Tonight's Movie: The Spanish Main (1945) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

The RKO swashbuckler THE SPANISH MAIN (1945), just released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection, is both a delightful movie and a spectacularly good-looking disc.

THE SPANISH MAIN was written by George Worthington Yates (THE TALL TARGET) and Herman Mankiewicz and directed by Frank Borzage, whose beautifully crafted films are consistently enjoyable.

Paul Henreid plays Laurent Van Horn, a Dutchman whose ship is thrown off course by a hurricane, landing him in Cartagena. Don Juan Alvarado (Walter Slezak), the comic yet cruel despot who runs Cartagena, throws Laurent and the others from his ship into prison or slavery.

Laurent escapes along with a group of friends (including Mike Mazurki and Curt Bois) and becomes a pirate known as the Barracuda. Eventually he and his crew overtake the ship which carries Francesca (Maureen O'Hara) to be Alvarado's bride.

Laurent decides he'll thwart his enemy by marrying Francesca instead...and Francesca doesn't really oppose the idea, given that she's been taken with Laurent at first glance.

And there's much more swashbuckling excitement to come...!

I had never seen THE SPANISH MAIN and was completely charmed by it. It's up there with CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) and THE BLACK SWAN (1942) as a high quality pirate film.

THE SPANISH MAIN has a good cast, headed by Henreid and O'Hara; Henreid is almost surprisingly effective as the dashing hero, and O'Hara looks as lovely as she ever has playing the brave young woman who becomes his wife.

Whether she's dueling Laurent's old flame Anne (Binnie Barnes), cagily standing up to Don Alvarado, or engineering a prison rescue of Laurent and his crew, O'Hara is absolutely captivating.

Director Borzage is especially known for his moving romances (such as HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT), and he brings a strong romantic tone to the film which is most welcome. The movie is not simply cartoonish swordplay; it has some depth and fiery passion along with the action.

Slezak hits just the right notes as Don Alvarado; he's simultaneously ridiculous and menacing, inasmuch as he has an army of flunkies who do whatever awful thing he orders.

Barnes is a lot of fun as a spunky lady pirate who's upset when she learns Laurent has taken a wife, yet she ultimately comes to quietly respect Francesca. Barnes typifies the tone of the cast in general: They all seem to be having a grand time. I was thinking while I watched that it must have been great fun to come to work every day when making a movie like this!

This 100-minute film has a cast which also includes Barton MacLane, John Emery, J.M. Kerrigan, Dan Seymour, Antonio Moreno, and Ian Keith.

An especially nice surprise is a very young Nancy Gates as Francesca's lady's maid Lupita.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray shows off the Technicolor cinematography of George Barnes to stunning perfection. This disc looks as good as any Blu-ray ever has, with a strong soundtrack. Between the quality of both film and disc I very highly recommend THE SPANISH MAIN.

Disc extras consist of the trailer; the 17-minute short MOVIELAND MAGIC (1946; and two cartoons, BUCCANEER BUNNY (1948) and CAPTAIN HAREBLOWER (1954).

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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Tonight's Movie: Beware, My Lovely (1952) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Today I've circled back to the Kino Lorber Dark Side of Cinema XIX collection to watch the final film in the set, BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952).

I've previously reviewed the set's NO MAN OF HER OWN (1950) and DARK CITY (1950); NO MAN OF HER OWN in particular is a big favorite.

This was the first time I'd seen BEWARE, MY LOVELY since the 2011 Noir City Hollywood Festival, and I quite enjoyed revisiting it after so much time.

The movie reunited Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan from the previous year's outstanding ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1951). BEWARE, MY LOVELY is a smaller film, not of the same caliber as ON DANGEROUS GROUND, but it's still an interesting and worthwhile watch.

The film is set in 1918. Lupino plays Helen Gordon, a widow whose husband died in the war. She gets by renting a room to a kindly boarder (Taylor Holmes) who's heading out of town for the holidays. Helen seems to have a busy life, involved with her niece Ruth (Barbara Whiting), local children, and her community.

