Kathleen Hughes, 1928-2025

Sad news this evening: Actress Kathleen Hughes has passed away at the age of 96.

The personable and attractive Hughes was a fixture in many 20th Century-Fox and Universal Pictures films of the late '40s and '50s. She later worked extensively in television.

Hughes was immortalized in publicity stills for IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953), such as those above, which to this day turn up on greeting cards.

I was fortunate to see Hughes speak in person multiple times over the years. She appeared at the Loretta Young centennial tribute held in Glendale in January 2014. I photographed her here with director Randal Kleiser (center back) and Loretta's daughter-in-law Linda and son Chris Lewis. Chris passed on in 2021.

Just a few months later, in April 2014, I attended the memorial service for Kathleen's longtime husband, producer Stanley Rubin. He was eulogized by actresses Coleen Gray and Susan Clark, and the afternoon concluded with a screening of THE NARROW MARGIN (1952), which Rubin produced.

Hughes appeared at a Palm Springs sci-fest fest in October 2015 which was hosted by Alan K. Rode. On a social media site this evening Rode said that Kathleen was "a joy to be with."

At the sci-fi fest Hughes charmingly described her courtship with Rubin, agreeing to go out with him after being told he was "one of the nicest guys in Hollywood." She told us that when she opened the door on their first date and saw him she "would have married him on the spot."

Hughes and Rubin were married for 49 years, until his 2014 passing. Hughes is survived by three of their four children.

I've seen a majority of Kathleen Hughes' movies, including those in which she had bit parts. Reviews: ROAD HOUSE (1948), MOTHER IS A FRESHMAN (1949), IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING (1949), WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950), I'LL GET BY (1950), TAKE CARE OF MY LITTLE GIRL (1951), SALLY AND SAINT ANNE (1952), IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953), THE GOLDEN BLADE (1953), THE GLASS WEB (1953), DAWN AT SOCORRO (1954).

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Tonight's Movie: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

One of my favorite new-to-me films at last weekend's Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival was KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE (1950).

KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE, like SWELL GUY (1946) and LUST FOR GOLD (1949), featured a villain front and center, in this case James Cagney. Cagney plays Ralph Cotter, a gangster not too dissimilar from his infamous Cody Jarrett in WHITE HEAT (1949).

What was especially fun was when I got home from the festival I could rewatch the film thanks to the Kino Lorber Dark Side of Cinema XXIII collection, but this time with a commentary track by Alan K. Rode. Rode, of course, is also the producer and host of the Arthur Lyons Festival and the person we saw introduce the film last weekend! It was a very "full circle" viewing.

The 102-minute movie is told in flashback as various people testify at a criminal trial. We learn that Ralph Cotter escaped from prison with the help of Holiday Carleton (Barbara Payton), who provided cover for the break by shooting at the guards.

The lonely Holiday becomes Ralph's mistress, despite his brutal betrayal of her brother (Neville Brand) during the escape.

Ralph quickly becomes involved in more crimes, aided and abetted by his henchman Jinx (Steve Brodie), corrupt cops (Ward Bond and Barton MacLane), and a wily attorney (Luther Adler).

Ralph takes up with wealthy Margaret (Helena Carter) and is on the verge of having it all -- a gorgeous wife and tons of money. But he hasn't counted on how Holiday will react when she finds out her man has gone astray.

I thought this film, written by Harry Brown based on a novel by Horace McCoy, was excellent. It's got a good script and performances, directed by Gordon Douglas.

The characters are all disturbed to one degree or another, yet like some of the other great crime films -- i.e., GUN CRAZY (1950) -- the viewer can't help being fascinated as their stories play out.

Cagney might have been even more amoral in this one than WHITE HEAT; I think this film may have been in the shadow of its predecessor, but it deserves to be acknowledged on its own as an outstanding crime film.

I did wonder a bit what the movie's beautiful young women saw in a man who was 50 when this was in production, but Cagney's charisma is such that those thoughts were easy to chase away.

