Book review – “Finchy: My Life with Peter Finch” by Yolande Finch

Three biographies of Finch appeared around the same time; this one had the advantage of a close personal connection, being written by Finch’s second wife. Yolande was a South African actor who met Finch in Durban when he was on his way

Very personal – Yolande doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to her husband’s drinking, possessiveness, or sexual kinks (he tried to get her into a threesome – we hear about one time she was kind of willing to go along with it with two hookers but he couldn’t get it up). She also gets stuck into his supposed feeling for black people, claiming it was racist at core. Bad natured but an invaluable additional insight into the man.

Radio review – Suspense – “Dime a Dance” (1944) **1/2

Enjoyable stuff with Lucille Ball as “Ginger” investigating a serial killing spree. Suspense made a few stories with plucky heroines investigating crime during the war – the influence of Rosie the Riveter, no doubt.

TV review – “The Adventures of Long John Silver” (1955) **1/2

"Dragon Slayer" – Establishes the concept of the series with narration: Australian-accented Jim Hawkins lives in the pirate port of Porto Bello, where his guardian is Long John Silver. There’s lots of outrageous pirate acting and brawls. Ron Whelan stars as Redbeard who cons Silver into abducting Purity.

"Eviction" – A better episode (Martin Rackin did the script) with a pompous fat Lord of influence (Kevin Brennan) being a major pain in Porto Bello. He causes Purity’s tavern to be shut down, meaning Purity has to live on Silver’s ship (so they’re having sex, huh?). There’s a neat twist with the lord being an impostor and a Spanish spy – although this does let Silver and the governor off the hook.

"Execution Dock" – Long John Silver is ill despite insisting he’s got plenty of good years left, and its poignant to watch as Newtown died not long after filming wound up on the series. Silver has hallucinations enabling William Constable to show off his stuff. But it gets wearying after a while – there’s no real story.

"The Pink Pearl" – Silver is visited by a handsome lunk who practically announces “I’m a young male romantic lead” (John Bonney). He asks the pirate to help him find his brother. They visit an island where the natives are played by a combination of browned-up white actors and Maoris. It turns out they’re being exploited by Spaniards – because you know the English would never do that. However the young Brit agrees to stay with his native lover (Jeannette Craig)– isn’t that miscegenation in mid 50s television? Bit racy.

“Devil’s Stew” – Long John gambles away his money. A flat effort.

"Miss Purity’s Birthday” – one for Miss Purity – it has some low comedy and a funny scene where Jim attends a party at the Governor’s house.

"Ship o the Dead" – strong concept – Hawkins discovers a ship with its crew murdered but no one believes him. This one has a feel for Stevenson, an undercurrent of violence lacking in the series. There's a real threat. It is admittedly a little bit unconvincing how Hawkins saves the day.
“Sword of Vengeance” – this feels like the gang stumble into another person’s story: Owen Weingott is found floating in a boat on his own; he asks Silver’s help in attacking the evil Spaniard who stole his woman. There is actually a fair bit of swordplay in this one, all involving Weingott - Silver and company mostly just look on at the action.

“Dead Reckoning” – Jim Hawkins’ guardian calls him back to England, resulting in a lot of syrup from Long John and Jim at the thought of being parted. So Jim goes to school in Bermuda where he’s flat mates with a bratty kid. Jim refuses to inform; lots of scenes of Aussie kids acting in Aussie. Dreadful performance from the bratty kid.

“Pieces of Eight” – in order to pay taxes, Silver gets involved by a dodgy Greek on an expedition to find gold in Panama – Hawkins comes along which is downright irresponsible. There is a lot of trudging around the Australian bush, substituting for Panama. Not very good.

“The Tale of the Tooth” – a funny episode centering around a bad tooth of Silver’s. There’s another decent character in the tight-fisted Scottish dentist (Lou Vernon) who gets kidnapped by Spaniards. Good fun.

“Turnabout” – a more pirate-y story: Silver and his crew are captured by the French and Silver has to con his way out of it. An engaging story flatly handled. David Nettheim plays a Frenchman.

TV series – “24” – Season 2 ****1/2

24 avoids the sophomore slump with consistently clever plotting and good writing. Oddly, it takes a while to get going – after the hijackings and explosions of season one you’d think they would be able to come up with a decent way to introduce the atomic bomb threat, but it’s relatively low key here. But once it gets into its stride it is very entertaining – even if it is an endorsement of torture. (“We haven’t got any time!” I wonder if in military history there has ever been a race against time in which torture has been useful.) Also it’s maddening that they don’t evacuate LA.

Keifer Sutherland is effective as Jack Bauer, his voice being a particularly powerful instrument. Elisa Cuthbert once again acts as if she’s strolled off the set of Party of Five, which is entertaining in its own way. It’s also great fun to see Johnny Drama aka Kevin Dillon pop up.
The series stretches the “real time” factor a fair bit and sometimes the writers can’t think of really good ways to get out of the corners they paint themselves into, but sometimes they do and who cares when they’re such good corners.

Movie review – Marple#3 – “Murder Most Foul” (1963) **1/2

A Hercule Poirot mystery adapted for Miss Marple – our hero is on the jury and refuses to believe a person is guilty, so goes undercover yet again. This time she visits an acting troupe, headed by Ron Moody who is the pompous love rival for Stringer Davis; the support cast includes Dennis Price, Bud Tingwell and Francesca Annis. The theatre setting offers the opportunity for easy gags, which are taken.

Movie review – Shayne #5 – “Just off Broadway” (1943) **1/2

Shayne is a juror who tries solving the case in which he is involved. The tone is very light (Shayne goes undercover as a Swedish janitor, and once again pretends to be a girl’s fiancee) so it’s a surprise that he slaps a dame – that doesn’t feel like Lloyd Nolan’s Mike. Phil Silvers, as a publicist, gives some class to the support cast and Marjorie Weaver is fun as a girl reporter, another old friend of Shayne’s. There is a midget, too, an old friend of Shayne's - it was that sort of series. Good fun, apart from the scene where he hits the girl.

Movie review – “Infamous” (2006) **1/2

The poor bastard of the year award would have to go to Douglas McGrath and the makers of this movie, which was pipped at the post by “the other Capote film”, Capote. Not only did it deal with the famous writer, it too concentrated on the one specific incident of his career – the writing of In Cold Blood. This one has a cult for being better but it isn’t really – it has extra glimpses of New York high life, but does that really matter since we don’t get to see much of it? (If it had been a film about the Black and White Ball, that might have been different.) The other Capote also feels more authentic – this one has clunky scenes like Capote turning up to the police station where there’s a press conference and making sweeping statements; and it’s not particularly well directed either (eg all those Woody Allen-type long shots and talking to camera). Toby Young’s Capote is fine; Sandra Bullock is excellent as Harper Lee but the actor who plays Paley is dreadful and actor-ish.

Movie review - Shayne #3 - "Dressed to Kill" (1941) **1/2

Interrupted matrimony was a big feature of the light-hearted Bulldog Drummond films of the 30s, so it's perhaps not surprising the similarly light Michael Shayne films borrowed that device. Shayne is about to marry Mary Beth Hughes when he gets drawn into a murder mystery involving some various actors. Its fast and good natured; the support cast includes Henry Daniell and William Demarest, indicating that the budgets were reasonably healthy (or else the producer was thrifty).

Radio review – TGA#10 – “Emperor Jones, Where the Cross is Made” (1945) ***

Double bill of two works by Eugene O’Neill sponsored by the good folks at US Steel, presumably on a culture kick. Well, be grateful we have Canada Lee’s Emperor Jones on record – co-starring with Boris Karloff no less, who is effective as the snivelling Pommy who deals with Jones. Lee is very good – but the piece doesn’t adapt that well to radio, because there isn’t a lot of plot (the start of the play is the end of Jones’ story and most of the action consists of him freaking out). To pad out the running time they adapted another O’Neill work, a one act play called “Where the Cross is Made”, which felt at times like an old school horror film with a crippled sailor bitter against his mad father and a subplot about buried treasure (it was a very early O’Neill work but is still entertaining – it’s a shame it never was turned into a horror film); Karloff was in this too, along with Everett Sloane.

Movie review – Shayne #5 - “The Man Who Wouldn’t Die” (1942) **1/2

Michael Shayne shoe-horned into another film for which he wasn’t originally considered. This feels different to others in the series – a bit more spooky and horror film like. Shayne is called into investigate some weird stuff at an old house by an old female friend (Marjorie Lawrence, who was in the first Shayne film but who here plays a different character, although it’s a similar sort of role, i.e. little rich girl). To enable him to investigate, they pretend to be married which enables some fun Shayne comedy – one of the big attractions of the series. This one is notable for its number of spooky scenes: wind-swept house at night, digging up corpses, silhouettes of killers with glowing eyes. The support cast includes Henry Wilcoxon, Jeff Corey (later acting coach) and Dorothy Malone (one of her first films, though buggered if I could spot her – she’s probably one of the girls running past when Mike goes to see the magician whose backs are to the screen).

Radio review – Lux - “Panic in the Streets” (1951) **

Exciting sounding concept – a dead body fished out of the water is revealed to be infected with plague - but it’s dull – too many boring “hey it’s conflict” squabbling between Richard Widmark and Paul Douglas, too much boring domestic whingeing with Widmark’s family, not enough gangster stuff. The original at least had some New Orleans location filming which this doesn’t. I also get irritated by heroes determined to suppress information to the public.

Movie review – Shayne#4 – “Blue, White and Perfect” (1942) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Mary Beth Hughes returns as Shayne’s girlfriend, although she has a different name – these B picture series were always a bit shonky when it came to continuity. Fed up with Shayne, she’s determined to marry someone else. Eventually Shayne talks her around, then pretends he’s given up detective work by going to work at a plane factory. In fact he’s investigating sabotage by going undercover – WW2 hits the Shayne series. In the course of his adventures, Shayne impersonates a riveter, a southern gentleman, several different businessman… all the while avoiding his fiancée.

This wasn’t based on an original Shayne novel, but a story by Borden Chase – which may explain why 30 minutes in Shayne winds up going undercover on a cruise ship and we introduce a whole new bunch of characters, including an old female friend of Shayne’s (one of the refreshing things about B film detectives was they always seemed to have bantering relationships with women who they treated as equals – provided said females didn’t want to marry them), and George Reeves as a gigolo with a moustache.

Two decent twists – Reeves is an undercover agent, and the revelation of the baddie. Shayne visits Hawaii prior to Pearl Harbour and at the end of the film takes off for Manila. He evidently got out of there in time for his next adventure!

Movie review – “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) *****

Glorious fun romp still holds up pretty well. Some of it is a bit creaky – all the jabbering natives smack slightly of racism, Spielberg tends to underline the jokes – but it’s still smart, imaginative and full of genuine thrills. The art direction is magnificent – there’s something magical about period action films, particularly ones set in the 30s; the special effects remain pretty good too.

Some plot holes which annoyed at the time still annoy (eg Indy getting on the submarine – what if it sinks?) but Lawrence Kasdan’s screenplay remains one of the best things he’s ever done and stands as a magnificent rebuke to all the idiotic action tentpoles running around over the last 30 years.

