April 2012 – Page 4 – FilmFanatic.org

Calling Dr. Death (1943)

April 5, 2012 admin Comments 1 comment

“I have no alibi — don’t even know where I was.”

Synopsis:
When his faithless wife (Ramsay Ames) is found murdered, a neurologist (Lon Chaney, Jr.) who is perhaps overly fond of his beautiful nurse (Patricia Morison) becomes the prime suspect. Soon Ames’s lover (David Bruce) is accused instead, but the investigating detective on the case (J. Carrol Naish) refuses to leave Chaney alone.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

Amnesia
Detectives and Private Eyes
Falsely Accused
Lon Chaney, Jr. Films
Murder Mystery

Review:
The first of Universal Studios’ “Inner Sanctum” films (inspired by the popular radio series of the same name), this surprisingly dull murder mystery stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as an unhappily married doctor who suffers from an inconvenient bout of amnesia during just the weekend his philandering wife is killed. Despite some creative visual touches (thanks primarily to effective use of double exposure), the storyline plods along creakily, without generating much interest; it ultimately feels much longer than its 63 minutes. A snappy performance by J. Carroll Naish as the omnipresent detective on the case simply highlights how tepid all the other actors are: Chaney is his usually plodding, tortured self, and while Morison is lovely to look at, her performance never rises above adequate (though her talents are head-and-shoulders above those of Ames, who is mercifully only on screen for a couple of short scenes before her death).

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

J. Carrol Naish as Inspector Gregg
Creative visual touches
The inspired final flashback scene

Must See?
No; this one is only must-see for Inner Sanctum fans.

Links:

Weird Woman (1944)

April 5, 2012 admin Comments 1 comment

“I’m a scientist, but I’m not immune — you can’t be surrounded by fear and not be infected.”

Synopsis:
A highly rational professor (Lon Chaney, Jr.) marries a superstitious woman (Anne Gwynne) he meets while travelling in the South Seas. When they return to his college campus, his former flame (Evelyn Ankers) immediately becomes jealous of his new wife, and plots to make Chaney’s life miserable.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

Jealousy
Lon Chaney, Jr. Films
Professors
South Seas Islands
Voodoo and Black Magic

Review:
In the 1940s, Universal Studios produced six low-budget horror films based on the popular “Inner Sanctum” radio series (all starring Lon Chaney, Jr.); Peary lists two of these titles in his GFTFF: Calling Dr. Death (1943) and Weird Woman, an early adaptation of Fritz Leiber’s 1942 novel Conjure Wife (filmed again by Sidney Hayers in 1962 as Burn, Witch, Burn!). It strains credibility (to put it mildly) to imagine Chaney, Jr. as a man so brilliant and so appealing to women that elaborate plots of vengeance and backstabbing are concocted on his behalf — but once you accept this questionable bit of casting, it’s relatively easy to get caught up in this hour-long psychological horror flick, which features committed performances by both Ankers (deliciously vengeful) and Gwynne (perpetually fearful). Fans of Burn, Witch, Burn! will be especially interested to watch for parallels and differences between the two adaptations; while BWB remains a highly atmospheric cult classic (and is clearly the much better film), WW does a fine job within its limited budget and visionary scope.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

Game performances by the B-level cast

Must See?
No, though diehard fans of Burn, Witch, Burn! will certainly be curious to check it out.

Links:

Lady of Burlesque (1943)

April 2, 2012 admin Comments 2 comments

“Three people get crowded at a table for two.”

Synopsis:
When ambitious burlesque dancer Lolita La Verne (Victoria Faust) is murdered, her gangster lover (Gerald Mohr) as well as all her fellow performers — including new arrival Dixie Daisy (Barbara Stanwyck), a comic romantically pursuing Dixie (Michael O’Shea), and a snooty rival known as the Princess Nirvena (Stephanie Bachelor) — are under suspicion.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

Amateur Sleuths
Barbara Stanwyck Films
Murder Mystery
Vaudeville and Burlesque
William Wellman Films

Review:
Barbara Stanwyck is a class act the entire way in this censor-tamed adaptation of Gypsy Rose Lee‘s best-selling mystery thriller The G-String Murders (whose title, naturally, was changed for the big screen). The storyline itself is little more than a standard whodunit, with nearly all the film’s motley characters under suspicion at one point or another (and a second murder thrown in for good measure). What really counts here is the setting in which the entire affair takes place — a relatively faithful if highly sanitized recreation of the behind-the-scenes mayhem, camaraderie, romance, and rivalry that constituted the rapidly fading world of burlesque. Directed by William Wellman (who helmed the much more serious literary adaptation The Ox-Bow Incident the same year), the film holds interest throughout, thanks to a sincere performance by Stanwyck and game turns by the supporting cast. You may be surprised by the identity of the murderer — though I’ll admit I guessed correctly for once (albeit without an accurate assessment of motive).

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

Barbara Stanwyck as Dixie Daisy
A fine tribute to the quickly-fading world of burlesque

Must See?
No, though it’s recommended. As a public domain title, it’s available for free viewing at www.archive.org.

Links:

Shanghai Gesture, The (1941)

April 2, 2012 admin Comments 1 comment

“It smells so incredibly evil… I didn’t know such a place existed, except in my imagination.”

Synopsis:
The thrill-seeking daughter (Gene Tierney) of a wealthy businessman (Walter Huston) becomes a regular patron at a gambling house in Shanghai owned by “Mother” Gin Sling (Ona Munson), who is upset that Huston is trying to force her to move her establishment to another district.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

Gambling
Gene Tierney Films
Josef von Sternberg Films
Play Adaptations
Victor Mature Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary refers to this Josef von Sternberg-directed outing — a “much cleaner” adaptation of John Colton’s 1926 Broadway play — as “an absolutely ridiculous film”, citing this as the “reason that it has a cult”. He notes that the “extremely weird, overwritten, often dull script” — which is “full of awkward introductions, lectures, people yelling at each other, [and] double entendres” — “comes across like a clumsy first draft that was filmed only because the next 20 drafts were lost”. He insists that “performances by the entire cast — including Victor Mature as a poetry-reciting Arab — are outrageous”, and “so is the ending”. He concludes his review by noting that the “strangest [fact] of all is that von Sternberg didn’t recognize his folly and inserted a few inspired touches along the way that might have been saved for a better picture”.

As evidenced by comments on IMDb, The Shanghai Gesture has retained its cult status, with one user referring to it (with notable delight) as a “campy trainwreck”. Fans seem to especially enjoy both Gene Tierney’s rather nuance-free performance as the spoiled young heiress (whose addiction to gambling is here used as a stand-in for drug addiction, as depicted in the original play), and the presence of Una Munson’s truly outrageous hairpieces; as Peary cheekily notes, she “obviously had hair done by someone who had learned to tie shoelaces”. Indeed, an entire thesis could likely be written on what, exactly, Munson’s — wigs? can you call them that? — give away about her character’s state of mind, particularly as they become literally unbalanced near the end of the story (see still below). Regardless, Munson’s central performance as ‘Mother’ Gin Sling remains the film’s dominant force: she so fully inhabits this archetypal “Dragon Lady” that we’re immediately willing to suspend all disbelief about a white woman portraying an Asian.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

Ona Munson as Mother Gin Sling
Fine cinematography
Oscar-nominated art direction
An enjoyably pulpy script: “I have no country; and the more I see of countries, the better I like the idea!”