Panamint's reviews

This is an excellent example of what can be done with television drama and is a superior 1950's effort. Highly trained, dedicated actress Marcia Henderson gives a skilled and nuanced performance that demonstrates her solid talent. What she accomplishes here is difficult to do given the parameters of the story that initially present her character as a potential suicide.

Charles Boyer got better as years passed and his portrait of a compassionate, mature man is terrific but he makes it look so effortless it is a pleasure to view. Some of his performances are strong and skilled by this point in his career.

All of the cast is good and this short TV program from the Four Star Playhouse is a recommend for me.

The acting in this film is very good by all the cast. Vivien Leigh gives a weary and memorable performance, you might say Oscar-worthy. She was a great actress. Oskar Werner is also terrific. We may never see this caliber of acting in films again.

However, the script writing is very 1960's pretentious in the style believed to be modern in the 60s. In no way does it seem circa 1933 and this is the major flaw in this film. Strictly written for the 60's audience by 1960's writers. I am referring to the dialogue (which is sometimes dialog just for dialogue's sake) and not necessarily the ideas it purports to convey. For example James Dunn, a really good actor, is given dialogue that so blatantly "relevant 1960s America" that his character is totally out of sync with any 1930's culture.

The film is thoughtful, sometimes poignant. Ironic and occasionally even humorous. At times the vignettes are not edited seamlessly or maybe things were chopped up at some point, even in the restored version that I saw. The black and white photography is very good and even seems necessary for the 1930's setting.

Good movie but sometimes the heavy elephant footprint of Stanley Kramer rather stomps all over the great efforts of the cast. Said footprint is very evident in the somewhat cutesy, smart-alecky ending.

Despite the flaws I would recommend this film for the remarkable performances.

Just want to note the outstanding performance by Milton Selzer in this "Perry Mason" episode. This is an example of absolutely perfect casting (often a hallmark of this series). Selzer is a poised and confident actor and his performance is flawless. The episode as a whole has a very dramatic tone throughout, and fortunately produces excellent heavy drama, very watchable.

This episode is well written and acted and features expert editing, but for me the experimental nature of the directing techniques only results in a show totally dominated by one person, namely the director.

Almost entirely filmed with extreme closeups of faces (one scene with Paul Drake on the phone has his face filing the entire frame and I mean all of it). Every inch of William Hopper's normal facial fat is greatly exaggerated and thus quite unflattering to him.

The camera does move rather strangely at times such as swirling around a witness on the stand and ending up filming her from behind her head. The camera is often above an actor's head, at times right above their ear. Characters sort of burst through doors or are seen rapidly walking out of a door, quickly shutting it behind them. Why, just for dramatic effect or something? Added brisk walking and running around is really not necessary because the script has plenty of drama as written.

Distracting.

This is a serious-minded and sincere effort at presenting some of the difficult aspects of US-Native American relations in the old west, albeit through a Hollywood lens. It delivers above its low budget and features a remarkably lean script in a conventional style.

Massacres anywhere were extremely brutal in the 19th century and one is depicted in this film as is a Custer type of US army blunder. This movie is violent but it is depicted within the context of what actually happened in those days, and isn't gratuitous or exploitative.

Audie Murphy is very watchable with his undeniable screen presence and his strong war hero credentials. You know that he could really lead these soldiers to hell and back if necessary. In fact, he literally could. A love triangle is rather awkwardly shoe-horned into the movie featuring beautiful and soft spoken actress Linda Lawson (who is virtually forgotten nowadays). She is perfect as a compassionate activist endeavoring for progress on the frontier. Her gentle acting style works well against the believable controlled violence personality that Murphy was able to develop for all of his soldier roles.

Acting by the supporting cast is uniformly good and features the ultimate movie rabble-rouser L.Q Jones. Jones rouses a lot of rabble in this one.

This skillfully edited and filmed low budget movie is worth your viewing time.

