PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Bury Me Dead 1947

Bury Me Dead 1947  Based on the radio drama of the same name by Irene Winston, screenplay by Dwight V Babcock and Karen DeWolf, directed by Bernard Vorhaus. The second film on The Chase DVD from VCI.

June Lockhart plays a dead woman called Barbara and Hugh Beaumont plays her wealthy family's lawyer Michael. When we meet Barbara she's riding in a cab to her funeral. She watches the thing go on, then meets Michael, he doesn't recognize her with the heavy veil. He offers her a lift and gets a big surprise. Barbara was out of town when the barn fire happened. She thinks someone tried to kill her, Michael tries to get her to go to the police but Barbara delays going, wanting to find out who it was. She does tell the police, the rest of her family and the servants she's alive.

So who's the dead body that got buried. They fear it was her step-sister but no she eventually turn up alive. There's a few suspects, Mark Daniels as June's cheating husband Rod, Cathy O'Donnell as the step-sister Rusty, Greg McClure as the dimwitted boxer George, Sonia Darrin as George's assistant Helen.

Sonia had a fairly short career, 1941 to 1950 and she wasn't in many movies, only a dozen. Her most famous has to be The Big Sleep where she played Agnes Lozelle who worked in Arthur Geiger's bookstore. Sonia was in Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman. She's the mother of Mason Reese, a child star in the 70s.

Detective Archer is played by Cliff Clark, he doesn't suspect the housekeeper played by Virginia Farmer or the butler played by Milton Parsons. Milton has 169 credits on the IMDb. I've seen him is so many films and TV shows over his long career, he started in 1939 and his last credit was in 1977.

It's soon clear that the victim is Helen, she was a conniving gold digger who doesn't mind breaking hearts to gets some cash. There's a lot of cheating on one another, Rusty and George, Barbara and George, Helen and Rod, Rusty and Rod, all lubed up with a bit of jealousy and extortion. June was going to divorce Rod and Rusty's a minor on top of that.

It all plays out fairly well in the 68 min run time. It's brisk and there's a fairly good pay off at the end of the film. It's got a sense of humor and you need it with that lot. I was glad to have seen it. You can check it out on YouTube, link above.

The commentary by Jay Fenton was informative and the DVD has the 25 minute version of the movie that was cut for a syndicated TV mystery anthology program in early 50s.

I Was An Adventuress 1940

I Was An Adventuress 1940 Screenplay by Karl Tunberg, Don Ettinger and John O'Hara, directed by Gregory Ratoff. It's based on the 1938 French film called J'étais une aventurière.

Peter Lorre, Erich von Stroheim and Vera Zorina are a team of grifters who steal jewels and swindle the rich. Vera falls for one of their marks, played by Richard Greene, after swindling him she leaves the gang and and marries the guy. Only a little time passes before Erich and Peter are back into Vera's life. Erich blackmails her into getting back to work and she rats on him to the police. Erich and Peter escape the coppers and rob Vera's guests instead. Richard and Vera chase after the thieves.

I enjoyed it, it's got a good sense of humor and Peter Lorre is at his scene stealing best. The script is clever and the cast is good. You can see it on YouTube, link in the title. You might enjoy it.

Hi Diddle Diddle 1943

Hi Diddle Diddle 1943 Story by Edmund L Hartmann and Andrew L Stone, screenplay by Frederick J Jackson, directed by Andrew L Stone. An uncredited Friz Freleng directed the animation sequences. It was re-released under the title Diamonds And Crime.

Dennis O'Keefe is a sailor who's got a short shore leave that he plans to use to marry his sweetheart. Martha Scott plays the sweetheart. Dennis's plans are fighting an uphill battle, the ship is late, his father, played by Adolphe Menjou, draws him into a swindle, Martha's mother reveals she's lost all her money, there's plenty going on. The situations and settings give the film opertunity to showcase some songs. There's some gags and some running about. I got a few laughs but didn't think there was anything special. I see the IMDb gave it a 6.7 and 25% of the votes are a 7, I only gave it a 6, which is what 20% of the voters also did. You can see if you like it, link in the title.

Ghost Crazy 1944

Ghost Crazy 1944 Written by Tim Ryan and directed by William Beaudine. This is the retitled Crazy Knights. 

Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard and Maxie Rosenbloom play characters with their same exact names. Billy and Shemp work with Dave, played by Bernard Sell, in the sideshow business with an act involving a gorilla. Shemp dons a costume and does some of the act outside the cage.