Harrison Ford’s perennially stressed Indiana Jones contributes immeasurably to making his adventures believable (Tom Selleck would have made it more tongue in cheek and cartoonish). Indiana was more of a hard-arse than I remembered – he raids tombs without thinking about it much, and dismisses Karen Allen’s complaints that he took advantage of her when she was a teenager with “you knew what you were doing”.

Movie review – “Valkerie” (2008) ***

Solid war film based on a terrific true story. It’s painful to watch at times because they came so close. The accents are distracting. Cruise is believable in a way as a Nazi, but not a tormented German. The supporting cast is strong.

Movie review – “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (1998) ***

Example of a great “save” ending – you’ve got a romantic comedy about Julia Roberts determined to wreck Dermot Mulroney’s wedding to Cameron Diaz. In a standard rom com Diaz would be a bitch and Mulroney would come to his senses but Diaz is sweet and lovely (although a dangerous driver – something which is meant to be charming – would it be funny once she puts someone in the paraplegic ward? – but I digress). Which makes things dramatically fresher but how do we get a happy ending? By making Julia grow and sending her off into the sunset with her gay best friend, Rupert Everett – the perhaps the best exponent of what very quickly became a rom com cliché in the 90s. Everett is the best thing about the film – he infuses the action with tremendous energy during his appearance mid way through and it’s a shame they couldn’t have figured out a way to keep him around during the second half.

Movie review - “Avatar” (2009) ***

The price tag was huge but its up there on screen – a stunning looking film, especially in 3D, and it has an intriguing set up and plenty of action. It also has this sort of irritating separatist liberalism that you find from millionaire film directors (indeed, its similar in its simplistic attitudes to Strange Days, which resembles this in a lot of other ways – to wit, it deals with the redemption of a fallen warrior through the use of a new-fangled technology).

The alien society, which is meant to be great because it’s so in touch with the environment, is a monarchy where the rulers are warriors, women don’t have a say in who their husbands are, and the warriors tame birds by raping them.

Also the baddy human corporation is just plain evil without given any decent motivation (it wouldn’t have to be too hard, just something like Bill Hunter’s villain in Strictly Ballroom being motivated by a desire to be able to teach “official” ballroom dancing steps – something like the company is losing money). On another level, it lacks the pure narrative structure of something like Aliens (land on planet-try to get off planet) or Terminator (escape Terminator) and is choppy.

Okay, enough griping. On the sunny side it looks terrific, there are some decent performances (I especially liked Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saladana – Stephen Lang would have been good if he’d been given a character with a bit more complexity), Sam Worthington is fine as the hero (although his American accent slips at times, he may as well done the whole thing as an Aussie), there is lots of action.

Movie review – “Mr Arkadin” (1955) **

An attempt by Welles to create a popular film, this combined his two biggest successes to date: Citizen Kane and The Third Man. It shows off his talent but isn’t very good. The story doesn’t get going til 34 minutes in, the unlikeable (worse: uncompelling) hero, Robert Arden makes you long for Joseph Cotten or even William Aalland (though Arden isn’t helped by his character – Holly Rollins was a genuine innocent trying to help a friend; Michael in Lady from Shanghai does his dopey acts for love; Arden plays an obnoxious prat like a corrupt cop in a detective film). Paolo Mori lacks the enigmatic beauty required for her role; Patricia Medina isn’t really up to the part of Arden’s girlfriend (she and Arden whiff of 50s Universal pictures).

It’s not an interesting story – Arkiadin’s secret is a bit dull – and a lot of it doesn’t make sense: why does Arkadin go to all this trouble? It’s a shame Welles couldn’t have played the lead, although he was also well suited to play Arkadin. Or so you’d think – but he has a silly beard and accent and gives a terrible performance.

But there are some good things – I enjoyed the camera angles and some of the supporting cast (esp Gert Frobe, Michael Redgrave, Peter Van Eyck), memorable “bits” (eg flea circus, he drug addict on the boat, the old Mexican general and his wife). This would be Welles’ least enjoyable film, but like everything he made it’s worth watching.

Movie review – “The Mummy” (1959) **1/2

Following their success with Curse of Frankenstein, Hammer set about doing versions of other famous monster tales – Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, Hound of the Baskervilles, and the Mummy (I’m surprised they never had a crack at the Invisible Man.) A contract with Universal enabled them to raid films in the mummy series: this borrows not just from the Karloff Mummy but also The Mummy’s Hand and the Mummy’s Ghost (and of course the stage version of Dracula, which inspired so much of the Karloff Mummy). This was made by the Hammer A team - Terence Fisher, Jimmy Sangster, Cushing, Lee – but it’s not one of their classics.

There’s an opening sequence in a faraway land where someone goes mad – cut back to England where said mad person is in a loony bin (Peter Cushing’s father – it’s weird seeing Cushing play someone’s son). Cushing isn’t quite right in the lead but Christopher Lee is effective as the mummy (not that much praise, I know, but he looks believable in flashback); the art design is typically excellent and there are some good (if too frequent) action sequences but the story gets a little dull at times.

The majority of the plot concentrates on the mummy getting revenge for being dug up but them throws in a Cushing’s-wife-looks-just-like-Lee’s-lost-love subplot towards the end; too little too late. Still, Hamer went on to make a number of other mummy films, including The Curse of the Mummy, The Mummy’s Shroud, and the Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (the latter being a cursed production during the making of which director Seth Holt and Peter Cushing’s wife died).

Movie review – “Cockfighter” (1974) **

Roger Corman likes to give this film as an example as a New World film that didn’t take off at the box office. It’s a disingenuous answer in a way because this has become a cult film: the director was Monte Hellman, who worked with Corman on and off throughout his career.

The milieu alone ensures this is always maintains some level of interest; Warren Oates plays a cockfighter who has taken a vow of silence until he’s made it to the top. It starts with his bird losing a fight against Harry Dean Stanton. Then we flashback to him losing another fight against Harry Dean Stanton, then in sports movie tradition he sets about on the road to the top. He gets money to buy a new rooster, gets a trainer (Richard Schull), starts playing smaller gigs, ignores the love of a good woman, builds up to the big game.

Interesting cast: there’s also Troy Donahue (looking dishevelled and pudgy), Millie Perkins, Ed Begley Jnr and Steve Railsback. It was shot by Nelstor Almendros and edited by Lewis Teague and has an evocative atmosphere. But the film was problems – the muteness of the hero becomes irritating (although they use narration; it limits the character’s ability to interact with others, which hurts for a lead). The narrative lacks urgency – it becomes boring. And the big problem, which Corman didn’t realise until the film came out - who cares about cockfighters? Or Oates’ character?

Movie review – “I Mobster” (1958) **

Roger Corman’s career stepped up another level with Machine Gun Kelly, the success of which prompted him to make this second gangster story. It isn’t as good, as even Corman admitted. It lacks the true story origin of Kelly, and also the emotional resonance of the Kelly’s marriage. Instead it’s a rise-and-fall of a ficticious gangster, played by Steve Cochran, he of the reputation for being well hung and the interesting real life death. Problem is, it isn’t a particularly interesting rise and fall.

Some bright moments: Cochran ducks out of his welcome home party to shoot someone; Cochrane and a mate visit a nightclub where Lili St Cyr does a strip tease; a decent final shoot out. But there aren’t any interesting characters; Cochran was effective as a dashing second lead in things like White Heat but doesn’t have enough of a personality to make an unoriginal role interesting, and the female lead is particularly bland. Yvette Vickers has a small role; it’s a shame it wasn’t bigger.

Radio review – Lux – “Undercurrent” (1947) ***

MGM weren’t known for their thrillers but they could step up when required (just like they could with Westerns, and gangster films) and this is a very enjoyable entry in that sub-genre, woman-marries-man-who-she-realises-may-be-dodgy (eg Gaslight, Rebecca, Suspicion). Katherine Hepburn is perhaps too sensible and strong where a weaker actor would have been more effective.

Radio review – CP#48 – “Broome Stages” (1939) ***

Orson Welles had a fondness for old actors so its no surprise to see him adapt a saga about an acting dynasty along the line of the Barrymores or the Redgraves. This gives him an excuse to recite some Shakespeare in character and play multiple roles. His co star is yet again Helen Hayes. It's quite entertaining; taken from a book by Clemence Dane

Movie review – “Superbad” (2008) ****

I held off from seeing this for a bit but really enjoyed it. Wonderfully cast, as most films from the Judd Apatow stable are, with a great simple plot: two best mates try to rid themselves of their virginity by buying alcohol to get certain women drunk – adventures ensue. Sometimes things get broad but it always comes back to truth. The three leads are brilliant and Seth Rogen and the other guy are hilarious as cops. Didn’t quite believe Jonah Hill could score that girl at the end - but that's very Judd Apatow, too.

Movie review – “The Big Clock” (1948) ****

Not quite as good as I remembered it – it takes a while to get going, and the central concept isn’t quite believable today (a crime magazine editor who solves crimes before the police do and has a massive staff of reporters to do investigating – did such people exist which such jobs?) – but there is a lot going for it.

There are some excellent performances from Charles Laughton, George Macready, and Elsa Lanchester; top notch direction from John Farrow; beautiful photography; crisp dialogue. Ray Milland is ok as the hero and Maureen O’Sullivan bland as the nagging “why are you never home” wife – was this autobiographical casting from Farrow? Laughton has a memorable death.

And of course the central concept is business - someone asked to investigate a murder by the person who committed it, the murdered hoping the investigator will get evidence to pin it on a man hanging out with the dead girl... who happens to be the investigator.

Movie review – “Shanghai Express” (1932) ****

Classic train movie with Marlene Dietrich perfectly cast as courtesan Shanghai Lilly. Clive Brook, who looks like a bank manager from Norwich, is less believably cast as the love of Lilly’s life, a British doctor on his way to perform an operation, but the support cast is spot on: Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Eugene Palette, etc.

Anyway, the real romance is between Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg and his DOP (Lee Garmes); I’ve never been a massive Dietrich fan, but she’s absolutely stunning here, so lovingly shot. 

The fact this was made pre-Code means it can be a bit more grown up – Dietrich is allowed to go off into the sunset with Brook instead of being punished (Anna May Wong isn’t, but she is Chinese – it’s not that grown up); a dodgy French officer isn’t punished. Very sexy and colourful; much imitated over the years.

Book review – “The Remarkable Michael Reeves” by John B Murray

Some film directors have long distinguished careers and never get a bio; Michael Reeves made only three features and gets two. It helps that he died young of course, only 25, and that he worked in the horror field, with its devoted fans. I would have thought that Brian Halligan’s excellent work was enough to satisfy them but Murray’s piece is well worth looking at too; Halligan’s was more of a critical study, this fleshes out the personality of Reeves considerably more. There’s lots more information about his family and girlfriend and the sort of things he did; lots of oral history from his friends, particularly Ian Ogilvy, Nicky Henson, Diana Ogilvy, Paul Ferris. Sometimes it feels like it needed an edit (eg including letters from people who didn't want to be interviewed, repetition) but it's a work of passion and insight and really helps explain Reeves.

