys in STEP BY STEP Year: 1946 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Lawrence Tierney with Anne Jeffreys, the gangster and moll from DILLINGER, return for STEP BY STEP, a programmer that involves crime yet is only partially film noir and, with an endearing mascot dog liken to (but a different breed than) THE THIN MAN franchise, it's a breezy ride...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Jeffreys is the newly-hired secretary for a politician working from a beachfront mansion and, in-between top-secret office work, she meets a shirtless Tierney on the beach... after his dog breaks the ice (why most men own them)... and from that point, Tierney has her number...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, anne jeffreys, chase, cold war, film noir or melodrama, forties, james flavin, jason robarts sr., lawrence tierney, myrna dell, mystery, romance, wrong man

LAWRENCE TIERNEY & ANNE JEFFREYS RETURN FOR 'STEP BY STEP'

Lawrence Tierney and Anne Jeffreys in STEP BY STEP Year: 1946 Rating: **** Lawrence Tierney with Anne Jeffreys, the gangster and moll from D...

LAWRENCE TIERNEY DEAD AS 'DILLINGER' WITH ANNE JEFFREYS

<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/AVvXsEgLoh_hflrUIs4QUgwtgC2PlLHWzUYTEtUVpPUW_JrsbW4JyqOmbNkAdyEwRyUqjUs4hQGXsXRg9U8EyXRrxHpO_tpqXNoenBBcfkjeP5G3hT_9wr5X-4e4bC7LyAZE7rQhmf24eDqqN8Hdb8CpOQQRrUv8ZsHLsdCXgkG2TIMu8XPdUVZQE3pPEr8F349h/s2076/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-29%20at%206.41.48%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="2076" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLoh_hflrUIs4QUgwtgC2PlLHWzUYTEtUVpPUW_JrsbW4JyqOmbNkAdyEwRyUqjUs4hQGXsXRg9U8EyXRrxHpO_tpqXNoenBBcfkjeP5G3hT_9wr5X-4e4bC7LyAZE7rQhmf24eDqqN8Hdb8CpOQQRrUv8ZsHLsdCXgkG2TIMu8XPdUVZQE3pPEr8F349h/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-29%20at%206.41.48%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Anne Jeffreys and Lawrence Tierney in DILLINGER Year: 1945 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the 1930's through to the 1960's and 1970's, before and after the Hayes Code, movie gangsters and especially bank robbers were usually adventurous anti-heroes, and in-between, the common crooks and petty thieves were desperate and woefully sympathetic, always in dire need of money to feed themselves or their family instead of just robbing for kicks... In other words, the bad guys were good guys forced to do bad things for... understandable reason...</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>So in what's known as The Lawrence Tierney DILLINGER (compared to the historically accurate Warren Oates DILLINGER) there's a touch of Noir since our man starts out a naive dolt: thrown in prison for attempting to knock-off a corner store to buy his shallow date a few more drinks at a fancy restaurant. Then, behind bars, what he learns — especially from Edmund Lowe as a bank robbing mentor named Specs — turns the real life criminal/folk hero into what The Tierney DILLINGER is: a downright formidable monster in his very own proverbial Monster Movie...</p><span></span>

anne jeffreys, biopic, constance worth, dewey robinson, eduardo ciannelli, elisha cook jr., film noir or melodrama, forties, heist, lawrence tierney, lou lubin, marc lawrence, max nosseck

LAWRENCE TIERNEY DEAD AS 'DILLINGER' WITH ANNE JEFFREYS

Anne Jeffreys and Lawrence Tierney in DILLINGER Year: 1945 Rating: ****1/2 In the 1930's through to the 1960's and 1970's, befo...

LAWRENCE TIERNEY PLAYS THE WRONG MAN IN 'KILL OR BE KILLED'