Barbara Payton's role and performance are somewhat reminiscent of Virginia Mayo in WHITE HEAT, yet Payton puts her own unique stamp on Holiday; she's terrific. A scene where she hurls crockery at Ralph is especially memorable, and Payton's overall work here causes the viewer to especially regret her early career slide and death.

Carter is also outstanding as the daring playgirl who's excited by Cagney's tough guy, though she has no idea just how bad he truly is. I wish viewers had been given a moment where she learns the truth. I find Carter a very interesting actress and wish she'd appeared in more than the 13 films she made from 1947 to 1953. I found a nice appreciation of Carter by Stephen Vagg which others might enjoy reading as well.

The supporting cast includes many familiar faces including Kenneth Tobey, John Litel, William Frawley, Dan Riss, Rhys Williams, King Donovan, and Matt McHugh. Tobey and Litel, incidentally, were each in a couple of movies seen at the festival.

A great bit of trivia is that Bond and MacLane, this movie's crooked cops, were partnered as the good cops in THE MALTESE FALCON (1941).

The film was shot in black and white by J. Peverell Marley. Locations included Chino and Glendale, California.

Kino Lorber's good-looking Blu-ray print is from an HD master by Paramount Pictures from a 4K scan.

Extras include the previously mentioned commentary track plus the trailer. Two additional trailers for other films starring Cagney are also included.

Alan Rode's commentary tracks are always excellent, and among other things I was glad to learn more about the right-hand-drive car Helena Carter drives in the movie; it was French and worth $17,000 in its day.

The other films in this set are ROPE OF SAND (1949) and NEVER LOVE A STRANGER (1958), to be reviewed here in the future.

KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE is recommended viewing.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...Earlier this month I shared the good news that Alan K. Rode is writing a book on SHANE (1953) for the University of New Mexico Press Reel West series. There's even more good news about that series: Books on THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE and BROKEN ARROW are coming October 7th and are now available for pre-order at Amazon. THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE was authored by my friend Chris Yogerst and BROKEN ARROW is by Angela Aleiss.

...CAIRO STATION (1958), which I saw at the 2024 Noir City Film Festival, is coming to the Criterion Collection. As I wrote last year, this movie really wasn't for me, but I'm sharing the info as I know the film has many admirers.

...Ben Model's latest Kickstarter project is a restoration of the Marion Davies silent film HER CARDBOARD LOVER (1928). It will include a video essay written and narrated by Marion Davies biographer Lara Gabrielle. I signed up to support it and look forward to receiving the disc in early 2026.

...The latest reviews from CineSavant Glenn Erickson include the Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray SPRINGFIELD RIFLE (1952), starring Gary Cooper, and Kino Lorber's Dark Side of Cinema XXV collection.

...The June streaming lineup on the Criterion Channel includes In the Deep End: Swimming Pools on Screen, a collection of Gene Hackman films, and Rene Clair's Inventive Enchantments, which includes I MARRIED A WITCH (1942) and IT HAPPENED TOMORROW (1944).

...AMC has plans to drop theater prices on Wednesdays.

...A brand-new book from McFarland: THE CINEMASCOPE YEARS: FILMS THAT REVOLUTIONIZED MOVIEGOING, 1953-1967 by Aubrey Solomon.

...Here's a new review by Colin at Riding the High Country: I WALK ALONE (1947) starring Burt Lancaster and Lizabeth Scott.

...And here's a fun review of Jimmy Wakely in OKLAHOMA BLUES (1948) at Jeff Arnold's West. And I appreciated the shout-out re "Roy Rogers Land"!

...Coming from Australia's Via Vision Imprint line in July: JET STORM (1959) starring Stanley Baker and Richard Attenborough, directed by Cy Endfield.

...ClassicFlix plans a July release of Hopalong Cassidy - The Legacy Collection, Volume 1. It contains HOP-A-LONG CASSIDY (1935), THE EAGLE'S BROOD (1935), and BAR 20 RIDES AGAIN (1935). Extras include commentary tracks by Western film historians Ed Hulse and Toby Roan.