Movie review – “Catalina Capers” (1967) **

Dopey beach party film was one of the last in the genre, but at least is cheery and unpretentious. The plot smacks a little of Disney TV – it involves two friends on holiday in Catalina who get caught up in the theft of some museum artifacts – so it’s entirely appropriate that Tommy Kirk plays one of the leads. Kirk is quite animated here, playing a Midwesterner who’s never seen the sea before. Catalina isn’t that pretty – it seems to be a good place to take your boat, really – but there are lots of dances and some decent musical numbers (including one from Little Richard!). 

The supporting cast play in a very broad, over the top style – you can see the influence of the AIP films in the casting, eg “here’s the Buster Keaton role, here’s the Keenan Wynn role”. Michael Blodgett is in it (he did the choreography) and Ted V Mikels was the DOP.

TV review – “Law and Order Season 3” (1992-93) ****

The series keeps its standard high. There are constant inventive twists – rape by a doctor, murderous sweatshops, a conspiracy assassination, the prosecutors realise they put away an innocent man whose lawyer doesn’t care. Paul Sorvino gets a better exit than George Dzunda (in the terrific high death toll Columbian episode) and his replacement Jerry Orbach is much better – better even than Dzunda, although without the lightness. Orbach has this great annoyed scowl – it’s like he doesn’t believe anyone he talks to.

Guest stars include Claire Danes (amazingly good), the black guy out of Terminator 2, Ira out of Mad About You (one in a long line of slimy defence lawyers), Elaine Strich (was it just a happy coincidence that this Broadway star was there for Broadway star Jerrry Orbach’s first ep as lead? And there are Broadway jokes), Lindsay Crouse, Eric Bognosian (making a return), and Juliana Marguelies. I also love the semi-regulars: the sexy psychologist, the flirty ballistics expert who loves her work, all the wisecracking judges.

Book review – “Farley Granger: Include Me Out” by Farley Granger

David Shipman once brilliantly summed up Granger’s career along the lines of “he was a nice looking kid with a neat line in wealthy weaklings and underprivileged heroes; another Clark Gable he wasn’t”.

Granger had one of those dream starts to a movie career – acting in a school play he was spotted by a talent scout, who signed him to Sam Goldwyn; he was loaned out to play male juvenile parts in prestige productions from Lewis Milestone (The North Star, The Purple Heart); his career was interrupted by war service, but it was pretty cruisy war service on Hawaii, then he went back to Goldwyn who loaned him out to Nick Ray to make They Live By Night, which took aged to be released but was seen widely around Hollywood, including by Alfred Hitchcock who cast Granger in Rope. Duly impressed, Goldwyn then tried to launch Granger as a major star in a series of flops (The Real McCoy, Enchanted); Hitchcock gave his career a spark with Strangers On a Train, but then it was more flops (The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing). Visconti used him for another classic, Senso, then some more flops saw him flee to live TV and a fairly average stage career. He’s still around, doing bits and pieces – TV, dinner theatre, soapies, etc.

Granger was also bisexual, which presumably prompted the publication of this book. He lost his virginity to a woman then a man the one night in Hawaii, then went back and forth between the sexes for a few years before settling down with a man. Among his relationships: Arthur Laurents, Lenny Bernstein, Ava Gardner, Shelley Winters, Jerome Robbins and Jean Marais; he knocked back Noel Coward, which seems just rude.

You don't think of Granger being a bad actor - indeed, he's been good in everything I've seen him in. But he really was a character actor rather than a star - he projected weakness rather than strength; he's best as someone to whom things happen as opposed to someone who makes things happen. Granger never seemed to recognise this about himself; indeed, he doesn't really have an idea about how he fit in the Hollywood scheme of things (he seems to imply that the drop in his film career was not due to his flops but rather due to (a) being blacklisted for turning down the lead role in The Egyptian, and (b) wanting to do theatre and TV work in New York).

He's also a bit of a whinger - whingeing about how Goldwyn misused him (to be fair, most of Goldwyn's films post-Best Years of Our Lives were pretty crappy, but Granger wouldn't have had any sort of career without him), about how restrictive star contracts were, about how his old Hollywood directors didn't offer him roles in the 60s. 

 

He spends too much time talking about his not very interesting adventures in the TV and theatre trade during the 50s to 70s, and about his travels in Europe. In contrast, he mentions his work in a Trinity film in one sentence - surely this was worth one anecdote? - and is surprisingly brief about his work in the Hitchcock's. It's like he's gone "I'm going to put things in proper perspective and not just concentrate on the well known stuff" - but the stuff that isn't well known isn't very interesting. (The exception was his piece about his panic attacks working on a soapie.) 

 

It was an interesting read, especially as you don't get careers like Granger any more - I just wish it had been more thoroughly edited.

Movie review – “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” (1957) **1/2

Enormously fun science fiction film with two iconic performances – the stunning Allison Hayes as the poor old fifty foot woman, and Yvette Vickers as the archetypal Woman of Easy Virtue. She’s running around with Hayes’ hubby; Hayes then runs into an alien pod and grows fifty feet tall and develops a huge paper mache hand which remains the film’s best know special effect (the poster is also famous). It’s totally possible to do a feminist interpretation of this movie, with its wronged heroine getting revenge on her no-good man. Many memorable moments.

Radio review – Suspense – “Death Went Along for the Ride” (1944) **1/2

Another good Suspense performance from Gene Kelly – I always get surprised to hear musical stars in non-musical performances on radio but when you think about it, why not? He’s got a strong speaking voice and acquits himself well. The plot of this one is reminiscent of Lucille Fletcher’s The Hitchhiker although without the supernatural element – Gene drives across country and becomes convinced someone is following him.

Movie review – “Sheba Baby” (1975) **

There was a period in Hollywood when blaxploitation films were the surest best at the box office; in the pre-Jaws era studios were particularly anxious about declining audiences so they cranked them out by the hundreds and soon a backlash set in. This Pam Grier vehicle came towards the end of the cycle; she plays a private eye ex-cop who returns to her old home town of Louisville to help her dad, an honest businessman being hassled by gangsters.

This is a lot more demure and tame than Coffee or Foxy Brown – there's no nudity (we only see side flashes of Grier’s boobs), it's a loss less violent and a lot less fun, without any delirious excess (Grier blows away a few whiteys and has a brief cat fight but doesn’t shoot anyone’s nuts off or take a gun out of her afro or anything like that). The handling isn’t very inspired – it seems like an episode of Starsky and Hutch. Austin Stoker, the black cop in Assault from Precinct 13, plays her love interest.

Movie review – “Revenge of the Cheerleaders” (1975) **

The skeleton in David Hasselhoff’s cinematic closet – actually he’s got nothing much to be ashamed of playing a jock boyfriend of one of the hero cheerleaders. This is set at a high school where the jocks and cheerleaders behave like Roman nobles during Caligula’s time – they drink, party, take their clothes off, have orgies, never attend class. A new principal comes in to introduce some law and order but it turns out dodgy property developers have their own plans for the school.

The film is a quasi-dance musical – the characters keep breaking out into dance numbers; although some of the cast aren’t very good at dancing (the sweet Rainbeaux Smith seems to struggle), some are (I get the feeling the male actors all came from dancing) and it gives the film a lot of energy. There’s lots of sex and nudity (even some topless dance numbers), and it is very high spirited – similar in tone to the later Rock n Roll High School. The fact one of the cheerleaders gets pregnant in the end adds this odd note of realism to all the debaucherous anarchy.

Movie review – “War of the Satellites” (1958) **

Roger Corman quickie best known for being knocked off in record time to cash in on the Sputnik launch. It’s got several of his late 50s sci-fi hallmarks – a credit sequence with an animated picture, some familiar names (Susan Cabot, Dick Miller, Richard Devon – the slab of wood from The Undead); a scene where teenagers making out in a car come across a fallen thing from space; dodgy sets.

The plot has aliens telling humans to stop exploring in outer space; the UN goes “f*ck you” and goes ahead with exploring anyway. Devon is taken over by the aliens into a zombie, which suits his acting. Most of the story consists of Devon going around being naughty on the space ship – it’s kind of like a forerunner to Supernova. There’s some laughably sparse sets, particularly within the spaceship, and lots of nifty black outfits.

 The story actually isn’t too bad – Corman used the concept of a scientist being possessed before in It Conquered the World. Cabot suits the story - she's very pretty with these striking sunken eyes -but Miller doesn’t quite work as a hero (just like he didn’t in Sorority Girl). It races along and has plenty of energy.

Radio review - Lux – Five Graves to Cairo (1943) ***1/2

One of Billy Wilder’s lesser known films perhaps because the lead was the unexciting Franchot Tone, who actually is pretty good. And it’s a pretty good story too (a remake of Hotel Imperial) with Tone as a British soldier cut off from his troops who finds himself forced to go undercover in a hotel occupied by the Germans. Anne Baxter is a spirited romantic lead but the best performance goes to Eric Von Stroheim as Rommel – his sardonic humour is unmistakeably Wilder (now I’ve said that I’ll probably read some article which demonstrates that Charles Brackett wrote it). Solid twists and turns – undercover stories almost always work. I especially like the way Tone made Baxter feel guilty by making up a wife and child.

Radio review – Suspense - “One Way Ride to Nowhere” (1944) **1/2

Feels like a pilot for a series: Alan Ladd as a private eye who investigates a death on a roller coaster. For all that, pretty good mystery – a lot better than Ladd’s Box 13 series.

Radio review – SDP - “Rogues Regiment” (1951) **1/2

Fascinatingly set in French Indo China after WW2 but despite a brief bit of chat between anti-colonial and pro-colonial characters it's really just the back drop to a chasing a Nazi story. Dick Powell is an American agent who goes undercover to find said Nazi; there's a sultry dame and a bit of bang-bang. It's interesting to hear Robert Florey the director chat at the end.

Movie review – “The Sister in Law” (1974) *

By Crown International standards this is made by A list talent – it stars John Savage (who also did the music) and was written and directed by Joseph Ruben. Savage plays a young man who comes home from hitchhiking to find his sister in law determined to seduce him and wreck his family. (Interesting parallels with Ruben’s later The Stepfather). His brother is involved in the mob. There’s a pretty decent cat fight in a pool and an unfortunate scene where Savage molests a girl while she’s asleep and she resists but it drags on for far too long and isn't sexy or exciting enough. The sole interest towards the end comes from trying to guess whether Savage or his brother is going to be killed by the mob.

Movie review – “Midway” (1976) ***

Solid, no-nonsense account of battle. Unfortunately done in that crappy Universal style that looks like a mini series – and a 70s mini series at that. But the quality of the cast helps a lot – Henry Fonda, Chuck Heston, Glenn Ford, Robert Wagner, etc. The Japanese are not demonised – they are shown to be professional soldiers who simply make a few errors. Luck, which ran against the Americans in the Philippines, was with them at Midway. The intercutting of real war footage with the studio stuff does jar at times but because it’s the real deal it has this extra resonance. The subplot about Heston’s son marrying a Japanese girl is quite effective.