Helen hires Howard Wilton (Ryan) to do some handyman work around her home as she prepares for Christmas. But Helen doesn't know what's revealed to the viewer in the movie's opening sequence: Howard is a mentally disturbed killer.

Things start off fine as Howard polishes Helen's floors, but then Howard begins to act increasingly "off." Helen is initially sympathetic and kind, then tries to politely send him on his way...only to discover he's locked the doors and hidden the key, setting the stage for a terrifying afternoon.

BEWARE, MY LOVELY is a compact 77-minute suspense drama which rather reminds me of another short thriller from the previous year, CAUSE FOR ALARM! (1951) with Loretta Young. In each film an ordinary middle-class housewife suddenly finds her day has gone terribly wrong, spiraling into a panic situation.

Although there are a handful of supporting characters, this is essentially a two-person show. Ryan is effective as the troubled man whose behavior is all over the map, veering from kindly and concerned to confused to psychotic.

For my money, though, the main reason to watch BEWARE, MY LOVELY is Lupino, who does superb work taking Helen through a progression of emotions: The busy woman trying to knock her home into order, followed by her thinking she understands Howard's loneliness and then realizing she needs to send him on his way...only to find he won't go.

The movie, written by Mel Dinelli based on his short story and play, also has the plus of not wearing out its welcome. Just when it's becoming a little too exhausting, things wrap up in a satisfying way.

The screenplay and actors also do a good job making the situations believable, including Helen's difficulty getting away.

BEWARE, MY LOVELY was directed by Harry Horner and filmed in black and white by George Diskant.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray print, a new HD master from a 4K scan, is excellent, on a par with the company's usual fine releases.

Disc extras consist of the movie's trailer plus two additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber, plus a commentary track by Jason A. Ney.

I've enjoyed all of the Dark Side of Cinema sets to date, and this collection of early '50s titles is one I particularly recommend.

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

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Tonight's Movie: Road to Zanzibar (1941) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

ROAD TO ZANZIBAR (1941) is the second of the seven films in the On the Road with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Blu-ray collection from Kino Lorber.

ROAD TO ZANZIBAR follows the previous year's ROAD TO SINGAPORE (1940). Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour play completely different characters in an equally giddy comedy.

This time around Chuck (Crosby) and Fearless (Hope) are carnival performers in Africa, of all places. They have all sorts of misadventures and end up on safari with a pair of con artists, Donna (Lamour) and Julia (Una Merkel).

That's really about the extent of the plot, which essentially strings together a series of comedy sketches, but the movie is fairly amusing, enlivened by the additional presence of Merkel and character actor Eric Blore.

A scene where Chuck and Fearless believe Donna has died is out-and-out funny, and there are also some good gags involving subtitles for African natives' discussions when they imprison Chuck and Fearless. (At one point it just says "CENSORED!")

Some jokes, a couple of pleasant songs, gorgeous Lamour, and a sparkling Blu-ray print make this a pleasant diversion. It's by no means a great film, but it's perfect company to relax with on a lazy afternoon.

ROAD TO ZANZIBAR was directed by Victor Scherzinger, who also directed ROAD TO SINGAPORE. Unlike SINGAPORE, Scherzinger did not also cowrite the songs for this film with Johnny Burke; this time around Burke teamed with Jimmy Van Heusen.

Scherzinger sadly died the same year ROAD TO ZANZIBAR was released, only 53 years old.

The movie runs 91 minutes and was written by Frank Butler and Don Hartman based on a story by Hartman and Sy Bartlett. The black and white cinematography was by Ted Tetzlaff, who filmed a number of favorite films and later became a director (THE WINDOW).

This is one of five films in the set which has English-language captions. Only ROAD TO RIO (1947) and ROAD TO BALI (1952) do not have captions.

Extras consist of the trailer; three additional trailers for other "Road" movies; a 15-minute featurette, "Bob Hope and the Road to Success"; and a short, COMMAND PERFORMANCE 1944: STRICTLY G.I.

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

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Around the Blogosphere This Week

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

...Turner Classic Movies has announced that the 2025 recipient of the Robert Osborne Award at this year's TCM Classic Film Festival will be George Stevens Jr. TCM also announced several programming plans for the coming year on the network, including honoring Dick Van Dyke as Star of the Month for his centennial next December.

