PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

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.

Friday Night Movies 834

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.

The Arthur Askey Collection

   

The Arthur Askey Collection has 6 Arthur Askey films from the early 1940s. Band Waggon is Arthur's second film, it was followed by 7 more films released through the war years. The last of the 8, Bees In Paradise, came out in 1944 and there was a 10 year gap before Arthur's next film. Some speculate that Arthur was too associated with the war by the time it ended and people were tired of the war.

Arthur made 4 films in the last half of the 1950s and a couple in the 1970s, Arthur also worked in TV in the 1950s and 1960s. The six films in this set came from the 8 made in the 1940s. This was the period when Arthur was at the height of his popularity. The two films released after Band Waggon aren't included, Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt from 1940 and The Ghost Train from 1941. TGT is one of my favorite of Arthur's films. It has no musical numbers.

 

Band Waggon 1940 Written by John Wyatt, Harry S Pepper, Gordon Crier, Vernon Harris, JOC Orton, Val Guest, Marriott Edgar and Robert Edmunds, directed by Marcel Varnel.

Arthur and his pal are squatting in an empty room in the attic of the BBC's Broadcasting House. They had applied for a job there, were told to wait, and never left. When they're rumbled they're kicked out. Arthur schemes up a £3 rental in a haunted castle where they find a full TV studio hidden in the dungeons. They use the equipment to broadcast a show. It attracts the attention of the Nazis who set the studio up. Lucky for Arthur and his pals Scotland Yard arrives to save the day.

Pretty silly and filled with activity, there's a bit more singing and dancing than I care for but the gags are fast and furious.

I Thank You 1941 Original story by Howard Irving Young, screenplay by Marriott Edgar and Val Guest, directed by Marcel Varnel.

Arthur and his pal are out of work. They want to raise money for a show. They're plan is to sneak into a rich show backer's house as servants and get some backing. Arthur dresses as a woman cook even though he can't cook. Because it's a movie it actually works out for the guys in the end.

There's plenty of gags but not a much singing as the last film. It's was nice to see Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt again. They made a few films with Will Hays. Kathleen Harris plays the poor cook next door, Arthur keeps stealing stuff from her.

 

Back-Room Boy 1942 Story by JOC Orton, screenplay by Edgar Marriott, Val Guest and JOC Orton, directed by Herbert Mason. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be much by way of posters for these movies available on the internet. Even the DVDs use screen captures and promo photos for their covers.

Arthur is the guy who makes the pips on BBC radio. He has to do it every hour on the hour and his girlfriend doesn't like the constant interruptions to their love life. After she dumps him, Arthur tells his bosses he wants a position where he won't seen any women. They plonk him down in a lighthouse on an island way out in the sea north of Scotland.

Of course Arthur gets visited by many women, first a young girl who's headed to the next island to visit her uncle. Vera Frances plays the young girl, it was her first film, she made 5 more for Gainsborough Pictures. She's drolly sarcastic and a good foil for Arthur, she would appear in another of Arthur's films. I wish she'd gone onto make films as an adult.

Googie Withers arrives next, followed by a boat filled with theater gals. Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt are a couple of sailors that were crew on the ship that sank. Things are noisy until the Nazis turn up. They've got a secret hideout in a cave in the cliff below the lighthouse. Arthur and pals battle the Nazis and protect the shipping lane the sub was worrying.

I found it quite entertaining even after I've seen it a couple of times already.

King Arthur Was A Gentleman 1942 Written by Edgar Marriott and Val Guest, directed by Marcel Varnel. One of many films made at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush West London. The BBC later bought the studio and used it for making TV shows. Many episodes of Doctor Who were shot there. The commentaries for the episodes of DW have many complaints about having to work in such a tiny and hot studio.

Arthur wants to go fight the Nazis but he's a bit on the scrawny side. Arthur's got a big thing for King Arthur and the round table. His pals find a sword in a field and trick Arthur into thinking it's King Arthur's sword. A change comes over to him and he becomes quite the man. He demands to be sent to the front and the top brass send him to Germany. He has some adventures, gets a bit of romance, and causes a a helluva lot of property damage.

There's more music than I care for but the basic story is fun enough and there's all that destruction.

 

Miss London Ltd 1943 Written by Marriott Edgar and Val Guest, directed by Val Guest.

Arthur inherits half an escort agency from his mother, Evelyn Dall inherited the other half. Most of the movie is everyone singing and dancing. The agency tries to make some cash so they can donate some to the war effort. There's a good number of gags and plenty of pretty girls.

Bees In Paradise 1944 Written by Marriott Edgar and Val Guest, directed by Val Guest.

One of the weirdest of Arthur's films. He's part of a bomber crew who have to bail out, four of them wash up on the beach of an island in the Atlantic. Paradise Island is a matriarchy run like a bee hive. The Queen is worried about the lack of births of late, part of the problem is their rules on marriage, especially the one where they execute the groom two months after the marriage date.

Arthur and the guys can't believe their luck, an island filled with women who want to marry them. Wow! They'll soon find out what's up and try to survive. There's a good number of jokes and it's a bit risqué.

A nice collection and one I'll try to watch again. It's a UK region 2 DVD and won't play without an all region DVD player or VLC Player on your PC.

A Royal Scandal 1945

A Royal Scandal 1945 It's a remake of Lubitsch's 1924 silent film Forbidden Paradise. Bruno Frank adapted it and Producer Ernst Lubitsch worked with Edwin Justus Mayer on the screenplay. Lubitsch did all the pre-production and rehearsals but became ill as they were starting to shoot the film, he hired Otto Preminger to finish the job. It was the third last film Lubitsch would make, he died in 1947.

Catherine the Great has dumped her lover, the Captain of the Guards. General Ronsky wants to connect her to his nephew. He's got a plan to depose Catherine and take over. The Chancellor has his own plan, he's got a treaty with France to work on. A rando soldier comes to see Catherine and manages to get past the layers of court. She falls for him and they start a romance.

Good cast, Tallulah Bankhead, Charles Coburn, Anne Baxter, Vincent Price, Mischa Auer, Sig Ruman and a lot of people I didn't know. Good script, plenty of jokes, plenty of running about. I hadn't seen it before, at least that I remember, I really enjoyed it. You can see a copy on YouTube, link in the title.

A Night Of Magic 1944

A Night Of Magic 1944 Script by Eversley Bracken under the name Ewesley Bracken, directed by Herbert Wynne. A short British comedy musical about the 3000 year old mummy of Egyptian Princess Raviola being found alive in her sarcophagus. Her coffin arrives at the apartment of a young upper class man who gets over his surprise quickly, it's a short film, no time to waste. He takes her out to the hairdresser and shopping for modern clothes. He dumps his fiance and plans to marry her. There's a sucky surprise ending and some songs by a guy playing the ukulele. He's no George Formby. Fun enough but below average.