Movie review - "The Tattered Dress" (1957) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

As Man in the Shadow begat Touch of Evil so did this beget Man in the Shadow - it's another black and white Universal neo noir about a murder and police corruption in a small town starring Jeff Chandler, produced by Albert Zugsmith and directed by Jack Arnold. Chandler is a ruthless lawyer defending someone for murder - he gets the wrong people off side and finds himself on trial. There's lots of jazzy music and a slutty blonde dancing in a tight evening dress while sipping on alcohol - the sort of image you always saw in Zugsmith films.

This wasn't bad - it moves crisply enough and has an interesting cast: Chandler is forceful as a lawyer not a million miles from Don Draper (that terrific voice is well used in several speeches); Jeanne Crain pops up in a rather thankless role as his estranged, forgiving wife; Jack Carson is superb as a nasty sheriff; poor old Gail Russell pops up and is effective as a sad, broken woman.

I didn't quite buy the story - Carson goes to an awful lot of trouble to made life hard for Chandler; it sets up this murder story in the first third then becomes about something entirely different (i.e Chandler on trial for bribery); Chandler's summing up at the end doesn't make sense (he's saying he went after money and made a lot of mistakes and justice is important... what does that have to do with being not guilty?)

But Carson is a terrific antagonist - smart, ruthless - and Chandler gets to play one of his most flawed heroes: ambitious, unfaithful, a gambling addict. It's an erratic but interesting mystery.

Movie review - "Back from Eternity" (1956) ***

There was a bit of a fad in the 1950s where directors remade their earlier hits - John Ford and Frank Capra did it, and here it's John Farrow's turn, having another go at his 1939 B picture classic, Five Came Back. This is commonly talked about as not being as good as the original, but while it's longer, it still has basically the same story, and I liked it. Some things I liked more than the original.

It has more star power - Robert Ryan is the craggy, boozy captain who falls for Anita Ekberg, sexy as hell and a lot more believable as a shady lady turned Earth mother than Lucille Ball, even if not as good an actor. Rod Steiger is methody (complete with sing-song delivery) as the condemned prisoner, but his performance works. Fred Clark shows his versatility by being a dodgy cop, Jesse White looks like he strolled straight out of the 1939 film, Gene Barry and Phyllis Kirk are the eloping couple. Keith Andes is a bit bland as the other pilot.

Farrow kept all the good stuff from the original: the unexpectedly moving bit where a gangster says goodbye to his son and is later killed; the philosophical killer; the throbbing drums whose silence indicates an attack; the really touching sacrifice of the old married couple. You never really believe everyone will go along with Steiger's judgement but it's not a bad dramatic device. They cut out the semi-commie dialogue from the original where the killer talked about how happy everyone was living in the socialist utopia under a benevolent dictator, and added a long scene where the little kid does the lord's prayer (was this Farrow's influence?), padded it out probably unnecessarily. The natives aren't that scary in this version either but it's still enjoyable.

Movie review - "Red Ball Express" (1952) **1/2

It was a little much to expect Hollywood to come up with an overly accurate version of the Red Ball Express - the predominantly African American soldiers who made up the famous trucking run have been reduced to only a few - but at least they are there, and they all get to play different characters. In particular Sidney Poiter gets to glower in an early role - his fellow blacks are more amiable, but Sidney is angry. (Only until he learns the valuable lesson that he shouldn't be prejudice - yep, the prejudice in this comes from the black character. So no NAACP awards but at least it's something.) There's some weird scenes of a black soldier leading the others in a spiritual as they unload trucks - the whites join in which has to be some sort of first.

Jeff Chandler has the lead role although this is more of an ensemble piece. He's stuck with the worst plot - his sergeant hates Chandler for causing his brother's death in civvie street. It's boring because you know the sergeant is going to realise that Chandler isn't really responsible and Chandler will redeem himself in the guy's eyes some way. There's also a lot of dud conflict e.g. Chandler being a task master (it's war time what do they expect), soldiers acting stupidly. And Charles Drake is irritating as a soldier who wants to write a novel and romances a French girl.

Those criticisms aside, I quite enjoyed it. It's briskly handled by the director, the subject matter and presence of black soldiers ensures that it's different, there's also some tough but sexy Red Cross workers who are dab hands with a wrench, and Chandler suits his role.

Movie review - "Two Flags West" (1950) **1/2

The Civil War ground was fertile ground for Westerns - the 1950s in particular seemed to have a bunch of them featuring Northerners and Southerners squabbling amongst themselves before taking on the Indians e.g. Rocky Mountain, Column South, Escape from Fort Bravo (few of them ever had any black people in them).

This was one, which has the same plot as the later Major Dundee: captured Confederate POW Joseph Cotten is asked by injured Cornel Wilde to help fight Injuns at a fort run by bitter Jeff Chander. That's a pretty good set up - thrown in the fact that Chandler's brother died at a battle in which Cotten took part, Linda Darnell as the woman at the fort, the widow of Chandler's brother. 