Roy Barcroft (in top form as a land swindler) is one of a trio of first rate stars of the western genre who are featured in this movie.. He, Alan Lane and Phyllis Coates were among the best western performers of the era

Scenes are professionally set up, well-directed and photographed. In other words, this may be a modestly budgeted western but it is not shoddy in any way.

You won't find a sidekick, only an old crotchety uncle. He isn't goofy and he doesn't sing, yodel or dip snuff- he is just "crotchety". The story is formulaic but the script is lean and all the violence is within context. This film is worth your viewing time if you like westerns.

Deserves a fairly good rating because it has a very skillfully set up and well done ending. Once in a while a golden nugget of movie brilliance can be found lodged within a cheap forgotten film. The ending of this one is such a nugget.

Most of the cast is lively if not memorable and they are better than the film itself. They keep it watchable despite the drabness of the PRC production values and undoubtedly rushed filming schedule. Von Stroheim is his usual menacing self and does a good job in the title role.

Von Stroheim is effective but the hypnotism techniques used in this film are rushed and not well thought out. Despite many such weak elements "The Mask of Diijon" holds together and moves along in a fairly well paced linear b-movie style. Its not a terrible example of the dark 1940's b-movie creepy murder genre, and certainly worth a look.

Its a Sam Katzman produced film so you know its cheap. But that is OK in this case since its a police-procedure black and white movie that doesn't require any kind of budget to be effective. Its a serviceable representative of the raw style police films that were popular in the late 1940's/early 50's.

Hurd Hatfield delivers another of his flawless performances that elevated every project he ever appeared in. Hatfield was a remarkable actor who deserved much more than he received from the Hollywood establishment. He is much admired retrospectively nowadays for his contributions to stage, screen and TV. Also featured is a versatile and familiar actor, as talented as he was gruff, by the name of Tom Powers as the police captain. Numerous other capable and familiar actors do good work here.

This film moves along briskly which helps overcome the low budget and general lack of depth. It evokes the 1949 San Francisco ambiance and is a sincere attempt to produce a worthwhile police action genre piece. Just go along for the fast action (sometimes quite violent) and good acting. You won't be disappointed in "Chinatown at Midnight" if you don't expect depth or anything classic.

This is a melodrama and is obviously written for one reason and that is to be a melodrama. The result is a one-dimensional and at times seemingly slow film as scenes of pure melodrama follow one after the other. Joan Crawford was the master of the genre and she is terrific in this one, even getting intimidatingly physical at times, and shockingly so. You gotta see these scenes as she goes completely over the top, they are priceless.

It all takes place in one house, with the characters constantly interacting in close quarters, as if scorpions in a bottle. This really doesn't work as well as it should because the characters have little or no development and in some cases no background. For example, all we really know about Crawford's character is that she came from Chicago and she is meaner than hell.

Fortunately all of the acting is outstanding. Barry Sullivan gives one of his best performances, its maybe his finest ever. He is believable as Avery, the suffering husband and father of the Queen Bee's two children. The acting in "Queen Bee" is so good that it overcomes any shortcomings, making this a film I would recommend. It is one of the classic late-Crawford "eyebrow movies" and not to be missed.

There is a DVD of this movie that shows its excellent wide screen color cinematography. Another big plus factor of this movie is its basis in historical fact.

The Black Prince, portrayed by Errol Flynn, was a real person, the Prince of Wales in old England of the 1300's. He really did marry a noblewoman named Joan, here portrayed by Joanne Dru. Many of the characters portrayed in this move were real, such as the King of France who is correctly mentioned as a prisoner of England, and the Dauphin of France who was suddenly forced by circumstance to rule in his father's absence. But the big ultimate winner of all the warfare was French hero Bertrand du Guesclin, Constable of France, who is portrayed in this film. Although depicted here as losing a battle, du Guesclin really did eventually regain almost all of France from the English and other assorted groups. These characters are chronicled more fully in a fine book called "The Distant Mirror" by noted historian Barbara W. Tuchman. The book also documents the constant wars, castle sieges, attacks, counter attacks such as those presented in "The Warriors". Believe it or not, these guys really did run around in a bloody, crazy, messy hundred years of warfare all over France and parts of Italy and the Habsburg Empire. And the English did have a claim on Aquitaine and fought for a long time to retain it.

