PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Murder In The Blue Room 1944

Murder In The Blue Room 1944 Based on Geheimnis des Blauen Zimmers by Erich Philippi, screenplay by I A L Diamond and Stanley Davis, directed by Leslie Goodwins. It's a remake, here's the bit about that from the Wikipedia:

It is the second remake of the 1933 American Pre-code murder-mystery film Secret of the Blue Room, the first being Universal's 1938 remake, The Missing Guest. Faithful to the original plot, Murder in the Blue Room plays up the comedy with songs. The plot is based on the 1932 German film Secret of the Blue Room.

 

A family is having a party in their mansion. The three ladies in the picture on the left are a singing trio that's come to entertain the guests. They are played by The Three Jazzybelles who were picked to replace The Ritz Brothers. The trio of gals are friends with a young woman at the party and the comic relief.

The house is said to be haunted by people in the area. The title refers to the room in which the patriarch of the family was murdered, that happened in 20 years ago and the room has been kept closed up ever since. The movie is mostly a comedy with a couple of murders, plenty of yelling and lots of running about. It's kind of silly and most of the jokes are fairly good.

A man gets the family to let him sleep in the blue room overnight, in the morning the man is gone and the door to the room is locked from the inside. His body turns up the next day in the blue room after another man has disappeared.

I had a good time despite the songs from The Three Jazzybelles, they were OK but nothing much special. You can have a gander at it on YouTube.There are a few links above with other versions of the story.

Phantom Killer 1942

Phantom Killer 1942 Written by Karl Brown and directed by William Beaudine. William is credited with 350 plus films and hundreds of TV shows in a career that lasted from 1915 to 1970 when he died at 78 years old. He's one of my heroes in film. The script is a remake of the film The Sphinx.

A deaf-mute philanthropist is suspected of murders but he has an airtight alibi. Dick Purcell is the DA. The police are nearly clueless until Mantan Moreland claims the killer spoke to him before he escaped. I'm a big Mantan fan, enjoying him in many films over the years.

There's plenty of running about and a bit of danger as Dick and the police try to keep Mantan alive and crack the case. The movie has a nice sense of humor and I enjoyed it. I'd watch it again. You can try it out on YouTube.

Whispering Ghosts 1942

Whispering Ghosts 1942 Written by Lou Breslow and Philip MacDonald, directed by Alfred L Werker.

 

Milton Berle appears as a radio host who does a show about true crime. He gets mixed in a real mystery when he tries to solve the murder of a sea captain from several years ago. Brenda Joyce plays the grand niece of the sea captain. She shows up to claim the ship he left her. Supposedly there's a cash of diamonds hidden aboard. Free diamonds attracts the wrong sort of people.

John Carradine and Renie Riano are a pair of reprobates. Willie Best is Milton's servant and driver, the two of them are fun to watch. There's plenty of running about, some good jokes, and a murder or two.

Generally fun but nothing too exciting, a smidge better than average. I found a copy on YouTube. I'd watch 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.

Appointment With Crime 1946

Appointment With Crime 1946 Written and directed by John Harlow.

William Hartnell is a small time crook who's been away in prison for a smash and grab. He'd gotten caught when the windows security shutter fell on his wrists. The other crooks in the gang got away. He'd spent his time away healing his broken wrists and developing a nice hatred of his old pals. He hits up his old boss for a job but the guy brushes him off. He doesn't think a crippled guy could do the work anymore.

William plans a nice revenge on his boss, he's going to frame him for the murder of the getaway driver from the failed robbery. William doesn't know it but the plan will lead to a lot of death. There's a bit of a romance between William and Joyce Howard but that doesn't go so well either.

It's a good solid crime film with William Hartnell playing a tough hood without enough brains to be more successful. Good script and good cast that includes Herbert Lom, Robert Beatty, Alan Wheatley, James Robertson-Justice, Ian Fleming and Wilfrid Hyde-White.

I picked up the Kino Lorber Blu-ray and it looks quite nice. You can try it out on YouTube.

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.

Night Monster 1942

Night Monster 1942 Written by Clarence Upson Young and directed by Ford Beebe. Ford has 125 writing credits on the IMDb, he's only got 105 director's credits. His first film was in 1921 and he made 31 silent shorts before graduating to features in 1931. He directed quite a number of serials, I've seen some of them, including Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe, Flash Gordon's Trip To Mars and Secret Agent X-9. 

It's the second film in the 4th volume of the Universal Horror Collection. I'd seen it couple of times before and enjoyed it. There's a commentary by Gary D Rhodes, it's fairly decent but way too slow. The Blu-ray has a nice looking picture, a trailer and stills.

A wheel chair bound rich man invites three doctors who were trying to cure him. He blames them for their failures and one by one the men are murdered in the house. The police suspect the rich man but he has no arms or legs.