Max is the chauffeur for Mr Gardner and his daughter Joan. Their car has some trouble, a bomb in the engine compartment forces them to stop and exit the car. The Gardner's and Mr G's secretary Ralph hitch a ride with Dave and company. The circus folk stop over at the Gardner house for a brief visit, Dave is head over heels about Joan, and odd events keep them there until the end of the film.

Mr Gardner is convinced someone is trying to kill him and it sure seems that way. Strange noises and ghostly figures have Shemp, Max and Billy nearly of their minds with fright. Their antics are all pretty much one note and I got tired of them after a while.

There's lots of running about and yelling, but many of the jokes fell flat with me. There's the usual bit of romance, some double dealing, and even a murder. Three or four odd ball characters pop in and out of the movie. Minerva Urecal plays the Gardner housekeeper and she was an entertaining red herring. Some might remember her as the woman who gets turned to stone in The Circus Of Doctor Lo. Despite a couple of fun moments there's not enough good stuff. It's getting a score of below average from me. I gave it a 4 on the IMDb, where it scores a 5.3. You can check it out on the IA. See link above.

Friday Night Movies 862

It Happened Tomorrow 1944 Based on the one act play The Jest Of Haha Laba by Lord Dunsany, unproduced screenplay by Hugh Wedlock and Howard Snyder, ideas by Lewis R Foster, screenplay by Dudley Nichols and René Clair with additional dialogue by Helene Frainkel, directed by René Clair.

Dick Powell plays the obit writer on a newspaper who wants to be a reporter. The man who runs the newspaper's archives gives Dick a newspaper from the next day and that really changes his life, giving him the chance to write a big story. The story gets him in lots of trouble. Linda Darnell plays a medium in a vaudeville show, Jack Oakie is her father and the star of the act. Both of them get pulled into Dick's life.

A second and third news paper complicate Dick's life even more. There's plenty of running about and yelling with some entertaining jokes and characters. Edgar Kennedy, Edward Brophy, Sig Ruman and Paul Guilfoyle were some of the cast that I knew. I hadn't heard of the film before and was glad to have seen it. I downloaded a copy from YouTube, see link above, as I know I'll want to watch it again sometime. There's is a DVD and Blu-ray available for those that want it.

Buccaneer's Girl 1950 Story by Joe May and Samuel R Golding, screenplay by Joseph Hoffman and Harold Shumate, directed by Frederick de Cordova. Fred was Johnny Carson's producer on The Tonight Show from 1970 to 1992.

Yvonne De Carlo plays a singer who gets captured by the pirate Fredric Baptiste. She escapes the ship when it docks at New Orleans and gets a job at Eliza Lanchester's school for young ladies. On an assignment she finds out that the pirate is really Captain Kingston. He's been acting the pirate to sink the ships of a rich man and selling the cargo to fund ships for others.

It's more a romantic comedy musical than a lady pirate movie. We couldn't remember anyone being killed in any of the fights. It's still fairly pleasant and the baddies get theirs in the end. I didn't care much for the songs but enjoyed the rest of the film. There's a nice Blu-ray out from Kino Lorber. I picked it up during one of their sales. I'll probably watch it again someday.

British Noir III

Another Noir film collection from Kino Lorber. Five old British films on two discs. The films look alright but they are arguably noir. The only one I had already seen was The Frightened Lady.

The Frightened Lady 1940 Based on a 1931 play by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Edward Dryhurst and an uncredited Robert Stevenson, directed by George King.

Helen Haye is Lady Lebanon and the head of the Lebanon family, her son is Lord Lebanon and he's played by Marius Goring. They live in Marks Priory which Lady Lebanon has decided needs some renovations. Patrick Barr plays an architect named Richard Ferraby, he's come to look the place over. Penelope Dudley Moore plays a cousin called Isla Crane. Lady Lebanon wants Isla to marry her son but Isla isn't that keen and neither is his Lordship. Lady L is a strong believer in blood lines and not interested in polluting them with inferior blood.

When the chauffeur gets strangled the police come visiting. George Merritt plays the Detective Inspector and Ronald Shiner plays the Sergeant. Their first suspicion is that the husband of a local woman could be the murder, the wife and the chauffeur were having an affair and she intended to leave the husband for the chauffeur. Something suspicious puts their attention on the family's doctor but he soon turns up strangled.

The story gets more and more complicated as the police dig into the family history, eventually they figure out who done it. It's a fairly good thriller but hardly noir. There's a bit of humor and romance mixed in with the reminder that marrying close family members isn't that good an idea, even if it's keeping the bloodline pure. You can check it out on YouTube in the link above.