So the movie is not just swashbuckling for its own sake. For me, understanding that the circumstances and that the major figures presented here are historical adds a new perspective to what you might be tempted to call "just another swashbuckler". The only failing that I perceive to all this is that not much time can be allowed for character development (hence the Tuchman book for reference- its well written but really long).

Errol Flynn's acting is good as it always was throughout his career, but alas he is too dissipated to be able to swash many buckles, although he or his double do participate in some action scenes. Dru is not effective in her part which is only secondary to this film's story, but Peter Finch and others including a young Christopher Lee do a fine job in supporting roles. Yvonne Furneaux steals the movie from all these stars with a lovely fun performance.

So this film has a lot of action in a true historical perspective, is well made and features good wide-screen cinematography. I can't pigeon-hole this as "just a swashbuckler" because it is a historical film at the same time, and you can't just say "its another late Flynn" because in his late films he grew as an actor and still tried to deliver a performance while suffering the severe decline of his health related to alcoholism and heart failure.

"The Warriors" lacks depth but is overall a pretty good action movie.

This is one of the most perceptive and realistic depictions of psychology in film. The psychological aspects and the psychologist as portrayed by Lloyd Nolan are absolutely spot on. Anne Francis is perfectly cast as a woman truly in need and seeking out some internal insight, and believe me this is a realistic search by her character and not just an overblown cinematic exploitation. Kay Medford gives us quite a screen acting demonstration- she shows you how to act for the movies, she is that good. John Kerr portrays a total louse but the psychologist also endeavors to figure him out for the sake of his patient, Ms. Francis. Major childhood incidents and issues of the two lead characters are explored in a very frank manner, way ahead of the time frame of c1960 era film-making. And its not exploitative- it is all realistic and highly dramatic. Kerr was master of the psychological side of screen acting (we have seen examples of his work in "Tea and Sympathy" and "The Cobweb") and this film showcases Kerr as an even more well-rounded and impactful character.

"Girl of the Night" should be viewed whenever you are ready for a heavy, serious cinematic experience. Not frivolous or titillating, it is just a well conceived, well written and well acted movie.

Joan Crawford's performance is masterful, ranging all the way from pitiful to frightening. Crawford was a great movie actress. She commands the screen and has thoroughly prepared for every scene and every word of dialogue, however good or bad the dialogue might be.

The whole film is never dull for a moment and is well made within the limits of the guilty pleasure sort of style. Like a train wreck, you can't look away.

Supporting cast acting is adequate, especially Diane Baker who works well with Joan Crawford as they create a memorable mother/daughter team.

For the ultimate in absurd, guilty pleasure brilliance by director William Castle and star Joan Crawford, view "Straight Jacket" when you get the chance.

A lively cast provides a lot of spark for this Monogram crime/lawyer/courtroom b-movie. Florence Rice really keeps things moving and the capable Alan Baxter works well with her, mainly due to Baxter's confident style and well-trained acting credentials that make him, like the well-established star Rice, a fortunate addition to the acting lineup for Monogram Studios. Monogram constantly strove to provide a quality product beyond its modest means, and sometimes succeeded as it does with "Borrowed Hero".

Movie perennial John Hamilton has a major role in this film as a shady "civic leader" who has his busy fingers in most of City Hall's activities both above-board and behind the scenes. Hamilton was always dynamic and lively in any role, whether in his countless movies or in the original Superman TV series. He always adds spark to a movie with his brisk dramatic style of acting. Ultra dignified Stanley Andrews and kindly Mary Gordon are also excellent in supporting roles.

"Borrowed Hero" has some good criminal and lawyer action and although hurriedly filmed at times including attempts at charming humor that don't always work, overall this is a watchable and lively little obscure movie.