Movie review – “9” (2009) **

Impressive animation, an evocative post-apocalyptic mood and some spectacular action sequences, but I’ve got to say I didn’t really enjoy this. (I only saw it at the movies because I thought it was the musical.) Despite an impressive cast there was little interesting characterisation, minimal humour and an uninvolving story. It’s like this top short was taken and expanded and given the Hollywood treatment – but not enough or too much, it kind of falls between the Pixar and indie stools. Why should we care about this whimpy Elijah Wood stitch puppet or whatever it is? He does cause the death of a bunch of his friends purely through curiosity.

Radio review – Lux - “Salty O’Rourke” (1945) *

An Alan Ladd vehicle that isn’t really – the main character is actually the jockey. Ladd was short enough to play the jockey but I guess Paramount couldn’t see him as anything other than the hunk hero. William Demarest lends support and Marjorie Reynolds substitutes for Gail Russell, but whatever slight charms this had in the film version don't transfer to radio.

Radio review – BP#33 – “Mr Roberts” (1952) ***

Arthur Kennedy isn’t Henry Fonda but this is a decent adaptation of the famous play. Full of warm touches and insight that continually leap cliche – it feels completely real - a clear influence on Operation Petticoat. You can see why this was so popular, it rings very true, with its depiction of military life: boredom, petty tyranny of the captain, seeking excitement and breaking the rules, etc.

Radio review – CP#40 - “Vanessa” (1939) **

Wafty romance with Helen Hayes in the lead opposite Orson Welles. (Hayes was the most common co-star of Welles in Campbell Playhouse, you get sick of her.) It touches on insanity – a woman enters a loveless marriage with a bloke who goes bonkers – but the tone isn’t gothic, more… wet. Falls into the “sap” sub-genre of Campbell Playhouse, like The Apple Tree.

Movie review – “The Darjeeling Limited” (2007) ***

“Irritating yet moving” would be the best way to sum up my feelings towards this Wes Anderson opus. It’s the sort of movie that if you get into you’ll love – I couldn’t quite into it but appreciated the quality of the actors and they different take it had on things. Even Americans in indie-ish films still come across as boorish wankers when overseas. The acting is good across the block - Natalie Portman takes her kit off; such is the lure of indie cred.

Radio – Lux - “Destroyer” (1943) **

Ra-ra tribute to the navy with Edward G Robinson reprising his film role as one of those movie mechanics so obsessed with the ship he’s built he signs on to serve on her. Dennis O’Keefe plays the romantic male lead who loves Robinson’s daughter; the biggest surprise is that Robinson doesn’t die at the end.

Radio – Suspense - “The Black Curtain” (1943) ***

Cary Grant (who overacts a bit) stars in an episode of Suspense strong enough for a feature – it deals with that old standby, an amnesiac who may be a murderer. The fact a key witness is deaf mute may have worked better on screen but I liked the revelation of the killer.

Radio – Suspense – “The Defense Rests” (1944) **1/2

Decent story with Alan Ladd playing a role seemingly custom-made for him - a bitter ex-con who gets out of gaol. He goes to work for his defence lawyer - only to find out the DA who put him away is working with said lawyer. You could have fleshed this out into a full length feature with another subplot; Ladd gives a good performance.

Radio review – Lux – “Seven Keys to Baldpate” (1939) ***

The RKO perennial turned into a vehicle for Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone, who play themselves – as does Cecil B de Mille! Benny offers to stay the night at de Mille's place and come up with a story - if he does so, de Mille will cast him in a film. It's a convoluted set up - even more than the original play - but once it gets going the action flies by and Benny is fun. Good fun. Perhaps one twist too many at the end.

Play review – “Titus Andronicus” by William Shakespeare

A good strong play – the lines of conflict are clear, the story works, the characters defined. Tamora is another great early female role; Aaron, the Queens’as lover, is a strong black role – villainous to be sure, but sexy and smart. It's a full on play: Titus is a top general who thinks he’s going to be the Emperor’s father in law, only his daughter runs off with the Emperor’s brother instead – causing the Emperor to marry the Queen of the Goths. Titus’s daughter is raped and has her hands cut off and tongue removed, while her husband is killed. Titus’s sons are blamed and executed; Titus offers up a hand to save them but it’s not taken. You feel sorry for Titus but then he kills his own daughter for being raped.

Shakespeare was probably going through an anti woman phase at this stage – taming Kate, raping pretty things, etc. Characters aren’t hugely deep and everyone is this pulsating mass of viciousness – Temora, Aaron. I think the fact this is not set in England meant Shakespeare didn’t have to worry about politics as much – no one had to be patriotic, everyone is ruthless. I’m surprised this isn’t better known - probably because of the violence.

Play review – “Comedy of Errors” by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s shortest play, adapted from Plautus (lesson from Shakespeare to up and coming writers: if you’re going to learn how to write, adapt an existing work – either historical record or something out of copyright. Also if you’re going to learn structure, write a farce). The plot is about two sets of twins who wind up in a town – mix ups result, accentuated by the fact that each twin has the same name, and revolving around. Throw in a ticking clock where an arrested man has a day to pay a fine or else he’s going to be killed.

The humour is very broad - jokes where masters beat servants (not really funny), jokes about a fat girl describing countries in her body, about going bald. It lacks any really memorable characters although I enjoyed the squabbling married couple, vicious in their insults (she’s convinced he’s cheating and gets a witch doctor to deprogram him).

On the the whole this is good fun – there's plenty of action, good structure, a bit of romance and a happy ending. It’s like a good solid sitcom, and that’s not a back handed compliment at all.

Play review – “Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare

Great archetypal rom com plot – they are still doing variations on it today (and Shakespeare couldn’t have invited it for all his genius). It takes a long time to get going – there's this prologue with a lord, and servants, and some strolling players (what was the point of this?), but then once it gets going it's the battle of the sexes we all know and love and argue over.

There’s a theory Shakespeare had access to a good “female” actor in his early days because there were some good parts (not as good as for the blokes, true, but still good): Queen Margaret, Queen Anne, Juliet, and here, Katerine. She is a really nasty piece of work – she hits her sister and Petruchio. However she doesn't deserve her treatment here.

There's no doubt this is a sexist and misogynist play – you can make the argument that it isn’t, but why can’t people just accept just because Shakespeare was a genius doesn’t mean he can’t be sexist? Petruchio bullies Kate in to submission – he even starves her. But it’s got a great central situation, strong characters, lots of entertaining dialogue exchanges (in particular word play). I was surprise how mean and how little time spent on the famous duelling couple – as much time is spent on pursuit of Bianca. Not one of Shakespeare's great plays but very influential in its own way.

Radio review – Lux - “Only Angels Have Wings” (1940) ***

Lux was perhaps the most prestigious radio drama show of its day, for movie stars at least. This adaptation of the Hawks classic has Jean Arthur, Cary Grant, Thomas Mitchell, Rita Hayworth, Richard Barthemless, etc. This doesn't quite capture the flavour of the Hawks classic - you just need those visuals of the actors walking around being comfortable in their masculinity - but it's pretty close and it's rousing entertainment.

Movie review – “Foxy Brown” (1974) **1/2

A sort-of sequel Coffy with Pam Grier back as a hot black chick out for revenge under the direction of Jack Hill. Instead of being motivated by a drug addict sister (she does have a druggie brother but he’s totally unsympathetic) she’s out to get revenge on behalf of her murdered boyfriend (Terry Carter – Colonel Tigh from the first incantation of Battlestar Galactica). So she goes undercover as – what else? - a call girl. (Coffy was a nurse but Foxy Brown isn’t given a job.)

There’s a great credit sequence with Pam Grier dancing along to the terrific Willie Hutch theme song. Its reminiscent of James Bond movies and so is this film, with its sexy superhero and outlandish villains (one of whom even has a swivel chair). It is still 70s in some unpleasant ways, including the throat cutting of a naked woman.

Grier is fantastic value, all big afro, massive boobs and attitude. She shoots at her brother, beats up a bunch of lesbians in a barroom brawl (a another great Jack Hill girl on girl fight), various gangsters, etc. She also gets tortured and raped but manages to triumph by bringing in some black revolutionaries who help her castrate one of the baddies. Full on! Then Foxy delivers the dick in a pickle jar to the girlfriend of said baddy. Fuller on!

The audio commentary by Jack Hill is interesting – particularly as Hill seems bitter about his cavalier treatment by AIP. (Though to be fair he does admit some things he didn’t have control over and was opposed to at the time – clothes, music – he says really works.) He also complains about the fact the success of this and Coffy didn’t turn him into a hot property in Hollywood, partly because the films were dismissed as “black films”. (At the end of the commentary he says he’s doing what he really wants to do now – which is develop romantic comedies!) I'm surprised that Hill's career didn't kick on after the mid 70s, even if only as a script writer (most of his films had very strong stories and were full of great scenes and images); maybe he just got jack.

Radio review – CP#39 – “Lost Horizon” (1939) ***

Strong version of the classic tale with Orson Welles surprisingly not taking the Ronald Colman role, but the lama. It’s atmospheric and expertly produced; like all versions of this story there’s a dodgy undercurrent – the other two members of the expedition are determined to dig for gold and spread Christianity, why is the girl so keen to leave Shangri-La? That doesn’t bode well for them. The “star” is Sigrid Gurie, who specialised in playing oriental types around this time; she’s the female lead.

Radio review – Lux – “The Lady in the Lake” (1948) ***

Robert Montgomery reprising his film role in what turns out to be a solid, enjoyable version of one of Chandler’s lesser regarded novels. The story holds up without the POV gimmick – I like the visits to Bay City and first person Chandler adapts well to radio.

Movie review – “The Onion Movie” (2008) **1/2

Apparently, the production of this was a bit convoluted with people taking their names off credits and a release direct to DVD – which is surprising because surely there was a theatrical market with this, the same people who go watch Epic Movie, etc? Maybe they figured the problem was it’s not so much like those films as Kentucky Fried Movie – a bunch of sketches grouped together with a thin story about the corporatisation of news (David Zucker was an ep on this). Maybe another problem was this film has genuinely funny moments – the Britney like singer whose hits include ‘Take it from Behind’, Steven Seagal as ‘Cockpuncher’, the ability-challenged athletes. I didn’t recognise any of the main cast, but there are cameos from Seagal, Meredith Baxter Birney, and Michael Bolton. On the down side some jokes are repeated far too often (Cockpuncher wears out it’s welcome in particular) and there’s a dud climax involving Arab terrorists. It’s not as brilliant as the newspaper but there are definitely several laugh out loud moments.

Radio review - Lux – “The Phantom Lady” (1944) ***

I’ve never seen this highly regarded film noir but it’s a pretty good story, with loyal secretary investigating the imprisonment of her boss, who’s been accused of murdering his wife. Convenient, huh? Female sleuths were not that common around this time, but certainly more so than they would be in the 50s and 60s. Ella Raines reprises her film role with Brian Donlevy stepping in for Franchot Tone.