Unfortunately after that things get more conventional and dull - Chandler is so bitter and twisted that he's no sexual threat to Cotten; Cornel Wilde is wasted - he starts off looking interesting with an eye patch, but that soon goes and he's just this "hey-the-South-aren't-all-bad" character; Darnell, who just showed how good she could be in Letter to Three Wives is also wasted in a nothing part. It's also got that irritating bias towards the South which always seemed to exist in these stories - Cotten is a gentleman, cultured and brave, the Union soldiers are nasty.

It's stylishly directed by Robert Wise, Cotten is perfectly cast and Chandler gets the chance to show something different in a rare character role, channelling Henry Fonda in Fort Apache (he's got a moustache and is made to look older). He's got a fantastic last scene, bravely walking off to his death, and there's some good siege action at the end when the Indians take on the soldiers. Not bad - you just wish it was better.

Movie review - "Haywire" (2011) **1/2

This would have been more fun if it was trashier - good on Steven Soderbergh for trying to make a commercial action thriller with a female lead, and attempting to launch a new star in Gina Carano, but the plot will be familiar to anyone who watched a lot of action movies in the 80s. Carano is a kind-of government agent who is set up by - gasp - her own organisation and who try to kill her.

They try to jazz it up a little with some non-linear structuring but that doesn't help. Nor does shying away from fully embracing the cliches to give cheesy emotion - at least that would be something. It all feels a bit flat.

Carano is cute and a terrific fighter, though clearly inexperienced as an actor. There's a divine cast, but Michael Fassbender and Ewan McGregor are called upon to do fight scenes and don't do them that well - Channing Tatum is very believable though. Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas look old, and Michael Angarano seems as though he's going to have a big part but then kind of disappears.

Some of the fight scenes are very well done but a lot of the excitement feels drained out of this movie. Carano would have been better off making her star debut in some straight to DVD action trash.

Movie review - "Dick Barton at Bay" (1950) **

Number three of the Dick Barton series - made second but released third. There would have been four but the lead Don Stannard was killed in a car accident. (I'm surprised Hammer, always keen to do a remake and follow a trend, didn't revive the character in the wake of 60s Bond mania). Just as the second Dick Barton film had this annoying climax involving a siren sound, this has one involving a lighthouse light that goes on and off during the final scenes and is incredibly irritating.

This starts briskly enough with the murder of another agent just after having phoned Barton (played by Patrick MacNee!) - I hope someone does an article one day on fellow secret agents who are killed at the beginning of films e.g. all those guys in the Bond movies. The action soon gets very familiar and conventional - Barton pretends to be dead to investigate, a scientist who has invented a ray gun is kidnapped by baddies, the scientist has a hot daughter, etc. It's fairly ordinary with that annoying light at the end.

Movie review - "The Jayhawkers" (1959) **

There's a terrific movie to be had in the jayhawkers of Bloody Kansas but it's not to be found here, which ducks the issue of slavery pretty much entirely - indeed, I don't think there's one black actor in the whole movie and slavery is barely mentioned, if it all - and turns them into just another gang. Actually that's not exactly true - Jayhawker Jeff Chandler wants to "take over" Kansas and defend it. So he's leading a civil insurrection as opposed to trying to kill slavers and/or let slaves go. How he plans to hang on to Kansas against the entire US army isn't really explained but that's only one of many confusing things about this movie.

The plot has Fess Parker infiltrate Chandler's gang. Parker's character is a peace-living Southerner who went on raids and killed people but only to protect his home (why would the Jayhawkers be keen to take on someone who led raids against the North...? If that's what happened, I wasn't sure). Chandler basically falls in love with Parker in that homoerotic way so common in 50s Westerns but Parker prefers Nicole Muary.

Parker proves he is basically only a TV star in this, ambling his way through the movie. It's full of odd moments and inconsistencies: Parker sings a song, and teaches Nicole Maurey's French kids how to speak his distorted English; Maurey's French husband apparently loved Freedom and was killed by Redleggers because he didn't answer if he was a slaver or not quick enough (or did he just say "yes"?); the evil Governor who blackmails Parker into going undercover and destroying the Jayhawkers, is a northerner; I couldn't figure out the final plan for the life of me. I think we're meant to dislike the Jayhawkers though because Chandler's 2IC Henry Silva tries to rape Maurey but like Chandler. But I wasn't sure - I wasn't sure a lot about this.

Chandler easily gives the best performance. It's not hard with waffling Parker, out of place Maury and her atrociously bad children, and over acting Silva. Still it's good to see him play someone a bit messiah-like and crazy - he's not the best actor in the world, Chandler, but he had authority and presence, and that counts.