...Coming in October: WALT DISNEY'S TRAINS: A GRAND CIRCLE TOUR THROUGH HIS LIFE AND LEGACY by Michael Campbell for the publisher Weldon Owen.

...Rick Burin writes about WAGON MASTER (1950) for The Guardian, calling it "My feelgood movie." Can't argue with that! It's one of my all-time favorite films.

...Notable Passings: I was very sorry to learn that Denise Alexander has passed away at the age of 85. Alexander, who played Dr. Lesley Webber for many years on GENERAL HOSPITAL, died just weeks after the passing of her costar Leslie Charleson. (She's seen here with another longtime costar, Chris Robinson.) One of the interesting career facets brought out by The Hollywood Reporter's Mike Barnes is that Alexander appeared in over 2500 radio shows as a child actress, starting in the 1940s...Joe Don Baker has died at 89. He was unforgettable for me as the hit man in CHARLEY VARRICK (1973)...Actress Joan O'Brien has died at 89. Her films included OPERATION PETTICOAT (1959) and IT HAPPENED AT THE WORLD'S FAIR (1963), opposite Cary Grant and Elvis Presley, respectively...TRON (1982) costume designer Rosanna Norton has died at 80...Writer-director Robert Benton passed away at 92. He wrote BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) and cowrote SUPERMAN (1978); he both wrote and directed KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1979).

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please visit my May 3rd column.

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Tonight's Movie: Unmasked (1950) at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival

I saw half a dozen new-to me films at the recently concluded Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, and of those movies, my favorite was probably UNMASKED (1950), a 60-minute "B" movie originally released by Republic Pictures.

Immediately after the movie I described it on Twitter: "Great cast, short, fast-paced, and slightly stupid at times, in the most delightful ways. Loved it."

Raymond Burr plays Roger Lewis, editor of a sleazy tabloid. He has a girlfriend, his secretary Mona (Grace Gillern), but has also been having an affair with Doris (Hillary Brooke), wife of Harry Jackson (Paul Harvey).

Harry is angry and worried about Doris and takes her jewels to protect them. Roger, who was just using Doris to obtain funds to keep his paper afloat, shows up at her apartment right after Harry and strangles her; he burns his IOUs to Doris and frames Harry for the murder.

Harry's sweet daughter Linda (longtime radio actress Barbra Fuller) and Lt. Jim Webster (Robert Rockwell) work to find Harry and solve Doris's murder.

This is a speedy hour written by Albert DeMond and Norman S. Hall from a story by Manuel Seff and Paul Yawitz. It was directed by George Blair and filmed in black and white by Bud Thackery.

The movie packs a lot of plot -- including mobsters and even a jailbreak! -- into a short film.

Burr is quite creepy; there's a great closeup as he closes in to kill the unsuspecting Doris. Film noir fans are aware that Burr played villains in a number of other films of the era, but still, it can be a shock to see "Perry Mason" playing such a reprehensible, amoral character!

Familiar faces in the cast include John Eldredge, Emory Parnell, Barbara Pepper, Russell Hicks, Charles Trowbridge, and Harry Harvey.

Grace Gillern, who plays Mona, was also known as Grace Albertson and was the longtime wife of actor Frank Albertson.

I felt fortunate to see this film in its digital theatrical premiere from Paramount Pictures, which currently owns the movie. The print was terrific.

I'd love to see this released on DVD or Blu-ray, perhaps in a set with similar "B" films. It's grand fun for fans of "B" crime movies.  

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Tonight's Movie: Thunderbolts* (2025)

I've been a big fan of the Marvel movie series for most of its run, enjoying over two dozen Marvel movies and shows.

In addition to the list of Marvel films and series I've reviewed, found at the end of this post, I've also watched the TV series WANDAVISION (2021), HAWKEYE (2021), and LOKI (2021). WANDAVISION and HAWKEYE, in particular, were beautifully crafted and became big favorites of mine.

My viewing of new Marvel films came to a halt starting in 2022, when Marvel seemed to be looking for a new style and began to make less family-friendly films. I skipped DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (2022), THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (2022), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 (2023), and ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA (2023), among others.