<div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJAjSveZ2niVEmpIVqT6BoIRgPdEc5wJEpp6ysTU-_2KQ-IGB9mXuOZbUUozE9PmjqARohYSO3TVCOOoHc2rtQWRiL4yhEgjFZBgaAzq2tsYx1aSB3URXDHJlu5o-XMB37eKw7Aq77BM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-06-19+at+4.54.31+AM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJAjSveZ2niVEmpIVqT6BoIRgPdEc5wJEpp6ysTU-_2KQ-IGB9mXuOZbUUozE9PmjqARohYSO3TVCOOoHc2rtQWRiL4yhEgjFZBgaAzq2tsYx1aSB3URXDHJlu5o-XMB37eKw7Aq77BM/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-06-19+at+4.54.31+AM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: KILL OR BE KILLED Year: 1950 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table><p>The epitome of a crime programmer with a beginning, middle and end, and plenty in-between which includes deadly piranha, mistreated jungle labor, the beautiful yet put-upon wife of an eccentric German land developer and one of the few things befitting the Noir template...</p><p>Though this is more an action-packed adventure where our hero, Lawrence Tierney, is not his usual DILLINGER vicious (also directed by Max Nosseck), BORN TO KILL sneaky, DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE sociopathic or THE HOODLUM dangerously lethal villain... but in this particular case, as the epitome of a Wrong Man, he's not only wronged but not as angry or cunning as usual: Even after returning to an Opening Soon Nightclub after installing a complicated air conditioning system throughout the two-story joint: which was a bragged-about three month task. He even gets to sing and dance with gorgeous Spanish blonde Leonor Maia, until he learns he ain't getting paid. Of course a loud argument arises – and soon enough the boss is killed by a wraithlike stranger who makes out the window in seconds flat, and it sure seems like  Tierney's Robert Warren is the killer...</p><span></span>

action, adventure, film noir or melodrama, forties, george coulouris, lawrence tierney, max nosseck, piranha, romance, rudolph anders, wrong man

LAWRENCE TIERNEY PLAYS THE WRONG MAN IN 'KILL OR BE KILLED'

Title: KILL OR BE KILLED Year: 1950 Rates: ***1/2 The epitome of a crime programmer with a beginning, middle and end, and plenty in-bet...

LAWRENCE TIERNEY & BETTY LAWFORD IN 'THE DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE'

<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/AVvXsEhiUb-hHCwW1l7_8YYgwQkftxWEuAeLcSzh52PoanFyT52NN06qvxaCpKUm4DIcK2bdx2EJTRNsvxVya2DuGmC8nIStBS6VoDDxfz93IQCQ13y7Nh43h2x3xYci0rwtlRnH7x6rVam560R23-vvbIreUVbk8ZfWpGm8MVJhZMuSLFFsCJA5ZQHJd0TEVzCH/s2076/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1316" data-original-width="2076" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiUb-hHCwW1l7_8YYgwQkftxWEuAeLcSzh52PoanFyT52NN06qvxaCpKUm4DIcK2bdx2EJTRNsvxVya2DuGmC8nIStBS6VoDDxfz93IQCQ13y7Nh43h2x3xYci0rwtlRnH7x6rVam560R23-vvbIreUVbk8ZfWpGm8MVJhZMuSLFFsCJA5ZQHJd0TEVzCH/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lawrence Tierney & Betty Lawford in The Devil Thumbs a Ride Year: 1947 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One year after Lawrence Tierney played an affable character with a cute pet dog in STEP BY STEP, he was back to being bad, in this case downright formidable, preferring friendly driver Ted North <i>run over </i>a dog than almost crash with four people on board, including two dames with nowhere to go until meeting Tierney's secretly-on-the-lam criminal Steve Morgan and North as a mundane traveling salesman heading back home to his typical wife...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet most of THE DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE pans out like an early version of DESPERATE HOURS, off road after a motorcycle-cop-chase and in a (Hollywood-shot) Oceanside to Laguna Beach beach-house where North's friend left a key while Tierney takes his time, keeping his ace card pocketed from the conveniently useful man and dames...</p><p><span></span></p>

betty lawford, crime, film noir or melodrama, forties, harry shannon, lawrence tierney, nan leslie, road movie, ted north, thriller

LAWRENCE TIERNEY & BETTY LAWFORD IN 'THE DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE'

Lawrence Tierney & Betty Lawford in The Devil Thumbs a Ride Year: 1947 Rates: ***1/2 One year after Lawrence Tierney played an affable c...