Brass Monkey 1948 Based on a play by Alec Coppel, he wrote the story for the film with Thornton Freeland, additional dialogue by William Freshman, Vernon Sylvaine and Robert Buckland, directed by Thornton Freeland. It's Carole Landis' 2nd last film, it was filmed in late 1947, but not released in the US until 1951. A troubled woman she committed suicide in 1948 at the age of 29.

Another one that's not noir, more a comedy crime musical set in the world of radio. Carole plays the fiance of a guy who's smuggling a brass monkey into the UK. Thinking the piece is of no value she gives it away. Turns out that some rich guy is willing to pay a large pile for the monkey and it's two pals. The crook at the heart of the transaction won't stop at murder in getting that third figure back. Herbert Lom and some other guy work for the crook and provide the rough stuff.

Terry-Thomas appears in a series of radio bits and sings a comedy song. There's a lot of music, especially in the last act when the radio show is going on. It's barely average to me. I wound up speeding through some of the musical numbers and the comedy bits had barely any laughs.

Third Time Lucky 1949 Written by Gerald Butler and directed by Gordon Perry. More an anti gambling melodrama than a noir film.

Glynis Johns plays a young woman who gets involved with a gambler that thinks she brings him luck. He takes her to gambling places and wins a bit of money. She slowly falls for him but he's stickily business. He does poorly when she's not there and winds up owing a lot of money. That gets him shot and as the movie opens we see Glynis telling the police what lead up to that.

I was bored through part of it and turned up the speed. Not a film I would bother with again.

Tall Headlines 1952 Based on a novel of the same name by Audrey Erskine Lindop, she wrote the screenplay with husband Dudley Leslie, directed by Terence Young. Terence would go on to direct Dr No, From Russia With Love and Thunderball. I've seen those more than once, most of his other work, not at all.

Totally a weepy miserable melodrama about a family nearly destroyed when their son gets charged for murder and executed. It goes on and on until there's a brief glimmer of hope in the last minute. The only thing I liked seeing was Sid James as a neighbor, sadly, he only pops in in that last minute. Not one I cared that much for.

Breakaway 1956 Original story by Manning O'Brine, screenplay by Norman Hudis, cinematography by Monty Berman, directed by Henry Cass. A nearly noir thriller in the same vein as The Saint or Tom's long running series about The Falcon. Some might remember him from three of Val Lewton's films, Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie and The Seventh Victim.

Tom plays a private eye who winds up in the middle of a smuggling operation gone south. The always entertaining Michael Balfour plays Tom's sidekick Barney and Honor Blackman plays the sister of a kidnapped woman called Diane.

The criminals want to use Diane as a bait to get a special formula for hardened steel. Diane's boyfriend Johnny was supposed to deliver the formula to his brother, when he stops on the road to see what's going on with a crashed car, he's beaten up and knocked out, the crooks take Diane.

Tom and Barney come along soon after the crooks bolt and Tom takes a sock on the chin for waking Johnny. Johnny bolts and Barney finds Diane's purse. Honor comes calling and things get more and more complicated.

I enjoyed it, it ties with The Frightened Lady for best of the set. There's a nice mix of mystery, action and humor. You can watch it on YouTube in the link above. It's one I would watch again.

Follow The Fleet 1936

Follow The Fleet 1936 Written by Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor, additional dialogue by Lew Lipton, directed by Mark Sandrich.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were a song and dance team who fell out when she turned down his marriage proposal. He went into the Navy and when they meet again she's singing in a 10 cent a dance night club. He gets her fired from that, reneges on a promise to get her a better job, then screws up her chance in an audition she set up. Randolph Scott is Fred's ship mate and he's a woman in every port sort of guy.

There's more story about Ginger and her sister, played by Harriet Hillard. Harriett was later to Ozzie's wife in The Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet. Here she wants to refurbish her late father's ship. She needs some cash or they lose the ship. Fred and Ginger puts on a show and he goes AWOL to be there. Eventually it all works out for the most part.

Pretty contrived and kind of annoying to me. I didn't care that much about the characters. The jokes aren't very funny and I wasn't that interested in most of the musical numbers. Ages ago I found the DVD cheap and picked it up. I'll probably keep it though I don't have much reason to.

Calendar Girl 1947

Calendar Girl 1947 Story by Lee Loeb, screenplay by Mary Loos, Richard Sale and Lee Loeb, directed by Allan Dwan. It was re-issued in the US under the title Star Dust And Sweet Music.