...Raquel Stecher has posted a list of new and upcoming classic film books at her blog Out of the Past. Raquel puts a lot of work into these lists, which are always very long and interesting to scroll through. VERA MILES: THE HITCHCOCK BLONDE WHO GOT AWAY by Christopher McKittrick for University Press of Kentucky is a title which particularly caught my eye.

...Also of note from the above list: THE ART OF CLASSIC CRIME AND MYSTERY MOVIES, edited by Ed Hulse, who has been a part of past Lone Pine Film Festivals, and DASHING TO THE END: THE RAY MILLAND STORY. The latter is by Eric Monder for the Hollywood Legends biographical series published by the University Press of Mississippi.

...Leonard Maltin also has a survey of "New and Notable Books" at his site.

...Thanks to Keith on Twitter for making me aware of the upcoming book THE ONLY WOMAN ANIMATOR: BESSIE MAE KELLEY AND WOMEN AT THE DAWN OF AN INDUSTRY. It's by Mindy Johnson, author of the important (and beautiful!) history INK & PAINT: THE WOMEN OF WALT DISNEY'S ANIMATION.

...Continuing with a books theme, I was recently contacted by Running Press regarding two upcoming books by TCM hosts. Alicia Malone has written TCM IMPORTS: TIMELESS FAVORITES AND HIDDEN GEMS OF WORLD CINEMA, while Eddie Muller has a "revised and expanded edition" coming out of his classic book DARK CITY DAMES: THE WOMEN WHO DEFINED FILM NOIR. I anticipate reviewing both books here. Having read books by both authors in the past, including the original DARK CITY DAMES, I'm confident they'll be enjoyable reads.

...Thanks to reader Ashley for letting me know about the upcoming MGM Blu-ray release of OUTPOST IN MALAYA (1952) starring Claudette Colbert. It's due out later this month.

...Blu-ray release dates announced over the last few days by Kino Lorber Studio Classics: The John Wayne films DONOVAN'S REEF (1963) and SANDS OF IWO JIMA (1949) will be released in Special Editions on April 15th; both films will also be available on 4K...THE CRUEL SEA (1953) and FOUL PLAY (1978) will both be out on April 22nd.

...Toby of 50 Westerns From the 50s shares the news that a double feature Blu-ray disc of PANHANDLE (1948) and APACHE RIFLES (1964) is now available. While I haven't yet seen APACHE RIFLES, which stars Audie Murphy, I'm a big fan of PANHANDLE.

...Glenn Erickson's latest Blu-ray reviews at Trailers from Hell include TEACHER'S PET (1958) with Doris Day and Clark Gable, just released by Kino Lorber Studio Classics, and THE SPANISH MAIN (1945) with Paul Henreid and Maureen O'Hara, now out from the Warner Archive Collection. I'll be reviewing both titles here soon.

...I was fascinated to learn that an Oscar nominee for Best Short Documentary for this year's Academy Awards is THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA (2024). It's a 34-minute film on double bass player Orin O'Brien, who blazed a trail when she was the first woman hired to play in the New York Philharmonic in 1966. What makes the film of particular note for classic film fans is that Orin is the daughter of actors George O'Brien and Marguerite Churchill. A review by Paul Emmanuel Enicola may be read here. THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA is currently available to stream on Netflix.  I expect to watch it soon.

...The 2025 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival dates have been announced. The 26th edition of the festival will take place at the Palm Springs Cultural Center from May 8th through 11th. I highly recommend attending!

...There's also a screwball comedy film series coming to Palm Springs from March through June, with speakers introducing the movies including Scott Eyman, Molly Haskell, Steven C. Smith, Olympia Kiriakou, and Mark Vieira, among others.

...Notable Passings: Actress Jan Shepard has died at the age of 96. As it happens, I was fortunate to meet her at the 2019 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs, seen here. She was at the festival for a screening of KING CREOLE (1958), in which she played the sister of Elvis Presley, and gave a very interesting interview...The great figure skater and skating commentator Dick Button has passed away at 95.

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please visit my January 25th column.

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