Radio review - Suspense – “Murder Goes for a Swim” (1943) **1/2

The first radio play version of the Lone Wolf, a private detective who works – you guessed it – outside the law. Warren William plays the role with Eric Blore has his sidekick. It’s alright entertainment, a bit odd to hear an episode of another series in the middle of Suspense. There’s some humour to be had at the beginning when it seems William and Blore lose their place with the script.

Radio review – Suspense – “The White Rose Murders” (1943) **1/2

Maureen O’Hara plays the fiancée of a detective who tries to solve a serial killing spree so said fiancée can get promoted and they can get married. It’s the sort of cute premise that popped up around this time – even though this one does concern serial killing. The ending where the killer confesses is a bit weak.

Radio review – “Lady Esther Show” (1941) **1/2

Weird show by Orson Welles that followed the Campbell Playhouse. It’s been described as literary vaudeville, which is close to the mark – an anthology of anthologies. Shows might feature two adaptations and a poem – which means you’re constantly having to recalibrate and it’s hard to pay attention. Later on the show changed to a more traditional format and involved the adaptation of just one story. A quick summary of the episodes I've heard"

Ep 1 – "Sredni Vashtar" – Odd pot pouri of a show – some adaptations of stories by Saki and Geoffrey Household (something Irish). Irritating Jiminy Cricket. Dolores del Rio talks about Mexican independence.

Ep 3 – “The Interlopers”. A lot better – "The Interloper" is a spooky tale. Then there’s a poem, and a reprise of “I am a Fool” which he did for Mercury – Orson in aw shucks mode. We didn’t really need to hear it again. Last appearance of Jiminy Cricket – thank God.

Ep 11 (part) “Wilbur” – fast paced story about a chimpanzee. Done with skill, but fast-paced Welles comedy still doesn’t seem to work.

Ep 13 - “Happy Prince” – part of a Christmas show. A decent enough tale. More interesting was reading from the Gospels and some Merry Christmas chanting from the Mercury gang.

Ep 16 - "The Apple Tree." Geraldine Fitzgerald and Welles in John Galsworthy's story of a cross-class romance which doesn't work out due to the weakness of the guy (it was turned into a film, Summer Story). Interesting to hear Welles in a romance tale where he plays a weakling rather than a dashing, brooding hero. Script is here.

Ep 17 - "My Little Boy." A reprise of a short story done on Mercury Theatre. He says this was the most popular the Mercury had done to that point - was this true? Surely War of the Worlds pipped it? Anyway it's a family tale with Welles as the father of a little boy watching him grow up. Yeah, yeah.

NB There is an excellent article on the show at the Wellesnet website - see here.

Movie review – “China Seas” (1935) ***1/2

A fascinating companion piece to Red Dust – made only a few years later, it’s far more glossy and polished (helped by the fact that the print I saw was better), with MGM giving it a bigger budget as befitting the now-huge popularity of its stars. It’s also a lot cleaner – Jean Harlow is a singer rather than a hooker, classy Rosalind Russell isn’t married but a widow, Clark Gable wears a nice uniform rather than rags, etc. 

Irving Thalberg spared no expense – in addition to Gable, Harlow and Russell, there’s also Wallace Beery and Lewis Stone, plus C Aubrey Smith and Robert Benchley (as a – surprise – drunken author).

There’s more plot than Red Dust – well, more correctly, subplots, with Wallace Beery in love with Jean Harlow, and pirates, and Lewis Stone as a disgraced sea officer who redeems himself. Good fun, some OK acting - but you can't help wishing it was a bit grittier.

Radio review – Bing Crosby – Boris Karloff (1945) **1/2

Bing Crosby had a lovely laidback style which adapted well to radio - a great contrast to the normal wisecracking style of Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Abbott and Costello, etc. This one has him visited by Boris Karloff - hijinks ensue.

Radio review – Lux – “Manhattan Melodrama” (1940) ***

This gangster story is remembered today when others have been forgotten because it's the film John Dillinger saw before being shot. William Powell and Myrna Loy reprise their screen roles but Clark Gable was not available so Don Ameche steps in. Don Ameche! Still, he’s actually not that bad and the basic story is pretty good - even if it's a bit creepy to feel that Loy wishes she didn't marry Powell. This was the film that started their legendary partnership. 

(NB The basic story of two childhood friends, one becomes a gangster the other a force on the other side of the law, became a staple of Warner Bros gangster films eg Angels with Dirty Faces, The Roaring 20s - but MGM's Manhattan Melodrama predates them.)

Radio review – SDP – “DOA” (1951) ***1/2

Most film buffs have heard of this movie, purely for it's central idea (man injected with fatal poison investigates his own murder) and the opening dialogue exchange ("I'd like to report a murder...mine.") It's the best known starring role for Edmond O'Brien, a chunky middle aged actor who had a surprisingly large number of leading man roles (including some classics like The Killers and White Heat); a solid actor rather than a star, O'Brien was often overshadowed in his films, but here he's front and centre and gives an excellent performance. You really feel sorry for him - the poor guy's an accountant who takes a week off to decide whether to marry his secretary and turns out to be poisoned only because he notarised a bill of sale (in film noir men are often punished from departing from the straight and narrow - in this case it's not marrying a woman who loves him.) O'Brien has a few emotional soliloquies and does them well. On the down side I notice his fatalistic "I'm dead anyway" attitude sees him rough up a few women. And personally I think he would be better off spending his last few days with his girlfriend instead of tracking down a killer - surely the police would have been able to do that.

Movie review – “State of Play” (2009) ***1/2

Entertaining thriller which manages to put fresh twists on the tired conspiracy/reporter genre. Russell Crowe (who looks like a real reporter, fat with a beard) does risk his life but he is also helped out on the paper – not only by a feisty female (Rachel McAdams) but by some supporting actors as well. Helen Mirren is great as the editor and although I didn’t buy Ben Affleck as a good friend of Crowe’s, I did buy him as an aspiring politician. I also liked Robin Wright Penn as his wife and Jeff Daniels was great as a born again conservative; Jason Bateman was funny too. Well directed with some great montages.

Radio review – Mercury Shakespeare - “Macbeth” (1940) **1/2

Solid, surprisingly unflashy version of the Scottish play from Orson Welles which goes for 80 minutes. Not as intriguing as the voodoo version or his later film version. Still interesting, especially to compare to those other works.

Radio review - Lux – “Laura” (1945) ***1/2

Very strong mystery with many great characters – the enigmatic Laura, the tough cop who falls for her dead "image", the magnificent Waldo, the gigolo fiancée – and twists – the revelation that the girl isn’t dead, the finale with Waldo on the radio. Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews and Vincent Price all reprise their excellent film performances but unfortunately not Clifton Webb. They replace him with some random actor (Otto someone) – surely they could have gotten someone like Laird Cregar or Sydney Greenstreet? Still, this is excellent entertainment.

Radio review – Lux – “Murder My Sweet” (1945) ***

I always enjoy first-rate adaptations of Raymond Chandler because the dialogue is so great and the characters so vivid - even if I always have trouble following the plot. (I've seen several versions of Farewell My Lovely and always get confused, except I know one of the girls turns out to be Velma - the upside of this is that each viewing is fresh.) Detective stories adapt well to radio too because they can be told in the first person and the atmsophere transfers well to radio. Dick Powell and Claire Trevor reprise their film roles to excellent effect.

Radio review – Lux - “Singapore” (1947) **1/2

Fred MacMurray isn’t the most ideal hero for a tale of amnesia and smuggling in the third world (it should have been Alan Ladd or Bogart or someone), but Ava Gardner is a perfect female lead, and the story isn’t bad. It works a lot better here than in the Errol Flynn remake Istanbul because of the whole fall of Singapore thing – that was a real excuse to bail on a country. Good junky exotica entertainment with a miscast star.

Radio review – SDP – “The Gunfighter” (1951) ***

You can’t help wishing a better actor than Gregory Peck played the lead role – or at least one who seemed more like a tough gunfighter – but for all that this is a pretty good story. It's also very adult, with its downbeat tone and Peck running into his illegitimate son.

Movie review – “The Swinging Cheerleaders” (1974) **1/2

Jack Hill enjoyed success with women in prison and women blaxploitation, so he turned his area to a sub-genre of the “three girls” movie – the cheerleader film. It gave him another financial success, although it’s not as well known today as Big Doll House or Coffy. The three girls here are Jo Johnson (a very likeable performer with an usual look whose career never really took off), Rainbeaux Smith (a sweet-looking thing who later got on heroin and who, like so many 70s drive in female stars, died young) and Rosanne Katon (token black).

The plot involves Johnson going undercover as a cheerleader to write an article, Smith trying to lose her virginity (she gets gangbanged in a very unpleasant sequence), and Katon having an affair with her professor. The best scene is when the professor’s wife goes Katon with a knife – it’s brilliant (Hill always did great female fight scenes and you wish the film had more of them). The support cast includes a young Colleen Camp (who doesn't go nude) as one of the cheerleaders. It's bright and energetic, though a little dodgy - Hill's own description of the film as "a Disney sex comedy" is spot on.

Movie review – Nurses#3 - “Night Call Nurses” (1973) *** (warning: spoilers)

One of Roger Corman’s best pieces of advice to young directors making a genre film was to make the best possible genre film they could, i.e. don’t slum it until you find material that’s personal to you, make what you’ve got work. Jonathan Kaplan took this to heart with this third "nurses" film - where all the leads work in a psychiatric hospital - and the result is energetic, flashy entertainment, where there’s lots of crazy editing and scenes with non-synchronous dialogue.

The three girls are all very pretty and likeable - Patti Byrne is particularly winning (whatever happened to her? Kaplan apparently offered her the lead in The Student Teachers but she turned it down and disappeared); Alana Collins is a rare "nurses" star who went on to have an ok career - she married George Hamilton and acted under the name of Alana Hamilton. The support casting includes Dennis Dugan and, as always, Dick Miller.

The adventures are typical of the time: the brunette (Byrne) gets involved in a sex cult run by a manipulative chap who accuses her of being a sex deviant (to do an experiment and to get her into bed) - this has a lot of creepy overtones which are quite effective; the black nurse (Mitti Lawrence) falls for a black revolutionary and ends up going on the lam at the end (the way the hispanic nurse did in The Student Nurses); the blonde (Collins) wants to marry a rich doctor but falls for a speed-addicted trucker (who at the end still seems to be addicted to speed - they don't do a good job of wrapping up this story).  There's another plot line about a stalker at the hospital who seems to be after Byrne but also perves on Collins.

There are lots of love making scenes and nudity, and the men are more prominent than in Student Nurses - was this because of a male director? But like that film (and unlike the others in the series) there are plenty of scenes of the girls together; they have real camaraderie and you get the sense that they are friends. (e.g. Collins and her boyfriend help Lawrence and her guy bust a prisoner/patient out of gaol)

There are lots of random sports interludes – water skiing, sky diving – which make it seem like a Beach Party movie at times. George Armitage wrote the script, although Kaplan claims it was rewritten; he also directed Private Duty Nurses, which wasn't very good, so I think Kaplan was right. One of the best of the series - people such as Joe Dante claim this is the best; I would rate The Student Nurses up there as well, because it's got the best "serious" subplot (i.e. about abortion) and my favourite is Summer School Teachers but these three are easily the best of the genre.

