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More or less ignored for 75 years, this curious ‘B’ program picture now finds its way directly to a Warner Archive Blu-ray release. Cult actor Lawrence Tierney has an atypical ‘swell guy’ role as a Marine veteran thrust into a murder mystery and made the fall guy for nefarious foreign spies. Anne Jeffreys becomes his co-fugitive when the villains frame him for murder. It’s like a fancy 1960s romantic thriller, except on a micro scale. Just the same, Phil Rosen’s movie crams a lot of incident into its brisk 62 minutes. Consider it a gift to Lawrence Tierney fans — they might like him in a role that Cary Grant could play.

Step by Step

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 62 min. / Street Date July 20, 2021 / 21.99

Starring: Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, Lowell Gilmore, Myrna Dell, Harry Harvey, Addison Richards, Ray Walker, Jason Robards Sr., George Cleveland, Lee Bonnell, Robert Clarke,...

“A Senator, Nazi Spies, And A Dog”

By Raymond Benson

Want a fast-paced action thriller, starring attractive leads and a precocious dog, that deals with Nazi spies in the political climate immediately following the war, and be done with it in only 62 minutes? This 1946 potboiler directed by Phil Rosen and starring notorious Lawrence Tierney is for you!

Step by Step is not a film noir, which was what most crime pictures ended up stylistically becoming in the period after World War II. Instead, it’s a rollicking good action drama that packs what today might be two hours’ worth of plot into a don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-something single hour. The picture is not only well-written and well-shot, it has a superb cast that functions quite well in this tight little ride.

Perhaps most interesting for today’s audience is the leading man presence of Lawrence Tierney, who had burst onto the...

There’s a storm outside, the cook has drunk herself to sleep, the other servants are gone, the old lady is an invalid — and the helpless mute maid is trapped indoors with a murderous maniac. No, it’s not a Reality Show about the White House, but Robert Siodmak’s superior ‘old house whodunnit’ that is equal parts Americana, film noir and proto- slasher horror.

The Spiral Staircase

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 83 min. / Street Date October 2, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Gordon Oliver, Elsa Lanchester, Sara Allgood, Rhys Williams, James Bell, Ellen Corby, Erville Anderson, Myrna Dell.

Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca

Film Editor: Harry Gerstad, Harry Marker

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by Mel Dinelli from a book by Ethel Lina White

Produced by Dore Schary

Directed by Robert Siodmak

The handsomely produced The Spiral Staircase...

Destination Murder

Written by Don Martin

Directed by Edward L. Cahn

U.S.A., 1950

One night during an intermission at a downtown movie theatre Jackie Wales (Stanley Clements), a lowly driver, leaves his girlfriend for a few minutes to run a quick errand. Not just any old chore however, but murder! Driven to the house of a notable businessman by an accomplice, Jackie rings the doorbell, inquires as to the name of the older man who answers the door to make sure he knows who the target is and shoots the gentleman dead. As Jackie flees the premise the victim’s daughter Laura (Joyce MacKenzie) catches a glimpse of the fiend, a clue she latches onto the following days when the police begin their inquiries. Rather than remain sidelined from the action, Laura takes matters into her own hands and pretends to befriend the cantankerous Jackie. Through Jackie the intrepid...

Mickey Rooney movie schedule (Pt): TCM on August 13 See previous post: “Mickey Rooney Movies: Music and Murder.” Photo: Mickey Rooney ca. 1940. 3:00 Am Death On The Diamond (1934). Director: Edward Sedgwick. Cast: Robert Young, Madge Evans, Nat Pendleton, Mickey Rooney. Bw-71 mins. 4:15 Am A Midsummer Night’S Dream (1935). Director: Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle. Cast: James Cagney, Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, Ross Alexander, Anita Louise, Mickey Rooney, Joe E. Brown, Victor Jory, Ian Hunter, Verree Teasdale, Jean Muir, Frank McHugh, Grant Mitchell, Hobart Cavanaugh, Dewey Robinson, Hugh Herbert, Arthur Treacher, Otis Harlan, Helen Westcott, Fred Sale, Billy Barty, Rags Ragland. Bw-143 mins. 6:45 Am A Family Affair (1936). Director: George B. Seitz. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Lionel Barrymore, Cecilia Parker, Eric Linden. Bw-69 mins. 8:00 Am Boys Town (1938). Director: Norman Taurog. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, Gene Reynolds, Edward Norris, Addison Richards, Minor Watson, Jonathan Hale,...

When it comes to actresses, the movie business has always had an eye for beautiful faces. Unfortunately, it has often only been an afterthought as to whether or not that beautiful face could do anything other than be beautiful. Leaf through the archives of any of the movie glamour magazines from long ago and you’ll find them a cemetery of beautiful faces primped and hyped by the Hollywood PR machine to be The Next Great Thing. Some never made it past a screen test, while others managed to survive a few screen roles, but through lack of talent, charisma, the right roles — whatever mysterious magic it is that causes a performer to click with an audience — soon disappeared, never to be heard of again. It’s a long, looong casualty list of forgotten pretties like Merrilyn Grix, Eleanor Counts, Kathy Marlowe, Myrna Dell, Sandra Giles, Jean Colleran, Sunnie O’Dea,...