These films featured disturbing violence and torture, coarse humor, or in the case of MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS completely ruined a beloved character; Wanda, played by Elizabeth Olsen, lost all the growth she'd experienced in WANDAVISION and became a true villainess.

A couple of my grown kids actually texted as they left the theater to tell me I should "absolutely not" go see a couple of those films; they knew I wouldn't care for the tone or the level of violence. So I was very glad when my daughter saw THUNDERBOLTS* (2025) and texted me "Marvel is back, baby!"

Friends similarly recommended THUNDERBOLTS*, and Justin Chang, a reviewer I often agree with, termed it "The best Marvel film in a while." So today I saw my first Marvel film since 2021.

Is THUNDERBOLTS* (aka THE NEW AVENGERS) among the very best of the long list of Marvel movies I've enjoyed? No, but at the same time I can say I had quite a pleasant time watching it. The cast is congenial, the plot isn't anything particularly disturbing, and there were a couple especially delightful classic moments I really enjoyed.

As the movie opens, a depressed Yelena (Florence Pugh) is missing her late sister Natasha and tiring of her violent job "putting out fires" for CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss). Valentina, incidentally, has way more power than she should and is being impeached by Congress.

As part of the "cleanup" to deal with her impeachment, Valentina concocts a plan to eliminate the team she's been using for various jobs; she'd just as soon her operatives aren't able to talk.

And so Yelena finds herself locked in a remote building with John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). There's also a strange man named Bob (Lewis Pullman) who has no idea how he got into the building.

Most of this group of ornery superhero misfits manage to escape before they're blown up by Valentina, and they get away aided by Yelena's father Alexei/Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), who is now a Congressman. When Bucky appears on a motorcycle, it's an exciting moment which drew applause.

The group, now calling themselves the Thunderbolts, work to stop Valentina's plans to control the world via Bob, who is revealed to have unexpected powers and is dubbed The Sentry.

The performances of the entire Thunderbolts crew are very good, elevating what could be cartoon characters with nuanced playing, humor, and emotion. Seeing some of these characters again, especially Bucky, Yelena, and Red Guardian, felt like visiting old friends; ultimately, it's the superhero camaraderie which especially makes the Marvel films "movie comfort food."

The movie feels like it should end with a "To Be Continued..." tag; surely Valentina will pay for her crimes at some point?

A couple notes. First, it was a curious coincidence that Lewis Pullman's character is named Bob, which was also the name emblazoned on his flight helmet in TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022). The gag in that film was that unlike all the other pilots with offbeat "handles," he was "just Bob." In this case the name apparently goes back to Sentry comics, but casting Pullman was an interesting choice.

There are two second generation actors among the Thunderbolts; besides Pullman (son of Bill Pullman), Wyatt Russell is the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Russell is actually a third generation actor, his grandfather being character actor Bing Russell.

Finally, I'm wondering: Where is Yelena's mother Melina (Rachel Weisz)?

THUNDERBOLTS was directed by Jake Schreier and filmed by Andrew Droz Palermo. It runs 127 minutes, which is on the shorter side as Marvel films go, and I thought the pace was just right.

Parental Advisory: THUNDERBOLTS* is rated PG-13. There is quite a bit of cursing; otherwise it's a return to the typical Marvel level of violence, nothing particularly graphic.

Let's hope that future Marvel films continue this return to a more family-friendly tone. Up next, out in July, will be THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS (2025).

Previous Marvel reviews: IRON MAN (2008), IRON MAN 2 (2010), CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011), THOR (2011), THE AVENGERS (2012), IRON MAN 3 (2013), THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013), CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014), AGENT CARTER (2015), ANT-MAN (2015), AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015), CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016), DOCTOR STRANGE (2016), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 (2017), SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017), THOR: RAGNAROK (2017), BLACK PANTHER (2018), AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018), ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (2018), CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019), AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019), SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (2019), BLACK WIDOW (2021), SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (2021), and SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (2021).

