PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

All The King's Men 1949

All The King's Men 1949 Based on the novel of the same name by Robert Penn Warren, screenplay and direction by Robert Rossen.

Broderick Crawford plays a guy named Stark, he runs for county treasurer and loses because of interference by the local political machine. He goes to law school and makes a name when he defends the 12 children killed in a school collapse. Stark's political ambitions lead him the run in the governor race. He looses but doesn't give up, learning to play the games the politicians play, eventually becoming just as corrupt as they are. Stark's power plays destroy people's lives and the angry brother of a foolish woman shoots Stark, as he lays dying he bemoans his fate.

Rather timely film for today. Not something I would normally watch but I do like Broderick in just about anything. Enjoyable, especially the part where he pays the ultimate price for his corruption, but not the sort of thing I would watch again.

Friday Night Movies 1000

Godzilla x Kong - The New Empire 2023 Story by Terry Rossio, Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, screenplay by Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slatter, directed by Adam Wingard. A sequel to Godzilla vs Kong from 2021.

Kong is adapting to life in the Hollow Earth and Godzilla is still bashing monsters on the surface. Kong finds an enslaved camp of giant gorillas under the thumb of Skar King. Kong gets Godzilla to help battle Skar King and free his people. Some humans get tossed in the battle blender and eventually find a colony of humans who live in the hollow Earth. Their descendants lived on the surface but were all killed off in the first film, except for one telepathic girl who calls up Mothra.

There's plenty of battles and big blasts, there's lots of noise and oodles of collateral damage. Mixed in is a lot of personal baggage. The monster fights were good but I'm not getting much out of the humans. It was OK but not as entertaining as Godzilla Minus One.

The Valley Of The Zombies 1946 Story by Royal K Cole and Sherman H Lowe, screenplay by Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E McGowan, directed by Philip Ford. Another film from the Republic Pictures Horror Collection.

A dead man called Murks returns to life with the help of voodoo and blood. Murk's  seeks revenge on the men who locked him up in an asylum and the doctor who killed him on the operating table. Murks had faked his death and his body was revived by his brother. A doctor and his fiance help defeat the insane man. There's some police help.

Sadly it's rather slow despite being 56 mins. I'd seen it before and since I bought the Blu-ray collection I'll watch it some more when I get around to the commentaries on the four films.

Temptation Harbour 1947

Temptation Harbour 1947 Adapted from Newhaven-Dieppe, also known as L'Homme de Londres or Affairs of Destiny, a novella by Georges Simenon, screenplay by Rodney Ackland and Frederick Gotfurt, directed by Lance Comfort.

 

A British crime film that's heavy on the drama. Robert Newton plays the night signalman on the rail line into the docks. One night he sees a fight on the docks, one man falls into the water with a case and the other man runs away. Robert jumps into the dark water to save him. He fails but retrieves the case floating on the water. He takes it back to the signal shed and discovers it contains £5000. That's his daughter Betty in the picture above, she's played by Margaret Barton.

When Betty steals a bit of kidney from the butcher shop she works at Robert admonishes her for making a weak excuse. His honesty will soon take a beating as he skips going to the police with the case of cash,it gets worse after Simone Simon enters the picture.

 

William Hartnell plays the baddie. He wants that case back. After failing to find it at the docks he starts poking around the area. It won't take him long to start suspecting Robert. There's a bit of cat and mouse as Robert tries to elude him. Things don't work out well for  either of them.

It's got a decent story, a good script and it's well shot and presented. It's a good reminder why Robert Newton is still a favorite with me. It got a 7 from me over at the IMDb. You can see a 1080p copy on YouTube. See link above.

The Calendar 1948

The Calendar 1948 Based on the 1929 Edgar Wallace play The Calendar and the novel of the same name, screenplay by Geoffrey Kerr, directed by Arthur Crabtree. I keep finding films based on Edgar Wallace stories and I watch them even if they're dramas set in the world of British horse racing. There's a 1931 film version of the story that I haven't seen.

John McCallum is Captain Garry Anson, he's a racehorse owner who loses some of his money at the track. His fiancee dumps him and marries a rich guy. Greta Gynt plays the sister of the rich guy, she works for Garry training his horses. The plot revolves around something stupid that Garry does and it takes ages to fix that boner up.

It's not as interesting as most Wallace adaptations but they usually involve more interesting characters and murder.

Train Of Events 1949

Train Of Events 1949 Written by T E B Clark, Basil Dearden, Angus MacPhail and Ronald Millar, direction by Sidney Cole, Charles Crichton and Basil Dearden. A British film made by Ealing Studios.

The story tells of a train crash and 4 short pieces tell the story of some of the people on the train. I'm usually shying away from a drama but I make an exception for Basil Dearden. He wrote some of the story and directed two of the 4 stories.

Jack Warner is an older train driver, he's got a chance to take a job in management, he'd like that. Another story is about a German POW who's on the run. He doesn't want to go back to Germany. An actor has killed his ex-wife, he's taken his wife's body on the train with him, hoping to dump it in the ocean. The last story concerns a pianist and his girlfriend. 

Some fair better than others in the crash. Life goes on. I enjoyed it well enough, might be a while before I get around to it again.

The Red House 1947

The Red House 1947 Based on the 1945 novel The Red House by George Agnew Chamberlain, screenplay by Delmar Davies and an uncredited Albert Maltz, directed by Delmar Davies. Delmar is probably best known for the 1957 western 3:10 To Yuma.

The Wikipedia calls The Red House a thriller and the IMDb gives it three categories: drama, film-noir and mystery. I thought it was mostly drama with some romance and an old murder mystery. There's lots going on but it's kind of predictable. There's plenty of guilt too.