This is a very dramatic episode and it makes you really admire the extremely hard work that was often done by actors and producers in the old TV days. The hard work in this case was necessitated partly due to the episode's over-reach to what is probably the limits of concept and story that can be accomplished via weekly TV. You either will buy into the "live and die by the play" persona of Jerome Cowan's character or you won't, but Cowan does bring stature and gravitas to his pivotal role. He portrays a playwright and the episode is partly a sort of homage to Shakespeare who is quoted by the characters including lawyers in court. Heady stuff, a very ambitious TV concept and as I say maybe an over-reach.

The cast is terrific and they accomplish a dramatic ending, with skilled acting by TV perennial David Lewis. Lewis was around for many decades on television as well as having good parts in notable films such as the classic "The Apartment". He was highly respected in his era but is not very well known nowadays.

This episode was written by the distinguished Hollywood scriptwriter and literary editor Milton Krims. His participation is an indication that this episode of "Perry Mason" was in fact intended to be a really serious and high concept TV production but I didn't know that when I first saw the name "Krims" on the screen. I thought this must be a joke or a nom de plume- "Krims" spelled backwards is "Smirk", but now I realize who he was and that this is his real name.

Intensity and a heavy tone with little or no relief or levity is tricky to do in a series TV episode, yet this one does manage to elevate to a high standard in my opinion despite the limitations of the genre.

You have here a lot of good atmospherics involving fog, several canines, and generally fine but somewhat routine mystery components, with competent acting and good Universal Studios production values.

June Lockhart is a lovely young beginner actress in this movie. But with a terrific supporting cast that includes Dennis Hoey, Martin Kosleck, Frederick Worlock and others it should have been better. The problem is, its simply lacking. It lacks a monster with scary make-up, a knowledgeable old expert doctor or scientist, or great mystery detective. There is no strange gypsy woman or macabre character of any sort. I did see quite a bit of canine activity but did not notice any werewolf type animal.

Don Porter is the leading man but his part is way underwritten and he really doesn't have much to do so I won't fault his acting. He is OK for what he was probably paid which was most likely very little.

And its odd that so much of the film plays out on the familiar Universal mansion front door/front porch set (the British of the film's locale would probably call it the "forecourt") that is in so many Universal films of the era. The set itself doesn't bother me at all but I do believe that in this movie it reflects an overall lack of imagination in sets and staging, being used repeatedly in so many scenes.

Fans of the Universal product of the era will probably find this film satisfying but its too bad it doesn't have more oomph.

This is a film that manages to keep the viewer's interest through well- conceived plot twists and a well-played romantic relationship between the two lead characters. Preston Foster is believable as a tough cop with a hard-nosed exterior who has a complicated emotional entanglement with an enigmatic and dangerous woman. Foster does a great job in the role.

A now rather obscure actress named Belita gives a studied and endearing performance as the ex-con blonde noir babe who maybe does or does not love the cop. She manages to convey a vulnerable yet dangerous persona that is not easy to maintain for an entire film length but she pulls off this feat with remarkable consistency and aplomb. The multi-talented Belita also gives us a fine and professionally done figure skating routine wherein her rather tall, lean and graceful style reminds me of the great Olympian Peggy Fleming. And its good to see noir icon Charles McGraw in a supporting role.

I found "The Hunted" to be a rewarding blend of constant emotional tension between the characters and plot tension related to the twists and turns of its basic noir story line. View it if you get the chance.

A 1950s creature movie can be awful and that's OK if its so bad its good- some are hilarious or have a fun goofy monster ("The Giant Claw"). Unfortunately The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues has none of the awful plus factors going for it. Its slow, boring and directed by someone who lacked the ability to either reach up to make good film or to reach down to the lowest Ed Wood levels of schlock. And the monster here is not campy or anything.

Cathy Downs was capable of giving good performances, as was perennial leading man Kent Taylor. Downs looks fine as she wears various sporty outfits, swimsuits etc. but unfortunately that is all her role requires, no acting is even remotely required. Taylor seems rather bemused as he knows this movie is not redeemable even as camp.

