PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

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.

Reign Of Terror 1949

Reign Of Terror 1949  Story and screenplay by Philip Yordan and Æneas MacKenzie, directed by Anthony Mann. The film's working title was The Black Book but changed before release, later that same year the title was changed back to The Black Book. I first saw it under TBB on an old Alpha Video DVD a few years ago. This VCI DVD looks much better than that.

The movie was the work of cinematographer John Alton, he also shot the other movie on the Classic Noir Volume 3 disc, The Amazing Mr X. I've seen several of his films, most of them in the noir genre, He Walked By Night, Lady And The Monster, I, The Jury, Bury Me Dead and The Big Combo. John won an Oscar for the ballet scene in An American In Paris. Reign Of Terror was a really low budget film and mostly shot with lights on the floor. That produces a lot of shadows to play with and it's quicker to set up than over head lighting. John has a reputation of being able to quickly light a set and that speeds up production.

It's 1794 France and Robert Cummings plays Charles D'Aubigny, Richard Basehart plays Maximillen Robespierre and Arlene Dahl plays Madelon. It's the last days of Robespierre and his Reign of Terror. Charles kills and impersonates prosecutor Duval who's been summoned to Paris by Robespierre to recover his Black Book. It's got the names of those Robespierre wants to denounce and have executed. It's not something he wants to be made public.

There's plenty of intrigue and double crossing going on. There's plenty of punching and sword fighting, horse riding and yelling. Madelon helps the fake Duval escape and there's a bit of romance going on too.

It's an entertaining film that looks great despite the lack of a budget. Production designer William Cameron Menzies does a great job on the sets, many of which are simple one and two wall designs. They were also able to use some sets left over from the 1948 film Joan Of Arc. The DVD has an interesting and informative commentary by Alan Rode with clips from his interview with Arlene Dahl.

Murder On Lenox Avenue 1941

Murder On Lenox Avenue 1941 Story by Frank Wilson, screenplay by Vincent Valentini and Bryna Ivens, directed by Arthur Dreifuss. I don't seen too many all black cast films. This one turned up on YouTube and I was curious as it was a crime film. I did like the poster.

The movie is set in Harlem where many of the characters live in a large apartment building. The local business league has thrown out the shady guy in charge and he's going to get even by killing the nice man the locals have asked to lead them. The nice man's ward is a creep who's got one woman in trouble while planning to marry another woman. That woman's father wants her to marry the creep despite her being in love with a nicer guy. Some of the minor characters provide the humor. There's plenty of stuff going on in the script, it's a nice snapshot of life that seems real enough.

That story builds slowly, it keeps getting interrupted by musical numbers. That's fine, there's a fair bit of good music. It's nice and short and well made. I enjoyed it well enough to get to the end. It's really more a melodrama than a crime film. I doubt I'd need to see it again. I saw it on YouTube, the film looked fairly good, link in the title.

Friday Night Movies 897

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore 2022 Based on a screenplay by J K Rowling, screenplay by J K Rowling and Steve Kloves, directed by David Yates.

Second viewing in a few days gave me a chance to notice more of whats going on in the background, little things that I missed the first time. It's a busy movie, plenty going on. I enjoyed it all over again.

One Million BC 1940 Written by Mickell Novack, George Baker and Joseph Frickert, directed by Hall Roach and Hall Roach Jr.

Some hikers seek shelter in a cave during a rain storm. They find a man studying the cave paintings. He starts to tell them the story on wall and the film turns into a flashback of the story. Victor Mature is a caveman in the rock tribe, after an altercation with his father, played by Lon Chaney Jr, he winds up in the river. Victor floats down the rive and eventually winds up in the territory of the Shell tribe.

Victor meets Carole Landis and the rest of the tribe. The Shell people are much more civilized, sharing food and providing care to the young and old alike. There's plenty of danger as the area is packed with dinosaurs. When the volcano erupts the two tribes are brought together and the movie ends with them staying together. Probably best for safety and breeding.

I'm sure I've seen it but my watched movie list doesn't have anything listed. Some parts were familiar. I did enjoy it, there's usually something going on. The VCI Blu-ray looks pretty darn good. I'm tempting myself by putting a copy in my Wishlist. I'm thinking I'd watch it again someday.

The Climax 1944

The Climax 1944 Very loosely based on the 1909 play of the same name by Edward Locke, adapted by Curt Siodmak, screenplay by Curt Siodmak and Lynn Starling, directed by George Waggner.

This is the 3rd movie on the Universal Horror Collection Volume 4. It's a 4 Blu-ray set with a commentary for each film. This one is by Kim Newman and Stephen Jones. It's fairly interesting and more entertaining and informative than the previous two commentaries in the set.

Boris plays a doctor who's in love with an opera singer. That's Boris with Susanna Foster, she plays the singer. She's got good reason to look like that. Being with Boris is not anything healthy and she doesn't even know he killed his previous fiance, who now resides in a coffin is a secret room in his big house.

 

Turhan Bey is also in love with Susanna. Boris uses hypnotism on Susanna so she'll only sing for him. Lucky for her Turhan comes to the rescue. It's a bit more melodrama than horror and it's a rather slow film. It's not overly exciting and there is a lot of opera. It's in color, it was Karloff's first color film, the Blu-ray looks very nice. I liked it better this watching, I'd last seen it in 2008 at a Friday Night Movie night.

North To The Klondike 1942

North To The Klondike 1942 Loosely based on Jack London's Gold Hunters Of The North, story by William Castle, screenplay by Clarence Upson Young, Louis Sarecky and George Bricker, directed by Erle C Kenton.

I'm always on the lookout for any film that has a connection to William Castle. He's one of my favorite film makers and it's getting rarer to find a film I haven't seen yet. Sadly his involvement in North To The Klondike only extends to writing the story.

It's basically a Western land grab film with a crooked trading post owner trying to cheat the farmers out of a gold mine. Lon Chaney Jr plays the trading post and saloon owner. He's got a gang of scum to help him out. Broderick Crawford plays the hero, he comes to the remote Alaskan community at Lon's request. Broderick is a mining engineer but while he was traveling there the situation changed and Lon doesn't need him. He tells Broderick that the mine failed while he was travelling and offers him some expense money and a boat ride back.

That Evelyn Ankers with Broderick, she's the romantic interest. Lon has eyes on her and that causes some friction. Lon is working behind the miner's backs to drive them from the area. He doesn't want to share any profit from the mine. He burns the settlers winter supplies and kills the man who was sent down river to reorder. Lucky for the locals Broderick can save the town.

Andy Devine plays a local guy, Dorothy Granger and Evelyn Ankers are the ladies. Lloyd Corrigan plays the local doctor, Willie Fung and Keye Luke play local Chinese guys who befriend Broderick and help him save the town.

 

It's a pretty standard plot but cast does well with what they had. The area around Big Bear Lake in California makes a nice scenic fill in for Alaska. I liked the characters and enjoyed the story. There's a fair bit of humor and that's always welcome. You can check out the movie on YouTube. It's not the best copy but it's the first I've seen of it.

The Devil's Sleep 1949

The Devil's Sleep 1949 Original story by Danny Arnold and Richard S McMahan, directed by W Merle Connell. An exploitation movie about teens and drugs.

A new lady judge wants to keep the local teens from getting hooked on drugs. Local drug dealers try to use her daughter to blackmail the judge, hoping to keep her from doing her job. She's tougher than that and she's got some pals to help.

It's pretty darn hokey and not overly interesting. You can check it out on YouTube.