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Tonight's Movie: Lust for Gold (1949) at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival

One of the recurring themes among the films at the just-concluded Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival was unredeemable lead characters -- so bad they couldn't even be considered antiheroes. They are purely villains!

We saw that with Sonny Tufts in SWELL GUY (1946), James Cagney in KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE (1950), and Glenn Ford and Ida Lupino in LUST FOR GOLD (1949).

LUST FOR GOLD screened at the festival in a beautiful 35mm print. The 90-minute movie was engrossing and featured a remarkably deep cast, but wow, was it ever dark.

As with SWELL GUY, please note that this description is a bit more "spoiler-ish" than usual. Those who care about such things should see the film before reading.

In modern-day Arizona Barry Storm (William Prince) is searching for the Lost Dutchman gold mine discovered by his grandfather Jacob Walz (Ford).

When another mine hunter, Buckley (Hayden Rorke), is gunned down, Barry spends time with the local sheriff (Paul Ford) and his deputies (Will Geer and Jay Silverheels). At the sheriff's station Barry hears tales of the gold mine's infamous history, launching several lengthy flashbacks.

In 1880s Arizona Barry's grandfather Jacob found a fabulous mine in the Superstition Mountains containing millions in gold. Jacob and his friend Wiser (Edgar Buchanan) gun down a couple of men who were at the mine first, and then Jacob in turn kills Wiser so that he won't have to share the gold.

Calculating Julia (Ida Lupino), who owns a small frontier town bakery, sees a good thing for her future and sets out to catch Jacob...and his money. Once she's hooked him into a marriage proposal she belatedly tells Jacob she's still married to Pete (Gig Young).

Jacob, having been married previously himself, isn't too disturbed and gives Julia $2000 to pay for a divorce so they can be married. (Side note, I assume Barry being Jacob's grandson is explained by his prior marriage.)

All bets are off, though, when Jacob overhears Julia tell Pete she's going to know the location of the mine soon. Jacob, Julia, and Pete all end up at the mine where Jacob pins Julia and Pete down with gunshots and refuses to give them water. Before long, all three are dead, thanks in part to a violent earthquake.

Back in the present day, the person who killed Buckley is now trying to bump off Barry...will he find his grandfather's mine?

The movie was fascinating chiefly because of its awful lead characters, with Ford playing an irredeemably evil villain. Jacob gunning down his older partner without a moment's hesitation was a real eye-opener of a scene.

Lupino isn't much better in terms of morality, though it's fun to watch her play the delicate lady, handkerchief fluttering, as she works to ensnare Jacob while entertaining him in her parlor. She's very prim and proper as she shares a photo album and plays the piano, but by movie's end this soft-spoken "flower" is literally stabbing Pete in the back!

It's not a great film, but it's entertaining and certainly holds the attention.

I especially enjoyed the faces which streamed by in quick succession. Those spotted in roles of varying sizes included Myrna Dell, Antonio Moreno, Kermit Maynard, John Doucette, Tom Tyler, Trevor Bardette, Arthur Space, Anne O'Neal, Maudie Prickett, Arthur Hunnicutt, Percy Helton, Karolyn Grimes, Billy Gray, Virginia Farmer, and Harry Cording.

It was especially fun to see Gray as his FATHER KNOWS BEST "sister," Elinor Donahue, just happened to have been in the house to watch the previous film, JOHNNY O'CLOCK (1947).

LUST FOR GOLD was directed by S. Sylvan Simon and the uncredited George Marshall. It was filmed in black and white by Archie Stout. The screenplay by Ted Sherdeman and Richard English was based on the 1945 book THUNDER GODS GOLD by Barry Storm.

LUST FOR GOLD is available on DVD in the 2021 Glenn Ford Western Triple Feature set from Mill Creek/Critics' Choice. The other films in the set are THE MAN FROM COLORADO (1948) and A TIME FOR KILLING (1967).

It also came out on a 2005 DVD from Sony.