That's the rich guy in the wheel chair, he's played by Ralph Morgan, I'd seen him in quite a few films from the thirties and forties. Bela Lugosi is the butler, the man next to him is Francis Pierlot, one of the soon to be murdered doctors. Don Porter is the guy in the light coat, he'd have a nice long career in TV that lasted until 1988. The guy sitting down is Nils Asther, he's playing a mystic, the short man next to him is Frank Reicher, he's another of the soon to be murdered doctors. The lady is Irene Hervey, her career lasted nearly 50 years but I can't say I've seen more than a few of her pictures, I've probably seen her more often on TV.

I enjoyed the movie, it's got a nice creepy vibe going on. It's only 73 mins and it moves along quickly. The cast is good and the characters suspicious. I'd certainly want to watch it again sometime.

Lady Of Burlesque 1943

Lady Of Burlesque 1943 Based on the novel The G-String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee, screenplay by James Gunn, directed by William A Wellman. I read the book in the 80s and have dug it out to re-read soon. I had originally believed it was ghost written by Craig Rice but the current thought is Gypsy herself wrote a good portion of the novel with her editor and Craig's help. I wonder if I'll like it as much as I did in the 80s. In recent years revisiting old favorites hasn't been as successful as I might hope.

In the movie Barbara Stanwyck plays a singer and strip tease artist called Dixie Daisy. During a raid by the police someone tries strangling Dixie but she manages to escape. A few days later her friend Lolita isn't so lucky.

Dixie turns detective in this murder mystery set in her world of burlesque theater. There's a fair bit of the on stage show and plenty of backstage business with the cast and crew. There's a punch up, some singing and a bit of romance too. I liked the characters and the story. I've seen it several times since the 80s and still enjoy it. You can check it out on YouTube. I bought a DVD ages ago.

The Strange Case Of Doctor Rx 1942

The Strange Case Of Doctor Rx 1942 Written by Clarence Upson Young, directed by William Nigh. The third film in the 2nd volume of the Universal Horror Collection. The Blu-ray disc has a still gallery and a short featurette about Lionel Atwill. He had an interesting life although it had a bad patch when he got convicted of perjury in 1942. It was for his testimony in a 1941 grand jury investigation of an alleged sex orgy at his home. He got probation, he was blacklisted, parts were scarce and not every big. He died in 1946 from cancer and pneumonia, he was 61. He was in a lot of pictures I have liked and he's almost always top notch.

Patric Knowles is a detective who's come back to town after being away for a year. He quickly marries his old girlfriend Anne Gwynne, much to the surprise of his live in butler. Mantan Moreland. plays the butler, I'm such a Mantan fan, I feel he makes a movie better. There's more silly comedy in this than most of the movies in the Horror Collection.

He gets involved with the Rx murders and helps the police catch the baddie. Edmund MacDonald and Shemp Howard play the cops, Lionel Atwill plays Dr Fish, and Ray "Crash" Corrigan plays the gorilla. I think I'd want to watch this every once in a while.

Crack Up 1946

Crack Up 1946 Based on Madman's Holiday by Fredric Brown, screenplay by John Paxton, Ben Bengal and Ray Spencer, directed by Irving Reis and his assistant James Anderson.

Pat O'Brien is an outspoken art critic but when we meet him he's out of his mind. He smashes his way into the museum like a drunken man, a statue is bust, the police come and Pat concocts a wild story about someone calling about his dying mother and a train wreck. Trouble is there was no call about his dead mother and the train he took last night to go see her didn't have a wreck.

Pat swings into flashback mode and we see it start in the museum where he's giving a lecture to a small crowd. He's against the surrealists like Dali and for painters like Dürer's The Adoration of the Magi. It's a painting that had been on display at the museum, it's been crated and awaits shipment. Pat wants it uncrated, as well as a couple of his pals, so he can do a bit of a lecture about them and show off the technique of x-raying paintings to see what's underneath.

When the director of the museum voiced his reluctance to have the paintings uncrated I figured this was a art forgery story and that's what it is. Pat's crazy antics give the director even more of a reason to cancel Pat's lecture. Pat's one of those tenacious bulldog types, he really needs to find out what happened to him last night. He takes the train again and gets a clue to the mystery. The rest of the film is Pat vying against the villain. He takes some body blows but comes out of it OK in the end.

That's Pat with Clair Trevor and Herbert Marshall, Claire's Pat's girlfriend and Herbert is an art theft investigator from Scotland Yard. Ray Collins plays a member of the museum's board of directors, Wallace Ford is the local police lieutenant. I enjoyed the cast and the story idea was good enough to carry a movie. I thought it was a bit pokey, even for the time it was made, but I still enjoyed the film as a whole. You can give it a test drive by clicking the link in the title.