ksdilauri

This may be an oldie that you missed for one reason or another. I did, until this evening, and am glad I finally got around to seeing it.

There are a few outdoor scenes, but it largely remains in play form, with most of the story taking place in Don's apartment. That allows us to better concentrate on the interaction between him and the butterfly-like Goldie. Reliable character actress Eileen Heckart, earned her Oscar as Edward Albert's protective mom. She brings realistic layers to what could have been a stereotypical "overbearing mother" character. She, Hawn and Albert are all excellent. It's worth a watch.

Unless you're a classic buff of the utmost seriousness, you may have missed "The Blue Gardenia", since there are so many of its type-the '40's-'50's murder-mystery genre sure wasn't lacking for entries.

But not many have Fritz Lang at its helm, nor a cast as capable as this one. The final product isn't as remembered as much as Lang's masterpieces, nor is it quite on the level of others in the genre like "Double Indemnity", but it's put together very neatly and is well-played by a talented cast.

Anne Baxter was a fairly hot property in 1953, only a couple of years after her triumph in "All About Eve", where she so deftly avoided being wiped off the screen by Bette Davis that both of them were Oscar-nominated as 1950's Best Actress (in the process, it cancelled out votes for both of them and shifted the prize to Judy Holliday. It was almost comical.)

But I digress. "Blue Gardenia" gives us Baxter as damsel-in-distress, surrounded by a top-notch supporting cast--most of whom, it seems, are chain-smokers. (Big Tobacco must have had their homicidal hands involved, sponsoring the picture.) But it's a neat little drama, well acted and involving, and it moves along briskly. Give it a watch.

You know how there are some movies that you see when they're first released, and you think "eh, no biggie", then you see it again years later and it seems better than you remember? I'm thinking "Love at First Bite" may possibly be one of those, so I'm giving it a look again. Stay tuned...... .........Well, while it wasn't leap years better than I remembered, there were enough chuckles that it wasn't a waste of time either. Hamilton gets into the comic spirit and delivers his lines amusingly; Saint James, at that stage of her career not exactly an ingenue, is still funny as the tacky, seen-it-all fashion model Cindy Sondheim; and Arte Johnson really chews the scenery (and an assortment of insects) as Renfield.

Things pick up when Richard Benjamin, as Cindy's cast-off boyfriend/shrink, matches wits with the smitten Count in order to save her. Benjamin is a talented performer, but generally isn't someone you expect to exude screwball comedy--which makes his war on Dracula all the more funny. Worth a watch on a quiet evening.