For more on this film, please visit Colin's 2009 review at Riding the High Country. I like his point about Jacob's childlike behavior; as for Lupino, he writes "Her character has not one redeeming feature." True! She's a femme fatale for the ages, and she's perhaps the chief reason to see LUST FOR GOLD.

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Tonight's Movie: Swell Guy (1946) at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival

I'm back from a terrific long weekend at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival.

I plan to share a festival overview with photos in the near future, but first I wanted to dive right into some reviews while the movies are fresh in my mind. I saw 10 films at the festival, of which half a dozen were new to me; of the four repeat watches, I'd only previously seen one theatrically.

I want to mention at the outset that this particular review contains more plot spoilers than usual, in order to make some points, so anyone wanting to see it "cold" for the first time -- if it can be found! -- should wait to read this review after watching.

The plot of SWELL GUY (1946), a first-time watch, may sound familiar: A long-unseen relative, who's wrongly obtained funds from a wealthy woman, arrives in a small California town with a Spanish name. His visit causes great excitement among family and friends.

One relative is clued in from the outset that the man is, well, not such a "swell guy," but most are oblivious. He ultimately dies a hero in a train accident, leaving many admirers to mourn him, while those most closely impacted by his behavior during his time in town feel nothing but relief that he's gone.

SWELL GUY was written by future director Richard Brooks from the 1921 Gilbert Emery play THE HERO, but I was quite struck by the similarities with Hitchcock's SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943), which intriguingly was released by the very same studio, Universal Pictures, just three years previously.

That said, while newspaper reporter Jim Duncan (Sonny Tufts) isn't a murderer, SWELL GUY as a whole is a darker picture, as we watch the destructive Duncan spiral into nothingness.

Unhappy, flirty rich girl Marian Tyler (Ann Blyth) ignores the devoted war veteran Mike O'Connor (John Craven) to dally with the older, more glamorous Jim...only to find herself pregnant. And there is zero hope for Jim to do right by her because, as it's shockingly disclosed late in the film, he's already married!

It goes without saying that this is not exactly a typical mid '40s plot. Not only is Jim already married, his seemingly placid sister-in-law Ann (Ruth Warrick), who dreams of traveling, suddenly wants to throw caution to the winds and leave town with Jim, despite her nice husband (William Gargan) and little boy (Donald Devlin).

Although Jim has been leading Ann on -- it's implied he may have had an affair with her as well as Marian -- once he's got what he really wants, money, he meanly mocks and abandons her.

PEYTON PLACE has nothing on the goings-on in this little town, filmed by Tony Gaudio in Anaheim and Glendale. There's a remarkable scene late in the film where fellow reporter Dave Vinson (Thomas Gomez) brutally takes down Jim and eviscerates him for being the rotten phony he is; Jim is ultimately left sprawled on the floor, an utter drunken mess. (And did I mention he's also a gambler?)

An opening narrative card suggests that people harbor both good and evil, but Jim is pretty much entirely evil...except for his final decision to prevent a tragic death, at the cost of his own life. Given that Jim had nothing left to live for at that moment, though, one has to wonder if it was more suicide than altruism.

The movie is a fast-paced 87 minutes, directed by Frank Tuttle, and it was certainly interesting, though I'm not sure I'd be anxious to watch all this doom and gloom a second time. At the same time, I felt fortunate to have been able to see it on a big screen, in an excellent crisp 35mm print; the movie was fascinating and memorable, I'll say that much.

A couple hours after we watched SWELL GUY, Eddie Muller said to the audience "I've never seen a movie quite like that...I'm not entirely sure what I watched the morning."

I'll also note that Ann Blyth biographer Jacqueline Lynch described SWELL GUY as "shocking."

In fact, the movie's most interesting character is played by Blyth; she makes poor decisions but ultimately wises up and grows up. Her final scene implies she finally appreciates her loyal boyfriend, who gives her much more love and kindness than she deserves. One can only hope that she repays his love in kind in the years to come.

Tufts, who could be congenial and occasionally give a strong performance (EASY LIVING), is fairly one note here. He's not so much menacing as annoying; Jim's loser behavior gets old fast, and we never really understand what "makes him tick." But perhaps that's part of the point; his mother's hatred of Jim causes one to think maybe he was simply born bad.

