Movie review - "A Nice Little Bank That Should be Robbed" (1958) **

 Why did they make this? To cover overhead? It's in CinemaScope so black and white. Maybe they needed a vehicle for Tom Ewell. Maybe Buddy Adler was impressed by The Lavendar Hill Mob.

Wacky heist comedies can work if you like the heroes. Tom Ewell, Mickey Rooney and eventually Mickey Shaughnessy try but aren't that. Why should we care? Why not make the bank slimey? Why not have a villain? Why does Dina Merrill (Ewell's girlfriend) look so bored? 

Henry Levin shoots the script as usual.  He makes mistakes like directing the victims of the robberies as scared - if they'd been mean and horrible it would be more fun.

The final heist takes forever. A poor movie. 

Movie review - "Night Editor" (1946) *** (warning: spoilers)

 This was meant to be a series but you can kind of see why it didn't result in one - it's low concept (journalists read out stories). Fine for radio anthology, not for recurring series.

This has a strong story - William Gargan is a cop cheating on his wife with a dame. They see a murder. He has to investigate it. He can't reveal what he saw.

That's strong. So is Janis Carter as the married rich woman, aroused by violence, who stabs Gargan. The film really should have ended with him dying.  Gargan isn't quite handsome enough for his role but plays pain well. Jeff Donnell (a female) does what she can as the ever lovin' wife.

Some decent support players wonderful photography. Columbia's B section was strong. The device of using journalists talking about it wasn't necessary. 

Movie review - "The Farmer Takes a Wife" (1953) **

 Not much of a musical though Fox splashed the cash on some decent sets and costumers - it's almost overproduced. Some of the tunes aren't bad. Betty Grable seems unsure. She wears huge dresses and is a cok on the canal. She has no chemistry with Dale Robertson who is alright but really has no business being in a musical (a John Payne would have been much better.). Their romance involves him rough handling her. Thelma Ritter's part is too small.

Occasionally comes alive - a dance Grable does with Gwen Verdon, I think, and there's a decent brawl on a boat at the end.

But this isn't much. 

Movie review - "The Man from Colorado" (1948) **1/2

 Harry Cohn supposedly assigned Charles Vidor to this to torment him - maybe, as Vidor always wanted to leave Columbia, but it was a class "A" Western in colour with two big-ish stars, Glenn Ford and William Holden, and a lot of psychology.

The story is of interest with Ford suffering badly from PTSD post Civil War and getting over keen as a judge, and his fellow officer Holden as a marshall. The film can't quite get its story right - the elements are there (they both love Ellen Drew, there's a solid subplot about mistreatment of veterans) but the action doesn't build. Holden and Ford needed to be in more confict sooner. It doesn't happen to the last bit. And even then the film feels reluctant to have Holden and Ford do a showdown - they keep using third parties.

Quite a big role for Jerome Courland as a southerner. It's a film that tries but pulls its punches. Right wing screenwriter Borden Chase did the story - presumably left wing Ben Maddow wrote the anti miner stuff.

Movie review - "Run for the Roses" (1977) *

 Dull boy and horse story with some pretty Kentucky scenery. Henry Levin got this job because he did April Love. The pace is sluggish everyone seems bored.

Ida Lupino was going to be in this then dropped out and was replaced by Vera Miles. Stuart Whitman is there. Sam Groom. Lisa Eilbacher! The film avoids conflict.

Occasionally of interest. Documentary style footage of a horse race and horse operation. A fire sequence.

But it's pretty dull. The producers were crooks, that's of interest. 

 

Movie review - "The Devil's Mask" (1946) ***

 Lovely photography, mood, and story telements - shrunken heads, butlers killed, women going mad, leopards.

But the problem is the same as The Uknown  the third in the I Love Mystery series - this was the second - in that the two leads are shoehorned in. The heroes are really Anita Louise (woman investigating death of her father whose head may have been shrunk) and Michael Duane.

Still, a kiler leopard gets you a lot of points. 

Movie review - "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" (1966) **1/2

 Silly Eurospy spoof from Dino de Laurentiis which gives you everything you need from a Bond spoof - mad villain (Raf Vallone) with outlandish plan, hero agent (Mike Connors), female lead (Dorothy Prvine), exotic locations (Brazil).

Connors is a little dull as a hero but he's offset by Provine and Terry Thomas in an outrageous rip off of Lady Penelope and Parker from Thunderbirds - they're a lot of fun.

Critical reception was hostile, in part I think because so many films like this were then being made. But the time of this genre has passed so we can appreciate that Provine never got another role this fun, and Connors didn't get another chance to run around Brazil, nor did Terry Thomas to play a skilled secret agent.