Movie review – “An Education” (2009) **

You may like this film if you’re a teenage girl with a thing for an older guy, or you’re a middle age woman who wants a trip down memory lane about how she almost ruined her life. I found it a bit flat. The acting is fine and the period detail memorable, but the whole thing felt too familiar. The girl knows the guy is dodgy – he lies about going to Oxford, lies to her parents. So it’s a bit rich she later blames her parents… but then, she is a boomer. Surely in years to come she’ll look back on it with some fondness? I mean she had a couple of great nights, a wonderful weekend in Paris, she lost her virginity romantically, etc. Carey Mulligan is very good, but it’s a terrific role – she’s in every scene.

This reminded me a lot of Guinevere, with Sarah Polley. Like that film, this lacks surprises – the heroine goes in with her eyes mostly open, she knows the older guy is dodgy but figures her life is boring so what the hey? Which is a mature characterisation and mature and all that stuff but it means that they film doesn’t really have anywhere to go (the same thing happened in Guinevere). I thought they wouldn’t have made the film without coming up with a fresh twist apart from the standard soap ones (eg he’s married, she gets pregnant) but they don’t.

Movie review – “Pets” (1974) **1/2

The first lead role for Candice Rialson. She’s very pretty, likeable with a warm screen presence, sexy as hell – although she doesn’t get to show off her comic ability, so effective in later films. She plays a hitchhiker who has a series of adventures: escaping from her controlling brother, then being rescued by some black dudes prologue), then kidnapping a sleazy married guy with this black girl she meets (act one), being picked up by a female artist (former Elvis co-star Joan Blackman) for whom she poses and then makes love (act two), goes to live with an artist who keeps her captive in his basement as a ‘pet’. Each section deals with people trying to imprison Rialson and ends with Rialson running away with a song on the background

It’s an exploitation film but at least they’ve made some effort – there are some interesting shot compositions, it attempts to tackle an odd sort of theme (it was based on a series of one act plays), there’s a few moments which actually surprise you (like where the black girl throws a dog off a cliff.) But the main reason to watch this is Rialson who is very impressive. She seduces two men – her abductee (an older guy) and a burglar, and is seduced by a woman. She does a lap dance, wears skimpy underwear, swimsuits, etc. If you’re a Rialson fan this is definitely worth seeking out.

Movie review – “Mama’s Dirty Girls” (1974) **

I’ve no idea whether this came before or after Big Bad Mama, but it follows a similar template – a tough woman and her sexy daughters use sex appeal to get what they want i.e. money. Gloria Grahame plays the lead – bit of a comedown for her in some respects, I guess, but it is a flashy part. Candice Rialson plays one of her daughters – it’s a more evil character than the likeable Candice normally plays but she’s pretty good (she’s a sort of Lolita-esque tease, who delights in tormenting chubby men). There are two other daughters, all of whom show a decent amount of flesh. (Including an utterly gratuitous one of Candice staring at herself in the mirror to open the film.)

The girls are all decent enough actors, and it’s a great concept – the girls look for men to seduce and kill – but the film is never as much fun as you think. They didn’t quite get the story right – the pace is too slow, unlike Big Bad Mama where there’s lots of driving around and action, here it’s mostly hanging around houses, and there’s no real driving narrative. Also who wants to watch a trashy three girls film where the guys triumph?

Movie review – “Chatterbox” (1977) *

Candice Rialson was a popular drive in star of the 1970s who never seemed able to break through to decent roles in mainstream films; this was partly due to the decline of the drive in market, but Joe Dante and Alan Arkush (who worked with her on Hollywood Boulevard) hypothesised that it was also starring in this film, where she plays a woman with a talking vagina. As always, Candice is very likeable and girl-next-door; she’s a great trooper and manages to take the sleaze out of everything she does (but still be sexy) and as always she gives 110%, but this film is not very enjoyable.

There are actually worse ideas for a comedy, the touch is light and fast, and you imagine with a really smart writer-director this could have taken off – maybe even been really feminist. But as used here the film is far too uncomfortable. Candice’s character clearly doesn’t like her talking vagina, who creates nothing but trouble for her. She also really goes through the ringer – a lesbian tries to rape her, she’s put naked on a board in front of a room of scientists while her vagina sings (and she’s clearly not having a good time), she’s forced to sing a big song and dance number where her clothes get ripped off, her love interest is an insecure drip (are we meant to be glad she gets with him in the end?); if I’m not mistaken she’s also gangbanged. So although there’s plenty of nudity, it’s not that fun. This is in contrast to films like Summer School Teachers where the nudity was less but at least it came about because of her character’s lusts and her character was in control.

There’s something actually quite moving watching Rialson in this film – trying so hard, giving it her all… in a role that is killing her career in with every minute of screentime. No wonder she got out of the game.

Movie review – “Red Dust” (1932) ****

Sexy pre-Code entertainment, from MGM of all places, has dated very well, due to a terrific cast, robust handling and a bright script. Clarke Gable is excellent (who else could have played this role?), Mary Astor sexy in her oh-I'm-so-demure-but-treat-me-a-bit-roughly-and-I'm-a-raging-volcano way, Jean Harlow very hot in her trashy brassy blonde way.

You keep being thrown by how sexy it is – Gable and Harlow clearly have sex the night they meet; Gable offers Harlow money the next morning!; Gable spies Mary Astor taking off her clothes through a window; Gable and Astor kiss in a storm and she's totally up for it (steam is practically coming off their clothes); Harlow takes a bath in a tub and you see her bare back (apparently in real life she leapt up at the end of a take showing her breasts saying "this is one for the boys in the lab"); on the night Gable is shot he tells Harlow to go up to bed and wait for him; Gable puts his hand up Harlow's leg at the end.

Gable’s performance is famous for his he-man aspect (bossing around coolies, ignoring Harlow) but he is genuinely touching and vulnerable in his love for Mary Astor. Harlow is hilarious, sexy and sympathetic as the prostitute who falls for Gable and has to jump and wave to get his attention. (The story is really about the Gable-Astor romance - he only goes with Harlow out of a default position.) Great fun, even if the bit where Astor's husband goes on and on about how much he loves Astor and admires Gable gilds the lily a bit and all the Asian characters are racist caricatures.

NB One extra thing - in articles on the making of this film, they often refer to the final scene being about Harlow reading Gable a kid's story while he puts his hand on her leg. Well, it is but actually the final shot is a guffawing comic relief Chinese cook. If people are going to recall pre-Code films with such fondness, they shouldn't forget the less pleasant aspects.

Movie review – “28 Weeks Later” (2007) ***

Starts with a massive bang and the first 30 minutes is gripping. It goes a bit wonky with a contrivance – it just didn’t feel real that those annoying kids would slip out and go home. This could have been an easy problem to fix – establish the kids are rebels, give them a good reason to go home, or simply have helicopter observers see the mother. It didn’t strike true either than the army wouldn’t leap on a possible vaccine. But once the outbreak starts again and things revert to the normal zombie paradigm – to wit, a chase movie – it’s very strong (although it’s a bit of a coincidence Robert Carlyle keeps turning up). I really liked the direction, the design, and the way the military wasn’t demonized, as it often is (and usually lazily so) in zombie films; it’s clear they’re put between a rock and a hard place. Indeed, if the film has a theme it’s “in times of disease outbreaks… follow orders, and crack down very hard on anyone who doesn’t.”

Movie review – “Group Marriage” (1973) **1/2

The success of Student Nurses led Stephanie Rothman and hubby Charles Swartz to set up their own shingle at Dimension Pictures, for whom Rothman made one well-known film, Terminal Island, and two lesser known ones, this and Working Girls.

This is closer to Terminal Island than her three girls film as it is about couples rather than girls (it’s a “three couples” film, really.) It focuses around some working girls in LA – Chris is having some relationship troubles with her mechanic de facto Xander; she jooks up with a parole officer Dave and winds up sleeping with him even though she loves Xander (“just because I love you doesn’t mean I can’t like him””). Dave has a pretty partner Jan – who hooks up with Xander. Xander and Jan go to bed with Dave and Chris – but they watch TV before going to bed. (The scene is played for laughs but is actually quite hot.)

They all go to the beach where Jan hooks up with a lifeguard Phil (Rothman always makes sure men are exploited as much as women). The boys are out for a jog when they run into a sexy jogger, lawyer Elaine (Claudia Jennings – alright!) who they ask to join their “group marriage”. Elaine agrees and she and Phil have a tender love scene. Later on there are troubles – the media get wind of the six of them leading together, they are car bombed, there’s a weird plot with a Hispanic parolee that doesn’t go anywhere, and Jan finds she wants to have sex outside the group.

There are gay caricatures (their neighbours) and when a bisexual man tries to join the group the men kick him out. The other set comedy scene results where Phil puts an ad in the paper for a sixth person to join and a bunch of wacky types walk up. However the gay couple are still friends of the lead six.

It's an interesting exploitation film, with typical Rothman good humour and intriguing sexual politics. Some of the acting is iffy, and the ease with which people join the group kind of dilutes its dramatic impact, but the women are very good looking, and frequently walk around in skimpy clothes and bikinis. One cute scene has Chris watch Attack of the 50 Foot Woman in bed – a homage to another quasi-feminist film?

Radio review – Lux – “They Drive By Night” (1941) ***1/2

Highly enjoyable adaptation of the Warners film. The first third is the weakest, dealing with the brothers - George Raft returns but Humphrey Bogart doesn’t. However, the writers (or producers or whoever) seemed to realise they didn’t have enough plot for a whole film, so they added this second bit (two thirds of it) where Raft goes to work for another trucker and has the wife of the trucker fall in lust with him. 

Lucille Ball is highly effective in a dramatic role with some great hysteria scenes. Lana Turner steps in for Ann Sheridan - while she would have been decent enough on screen with her stunning looks, she's not much of a radio actor.

Radio review – Lux – “Manpower” (1941) **1/2

George Raft and Edward G Robinson may have come to blows on the set of this film but they managed to reunite for the radio version, along with Marlene Dietrich. It remains tough, slangy entertainment with a predictable plot. It does lack a little something without those powerline visuals – you’re left to contemplate the story a bit too much – but barrels along.

Radio review – BP#3 – “Angel Street” (1952) **1/2

Thrillers didn’t always enjoy the best success on Broadway; this was a rare exception – indeed it remains one of the longest-running non-musicals on the Great White Way. It’s a decent enough melodrama with a great concept - driving someone insane (it was much copied) - plus Vincent Price and Judith Evelyn reprising their stage roles.

I always thought though that Price’s character seems to go to an awful lot of convoluted trouble in order to retrieve jewels – surely there were other ways to search for jewels other than marrying someone? Also not being visual you don't get all the little clues of how he drives his wife mad, eg dimming lights. There is a great ending where she tricks him. Melville C Cooper plays the detective.