I'd question whether his mother had anything to do with his behavior, but his brother is perfectly normal, so the answer to the question of "nature vs. nuture" seems to land on "nature" here.

Although the ground is loosely laid for Warrick's character's discontent -- she collects travel folders, you see -- it was still a bit shocking that she considers abandoning not just her marriage but her little boy. I didn't really buy that aspect.

The supporting cast also includes Mary Nash, John Litel, Millard Mitchell, Vince Barnett, and Patrick McVey. Great "faces" like Charles Lane, Anne O'Neal, Sarah Selby, and Frank Ferguson also dot the cast.

SWELL GUY is a wild ride of a movie, a look at one man's dark soul and the repercussions of his actions as he operates amidst the imperfect people of a small town. While I wouldn't say I loved it, I'll definitely never forget it.

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Around the Blogosphere This Week...

...is taking this weekend off while I attend the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs, California.

The column will return next weekend on Saturday, May 17th.

For recent news links of interest to classic film fans, please check out my May 3rd column.

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Tonight's Movie: Jennifer (1953) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The Allied Artists film JENNIFER (1953), starring Ida Lupino, was recently released on Blu-ray as part of the Kino Lorber Dark Side of Cinema XXIV collection.

This film, a first-time watch for me, is a compact 73 minutes written by Virginia Meyers and directed by Joel Newton. (Or was it? Kimberly Lindbergs raises questions at Cinebeats, in an article originally written for TCM in 2011.)

Lupino plays Agnes Langley, the new caretaker at a Montecito, California estate which is simultaneously sun-drenched and creepy.

Agnes learns the mansion's last resident, Jennifer, disappeared unexpectedly, and becomes obsessed with discovering what happened. As time passes, Agnes grows more concerned about bits of information she uncovers and conjures up stories about Jennifer ranging from blackmail to murder...but the truth may be more mundane. Or not.

Agnes is romantically pursued, somewhat aggressively, by Jim Hollis (Howard Duff, Lupino's real-life husband). Is he simply interested in Agnes, or does he have other motivations?

JENNIFER succeeds in creating a suspenseful atmosphere, thanks in large part to Lupino's acting and the sunny-yet-shadowy black and white cinematography of the great James Wong Howe.

The script and Lupino leave us wondering right up until "The End" whether Agnes simply has a creative imagination or mental health issues...or is something else going on entirely?

The movie's ambiguous final seconds, which will not be disclosed here, left me dissatisfied. Just when the viewer thinks answers are in hand...well, maybe not?

Along those lines, Jim's pushiness, repeatedly turning up at the estate or elsewhere, was never entirely resolved in my mind. Perhaps the short running time created a need for a fast-moving romance, but if so that ended up inadvertently raising questions about his character. Or perhaps his behavior is a deliberate red herring?

In the end I appreciated the movie's atmospheric ride but not so much the destination, as I didn't care for the uncertain ending.

It's interesting to note that Lupino made JENNIFER back to back with another "creepy house" movie, BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952). In that period piece she's trapped in her home by a crazy, aggressive handyman (Robert Ryan). She plays a much stronger character in BEWARE, MY LOVELY, but it's interesting she chose projects with thematic similarities so close in time.

The small supporting cast of JENNIFER includes Ned Glass, Robert Nichols, Russ Conway, and Lorna Shipp.

The film's score was composed by Ernest Gold, and there's a notable nightclub performance of the Matt Dennis-Earl Brent song "Angel Eyes," performed by Dennis. The song became a standard recorded by Cole, Sinatra, Fitzgerald, and others.

Kino Lorber's sharp-looking Blu-ray print is from an HD master by Paramount Pictures from a 4K scan. Sound quality is excellent.

Disc extras consist of a commentary track by Kat Ellinger and Martyn Conterio, plus a gallery of three trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.

The other films in this set are UNION STATION (1950) and THE CROOKED CIRCLE (1957), which I'll be reviewing at a future date.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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