SCOTT BRADY & JEFF COREY PRISON ESCAPE NOIR 'CANON CITY'

<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/AVvXsEijSPFZq860vvHLfTN8OIZjy9oPr0o8XNSG6ripi_6A5-VQ6h7wb1tDGYVTmDQi3Jbe4O00zfjgEVccxM_MMZYQqOtL8SMB5qE9_r6K4ritZ38ug_wPqfwWBLemsnCexnQ6EId9ZL0p4x_lJ-h1qndC1jQ-Mb8Lq4l6RlHmWH2eo7y9lkdb1P0Fe5DYxcDP/s1804/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-26%20at%206.40.12%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="1804" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijSPFZq860vvHLfTN8OIZjy9oPr0o8XNSG6ripi_6A5-VQ6h7wb1tDGYVTmDQi3Jbe4O00zfjgEVccxM_MMZYQqOtL8SMB5qE9_r6K4ritZ38ug_wPqfwWBLemsnCexnQ6EId9ZL0p4x_lJ-h1qndC1jQ-Mb8Lq4l6RlHmWH2eo7y9lkdb1P0Fe5DYxcDP/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-26%20at%206.40.12%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CANON CITY Year: 1948 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The semi-documentary/docudrama film noir device can be awkward, always beginning with real glimpses into actual people, including, in this case, the title prison CANON CITY warden Roy Best, along with several actual inmates, being asked questions off-camera by the deep voice of Reed Hadley... so when we reach the fictional story with tough guy actors wanting to break out of a prison they consider unlawful (and that looks pretty awful to the naked eye), it's confusing as to why they'd start off with such outright propaganda for such a crummy place...</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 Scott Brady's the link between good and evil, being the sole honest prisoner who wants nothing to do with the impending escape he's forced into, and, led by lockup-noir veteran Jeff Corey from BRUTE FORCE, the planning stages are the most intriguing, using creative shadows while the central prisoners are fleshed-out decently enough...</p><p><span></span></p>

docudrama, escape, film noir or melodrama, forties, prison, scott brady, whit bissell

SCOTT BRADY & JEFF COREY PRISON ESCAPE NOIR 'CANON CITY'

Title: CANON CITY Year: 1948 Rating: *** The semi-documentary/docudrama film noir device can be awkward, always beginning with real glimpses...

SCOTT BRADY WITH PEGGY DOW IN WILLIAM CASTLE'S 'UNDERTOW'

<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/AVvXsEiO2vg_I-dg20R4VDma_INFkcyIrN049tuDujpqsEKYUW3omsqqLt-7uEBrFq8oAj3HXtUbI17RcZSj1mCsY7T5KJe7blXVAjM_jtwhCXAcCDuW4ylLC67d6-DXL2VP0rhtg-QU-dE_YGw1wXrw-ubOeQGpWqFPbAIUOilmZIbh62gat7Y-T7dtz3o8C3JZ/s2196/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-19%20at%207.32.21%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1270" data-original-width="2196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO2vg_I-dg20R4VDma_INFkcyIrN049tuDujpqsEKYUW3omsqqLt-7uEBrFq8oAj3HXtUbI17RcZSj1mCsY7T5KJe7blXVAjM_jtwhCXAcCDuW4ylLC67d6-DXL2VP0rhtg-QU-dE_YGw1wXrw-ubOeQGpWqFPbAIUOilmZIbh62gat7Y-T7dtz3o8C3JZ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-19%20at%207.32.21%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Scott Brady and Peggy Dow in UNDERTOW Year: 1949 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Scott Brady, younger brother of tough guy legend Lawrence Tierney, is thrust into a wrong man noir before he even realizes where his feet are planted for director William Castle's UNDERTOW...<br><br>After talking about purchasing a rural lodge, he meets lovely good-girl Peggy Dow at a casino and then an airplane on the way to Chicago to peak up fiance Dorothy Hart: only the cops know he's an ex-con hated by a casino-owner named Big Jim... who we never actually meet and who he's eventually blamed for killing... as Scott  becomes desperate enough to break into lead cop Bruce Bennett's home, pull out a gun and beg for help...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, dorothy hart, film noir or melodrama, forties, john russell, peggy dow, scott brady, william castle, wrong man

SCOTT BRADY WITH PEGGY DOW IN WILLIAM CASTLE'S 'UNDERTOW'

Scott Brady and Peggy Dow in UNDERTOW Year: 1949 Rating: ***1/2 Scott Brady, younger brother of tough guy legend Lawrence Tierney, is thrust...