It's a romantic musical comedy set in Greenwich Village in 1900. Two friends move there, one to paint and the other to compose music. The composer falls for a lady but she's more interested in the painter. The guys both get a shot at fame and fortune with some help from the locals in the artists boarding house they move into. There are a lot of musical numbers but the singing style is of little interest to me so I fast forwarded through some of the numbers. There's some fun jokes and situations, there are some that are less so. The cast is good and the direction better. It's not a big production, Republic Pictures wasn't that big a studio, a splash of cash could have beefed up the production and would have made it stand out a bit more. You can check it out in the link in the title. You might like it well enough. I wouldn't need to see it again, not sorry I saw it.

Unforgotten Crime 1942

 

Unforgotten Crime 1942 Based on the play Alias Jimmy Valentine by Paul Armstrong Jr, screenplay by Olive Cooper and Robert Taster, directed by Bernard Vorhaus. Unforgotten Crime is the American TV title of The Affairs Of Jimmy Valentine. The original film ran 73 mins but it was cut to 53 for showing as a B movie and on TV. There are plenty of copies of the cut down version on YouTube but not the longer version.

Dennis O'Keefe has a murder mystery radio show host who's convinced his sponsors to offer a reward to find the retired safe cracker Jimmy Valentine. George Stone plays small time crook who's father was framed by Valentine and went to the chair. He really wants to find Valentine to get some revenge.

There's a rumor that he retired to a small town in Illinois and Dennis takes his co-worker Gloria Dickson and Mousey along. They can't seem to find anyone who knows Valentine except one guy and he's clammed up. He winds up dead soon after and Dennis thinks he might have been killed by Valentine. The story gets a bit more complicated and a couple of others die along the way. Eventually it gets sorted out.

It's a fairly good but kind of predictable crime story that's heavy on the melodrama. It's jumps about a bit and I wish that the whole thing was there. It's got a sense of humor and I got a few laughs. You can see it on YouTube, link above.

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The Case Of The Frightened Lady 1940 British film based on the Edgar Wallace play, screenplay by Edward Dryhurst and an uncredited Robert Stevenson, directed by George King. The play was also the source of the 1932 film Criminal At Large.

Life at Mark's Priory is hard, there's an old lady in charge, the son is a bit of a layabout, the old ladies secretary is her niece. The secretary is afraid of the creepy male servants, they're always skulking around, she's also annoyed at being locked into her room at night. The secretary wants to leave but the old lady insists she stay and for added horror she wants the secretary to marry her son. The old lady insists that the family line must continue.

When the chauffeur gets murdered the police arrive. The family doctor is next on the list of dead people. Other strange things happen and we eventually find out the ID of the killer. It's brisk and entertaining to me. The cast had a fairly good script and most of them did alright. The secretary was a bit hysterical but that might be the director's fault. I'd watch it again. You can test drive it on YouTube. Link above.

The College Girl Murders 1967 A German film originally titled Der Mönch mit der Peitsche or The Monk with the Whip. It's another story based on a mix of Edgar Wallace works. Screenplay is by Herbert Reinecker, the director is Alfred Vohrer.

A criminal mastermind arranges to get a man out of prison so he can send the prisoner to kill a young woman from a boarding school. He's spotted but he's still in prison so it couldn't be him. Joachim Fuchsberger is Inspector Higgins, Siegfried Schürenberg is Sir John, his boss at Scotland Yard. What they don't know is that the killer is that whip cracking red robed monk guy in the poster. They also don't know that the red robed monk isn't the only criminal at work here.

The criminal mastermind's big plan takes some punches when the police get to detecting. There's more murdering, some screaming and running about, and a bit of humor. I enjoyed it, I liked the actors and the story was fairly complex. Rialto Films do a good job on their Edgar Wallace adaptations. I find them online but they often disappear soon after. Rialto did 32 films in the series and they were released in Germany on 8 DVD sets. It's been re-packaged into one box but it's nearly $200 on Amazon. Sadly, not all the films come with English Subtitles. I'll stick with the internet.

Der Hexer 1964 Based on the novel The Ringer by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Herbert Reinecker and Harald G Petersson, directed by Alfred Vohrer. I'd already watched the British version of this film, it was part of the large Edgar Wallace Mysteries series from Merton Park Studios.  

Joachim Fuchsberger and Siegfried Schürenberg return as Inspector Higgins and Sir John, his boss at Scotland Yard. Some criminals are worried, it turns out that the woman they murdered is the sister of a notorious criminal called The Ringer. He sends word he's coming to see them. Sir John gets word of it and he assigns Higgins to the case.

The Ringer is always one step ahead of the police and he manages to get rid of his sisters murders. It's a nice run about with murder, romance, comedy and a clever criminal. I'm happy to have seen it. I'd watch it again.