Radio review – Lux - "After the Thin Man" (1940) **

Myrna Loy and William Powell are good value as ever but its hard to tell the other characters apart. It’s hard enough to do this in detective films with its archetypes played by non-descript character actors – married woman, drunk doctor – but radio it’s particularly tricky.

Movie review – “The Cotton Club” (1984) ***

An utter mess of a movie which is nonetheless oddly likeable – there’s so many good things in it. One of the main problem is that the script is structured like the book for a musical – characters come and go, only loosely connect. Movies tend to do better when focused around one or two protagonists. An ensemble piece might have been okay had it centered around say the one location and all the characters had something in common, but they don’t here, really. Sure there’s the Cotton Club, but we keep cutting away to other night clubs – Richard Gere plays trumpet at another club, Diane Lane sets up at another club (it’s as though these characters needed to be black or something).

The frustrating thing is all the stories have plenty of meat on them – Gere in love with a gangster’s moll (though she should have been established as a moll before the film began – having her meet Gere and Dutch Schultz at the same time makes her seem like a real whore); Nicolas Cage as Gere’s brother who becomes a vile gangster; the lovely relationship between Fred Gwynne and Bob Hoskins; Gregory Hines having professional fights with his brother (never quite clear); Hines romancing a black girl who can pass for white; the emergence of black gangsters.

Richard Gere is a bit weak, especially when called upon to do something emotional. Diane Lane doesn’t have the nicest character but she manages to be quite sweet and has some enjoyable love scenes with Gere, helped by a memorable John Barry theme song. (NB the music is great).

The film has a lovely texture (as David Shipman pointed out); the dialogue has this tang, the production design is great. It just has this unique feel about it – especially when it goes non-naturalistic (eg introduction of creepy Saul, the final music number). A mess but a glorious one.

Movie review – “Election” (1999) ****

Holds up incredibly well over the years with this wonderful jaundiced semi-cynical sense of humour. But it never forgets the humanity of its characters. Tracey Flick is scary but it’s clear she’s lonely, the first scene involving the lesbian sister she gets this big close up of her heart breaking. Matthew Broderick is spot on as the chubby, upbeat teacher; Reese Witherspoon is stunning as Tracey Flick (love that pronunciation); Chris Klein hilarious. I remembered the girl playing a lesbian as being good but she’s not that great; it’s just a good character.

Radio review – “Julius Caesar” (1938) ***

Mercury did a series of 90 minute Shakespeare productions. It’s unshowy compared to the one done on Mercury Theatre of the Air but is still entertaining; Orson Welles plays Cassius. American accents seem to suit this play more than any other Shakespeare; maybe because the plot is like a boardroom fight.

Movie review – “Starhops” (1978) *1/2

Late entry in the 70s "three girls" cycle is set at a fast food restaurant with the three girls working for a drive in. (There are only two initially – they are waitresses working for Dick Miller who sells his business - but a third one joins.) There's lots of skimpy outfits but little nudity (or sex come to think of it), a lot of silliness and high spirits - including a car chase and some dopey gangsters - but little wit.

I found it hard to tell the three girls apart - the actors try but aren't that good. Their male love interests were more distinguishable (hunky architect, dopey son of evil businessman who wants to buy out the restaurant, random weird guy). The villain looks like Fred Clark but isn't; Dick Miller's the only actor in the cast you are likely to recognise, but it was edited by Steve Zaillian, who later became a major screenwriter. The director was Barbara Peeters who made the similar, but better, Summer School Teachers. Apparently this was based on a script written by Stephanie Rothman, Carhops (the credit here is given to "Dallas Meredith").

Play review – “Avenue Q” (2009) ****

Controversial because it involves puppets having sex and songs about everyone being a little bit racist but in it’s way this is as sweet and wholesome as Sesame Street. It’s about family, helping others, community, tolerance, etc. It’s also extremely clever and funny, being particularly well directed – the choreography of it was very subtle with using the puppets, etc. I’m guessing this hasn’t travelled as well as other musicals because you can’t take grandma to it (cf Mama Mia) – also all the characters are in the 20s-30s range, it’s not multi-generational.

Radio review – NBC Short Stories – “The Lottery” (1951) **1/2

Adaptation of a famous short story which surely influenced Steven King. It’s about a lottery in a small town that happens every year. Losers (or is that winners?) of the lottery are sacrificed for the harvest. It’s quite chilling, with the contrast between normal everyday country life and their act – but I didn’t quite believe it. I know that’s kind of the point but the version here didn’t quite sell it to me; too much family dialogue at the beginning with the wife all for it (irony) plus too much spelling out of the point at the end (“why can’t we stop?” and stuff).

Movie review – “Dark Age” (1987) **1/2

A “lost” film for many years, despite its eminently exploitable subject matter (I remember seeing a TV show segment on its filming which made it sound terrific) – apparently because of troubles caused when RKO bought it for world distribution. I know Arch Nicholson died tragically young but his handling is very TV, and he misses opportunities wholesale to scare the audience or create any sort of atmosphere (the music doesn’t help). The photography is stunning, as are the locations and production design.

John Jarratt and Nikki Coghill are very attractive as the young lead couple – how pretty was Coghill! She is the attractive girl next door, very engaging, with terrific legs and genuine acting ability - look at her expression in her farewell scene to Jarratt when he goes off to fight the croc. Jarratt does his boy next door thing and is winning as the park ranger trying to keep the peace - protecting a crocodile which is eating people. They even have a corny late 80s nude love scene to boot, which feels thrown in, but it is part of the movie's charm.

The script is a bit of a mess in places (eg one minute Coghill is angry at Jarratt, the next she’s fine), and low on croc action. It is however surprisingly PC – the film does this switch half way through and becomes about saving the crocodile rather than killing it, with Max Phipps being the villain and all these aboriginals dying to save the croc. (This is after the crocodile has eaten an aboriginal kid!)

Quentin Tarantino brought this film back – I saw him present it at a Popcorn Taxi Q and A, which was very entertaining despite Quentin’s cold. However he had Jarratt and Coghill up on stage, and Anthony Ginnane in the audience; they needed Ginnane up there because Jarratt and Coghill didn’t know much about the making of the film. Ray Meagher is in the film too, playing a role that could best be described as “Alf Stewart gone evil”, worried about Japanese property developers and the like. He does this hilarious thing where after every line he takes a puff on his cigarette.

 

(In Brian Trechard Smith's memoirs he says he was offered to direct it. He should've done it!)

TV series – “Law and Order Season 2” (1991-92) *****

Paul Sorvino is a great actor but he’s not quite right as George Dzunda’s replacement (Dzunda is killed off in long shot in episode one). His energy is a bit too low and laid back, which is great for his villainous roles but he simply doesn’t work here. Chris Noth is fine as long as he’s being a smug prick, but he struggles when he has to express some other emotion, like indignation or anguish. I really like Michael Moriarty’s sort of intense laid-backness – if that makes sense. Richard Brooks again mostly sighs instead of acting, but Carolyn McCormack is always good value as a shrink and I love the ballistics expert who adores her job.

Incredibly tense episode about a killer mother. I love the legal twists of the severance episode, the chilling teenage killer, the evil slum lords. Actually all of them were good – although I was surprised William Macy get convicted for rape in his one because surely he could just deny he ever threatened the girl to go out on the street.

As in season one there is great joy from watching future stars in guest appearances, including Jerry Orbach (soon to become a regular), a young and pretty Maura Tierney, Tony Roberts, the governor from Benson (as a judge – you keep expecting him to do something comic), Luis Guzman, Colonel Klink, Alison Janey (a very small role), William Macey, the grandma out of the Sopranos (playing another matriarch), the female nurse out of Scrubs, Sam Rockwell, Jerry Stiller, George Costanza’s mother out of Seinfeld, Eli Wallach.

Love special feature about the cast, which in true Law and Order style doesn’t pull any punches about the cast. You think the actors would be happy being on such a good show, but no – full of primma donnas and antics. Dann Florek is obviously lovely; George Dzunda quit because he hated New York and wanted to make movies; Paul Sorvino had trouble accepting the limitations of his role (not in the whole thing, not getting the ending, the emphasis on procedural dialogue as opposed to character; he would warm up singing opera). Jerry Orbach was clearly a nice guy – but Chris Noth whined because he wanted to have a younger partner. (They don’t talk about the challenges of working with Michael Moriarty – maybe that comes in a later on.)

Radio review – Lux – “Casablanca” (1944) ***

Part of the myth of Casablanca is the possible other casts the film could have had – Ronald Reagan, George Raft, etc. Well here’s a chance to listen to the story with a different cast: Alan Ladd, Hedy Lamarr, John Loder and Edgar Barrier. Ladd subs for Bogie and actually doesn’t do too badly – he can’t do the tormented stuff that well (he struggles during the drunk scene – mind you Bogart wasn’t that great at it either), but at least the role is within his persona. Lamarr isn’t as effective; she’s OK and she would have looked good, but she doesn’t quite get Bergman’s “oh I’m just a slave to my emotions” thing (Lamarr always had more drive about her persona).

 Still, I reckon Casablanca would have still been a classic with those two playing Rick and Isla– but not with the rest of the cast, none of whom are up to Rains, Lorre, Greenstreet, Veidt, Henreid, etc. John Loder (Lamarr’s real life husband at the time) is awful and the others pale imitators of the originals. It’s still an exciting fast paced story – but you realise why they call Casablanca the happiest of happy accidents.

Movie review – “The Full Monty” (1997) ****

This holds up very well. The humour and warmth haven’t dated a jot, nor has what it says about masculinity. Maybe I also relate to it more as I’ve gotten older with it’s concerns of aging, finding work and being a man. The final dance is a delight – it’s like watching good friends do it. (It helps that the song is ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On’.) Tom Wilkinson and Mark Addy are stand outs especially.

Radio review – Lord Haw Haw

Not appropriate to rate, it’s fascinating to hear the odd voiced propagandist talk of German victories across Europe and bag England – the anti-British comments (eg their dodgy history, dodgy Churchill) are similar criticism people keep making today. (That’s not to defend them or criticise them or whatever just to point it out.) The most interesting one is at the end of the war when Germany was collapsing and Haw Haw sounds drunk.

Radio review – “Fred Allen” – “Bela Lugosi” (1943) **1/2

I’m not familiar with Fred Allen – he had a great voice, raspy like William Demarest, and he was great with a joke. But in this one he kind of sulks when he doesn’t get a laugh with his material – not as bad as Steve Vizard but along the same lines. Still this picks up when Bela Lugosi comes along as a mad scientist (surprise) who wants to operate on Fred Allen to steal his nerve. That’s quite a funny concept – reminiscent of Bela wanting to operate on Lou Costello in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Comics are normally good against mad scientists (easy sources of gags, strong stakes) and this is no exception. Bela is a good straight man, and gets in some laughs himself.

Radio review – Crime Does Not Pay – “Gasoline Cocktail” (1949) **1/2

Radio version of the popular series of short films made by MGM. Bela Lugosi gives a restrained yet still charismatic performance as a pyromaniac who is busted by some just-doing-our-duty cops. Fascinating fun for Lugosi fans.