BURT LANCASTER IN ROBERT SIODMAK'S HEIST-NOIR 'CRISS CROSS'

<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/AVvXsEiketICUjCFEizT3tbg1Ekirxe1zpol5EENLtM4tqVwALfpJE49zwuVB4VkL06Di6KSo4h92lyb0tXvVe2JqWOoaPrB54Wcmg1Hx3lWsRSmrXbzaCVW0QPCcgqaac-8ijgpkWBEug3gT7Ups_m6eys164gFoBYKFhoxBCtbzXRKOb5BVeIJkMDalyjGjb2s/s1030/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-19%20at%203.27.40%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="1030" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiketICUjCFEizT3tbg1Ekirxe1zpol5EENLtM4tqVwALfpJE49zwuVB4VkL06Di6KSo4h92lyb0tXvVe2JqWOoaPrB54Wcmg1Hx3lWsRSmrXbzaCVW0QPCcgqaac-8ijgpkWBEug3gT7Ups_m6eys164gFoBYKFhoxBCtbzXRKOb5BVeIJkMDalyjGjb2s/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-19%20at%203.27.40%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CRISS CROSS Year: 1949 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Burt Lancaster became a breakout star in director Robert Siodmak's complicated heist-noir THE KILLERS, and after his followup in Jules Dassin's prison drama BRUTE FORCE, he returned with Siodmak in what's a crime thriller more scrambled than hard-boiled... and in CRISS CROSS, like that first film, Lancaster ultimately steals stolen money from a big score...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Before that is terrific shadowy-interior atmosphere including a central tavern and various apartment rooms planning a much more basic heist involving armored cars from an armored car company owned by icy villain Dan Duryea... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

burt lancaster, dan duryea, film noir or melodrama, forties, heist, robert osterloh, stephen mcnally, tom pedi, yvonne de carlo

BURT LANCASTER IN ROBERT SIODMAK'S HEIST-NOIR 'CRISS CROSS'

Title: CRISS CROSS Year: 1949 Rating: *** Burt Lancaster became a breakout star in director Robert Siodmak's complicated heist-noir THE ...

BURT LANCASTER IN HEMINGWAY'S PULP FICTION 'THE KILLERS'

<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/AVvXsEi15dEgwX5yFIl5fXt0Jn_Ymd82iLvH6ROnOXhGBBjrPWvu-m6UyDBiiEvyjnU7w37XEAoGIbOIahzeWPoFDGy1yX7-OY_4sz1JNNoaVZoxCdF2NmDuR8FBZtzSPOt5Usf_zNizEHgj9srS2heR_pvKxDkVeQGJbOFVx1jlqJW5zue8ofXGwEi8tu7FE7Hq/s1795/0%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1089" data-original-width="1795" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15dEgwX5yFIl5fXt0Jn_Ymd82iLvH6ROnOXhGBBjrPWvu-m6UyDBiiEvyjnU7w37XEAoGIbOIahzeWPoFDGy1yX7-OY_4sz1JNNoaVZoxCdF2NmDuR8FBZtzSPOt5Usf_zNizEHgj9srS2heR_pvKxDkVeQGJbOFVx1jlqJW5zue8ofXGwEi8tu7FE7Hq/s16000/0%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE KILLERS Year: 1946 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Little did Ernest Hemingway know, when he created the very short short-story THE KILLERS, that he was writing a first act of what would become two movies... the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/10/Killers2.html">second</a> a year after his death and beginning with the same-titled film noir introducing Burt Lancaster, who winds up telling young Nick Adams (Hemingway's autobiographical doppelganger) that he doesn't mind if two hit-men murder him...<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>This happens after a wiseguy duo get information in a small town diner while progressively taking it over, learning where Lancaster's The Swede is hiding out and, as the titular villains, William Conrad and Charles McGraw seem ready to villainize the entire picture... but they'd have to wait until a climactic encore as Jeff Corey and Jack Lambert help fill the backstory-hoodlum roles in-between...</p><p><span></span></p>

albert dekker, ava gardner, burt lancaster, edmond o'brien, ernest hemingway, film noir or melodrama, forties, jack lambert, jeff corey, phil brown, thriller

BURT LANCASTER IN HEMINGWAY'S PULP FICTION 'THE KILLERS'

Title: THE KILLERS Year: 1946 Rating: **** Little did Ernest Hemingway know, when he created the very short short-story THE KILLERS, that he...