It's got a good cast, Edward G Robinson, Lon McCallister, Judith Anderson, Rory Calhoun, Allene Roberts, Julie London, Ona Munson, Harry Shannon and Arthur Space. The script is alright but it's not the sort of thing I'm that keen on. Doubtful I would watch it again. I'll keep the Alpha Video DVD anyway. You can see a decent copy on YouTube.

Waterloo Road 1945

 

Waterloo Road 1945 Story by Val Valentine, written and directed by Sidney Gilliat. According to the British Film Institute database, it is the third in an "unofficial trilogy" by Gilliat, preceded by Millions Like Us (1943) and Two Thousand Women (1944).

John Mills is a soldier, Joy Shelton is his wife, Stuart Granger is a conscription dodger and Alastair Sim is the local doctor. Stuart is enjoying the nice life while the men of England are off at war and their wives are lonely at home. John gets a letter telling him that Stuart's chasing after his wife. John goes AWOL and heads for home with the MPs on his tail. He meets wife, has a bit of a dust up with Stuart, and it's back to the Army.

It's a decent film that Stuart Granger said was one of his favorites. He's an entertaining character despite being a weasel. He gets his in the end. There's a lot of drama going on with John and Joy but it all gets sorted out. You can find out if you like it on YouTube, sadly all I could find on YouTube is the slightly shorter US release. I bought a cheap DVD on sale at Hamilton Books. It's 4 mins longer.

Two Thousand Women 1944

 

Two Thousand Women 1944 Screenplay by Frank Launder with additional material by Michael Pertwee, directed by Frank Launder. I've long been a fan of the films of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat. Most classic film fans would know them from their screenplay for Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. The St Trinian's films from the 50s are my favorites of their work.

The Wikipedia says:

Per the British Film Institute database, this is the second in an "unofficial trilogy" by Launder and Gilliat, along with Millions Like Us (1943) and Waterloo Road (1945).

Patricia Roc plays a novice nun who is travelling with some children. The French soldiers catch her sneaking around at night and think she's a spy because she's using a flashlight while a German plane is overhead. She was sentenced to death but she's "saved" by the arrival of the Germans. Patricia is sent to an internment camp in a fancy resort hotel in the town of Marneville.

The hotel has a variety of women, including a German spy. The French hotel owner is suspected as being a collaborator. A few days after her arrival there's a air raid in the area and a British plane is forced down. Three airmen sneak into the hotel and the women hide them and help them escape. It ends with the group of prisoners singing There'll Always Be An England.

I enjoyed the film and understand it's a solid piece of propaganda. You can see a watchable copy on YouTube, as well as copies of Millions Like Us and Waterloo Road.

The Jester's Supper 1942

The Jester's Supper 1942 Based on a play called La cena delle beffe by Sem Benelli, screenplay by Sem Benelli, Renato Castellani and Alessandro Blasetti, directed by Alessandro Blasetti. The play was later turned into an opera.

In 15th century Florence aristocrat Giannetto Malespini is being bullied by aristocratic brothers Neri and Gabriello Chiaramantesi. That's Giannetto, he's played by Osvaldo Valenti, in his off screen life he was a fascist, in 1945 he and his wife Luisa Ferida were executed by partisans.

The lady is Clara Calamai, she plays Ginevra, a servant in the Chiaramantesi household. Neri brought her to a party at Giannetto's as an insult. Giannetto fell for her and Neri didn't care for that much. Gabriello is also interested in the woman but Neri controls her for his own sick pleasures.

That's Amedeo Nazzari as Neri and Alfredo Varelli as Gabriello. Neri is the worst of the two and he's the one that abuses Ginevra. The film has one of the earliest nude scenes in Italian cinema, Neri rips off her nightgown in front of his pals and Giannetto.

 

Finally having enough of Neri and his brother Giannetto plots his revenge. He convinces others that Neri has gone mad and they chase him through the city and up a bell tower. He escapes and attacks a lot of people. He's recaptured and tortured by some of the people who hate him so much. Luisa Ferida plays one of the many women treated poorly by Neri. Giannetto tricks Neri into killing his brother. Neri is driven mad by the deed.

I found it quite entertaining. The DVD looks fairly good, be nice if they restored it. I got it at Hamilton Books for 6 bucks. Well worth it.

The Amazing Mr X 1948

The Amazing Mr X 1948 Original story by Crane Wilbur, screenplay by Muriel Roy Bolton and Ian McLellen Hunter, directed by Bernard Vorhaus. Another film shot by John Alton, he uses a lot of shadows here too. The film was re-released under the title of The Spiritualist.

Turhan Bey is a spiritualist called Alexis, Lynn Bari is Christine, she's lost her husband and she's hearing his voice and favorite music. That's Lynn on the right, the other lady is Cathy O'Donnell, she plays Christine's sister Janet. Richard Carlson plays Christine's fiance Martin.

Christine starts consulting Alexis about her dead husband, she gets some comfort at first. Unbeknownst to her Alexis is doing all sorts of tricks to make her husband's voice audible. The police are snooping around Alexis but they've got nothing to go on.

Things take a deadly turn when Christine's dead husband Paul shows up in the flesh. He'd faked his death, sizing up the current situation he creates a complicated plan to marry Alexis to Christine's younger sister Janet and then killing Christine so Janet and Alexis get the inheritance that he's expecting a cut from. That all falls apart as the movie plays out.

A nice tight story that looks pretty darn good despite the low budget and short 3 week shooting time. I've seen it a couple of times and it holds up better each time. There's a good commentary with plenty of info by Jay Fenton.