I watch this movie because I like the cast, but the silly monster that bobs around the surface in shallow water has no impact at all.

A 1950's monster film completist will need this in their collection but other than such enthusiasts I doubt that anyone else would be interested.

For a touch of exotic atmosphere only 90 miles from the shores of the USA in a part of the world that shares a common Spanish Colonial heritage with much of the United States, you can view "The Big Boodle". The movie lacks depth but the atmospherics and locales of 1957 Havana are effective, and filmed with fine black and white cinematography.

Errol Flynn stars and looks every inch the movie star, although he appears thin and tired. Nevertheless he summons enough energy to move at a good pace- in fact the overall action moves at a rather fast pace, especially toward the end. Flynn's star quality was still intact although fading rapidly, and he is able to function well enough to carry the film.

Flynn portrays a croupier with a sketchy past who is thrust into some really heavy criminal goings-on. He is believable in the role and his acting (as always) is good. Gia Scala is OK as a young woman involved. Ms.Scala was one of the most remarkably beautiful women ever on film- its regrettable that her startling eyes cannot be shown here in color. Rosanna Rory is a cast member who is relatively obscure but is basically a capable Euro actress of the era. Pedro Armendariz is perfect as the cagey police chief. He was one of the finest screen actors ever and he is superb in this movie. Leading man type Carlos Rivas who you might recognize from the classic 50's monster film "Giant Scorpion" is also well-cast as a reckless and ambitious young Cuban.

Authentic atmospherics of pre-Castro Cuba, some decent acting, and the brisk pace will probably overcome any reservations you may experience from Flynn's obvious weariness and the B-movie nature of this film. I found it to be an entertaining departure into the long lost era of Errol Flynn and of late-50's Cuba.

"Assassin of Youth" aka "The Marijuana Menace" is a cheap exploitation movie, obviously filmed quickly with low-paid actors. However, unlike the worst of such films of the era, there are some legitimate acting talents in this one. The lovely Luana Walters, who in my opinion should have become a much bigger star in Hollywood, has substance and screen presence while being able to actually act. Despite her talents she was often wasted in typical Hollywood fashion in low-budget westerns simply because she had some genuine horsemanship ability, having grown up around horses. Its sad that the movie industry has used and thrown away so many talents for such superficial reasons. Another cast member with a long Hollywood career was the multi-talented Fay McKenzie, who portrays the evil cousin with verve and impact. But in this movie you mostly encounter laughably bad acting by unknown actors being handled by the director in hurry-up fashion.

Another distinction of this particular exploitation movie is that marijuana is clearly portrayed as a threshold drug and not a "Deadly Narcotic" as is so forcefully stated in bold headline letters in the ridiculous and preachy "Reefer Madness". Marijuana is portrayed here as being used to introduce youth to hard drugs, and the hard drugs are being purveyed by hardened organized career criminals, as they were then and still are today.

So this film is old, cheap, bad and all that. But it has a few redeemable qualities that made it at least watchable for me.

A good Tarzan adventure film, another of the Lex Barker films that were made with decent budgets and not just cheap knock-offs. Barker does a great job as big hunk Tarzan (its definitely a role that requires more action than acting). First-class actress Dorothy Hart is lovely as Jane and does most of the real acting in this Tarzan household. She was a truly gifted actress who soon quit movies for roles in prestigious television productions and other activities that utilized her worthwhile abilities. There is also a little boy character well played by a lad named Tommy Carleton, although this character seems superfluous to me and was subsequently dropped from the Tarzan series. Former leading man Patrick Knowles does a great job as a vacuous baddie, a weak willed character whose actions are essential to the plot.

The overall story of "Tarzan's Savage Fury" is wholly inconsequential but the movie is directed at a nice crisp pace. It is definitely above average for a b-movie adventure flick. I can recommend this film for the action and physicality that Barker brings to the Tarzan role, and for Dorothy Hart's luminous presence and fine acting.