DICK POWELL'S PHILIP MARLOWE TACKLES 'MURDER, MY SWEET'

<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/AVvXsEgkSfS3be_G77a9WHTte2qCAwInUx2lcQXkaoZjSJ9xMPBCQyYZ4G89M6ML-7KoIgiouAAvnUxqlugZeytRKWKHLLMtmjboY2ZKFFkDrDZvczxOIG2tGcJHIhZ-3EJt6Kq5t4PhVvdWgIboFGUEzBheqVQi16cOi9vJ03AA-QhxN2u7TNJ_DHdJKqVDnSwn/s1060/first.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1060" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkSfS3be_G77a9WHTte2qCAwInUx2lcQXkaoZjSJ9xMPBCQyYZ4G89M6ML-7KoIgiouAAvnUxqlugZeytRKWKHLLMtmjboY2ZKFFkDrDZvczxOIG2tGcJHIhZ-3EJt6Kq5t4PhVvdWgIboFGUEzBheqVQi16cOi9vJ03AA-QhxN2u7TNJ_DHdJKqVDnSwn/s16000/first.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Claire Trevor with Dick Powell & Anne Shirley in MURDER, MY SWEET Year: 1944 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"You go barging around without a clear idea of what you're doing," says MURDER MY SWEET good girl Anne Shirley to Dick Powell's loose, congenial, free-form and not particularly tough version of novelist Raymond Chandler's gumshoe private investigator, Philip Marlowe. "Everybody bats you down, smacks you over the head... fills you full of stuff... and you keep right on hitting between tackle and end..." </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And yet, while most think of strong-willed, fully-controlled, woman-loving Humphrey Bogart in Howard Hawks' THE BIG SLEEP to epitomize Chandler's literary turned cinematic snoop, Edward Dmytryk had already directed former romantic comedy song-and-dance-man Powell as Marlowe, more like a staggering kite skidding just above ground, sporadically raked by unpredictable elements in an intense yet affable manner: initially derived from a police hot-spot interrogation frame story, thinking back on the rudimentary job that ignited the nightmare... <br></p><span></span>

claire trevor, daun kennedy, dick powell, film noir or melodrama, forties, gumshoe, mike mazurski, raymond chandler, suspense, thriller

DICK POWELL'S PHILIP MARLOWE TACKLES 'MURDER, MY SWEET'

Claire Trevor with Dick Powell & Anne Shirley in MURDER, MY SWEET Year: 1944 Rating: ****1/2 "You go barging around without a clear...

MILTON BERLE & VIRGINIA MAYO IN 'ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING'

<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/AVvXsEgRfsCmOx8TGwlg9bNsRPduYDL54o7kU4GV6jHJrtfwgr2-YvUFkUBOc9mfR_z3G6aEfgjg70q2zXAL955Q8Fh7Mtibng3jb74V-foUbIpkAl3rsQojDWWgY_ZJ7n9LSBW_qoEroITZ_kF3kQKGySwB7m5FwkoLL3O4QuEt4ZMbeBIKBzZPwxIlU61vkHUi/s960/OLD%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRfsCmOx8TGwlg9bNsRPduYDL54o7kU4GV6jHJrtfwgr2-YvUFkUBOc9mfR_z3G6aEfgjg70q2zXAL955Q8Fh7Mtibng3jb74V-foUbIpkAl3rsQojDWWgY_ZJ7n9LSBW_qoEroITZ_kF3kQKGySwB7m5FwkoLL3O4QuEt4ZMbeBIKBzZPwxIlU61vkHUi/s16000/OLD%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING Year: 1949 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the frame story of the first television star Milton Berle's 1949 big screen debut ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING, a young comic watches Milton as fictional-self Kipling "Kip" Cooper filming his own successful TV-variety show... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which is supposed to be what Berle's Kip worked so hard to perfect: a vaudeville-trained standup comedian's hyperactive struggle to reach the point of being, basically, TV's beloved Milton Berle... </p><p><span></span></p>

alan hale sr, bert lahr, comedy, forties, lloyd gough, max showalter, milton berle, ruth roman, virginia mayo, warner archives

MILTON BERLE & VIRGINIA MAYO IN 'ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING'

Title: ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING Year: 1949 Rating: **** In the frame story of the first television star Milton Berle's 1949 big screen...