Movie review – “Summer School Teachers” (1974) ***

Fun, bright, "three girls" film, produced by Julie Corman, who carved out a niche making these in the early 70s. (You can imagine Roger going "you're a woman Julie - you can do the TNA feminism epics".) It’s a variation of Student Nurses, with the three girls here teaching over summer, and is one of the best in the genre, if not the best.

This has the advantage of perhaps the prettiest, most likeable 70s exploitation star: girl next door Candice Rialson stars as a PE teacher who wants the girls to play football and comes up against a sexist male coach (Dick Miller, lending some wattage to the support cast). There are two other girls: Rhonda Leigh Fleming who has an affair with a student, a juvenile delinquent; and an art teacher (Pat Anderson, my other favourite 70s exploitation lead) who gets involved with another teacher and has a debate on pornography.

It’s high spirited and fun, a bit wonky in places (make that very wonky - you can see the boom in shot in one scene) but it flies along, with a lot of social comment (corruption, women sport, opportunity for women, etc) and a fun, climactic near-anarchic football game. The three leads are all very good looking and engaging, especially Rialson and Anderson.

I think it helps that the writer-director was a woman, Barbara Peeters, so the film feels like a screwball comedy rather than something sleazy. There is nudity – Rialson seduces a nerd teacher by a lake (and falls in), there is a more stylised sex scene involving Fleming which involves strobe lighting and ice cubes on the nipples (there's always a stylised sex scene in these films - there was an LSD one in The Student Nurses and a triply one in Candy Strip Nurses), and Anderson is nude a few times being photographed or lying in bed. But the women are in control, they do most of the seducing, stick up for each other, etc. - Anderson and Rialson seduce their guys, all three are confident and in control.

The messages are mostly positive – girls should be able to do whatever boys can do, physical fitness is good, corruption is bad. This is the best character Rialson ever played – she’s spunky, full of energy, fights for girl sports, encourages her fat neighbour to exercise, seduces the nerdy teacher because she likes him (Peeters isn’t afraid to show Rialson’s gut in this love scene), she loves her boisterous dumb brothers. Good fun - much better than The Student Teachers.

Radio review - Lux – “Captain Carey” (1953) ***

Charlton Heston replaces Alan Ladd and does very well, in his tormented Charlton mode. The story also works strongly on radio, because it’s about an event in the past (the War stuff is in flashback) and an investigation. No ‘Mona Lisa’ and the convenience of the villain is a bit irritating but it clips along at a strong pace.

Radio review – Mystery House – “A Thirsty Death” (1949) **1/2

Bela Lugosi was meant to star in a regular anthology horror series which took its inspiration from Grand Guignol stories; it didn’t pan out apart from this episode (there was a Mystery House series but without Bela). It’s a shame because this isn’t bad. The story concerns that Grand Guignol favourite – an attack of rabies. Bela is a jealous husband in Africa whose wife strikes up a friendship with John Carradine (whose performance is an added bonus for horror fans). The story is ok but not particularly well put together; it is however interesting.

Radio review – CP#37 – Garden of Allah (1939) **

Orson Welles as another romantic lover – this time a former monk who runs off to the desert where he romances Madeleine Carroll. But he’s got some secret recipe so eventually he has to go back. What the…? This sort of stuff was popular in the 30s, I guess – Orson suits his part and it is enjoyable in a junky desert romance sort of way, with the foreign legion hanging around.

Radio review - Lux – “Lost Horizon” (1941) **

James Hilton’s novel has one of the great central ideas – the lost paradise of Shangri La. I’ve always had problems with the story – it’s a bit mean of the lama to kidnap a planeload of people to secure themselves a leader, who anyway proves not really up to it by bailing on the place.

Also if Shangri La is so great then why does that girl want to leave?

I’m not a massive fan of oh-so-sincere Ronald Colman either, who reprises his film role. (Incidentally I think this adaptation is similar to the book in some ways than the film – Colman’s troublesome off sider is no longer his brother, which was the case in the book, Colman gets no love interest of his own, and his fellow passengers are closer to the book than the film.)

Radio review – CP#38 - “Dodsworth” (1939) **1/2

Sometimes you wish Orson Welles didn’t insist on acting in every production in his radio show. He’s ok as Dodsworth but not really up to the role; if Walter Huston couldn’t do it then Joe Cotten would have made a better fist. That aside this is a sensitive adaptation; the story works well on radio because it’s intimate drama. It’s also clear that the wife character has a good case – why shouldn’t she have some fun after being stuck in a dreary mid-western town with a husband who keeps referring to himself as a hick? She’s a little silly sure but she’s understandable; and also that divorcee woman could easily be a gold digger. Fay Bainter is very good as the wife – a lot better than Orson. This is yet another tale about mid-Westerners from him but at least this one isn’t nostalgic.

Radio review - Lux – “My Darling Clementine” (1949) **

Henry Fonda is back as Wyatt Earp but unfortunately not Victor Mature as Doc Holliday – I never thought I’d write those words but it’s a fact; Holliday is a little undercast here. Unlike She Wore a Yellow Ribbon this doesn’t capture the film, and you can’t help laugh at the word Chihuahua, it’s repeated too many times. A decent story – the variations from historical fact are all dramatically justifiable – but not particularly well done.

Radio review - Lux – "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1951) ****

Excellent adaptation which really captures the flavour of the film. It’s helped by the fact that John Wayne narrates in first person, highly effective in radio. The whole story just seems to work – passing of time, emergence of new generation, the fact that the heroes are trying to stop war, etc. Some of the flaws have been trimmed (the excessive scenes of people saying farewell to Wayne, and the Irish drunk scenes) and Wayne gives a strong performance. Mel Ferrer plays the John Agar role and 50s sci fi fave Mala Powers steps in for Joanne Dru – so the support cast is better! (Of course a lot of the action is handed by the Ben Johnson character.)

Radio review - Suspense – "Portrait without a Face" (1944) **

A plan to trap a killer in WW2 France. It’s a little confusing as you don’t know who is on who’s side. There is as usual in Suspense stories, a treacherous husband and a twist at the end. Michele Morgan plays the lead against some guy who sounds like Paul Lukas but isn’t.

Move review - “The Working Girls” (1974) **1/2

Silly, very cheap but fun “three girls” film, a sort of throwback by Stephanie Rothman to her biggest success, The Student Nurses. It lacks the dramatic unity of that film - here the girls just sort of know each other and don’t have that much in common apart from being young, single and struggling (they should have all been from the same town or work at the same place, or something). But it has a similar sort of theme - three different girls having adventures with their career and romance in the big city; a bit of social commentary, some sex, a lot of comedy.

One girl is a sort of Marilyn Monroe ditz who is actually a genius, another is an artist who pinches Marilyn's casual root (a muso), a third goes to work as a stripper but because this is a Rothman film she winds up managing the place and standing up to (then romancing) a low level mafioso - but breaks up with him because she wants to be a judge! It's a sort of insane film, lots of fun. There is as much if not more male nudity (i.e. bare arses) on display than female (there are two strip tease routines), and it's the girls who run the show and make the decision. On the down side it's a bit ramshackle; there's even a boom in shot. The acting is a bit iffy but the three leads are very attractive. Stephanie Rothman’s last film (to date) as director.

Radio review – “Michael Shayne” **

Audio version of the popular detective. He’s just another tough-talking gumshoe here without the humour that Lloyd Nolan brought to the role. Not very memorable.

DVD review – “Phantom of the Opera” (1943) ***

Another in Universal's excellent series of special edition DVDs. This has an Informative, enthusiastic audio commentary by Scott MacQueen which gives a detailed bio of Arthur Lubin, saying of the director “He had a talent for story-telling and tremendous craft” – the most concise description of this director I have heard.

I didn’t know Nelson Eddy died of a stroke in Australia, or that Claude Rains turned down Son of Frankenstein and a sequel to Phantom; Susannah Foster turned down National Velvet when under contract to MGM; Claude Rains was meant to play Susannah Foster’s father but this was cut – a bad decision, I reckon, but maybe it was coming across too incestuous; Lon Chaney Jnr wanted to play the Phantom but Universal wanted Charles Laughton before winding up with Rains; the film was intended to re-team Deanna Durbin and Charles Laughton from It Started with a Kiss – but Durbin rejected it (I can understand why but part of me would have still loved to seen her in it); Lon Chaney Jnr lobbied for the role, Broderick Crawford was seriously considered; the rivalry between Edgar Barrie and Nelson Eddy was Lubin’s idea; Leo Carrillo’s family once owned great slabs of California.

A documentary shows the troubles of the original film – it was shot, then after a disastrous preview 60% was reshot, then it was recut again. It’s perhaps a bit kind to the 1962 Hammer version (several clips of this are shown – it looks so cheap compared to the earlier versions). I had no idea how many other films had used the set – they include Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Glen Miller Story. Lots of fun.

Movie review – “The Count of Monte Cristo” (1934) ***

Producer Edward Small had a great fondness for swashbuckling tales, presumably dating from this effort, which gave him an early success and kicked off the 30s swashbuckling cycle. For the first hour this is a very good version of the classic tale – the script is very strong, making it clear why the baddies wanted to do ill by Dantes, and how he remained in gaol for so long despite having so many people think well of him.

The second half, which concentrates on the revenge, is less good. It drags on and on, and is less fun, focusing on some particularly wet young lovers, with a rather bland courtroom climax when you want there to be swashbuckling. The whole movie feels as though it goes on for too long as well and the romance between Donat and Elissa Landi feels bland.

There's a full on moment where one of the baddies puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger! Robert Donat is very good in the lead - he had Hollywood at his feet after making this but didn't chase it up.

TV series – “Entourage – Season 6” (2009) ***

Vinnie Chase’s career has been restored by playing Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby – I’m sorry, Scorsese or not, Nick Carraway is a nothing part that is not going to reignite your career (think of great Nick Carraways – Macdonald Carey, Sam Waterston, Rod Taylor…). But it’s not so surprising for this season, which seems to ignore Vincent Chase film stories for soapy stuff with E and Turtle’s love life. A season full of good ideas (a stalker, E in a bad relationship, E thinks he's got a STD, Lloyd quits the agency) that never really catch fire in the way you think it will. This is when the series jumped the shark.

Movie review – “The Man in the Iron Mask” (1939) ***

Louis Hayward made a large number of second-tier swashbucklers during this career; this was probably is sole first-rate one (although Son of Monte Cristo was pretty fun). He’s very good in a challenging role and it’s a handsome production with a strong story. The supporting cast is good too, including Warren William and Alan Hale as former musketeers and Joan Bennett as the love interest.

Producer Edward Small was presumably inspired by the success of Prisoner of Zenda, with which this shares similarities: a good commoner swaps places with his evil lookalike, and falls in love with the evil lookalike’s betrothed, the villain has a nasty sidekick, there is lots of talk of loyalty and duty.

There is a surprising lack of action – there's only really a decent amount at the end. The director was James Whale; this was his last significant credit in what is an atypical genre for his career (although the dungeon scenes and the big shadows in the palace could have easily slotted into his Universal films). The deaths of the musketeers at the end are dealt with kind of perfunctorily – only two of them get closeup!